{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_6158/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_6158","id":"gutenberg_6158","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6158","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Parenthood & Family Relations","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Teaching & Education","Citizenship -- Problems, exercises, etc.","Conduct of life -- Problems, exercises, etc.","Readers -- Citizenship"],"text":"Produced by Ryan D. Evans, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRUE CITIZEN, HOW TO BECOME ONE\n\nBY\n\nW. F. MARKWICK, D. D. AND W. A. SMITH, A. B.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThis book, intended as a supplementary reader for pupils in the seventh\nand eighth grades of school, has been prepared with a view to meeting a\nreal need of the times. While there are a large number of text-books,\nand several readers, dealing with citizenship from the political point\nof view, the higher aspects of citizenship--the moral and ethical--have\nbeen seriously overlooked.\n\nThe authors of this work have searched in vain for something which\nwould serve as an aid to the joint development of the natural faculties\nand the moral instincts, so as to produce a well-rounded manhood, upon\nwhich a higher type of citizenship might be built. The development of\ncharacter appears, to us, to be of far greater importance, in the\npreparation of the youth for the discharge of the duties of public\nlife, than is mere political instruction; for only by introducing\nloftier ethical standards can the grade and quality of our citizenship\nbe raised.\n\nIt is universally conceded that ethics and civics should go hand in\nhand; and yet pupils pass through our schools by the thousand, without\nhaving their attention definitely called to this important subject; and\nonly an honest desire to aid in improving this state of affairs, has\nled to the preparation of these pages.\n\nThe plan of the book is simple in the extreme. It consists of\nthirty-nine chapters,--one for each week of the school year;--to eachof\nwhich has been prefixed five memory gems; one for each school day.\nEspecial care has been taken to use only such language as will be\nperfectly intelligible to the pupils for whom it is intended.\n\nThe largest possible use has been made of anecdote and incident, so as\nto quicken the interest and hold the attention to the end. These\nanecdotes have been selected from every available quarter, and no claim\nof originality is made concerning them or their use.\n\nInto each of those chapters which have to do directly with the\ndevelopment of the natural faculties, or the moral powers, a \"special\nillustration\" has been introduced; this being clearly marked off by the\ninsertion of its title in bold-faced type. To these special\nillustrations a brief bibliography has been added, in order that a\nfuller study of the character presented may be readily pursued where\ndeemed desirable. It is hoped that these special illustrations will not\nonly serve to increase the general interest; but that, by thus bringing\nthe pupil into direct contact with these greater minds, ambitions and\naspirations may be aroused which shall prove helpful in the later life.\n\nA careful presentation of each separate theme by the teacher, will not\nonly increase the interest in the work of the schoolroom; but, by\ndeveloping a higher type of citizenship, will be a real service to our\nnation.\n\n  THE AUTHORS.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nI. THE CHILD.\n\nI. THE EDUCATION OF THE NATURAL FACULTIES\nII. OBSERVATION\nIII. OBEDIENCE\nIV. CANDOR\nV. AFFECTION\nVI. CHEERFULNESS\nVII. LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL\nVIII. LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE\n\n\nII. THE YOUTH.\n\nIX. THE FIRST TRANSITION PERIOD\nX. INDUSTRY\nXI. AMBITION\nXII. CONCENTRATION\nXIII. SELF-CONTROL\nXIV. PERSEVERANCE\nXV. PROMPTNESS\nXVI. HONESTY\nXVII. COURTESY\nXVIII. SELF-DENIAL\nXIX. SELF-RESPECT\nXX. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS\nXXI. ENTHUSIASM\nXXII. COURAGE\nXXIII. SELF-HELP\nXXIV. HUMILITY\nXXV. FAITHFULNESS\n\n\nIII. THE MAN.\n\nXXVI. THE SECOND TRANSITION PERIOD\nXXVII. ORDER\nXXVIII. REVERENCE\nXXIX. SENTIMENT\nXXX. DUTY\nXXXI. TEMPERANCE\nXXXII. PATRIOTISM\nXXXIII. INDEPENDENCE\nXXXIV. THE IDEAL MAN\n\n\nIV. THE CITIZEN.\n\nXXXV. WHAT CONSTITUTES GOOD CITIZENSHIP?\nXXXVI. THE CITIZEN AND THE HOME\nXXXVII. THE CITIZEN AND THE COMMUNITY\nXXXVIII. THE CITIZEN AND THE NATION\nXXXIX. THE IDEAL CITIZEN\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nEDUCATION OF THE NATURAL FACULTIES.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nEvery man stamps his value on himself.--Schiller\n\nNo capital earns such interest as personal culture.--President Eliot\n\nThe end and aim of all education is the development of character.\n                                        --Francis W. Parker\n\nOne of the best effects of thorough intellectual training is a\n     knowledge of our own capacities.--Alexander Bain\n\nEducation is a growth toward intellectual and moral perfection.\n                                        --Nicholas Murray Butler\n\nEducation begins in the home, is continued through the public school\nand college, and finds inviting and ever-widening opportunities and\npossibilities throughout the entire course of life. The mere\nacquisition of knowledge, or the simple development of the intellect\nalone, may be of little value. Many who have received such imperfect or\none-sided education, have proved to be but ciphers in the world; while,\nagain, intellectual giants have sometimes been found to be but\nintellectual demons. Indeed, some of the worst characters in history\nhave been men of scholarly ability and of rare academic attainments.\n\nThe true education embraces the symmetrical development of mind, body\nand heart. An old and wise writer has said, \"Cultivate the physical\nexclusively, and you have an athlete or a savage; the moral only, and\nyou have an enthusiast or a maniac; the intellectual only, and you have\na diseased oddity,--it may be a monster. It is only by wisely training\nall of them together that the complete man may be found.\"\n\nTo cultivate anything--be it a plant, an animal, or a mind--is to make\nit grow. Nothing admits of culture but that which has a principle of\nlife capable of being expanded. He, therefore, who does what he can to\nunfold all his powers and capacities, especially his nobler ones, so as\nto become a well-proportioned, vigorous, excellent, happy being,\npractices self-culture, and secures a true education.\n\nIt is a commonplace remark that \"a man's faculties are strengthened by\nuse, and weakened by disuse.\" To change the form of statement, they\ngrow when they are fed and nourished, and decay when they are not fed\nand nourished. Moreover, every faculty demands appropriate food. What\nnourishes one will not always nourish another. Accordingly, one part of\nman's nature may grow while another withers; and one part may be fed\nand strengthened at the expense of another.\n\nIn Hawthorne's beautiful allegory, the \"Great Stone Face,\" you remember\nhow the man Ernest, by daily and admiring contemplation of the face,\nits dignity, its serenity, its benevolence, came, all unconsciously to\nhimself, to possess the same qualities, and to be transformed by them,\nuntil at last he stood revealed to his neighbors as the long promised\none, who should be like the Great Stone Face. So in every human life,\nthe unrealized self is the unseen but all-powerful force that brings\ninto subjection the will, guides the conduct, and determines the\ncharacter.\n\n\"The early life of Washington is singularly transparent as to the\ncreation and influence of the ideal. We see how one quality after\nanother was added, until the character became complete. Manly strength,\nathletic power and skill, appear first; then, courtesy and refined\nmanners; then, careful and exact business habits; then, military\nqualities; then, devotion to public service.\"\n\nSteadily, but rapidly, the transforming work went on, until the man was\ncomplete; the ideal was realized. Henceforth, the character, the man,\nappears under all the forms of occupation and office. Legislator,\ncommander, president; the man is in them all, though he is none of them.\n\nHalf the blunders of humanity come from not knowing one's self. If we\noverrate our abilities, we attempt more than we can accomplish; if we\nunderrate our abilities we fail to accomplish much that we attempt. In\nboth cases the life loses just so much from its sum of power.\n\nHe who might wield the golden scepter of the pen, never gets beyond the\nplow; or perhaps he who ought to be a shoemaker attempts the artistic\ncareer of an Apelles. When a life-work presents itself we ought to be\nable from our self-knowledge to say, \"I am, or am not, fitted to be\nuseful in that sphere.\"\n\nSydney Smith represents the various parts in life by holes of different\nshapes upon a table--some circular, some triangular, some square, some\noblong--and the persons acting these parts, by bits of wood of similar\nshapes, and he says, \"we generally find that the triangular person has\ngotten into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a\nsquare fellow has squeezed into the round hole.\"\n\nA fundamental need is to find out the elements of power within us, and\nhow they can be trained to good service and yoked to the chariot of\ninfluence. We need to know exactly for what work or sphere we are best\nfitted, so that when opportunities for service open before us, we may\ninvest our mental capital with success and profit.\n\nSelf-knowledge must not be confused with self-conceit; for it implies\nno immodesty or egotism. Even if the faithful study of one's self\nreveals a high order of natural gifts, it is not needful to imitate the\nson of the Emerald Isle who always lifted his hat and made an\nobsequious bow when he spoke of himself or mentioned his own name.\nGeorge Eliot hits off pompous self-conceit happily when she likens its\npossessor to \"a cock that thinks the sun rises in the morning to hear\nhim crow.\"\n\nMargaret Fuller wrote: \"I now know all the people in America worth\nknowing, and I have found no intellect comparable with my own.\" Even if\nshe did not overrate herself, such self-estimate implied no little\nboldness in expression. We also read in Greek history, how, when the\ncommanders of the allied fleets gave in, by request, a list of the\nnames of those who had shown the highest valor and skill at the battle\nof Salamis, each put his own name first, graciously according to\nThemistocles, the real hero of the day, the second rank.\n\nNot a few come to know themselves only through failures and\ndisappointments. Strangers to their own defects--perhaps also to their\nown powers--they see how they might have succeeded only when success is\nfinally forfeited. Their eyes open too late. A Southern orator tells of\na little colored lad who very much wished to have a kitten from a\nnewborn litter, and whose mistress promised that, as soon as they wer\nold enough, he should take one. Too impatient to wait, he slyly carried\none off to his hut. Its eyes were not open, and, in disgust, he drowned\nit. But, subsequently finding the kitten lying in the pail dead, but\nwith open eyes, he exclaimed, \"Umph! When you's alive, you's blind. Now\nyou's dead, you see!\" It will be a real calamity to us if our eyes only\nopen when it is too late to make our life of any use.\n\nAll true life-power has a basis of high _moral integrity_. Far higher in\nthe scale than any life of impulse, passion, or even opinion,\nis the life regulated by principle. The end of life is something more\nthan pleasure. Man is not a piece of vitalized sponge, to absorb all\ninto himself. The essentials of happiness are something to love,\nsomething to hope for, something to do--affection, aspiration, action.\n\nWe must also educate our dispositions. Some one has said: \"Disposition\nis a lens through which men and things are seen. A fiery temper, like a\nred glass, gives to all objects a lurid glare; a melancholic temper,\nlike a blue lens, imparts its own hue; through the green spectacles of\njealousy every one else becomes an object of distrust and dislike; and\nhe who looks through the black glass of malice, finds others wearing the\naspect of his own malevolence. Only the cheerful and charitable soul\nsees through a clear and colorless medium, whose transparency shows the\nworld as it is.\"\n\nDisposition has also its concave and convex lenses, which magnify some\nthings and minify others. The self-satisfied man sees every one's\nfaults in giant proportions; and every one's virtues, but his own,\ndwarfed into insignificance. To the fretful man others seem fretful; to\nthe envious man, envious; and so with the well-disposed, gentle, and\ngenerous; sunshine prevails over shadows. The world is different to\ndifferent observers, largely because they have different media through\nwhich they look at it.\n\nCheerful tempers manufacture solace and joy out of very unpromising\nmaterial. They are the magic alchemists who extract sweet essences out\nof bitter herbs, like the old colored woman in the smoky hut, who was\n\"glad of anything to make a smoke with,\" and, though she had but two\nteeth, thanked God they were \"_opposite each other!_\"\n\nGoodness outranks even uprightness, because the good man aims to do\ngood to others. Uprightness is the beauty of integrity; goodness is the\nloveliness of benevolence. The good man visits the hut of misery, the\nhovel of poverty, leaving in a gentle and delicate way, a few comforts\nfor the table or wardrobe, dainties for the fevered palate of the sick,\nor such other helps as the case may call for, as far as his means and\ncircumstances will allow.\n\nA true education should cover all these points, and many others also;\nbut it must never be allowed to destroy the pupil's individuality. It\nmust teach that a person can be himself, and study all the models he\npleases. Webster studied the orations of Cicero so thoroughly that he\ncould repeat most of them by heart; but they did not destroy or\ncompromise his individuality, because he did not try to be Cicero. It\nhas been said that Michael Angelo, who was the most original of ancient\nor modern artists, was more familiar with the model statues and\npaintings of the world than any other man. He studied the excellences\nof all the great works of art, not to copy or imitate them, but to\ndevelop his powers. \"As the food he consumed became bone and muscle by\nassimilation; so, by mental assimilation, the knowledge he acquired by\nart-models entered into the very composition of his mind.\"\n\nThe more thoroughly a man's nature is developed under the influences of\na good education, the more justly does he claim the liberty of thought\nand action, and a suitable field whereon to think and act. The\nmaterials of useful and honorable life--of life aiming at great and\nnoble ends--are within him. He feels it, he knows it to be so; and a\ndenial uttered by ten thousand voices would not check the ardor of his\npursuit, or induce him to surrender one atom of his claim. His claim\ninvolves a right. He is as conscious of it as of his existence. His\nmind has acquired the power of observing, reasoning, reflecting,\njudging, and acting; and he feels that, like a pendulum, the action of\nhis mind is capable of giving activity, force, and value, to a large\nbody of well-compacted machinery, of which he is a part.\n\nIt is the mind that acts as the universal pendulum; and if its liberty\nof action be circumscribed, and its vibrations consequently fall short\nof the mark, then its power will be crippled, and the life, as a whole\nwill be imperfect and incomplete.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nOBSERVATION.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nWe get out of Nature what we carry to her.--Katherine Hagar\n\nFools learn nothing from wise men, but wise men learn much from fools.\n                                --Lavater\n\nThe non-observant man goes through the forest and sees no firewood.\n                                --Russian Proverb\n\nSome men will learn more in a country stage-ride than others in a tour\n    of Europe.--Dr. Johnson\n\nThe world is full of thoughts, and you will find them strewed\n    everywhere in your path.--Elihu Burritt\n\n\nAll conscious life begins in observation. We say of a baby, \"See how he\n_notices!_\" By this statement we really call attention to the fact\nthat the child is beginning to be interested in things separate from and\noutside of himself. Up to this time he has _seen_ but not\n_observed_, for to observe is to \"see with attention\"; to \"notice\nwith care\"; to see with the mind as well as with the eye. There are many\npersons who see almost everything but observe almost nothing. They are\nforever fluttering over the surface of things, but put forth no real\neffort to secure and preserve the ideas they ought to gather from the\nscenes through which they pass.\n\nEvery boy and girl in the land, possessing a good pair of eyes, has the\nmeans for acquiring a vast store of knowledge. As the child, long\nbefore he can talk, obtains a pretty good idea of the little world that\nlies within his vision; so may all bright, active boys and girls\nobtain, by correct habits of observation, a knowledge that will the\nbetter fit them for the active duties of manhood and womanhood.\n\nThe active, observing eye is the sign of intelligence; while the vacant,\nlistless stare of indifference betokens an empty brain. The eyes are\nplaced in an elevated position that they may better observe all that\ncomes within their range. These highways to the soul should always stand\nwide open, ready to carry inward all such impressions as will add to our\nknowledge.\n\nNo object the eye ever beholds, no sound, however slight, caught by the\near, or anything once passing the turnstile of any of the senses, is\never again let go. The eye is a perpetual camera, imprinting upon the\nsensitive mental plates, and packing away in the brain for future use,\nevery face, every plant and flower, every scene upon the street, in\nfact, everything which comes within its range. It should, therefore, be\neasy to discern that since mere seeing may create false impressions in\nthe mind, and that only by careful observation can we gather for future\nuse such impressions as are thoroughly reliable, we cannot well\noverestimate the importance of its cultivation.\n\nIt is beyond question that childhood and early youth are the most\nfavorable periods for the cultivation of this faculty. Not only is the\nmind then more free from care, and, therefore, more at leisure to\nobserve, but it is also more easy to interest one's self in the common\nthings, which, while they lie nearest to us, make up by far the greater\nportion of our lives. Experience also proves that a person is not a good\nobserver at the age of twenty, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred he\nwill never become one. \"The student,\" says Hugh Miller, \"should learn to\nmake a right use of his eyes; the commonest things are worth looking at;\neven the stones and weeds, and the most familiar animals. Then in early\nmanhood he is prepared to study men and things in a way to make success\neasy and sure.\"\n\nHoudin, the magician, spent a month in cultivating the observing powers\nof his son. Together they walked rapidly past the window of a large toy\nstore. Then each would write down the things that he had seen. The boy\nsoon became so expert that one glance at a show window would enable him\nto write down the names of forty different objects. The boy could easily\noutdo his father.\n\nThe power of observation in the American Indian would put many an\neducated white man to shame. Returning home, an Indian discovered that\nhis venison, which had been hanging up to dry, had been stolen. After\ncareful observation he started to track the thief through the woods.\nMeeting a man on the route, he asked him if he had seen a little, old,\nwhite man, with a short gun, and with a small bob-tailed dog. The man\ntold him he had met such a man, but was surprised to find that the\nIndian had not even seen the one he described. He asked the Indian how\nhe could give such a minute description of a man whom he had never seen.\n\n\"I knew the thief was a little man,\" said the Indian, \"because he rolled\nup a stone to stand on in order to reach the venison; I knew he was an\nold man by his short steps; I knew he was a white man by his turning out\nhis toes in walking, which an Indian never does; I knew he had a short\ngun by the mark it left on the tree where he had stood it up; I knew the\ndog was small by his tracks and short steps, and that he had a bob-tail\nby the mark it left in the dust where he sat.\"\n\nThe poet Longfellow has also dwelt upon the power of observation in the\nearly training of Hiawatha. You will perhaps recall the lines:\n\n  \"Then the little Hiawatha\n   Learned of every bird its language,\n   Learned their names and all their secrets,\n   How they built their nests in summer,\n   Where they hid themselves in winter,\n   Talked with them whene'er he met them,\n   Called them 'Hiawatha's Chickens.'\"\n\nThe most noted men of every land and age have acquired their fame by\ncarrying into effect ideas suggested by or obtained from observation.\n\nThe head of a large commercial firm was once asked why he employed such\nan ignorant man for a buyer. He replied: \"It is true that our buyer\ncannot spell correctly; but when anything comes within the range of his\neyes, he sees all that there is to be seen. He buys over a million\ndollars' worth a year for us, and I cannot recall any instance when he\nfailed to notice a defect in any line of goods or any feature that would\nbe likely to render them unsalable.\" This man's highly developed power\nof observation was certainly of great value.\n\nCareful observers become accurate thinkers. These are the men that are\nneeded everywhere and by everybody. By observation the scholar gets more\nout of his books, the traveler more enjoyment from the beauties of\nnature, and the young person who is quick to read human character avoids\ncompanions that would be likely to lead him into the ways of vice and\nfolly, and perhaps cause his life to become a total wreck.\n\n\nJOHN JAMES AUDUBON.\n\nIn 1828 a wonderful book, \"The Birds of America,\" by John James Audubon,\nwas issued. It is a good illustration of what has been accomplished by\nbeginning in one's youth to use the powers of observation. Audubon loved\nand studied birds. Even in his infancy, lying under the orange trees on\nhis father's plantation in Louisiana, he listened to the mocking bird's\nsong, watching and observing every motion as it flitted from bough to\nbough. When he was older he began to sketch every bird that he saw, and\nsoon showed so much talent that he was taken to France to be educated.\n\nHe entered cheerfully and earnestly upon his studies, and more than a\nyear was devoted to mathematics; but whenever it was possible he rambled\nabout the country, using his eyes and fingers, collecting more\nspecimens, and sketching with such assiduity that when he left France,\nonly seventeen years old, he had finished two hundred drawings of French\nbirds. At this period he tells us that \"it was not the desire of fame\nwhich prompted to this devotion; it was simply the enjoyment of nature.\"\n\nA story is told of his lying on his back in the woods with some moss for\nhis pillow, and looking through a telescopic microscope day after day to\nwatch a pair of little birds while they made their nest. Their peculiar\ngrey plumage harmonized with the color of the bark of the tree, so that\nit was impossible to see the birds except by the most careful\nobservation. After three weeks of such patient labor, he felt that he\nhad been amply rewarded for the toil and sacrifice by the results he had\nobtained.\n\nHis power of observation gave him great happiness, from the time he\nrambled as a boy in the country in search of treasures of natural\nhistory, till, in his old age, he rose with the sun and went straightway\nto the woods near his home, enjoying still the beauties and wonders of\nNature. His strength of purpose and unwearied energy, combined with his\npure enthusiasm, made him successful in his work as a naturalist; but it\nwas all dependent on the habit formed in his boyhood,--this habit of\nclose and careful observation; and he not only had this habit of using\nhis eyes, but he looked at and studied things worth seeing, worth\nremembering.\n\nThis brief sketch of Audubon's boyhood shows the predominant traits of\nhis character,--his power of observation, the training of the eye and\nhand, that made him in manhood \"the most distinguished of American\nornithologists,\" with so much scientific ardor and perseverance that no\nexpedition seemed dangerous, or solitude inaccessible, when he was\nengaged in his favorite study.\n\nHe has left behind him, as the result of his labors, his great book on\n\"The Birds of America,\" in ten volumes; and illustrated with four\nhundred and forty-eight colored plates of over one thousand species of\nbirds, all drawn by his own hand, and each bird being represented in its\nnatural size; also a \"Biography of American Birds,\" in five large\nvolumes, in which he describes their habits and customs. He was\nassociated with Dr. Bachman of Philadelphia, in the preparation of a\nwork on \"The Quadrupeds of America,\" in six large volumes, the drawings\nfor which were made by his two sons; and, later on, published his\n\"Biography of American Quadrupeds,\" a work similar to the \"Biography of\nthe Birds.\" He died at what is known as \"Audubon Park,\" on the Hudson,\nnow within the limits of New York city, in 1851, at the age of seventy.\n\n[Footnote: For fuller information concerning Audubon, consult \"Life and\nAdventures of John J. Audubon,\" by Robert Buchanan (New York,\n1869); Griswold's \"Prose Writers of America\" (Philadelphia, 1847); Mrs.\nHorace St. John's \"Audubon the Naturalist\" (New York, 1856); Rev. C. C.\nAdams's \"Journal of the Life and Labors of J. J. Audubon\" (Boston,\n1860), and \"Audubon and his Journals,\" by M. R. Audubon (New York,\n1897).]\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nOBEDIENCE.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nLove makes obedience easy.--T. Watson\n\nThe education of the will is the object of our existence.--Emerson\n\nTo learn obeying is the fundamental art of governing.--Carlyle\n\nTrue obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.--Francis Quarles\n\nIf thou wouldst be obeyed as a father, be obedient as a son.\n                          --William Penn\n\n\nBy obedience is meant submission to authority, and to proper restraint\nand control. It is the doing of that which we are told to do; and the\nrefraining from that which is forbidden. At its very best it may be\ndefined as the habit of yielding willingly to command or restraint.\n\nAs observation forms the first step in the culture of the mind, so\nobedience forms the first step in the building of the character. It is\nas important to the life as is the foundation to the house. Thomas\nCarlyle has well said that \"Obedience is our universal duty and destiny,\nwherein whosoever will not bend must break.\" It is impossible to escape\nfrom it altogether, and it is therefore wise to learn to obey as early\nin life as possible.\n\nIt does not take very long for a child to learn that it cannot do\neverything that it would like to do. The wishes of others must be\nregarded. These wishes spring from a knowledge of what is best.\nChildren, with their limited experiences, cannot always foresee the\nconsequences of their doings. For their own good they must not be\nallowed to do anything that would result in harm to themselves or to\nothers. Some one must oversee and direct them until they can act\nintelligently. Obedience is one of the principal laws of the family. The\nharmony and peace of the entire household depend upon it.\n\nTrue obedience does not argue nor dispute; neither does it delay nor\nmurmur. It goes directly to work to fulfil the commands laid upon us, or\nto refrain from doing that which is forbidden. \"Sir,\" said the Duke of\nWellington to an officer of engineers, who urged the impossibility of\nexecuting his orders, \"I did not ask your opinion. I gave you my orders,\nand I expect them to be obeyed.\"\n\nA story is told of a great captain, who, after a battle, was talking\nover the events of the day with his officers. He asked them who had done\nthe best that day. Some spoke of one man who had fought very bravely,\nand some of another. \"No,\" said he, \"you are all mistaken. The best man\nin the field to-day was a soldier, who was just lifting his arm to\nstrike an enemy, but when he heard the trumpet sound a retreat, checked\nhimself, and dropped his arm without striking a blow. That perfect and\nready obedience to the will of his general, is the noblest thing that\nhas been done to-day.\"\n\nThe instant obedience of the child is as beautiful and as important as\nthat of the soldier. The unhesitating obedience which springs from a\nloving confidence is beautifully illustrated in the following incident:\nA switchman in Prussia was stationed at the junction of two lines of\nrailroad. His hand was on the lever for a train that was approaching.