"Naaman was a great man and an honourable, but he was a leper," Now, sometimes we forget this other side in our thoughts of others, and frequently we make too much of it in our thoughts of ourselves. Remember, then, first of all, that every Naaman, every seemingly successful and talented man, has his cross, One might multiply illustrations, How foolish we are to envy—to envy the great their high place, the rich their wealth, the honourable their honour, the wise their wisdom! How foolish to think that because they have more of these things than we, they are necessarily happier and more contented! How blind we are to overlook our own blessings—our joys and possessions—and become discontented because others seem more fortunate than we, forgetting that uneasy lies the head that wears any sort of crown, that where fortune drops its choicest honours it imposes its heavy lest burdens, and that the path that is lined with roses has most of the prickly thorns of care.
There is no position however favoured, which has not its dark se off, its background of heavy burden its secret tale of tears; no life, however prosperous and magnificent, that could write its awn story truthfully without bringing in often the inevitable "but" which tells of sadder things. The more brilliant the sunlight, ihe darker the shadows. In the old ballad the queen rides by on her gallant palfrey, with cloth of gold and glittering jewels, and splendid array of attendants. A village maid, looking out of her lattice window sighs, "Oh, to be a Queen!" while the Queen, looking up, sighs far more deeply and whispers to her heart, "Oh, to be free from this burden of state and like that happy and care-free maiden!"
There is always the other side. "Naaman was a great man and an honourable, but he was a leper.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.