THE SWEET USES OF ADVERSITY.

• You wear out your old clothes.

• You are not troubled with many visitors.

• You are exonerated from making calls.

• Crossing sweepers do not molest you.

• Bores do not bore you.

• Sponges do not haunt your table.

• Tax-gatherers hurry past your door.

• Itinerant bands do not play opposite your window.

• You avoid the nuisance of serving on juries.

• You are not persecuted to stand god-father.

• No one thinks of presenting you with a Testimonial.

• No clerk irritates you by asking, “Is there any other little article to-day, Sir?”

• Begging letter-writers leave you alone.

• Impostors know it is useless to bleed you.

• You practice temperance.

• You swallow infinitely less poison than others.

• Flatterers do not shoot their rubbish into your ear.

• You are saved many a debt, many a deception, many a head-ache.

• And, lastly, if you have a true friend in the world, you are sure, in a very short space of time, to learn it!