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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
that happiness has to be sought out, in other words, is not readily available to us. Leaving aside, for the present, the question of the real nature of happiness, it is also obvious that it cannot reside in any one of the toys, books, money, family, children, honours, distinctions and the like, which man seeks one after another. Were it otherwise, tbe child would stick to his toys, the school-boy to his books, and so forth.. Volition, as a matter of fact, is the outcome of desire, and desire most distinctly points to a want which, in its turn, indicates unhappiness. One moves to secure a thing because one wants it, one wants it because it would satisfy an existing desire, and one satisfies an existing desire because satisfaction results in happiness.
All straining and striving which is going on in the world is, therefore, the outcome of a thirst. for happiness, and it is on account of this insatiable thirst that ideal after ideal is conceived, adhered to for a time, and then, ultimately, when discoverd to be insufficient, discarded and replared by a seemingly better one. Some people spend their whole lives in thus trying object after object in a vain search for this Will-o'-theWisp, and ultimately descend into the grave with a broken heart. When all the customary ideals of happiness are exhausted by a person, and he is left without any tangible aim in life, he drifts about like a wreck, and dies of aimlessness.
The question, therefore, arises as to what is the proper ideal for mankind to cherish? Can it be money? No, for money is a means to an end, not the end in itself, and would fail to procure happiness if put to the
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