\nThe engine was within a few seconds of reaching his signal box when, on\nturning his head, the switchman saw his little boy playing on the line\nof rails over which the train was to pass. \"Lie down!\" he shouted to the\nchild; but, he himself, remained at his post. The train passed safely on\nits way. The father rushed forward, expecting to take up a corpse; but\nwhat was his joy on finding that the boy had obeyed his order so\npromptly that the whole train had passed over him without injury. The\nnext day the king sent for the man and attached to his breast the medal\nfor civil courage.\n\nA cheerful obedience is one of the strongest proofs of love. \"Love is to\nobedience like wings to the bird, or sails to the ship. It is the agency\nthat carries it forward to success. When love cools, obedience slackens;\nand nothing is worthy of the name of love that leads to disobedience.\"\n\nWe remember the anecdote of a Roman commander, who forbade an engagement\nwith the enemy, and the first transgressor was his own son. He accepted\nthe challenge of the leader of the other host, slew and disrobed him,\nand then in triumph carried the spoils to his father's tent. But the\nRoman father refused to recognize the instinct which prompted this, as\ndeserving the name of love.\n\nMany of the restraints laid upon us result from the love of those in\nauthority. If we were permitted to pursue our own inclinations, our\nhealth might be destroyed, our minds run to waste, and we should be apt\nto grow up slothful and selfish; a trouble to others and burdensome to\nourselves. It is far easier to obey our parents and friends when we\nrecall that we have experienced their goodness long enough to know that\nthey wish to make us happy, even when their commands seem most severe.\nLet us, therefore, show our appreciation of their goodness by doing\ncheerfully what they require.\n\nThe will is supported, strengthened, and perfected by obedience. There\nare many who suppose that real strength of will is secured by giving it\nfree play. But we really weaken it in that way. Obedience to a\nreasonable law is a source of moral strength and power. Obedience is not\nweakness bowing to strength, but is rather submission to an authority\nwhose claims are already admitted. If a man is royal when he rules over\nnature, and yet more royal when he rules his brother man, is he not most\nroyal when he so rules himself as to do the right even when it is\ndistasteful?\n\nA man who had declared his aversion for what he called the dry facts of\npolitical economy, was found one day knitting his brows over a book on\nthat subject. When a friend expressed surprise, the man replied: \"I am\nplaying the schoolmaster with myself. I am reading this because I\ndislike it.\"\n\nDifficulties are often really helpful. They enlarge our experience and\nincite us to do our best. \"The head of Hercules,\" says Ruskin, \"was\nalways represented as covered with a lion's skin, with the claws joining\nunder the chin, to show that when we had conquered our misfortunes they\nbecame a help to us.\"\n\nOne of the greatest hindrances to obedience is a false pride. The\nthought of living under the will and direction of another is exceedingly\nunpleasant, and where such a pride bears rule in the heart, a cheerful\nobedience is almost an impossibility. We often fail to obey simply\nbecause we are unwilling to acknowledge ourselves in the wrong.\n\nObedience is also hindered by ignorance. One of our commonest errors is\nthat which teaches that authority is always pleasant, and submission\nalways painful. The actual experiences of life prove that the place of\ncommand is usually a position of great anxiety, while the place of\nobedience is generally one of ease and freedom from care.\n\nIndolence also opposes obedience. In our selfish love of ease we allow\nduties to go undone until the habit of disobedience becomes almost\nunnoticeable; but when we find ourselves compelled to resist it, we then\ndiscover that to break away from its power is one of the hardest tasks\nwe can be called upon to perform.\n\n\nTHE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.\n\nA very striking example of prompt and unquestioning obedience is\nfurnished us in that famous \"Charge of the Light Brigade\" at Balaclava,\nduring the Crimean War, of which you have all doubtless heard. A series\nof engagements between the Russians on the one side, and the English and\ntheir allies on the other side, took place near this little town, on\nOctober 25, 1854. The Russians were for a time victorious, and at last\nthreatened the English port of Balaclava itself. The attack was diverted\nby a brilliant charge of the Heavy Brigade, led by General Scarlett.\nThen, through a misunderstanding of the orders of Lord Raglan, the\ncommander-in-chief, Lord Cardigan was directed to charge the Russian\nartillery at the northern extremity of the Balaclava valley with the\nLight Brigade, then under his command.\n\nLord Cardigan was an exceedingly unpopular officer, and greatly disliked\nby all his men, But no sooner was the order given than, with a battery\nin front of them, and one on either side, the Light Brigade hewed its\nway past these deadly engines of war and routed the enemy's cavalry. Of\nthe six hundred and seventy horsemen who made the charge, only one\nhundred and ninety-eight returned. As an act of war it was madness. In\nthe opinion of the most competent judges there was no good end to be\ngained by it. But as an act of soldierly obedience it was sublime. The\ndeed has been immortalized by the poet Tennyson in the following verses:\n\n  I.\n  Half a league, half a league,\n  Half a league onward,\n  All in the valley of Death\n   Rode the six hundred.\n \"Forward, the Light Brigade!\n  Charge for the guns!\" he said:\n  Into the valley of Death\n   Rode the six hundred.\n\n  II.\n \"Forward, the Light Brigade!\"\n  Was there a man dismay'd?\n  Not tho' the soldier knew\n   Some one had blunder'd:\n  Theirs not to make reply,\n  Theirs not to reason why,\n  Theirs but to do and die:\n  Into the valley of Death\n   Rode the six hundred.\n\n  III.\n  Cannon to right of them,\n  Cannon to left of them,\n  Cannon in front of them\n   Volley'd and thunder'd;\n  Storm'd at with shot and shell\n  Boldly they rode and well,\n  Into the jaws of Death,\n  Into the mouth of Hell\n   Rode the six hundred.\n\n  IV.\n  Flash'd all their sabers bare,\n  Flash'd as they turn'd in air\n  Sabring the gunners there,\n  Charging an army, while\n   All the world wonder'd:\n  Plunged in the battery-smoke,\n  Right thro' the line they broke;\n  Cossack and Russian\n  Reel'd from the saber-stroke\n   Shattered and sunder'd.\n  Then they rode back, but not\n   Not the six hundred.\n\n  V.\n  Cannon to right of them,\n  Cannon to left of them,\n  Cannon behind them\n   Volley'd and thunder'd;\n  Storm'd at with shot and shell,\n  While horse and hero fell,\n  They that had fought so well\n  Came thro' the jaws of Death\n  Back from the mouth of Hell,\n  All that was left of them,\n   Left of six hundred.\n\n  VI.\n  When can their glory fade?\n  O the wild charge they made!\n   All the world wonder'd.\n  Honor the charge they made!\n  Honor the Light Brigade,\n   Noble six hundred!\n\n[Footnote: For the story of the Crimean War, consult \"Encyclopedia\nBritannica\", Vol. VIII., p. 366; also Vol. XVII., pp. 228 and 486.]\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nCANDOR.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nTruth lies at the bottom of the well.--Old Proverb\n\nCandor looks with equal fairness at both sides of a subject.\n                  --Noah Webster\n\nDaylight and truth meet us with clear dawn.--Milton\n\nPerfect openness is the only principle on which a free people can be\n    governed.--C. B. Yonge\n\nThere is no fear for any child who is frank with his father and\n    mother.--Buskin\n\n\nCandor and frankness are so closely akin to each other that we may\nproperly study them together. Each of these words has an interesting\norigin. \"Candor\" comes from a Latin word meaning \"_to be white_\";\nwhile \"frankness\" is derived from the name of the Franks, who were a\npowerful German tribe honorably distinguished for their love of freedom\nand their scorn of a lie. A candid man is one who is disposed to think\nand judge according to truth and justice, and without partiality or\nprejudice; while the one word _frank_ is used to express anything\nthat is generous, straightforward and free.\n\nCandor is a virtue which is everywhere commended, though not quite so\nprevalent in the world as might be expected. There are doctors who never\ntell a patient they can make nothing of his case, or that it is one\nwhich requires the attention of a specialist. There are lawyers who\nnever assure a client that it is hopeless for him to expect to gain his\nsuit. And so, in all trades and professions, candor is as rare as it is\ngood.\n\nThe lack of a simple and straightforward statement of such facts as are\nin our possession, often leads to serious misunderstanding and sometimes\nto serious loss.\n\nFrankness is a combination of truthfulness and courage. Its usefulness\ndepends largely on its association with other qualities and\ncircumstances; but to be frank is simply to dare to be truthful. There\nare many men who would scorn to tell a lie, who are destitute of\nfrankness because they hesitate to face the consequences of perfect\nopenness of speech or conduct.\n\nAn Irishman, who had neglected to thatch his cottage, was one day asked\nby a gentleman with whom he was conversing, \"Did it rain yesterday?\"\nInstead of making a direct and candid reply, he sought to hide his\nfault, which he supposed had been discovered; and the conversation\nproceeded as follows. \"Did it rain yesterday?\" asked his friend. \"Is it\nyesterday you mean?\" was the reply. \"Yes, yesterday.\" \"Please your\nhonor, I wasn't at the bog at all yesterday,--wasn't I after setting my\npotatoes?\" \"My good friend, I don't know what you mean about the bog; I\nonly asked you whether it rained yesterday?\" \"Please your honor, I\ncouldn't get a car and horse any way, to draw home my little straw, or\nI'd have the house thatched long ago.\" \"Cannot you give me a plain\nanswer to this plain question--Did it rain yesterday?\" \"Oh sure, I\nwouldn't go to tell your honor a lie about the matter. Sorrah much it\nrained yesterday after twelve o'clock, barring a few showers.\" Of course\nthere will be no difficulty in seeing that such a conversation could not\nbe entirely satisfactory to either party.\n\nThe virtue we are now recommending is in daily and hourly demand, and of\nhigh and priceless value. But here also we must beware of counterfeits.\nA smooth outward manner, a countenance clothed with perpetual smiles,\nand an address distinguished by gentleness and insinuation, may be\nassumed for selfish ends. A truly candid man is neither carried away by\nungenerous suspicion, nor by a weak acceptance of the views of others;\nand the whole constitution of his mind must be entirely changed before\nhe can become capable of deceit.\n\nFrankness has often been counterfeited by mere _bluster_. A couple\nof striking examples of this fact are brought into view in the recently\npublished \"Life and Letters of Charles Darwin,\" in which, speaking of\nhis childhood, Mr. Darwin says: \"One little event has fixed itself very\nfirmly in my mind, and I hope it has done so from my conscience having\nbeen afterward sorely troubled by it. It is curious as showing that\napparently I was interested at this early age in the variability of\nplants! I told another little boy that I could produce variously colored\nprimroses by watering them with certain colored fluids, which was of\ncourse a monstrous fable, and has never been tried by me. I may here\nalso confess that as a little boy I was much given to inventing\ndeliberate falsehoods, and this was always done for the sake of causing\nexcitement. For instance, I once gathered much valuable fruit from my\nfather's trees and hid it in the shrubbery, and then ran in breathless\nhaste to spread the news that I had discovered a hoard of stolen fruit.\"\n\nMr. Darwin also relates the following incident, as illustrating the lack\nof truthfulness and candor on the part of another: \"I must have been a\nvery simple fellow when I first went to school. A boy of the name of\nGarnett took me into a cake shop one day, and bought some cakes for\nwhich he did not pay, as the shopman trusted him. When we came out I\nasked him why he did not pay for them, and he instantly answered, 'Why,\ndo you not know that my uncle left a great sum of money to the town on\ncondition that every tradesman should give whatever was wanted without\npayment to any one who wore his old hat and moved it in a particular\nmanner?' He then showed me how to move the hat, and said, 'Now, if you\nwould like to go yourself into that cake shop, I will lend you my hat,\nand you can get whatever you like if you move the hat on your head\nproperly.' I gladly accepted the generous offer, and went in and asked\nfor some cakes, moved the old hat, and was walking out of the shop, when\nthe shopman made a rush at me; so I dropped the cakes and ran for dear\nlife, and was astonished by being greeted with shouts of laughter by my\nfalse friend Garnett.\" The same truth is illustrated in the case of an\naffected young lady who, on being asked, in a large company, if she had\nread Shakespeare, assumed a look of astonishment and replied: \"Read\nShakespeare! Of course I have! I read that when it first came out!\"\n\nFrankness and candor will always win respect and friendship, and will\nalways retain them; and the consciousness of having such a treasure, and\nof being worthy of it, is more than wealth and honors. A man quickly\nfinds when he is unworthy of public respect or private friendship; and\nthe leaden weight he carries ever in his heart, cannot be lightened by\nany success or any gratification he may secure. But the man of upright\ncharacter, and proper self-respect, will never meet with such trials as\ncan deprive him of that higher happiness which rests in his own breast.\n\nTrue candor is manly and leads directly to the development of nobility\nboth of principle and conduct. The late Hon. William P. Fessenden once\nmade a remark which was understood as an insult to Mr. Seward. When\ninformed of it, and seeing such a meaning could be given to his words,\nhe instantly went to Mr. Seward, and said, \"Mr. Seward, I have insulted\nyou: I am sorry for it. I did not mean it.\" This apology, so prompt,\nfrank, and perfect, so delighted Mr. Seward, that, grasping him by the\nhand, he exclaimed, \"God bless you, Fessenden! I wish you would insult\nme again!\" Such an exhibition of real manliness as this may well be\ncited as worthy of the imitation of the youth of the land.\n\n\nDEAN STANLEY.\n\nIn \"Tom Brown's Schooldays,\" that charming book, so dear to all\nwide-awake boys, there is a scene in which little Arthur is introduced\nin the act of kneeling beside his bed, on his first night at school, for\nthe purpose of saying his prayers according to the custom he had always\nobserved at his home. We are not so much concerned with the fact that he\nwas ridiculed and persecuted by the older boys, as with the further\nfactthat this boy Arthur is said to bear a remarkable resemblance to\nArthur Penrhyn Stanley, whose name is everywhere known as the late Dean\nof Westminster Abbey, the most famous church in England, if not of the\nworld at large. Arthur Stanley was one of the first boys to go to Rugby\nafter the great Dr. Arnold took charge of the school, and an early\nillustration of his candor and open-mindedness is shown in his immediate\nand public appreciation of the splendid qualities of his master, at a\ntime when Dr. Arnold was so generally abused, and even branded as an\ninfidel. Dr. Arnold was indeed a noble teacher, and the very man to\ndevelop the best faculties in young Arthur Stanley; for one of the\ndoctor's own strongest traits was this same open-mindedness.\nThe frankness and candor, the directness and fearlessness with which\nStanley ever gave expression to his views; the purity and \"whiteness\" of\nhis mind, and the sweetness and tenderness of his disposition,--all\nthese had a part in the building of his fame. But it was chiefly in his\npower to free himself from prejudice and to look fairly at all sides of\nthe complex questions with which both he and the church to which he\nbelonged were so frequently brought face to face, that gave him his\ngreat popular influence, and made him so great a champion of religious\nliberty. Truth, simplicity and innocence are three jewels which many men\nbarter for worldly honor and success; but Stanley held to these as with\na grip of steel; and, through their influence, he succeeded where a\nscore of the great men of his day had already failed.\n\nTo tell of all that candor and frankness have done for humanity would be\nto trace the beginnings of the overthrow of almost every wrong. Other\nqualities are of course essential to all noble reformers--courage and\nfaith and enthusiasm; but open-mindedness, which grows out of candor and\nfrankness, is the one pioneer that recognizes the opportunity of the\nhour and is willing to walk in the new light. Candor is the sign of a\nnoble mind. It is the pride of the true man, the charm of the noble\nwoman, the defeat and mockery of the hypocrite, and the rarest virtue of\nsociety.\n\n[Footnote: An admirable sketch of the career of Dean Stanley will be\nfound in Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia, Vol. VII., p. 697. See also\n\"Life of Dean Stanley,\" by R. E. Prothero (London and New York, 1894).]\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nAFFECTION.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nGratitude is the music of the heart.--Robert South.\n\nThe best way of recognizing a benefit is never to forget it.\n                    --J. J. Barthelmey\n\nThe affection and the reason are both necessary factors in morality.\n                    --Fowler\n\nTrue love burns hottest when the weather is coldest.--Swinnock\n\n  The mind has a thousand eyes,\n  And the heart but one;\n  Yet the light of a whole life dies\n  When love is done.--F. W. Bourdillon\n\nOne of the most powerful forces in the building of character is\naffection; and one of the most common forms of its manifestation is\ngratitude. The exercise of affection makes us tender and loving toward\nall living persons and creatures about us; while the exercise of\ngratitude usually results in making them tender and loving toward us.\n\nEvery boy and girl should endeavor to cultivate this spirit of\naffectionate consideration for the feelings of others, and should be\ncareful not to speak any word, or do any act, or even give any look\nwhich can cause unnecessary pain. And yet there are many young people,\nwho have never been taught better, who take exceeding pleasure in\ncausing annoyance and even suffering to all with whom they have to do.\nThis is done with the simple idea of having a little fun; but it is one\nof the worst habits we can possibly form, and should be carefully\navoided by all who would command the respect and esteem which every\nyoung person should desire to possess.\n\nPerhaps you have heard the story of the youth who, while walking out\nwith his tutor, saw a pair of shoes that a poor laborer had left under a\nhedge while he was busied with his work. \"What fun it would be,\"\nexclaimed the young man, \"to hide these shoes, and then to conceal\nourselves behind the hedge, and see the man's surprise and excitement\nwhen he cannot find them.\" \"I will tell you what would be better sport,\"\nsaid the tutor; \"put a piece of money into one of the shoes, and then\nhide and watch his surprise when he finds it.\" This the young man did;\nand the joy and wonder of the poor laborer when he found the money in\nhis shoe was as good fun as he wanted.\n\nWe all know what the feeling of gratitude is. We have said \"Thank you,\"\na great many times; and have often felt really grateful in our hearts\nfor gifts and favors received. But we are too apt to forget that we have\nany one to thank for the most important benefits of our lives. When we\nstop to think, we see that all we have done or can do for ourselves is\nvery little indeed in comparison with what has been done for us.\n\nHow much we owe to our parents! What other creature in the world is so\nhelpless as the human infant? Leave a little baby to take care of\nitself, and how long do you suppose it would live? How many of us would\nbe alive to-day, if in our earliest years we had not been provided for\nand watched over with tender care? But the outward benefits for which\nchildren have to thank their parents are of less value than the lessons\nof truth and goodness which are never so well taught as by the lips of\na faithful and devoted father and mother. To these lessons the greatest\nand best men generally look back with the deepest gratitude.\n\nA child's affection for his parents ought to make him tender toward them\nwhen age or disease has made them irritable or complaining. A love that\nonly accepts, and never gives, is not worthy of the name.\n\nSometimes we hear of old men and women who are left to die alone, whose\nchildren have deserted them, and who have no friends in the world. These\ncases seem pitiful enough, and it breaks our hearts to think of them.\nBut usually the men and women who are left desolate in their old age are\nthose who have been unloving in their youth. \"A man that hath friends\nmust show himself friendly,\" and an aged man or woman who has made\nfriends through life, and been full of love and affection toward others,\nis tolerably sure to be tenderly cared for in later years. But true\naffection is never eager for returns. We love because we must love;\nnever because we expect to be loved in return. We do for others because\nwe wish to make them happy; and not because we wish them to do for us.\n\nKindness and generosity have their place in the playground. There may be\nthoughtfulness for one who is weaker than the rest, or who is a\nnewcomer, or who, for any reason, is neglected by others. There is an\nopportunity to stand up for those who are ill-used. There is a generous\nsympathy for those who, in any way, are having a hard time.\n\nIn all these ways boys and girls, when they are at play, show pretty\nwell what they are going to be in later life. When Napoleon was at a\nmilitary school, the boys were one day playing at war. One set of them\nheld a fort which the others were trying to capture. The boy, Napoleon,\nled the attacking party. In the midst of the fight there was a flourish\nof trumpets, and a party of officers entered, who had come to inspect\nthe school. The boys that held the fort forgot their play, and stood\nstaring at the entering group. Napoleon did not lose his head for a\nmoment. He kept his party up to their work. He took advantage of the\ninterruption, and when the besieged recovered their wits, their fort\nwas captured. He was already the Napoleon who in the real battles of\nlater years knew how to turn so many seemingly adverse circumstances to\ngood account.\n\nWe always think of Sir Walter Scott as a very affectionate man; but once\nwhen he was a boy he saw a dog coming toward him and carelessly threw a\nstone at him. The stone broke the dog's leg. The poor creature had\nstrength to crawl up to him and lick his feet. This incident, he\nafterward said, had given him the bitterest remorse. He never forgot it.\nFrom that moment he resolved never to be unkind to any animal. We know\nthat he kept that resolution, for he wrote many of his novels with his\nfaithful dogs Maida, Nimrod, and Bran near him. When Maida died he had\na sculptured monument of her set up before his door.\n\nWe all know boys who throw stones at animals from pure thoughtlessness\nand love of fun. But no boy with a really affectionate nature can bear\nto make an animal or a human being suffer pain. A boy who begins by\nbeing cruel to animals usually ends by being cruel to women and\nchildren. A girl who habitually forgets to feed her kitten or her\ncanary birds, will be apt to forget her child later in life.\n\nHalf a century ago there lived in the state of Massachusetts a very\nremarkable man named Thoreau. This man became so deeply interested in\nthe animal world that he built a little hut for himself near Walden\npond, and he there lived in the closest sympathy with the birds and\nanimals for more than two years. It is said that even the snakes loved\nhim, and would wind round his legs; and on taking a squirrel from a tree\nthe little creature would hide its head in his waistcoat. The fish in\nthe river knew him and would let him lift them out of the water, and the\nlittle wood-mice came and nibbled at the cheese he held in his hand. It\nwas Thoreau's love for the little wild creatures which drew them to him,\nfor animals are as responsive to love as are human beings.\n\nJohn Howard gave his life to the work of improving the condition of\nprisons all over the world, and finally he died alone in Russia of jail\nfever. He was followed in his labors by Elizabeth Fry in England, and by\nDorothea Dix in America. These noble philanthropists were filled with\nunselfish love toward suffering humanity. They devoted their lives to\nthe neglected and forsaken, including the whole world in their generous\nhearts; and their names and deeds will never be forgotten.\n\nThere are two principal ways in which our kindly feelings may be made\nknown: First, _in our words_. It is pleasant to those who do us\nfavors to know that we appreciate their kindness, and we should never\nfail to tell them so. This is often all the return that they expect or\nask; besides, it is good for us. We strengthen our feelings by giving\nthem suitable expression. Loveless at last is the home in which no word\nof love is ever heard. The grateful feeling to which one gives utterance\nkindles the same feeling in the hearts of those who hear.\n\nSecond, _in our deeds_. If we are really grateful we are not satisfied\nwith simply saying, \"Thank you,\" to those who have been kind to us, even\nwhen we know this is all they expect. We wish to render them some\nservice in return. In the case of our parents, as long as they are with\nus, we can best do this by doing cheerfully what they ask us to do, by\nthoughtfully anticipating their wishes, and by trying to be as pure and\ngood as we know they want us to be.\n\n\nABRAHAM LINCOLN.\n\nAbraham Lincoln was a poor boy. His early life was full of hardships;\nbut many a kind friend helped him in his struggle against poverty. Among\nthese friends of his early youth was one, Jack Armstrong, of New Salem,\nIllinois, whose kind, good-hearted wife performed for Lincoln many a\nmotherly act of kindness. She made his clothes and \"got him something to\neat while he rocked the baby.\" Years passed by. Lincoln became a\nsuccessful lawyer. Soon after he had entered upon the practice of his\nprofession at Springfield, his old friend, Jack Armstrong died. The baby\nwhom Lincoln had rocked grew into a stout but dissolute young man. He\nwas arrested, charged with the crime of murder. \"Aunt Hannah,\" as\nLincoln used to call her, was heartbroken with sorrow for her poor,\nmisguided boy. In her grief she appealed to the \"noble, good Abe,\" who\nhad rocked her son when he was a baby. The appeal brought tears to the\neyes of Lincoln. His generous heart was touched. He resolved to\ndischarge the debt of gratitude which neither his great success in life\nnor the intervening years had erased from his memory. He pledged his\nservices without charge.\n\n\"Aunt Hannah\" believed that her boy was innocent and that others wished\nto fasten the crime upon him because of his bad reputation. The\ncircumstances of the case were as follows: While Armstrong was in the\ncompany of several fast young men, they became intoxicated. A \"free\nfight\" ensued in which a young fellow named Metzgar was killed. After\nhearing the facts, Lincoln was convinced that the young man was not\nguilty, and resolved to do his best to save him from the gallows.\n\nLincoln secured a postponement of the trial and spent much time in\ntracing the evidence. He labored as hard to pay his old debt of\ngratitude as he would have done if he had been offered a five thousand\ndollar fee.\n\nThe day for the trial came. Lincoln threw his whole soul into the effort\nto defend the life of his client. He succeeded in proving his innocence\nbeyond the shadow of a doubt. The closing of his plea was a marvel of\neloquence. He depicted the loneliness and sorrow of the widowed mother,\nwhose husband had once welcomed to his humble home a strange and\npenniless boy. \"That boy now stands before you pleading for the life of\nhis benefactor's son.\"\n\nWhen the jury brought in the verdict, \"not guilty,\" a shout of joy went\nup from the crowded court room. The aged mother pressed forward through\nthe throng and, with tears streaming from her eyes, attempted to express\nto Lincoln her gratitude for his noble effort.\n\nSome months afterward Lincoln called to see her at her home. She urged\nhim to take pay for his services. \"Why, Aunt Hannah,\" he exclaimed, \"I\nshan't take a cent of yours; never! Anything I can do for you, I will do\nwillingly, and without any charge.