Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/88
in mockery of the new; we are not creators, but takers, each wanting something more than he has, no one ever reaching the height of his social ambition. We ask that life shall fill each hour with new pleasures, never remembering that temperance always leaves on hand material for a good time later. We justify our restlessness by calling it the spirit of the times; we go farther, and make temperament or inheritance an excuse for inactivity.
This is cowardly, fatal to effort, sets a miserable example, and results in transmission of less moral strength to the next generation, which should inherit even more richly from us their past than we have from ours. The present is always trustee to the future.
Self-control often seems unnecessary, and brings disappointment in plans which we had hoped would succeed, if it had not proved foolish to urge them. It also teaches patience with one's self and others, bravery, superiority to circumstances, contentment, power to work,