“By no means. There was never a greater fallacy, although I am free to admit that under certain conditions it may conduce to that end. But tell me, have you never seen one happy amid the greatest physical privations?”
“Not absolutely.”
“No, not absolutely; the absolute does not belong to the finite. I refer to what most men would consider happiness.”
“Oh, if you're talking about saints, they're outside my experience.”
A faint smile played over Ah Ben's face as he answered:
“Saints, my dear sir, are no more to me than to you. Have you ever seen a prize fight?”
“Oh, yes; several.”
“Do you not believe that the winner of a prize fight, even when covered with bruises, and suffering in every bone of his body, is happier at the moment of victory than he was the previous morning while lying comfortably in his bed?”
“I dare say; but now you're speaking of—”
“Happiness,” suggested Ah Ben, “and if you will pardon me for saying so—for possibly I may have thought more upon this subject than you have—I can tell you the one essential which lies at the root of all happiness, without which it can never be acquired, but with which it is certain to follow.”