\"\n\nTrue gratitude never forgets. No one can possess too much gratitude any\nmore than he can have too much honesty or truthfulness. It was a \"pearl\nof great price\" in Lincoln's heart. He was truer and nobler for it; and\nit did much to endear him to the American people, by whom he is still\nremembered as one of the most large-hearted and liberal-minded men our\ncountry has produced.\n\n[Footnote: See also biographies of Lincoln, by Holland (1865); Arnold\n(1868); Lamon (1872); Nicolay and Hay (1890); Schurz (1892); and Herndon\n(1892, revised edition).]\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nCHEERFULNESS.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nCheerfulness is the best promoter of health.--Addison\n\nGive us, oh give us, the man who sings at his work.--Carlyle\n\nAge without cheerfulness is like a Lapland winter without the sun.\n                                                   --Colton\n\nAn ounce of cheerfulness is worth a pound of sadness.--Fuller\n\nThe habit of looking at the bright side of things is better than an\n     income of a thousand a year.--Hume.\n\nWe all love the company of cheerful people, but we do not think, as\nmuch as we ought to, of the nature of cheerfulness itself. Because we\nfind that some people are naturally cheerful, we are apt to forget that\ncheerfulness is a habit which can be cultivated by all. Whether we do or\ndo not possess a cheerful disposition, depends very largely upon our own\nefforts; for if we will endeavor, while still in our early years, to\nform the habit of looking on the bright side of things, and then persist\nin this course as we grow older, we shall certainly attain to that\nhabitual cheerfulness which makes the lives of those we admire so sunny\nand so pleasing.\n\nEven the smallest matters may aid us in forming this habit. Perhaps you\nhave heard of the little girl who noticed, while eating her dinner, that\nthe golden rays of the sun fell upon her spoon. She put the spoon to her\nmouth, and then exclaimed, \"O mother! I have swallowed a whole spoonful\nof sunshine.\" Some children even take a cheerful view of their\npunishments, as seen in the following incident. \"Little Charley had been\nvery naughty, and was imprisoned for an hour in the kitchen wood-box. He\nspeedily began amusing himself with chips and splinters, and was playing\nquite busily and happily, when a neighbor entered the house by way of\nthe kitchen. 'Charley,' he cried, 'what are you doing there?' 'Nothing,'\nsaid Charley, 'nothing; but mamma's just been having one of her bad\nspells.'\"\n\nCheerfulness consists in that happy frame of mind which is best\ndescribed as the shutting out of all that pertains to the morbid, the\ngloomy, the fretful, and the discontented. The perfection of\ncheerfulness is displayed in general good temper united to much\nkindliness of heart. It arises partly from personal goodness, and partly\nfrom belief in the goodness of others. Its face is ever directed toward\nhappiness. It sees \"the glory in the grass, the sunshine on the flower.\"\nIt encourages happy thoughts, and lives in an atmosphere of peace. It\ncosts nothing, and yet is invaluable; for it blesses its possessor, and\naffords a large measure of enjoyment to others.\n\nCheerfulness bears the same friendly regard to the mind as to the body.\nIt banishes all anxious care and discontent, soothes and composes the\npassions, and keeps the soul in a perpetual calm. Try for a single day\nto keep yourself in an easy and cheerful frame of mind; and then compare\nthe day with one which has been marred by discontent, and you will find\nyour heart open to every good motive, and your life so greatly\nstrengthened, that you will wonder at your own improvement, and will\nfeel that you are more than repaid for the effort.\n\nGoethe once said, \"Give me the man who bears a heavy load lightly, and\nlooks on a grave matter with a blithe and cheerful eye.\" And Carlyle has\npointed out that \"One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he marches\nto music. The very stars are said to make harmony as they revolve in\ntheir spheres. Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness; altogether past\ncalculation its power of endurance. Efforts, to be permanently useful,\nmust be uniformly joyous--a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very\ngladness, beautiful because bright.\"\n\nThis spirit of cheerfulness should be encouraged in our youth if we\nwould wish to have the benefit of it in our old age. Persons who are\nalways innocently cheerful and good-humored are very useful in the\nworld; they maintain peace and happiness, and spread a thankful temper\namong all who live around them.\n\n \"A little word in kindness spoken\n   A motion or a tear,\n  Has often healed a heart that's broken,\n   And made a friend sincere.\"\n\nCheerfulness does not depend upon the measure of our possessions. There\nis a Persian story to the effect that the great king, being out of\nspirits, consulted his astrologers, and was told that happiness could be\nfound by wearing the shirt of a perfectly happy man. The court, and the\nhomes of all the prosperous classes were searched in vain; no such man\ncould be found. At last a common laborer was found to fulfill the\nconditions; he was absolutely happy; but, alas! the remedy was as far\noff as ever, for the man had no shirt.\n\nThe same truth may be illustrated by a reference to the life and\ncharacter of the Roman emperor, Nero. Few persons ever had greater means\nand opportunities for self-gratification. From the senator to the slave,\neverybody in the empire crouched in servile subjection before his\nthrone. Enormous revenues from the provinces were poured into his\ncoffers, and no one dared criticise his manner of spending them. He was\nabsolute monarch, holding the destinies of millions at his will. He came\nto the throne at seventeen; and during the fifteen years of his reign he\nexhausted every known means of passionate indulgence. He left nothing\nuntried or untouched that could stimulate the palate, or arouse his\npassions, or administer in any way to his pleasure. After the great fire\nin Rome, he built his golden palace, and said, \"Now at last I am lodged\nlike a man\"; but alas! his search for happiness was in vain. During his\nlater years he never knew a really cheerful day; and, at last, he was\nforced to flee before his outraged people, and took refuge in a\nmiserable hut, trembling like a base coward, where, at his own request, a\nslave did him the favor to end his miserable life.\n\nIn one of his famous essays, Addison says, \"I have always preferred\ncheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as a\nhabit of the mind. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks\nthrough a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps\nup a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and\nperpetual serenity.\"\n\nCheerfulness and good spirits depend in a great degree upon bodily\ncauses; but much may be done for the promotion of this frame of mind.\n\"Persons subject to low spirits should make the room in which they live\nas cheerful as possible; hanging up pictures or prints, and filling the\nodd nooks and corners with beautiful ornaments. A bay window looking\nupon pleasant objects, and, above all, a large fire whenever the weather\nwill permit, are favorable to good spirits, and the tables near should\nbe strewed with books and pamphlets.\" \"To this,\" says Sydney Smith,\n\"must be added as much eating and drinking as is consistent with health;\nand some manual employment for men--as gardening, a carpenter's shop, or\na turning-lathe. Women have always manual employment enough, and it is a\ngreat source of cheerfulness.\" For children, fresh air, occupation, and\noutdoor sports are great helps in overcoming depression and gloom.\n\n\nSYDNEY SMITH.\n\nThere are a few noble natures whose very presence carries sunshine with\nthem wherever they go; a sunshine which means pity for the poor,\nsympathy for the suffering, help for the unfortunate, and kindness\ntoward all. It is the sunshine, and not the cloud, that colors the\nflower. There is more virtue in one sunbeam than in a whole hemisphere\nof cloud and gloom.\n\nA man of this stamp is found in Sydney Smith, an English clergyman and\nwriter of great distinction, who was born in 1771, and died in 1845. His\nwas a sunny temperament. Noted for his wit, he was equally famous for\nhis kindness. He hated injustice; he praised virtue; he pierced humbugs;\nhe laughed away trouble; he preached and lived the gospel of Christian\ncheerfulness.\n\nSmith helped to found the _Edinburgh Review_, and he advocated\nputting on the title-page this truthful, too truthful, sentence: \"We\ncultivate literature on a little oatmeal.\" Poor but happy, this jest is\ncharacteristic of the man. His name became known: his society was\nsought. Macaulay and he were called \"the great talkers.\" He moved to\nLondon, and gave lectures on moral philosophy that drew crowds, so that\nthe carriages of fashion blocked the streets. He was the charm of every\ncircle. His pen was always on the side of progress and good fellowship.\n\nAt every turn in life he made light of vexations, and never allowed\nhimself or those with him to indulge in morbid ideas, imaginative\nforebodings, or resentment. This is what he wrote to his daughter: \"I am\nnot situated as I should choose; but I am resolved to like it, and to\nreconcile myself to it; which is more manly than to feign myself above\nit and send up complaints of being thrown away.\" One of his favorite\nexpressions was, \"Let us glorify the room\"; which meant, throw up the\nshades and let in the sunshine.\n\nThe following anecdote will help to show his bright and sparkling\ndisposition: At dinner with a large party of famous men and women, a\nFrench scientist annoyed all the rest by loudly arguing for atheism, and\nproclaimed his belief that there is no God. \"Very good soup this,\"\nstruck in Sydney Smith. \"Yes, monsieur, it is excellent,\" replied the\natheist. \"Pray, sir,\" continued Smith, \"do you believe in a cook?\" The\nounce of wit was worth a pound of argument.\n\nHe is one of the very few men whose names have been handed down to us by\nreason of the possession of this gift, and his career should be more\nfully studied.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Wit and Wisdom of Sydney Smith,\" by Duyckinck (1856);\n\"Memoirs of Sydney Smith\" by his daughter, Lady Holland (1855); \"Life\nand Times of Sydney Smith,\" by Stuart J. Reid (London, 1844).]\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nTHE LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nThe beautiful can never die.--Kingsley\n\nA thing of beauty is a joy forever.--Keats\n\nThe love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature.\n                                    --Ruskin\n\nThe sense of beauty is its own excuse for being.--Dr. Hedge\n\n  If eyes were made for seeing,\n  Then beauty is its own excuse for being.--Emerson\n\n\nOne of the principal objects of the large amount of \"nature study\" that,\nwithin recent years, has been pursued in our public schools, is to\ndevelop in the pupils the love of the beautiful. The beautiful in nature\nand art is that which gives pleasure to the senses. The question might\nbe asked, \"Why do some forms and colors please, and others displease?\"\nYankee fashion, it might be answered by the question, \"Why do we like\nsugar and dislike wormwood?\" It is also a fact that cultivated minds\nderive more pleasure from nature and art than uncultivated minds.\n\nThis fact is aptly illustrated by the following remark of a little girl\nin one of the lower grades of our public schools. Shortly after she had\ntaken up the study of plants and minerals she came to her teacher and\nsaid, \"Oh! we have a lovely time now when we go up to the reservoir to\nplay. Before we studied about plants and stones, we used to go up there\nand sit down and look around; but now we find so many beautiful things\nto look at. We know the plants and stones; and what pleasure it does\ngive us to find a new specimen!\" This child's love of the beautiful was\nbeing intelligently developed.\n\nNatural beauty is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds into the\nnumberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of the trees and\nthe green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and the\nsea, and gleams from the hues of the shell and the precious stone. And\nnot only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the clouds,\nthe heavens, the stars, the rising and setting sun--all overflow with\nbeauty. The universe is its temple; and those men who are alive to it\ncannot lift their eyes without feeling themselves encompassed with it on\nevery side. This beauty is so precious, the enjoyments it gives are so\nrefined and pure, so congenial to our tenderest and noblest feelings,\nand so akin to worship, that it is painful to think of the multitude of\npersons living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost as blind to\nit as if they were tenants of a dungeon.\n\nAll persons should seek to become sufficiently acquainted with the\nbeautiful in nature to secure to themselves the rich fund of happiness\nwhich it is so well able to give. There is not a worm we tread upon, nor\na rare leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but\nhas superior claims upon our study and admiration. The child who plucks\na rose to pieces, or crushes the fragile form of a fluttering insect,\ndestroys a work which the highest art could not create, nor man's best\nskilled hand construct.\n\nOne of the first forms in which man's idea of the beautiful shaped\nitself was in architecture. Extremely crude at first, this love for\nbeautiful buildings has been highly developed among civilized nations.\nRuskin says, \"All good architecture is the expression of national life\nand character, and is produced by a permanent and eager desire or taste\nfor beauty.\"\n\nA taste for pictures, merely, is not in itself a moral quality; but the\ntaste for _good_ pictures is. A beautiful painting by one of the great\nartists, a Grecian statue, or a rare coin, or magnificent building, is a\ngood and perfect thing; for it gives constant delight to the beholder.\n\nThe absence of the love of nature is not an assured ground of\ncondemnation. Its presence is an invariable sign of goodness of heart,\nthough by no means an evidence of moral practice. In proportion to the\ndegree in which it is felt, will probably be the degree in which\nnobleness and beauty of character will be attained.\n\nOne of our great artists has said, that good taste is essentially a\nmoral quality. To his mind, the first, last, and closest trial question\nto any living creature is, What do you like? Tell me what you like, and\nI will tell you what you are.\n\nLet us examine this argument. Suppose you go out into the street and ask\nthe first person you meet what he likes? You happen to accost a man in\nrags with an unsteady step, who, straightening himself up in a half\nuncertain way, answers, \"A pipe and a quart of beer.\" You can take a\npretty good measure of his character from that answer, can you not? But\nhere comes a little girl, with golden hair and soft, blue eyes. \"What\ndo you like, my little girl?\" \"My canary, and to run among the\nflowers,\" is her answer. And you, little boy, with dirty hands and low\nforehead, \"What do you like?\" \"A chance to hit the sparrows with a\nstone.\" When we have secured so much knowledge of their tastes, we\nreally know the character of these persons so well that we do not need\nto ask any further questions about them.\n\nThe man who likes what you like must belong to the same class with you.\nYou may give him a different form of work to do, but as long as he likes\nthe things that you like, and dislikes that which you dislike, he will\nnot be content while employed in an inferior position.\n\nHearing a young lady highly praised for her beauty, Gotthold asked,\n\"What kind of beauty do you mean? Merely that of the body, or that also\nof the mind? I see well that you have been looking no further than the\nsign which Nature displays outside the house, but have never asked for\nthe host who dwells within. Beauty is an excellent gift of God, but many\na pretty girl is like the flower called 'the imperial crown,' which is\nadmired for its showy appearance, and despised for its unpleasant odor.\nWere her mind as free from pride, selfishness, luxury, and levity, as\nher countenance is from spots and wrinkles, and could she govern her\ninward inclinations as she does her external carriage, she would have\nnone to match her.\"\n\nThe power to appreciate beauty does not merely increase our sources of\nhappiness,--it enlarges our moral nature too. Beauty calms our\nrestlessness and dispels our cares. Go into the fields or the woods,\nspend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, and all your little\nperplexities and anxieties vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your\nfoolish fears and petty jealousies pass away. The beauty of the world\nhelps us to seek and find the beauty of goodness.\n\nThe love of the beautiful is an unfailing source of happiness. In his\nbrief life, Regnault, the great painter, had more genuine enjoyment than\na score of men of duller perceptions. He had cultivated his sense of\ncolor and proportion until nothing beautiful escaped his eye. If we are\nto enjoy the beauty about us, there is need of similar _preparation_.\nWhat we get out of communion with the beauty of nature or art, depends\nlargely on what we bring to that communion. We must make ourselves\nsensitive to beauty, or else the charms of form and color and graceful\nmotion and sweet music will be unheeded or unappreciated. It is also\ntrue, as Lowell said:\n\n \"Thou seest no beauty save thou make it first;\n  Man, woman, nature, each is but a glass\n  In which man sees the image of himself.\"\n\n\nALFRED TENNYSON.\n\nAlfred Tennyson, England's greatest modern poet, was a devoted lover of\nthe beautiful from the very beginning of his career. The earliest verses\nhe composed, which were written upon his slate when but a child of seven\nor eight years of age, had for their subject, \"The Flowers in the\nGarden.\" As a dreamy boy, he loved to throw himself upon the grass and\nlisten to the bird voices in the adjoining thicket, or to the lowing of\nthe cattle as they stood knee-deep in the glittering waters of the river\nshallows which lay about his home.\n\nHow close an observer he became, even as a lad, is clearly shown in\nthese lines, written as he lay under a tree, listening to the music of\nthe birds:\n\n \"The creeping mosses and clambering weeds,\n   And the willow branches hoar and dank,\n  And the wavy swell of the soughing reeds,\n   And the wave-worn horns of the echoing bank,\n  And the silvery marish flowers that throng\n  The desolate creeks and pools among,\n  Were flooded over with eddying song.\"\n\nHe became so thoroughly acquainted with the various orders of vegetation\nwith which his native land is clothed, and which mark the progress of\nthe growth and development of plant and flower, that there is scarcely a\nfalse note in his music from first to last. His pictures of animal life\nare drawn in vivid master strokes, and are as notable for their\ncorrectness as for their grace. While we cannot speak of him as an\nastronomer, yet no one can read his verses without admitting that he was\na close observer of the starry heavens. We could not rightly give him an\nequal place with Shelley as a painter of cloud-scenery, yet we know how\nhe loved to lie on his back on the Down of Farringford and watch for\nhours the swiftly-moving and rapidly-changing panorama of the midday\nheavens. It was his chiefest joy to dream away his peaceful days among\nthe trees and brooks and flowers. He sometimes spent weeks at a time in\nthe open air wandering for miles in meditative silence along the banks\nof some sparkling stream, or over the sand and shingle that form the\ndividing line between the land and sea.\n\nHis pictures are photographic in their fidelity, and yet, in them all,\nthe outbursting life and movement of nature is carefully preserved.\nThey cover the widest possible field; dealing with the cloud and\nsunshine, the storm wind and the zephyr, the roaring of the ocean surge\nand the murmuring of the running brook, the crashing of the thunder peal\nand the whisper of the pine-trees. The fields and the hedgerows, the\nflowers and the grasses, the darkness and the dawn; all are exhibited\nunder every possible shade of variation. His studies of the beautiful\nare as broad and true to life as any that have ever been written. So\nsensitive was his soul to these outward impressions of beauty that even\nthose acquired in childhood never entirely passed out of his mind.\n\n[Footnote: On Tennyson, see Dixon's \"Tennyson Primer\" (New York, 1896);\nVan Dyke's \"Poetry of Tennyson\" (New York, 1894); Tainsh's \"A Study of\nTennyson\" (New York, 1893), and Tennyson's Poems.]\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nTHE LOYE OF KNOWLEDGE.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nKnowledge is the eye of the soul.--T. Watson\n\nCommon sense is knowledge of common things.--M. C. Peters\n\nIt is noble to seek truth, and it is beautiful to find it.\n                                 --Sydney Smith\n\nIt has cost many a man life or fortune for not knowing what he thought\n    he was sure of.--J. Staples White\n\nThe desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with\n    the acquisition of it.--Sterne\n\n\nIt has been well said that \"Nothing is so costly as ignorance. You sow\nthe wrong seed, you plant the wrong field, you build with the wrong\ntimber, you buy the wrong ticket, you take the wrong train, you settle\nin the wrong locality, or you take the wrong medicine--and no money can\nmake good your mistake.\"\n\nThe knowledge attained by any man appears to be a poor thing to boast\nof, since there is no condition or situation in which he may be placed\nwithout feeling or perceiving that there is something or other which he\nknows little or nothing about. A man can scarcely open his eyes or turn\nhis head without being able to convince himself of this truth. And yet,\nwithout a fair working knowledge of the ordinary affairs of life, every\nman is, in some respects, as helpless as a child. Indeed there is no\nkind of knowledge which, in the hands of the diligent and skillful, may\nnot be turned to good account. Honey exudes from all flowers, the bitter\nnot excepted, but the bee knows how to extract it, and, by this\nknowledge, succeeds in providing for all its needs.\n\nLearning is like a river. At its first rising the river is small and\neasily viewed, but as it flows onward it increases in breadth and depth,\nbeing fed by a thousand smaller streams flowing into it on either side,\nuntil at length it pours its mighty torrent into the ocean. So learning,\nwhich seems so small to us at the beginning, is ever increasing in its\nrange and scope, until even the greatest minds are unable to comprehend\nit as a whole.\n\nSir Isaac Newton felt this when, after his sublime discoveries in\nscience had been accomplished, he said, \"I do not know what I may appear\nto the world; but to myself I seem only like a boy playing upon the\nseashore, and diverting myself by now and then finding a choice pebble,\nor a prettier shell than ordinary; while the great ocean of truth lies\nall undiscovered before me.\"\n\nStrabo was entitled to be called a profound geographer eighteen hundred\nyears ago, but a geographer who had never heard of America would now be\nlaughed at by boys and girls of ten years of age. What would now be\nthought of the greatest chemist or geologist of 1776? The truth is that,\nin every science, mankind is constantly advancing. Every generation has\nits front and its rear rank; but the rear rank of the later generation\nstands upon the ground which was occupied by the front rank of its\npredecessor.\n\nIt is important that our knowledge should be as full and complete as we\ncan make it. Partial knowledge nearly always leads us into error. A\ntraveler, as he passed through a large and thick wood, saw a part of a\nhuge oak which appeared misshapen, and almost seemed to spoil the\nscenery. \"If,\" said he, \"I was the owner of this forest, I would cut\ndown that tree.\" But when he had ascended the hill, and taken a full\nview of the forest, this same tree appeared the most beautiful part of\nthe landscape. \"How erroneously,\" said he, \"I have judged while I saw\nonly a part!\" The full view, the harmony and proportion of things, are\nall necessary to clear up our judgment.\n\nWalter A. Wood, whose keen business ability made him a wealthy man, and\nsent him to congress as a representative from the great state of New\nYork, is reported to have said, \"I would give fifty thousand dollars for\na college education.\" When he came to measure his ability with that of\nmen who had had greater opportunities in an educational line, he\nrealized his loss. Chauncey M. Depew is also reported as having said, \"I\nnever saw a self-made man in my life who did not firmly believe that he\nhad been handicapped, no matter how great his success, by deficiency in\neducation, and who was not determined to give his children the\nadvantages of which he felt, not only in business, but in intercourse\nwith his fellow-men, so great a need.\"\n\nThere is a difference between knowledge and wisdom and understanding;\nbut without the first the rest cannot be gained, any more than you can\nhave a harvest of wheat without seed and skill of cultivation.\nUnderstanding is the right use of facts; facts make knowledge;\nknowledge is the root of wisdom. Many men know a great deal, but are not\nwise or capable; many others know less, but are able to use what they\nhave learned. Wisdom is the ripe fruit of knowledge; knowledge is the\nbeginning of character.\n\nThe love of knowledge has been characteristic of most great men. They\nnot only loved knowledge but they were willing to work hard to attain\nit. As examples of this: Gibbon was in his study every morning, winter\nand summer, at six o'clock. Milton is said to have stuck to the study of\nhis books with the regularity of a paid bookkeeper. Raphael, the great\nartist, lived only to the age of thirty-seven, yet so diligent was his\npursuit of knowledge, that he carried his art to such a degree of\nperfection that it became the model for his successors. When a man like\none of these wins success, people say \"he is a genius.\" But the real\nreason for success, was, as you may see, that the love of knowledge led\nto the effort to obtain it.\n\nUseful knowledge is the knowledge of what is of benefit to ourselves and\nto others; and that is the most important which is the most useful. It\nis the belief of those who have spent their lives in the search for it,\nthat knowledge is better than riches, and that its possession brings\nmore comfort to the owner. To be acquainted with the great deeds enacted\nin past ages; to find out how some nations have grown powerful while\nothers have fallen; or to learn something about the great mysteries of\nnature, brings with it to the diligent searcher many hours of pleasure.\nAlso the experience of man teaches that the exercise of the mind brings\ngreat satisfaction.\n\nEven in seemingly little things the same holds true. There is a fountain\nin London that is opened by a concealed spring. One day the Bishop of\nLondon wanted to drink, but no one could tell him how to open it. At\nlast a little dirty bootblack stepped up and touched the spring and the\nwater gushed out. He knew more than the bishop about that one thing, and\nso was able to render the great man a real service.\n\nThe power of intellectual knowledge, without the power of moral\nprinciple, can only tend to evil. It has been said that education would\nempty our jails; but the greatest criminals, whether of scientific\npoisoning, or of fraud and forgery, are well educated. It has been\nasserted lately that \"there is a race between scientific detection and\nprevention, on the one hand, and scientific roguery on the other.\"\n\nCharacter is the criterion of knowledge. Not what a man has, but what he\nis, is the question, after all. The quality of soul is more than the\nquantity of information. Personal, spiritual substance is the final\nresult. Have that, and your intellectual furnishings and attainments\nwill turn naturally to the loftiest uses. Add obedience to knowledge,\nand your education will be worth all that it has cost.\n\n\nALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.\n\nWe may further illustrate this topic by a brief glance at the life of\nAlexander Von Humboldt. His brother, Wilhelm, acquired a distinguished\nname; but the greater renown fell to the younger, who was born at\nBerlin, Germany, September 14, 1769,--his full name being Friedrich\nHeinrich Alexander Von Humboldt. In circumstances of life, his lot was\neasy; his father had the means to educate him well. No very striking\noutward event occurred in his youth. Tutors prepared him for college;\nhis own aim was not at once seized. \"Until I reached the age of\nsixteen,\" he says, \"I showed little inclination for scientific\npursuits. I was of a restless disposition, and wished to be a soldier.\"\n\nBut another current was flowing in his mind. \"From my earliest youth I\nhad an intense desire to travel in those distant lands which have been\nbut rarely visited by Europeans.\" And again he says: \"The study of maps\nand the perusal of books of travel exercised a secret fascination over\nme.