THE EMPTY BOAT

Suppose a boat is crossing a river and another boat, an empty one, is about to collide with it. Even an irritable man would not lose his temper.

But suppose there was someone in the second boat. Then the occupant of the first would shout to him to keep clear. And if he did not hear the first time, nor even when called to three times, bad language would inevitably follow.

In the first case there was no anger, in the second there was-because in the first case the boat was empty, in the second it was occupied.

And so it is with man. If he could only pass empty through life, who would be able to injure him.