Item 03: John Duncan McRae diary, 10 February-6 May 1917 - Page 50

[Page 50]

is compelled to depend upon outside circumstances for enjoyment & peace of mind knows not the best that life has to offer. Dogs can wag their tails and gambol & be happy while they are well-fed & cared for materially; they whine & die when heaven seems to frown on them: but there is something strange & indefinable in human nature that can exalt itself "in the midst of alarms", that can smile in the face of nature's stinginess, & that can be contented out of sheer spite for the contrariness of environment. When all goes well & smoothly one forgets the resources of his nature, but in untoward circumstances, that old-time grasping for infinitude asserts itself, and in its discontent gives one such satisfaction.

In the morning we were taken for a