\" These early tastes blended at last with a serious purpose, and\nbecame \"the incentive to scientific labor, or to undertakings of vast\nimport.\"\n\nTo show that Humboldt was not a mere fact-gatherer, we select one\nincident out of many in his early life. When about twenty-one years of\nage, he made an extended journey with George Forster over the continent.\nForster wrote the following after they had visited the cathedral at\nCologne. After describing the glories of the structure he adds: \"My\nattention was arrested by a yet more engrossing object: before me stood\na man of lively imagination and refined taste, riveted with admiration\nto the spot. Oh, it was glorious to see, in his rapt contemplation, the\ngrandeur of the temple repeated as it were by reflection!\" In this scene\nwe behold the actual process of knowledge being changed into true\nlearning and ideas; it was always so with Humboldt in his long and\nvaried career.\n\nHumboldt studied hard, held official positions, and matured. His mother\ndied in 1796. To her this son owed much, for the father had died when\nAlexander was only ten years old, and she watched his education with\nfidelity. She saw the bent of the \"little apothecary,\"--as Alexander was\ncalled because of his passion for collecting and labeling shells,\nplants, and insects,--and guided it. Her death set Humboldt free to go\nafar in travels. In June, 1799, he started on a five years' absence, in\nwhich time he climbed Teneriffe and the Cordilleras, explored the\nOrinoco, visited the United States, and gathered a mass of knowledge\nwhich afterward won him lasting fame. Often he was in peril, often\nbaffled, often put to dreary discomforts by savage tribes; but through\nall ran his unconquerable purpose.\n\nIn his scientific work he often took great risks in order to ascertain\nfacts, as all earnest investigators do. In testing a new lamp for\nminers, he crept into a \"crosscut\" of the mine, lamp in hand, and\ncontinued there so long and persistently that two men rushed in and drew\nhim out by the feet, the gases having overcome him.\n\nWe have not space to give details of his splendid career. Humboldt shone\nwith greater light from year to year. Honors were lavished upon him. His\nworks aided science, his life was a constant inspiration. He lived to be\nninety years old, dying in 1859,--possessing to the last, a strong\nmemory, and a tireless love of research.\n\n[Footnote: On Humboldt, consult Haym's \"Biography of Humboldt\" (London,\n1856); Bruhn's \"Biography of Humboldt\" (Leipsic, 1872, translated by\nthe Misses Lassell); Klenke's \"Alexander Von Humboldt\" (1859);\n\"Humboldt's Correspondence with Goethe\" (London, 1876).]\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\nTHE FIRST TRANSITION PERIOD.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nThe child is father of the man.--Wordsworth\n\nWhatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.--Chesterfield\n\nNo one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.--Emerson\n\nA man cannot live a broad life if he runs only in one groove.\n                                --J. Staples White\n\n  'Tis education forms the common mind,\n  Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.--Pope\n\n\nAs the child grows into the youth the utmost care should be exercised,\nboth by himself and by his friends, to prevent the dwarfing of his\nprospects by evil influences arising either from within or from without\nhimself.\n\nThe youthful period of man's life is by far the most important. No\nsubsequent training can entirely obliterate the results of early\nimpressions. They may be greatly modified; the character may be changed;\nbut some, and indeed many, of the impressions of youth will cling to the\nmind forever.\n\nIt is in this period that the mind forms the ideas which will govern the\nwill throughout the whole career. Then is the twig bent to the direction\nin which the tree will grow. The faintest whisperings of counsel are\neagerly caught, and the slightest direction instantaneously followed.\nThen is the seed sown which will bring forth fruit in harvest time.\n\nBishop Vincent, writing about boyhood, says, \"If I were a boy? Ah, if I\nonly were! The very thought of it sets my imagination afire. That 'if'\nis a key to dreamland. First I would want a thorough discipline, early\nbegun and never relaxed, on the great truth of will force as the secret\nof character. I would want my teacher to put the weight of\nresponsibility upon me; to make me think that I must furnish the\nmaterials and do the work of building my own character; to make me think\nthat I am not a stick, or a stone, or a lump of putty, but a person.\nThat what I am in the long run, is what I am to make myself.\"\n\nBoys and girls should early form a taste for good reading. In the choice\nof books, as in the choice of friends, there is but one rule,--choose\nthe best. A witty gentleman, having received an invitation from a\nwealthy but not very refined lady, on arriving was ushered into her\nlibrary, where she was seated surrounded by richly-bound books. \"You\nsee, Mr. X.,\" she said, \"I never need to be lonely, for here I sit\nsurrounded by my best friends.\" Without replying, the gentleman\napproached a shelf and took down a volume which he perceived to be\nuncut, and smilingly observed, \"I am happy to find, madam, that unlike\nthe majority of people, you do not cut your friends.\"\n\nMacaulay says, \"I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of\ngood books to read, than a king who did not love reading.\"\n\nA boy ten years of age was seen to enter Westminster Abbey shortly\nbefore evening prayers. Going straight up the main aisle he stopped at\nthe tomb of Charles Dickens. Then, looking to see that he was not\nobserved, he kneeled before the tombstone, and tenderly placed upon it a\nbunch of violets. The little fellow hovered affectionately round the\nspot for a few moments and went away with a happy, contented smile upon\nhis face. Curiosity led a gentleman present to examine the child's\noffering, and this is what he found written in half-formed letters on an\nenvelope attached to the violets:--\n\n\"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at\nChristmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.--Christmas\nCarol.\"\n\nThe young person that loves books as this little fellow did, will have\nfriends that will unconsciously transform him into a great,\nnoble-hearted man.\n\nIt is the thoughts of the boy that shape the future man. Garfleld, when\nasked as a boy, what he was going to do when he grew up, would answer,\n\"First of all I am going to try to be a man. If I become that I shall be\nfit for anything.\" To make the most of one's youth is to qualify one's\nself to become a real man.\n\nSome men, it is true, have been seemingly created by circumstances, and\nhave figured prominently in the world's history. But, as a general rule,\nthe child makes the man; and the foundation of all greatness and\nusefulness is laid by the impressions of youth. \"Alexander the Great\nwould not have been the conqueror of the world had his father not been\nPhilip of Macedon. Hannibal would not have been the scourge of the\nRomans if Hamilcar had not sworn him to eternal vengeance against his\nenemies. Napoleon Bonaparte would not have deluged Europe with blood,\nif he had not been inspired by the genius of war from the pages of\nHomer.\" And in our own days, those men whose early impressions were the\nmost favorable have been the most successful, both in their own lives,\nand in their influence upon the world at large.\n\nBut it will not be enough to keep children during the season of youth\nfrom the reach of improper associates and influences. The seed of right\nprinciples must be diligently sown in their minds. Lessons of purity and\nconscientiousness must be written deep on the tables of the heart.\nParental restraint is outward and visible, but the guiding principles of\nlife are inward and invisible. The day will come when the youth must\nquit the parental roof, and perhaps entirely bid adieu to the influences\nof home. If he be then destitute of right principles, if his mind be\nlike a ship without a rudder, he will stand in imminent danger of being\nswept away by the waves of corruption.\n\nCare should be taken to keep good company or none. No sensible person\nwill willingly keep bad horses or bad dogs. Should he be less particular\nin selecting his companions? And yet, at this very point, some of life's\nmost cruel blunders are made.\n\nA story is told of two parrots which lived near to each other. The one\nwas accustomed to sing songs, while the other was addicted to swearing.\nThe owner of the latter obtained permission for it to associate with the\nformer, in the hope that its bad habits would be corrected; but the\nopposite result followed, for both learned to swear alike. This aptly\nillustrates the usual effect of bad company, and no young man, however\nstrong he may imagine himself to be, can afford to be careless in this\nmatter.\n\nIn the forming of your friendships, be less anxious about social\nstanding, and more particular about character. Remember that President\nGarfield used to say that he never passed a ragged boy in the street\nwithout feeling that one day he might owe him a salute, No one knows\nwhat possibilities of goodness and greatness are buttoned up under a\nboy's coat.\n\nOn the tomb of Schubert, the great musician, is written, \"He gave much,\nbut promised more\"; and it is this immeasurable wealth of promise that\nmakes the lives of our boys and girls so full of beauty and of power.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\nINDUSTRY.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nGenius is nothing but labor and diligence.--Hogarth.\n\nKnow something of everything and everything of something.\n                                          --Lord Brougham\n\nThe difference between one boy and another lies not so much in talent as\n    in energy.--Dr. Arnold\n\nWork wields the weapons of power, wins the palm of success, and wears\n    the crown of victory.--A. T. Pierson.\n\nA lazy man is of no more use than a dead man, and he takes up more\n    room.--O. S. Harden.\n\n\nBy industry we mean activity that is regular and devoted to the carrying\nout of some purpose. More definitely, it is activity that is designed to\nbe useful to ourselves or to others. It is thus a _regulated activity_\nby which our welfare, or that of others, may be furthered.\n\nWe are apt to think, or at least to feel, that the necessity of working\nregularly is a hardship. Because we get tired with our work and look\nforward with eagerness to the time of rest, we form the opinion that the\npleasantest life would be one which should be all rest.\n\nIndustry might well be urged as a duty. But we would rather now speak of\nit chiefly as an aid in accomplishing other duties. Few things are more\nhelpful toward right living than industry, and few more conducive to\nwrong living than idleness.\n\nNo doubt there are on this subject opposing opinions. Some believe,\nwhether they openly confess it or not, that the glory of the highest\nsuccess is not within the reach of every honest toiler; that it is, like\nother legacies, the good fortune to which some are heirs, but which\nothers are denied--the inheritance only of those whom nature has well\nendowed. These are the advocates of genius.\n\nThe reader of \"Ivanhoe\"--that finest romance of Sir Walter\nScott--pronounces its author a genius. The fact is, that book is a\nconspicuous illustration of industry--patient, persevering toil. It has\nbeen pointed out that, \"for years Scott had made himself familiar with\nthe era of chivalry; plodded over, in imagination, the weary march of\nthe Crusaders; studied the characteristics and contradictions of the\nJewish character; searched carefully into the records of the times in\nwhich the scenes of his story were laid; and even examined diligently\ninto the strange process whereby the Norman-French and the Anglo-Saxon\nelements were wrought into a common tongue.\"\n\nLabor is indeed the price set upon everything which is valuable. Nothing\ncan be accomplished without it. The greatest of men have risen to\ndistinction by unwearied industry and patient application. They may have\nhad inborn genius; their natures may have been quick and active; but\nthey could not avoid the necessity of persevering labor.\n\nLabor is the great schoolmaster of the race. It is the grand drill in\nlife's army, without which we are confused and powerless when called\ninto action. What a teacher industry is! It teaches patience,\nperseverance, forbearance, and application. It teaches method and\nsystem, by compelling us to crowd the most possible into every day and\nhour. Industry is a perpetual call upon the judgment and the power of\nquick decision; it makes ready and practical men.\n\nIndustry is essential for that usefulness by which each man may fill his\nplace in the world. The lazy, like the wicked, may be made useful. The\nSpartans used to send a drunken slave through the city that the sight of\nhis folly and degradation might disgust young men with intemperance. He\nwas made useful; he did not make himself useful. From this it will be\nseen that the necessity of labor is something at which we should rather\nrejoice than complain, and that habits of industry are the great helpers\nto virtue, happiness, and usefulness.\n\nIndustry is now as important to the woman as to the man. Some years ago,\nin an art store in Boston, a group of girls stood together gazing\nintently upon a famous piece of statuary. The silence was broken by the\nremark, \"Just to think that a woman did it.\" \"It makes me proud,\" said\nanother. The famous statue was that of Zenobia, the product of Harriet\nHosmer, whose love of knowledge and devotion to art, gave the world a\nmasterpiece.\n\nWork is difficult in proportion as the end to be attained is high and\nnoble. The highest price is placed upon the greatest worth. If a man\nwould reach the highest success he must pay the price. He must be\nself-made, or never made.\n\nOur greatest men have not been men of luck and broadcloth, nor of legacy\nand laziness, but men accustomed to hardship; not afraid of threadbare\nclothes and honest poverty; men who fought their way to their own loaf.\n\nSir Joshua Reynolds had the passion for work of the true artist. Until\nhe laid aside his pencil from illness, at the age of sixty-six, he was\nconstantly in his painting-room from ten till four, daily, \"laboring\" as\nhe himself said, \"as hard as a mechanic working for his bread.\"\n\nLaziness is said to be one of the greatest dangers that besets the youth\nof this country. Some young men shirk everything that requires effort or\nlabor. Few people entertain the idea that they are of no use in the\nworld; or that they are ruining themselves by their laziness. Yet lazy\npersons lose the power of enjoyment. Their lives are all holiday, and\nthey have no interval of leisure for relaxation. The lie-a-beds have\nnever done anything in the world. Events sweep past and leave them\nslumbering and helpless.\n\nIndustry is one of the best antidotes to crime. As the old proverb has\nit, \"An idle brain is the devil's workshop,\" for by doing nothing we\nlearn to do ill. The man who does not work, and thinks himself above it,\nis to be pitied as well as condemned. Nothing can be worse than active\nignorance and indulged luxury. Self-indulgence saps the foundation of\nmorals, destroys the vigor of manhood, and breeds evils that nothing but\ndeath can blot out.\n\nNo one is very anxious about a young man while he is busy in useful\nwork. But where does he eat his lunch at noon? Where does he go when he\nleaves his boarding-house at night? What does he do after supper? Where\ndoes he spend his Sundays and holidays? The way he uses his spare\nmoments reveals his character. The great majority of youth who go to the\nbad are ruined after supper. Most of those who climb upward to honor and\nfame devote their evenings to study or work, or to the society of the\nwise and good. The right use of these leisure hours, we would cordially\nrecommend to every youth. Each evening is a crisis in the career of a\nyoung man.\n\nRome was a mighty nation while industry led her people, but when her\ngreat conquest of wealth and slaves placed her citizens above the\nnecessity of labor, that moment her glory began to fade; vice and\ncorruption induced by idleness, doomed the proud city to an ignominious\noverthrow.\n\nThere can be no doubt that industry has been the backbone of the English\ncharacter. By it her people have made their island respected all over\nthe habitable globe. By industry our own land has come to be recognized\nas the workshop of the world.\n\nIt is a rule in the imperial family of Germany that every young man\nshall learn a trade, going through a regular apprenticeship till he is\nable to do good journeywork. This is required because, in the event of\nunforeseen changes, it is deemed necessary to a manly independence that\nthe heir apparent, or a prince of the blood, should be conscious of\nability of making his own way in the world. This is an honorable custom,\nworthy of universal imitation. The Jews also wisely held the maxim that\nevery youth, whatever his position in life, should learn some trade.\n\nFranklin says, \"He that hath a trade hath an estate.\" Work, however\nlooked down upon by people who cannot perform it, is an honorable thing;\nit may not be very profitable, but honorable it always is, and there is\nnothing to be ashamed of about it. The man who has reason to be ashamed\nis the one who does nothing, or is always on the lookout for an easy\nberth with good pay and no work. Let the young man whose conceit greatly\nexceeds his brains, be ashamed of his cane and kid gloves; but never let\na man who works be ashamed of his hard hands. There is an old proverb\nwhich says, \"Mere gentility sent to market, won't buy a peck of oats.\"\n\nA keen but well deserved rebuke was once administered to a Southern\nstudent at Andover who had bought some wood, and who then went to\nProfessor Stuart to learn whom he could get to saw it. \"I am out of a\njob of that kind,\" said Mr. Stuart; \"I will saw it myself.\" It is to be\nhoped that the young man learned the lesson which his teacher thus\nsought to impress upon his mind.\n\n\nCORNELIUS VANDERBILT.\n\n\"What is the secret of success in business?\" asked a friend of Cornelius\nVanderbilt. \"Secret! there is no secret about it,\" replied the\ncommodore; \"all you have to do is to attend to your business and go\nahead.\"\n\nIf you would adopt Vanderbilt's method, know your business, attend to\nit, and keep down expenses until your fortune is safe from business\nperils. Note the following incidents in his career: In the year 1806,\nwhen about twelve years of age, Cornelius was sent by his father, who\nwas removing the cargo from a vessel stranded near Sandy Hook, with\nthree wagons, six horses, and three men, to carry the cargo across a\nsandbar to the lighters.\n\nWhen the work was finished, he started, with but a few dollars in his\npocket, to travel a long distance home over the Jersey sands, and at\nlength reached South Amboy. He was anxious to get his teams ferried over\nto Staten Island, and as the money at his disposal was not sufficient\nfor the purpose, he went to an innkeeper, explained the situation and\nsaid, \"If you will put us across, I'll leave with you one of my horses\nin pawn, and if I don't send you back six dollars within forty-eight\nhours you may keep the horse.\" \"I'll do it,\" said the innkeeper, as he\nlooked into the bright honest eyes of the boy. The horse was soon\nredeemed.\n\nIn the spring of 1810, he applied to his mother for a loan of one\nhundred dollars with which to buy a boat, having imbibed a strong liking\nfor the sea. Her answer was, \"My son, on the twenty-seventh of this\nmonth you will be sixteen years old. If, by that time, you will plow,\nharrow, and plant with corn the eight acre lot, I will advance you the\nmoney.\" The field was rough and stony, but the work was done in time,\nand well done. From this small beginning Cornelius Vanderbilt laid the\nfoundation of a colossal fortune. He would often work all night; and,\nas he was never absent from his post by day, he soon had the best\nbusiness in New York harbor.\n\nIn 1813, when it was expected that New York would be attacked by British\nships, all the boatmen, except Cornelius, put in bids to convey\nprovisions to the military posts around New York, naming extremely low\nrates, as the contractor would be exempted from military duty. \"Why\ndon't you send in a bid?\" asked his father. \"Of what use?\" replied\nyoung Vanderbilt; \"they are offering to do the work at half price. It\ncan't be done at such rates.\" \"Well,\" said his father, \"it can do no\nharm to try for it.\" So, to please his father, but with no hope of\nsuccess, Cornelius made an offer fair to both sides, but did not go to\nhear the award. When his companions had all returned with long faces,\nhe went to the commissary's office and asked if the contract had been\ngiven. \"Oh, yes,\" was the reply; \"that business is settled. Cornelius\nVanderbilt is the man. What?\" he asked, seeing that the youth was\napparently thunderstruck, \"is it you?\" \"My name is Cornelius\nVanderbilt,\" said the boatman. \"Well,\" said the commissary, \"don't you\nknow why we have given the contract to you? Why, it is because we want\nthis business done, and we know you'll do it.\"\n\nHere we see how character begets confidence, and how character rests\nupon industry as the house rests upon its foundation.\n\n[Footnote: Consult Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol.\nVII., pp. 240, 241; Crofut's \"The Vanderbilts and the Story of their\nFortune\" (1886); also article in Munsey's Magazine, Vol. VI., p. 34.]\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\nAMBITION.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nHope without an object cannot live.--Coleridge\n\nHave an aim in life, or your energies will all be wasted.\n                                   --M. C. Peters\n\nEvery one should take the helm of his own life, and steer instead of\n    drifting.--C. C. Everett\n\nAmbition is to life just what steam is to the locomotive.\n                                   --J. C. Jaynes\n\nNo toil, no hardships can restrain ambitious men inur'd to pain.--Horace\n\n\nAmbition is one of the great forces of human life. We may describe it as\na strong, fixed desire in the heart to get honor, or to attain the best\nthings. It is a kind of hunger or thirst for success that makes men dare\ndanger and trial to satisfy it. A man is of little use in the world\nunless he have ambition to set him in motion. Small talent with great\nambition often does far more than genius without it.\n\nThe severest censure that can be passed upon a man is that of the poet,\n\"Everything by turns and nothing long.\" The words contain a sad\nrevelation of wasted opportunities, wasted powers, wasted life. These\nwords apply, with a painful degree of exactness, to the career of Lord\nBrougham. Few men have been more richly endowed by nature. Few men have\nexhibited a greater plasticity of intellect, a greater affluence of\nmental resources. He was a fine orator, a clear thinker, a ready writer.\nIt is seldom that a man who sways immense audiences by the power of his\neloquence attains also to a high position in the ranks of literature.\nYet Brougham did this; while, as a lawyer, he gained the most splendid\nprize of his profession, the Lord Chancellorship of England; and as a\nscientific investigator, merited and received the applause of\nscientific men.\n\nAll this may seem to indicate success; and, to a certain extent,\nBrougham was successful. Nevertheless, having been everything by turns\nand nothing long--having given up to many pursuits the powers which\nshould have been reserved for one or two--he was on the whole, a\nfailure. Not only did he fail to make any permanent mark on the history\nor literature of his country, but he even outlived his own fame. He was\nalmost forgotten before he died. He frittered away his genius on too\nmany objects.\n\nIt has long been a question of debate whether circumstances make men, or\nmen control circumstances. There are those who believe that men are\ngoverned by their environments; that their surroundings determine their\nlives.\n\nThe other school of philosophers boldly assert the opposite view. Men\nmay control their surroundings. They are not the sport of the winds of\ncircumstance. Carlyle, who is a member of this school, does not\nhesitate, in one of his essays, to say that \"there have been great\ncrises in the world's history when great men were needed, but they did\nnot appear.\"\n\nThis much is certain, we have many instances in which people have risen\nabove their surroundings. Warren Hastings's case is one in point.\nMacaulay tells the story with his accustomed brilliancy and\nattractiveness. When Hastings was a mere child, the ancestral estate,\nthrough some mismanagement, passed out of the hands of the family.\nWarren would often go--for the family remained in the neighborhood--and\ngaze through the bars upon what had once been his home. He registered a\nmental vow to regain that estate. That became the ambition of his life;\nthe one great purpose to which he devoted all his energies. Many years\npassed; Hastings went to other climes; but there was ever with him the\ndetermination to get that estate; and he succeeded.\n\nAfter all, would it not appear that the true theory is that of a golden\nmean between these two extremes? Circumstances sometimes control men or,\nat any rate, some kind of men; men, especially men of strong will power\nsometimes control their environments. Circumstances give men an\nopportunity to display their powers. The fuller study of this subject\nclearly shows the need of some principles of morality that are not\ndependent upon any chance companionship, and that may belong to the man\nhimself, and not merely to his surroundings.\n\nAn ambition to get on in the world, the steady struggle to get up, to\nreach higher, is a constant source of education in foresight, in\nprudence, in economy, in industry and courage; in fact is the great\ndeveloper of many of the strongest and noblest qualities of character.\n\nThe men at the summit fought their way up from the bottom. \"John Jacob\nAstor sold apples on the streets of New York; A. T. Stewart swept out\nhis own store; Cornelius Vanderbilt laid the foundation of his vast\nfortune with a hundred dollars given him by his mother; Lincoln was a\nrail splitter; Grant was a tanner; and Garfield was a towboy on a\ncanal.\"\n\nBy hard work and unconquerable perseverance you can rise above the low\nplaces of poverty. True, you may never shine in the galaxy of the great\nones of this earth, but you may fill your lives and homes with\nblessings, and make the world wiser and better for your having lived in\nit. Cash cannot take the place of character. It is far better to be a\nman, than merely to be a millionaire.\n\nA man who heard Lincoln speak in Norwich, Connecticut, some time before\nhe was nominated for the presidency, was greatly impressed by the\nclosely-knit logic of the speech. Meeting him next day on a train, he\nasked him how he acquired his wonderful logical powers and such\nacuteness in analysis. Lincoln replied: \"It was my terrible\ndiscouragement which did that for me. When I was a young man I went into\nan office to study law. I saw that a lawyer's business is largely to\nprove things. I said to myself, 'Lincoln, when is a thing proved?' That\nwas a poser. What constitutes proof? Not evidence; that was not the\npoint. There may be evidence enough, but wherein consists the proof? I\ngroaned over the question, and finally said to myself, 'Ah! Lincoln, you\ncan't tell.' Then I thought, 'What use is it for me to be in a law\noffice if I can't tell when a thing is proved?' So I gave it up and went\nback home.\n\n\"Soon after I returned to the old log cabin, I fell in with a copy of\nEuclid. I had not the slightest notion what Euclid was, and I thought I\nwould find out. I therefore began, at the beginning, and before spring I\nhad gone through that old Euclid's geometry, and could demonstrate every\nproposition like a book. Then in the spring, when I had got through with\nit, I said to myself one day, 'Ah, do you know now when a thing is\nproved?' And I answered, 'Yes, sir, I do.' 'Then you may go back to the\nlaw shop;' and I went.\"\n\nWe may be rightly ambitious in various ways. It is right to be ambitious\nfor _fame and honor_. The love of praise is not bad in itself, but\nit is a very dangerous motive. Why? Because in order to be popular, one\nmay be tempted to be insincere. Never let the world's applause drown the\nvoice of conscience.\n\nIt is right to be ambitious to excel in whatever you do. Slighted work\nand half-done tasks are sins. \"I am as good as they are\"; \"I do my work\nas well as they\"; are cowardly maxims. Not what others have done, but\nperfection, is the only true aim, whether it be in the ball-field or in\nthe graver tasks of life.\n\nMany people think that ambition is an evil weed, and ought to be pulled\nup by the roots. Shakespeare makes Wolsey say,--\n\n \"I charge thee, fling away ambition\n  By that sin fell the angels.