This section is from the book "Manual Of Useful Information", by J. C Thomas. Also available from Amazon: Manual of useful Information.
A popular magazine writer professes to have discovered that our lives would surely be happy, as well as useful and meritorious, if we were always careful to avoid:
The incessant round of idle pleasures, which make life so - M. T.
That undisciplined spirit, which carries everything to - X. S.
Fixing our hearts upon aught that can know - D. K.
Looking upon the possessions of others with - N. V.
Exulting over a fallen - N. M. E.
Shirking all the difficult duties of our state, and fulfilling only those that are - E. Z.
A haughty, repellant manner, which may be alphabetically described as - I. C.
Encumbering our souls with faults which we shall, either here or hereafter, be required to - X. P. VIII.
That pride which leads us to refuse a work in which we are not sure we shall - X. L.
That porcupine susceptibility which is irritated at - O.
Discussing topics that cause the strings of social life to - G. R.
Thinking that acquaintances have no good qualities, because at first sight we don't - C. N. E.
Being gloomy sometimes as though life were an - L. E. G.
If our readers cannot make out all these maxims we confess we cannot - C. Y.
 
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