We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail.--Shakspeare.
You see that scrag over in the woods there? Crack! goes
the lightning! The scrag has been hit again! Unfortunate! Now, perhaps
you know somebody who is a scrag in society. When the thunder storms of
life roll and rumble, tell him to look well to himself. He is very
liable to another dose of disaster. Why is this? The reason is plain.
There is some particular attraction for the bolt which hits him. There
is a loadstone of reason in the earth at his roots for this constant
attack of misfortune. However badly off he may be, something still worse
will happen to him. If he have something profitable to do with his
hands, he will get a felon on his finger. If he have walking to do, he
will get a peeled heel. If he have only to sit and attend to a certain
thing, he will get the brain fever. If he be expected at seven in the
morning, his child will suffer an attack of croup at 6:45. The lightning
is darting around him silently all the time, a good deal like the
movements of a snake's tongue.
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