\"\n\nBut the great cardinal had abused ambition, and had changed it into a\nvice. Ambition is a noble quality in itself, but like any other virtue\nit may be carried to excess, and thus become an evil. Like fire or\nwater, it must be controlled to be safe and useful. Napoleon, while\ncommanding armies, could not command his own ambition; and so he was\ncaged up like a wild beast at St. Helena. A millionaire may be so\nambitious for gain as purposely to wreck the fortunes of others. A\npolitician may sell his manhood to gratify his desire for office. Boys\nand girls may become so ambitious to win their games, or to get the\nprizes at school, that they are willing to cheat, or take some mean\nadvantage; and then ambition becomes to them not a blessing but a curse.\n\nWe ought now and then to stop and test our ambition, just as the\nengineer tries the steam in the boiler; if we do not, it may in some\nunexpected moment wreck our lives. There are two ways of finding out\nwhether our ambition is too strong for safety. First, if we discover\nthat ambition is hurting our own character, there is danger. Second, if\nwe find ambition blinding us to the rights of others, it is time to\nstop. These are the two tests; and so long as your ambition is harming\nneither your own life nor the lives of others, it is good and wholesome,\nand will add value and brightness to your life.\n\n\nGENERAL HAVELOCK.\n\nHenry Havelock, commonly known as \"The Hero of Lucknow,\" was born in\nEngland, 1795, just about the time when Napoleon was beginning his\nbrilliant career, and all Europe was a battlefield. As a boy he was\nrather serious and thoughtful, so that his school fellows used to call\nhim \"Old Phlos,\" a nickname for Old Philosopher. And yet he loved boyish\nsports, and never was behind any of his companions in courage and\ndaring.\n\nHe was not the first scholar in his class, but he was a great reader and\ntook intense delight in stories of war and descriptions of battles.\nNapoleon was his hero, and he watched all his movements with breathless\ninterest; and soon began to dream of being a soldier, too. Thus was born\nin the boy's heart that ambition which afterward lifted the man into\nhonor and fame.\n\nAt the age of sixteen Havelock began to study law, but he soon tired of\nit, and three years later obtained an appointment in the army. He now\ngave himself, with all the love and enthusiasm of his nature, to his\nchosen profession. He was to be a soldier; and he decided that he would\nbe a thorough one, and would understand the art of war completely. He\nstudied very hard, and it is said that it was his habit to draw with a\nstick upon the ground the plan of some historic battlefield, then, in\nimagination fight the battle over again, so that he might clearly see\nwhat made the one side lose and the other win.\n\nAfter eight years of service in England, he was ordered to go to India.\nThere he became a soldier in earnest. It would take too long to tell of\nthe battles he was in, and of the terrible campaigns through which he\nserved. It is enough to say that he always followed where duty led, and\nalways seemed to know just what to do amid the confusion of the\nbattlefield. It was the dream of his life to become a general, but he\nwas doomed, year after year, to stand still and see untried, beardless\nmen promoted above his head. This certainly was hard to bear, but he\nnever lost heart, never sulked, never neglected any opportunity to serve\nhis government. His ambition was to do his best; and this he did,\nwhether the world saw and applauded or not.\n\nUntil he reached the age of sixty-two, he was scarcely known outside of\nIndia; but then came the occasion that made him famous. All India was in\nmutiny. The native soldiers, mad with power, were murdering the English\nin every city. Far up in the interior, at Lucknow, was a garrison of\nEnglish soldiers, women, and children, hemmed in by thousands of these\nbloodthirsty Sepoys. To surrender meant a horrible death. To hold the\nfort meant starvation at last, unless rescue should speedily come.\n\nAlthough, when the news reached him, he was hundreds of miles away,\nHavelock undertook to save that little garrison. It seemed an impossible\ntask, and yet with a few hundred brave soldiers, in a country swarming\nwith the enemy, through swamps, over swollen rivers, he fought his way\nto the gates at Lucknow. And then, beneath a hailstorm of bullets from\nevery house-top, he marched up the narrow street, and never paused until\nhe stood within the fortress walls, and heard the shout of welcome from\nthe lips of the starving men and women. It was a wonderful march, and\nput him among the great soldiers of history; but it was the direct\nresult of that powerful ambition which had influenced his entire career.\n\nThe world rang with applause of his heroism; but praise came too late;\nfor while the queen was making him a baronet, and Parliament was voting\nhim a princely pension, he was dying of a fever within the very city he\nhad so bravely stormed. But his life-work was fully completed, and his\nname shines brightly among those of the great military heroes of his\nnative land.\n\n[Footnote: See Marshman's \"Life of Havelock\" (1860); Headley's \"Life of\nHavelock\" (1864); Brock's \"Life of General Sir Henry Havelock\" (1854);\nMolesworth's \"History of England,\" Vol. III., Chap, ii., and Mitchell's\n\"History of India\" (London, 1895).]\n\n\n\nXII.\n\nCONCENTRATION.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nSuccess grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties.--Smiles\n\nHe who follows two hares is sure to catch neither.--Franklin\n\nThe important thing in life is to have a great aim and the determination\n    to attain it.--Goethe\n\nA healthy definite purpose is a remedy for a thousand ills.\n                                   --O. S. Marden\n\nThe evidence of superior genius is the power of intellectual\n    concentration.--B. R. Hayden\n\n\nConcentration begins with the habit of attention. The highest success in\nlearning depends on the power of the learner to command and hold his own\nattention,--on his ability to concentrate his thought on the subject\nbefore him. By the words \"habit of attention,\" we do not mean here the\noutward, respectful attitude of a docile pupil who listens when his\nteacher speaks, but something much rarer, much more important, and far\nmore difficult of attainment. We mean that power of the mind by which a\nperson is able to give an intelligent account of what is said, whether\nin conversation, in lecture, or in sermon; which enables him to grasp at\none reading the important points of a problem or a paragraph; and which\nmakes it possible for a student or a reader to so concentrate his\nattention on what he is doing as to be entirely oblivious, so long as it\ndoes not concern him, of what is going on around him.\n\nThis is the age of concentration or specialization of energy. The\nproblem of the day is to get ten-horse power out of an engine that shall\noccupy the space of a one-horse power engine, and no more. Just so\nsociety demands a ten-man power out of one individual. It crowns the man\nwho knows one thing supremely, and can do it better than anybody else,\neven if it be only the art of raising turnips. If he raises the best\nturnips by reason of concentrating all his energy to that end, he is a\nbenefactor to the race, and is recognized as such. The giants of the\nrace have been men of concentration, who have struck all their blows in\none place until they have accomplished their purpose. The successful men\nof today are men of one overmastering idea, one unwavering aim, men of\nsingle and intense purpose. \"Scatteration\" is the curse of American\nbusiness life. Too many are like Douglas Jerrold's friend, who could\nconverse in twenty-four languages, but had no ideas to express in any\none of them.\n\n\"The weakest living creature,\" says Carlyle, \"by concentrating his\npowers on a single object, can accomplish something; whereas the\nstrongest, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything.\nThe drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest\nrock. The hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no\ntrace behind.\"\n\nIt is interesting to read how, with an immense procession passing up\nBroadway, the streets lined with people, and the bands playing their\nloudest, Horace Greeley would sit upon the steps of the Astor House, use\nthe top of his hat for a desk, and write an editorial for the New York\n_Tribune_ which would be quoted all over the country; and there are\nmany incidents in his career which go to show that his wonderful power\nof concentration was one of the great secrets of his success.\n\nMen who have the right kind of material in them will assert their\npersonality, and rise in spite of a thousand adverse circumstances. You\ncannot keep them down. Every obstacle seems only to add their ability to\nget on. The youth Opie earned his bread by sawing wood, but he reached a\nprofessorship in the Royal Academy. When but ten years old he showed the\nmaterial he was made of by a beautiful drawing on a shingle. Antonio\nCanova was a son of a day laborer; Thorwaldsen's parents were poor; but,\nlike hundreds of others, these men did with their might what their hands\nfound to do, and ennobled their work. They rose by being greater than\ntheir calling.\n\nIt is fashionable to ridicule the man of one idea; but the men who have\nchanged the face of the world have been men of a single aim. No man can\nmake his mark on this age of specialities who is not a man of one idea,\none supreme aim, one master passion. The man who would make himself felt\non this bustling planet, must play all his guns on one point. A wavering\naim, a faltering purpose, will have no place in the twentieth century.\n\"Mental shiftlessness\" is the cause of many a failure. The world is full\nof unsuccessful men who spend their lives letting empty buckets down\ninto empty wells.\n\nAs opposed to men of the latter class, what a sublime picture of\ndetermination and patience was that of Charles Goodyear, of New Haven,\nburied in poverty and struggling with hardships for eleven long years,\nto make India rubber of practical use! See him in prison for debt;\npawning his clothes and his wife's jewelry to get a little money to buy\nfood for his children, who were obliged to gather sticks in the field\nfor fire. Observe the sublime courage and devotion to his idea, when he\nhad no money to bury a dead child, and when his other five were near\nstarvation; when his neighbors were harshly criticising him for his\nneglect of his family, and calling him insane. But, behold his\nvulcanized rubber; the result of that heroic struggle, applied to\nthousands of uses by over sixty thousand employees.\n\nA German knight undertook to make an immense Aeolian harp by stretching\nwires from tower to tower of his castle. When he finished the harp it\nwas silent; but when the breezes began to blow he heard faint strains\nlike the murmuring of distant music. At last a tempest arose and swept\nwith fury over his castle, and then rich and grand music came from the\nwires. Ordinary experiences do not seem to touch some lives, to bring\nout their higher manhood; but when patience and firmness bring forth\ntheir fruit it is always of the very finest quality.\n\nIt is good to know that great people have done great things through\nconcentration; but it is better still to know that concentration belongs\nto the everyday life of the everyday boy and girl. Only they must not be\nselfish about it. Understand the work in hand before it is begun. Don't\nthink of anything else while doing it; and don't dream when learning a\nlesson. Do one thing at a time and do it quickly and thoroughly. \"I go\nat what I am about,\" said Charles Kingsley, \"as if there was nothing\nelse in the world for the time being.\" That's the secret of the success\nof all hard-working men.\n\nS. T. Coleridge possessed marvelous powers of mind, but he had no\ndefinite purpose; he lived in an atmosphere of mental dissipation, which\nconsumed his energy and exhausted his stamina, and his life was in many\nrespects a miserable failure. He lived in dreams and died in reverie. He\nwas continually forming plans and resolutions, but to the day of his\ndeath they remained resolutions and plans. He was always just going to\ndo something, but never did it. \"Coleridge is dead,\" wrote Charles Lamb\nto a friend, \"and is said to have left behind him above forty thousand\ntreatises on metaphysics and divinity--not one of them complete!\"\n\nCommodore MacDonough, on Lake Champlain, concentrated the fire of all\nhis vessels upon the \"big ship\" of Downie, regardless of the fact that\nthe other British ships were all hurling cannon balls at his little\nfleet. The guns of the big ship were silenced, and then the others were\ntaken care of easily.\n\nBy exercising this art of concentration in a higher degree than did his\nbrother generals, Grant was able to bring the Civil War to a speedy\ntermination. This trait was strongly marked in the character of\nWashington. The same is true in regard to General Armstrong and the\nHampton Institute. That stands as a living monument to his power of\nconcentration. He had a great purpose: the education of the Negro and\nIndian races; and from the close of the Civil War to the day of his\ndeath he labored steadily at that one undertaking, and now the whole\ncountry is proud of the outcome of his toil.\n\nPeople who have concentration never make excuses. They get more done\nthan others, and have a better time doing it. Excuses are signs of\nshiftlessness. They do not answer in play any better than in lessons or\nbusiness. Who ever heard of excuses in football-playing? When we go into\nall our duties with the same earnestness and devotion, we shall find\nourselves rapidly rising into one of those foremost places which most of\nus so greatly desire.\n\n\nDAVID LIVINGSTONE.\n\nFew men in this century have followed a single purpose through their\nentire lives with greater devotion than the famous missionary and\nexplorer, David Livingstone.\n\nHe was born in Scotland, March 19, 1813, of poor parents. He loved books\nas a boy, studied hard to know about rocks and plants, worked in a\ncotton mill and earned money to go to a medical school. He was honest,\nhelped his mother, and read all the books he could. \"My reading in the\nfactory,\" he said, \"was carried on by placing the book on a portion of\nthe spinning-jenny, so that I could catch sentence after sentence as I\npassed at my work. I thus kept up a pretty constant study, undisturbed\nby the roar of machinery.\"\n\nVery early Livingstone began to think about being a missionary. He read\nabout travels in Africa, about the work of Henry Martyn, and about the\nMoravian missions. He heard about China and the need of medical\nmissionaries there; and he says that \"from this time my efforts were\nconstantly devoted toward this object without any fluctuation.\"\n\nLivingstone wanted to go to China; but he met Dr. Moffat, who was then\nhome from Africa, and was persuaded to change his plans. Early in 1841\nhe reached Algoa Bay, at the south end of Africa. Then he went to Dr.\nMoffat's mission station at Kuruman; but here he found the missionaries\ndid not work well together, that there were more men than work, so he\npushed on into regions where no one had been before. \"I really am\nambitious,\" he wrote, \"to preach beyond other men's lines. I am\ndetermined to go on, and do all I can, while able, for the poor,\ndegraded people in the North.\"\n\nThis feeling sent him into the great wilderness to find what\nopportunities it afforded. In 1852 he started on his first great\njourney, made more discoveries, and crossed Africa from east to west,\nand then back again to the east coast. It was hard work; many were the\ndifficulties; and his life was often in peril. Yet he saw Africa as no\none before had seen it; and when he returned to England in 1857 he found\nhimself famous, honored on every hand, and everybody ready to help on\nhis great and noble work.\n\nIn 1859 he returned to Africa with men and money to explore further,\nand to see what could be done for the good of the country. He explored\nthe Zambezi river, on the east coast; and became familiar with that side\nof Africa,--its people, rivers, lakes, and mountains. He returned home\nin 1864, but went back the next year to seek out the source of the Nile.\nIn 1865 he started on his longest and last journey, going this time to\nthe northwest. This was the hardest and most perilous of all his\njourneys; for he was often sick, his men were not faithful, the\ncountry was in a state of war, his money gave out; and he was in a\nvery bad condition when Henry M. Stanley found him in 1871.\n\nStanley furnished him with money and men, and he started again for the\ngreat interior region to discover the source of the Nile, and then to\nreturn home and die. He was now sixty years old, his health had given\nway, but he persisted in the effort to finish his work. He grew weaker\nfrom month to month, but would not turn back. Finally, on May 1, 1873,\nhis men found him on his knees in his tent, dead; but the results of his\npatient and persevering efforts will never die.\n\n[Footnote: Consult Livingstone's \"Last Journals\" (1874); Blaikie's\n\"Life of Livingstone;\" and Stanley's \"How I found Livingstone\" (1873).]\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\nSELF-CONTROL.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nSelf-mastery is the essence of heroism.--Emerson\n\nHe who reigns within himself is more than a king.--Milton\n\nI have only one counsel for you--Be master!--Napoleon\n\nSelf-control is essential to happiness and usefulness.--E. A. Horton\n\nHe is a fool who cannot be angry; but he is a wise man who will\n    not.--Old Proverb\n\n\nSome one has said \"Self-control is only courage under another form\"; but\nwe think it is far more than that. It is the master of all the virtues,\ncourage included. If it is not so, how can it so control them as to\ndevelop a pure and noble character? The self-control which we commend\nhas its root in true self-respect. The wayward, drifting youth or man\ncannot respect himself. He knows that there is no decision of character\nin drifting with the current, no enterprise, spirit, or determination.\nHe must look the world squarely in the face, and say, \"I am a man,\" or\nhe cannot respect himself; and he must stem the current and row up\nstream to command his destiny.\n\nSelf-control is at the root of all the virtues. Let a man yield to his\nimpulses and passions, and from that moment he gives up his moral\nfreedom. \"Teach self-denial and make its practice pleasurable,\" says\nWalter Scott, \"and you create for the world a destiny more sublime than\never issued from the brain of the wildest dreamer.\"\n\nThis may seem to be a very strong statement, but it is fully sustained\nby the experience of great men like Dr. Cuyler, who said, not long ago,\n\"I have been watching the careers of young men by the thousand in this\nbusy city of New York for over thirty years, and I find that the chief\ndifference between the successful and the unsuccessful lies in the\nsingle element of 'staying-power.'\"\n\nThink of a man just starting out in life to conquer the world being at\nthe mercy of his own appetites and passions! He cannot stand up and look\nthe world in the face when he is the slave of what should be his own\nservants. He cannot lead who is led. There is nothing which gives\ncertainty and direction to the life of a man who is not his own master.\nIf he has mastered all but one appetite, passion, or weakness, he\nisstill a slave; it is the weakest point that measures the strength of\ncharacter.\n\nIt was the self-discipline of a man who had never looked upon war until\nhe was forty, that enabled Oliver Cromwell to create an army which never\nfought without victory, yet which retired into the ranks of industry as\nsoon as the government was established, each soldier being distinguished\nfrom his neighbors only by his superior diligence, sobriety, and\nregularity in the pursuits of peace.\n\nMany of the greatest characters in history illustrate this trait. Take,\nas a single instance, the case of the Duke of Wellington, whose career\nwas marked by a persistent watchfulness over his irritable and explosive\nnature. How well he conquered himself, let the story of his deeds tell.\nThe field of his great victory, which was Napoleon's overthrow, could\nnot have been won but for this power of subduing himself.\n\nIn ordinary life the application is the same. He who would lead must\nfirst command himself. The time of test is when everybody is excited or\nangry or dismayed; then the well-balanced mind comes to the front. To\nsay, \"No\" in the face of glowing temptation is a part of this power.\n\nA very striking illustration is recorded in the life of Horace Greeley.\nOffended by a pungent article, a gentleman called at the _Tribune_\noffice and inquired for the editor. He was shown into a little\nseven-by-nine sanctum, where Greeley sat, with his head close down to\nhis paper, scribbling away at a rapid rate. The angry man began by\nasking if this was Mr. Greeley. \"Yes, sir; what do you want?\" said the\neditor, quickly, without once looking up from his paper. The irate\nvisitor then began using his tongue, with no deference to the rules of\npropriety, good breeding, or reason. Meantime Mr. Greeley continued to\nwrite. Page after page was dashed off in the most impetuous style, with\nno change of features, and without paying the slightest attention to\nthe visitor. Finally, after about twenty minutes of the most\nimpassioned scolding ever poured out in an editor's office, the angry\nman became disgusted, and abruptly turned to walk out of the room.\nThen, for the first time, Mr. Greeley looked up, rose from his chair,\nand slapping the gentleman familiarly on his shoulder, in a pleasant\ntone of voice said: \"Don't go, friend; sit down, sit down, and free\nyour mind; it will do you good, you will feel better for it. Besides,\nit helps me to think what I am to write about. Don't go.\"\n\nThere is a very special demand for the cultivation of this trait and the\nkindred grace of patience at the present time. \"Can't wait\" is\ncharacteristic of the century, and is written on everything; on\ncommerce, on schools, on societies, on churches. Can't wait for high\nschool seminary or college. The boy can't wait to become a youth, nor\nthe youth a man. Young men rush into business with no great reserve of\neducation or drill; of course they do poor, feverish work, and break\ndown in middle life, and may die of old age at forty, if not before.\nEverybody is in a hurry; and to be able, amid this universal rush, to\nhold one's self in check, and to stick to a single object until it is\nfully accomplished, will carry us a long way toward success.\n\nEndurance is a much better test of character than any one act of\nheroism, however noble. It was many years of drudgery, and reading a\nthousand volumes, that enabled George Eliot to get fifty thousand\ndollars for \"Daniel Deronda.\"\n\nEdison in describing his repeated efforts to make the phonograph\nreproduce a sibilant sound, says, \"From eighteen to twenty hours a day\nfor the last seven months I have worked on this single word 'specia.' I\nsaid into the phonograph 'specia, specia, specia;' but the instrument\nresponded 'pecia, pecia, pecia.' It was enough to drive one mad. But I\nheld firm, and I have succeeded.\"\n\nYears of patient apprenticeship make a man a good mechanic. It takes\nlonger to form the artisan. The trained intellect requires a longer\nperiod still. Henry Ward Beecher sent a half-dozen articles to the\npublishers of a religious paper to pay for his subscription, but they\nwere \"respectfully declined.\" One of the leading magazines ridiculed\nTennyson's first poems, and consigned the young poet to oblivion. Only\none of Ralph Waldo Emerson's books had a remunerative sale. Washington\nIrving was nearly seventy years old before the income from his books\npaid the expenses of his household. Who does not see that if these men\nhad lost their grip upon themselves, the world would have been deprived\nof many of its rarest literary treasures?\n\nA great many rules have been given for securing and increasing this\ntrait. A large number rest on mere policy, and are good only for the\nsurface; they do not go to the center. Others are too radical, and tear\nup the roots, leaving one without energy or ambition. The aim should be\nto keep the native force unabated, but to give it wiser guidance.\n\nA fair amount of self-examination is good. Self-knowledge is a preface\nto self-control. The wise commander knows the weak and strong points of\nhis fort. Too much self-inspection leads to morbidness; too little,\nconducts to careless, hasty action. The average American does not know\nhimself well enough; he proceeds with a boastful confidence, and is\nalways in the right, so he thinks. If we are conscious of a failing we\nnaturally strive against it.\n\nThere are two chief aims which, if held in view, will surely strengthen\nour self-control; one is attention to conscience, the other is a spirit\nof good-will. The lawless nature, not intending to live according to\nright, is always breaking over proper restraints,--is suspicious and\nquarrelsome. And he who has not the disposition to love his fellow-men,\ngrows more and more petulant, disagreeable, and unfair.\n\nYou must also learn to guard your weak point. For example: Have you a\nhot, passionate temper? If so, a moment's outbreak, like a rat-hole in a\ndam, may flood all the work of years. One angry word sometimes raises a\nstorm that time itself cannot allay. A single angry word has lost many a\nfriend. The man who would succeed in any great undertaking must hold all\nhis faculties under perfect control; they must be disciplined and\ndrilled, until they quickly and cheerfully obey the will.\n\n\nGEORGE WASHINGTON.\n\nFor the special illustration of this lesson we select a couple of\nincidents from the life of George Washington.\n\nWashington had great power of wrath, inheriting the high, hasty temper\nof his mother. Tobias Lear, his intimate friend and private secretary,\nsays that in the winter of 1791, an officer brought a letter telling of\nGeneral St. Clair's disastrous defeat by the Indians. It must be\ndelivered to the President himself. He left his family and guests at\ntable, glanced over the contents, and, when he rejoined them, seemed as\ncalm as usual. But afterward, when he and Lear were alone, walked the\nroom, silent a while, and then he broke out in great agitation, \"It is\nall over. St. Clair is defeated, routed; the officers nearly all\nkilled, the men by wholesale; the disaster complete; too shocking to\nthink of, and a surprise into the bargain!\" He walked about, much\nagitated, and his wrath became terrible. \"Yes!\" he burst forth, \"here\non this very spot, I took leave of him. I wished him success and honor.\n'You have your instructions,' I said, 'from the Secretary of War. I\nhad myself a strict eye to them, and will add but one word, BEWARE OF A\nSURPRISE! You know how the Indians fight!'\n\n\"He went off with this, as my last solemn warning, thrown into his ears;\nand yet, to suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered,\ntomahawked, by a surprise,--the very thing I guarded him against! O God!\nO God! he is worse than a murderer! How can he answer for it to his\ncountry? The blood of the slain is upon him; the curse of widows and\norphans; the curse of Heaven!\"\n\nHis emotions were awful. After a while he cooled a little, and sat down,\nand said: \"This must not go beyond this room. General St. Clair shall\nhave justice. I looked through the despatches, saw the whole disaster,\nbut not all the particulars. I will receive him without displeasure; I\nwill hear him without prejudice. He shall have full justice!\"\n\nThe second incident is told as follows: In 1775, at Cambridge, the army\nwas destitute of powder. Washington sent Colonel Glover to Marblehead\nfor a supply of that article, which was said to be there. At night the\ncolonel returned, found Washington in front of his headquarters, pacing\nup and down. Glover saluted. The general, without returning his salute,\nasked, roughly: \"Have you got the powder?\" \"No, sir.\" Washington broke\nout at first with terrible severity of speech, and then said: \"Why did\nyou come back, sir, without it?\" \"Sir, there is not a kernel of powder\nin Marblehead.\" Washington walked up and down a minute or two, in great\nagitation, and then said: \"Colonel Glover, here is my hand, if you will\ntake it and forgive me. The greatness of our danger made me forget what\nis due to you and to myself.\"\n\nSuch victories as these show self-control at its very best; and they\nought to make us all see its value and importance.\n\n[Footnote: See Seeley's \"Story of Washington\" (1893), and the excellent\narticle in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. VI., pp.\n376-382.]\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\nPEKSEVERANCE.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nEvery noble work is at first impossible.--Carlyle\n\nVictory belongs to the most persevering.--Napoleon\n\nOur greatest glory is, not in never falling, but in rising every time we\n    fall.--Goldsmith\n\nSuccess in most things depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.\n                                        --Montesquieu\n\nPerseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth.