Page:The Sunday Eight O'Clock (1916).pdf/202

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was a violation of his rights, which could not be brooked, and which bade fair to sour his whole disposition; he tried in vain to break her of the practice, and, failing in this, sought release from the annoyance through the divorce courts. Yet they had met with heroism and fortitude the serious things of life.

It is seldom the vital or the important occurrences which try our tempers or upset us, or make home heaven or hell for us; it is the trifling thing, the unexpected annoyance or omission.

Many of these things are largely matters of personal temperament to which we yield without a struggle. We even become elated or take pride in the fact, at times, that there are certain things which we do not like or which we can not stand. Some men boast of their little foibles or irritations as if they were an asset rather than a liability.

I heard a man admit the other day that a corroded pen, or a dry inkwell, or a waste