He enters also, it may be, a new world of
trials and sorrows, in which he often gathers his best culture and
discipline. "Family life," says Sainte-Beuve, "may be full of
thorns and cares; but they are fruitful: all others are dry
thorns." And again: "If a man's home, at a certain period of
life, does not contain children, it will probably be found filled
with follies or with vices." (3)
A life exclusively occupied in affairs of business insensibly
tends to narrow and harden the character. It is mainly occupied
with self-watching for advantages, and guarding against sharp
practice on the part of others. Thus the character unconsciously
tends to grow suspicious and ungenerous. The best corrective of
such influences is always the domestic; by withdrawing the mind
from thoughts that are wholly gainful, by taking it out of its
daily rut, and bringing it back to the sanctuary of home for
refreshment and rest:
"That truest, rarest light of social joy,
Which gleams upon the man of many cares."
"Business," says Sir Henry Taylor, "does but lay waste the
approaches to the heart, whilst marriage garrisons the fortress."
And however the head may be occupied, by labours of ambition or of
business--if the heart be not occupied by affection for others
and sympathy with them--life, though it may appear to the outer
world to be a success, will probably be no success at all,
but a failure.
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