\n                                        --Dr J. Anderson\n\n\nPerseverance depends on three things,--purpose, will, enthusiasm. He\nwho has a purpose is always concentrating his forces. By the will,\nconstantly educated, the hope and plan are prevented from evaporating\ninto dreams, and a little gain is all the time being added. Enthusiasm\nkeeps the interest up, and makes the obstacles seem small. Young people\noften call perseverance plodding, and look with impatience on careful,\nsteady efforts of any kind. It is plodding in a certain sense, but by it\nthe mountain is scaled; whereas the impetuous nature soon tires, or is\ninjured, and the climb is over, half-finished. The founders of New\nEngland did not believe in \"chances.\" They did believe in work. The\nyoung man who thinks to get on by mere smartness and by idling, meets\nfailure at last.\n\nBut there is a higher outlook. Life is in a sense a battle; certainly\nthere is an unending struggle within ourselves to make the better part\nrule the worse. Perseverance is the master impulse of the firmest souls,\nand holds the key to those treasure-houses of knowledge from which the\nworld has drawn its wealth both of wisdom and of moral worth.\n\nGreat men never wait for opportunities; they make them. Nor do they wait\nfor facilities or favoring circumstances; they seize upon whatever is at\nhand, work out their problem, and master the situation. A young man\ndetermined and willing, will find a way or make one. Great men have\nfound no royal road to their triumph. It is always the old route, by way\nof industry and perseverance.\n\nBunyan wrote his \"Pilgrim's Progress\" on the untwisted papers used to\ncork the bottles of milk brought for his meals. Gifford wrote his first\ncopy of a mathematical work, when a cobbler's apprentice, on small\nscraps of leather; and Rittenhouse, the astronomer, first calculated\neclipses on his plow handle.\n\n\"Circumstances,\" says Milton, \"have rarely favored famous men. They have\nfought their way to triumph through all sorts of opposing obstacles. The\ngreatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible\nout of the stuff that has been given to him. This is success, and there\nis no other.\"\n\nParis was in the hands of a mob; the authorities were panic-stricken,\nfor they did not dare to trust their underlings. In came a man who said,\n\"I know a young officer who has the courage and ability to quell this\nmob.\" \"Send for him; send for him,\" said they. Napoleon was sent for,\ncame, subjugated the mob, subjugated the authorities, ruled France, then\nconquered Europe.\n\nOne of the first lessons of life is to learn how to get victory out of\ndefeat. It takes courage and stamina, when mortified and embarrassed by\nhumiliating disaster, to seek in the wreck or ruins the elements of\nfuture conquest. Yet this measures the difference between those who\nsucceed and those who fail. You cannot measure a man by his failures.\nYou must know what use he makes of them.\n\nAlways watch with great interest a young man's first failure. It is the\nindex of his life, the measure of his success-power. The mere fact of\nhis failure has interest; but how did he take his defeat? What did he do\nnext? Was he discouraged? Did he slink out of sight? Did he conclude\nthat he had made a mistake in his calling, and dabble in something else?\nOr was he up and at it again with a determination that knows no defeat?\n\nThere is something grand and inspiring in a young man who fails\nsquarely after doing his level best, and then enters the contest again\nand again with undaunted courage and redoubled energy. Have no fears for\nthe youth who is not disheartened at failure.\n\nRaleigh failed, but he left a name ever to be linked with brave effort\nand noble character. Kossuth did not succeed, but his lofty career, his\nburning words, and his ideal fidelity will move men for good as long as\ntime shall last. O'Connell did not win his cause, but he did achieve\nenduring fame as an orator, patriot, and apostle of liberty.\n\nPresident Lincoln was asked, \"How does Grant impress you as a leading\ngeneral?\" \"The greatest thing about him is his persistency of purpose,\"\nhe replied. \"He is not easily excited, and he has the grip of a bulldog.\nWhen he once gets his teeth in nothing can shake him off.\"\n\nChauncey Jerome's education was limited to three months in the district\nschool each year until he was ten, when his father took him into his\nblacksmith shop at Plymouth, Connecticut, to make nails. Money was a\nscarce article with young Chauncey. His father died when he was eleven,\nand his mother was forced to send him out to earn a living on a farm. At\nfourteen he was apprenticed for seven years to a carpenter, who gave him\nonly board and clothes. One day he heard people talking of Eli Terry, of\nPlymouth, who had undertaken to make two hundred clocks in one lot.\n\"He'll never live long enough to finish them,\" said one. \"If he\nshould,\" said another, \"he could not possibly sell so many. The very\nidea is ridiculous.\"\n\nChauncey pondered long over this rumor, for it had long been his dream\nto become a great clock-maker. He tried his hand at the first\nopportunity, and soon learned to make a wooden clock. When he got an\norder to make twelve at twelve dollars apiece he thought his fortune\nwas made.\n\nOne night he happened to think that a cheap clock could be made of\nbrass as well as of wood, and would not shrink, swell, or warp\nappreciably in any climate. He acted on the idea, and became the first\ngreat manufacturer of brass clocks. He made millions at the rate of six\nhundred a day, exporting them to all parts of the globe.\n\nA constant struggle, a ceaseless battle to bring success from hard\nsurroundings, is the price of all great achievements. The man who has\nnot fought his way upward, and does not bear the scar of desperate\nconflict, does not know the highest meaning of success.\n\nColumbus was dismissed as a fool from court after court, but he pushed\nhis suit against an unbelieving and ridiculing world. Rebuffed by kings,\nscorned by queens, he did not swerve a hair's breadth from the\novermastering purpose which dominated his soul. The words \"New World\"\nwere graven upon his heart; and reputation, ease, pleasure, position,\nlife itself, if need be, must be sacrificed. Neither threats, ridicule,\nstorms, leaky vessels, nor mutiny of sailors, could shake his mighty\npurpose.\n\nLucky for the boy who can say, \"In the bright lexicon of youth there is\nno such word as _fail_.\" We do not care for the men who change with\nevery wind! Give us men like mountains, who change the winds. You cannot\nat one dash rise into eminence. You must hammer it out by steady and\nrugged blows.\n\nA man can get what he wants if he pays the price--persistent, plodding\nperseverance. Never doubt the result; victory will be yours. There may\nbe ways to fortune shorter than the old, dusty highway; but the staunch\nmen in the community all go on this road. If you want to do anything,\ndon't stand back waiting for a better chance to arise, but rush in and\nseize it; and then cling to it with all the power you possess until you\nhave made it serve the purpose for which you desired it, or yield the\ngood which you believe it to contain.\n\nThe lack of perseverance is the cause of many a failure. We do not stand\nby our plans faithfully. Fashion, or criticism, or temporary weariness,\nor fickleness of taste, leads us off; and we have to begin our work all\nover. Look at the history of every noted invention; read the lives of\nmusicians who were born with genius, but wrought out triumph by\nperseverance; and you will find abundant proof that without perseverance\nnothing valuable can be accomplished.\n\n\nGEORGE STEPHENSON.\n\nGeorge Stephenson's struggle for the adoption of his locomotive is\nanother noteworthy case in point. People said \"he is crazy\"; \"his\nroaring steam engine will set the houses on fire with its sparks\"; \"the\nsmoke will pollute the air\"; \"the carriage makers and coachmen will\nstarve for want of work.\" So intense was the opposition, that for three\nwhole days the matter was debated in the House of Commons; and on that\noccasion a government inspector said that if a locomotive ever went ten\nmiles an hour, he would undertake to eat a stewed engine for breakfast.\n\"What can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous than the prospect held\nout of locomotives traveling twice as fast as horses?\" asked a writer\nin the English _Quarterly Review_ for March, 1825. \"We trust that\nParliament will, in all the railways it may grant, _limit the speed\nto eight or nine miles an hour_, which we entirely agree, with Mr.\nSylvester, is as great as can be ventured upon.\"\n\nThis article referred to Stephenson's proposition to use his newly\ninvented locomotive instead of horses on the Liverpool and Manchester\nRailway, then in process of construction. The company referred the\nmatter to two leading English engineers, who reported that steam would\nbe desirable only when used in stationary engines one and a half miles\napart, drawing the cars by means of ropes and pulleys.\n\nBut Stephenson persuaded them to test his idea by offering a prize of\nabout twenty-five hundred dollars for the best locomotive produced at a\ntrial to take place October 6, 1829. On the eventful day, long waited\nfor, thousands of spectators assembled to watch the competition of four\nengines, the \"Novelty,\" the \"Rocket,\" the \"Perseverance,\" and the\n\"Sanspareil.\" The \"Perseverance\" could make but six miles an hour, and\nso was ruled out, as the conditions called for at least ten. The\n\"Sanspareil\" made an average of fourteen miles an hour, but as it burst\na water-pipe it lost its chance. The \"Novelty\" did splendidly, but also\nburst a pipe, and was crowded out, leaving the \"Rocket\" to carry off\nthe honors with an average speed of fifteen miles an hour, the highest\nrate attained being twenty-nine. This was Stephenson's locomotive, and\nso fully vindicated his theory that the idea of stationary engines on\na railroad was completely exploded. He had picked up the fixed engines\nwhich the genius of Watt had devised, and set them on wheels to draw\nmen and merchandise, against the most direful predictions of the\nforemost engineers of his day.\n\n[Footnote: See Smiles' \"Life of George Stephenson\" (new ed., 1874);\nJeaffreson and Pole's \"Life of Robert Stephenson\" (1864), and article\nin Johnson's Cyclopedia, Vol. VII., p. 740.]\n\n\n\n\nXV.\n\nPROMPTNESS.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nOne to-day is worth two to-morrows.--Franklin\n\nWhilst we are considering when we are to begin, it is often too late to\n    act.--Quintilian\n\nBy the street of by and by one arrives at the house of never.--Cervantes\n\nWhen a fool makes up his mind, the market has gone by.--Spanish Proverb\n\nThe individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an appointment, will\n    never be respected or successful in life.--W. Fisk\n\n\nPromptness and punctuality are among the greatest blessings and comforts\nof life. For lack of these qualities, some of the greatest men have\nfailed. Most men have abundant opportunities for promoting and securing\ntheir own happiness. Time should be made the most of. Stray moments,\nsaved and improved, may yield many brilliant results. It is astonishing\nhow much can be done by using up the odds and ends of time in leisure\nhours. We must be prompt to catch the minutes as they fly, and make them\nyield the treasures they contain, or they will be lost to us forever.\n\"In youth the hours are golden, in mature years they are silvern, in old\nage they are leaden.\" \"The man who at twenty knows nothing, at thirty\ndoes nothing, at forty has nothing.\" Yet the Italian proverb adds, \"He\nwho knows nothing is confident in everything.\"\n\nIn the most ordinary affairs of life we must take heed of the value of\ntime, keep watch over it, and be punctual to others as well as to\nourselves; for without punctuality, men are kept in a perpetual state of\nworry, trouble, and annoyance.\n\nWebster was never late at a recitation in school or college. In court,\nin congress, in society, he was equally punctual. So, amid the cares and\ndistractions of a singularly busy life, Horace Greeley managed to be on\ntime for every appointment. Many a trenchant paragraph for the _Tribune_\nwas written while the editor was waiting for men of leisure, tardy at\nsome meeting.\n\nJohn Quincy Adams was never known to be behind time. The Speaker of the\nHouse of Representatives knew when to call the House to order by seeing\nMr. Adams coming to his seat. On one occasion a member said that it was\ntime to begin. \"No,\" said another, \"Mr. Adams is not in his seat.\" It\nwas found that the clock was three minutes fast, and prompt to the\nminute, Mr. Adams arrived.\n\nBegin with promptness in little things. Be punctual at breakfast, even\nif you are sleepy. Be punctual at school, even if you have errands to\ndo. Whatever you may have to do, think out the quickest way of doing it,\nand do it at once. By and by the habit becomes a quality of mind and\naction. Don't loiter about anything; it takes too much time.\n\nWe must be careful to remember that promptness is more than punctuality,\nwhich is an outward habit, and a very necessary one, if people live\ntogether. It is important also for one's own sake, even if he should be\na Robinson Crusoe without a man Friday.\n\nPromptness has to do with thought. It begins in learning how to think\nand reason. Behind it lies concentration, which first of all has made\none thoroughly understand a subject. Then comes the second point,--what\nto do instantly in any given case; and the trained judgment ends in\ninstant, wise action. When a boy saves another who has fallen through\nthe ice, he unconsciously thought out long ago what to do when the\nmoment came for him to act. When a girl throws a rug over the dress of\nher sister, which has caught fire, she knew long before what to do.\nThis knowing what to do, and doing it, is called presence of mind,\nthat is, having common sense all ready for use.\n\nPromptness takes the drudgery out of an occupation. Putting off, usually\nmeans leaving off; and \"going to do\" becomes \"going undone.\" Doing a\ndeed is like sowing a seed; if not done at just the right time it will\nbe forever out of season. The summer of eternity will not be long enough\nto bring to maturity the fruit of a delayed action.\n\nEven in the old, slow days of stage-coaches, when it took a month of\ndangerous travel to accomplish the distance we can now cover in a few\nhours, unnecessary delay was a crime. One of the greatest gains\ncivilization has made, is in the measuring and utilizing of time. We\ncan do as much in an hour to-day as men could in twenty hours a hundred\nyears ago; and if it was a hanging affair then to lose a few minutes,\nwhat should the penalty now be for a like offense?\n\nOne of the best things about school and college life is that the bell\nwhich strikes the hour for rising, for recitations, or for lectures,\nteaches habits of promptness. Every man should have a watch which is a\ngood timekeeper; one that is \"nearly right\" encourages bad habits, and\nis an expensive investment at any price. Wear threadbare clothes, if you\nmust, but never carry an inaccurate watch.\n\nSome people are always a little too late, or a little too early, in\neverything they attempt. John B. Gough used to say \"They have three\nhands apiece,--a right hand, a left hand, and a little behindhand.\" As\nboys, they were late at school, and unpunctual in their home duties.\nThat was the way the habit was acquired; and now, when a responsibility\nclaims them, they think that if they had only gone yesterday they would\nhave obtained the situation, or they can probably get one to-morrow.\n\nDelays often have dangerous endings. Colonel Rahl, the Hessian commander\nat Trenton, was playing cards when a messenger brought a letter stating\nthat Washington was crossing the Delaware. He put the letter in his\npocket without reading it, until the game was finished. He rallied his\nmen only to die just before his troops were taken prisoners. Only a few\nminutes' delay, but it resulted in the loss of honor, liberty, and life.\n\nIndecision becomes a disease, and procrastination is its forerunner.\nThere is only one known remedy for the victims of indecision, and that\nis promptness. Otherwise the disease is fatal to all success or\nachievement. He who hesitates is lost. General Putnam was plowing, with\nhis son Daniel, in eastern Connecticut, when the news of the battle of\nLexington reached him. \"He loitered not,\" said Daniel, \"but left me, the\ndriver of his team, to unyoke it in the furrow; and, not many days\nafter, to follow him to camp.\"\n\nThe man who would forge to the front in this competitive age must be a\nman of prompt and determined decision. Like Cortes, he must burn his\nships behind him, and make retreat forever impossible. When he draws his\nsword he must throw the scabbard away, lest in a moment of\ndiscouragement and irresolution he be tempted to sheath it. He must nail\nhis colors to the mast, as Nelson did in battle, determined to sink with\nhis ship if he cannot conquer. Prompt decision and sublime audacity have\ncarried many a successful man over perilous crises where deliberation\nwould have been ruin.\n\nHenry IV, king of France, was another leader of remarkable promptness.\nHis people said of him that \"he wore out very little broadcloth, but a\ngreat deal of boot-leather,\" for he was always going from one place to\nanother. In speaking of the Duc de Mayenne, Henry called him a great\ncaptain, but added, \"I always have five hours the start of him.\" Getting\nahead of time is as good a rule for boys and girls as for generals.\n\nIn our own country we have had generals who were especially noted for\ntheir dispatch. You know the story of \"Sheridan's Ride\" in the\nShenandoah Valley. His men, thoroughly beaten for the moment, were\nfleeing before the Southerners, when he suddenly appeared, promptly\ndecided to head them right about, and, by the inspiration of his\nsingle presence, turned defeat into victory.\n\nSailors must be even more prompt than soldiers, for in danger at sea not\nan instant can be lost. Not only must a sailor be prompt in action\nagainst storm, but he must be prompt with his sails in squally weather;\nhe must be prompt with his helm when approaching land. Among the heroes\nof the sea, Lord Nelson is conspicuous for his prompt and courageous\ndeeds. He had many faults; but England felt safe while he watched over\nher maritime affairs; for he was always beforehand, and never allowed\nhimself to be surprised by misfortune.\n\nIt is so in the voyage of life. Incidents often occur which demand\ninstantaneous action on our part; and these are the events which usually\nissue in failure or success. Prompt movement, at the right moment, is\nmore valuable than rubies; and its lack often leads to utter ruin.\n\n\nNAPOLEON BONAPARTE.\n\nNapoleon changed the art of war quite as much by his promptness as by\nthe concentration of his men in large masses. By his exceeding rapidity\nof movement he was long able to protect France against the combined\npowers of Europe. He was always quick to seize the advantages of an\nemergency. Though he can never be considered as the type of a noble man,\nhe was an extraordinarily great man. Boys who like to read of battles,\nand trace the maneuvers of a campaign, will find that his military\nrenown was largely due to his promptness.\n\nDecision of purpose and rapidity of action enabled him to astonish the\nworld with his marvelous successes. He appeared to be everywhere at\nonce. What he could accomplish in a day, surprised all who knew him. He\nseemed to electrify everybody about him. His invincible energy thrilled\nthe whole army. He could rouse to immediate and enthusiastic action the\ndullest troops, and inspire with courage the most stupid men. He would\nsit up all night, if necessary, after riding thirty or forty leagues,\nto attend to correspondence, dispatches and details. What a lesson his\ncareer affords to the shiftless and half-hearted!\n\nThere have been many times when a prompt decision, a rapid movement, an\nenergetic action, have changed the very face of history; and, on the\nother hand, there have been many instances where the indecisions of\ngenerals, or the procrastination of subordinates, has cost thousands of\nprecious lives, and the loss of millions of dollars worth of property.\n\nNapoleon once invited his marshals to dine with him; but, as they did\nnot arrive at the moment appointed, he began to eat without them. They\ncame in just as he was rising from the table. \"Gentlemen,\" said he, \"it\nis now past dinner, and we will immediately proceed to business.\"\n\nHe laid great stress upon that \"supreme moment,\" that \"nick of time,\"\nwhich occurs in every battle; to take advantage of which means victory,\nand to lose in hesitation means disaster. He said that he beat the\nAustrians because they did not know the value of five minutes; and it\nhas been said that, among the trifles that conspired to defeat him at\nWaterloo, the loss of a few minutes by himself and Grouchy on that\nfatal morning, was the most significant. Blucher was on time, and\nGrouchy was late. That may seem a small matter, but it was enough to\nbring Napoleon's career to a close, and to send him to St. Helena.\n\n[Footnote: On Napoleon, see Seeley's \"Short History of Napoleon I.\";\nRopes's \"The First Napoleon,\" and articles in the current\nencyclopedias.]\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\nHONESTY.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nTruth needs no color, beauty no pencil.--Shakespeare\n\nAn honest man's the noblest work of God.--Pope\n\nThe basis of high thinking is perfect honesty.--Strong\n\nNature has written a letter of credit on some men's faces which is\n    honored whenever presented.--Thackeray\n\nIf there were no honesty, it would be invented as a means of getting\n    wealth.--Mirabeau\n\n\nThere are certain virtues and vices which very largely determine the\nhappiness or the misery of every human life. Prominent among these\nvirtues are those of truth and honesty; and to these are opposed the\nvices of lying and cheating.\n\nSociety is like a building, which stands firm when its foundations are\nstrong and all its timbers are sound. The man who cannot be trusted is\nto society what a faulty foundation or a bit of rotten timber is to a\nhouse.\n\nIt is always mean for a man or boy \"to go back,\" as we say, on a friend.\nIt is still worse, if possible, to \"go back\" on one's self. A brave man\nor boy will manfully take the consequences of his acts, and if they are\nbad, will resolve to do better another time. The worst sort of deceit is\nthat by which one lets another bear the blame, or in any way suffer, for\nwhat one has one's self done. Such meanness happens sometimes, but it is\nalmost too bad to be spoken of.\n\nThere are certain kinds of cheating that the law cannot or does not\ntouch. The man who practices this kind of dishonesty is even worse than\nif he were doing that which the law punishes. He uses the law, which\nwas meant to protect society, as a cover from which he can attack\nsociety.\n\nLying is a form of dishonesty, and a very bad form of it. What would\nbecome of the world if we could not trust each other's word? A lie is\nalways told for one of two ends; either to get some advantage to which\none has no real claim, in which case it is merely a form of cheating; or\nto defend one's self from the bad consequences of something that one has\ndone, in which case it is cowardly.\n\nThe Romans arranged the seats in their two temples to Virtue and Honor,\nso that no one could enter the second without passing through the first.\nSuch is the order of advance,--Virtue, Toil, Honor.\n\nThe solid and useful virtue of honesty is highly practicable. \"Nothing\nis profitable that is dishonest,\" is a truthful maxim. \"Virtue alone is\ninvincible.\" \"I would give ten thousand dollars for your reputation for\nuprightness,\" said a sharper to an upright tradesman, \"for I could make\na hundred thousand dollars with it.\" Honesty succeeds, dishonesty fails.\nThe honesty and integrity of A. T. Stewart won for him a great\nreputation, and the young schoolmaster who began life in New York on\nless than a dollar a day, amassed nearly forty million dollars, and\nthere was not a smirched dollar in all those millions.\n\nWe do not count ourselves among those who believe that \"every man has\nhis price,\" and that \"an honest man has a lock of hair growing in the\npalm of his right hand.\" No! There are in the world of business many\nmore honest men than rogues, and for one trust betrayed there are\nthousands sacredly kept.\n\nAs a mere matter of selfishness, \"honesty is the best policy.\" But he\nwho is honest for policy's sake is already a moral bankrupt. Men of\npolicy are honest when they think honesty will pay the better; but when\npolicy will pay better they give honesty the slip. Honesty and policy\nhave nothing in common. When policy is in, honesty is out. It is more\nhonorable for some men to fail than for others to succeed. Part with\nanything rather than your integrity and conscious rectitude. Capital is\nnot what a man has, but what a man is. Character is capital.\n\nFor example: A man wishes to succeed in business. His studies and his\npractical training have fitted him to do this. He seeks out all the\nmethods by which he may reach success. He shrinks from no labor of mind,\nor, if need be, of body, for this end. In all this he is right. We\nadmire skill, industry, and pluck. There is, however, one kind of means\nthat he may not use. He may not stoop to fraud of any kind. He _may_\ndesire and seek wealth; he _must_ desire and seek honor and\nhonesty. These are among the ends that morality insists upon, and that\nshould not be sacrificed to anything else.\n\nWhat contempt we have for a man who robs another, who picks his pocket,\nor knocks him down in some lonely place and strips him of whatever\narticles of value he may have. But the man who cheats is a thief, just\nas truly as the pickpocket and the highwayman.\n\nThere is nothing that improves a boy's character so much as putting him\non his honor--trusting to his honor. We have little hope for the boy who\nis dead to the feeling of honor. The boy who needs to be continually\nlooked after is on the road to ruin. If treating your boy as a gentleman\ndoes not make him a gentleman, nothing else will.\n\nThere are many incidents in Abraham Lincoln's career which illustrate\nthis virtue; and from these we select the following: While tending\nstore, Lincoln once sold to a woman goods to the amount of two dollars,\nsix and a quarter cents. He discovered later that a mistake had been\nmade, and that the store owed the customer the six and a quarter cents.\nAfter he had closed the store that night, he walked several miles in\nthe darkness to return the amount.\n\nAt another time a woman bought a pound of tea. Lincoln discovered the\nnext morning that a smaller weight was on the scales. He at once weighed\nout the remainder, and walked some distance before breakfast to return\nit.\n\nHe was once a postmaster in New Salem; but the office was finally\ndiscontinued. Several years after, the agent called at his law office,\nand presented a claim of about seventeen dollars in the settlement of\nthe New Salem affairs. Mr. Lincoln took out a little trunk, and\nproduced the exact sum, wrapped in a linen rag. It had lain there\nuntouched through years of the greatest hardship and self-denial. He\nsaid, \"I never use any one's money but my own.\"\n\nHonor lies in doing well whatever we find to do; and the world estimates\na man's abilities in accordance with his success in whatever business or\nprofession he may engage. The true gentleman is known by his strict\nsense of honor; by his sympathy, his gentleness, his forbearance, and\nhis generosity. He is essentially a man of truth, speaking and doing\nrightly, not merely in the sight of men, but in his secret and private\nbehavior. Truthfulness is moral transparency. Hence the gentleman\npromises nothing that he has not the means of performing. The Duke of\nWellington proudly declared that truth was the characteristic of an\nEnglish officer, that when he was bound by a parole he would not break\nhis word; for the gentleman scorns to lie, in word or deed; and is ready\nto brave all consequences rather than debase himself by falsehood.\n\nWhen any one complains, as Diogenes did, that he has to hunt the streets\nwith candles at noonday to find an honest man, we are apt to think that\nhis nearest neighbor would have quite as much difficulty in making such\na discovery. If you think there is not a true man living, you had\nbetter, for appearance's sake, not say so until you are dead yourself.\n\nA few years since, a manly boy about nine years old stepped up to a\ngentleman in the Grand Central Depot, New York, and asked, \"Shine,\nsir?\" \"Yes I want my shoes blacked,\" said the gentleman. \"Then I would\nbe glad to shine them, sir,\" said the boy. \"Have I time to catch the\nHudson River train?\" \"No time to lose, sir; but I can give you a good\njob before it pulls out. Shall I?\" \"Yes, my boy; but don't let me be\nleft.