Alas it is painful to avow that this generous will is too rarely met
with. This noble faculty of the soul is made subservient to other
faculties which should be subject to and directed by it. The mind has
perhaps acquired greater vivacity and penetration. The imagination,
under the action of a constant change of images, and those sensations
which the activity of life multiplies so rapidly in our time, has
perhaps become richer and more varied. The heart, cherished while
young by the cares and caresses common to the paternal roof, has
perhaps more confidence and candor. But the will, what has become of
it, what has it gained by this development of all the powers of the
soul? Where is its place among them? It should be their ruler,
whereas it is made their slave; they have conspired its overthrow.
It is true that very often the enfeebling of this great faculty is
due to the excessive tenderness of those who have allowed us to
contract pernicious habits. Who is it that speaks to the child's
will? Who teaches him how to use that faculty and resist with energy
the caprices of his imagination, the passions of the heart, the
empire of the senses, the seductions of the world? These are duties
that the will is called on to discharge, and as long as man shall
live such duties will be of daily occurrence,--hence the will is
destined to be constantly called into action.
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