Adversity Has So Many Pleasant Uses That Most of the World's Inhabitants
Appear to be Unable to Wait Until It Comes to Them.
A very large proportion of the inhabitants of earth appear to take no
stock in that cheerful assurance, given in the Book of Job, that "Man is
born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." They believe that man cannot
have trouble unless he looks for it.
"Seek and ye shall find" is their motto, and they seek trouble because
they are philosophers. Apparently Shakespeare was of their ilk, for he
said:
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
Here are some advantages of adversity as pointed out by _Punch_:
You wear out your clothes.
You are not troubled with visitors.
You are exonerated from making calls.
Bores do not bore you.
Tax-gatherers hurry past your door.
Itinerant bands do not play opposite your windows.
You avoid the nuisance of serving on juries.
No one thinks of presenting you with a testimonial.
No tradesman irritates by asking, "Is there any other
article you wish to-day, sir?"
Impostors know it is no use to bleed you.
You practise temperance.
You swallow infinitely less poison than others.
Flatterers do not shoot their rubbish into your ears.
You are saved many a debt, many a deception, many a
headache.
And lastly, if you have a true friend in the world, you are
sure, in a very short space of time, to know it.