\"\n\nIn two seconds the bootblack was on his knees and hard at work. \"The\ntrain is going, sir,\" said the boy, as he gave the last touch. The\ngentleman gave the boy a half dollar, and started for the train. The boy\ncounted out the change and ran after the gentleman, but was too late,\nfor the train was gone.\n\nTwo years later the same gentleman, coming to New York, met the\nbootblack, but had forgotten him. The boy remembered the gentleman, and\nasked him, \"Didn't I shine your shoes once in the Grand Central Depot?\"\n\"Some boy did,\" said the man. \"I am the boy, and here is your change,\nsir.\" The gentleman was so pleased with the lad's honesty, that he went\nwith him to see his mother, and offered to adopt him, as he needed such\na boy. The mother consented, and the honest bootblack had after that a\ngood home. He was given a good education, and, when a man, became a\npartner in the gentleman's large business.\n\n\nGEORGE PEABODY.\n\nAt eleven years of age George Peabody had to go out into the world to\nearn his living. His promptness and honesty won for him the esteem of\nhis employer. At the age of fifteen he was left fatherless, without a\ndollar in the world. An uncle in Georgetown, D. C., hearing that the boy\nneeded work, sent for him and gave him employment. His genial manner and\nrespectful bearing gained him many friends. He never wounded the\nfeelings of the buyer of goods, never seemed impatient, and was strictly\nhonest in all his dealings. His energy, perseverance, and honesty made\nhim a partner in the business when only nineteen years of age. At the\nage of thirty-five he became the head of a large and wealthy business,\nwhich his own industry had helped to build. He had bent his life to one\npurpose, to make his business a success.\n\nHaving visited London several times in matters of trade, he determined\nto make that city his place of residence. In 1837, there came a great\nbusiness panic in the United States. Many banks suspended specie\npayments. Many mercantile houses went to the wall, and thousands more\nwere in great distress. Faith in the credit of the United States was\nalmost lost. Probably not one half dozen men in Europe would have been\nlistened to for a moment in the Bank of England upon the subject of\nAmerican securities, but George Peabody was one of them.\n\nHe became a wealthy man, honored at home and abroad. He loved his\nfellow-men and set himself the task of relieving their wants. He gave\nten thousand dollars to help fit out the second expedition for the\nrelief of Sir John Franklin. The same year, his native town of Danvers,\nMassachusetts, celebrated its centennial. The rich London banker was of\ncourse invited. He was too busy to be present but sent a letter. The\nseal was broken at dinner, and this was the toast it contained:\n\n\"Education--a debt due from present to future generations.\" In the same\nenvelope was a check for twenty thousand dollars for a town library and\ninstitute. At another banquet given in his honor at Danvers, years\nafterward, he gave two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the same\ninstitute. Edward Everett, and others, made eloquent addresses, and then\nthe kind-faced, great-hearted man responded.\n\n\"There is not a youth within the sound of my voice whose early\nopportunities and advantages are not very much better than were mine. I\nhave achieved nothing that is impossible to the most humble boy among\nyou. Steadfast and undeviating _truth_, fearless and straight forward\nintegrity, and an honor ever unsullied by an unworthy word or action,\nmake their possessor greater than worldly success.\"\n\n[Footnote: See the life of George Peabody, by Phebe A. Hanaford (Boston,\n1882), and numerous articles in the cyclopedias and magazines.]\n\n\n\n\nXVII.\n\nCOURTESY.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nConduct is three fourths of life.--Matthew Arnold\n\nThere is no policy like politeness.--Magoon\n\nLife is not so short but there is time enough for courtesy.--Emerson\n\nMen, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.--Richter\n\nNothing can constitute good breeding that has not good-nature for its\n    foundation.--Bulwer\n\n\nTrue courtesy consists in that gentle refinement and grace of manner\ndisplayed toward others, which springs not so much from polite culture\nas from a genuine goodness of heart. It is the honor due to man as man,\nand especially to woman. It is a grace which is too often unrecognized\nand undervalued; but, when of the true order, it is a jewel of great\nprice.\n\nIt is to be found in all lands, and in every grade or order of society,\nas shown by the following examples:\n\nA Chinaman was rudely pushed into the mud by an American. He picked\nhimself up very calmly, shook off some of the mud, bowed very politely,\nand said in a mild, reproving tone of voice, \"You Christian; me heathen;\nalle samee, good-bye.\" Courtesy, as a Christian duty, has been sorely\nneglected by Americans. \"If a civil word or two will make a man happy,\"\nsaid a French king, \"he must be wretched indeed who will not give them\nto him.\"\n\nThe first Duke of Marlborough \"wrote English badly and spelled it\nworse,\" yet he swayed the destinies of empires. The charm of his manner\nwas irresistible and influenced all Europe. His fascinating smile and\nwinning speech disarmed the fiercest hatred, and made friends of the\nbitterest enemies.\n\nA habit of courtesy is like a delicate wrapping, preventing one\npersonality from rubbing and chafing against another. It is perhaps most\nof all proper from the young toward those who are older than themselves.\nThere is too little of this in our day. Boys and girls speak to their\nelders, perhaps even to their parents, with rude familiarity, such as\nwould be hardly proper among playmates.\n\nOne should also show courtesy to his companions. Boys, even in their\nplay, should be courteous to one another. One who is always pushing for\nthe best, without regard to others, shows his ill breeding. A \"thank\nyou\" and a \"please\" on proper occasions, are not out of place even among\nthe closest companions.\n\nPerhaps in the family, courtesy is more important than anywhere else.\nThere people are thrown more closely together; and, thus, nowhere do\nthey need more the protection of courtesy. From all this, it appears\nthat courtesy is simply an expression of thoughtfulness for others; and\nthat rudeness and boorishness, though sometimes they spring from\nignorance, are more often the expression of selfishness, which forgets\nthe feelings and the tastes of others.\n\nWhen Edward Everett took a professor's chair at Harvard, after five\nyears of study in Europe, he was almost worshiped by the students. His\nmanner seemed touched by that exquisite grace seldom found except in\nwomen of rare culture. His great popularity lay in a courteous and\nmagnetic atmosphere which every one felt, but no one could fully\ndescribe, and which never left him throughout his long and useful life.\n\nCourtesy, then, may be defined as \"good manners.\" At present we use the\nword \"manners,\" simply to express the outward relations of life. We\nspeak of \"good manners\" or \"bad manners,\" meaning by the words that a\nperson conforms more or less perfectly to what are called the \"usages of\ngood society.\" Thus a man may have good morals and bad manners, or he\nmay have good manners and bad morals, or both his manners and his morals\nmay be either good or bad.\n\nEtiquette originally meant the ticket or tag tied to a bag to indicate\nits contents. If a bag had this ticket it was not examined. From this\nthe word passed to cards upon which were printed certain rules to be\nobserved by guests. These rules were \"the ticket\" or the etiquette. To\nbe \"the ticket,\" or, as it was sometimes expressed, \"to act or talk by\nthe card,\" became the thing with the better classes.\n\nA fine manner more than compensates for all the defects of nature. The\nmost fascinating person is always the one of most winning manners, not\nthe one of greatest physical beauty. The Greeks thought beauty was a\nproof of the peculiar favor of the gods, and considered that beauty\nonly worth adorning and transmitting which was unmarred by outward\nmanifestations of hard and haughty feeling. According to their ideal,\nbeauty must be the expression of attractive qualities within--such as\ncheerfulness, benignity, contentment, and love.\n\nOn a certain occasion, Queen Victoria sent for Thomas Carlyle, who was\na Scotch peasant, offering him the title of nobleman, which he declined,\nfeeling that he had always been a nobleman in his own right. He\nunderstood so little of the manners at court that, when presented to the\nqueen, after speaking to her a few minutes, being tired, he said, \"Let\nus sit down, madam, and talk it over;\" whereat the courtiers were ready\nto faint. But the queen was equal to the occasion and gave a gesture\nthat seated all her attendants in a moment.\n\nCourtesy is not, however, always found in high places. Even royal courts\nfurnish many examples of bad manners. At an entertainment given by the\nPrince of Wales, to which, of course, only the very cream of society was\nadmitted, there was such pushing and struggling to see the Princess, who\nwas then but recently married, that, as she passed through the reception\nrooms, a bust of the princess Eoyal was thrown from its pedestal and\ndamaged, and the pedestal upset; and the ladies, in their eagerness to\nsee the princess, actually stood upon it.\n\nCourtesy does not necessarily conflict with sincerity. It is a great\nmistake to suppose that righteousness is bound up with bluntness and\ncriticism. Perfect courtesy and perfect honesty are often combined in\nthe same person. We can be amiable without being weak. We are able to\ncriticise errors and wrongs by holding up what is right and true, which\nis the most forcible way; and still, through it all, our gentleness and\ncourtesy may remain unstained.\n\nWhere this course is departed from, we are very apt to fall into\ntrouble. A New York lady had just taken her seat in a car on a train\nbound for Philadelphia, when a somewhat stout man sitting just ahead of\nher lighted a cigar. She coughed and moved uneasily; but the hints had\nno effect, so she said tartly: \"You probably are a foreigner, and do not\nknow that there is a smoking-car attached to the train. Smoking is not\npermitted here.\" The man made no reply, but threw his cigar out of the\nwindow. What was her astonishment when the conductor told her, a moment\nafter, that she had entered the private car of General Grant. She\nwithdrew in confusion, but the same line courtesy which led him to give\nup his cigar, was shown again as he spared her the mortification of\neven a questioning glance, still less of a look of amusement, although\nshe watched his dumb, immovable figure with apprehension until she\nreached the door.\n\nLet us not be so busy as to forget the gracious acts and delicate\ncourtesies of everyday life. As Dr. Bartol says: \"These friendly\ngood-mornings, these ownings of mutual ties, take on, in their mass, a\ncharacter of the sublime. The young owe respect to their elders. There\nis a great deal of affection shown in our day, but the expression of\nreverence is not so common. Good manners are not simply 'a fortune' to\na young person; they are more. They constitute the proof of a noble\ncharacter.\"\n\n\nRALPH WALDO EMERSON.\n\nIn selecting Ralph Waldo Emerson as our special example, we are sure of\nan admirable illustration. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the\n25th of May, 1803, the second of five sons. His father was the Rev.\nWilliam Emerson, minister of the First Church, in Boston. One of his\nschoolmates says that as a youth, \"it was impossible that there should\nbe any feeling about him but of regard and affection.\" His course and\ngraduation at Harvard College are remembered by his friends as marked\nchiefly by amiability, meditation, and faultless conduct. He taught\nschool a short time and \"made all the boys love him\"; holding perfect\ncontrol beneath courteous manners.\n\nLater on Emerson entered the ministry and became pastor of a church in\nBoston. He was greatly beloved by all who knew him. The cause of this\nuniversal affection was not solely in the books he produced, but in the\nwonderful courtesy of his character, as it faced toward life in every\nrelation.\n\nHis son, Edward W. Emerson, says: \"My father's honor for humanity, and\nrespect for humble people and for labor, were strong characteristics. To\nservants, he was kindly and delicately considerate; always fearful lest\ntheir feelings might be wounded. He built his own fires, going to the\nwoodpile in the yard in all weather for armfuls of wood as occasion\nrequired.\" He then adds, \"Nothing could be better than his manner to\nchildren and young people; affectionate, and with a marked respect for\ntheir personality.\"\n\nNever patronizing, always appreciative, he touched everybody with\ncourtesy, and was, as Matthew Arnold said, \"The friend of those who live\nin the spirit of high, generous standards.\" We see in his example what\ndeep, real courtesy is. Courtesy, to him, was sincerity, and fairness,\nand good-will, all round. He welcomed shy merit, encouraged clumsyyouth,\nand smiled on good intentions, however poorly expressed. He did\nall this day after day at the cost of time and patience and strength. As\na scholar, he might have secluded himself and simply written great\nbooks; but the power he is, and is to be, could not have been obtained\nthat way.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Ralph Waldo Emerson,\" by O. W. Holmes (Boston, 1884);\n\"Emerson at Home and Abroad,\" by H. D. Conway; and F. B. Sanborn's\n\"Homes and Haunts of Emerson.\"]\n\n\n\n\nXVIII.\n\nSELF-DENIAL.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nSelf-denial is the essence of heroism.--Emerson\n\nTrue self-denial involves personal sacrifice for the good of others.\n                                      --Dr. Momerie\n\nTo give up interest for duty is the alphabet of morals.--James Hinton\n\nA man of self-denial has the true ring which distinguishes the genuine\n    from the counterfeit.--Prof. Seeley\n\nThe worst education which teaches self-denial is better than the best\n    which teaches everything else, and not that.--John Sterling\n\n\nIt is a mistake to imagine that self-sacrifice and self-denial are\nprecisely the same. Many persons seem to think that because\nself-sacrifice is a noble thing, everything in which self is given up\nmust be noble. Self may sometimes be sacrificed when it ought to be\nmaintained; and sometimes we sacrifice our interest to save ourselves a\nlittle trouble, or to get rid of some petty annoyance. We say, \"Well, I\nhave a right to do this, but, let it go;\" and then we fancy that we have\nperformed a noble deed, whereas, we have really been serving our own\nselfishness and love of ease.\n\nTrue self-denial is the result of a calm and deliberate attachment to\nthe highest good, and consists in the giving up of everything which\nstands in the way of its attainment, no matter what it may cost us\neither in suffering or loss.\n\nIn our earliest years we must train ourselves to forego little things\nfor the sake of others. If we do so, we shall find it much easier to\nbear the heavier disappointments of maturer years. It will greatly help\nus if we try to practice at least one distinct act of self-denial every\nday; and we must not forget that these acts must be both voluntary and\ncheerful if they are to be of real benefit either to ourselves or to\nothers.\n\nThe burdens which boyhood and girlhood must bear in acquiring an\neducation, learning a trade, resisting temptations, and building\nspotless characters, demand the constant exercise of self-denial. Many\npeople, young and old, know what duty is, but fail to do it for the want\nof decision. They know very well what labors and self-denials are\nnecessary to obtain an education, master a trade, or attain to\nexcellence in any pursuit; but their ignoble indecision, which is a sort\nof mental and moral debility, disqualifies them for the undertaking.\n\"The will, which is the central force of character, must be trained to\nhabits of decision; otherwise, it will neither be able to resist evil,\nnor to follow good.\"\n\nOur subject brings to mind many heroes of all kinds, to whose lives we\nwould gladly refer, if our space permitted. They are found in all\nstations of life. There have been railway engineers, who, when they saw\nthat a collision could not be avoided, have stood at their place to\nlighten, if possible, the shock, and have been killed; sea captains, who\nhave remained at their posts till all others had left, and have gone\ndown with their ships; physicians and nurses, and sisters of charity,\nwho have not shrunk from pestilence in order to save life, or to\ncomfort the dying. There was Father Damien, a Catholic priest, who so\npitied the lepers that were confined to an island, deprived alike of\nthe comforts of this world and of the consolations of religion, that he\nwent and lived with them. He knew that when he once joined them he\nwould probably take their disease, and, in any case, could never leave\nthem. But he went, shared their lot, lived and died among them; seeking\nto do them good.\n\nHistoric illustrations of self-denial, still fresh in the memories of\nmany citizens, are to the point here. General Grant had been for several\nmonths in front of Petersburg, apparently accomplishing nothing, while\nGeneral Sherman had captured Atlanta, and completed his grand \"march to\nthe sea.\" Then arose a strong cry to promote Sherman to Grant's position\nas lieutenant-general. Hearing of it, Sherman wrote to Grant:\n\n\"I have written to John Sherman [his brother] to stop it. I would rather\nhave you in command than any one else. I should emphatically decline any\ncommission calculated to bring us into rivalry.\"\n\nGeneral Grant replied:\n\n\"No one would be more pleased with your advancement than I; and if you\nshould be placed in my position, and I put subordinate, it would not\nchange our relations in the least. I would make the same exertions to\nsupport you, that you have done to support me; and I would do all in my\npower to make our cause win.\"\n\nTwo great souls striving to be equally magnanimous! Could anything be\nmore beautiful or noble in public life, where jealousy, and selfishness\nand double-dealing appear to rule the hour?\n\nOne or two other illustrations must suffice us. The captain of a ship\nwas absent from it one day, being on board another vessel. While he was\ngone, a storm arose, which in a short time made an entire wreck of his\nown ship, to which it had not been possible for him to return. He had\nleft on board two little boys, the one four years old and the other six,\nunder the care of a young colored servant. The people struggled to get\nout of the sinking ship into a large boat; and the poor servant took the\ncaptain's two little children, tied them in a sack, and put them into\nthe boat, which was by this time quite full. He was stepping into it\nhimself, but was told by the officer that there was no room forhim,--\nthat either he or the children must perish, for the weight of all\nwould sink the boat. The heroic servant did not hesitate a moment.\n\"Very well,\" said he; \"give my love to my master, and tell him I beg\npardon for all my faults;\" and then he went to the bottom, never to rise\nagain till the sea shall give up its dead.\n\nThe power and influence of self-denial are well set forth in the\nfollowing incident:\n\nAt a time of great scarcity in Germany, a certain rich man invited\ntwenty poor children to his house, and said to them, \"In this basket\nthere is a loaf of bread for each of you; take it, and come again every\nday at this hour until the coming of better times.\"\n\nThe children seized upon the basket, wrangled and fought for the bread,\nas each wished to get the best and largest loaf; and at last they went\naway without even thanking him.\n\nFrances alone, a poor but neatly dressed child, stood modestly at a\ndistance, took the smallest loaf that was left in the basket, thanked\nthe gentleman, and went home in a quiet and orderly manner.\n\nOn the following day the children were just as ill-behaved; and poor\nFrances this time received a loaf which was scarcely half the size of\nthe rest; but when she came home, and her mother began to cut the bread,\nthere fell out of it a number of bright new silver coins.\n\nHer mother was perplexed and said, \"Take back the money this instant;\nfor it has no doubt, got into the bread through some mistake.\"\n\nFrances carried it back. But the benevolent man said, \"No, no! it was no\nmistake. I had the money baked in the smallest loaf in order to reward\nyou, my dear child. Remember that the person who is contented with the\nsmallest loaf, rather than quarrel for the largest one, will find\nblessings still more valuable than money baked in bread.\"\n\nAll these incidents reveal the value of this trait in real life; and\nalso serve to show how it is regarded by others than ourselves. It will\nmore than repay us for its cultivation, both by the increase of our own\nhappiness, and in the large amount of enjoyment it will put into the\nlives of those about us.\n\n\nCHARLES LAMB.\n\nCharles Lamb was a writer of charming essays, full of wit and fancy.\nHe seemed to the world as far as possible from a hero; yet his life\nwasheroic in an unusual degree.\n\nHe was the son of a clerk in the London Law Courts, and the youngest\nchild in a family of three. He had a brother, John, who was twelve\nyears, and a sister Mary, ten years older than himself. At the age of\nseventeen he became a clerk in the Accountant's Office of the East\nIndia Company. There was a kind of insanity in the family, and in\nSeptember, 1796, Charles Lamb came home from his office-work to find\nthat his sister had wounded her father in the forehead and had stabbed\nher mother to the heart. The inquest on the mother, held next day, was\nclosed with a verdict of insanity, and Mary Lamb was placed in a\nlunatic asylum.\n\nJohn Lamb, the elder brother, offered no aid to the family. Charles\nloved his sister, and cared for her with a beautiful devotion. The\ncombined earnings of Charles and his father were less than two hundred\npounds a year, but Charles so arranged matters that sixty pounds a year\nwas devoted to her support. Others of the family, especially her brother\nJohn, opposed Mary's discharge from the asylum; but Charles obtained her\nrelease by solemnly promising that he would take care of her.\n\nAlthough he was engaged to be married to a woman whom he tenderly loved,\nhe gave up all for Mary's sake, and literally filled her life with his\nlove. First he placed her in a lodging at Hackney, and spent all his\nSundays and holidays with her. Then they lived together; he watching the\nmoods that foreshadowed a mad fit, and taking her when needful, a\nwilling patient, to the Hoxton asylum till the fit was over. It was a\nsad sight to see the brother and sister walking across the fields to\nthe hospital together, when she felt that the trouble was coming on;\nbut through the long period of forty years his love never once failed,\nand his devotion increased to the very end.\n\nHis whole life developed into one of singular kindness and\nself-sacrifice. He is known to have worn a coat six months longer than\nhe otherwise would have done, in order that he might spare a little\nmoney to help some one less fortunate than himself. One of his many\nfriends, speaking of him said, \"Of all the men of genius I ever knew,\nthe one most intensely and universally to be loved was Charles Lamb.\"\n\n[Footnote: See Hazlitt's \"Mary and Charles Lamb\" (1874); \"Biography of\nCharles Lamb,\" T. N. Talfourd (1840); and \"Final Memoirs,\" T. N.\nTalfourd (1848).]\n\n\n\n\nXIX.\n\nSELF-RESPECT.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nAbove all things reverence yourself.--Pythagoras\n\nNo one can disgrace us but ourselves.--J. G. Holland\n\nSelf-distrust is the cause of most of our failures.--Bovee\n\nSelf-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, these three alone lead\n    life to sovereign power.--Tennyson\n\nTo thine own self be true; and it will follow, as night the day, thou\n    canst not then be false to any man.--Shakespeare\n\n\nThere is around every man or woman, every boy or girl, a certain\natmosphere that keeps him or her separate and distinct from all other\npersons. We realize the truth of this statement very early in life; and\nunless we can learn to respect and rely upon our own distinctive\nself-hood, our lives will never reach their largest possibilities.\n\nThere is, however, a real difference between self-reliance and\nself-respect, though each partakes of the nature of the other.\nSelf-respect is the root of which self-reliance is the growth in\nvarious acts or plans. It is the general tone and spirit running through\nour view of life, of our nature, of our friends, of our privileges, of\nour personal gifts. It is the basis on which we build self-reliant\nconduct and self-reliant convictions.\n\nIt is generally the man who thinks well of himself who comes to be\nthought well of. But it is also true that when a man becomes perfectly\nsatisfied with himself and his worldly surroundings, he has reached the\nfirst stage of decline. Self-confidence, backed by good common sense, is\none of the most important of human attributes. But we must be careful\nnot to exaggerate ourselves, or rate ourselves too highly. There are\ndangers attending every virtue. Pushed to excess, even conscience,\njustice, and earnestness, may become injurious. Self-respect must be\nguarded by common sense, love of humanity, and the spirit of reverence.\nBut nothing can make good an absence of this quality.\n\nEven the Chinese say, \"It never pays to respect a man who does not\nrespect himself.\" If the world sees that you do not honor yourself, it\nhas a right to reject you as an impostor; because you claim to be worthy\nof the good opinion of others when you have not your own. Self-respect\nis based upon the same principles as respect for others. The scales of\njustice hang in every heart, and even the murderer respects the judge\nwho condemns him; for the still small voice within says, \"That is\nright.\"\n\nSelf-respect is a great aid to pure living. So long as a youth has true\nself-respect, vice has little attraction for him. It is when this\nsterling virtue is sacrificed, and the thoughtless or reckless one\nceases to care what is thought of him, that vice claims its victim. He\nwho cares not whether men think well or ill of him, does not possess\nself-respect; and so he is easily lured into evil, becoming more and\nmore indifferent to the good-will of others, and more thoughtless and\nabandoned in his daily life. With the loss of self-respect, he is\nlikely to lose all that makes manhood true and noble.\n\nThe key to John Bunyan's career is found in the self-respect which began\nto govern his thoughts and acts in maturing youth, and which afterward\nenabled him to meet persecution victoriously and to develop his peculiar\ntalent. If lie had been turned back by the scorn and contempt heaped\nupon him on account of his low condition, or if he had listened to\ncritics who laughed at his simple, direct style in \"Pilgrim's Progress\";\nor if he had lost courage because he belonged to a despised religious\nsect; we should never have had his inspiring example.\n\nThe main business of life is not to do something great, but to become\ngreat in ourselves. Any action has its finest and most enduring fruit in\ncharacter. Men of character are the conscience of the society to which\nthey belong. They, rather than the police, guarantee the execution of\nthe laws. Their influence is the bulwark of good government.\n\nCharacter gravitates upward, while mere genius, without character,\ngravitates downward. How often we see, in school or college, young men,\nwho are apparently dull and even stupid, rise gradually and surely above\nothers who are without character, merely because the former have an\nupward tendency in their lives, a reaching-up principle, which gradually\nbut surely unfolds and elevates them to positions of honor and trust.\nThere is something which everybody admires in an aspiring soul, one\nwhose tendency is upward and onward, in spite of hindrances and in\ndefiance of obstacles.\n\nAs illustrating the mighty results of character based upon a\nself-respecting love of honor, we may relate that when General Lee was\nin conversation with one of his officers in regard to a movement of his\narmy, a plain farmer's boy overheard the general's remark that he had\ndecided to march upon Gettysburg instead of Harrisburg. The boy\ntelegraphed this fact to Governor Curtin. A special engine was sent for\nthe boy. \"I would give my right hand,\" said the governor, \"to know if\nthis boy tells the truth.\" A corporal replied, \"Governor, I know that\nboy; it is impossible for him to lie; there is not a drop of false blood\nin his veins.\" In fifteen minutes the Union troops were marching to\nGettysburg, where they gained a glorious victory.\n\nTrue self-respect challenges the admiration of others. No man has reason\nto claim the regard of his fellows unless he first respects himself, for\nthis latter act is the outcome of the only elements of character that\ncan command the sincere esteem of men. A mean man, a dishonest man, a\nniggardly man, a lazy man, or a conceited man, does not respect himself.