THE DAILY MESSAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 October 1928, Page 1

THE DAILY MESSAGE

VIRTUE IS A VICTORY Tmuus’s nothing in this world so easy as to have resisted the temptations you never had, and don’t forget that, when you are patting yourself on the hack for being such a good fellow. Virtue is a victory; it is the quality which is left after a successful struggle between desire and duty. Yet many a man’s reputation for virtue rests merely upon bis resistance to the temptations lie never had. The sober fellow who never had an appetite for alcohol isn’t virtuous; lie’s just fortunate—and there’s no virtue in being fortunate. The rectitude of a fellow who was horn without a moral limp isn’t so much a subject for pride as for thankfulness. But the man who was horn with a moral limp, and who is painfully groping his way upward is the fellow who deserves that pat on the hack. For victory over temptation is virtue —and virtue is a victory. The people who are most entitled to our congratulations are not those who have resisted temptations they never had, hut those who resisted the temptations they did have, or those who, having gone down to them, have got up again, looked the world in the eye, and made good. —M. PRESTON STANLEY.