\nUnless he is living under the power of some strong delusion, he knows\nthat he is not worthy of regard.\n\nA young man was invited by a friend to attend an entertainment which he\nthought was objectionable. \"I am not entirely clear that it is wrong,\"\nhe said, \"and when I am in doubt, I think the safer course is to\ndecline.\"\n\n\"Perhaps you are right,\" answered the friend; \"but I think that people\nwill respect you as much as ever if you go.\"\n\n\"Possibly; but I want to respect myself,\" replied the young man. \"I\nshould lose my self-respect by performing a doubtful act. My aim should\nbe higher than that.\"\n\nSamuel Smiles expresses the truth well in this extract from \"Character\":\n\"It is the great lesson of biography to teach what man can be and can do\nat his best. It may thus give each man renewed strength and confidence.\nThe humblest, in sight of even the greatest, may admire and hope and\ntake courage. These great brothers of ours in blood and lineage, who\nlive a universal life, still speak to us from their graves, and beckon\nus on in the paths which they have trod.\"\n\nOne of the last things said by Sir Walter Scott, as he lay dying, was\nthis: \"I have been, perhaps, the most voluminous author of my day, and\nit is a comfort to me to think that I have tried to unsettle no man's\nfaith, to corrupt no man's principles, and that I have written nothing\nwhich, on my deathbed, I would wish blotted out.\" To have lived such a\nlife as he lived is more than to have reigned over a kingdom.\n\n\nSIR WALTER SCOTT.\n\nWe are glad to call special attention to Scott, because of his heroic\nstruggle to maintain his good name. He was born in Edinburgh, August 15,\n1771. He was the son of Walter Scott, an attorney at law; and Anne\nRutherford, daughter of Dr. John Rutherford, professor of medicine in\nthe University of Edinburgh, and a lineal descendant from the ancient\nchieftain Walter Scott, traditionally known as \"Auld Walt of Harden.\"\n\nAs a schoolboy Walter was very popular. He made himself respected for\nhis courage and general ability to take care of himself. He was not\nconsidered a very bright scholar, although, even then, he gave evidence\nof his special delight in history, poetry, fairy tales, and fables. In\n1783 he entered the university. He made little progress in the ancient\nlanguages, but was more successful in other studies. His time, however,\nwas industriously employed in storing his mind with that great wealth\nof knowledge which afterward made him famous as a writer.\n\nScott was educated for a lawyer, but all his natural tastes were in the\ndirection of literature. The greater part of his early life was an\nunconscious preparation for writing. He had been writing prose romances\nfor several years with considerable success, when in January, 1805, he\npublished \"The Lay of the Last Minstrel.\" It at once became extremely\npopular. It sold more widely than any poem had ever sold before. This\nled him to decide that literature was to be the main business of his\nlife. \"Marmion,\" which appeared in 1808, and \"The Lady of the Lake,\" in\n1810, placed Scott among the greatest living poets. He touched then the\nhighest point of happiness and prosperity.\n\nSoon after this he entered into a business partnership with a publishing\nhouse, which resulted in his financial ruin. The failure left him\npartner to a debt of over one hundred thousand pounds. At the age of\nfifty-five, when all the freshness of youth was gone, he set himself the\ntask of paying this enormous claim and winning back his ancestral\nestates. He went to work with a dogged determination to pay off his debt\nof honor. The heaviest blow was to his pride; yet pride alone never\nenabled any man to struggle so vigorously to meet the obligations he had\nincurred. It was rather that high feeling of self-respect which nerved\nhis power to meet and try to overcome his great misfortune. His estates\nwere conveyed to trustees for the benefit of his creditors, until such\ntime as he could free them. Between January, 1826, and January, 1828, he\nearned forty thousand pounds by unremitting toil. Then his health broke\ndown; yet he still struggled on with enfeebled constitution, but with an\nunbroken will, to discharge, if possible, his obligations, and leave to\nthe world a respected name.\n\n[Footnote: See Lockhart's \"Life of Sir Walter Scott\" (Houghton, Mifflin\n& Co.); Hutton's \"Sir Walter Scott;\" and articles in encyclopedias.]\n\n\n\n\nXX.\n\nCONSCIENTIOUSNESS.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nConscientiousness is the underlying granite of life.--Sir Walter Raleigh\n\nWhen love of praise takes the place of praiseworthiness, the defect is\n    fatal.--S. Baring-Gould\n\nWhen a man is dead to the sense of right, he is lost forever.\n                                   --James McCrie\n\nInsincerity alienates love and rots away authority.--Bulwer\n\nThe value of conscientiousness is principally seen in the benefits of\n    civilization.--Charles Kingsley\n\n\n\"Conscientiousness is a scrupulous regard to the decisions of\nconscience.\" When we say a duty was performed \"religiously,\" it is the\nsame as a duty done conscientiously. Conscience does not _teach_ us\nwhat is right; we learn that from experience, and in many other ways. It\nsimply tells us to do the best we know, and reproaches us when we do\notherwise.\n\nSome one has well said: \"We can train ourselves to be conscientious, to\nbe responsive to conscience, to obey it; but conscience itself cannot be\neducated. It is like the sun. We may so arrange our house as to receive\nthe largest amount of sunlight; but the sun itself cannot be changed\neither for our advantage or disadvantage. As a house with ample windows\nis illuminated within by the rays of the sun, so is a well-trained life\nfilled with the light of conscience.\" We may therefore define\nconscientiousness as the inborn desire to do that which is right and\njust.\n\nConscientiousness, which is, as we have just seen, another name for\njustice, is a trait to be cultivated among young people in their sports,\nin family life, and in school. A boy is unjust who refuses to \"play\nfair\"; a girl is unjust who deprives a friend of anything properly hers.\nYoung people may be unjust in their words, in their thoughts, or in\ntheir actions; and the greatest watchfulness is needed to prevent us\nfrom failing in this important matter.\n\nOne's sense of justice may be increased by thoughtfulness as to his duty\nto himself, as well as to others; and by demanding very rigid observance\nof every law of conduct which commends itself as needful to ideal\ncharacter. \"There is only one real failure possible in life,\" said Canon\nFarrar, \"and that is, not to be true to the best one knows.\"\n\n\"I can remember when you blackened my father's shoes,\" said one member\nof the British House of Commons to another in the heat of debate. \"True\nenough,\" was the prompt reply, \"but did I not blacken them well?\" The\nsense of right-doing was sufficient to turn an intended insult into a\nwell-merited compliment, and to increase for him the esteem of his\nfellow-members.\n\n\"Whatever is right to do,\" said an eminent writer, \"should be done with\nour best care, strength, and faithfulness of purpose.\"\n\nLeonardo da Vinci would walk across Milan to change a single tint or the\nslightest detail in his famous picture of \"The Last Supper.\"\n\nRufus Choate would plead before a shoemaker justice of the peace, in a\npetty case, with all the fervor and careful attention to detail with\nwhich he addressed the United States Supreme Court.\n\n\"No, I can't do it, it is impossible,\" said Webster, when pressed to\nspeak on a question soon to come up, toward the close of a Congressional\nsession. \"I am so pressed with other duties that I haven't time to\nprepare myself to speak upon that theme.\" \"Ah, but Mr. Webster, you\nalways speak well upon any subject. You never fail.\" \"But that's the\nvery reason,\" said the orator, \"because I never allow myself to speak\nupon any subject without first making that subject thoroughly my own. I\nhaven't time to do that in this instance. Hence I must refuse.\"\n\nAmong the list of our great reformers, William Lloyd Garrison must\nalways hold a very prominent place. The work he did was that of\nunselfish devotion to an overmastering sense of justice. He labored for\nthose in bonds, as bound with them. Faithful, as but few others were\nfaithful, he worked in season and out of season for human freedom.\nAfter great effort, Mr. Garrison succeeded in establishing an\nantislavery society, and he was made its agent to lecture for the cause.\nHe was sent to England to solicit funds for starting a manual-labor\nschool for the colored youth. But the whole tone of society was against\nhim. He was at the mercy of that prejudice which, at so many points,\nwas ready to adopt mob violence. The discussion of slavery was taken up\nin educational institutions where, as in general society, but very few\nwere found who believed in universal freedom. But still he never swerved\nfrom what he believed to be right. Justice was his plea; justice was his\nbattle cry; and it came to be said of him that \"He was conscience\nincarnated.\"\n\nA beautiful illustration of justice, and fairness of treatment, occurred\nat the opening of the great battle of Manila Bay, on May 1, 1898.\n\nWhen the order was given to strip for action, one of the powder boys\ntore his coat off hurriedly, and it fell from his hands and went over\nthe rail, down into the bay. A few moments before, he had been gazing on\nhis mother's photograph, and just before he took his coat off he had\nkissed the picture and put it in his inside pocket. When the coat fell\noverboard he turned to the captain and asked permission to jump over and\nget it. Naturally the request was refused. The boy then went to the\nother side of the ship and climbed down the ladder. He swam around to\nthe place where the coat had dropped and succeeded in getting it. When\nhe came back he was put in irons for disobedience. After the battle he\nwas tried by a court-martial for disobedience, and found guilty.\n\nCommodore Dewey became interested in the case, for he could not\nunderstand why the boy had risked his life and disobeyed orders for a\ncoat. The lad had never told his motives. But when the commodore talked\nto him in a kindly way, and asked him why he had done such a strange\nthing for an old coat, he burst into tears and told the commodore that\nhis mother's picture was in the coat. Dewey's eyes filled with tears as\nhe listened to the story. Then he picked up the boy and embraced him. He\nordered the little fellow to be instantly released and pardoned. \"A boy\nwho loves his mother enough to risk his life for her picture, cannot be\nkept in irons on this fleet,\" he said.\n\nExamples by the score crowd in upon our minds as we think more deeply\ninto this subject, but space permits of only one more before passing to\nour special illustration:\n\nWhen troubled with deafness, the Duke of Wellington consulted a\ncelebrated physician, who put strong caustic into his ear, causing an\ninflammation which threatened his life. The doctor apologized, expressed\ngreat regrets, and said that the blunder would ruin him. \"No,\" said\nWellington, \"I will never mention it.\" \"But will you allow me to attend\nyou, so that the people will not withdraw their confidence?\" \"No,\" said\nthe Iron Duke, \"that would be lying.\"\n\nEnough has perhaps been said to show that conscientiousness and justice\nare not simply beautiful traits of character; but that they are\nabsolutely necessary to the fullest advancement of the individual and of\nthe race. We proceed to enforce this truth still more strongly, however,\nby a closing reference to the career of one of our greatest statesmen.\n\n\nCHARLES SUMNER.\n\nIn using Mr. Sumner as our special illustration of conscientiousness, it\nis not because we lack other examples. On the contrary, they are all\nabout us; and doubtless we could all mention excellent cases in our own\nhomes, and among our own acquaintances, where conscientiousness has been\nvividly illustrated. He was the eldest of nine children, and was born in\nBoston, on the sixth day of January, 1811. His father was a lawyer, and\nsheriff of Suffolk County, and was descended from the early colonists of\nNew England. Even in childhood and youth Charles Sumner evinced the\nquiet, thoughtful, and serious temperament which was characteristic of\nthe Puritans. As a boy he took little interest in games and frolics. He\nread much, and was reserved and awkward. Society to him, in early life,\npossessed no attractions; and while he was always studious and patient\nhe never displayed any marked talent.\n\nHis progress in life was almost entirely due to his conscientious,\npersistent, untiring application to the acquisition of knowledge and the\ndevelopment of all his powers. He was in the highest sense a cultivated\nman. His mind became, through conscientious and laborious study, a\ngreat storehouse, filled with the richest materials and the power to use\nthem.\n\nBut he did not seek these treasures of learning and power for the simple\nend of glorifying himself. His one great object in life was to benefit\nmankind. He said in an address, delivered just after he had begun the\npractice of law, speaking of conscience and charity: \"They must become a\npart of us and of our existence, as present, in season and out of\nseason, in all the amenities of life, in those daily offices of conduct\nand manner which add so much to its charm, as also in those grander\nduties whose performance evinces an ennobling self-sacrifice.\" It was\nhis own determined and unfaltering devotion to this lofty ideal, that\nled directly to the success of his great public career.\n\nCharles Sumner was first elected to the Senate in 1851. Throughout his\nbrilliant life his lofty character never forsook him; and if we will\ncarefully examine the measures which he advocated, voted for, or\nopposed, from time to time, the discovery will be made that his\nconscience was his inevitable guide.\n\nWhile he dearly loved peace, he was always in the midst of warfare. He\nconstantly incurred the censure which arises from advocating unpopular\nmeasures. Childlike in his personal friendships, he often spoke about\nhimself as he would speak of others,--revealing what others would have\nconcealed. Frank, sincere, and pledged from youth to principles, rather\nthan to persons, he was obliged to struggle against great obstacles. To\nhim the slave was a human being with a soul, entitled to every right\nand privilege accorded to any American citizen. He devoted his energies\nto the cause of freedom down to the very last, and died in Washington,\non March 11, 1874, exclaiming, \"Don't let my Civil Rights Bill fail!\"\n\n[Footnote: See \"Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner,\" by Edward L.\nPierce, (Boston, 1877), and many articles in the magazines, especially\nnoting the sketch in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol.\nV., page 744.]\n\n\n\n\nXXI.\n\nENTHUSIASM.\n\n\nMEMOBY GEMS.\n\nNothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.--Bulwer\n\nEnthusiasm is the fundamental quality of strong souls.--Carlyle\n\nThe only conclusive evidence of a man's sincerity is that he gives\n    himself for a principle.--Phillips Brooks\n\nEnthusiasm is the romance of the boy that becomes the heroism of the\n    man.--A. Bronson Alcott\n\nEvery great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is the\n    triumph of some enthusiasm.--Emerson\n\n\nIn the course of every life there are sure to be obstacles and\ndifficulties to be met. Prudence hesitates and examines them;\nintelligence usually suggests some ingenious way of getting around them;\npatience and perseverance deliberately go to work to dig under them; but\nenthusiasm is the quality that boldly faces and leaps lightly over them.\nBy the power of enthusiasm the most extraordinary undertakings, that\nseemed impossible of accomplishment, have been successfully carried out.\nEnthusiasm makes weak men strong, and timid women courageous. Almost all\nthe great works of art have been produced when the artist was\nintoxicated with a passion for beauty and form, which would not let him\nrest until his thought was expressed in marble or on canvas.\n\nA recent writer has said: \"Enthusiasm is life lit up and shining. It is\nthe passion of the spirit pushing forward toward some noble activity. It\nis one of the most powerful forces that go to the making of a noble and\nheroic character.\"\n\nIn the Gallery of Fine Arts, in Paris, is a beautiful statue conceived\nby a sculptor who was so poor that he lived and worked in a small\ngarret. When his clay model was nearly done, a heavy frost fell upon the\ncity. He knew that if the water in the interstices of the clay should\nfreeze, the beautiful lines would be distorted. So he wrapped his\nbedclothes around the clay image to preserve it from destruction. In the\nmorning he was found dead; but his idea was saved, and other hands gave\nit enduring form in marble.\n\nAnother instance of rare consecration to a great enterprise is found in\nthe work of the late Francis Parkman. While a student at Harvard, he\ndetermined to write the history of the French and English in North\nAmerica. With a steadiness and devotion seldom equaled, he gave his\nlife, his fortune, his all, to this one great object. Although he had\nruined his health while among the Dakota Indians, collecting material\nfor his history, and could not use his eyes more than five minutes at a\ntime for fifty years, he did not swerve a hair's breadth from the high\npurpose formed in his youth, until he gave to the world the best\nhistory upon this subject ever written.\n\nWhat a power there is in an enthusiastic adherence to an ideal! What are\nhardships, ridicule, persecution, toil, or sickness, to a soul throbbing\nwith an overmastering purpose? Gladstone says that \"what is really\nwanted, is to light up the spirit that is within a boy.\" In some sense,\nand in some degree, there is in every boy the material for doing good\nwork in the world; not only in those who are brilliant and quick, but\neven in those who are stolid and dull.\n\nA real enthusiasm makes men happy, keeps them fresh, hopeful, joyous.\nLife never stagnates with them. They always keep sweet, anticipate a\n\"good time coming,\" and help to make it come.\n\nEnthusiasm has been well called the \"lever of the world\"; for it sets in\nmotion, if it does not control, the grandest revolutions! Its influence\nis immense. History bears frequent record of its contagiousness, showing\nhow vast multitudes have been roused into emotion by the enthusiasm of\none man; as was the case when the crowd of knights, and squires, and\nmen-at-arms, and quiet peasants, entered, at the bidding of St. Bernard,\nupon the great Crusade.\n\nThe simple, innocent Maid of Orleans,--with her sacred sword, her\nconsecrated banner, and her belief in her great mission,--sent a thrill\nof enthusiasm through the whole French army such as neither king nor\nstatesman could produce. Her zeal carried everything before it.\n\nEnthusiasm makes men strong. It wakes them up, brings out their latent\npowers, keeps up incessant action, impels to tasks requiring strength,\nand then carries them to completion. Many are born to be giants, yet,\nfrom lack of enthusiasm, few grow above common men. They need to be set\non fire by some eager impulse, inspired by some grand resolve, and they\nwould then quickly rise head and shoulders above their fellows.\n\nEnthusiasm is the element of success in everything. It is the light that\nleads, and the strength that lifts men on and up in the great struggles\nof scientific pursuits and of professional labors. It robs endurance of\ndifficulty, and makes a pleasure of duty.\n\nEnthusiasm gives to man a power that is irresistible. It is that secret\nand harmonious spirit which hovers over the production of genius,\nthrowing the reader of a book, or the spectator of a statue, into the\npresence of those with whom these works have originated. A great work\nalways leaves us in a state of lofty contemplation, if we are in\nsympathy with it.\n\nThe most irresistible charm of youth is its bubbling enthusiasm. The\nyouth who comes fully under its control sees no darkness ahead. He\nforgets that there is such a thing as failure in the world, and believes\nthat mankind has been waiting all these centuries for him to come and be\nthe liberator of truth and energy and beauty.\n\nThe boy Bach copied whole books of musical studies by moonlight, for\nwant of a candle churlishly denied. Nor was he disheartened when these\ncopies were taken from him. The boy painter West, began his work in a\ngarret, and cut hairs from the tail of the family cat for bristles to\nmake his brushes. Gerster, an unknown Hungarian singer, made fame and\nfortune sure the first night she appeared in opera. Her enthusiasm\nalmost mesmerized her auditors. In less than a week she had become\npopular and independent. Her soul was smitten with a passion for growth,\nand all the powers of heart and mind were devoted to self-improvement.\n\nEnthusiasm is purified and ennobled by self-denial. As the traveler, who\nwould ascend a lofty mountain summit, to enjoy the sunset there, leaves\nthe quiet of the lowly vale, and climbs the difficult path, so the true\nenthusiast, in his aspiration after the highest good, allows himself to\nbe stopped by no wish for wealth and pleasure, and every step he takes\nforward is connected with self-denial, but is a step nearer to success.\n\n\nTHOMAS A. EDISON.\n\nIf one were to ask what individual best typifies the industrial progress\nof this nation, it would be easy to answer, Thomas Alva Edison. Looking\nat him as a newspaper boy, at the age of fifteen, one would hardly have\nbeen led to predict that this young fellow would be responsible for the\nindustrial transformation of this continent.\n\nAt that early age he had already begun to dabble in chemistry, and had\nfitted up a small traveling laboratory. One day, as he was performing an\nexperiment, the train rounded a curve and the bottles of chemicals were\ndashed to the floor. There followed a series of unearthly odors and\nunnatural complications. The conductor, who had suffered long and\npatiently, now ejected the youthful enthusiast; and, it is said,\naccompanied the expulsion with a resounding box upon the ear. This did\nnot dampen Edison's ardor, in the least. He passed through one dramatic\nsituation after another, mastering each and all; but his advancement\nwas due to patient, persevering work.\n\nNot long ago a reporter asked him if he had regular hours for work.\n\"Oh!\" he answered, \"I do not work hard now. I come to the laboratory\nabout eight o'clock every day, and go home to tea at six; and then I\nstudy and work on some problem until eleven, which is my hour for bed.\"\n\nWhen it was suggested that fourteen or fifteen hours' work per day could\nscarcely be called loafing, he replied, \"Well, for fifteen years I have\nworked on an average twenty hours a day.\" Nothing but a rare devotion to\nan interesting subject could keep any man so diligently employed. So\nenthusiastically did he pursue his researches, that, when he had once\nstarted to solve a difficult problem, he has been known to work at it\nfor sixty consecutive hours.\n\nIn describing his Boston experiences, Edison relates that he bought\nFaraday's works on electricity, and beginning to read them at three\no'clock in the morning, continued until his room-mate arose, when they\nstarted on their long walk for breakfast. Breakfast, however, was of\nsmall account in Edison's mind compared with his love for Faraday; and\nhe suddenly remarked to his friend, \"Adams, I have so much to do, and\nlife is so short, that I must hustle;\" and with that he started off on\na dead run for the boarding-house.\n\nEdison has shown that he cares nothing for money, and has no particular\nenthusiasm for fame. \"What makes you work so hard?\" asked a friend. \"I\nlike it,\" he answered, after a moment's puzzled expression; and then\nrepeated several times, \"I like it. I do not know any other reason. You\nknow how some people like to collect stamps. Anything I have begun is\nalways on my mind, and I am not easy while away from it until it is\nfinished.\"\n\nElectrical science is still in its infancy, but the enthusiasm of Edison\nhas done much for its advancement. The subject indeed is a fascinating\none, and Edison's devotion to it, and the discoveries and practical\napplications he has made in his researches, have placed him in the front\nrank of America's greatest inventors.\n\n[Footnote: See Review of Reviews, Vol. XVIII., and articles in\nencyclopedias.]\n\n\n\n\nXXII.\n\nCOURAGE.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nThe best hearts are always the bravest.--Sterne\n\nIn noble souls, valor does not wait for years.--Corneille\n\nCourage is always greatest when blended with meekness.--Earl Stanhope\n\nA brave man hazards life, but not his conscience.--Schiller\n\nA great deal of talent is lost in the world for want of a little\n    courage.--Sydney Smith\n\n\nThe definition of courage given by Webster is, \"that quality of mind\nwhich enables men to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness or\nwithout fear or depression of spirits.\" We would rather say that courage\ndoes not consist in feeling no fear, but in conquering fear. Our meaning\nwill perhaps be best made clear by the following illustrations:\n\nTwo French officers at Waterloo were advancing to charge a greatly\nsuperior force. One, observing that the other showed signs of fear, said\n\"Sir, I believe you are frightened.\" \"Yes, I am,\" was the reply; \"and if\nyou were half as much frightened, you would run away.\"\n\n\"That's a brave man,\" said Wellington, when he saw a soldier turn pale\nas he marched against a battery; \"he knows his danger, and faces it.\"\n\nGenuine courage is based on something more than animal strength; and\nthis holds true always. Cowardly hearts are often encased in giant\nframes. Slender women often display astounding bravery.\n\nThe courageous man is a real helper in the work of the world's\nadvancement. His influence is magnetic. He creates an epidemic of\nnobleness. Men follow him, even to the death.\n\n\"Our enemies are before us,\" exclaimed the Spartans at Thermopylae. \"And\nwe are before them,\" was the cool reply of Leonidas. \"Deliver your\narms,\" came the message from Xerxes. \"Come and take them,\" was the\nanswer Leonidas sent back. A Persian soldier said: \"You will not be able\nto see the sun for flying javelins and arrows.\" \"Then we will fight in\nthe shade,\" replied a Lacedaemonian. What wonder that a handful of such\nmen checked the march of the greatest host that ever trod the earth.\n\nDon't be like Uriah Heep, begging everybody's pardon for taking the\nliberty of being in the world. There is nothing attractive in timidity,\nnothing lovable in fear. Both are deformities, and are repulsive. Manly\ncourage is dignified and graceful.\n\nThe spirit of courage will transform the whole temper of your life. \"The\nwise and active conquer difficulties by daring to attempt them. The lazy\nand the foolish shiver and sicken at the sight of trial and hazard, and\ncreate the very impossibility they fear.\"\n\nAbraham Lincoln's boyhood was one long struggle with poverty, with\nlittle education, and no influential friends. When at last he had begun\nthe practice of law, it required no little daring to cast his fortune\nwith the weaker side in politics, and thus imperil what small\nreputation he had gained. Only the most sublime moral courage could\nhave sustained him as President to hold his ground against hostile\ncriticism and a long train of disaster, to issue the Emancipation\nProclamation, to support Grant and Stanton against the clamor of the\npoliticians and the press, and, through it all, to do what he believed\nto be right.\n\nDid you ever read the fable of the magician and the mouse? It is worth\nreading in this connection:\n\nA mouse that dwelt near the abode of a great magician, was kept in such\nconstant fear of a cat, that the magician, taking pity on it, turned it\ninto a cat itself. Immediately it began to suffer from its fear of a\ndog, so the magician turned it into a dog. Then it began to suffer from\nfear of a tiger. The magician therefore turned it into a tiger. Then it\nbegan to suffer from fear of hunters, and the magician said in disgust:\n\"Be a mouse again. As you have only the heart of a mouse, it is\nimpossible to help you by giving you the body of a nobler animal.\" The\nmoral of the story you can gather for yourselves.\n\nWe have already said that many women have displayed courage of a very\nhigh order. Here is a case in point:\n\nCharles V. of Spain passed through Thuringia in 1547, on his return to\nSwabia after the battle of Muehlburg. He wrote to Catherine, Countess\nDowager of Schwartzburg, promising that her subjects should not be\nmolested in their persons or property if they would supply the Spanish\nsoldiers with provisions at a reasonable price. On approaching her\nresidence, General Alva and Prince Henry of Brunswick, with his sons,\ninvited themselves, by a messenger sent forward, to breakfast with the\nCountess, who had no choice but to ratify so delicate a request from the\ncommander of an army. Just as the guests were seated at a generous\nrepast, the Countess was called from the hall and told that the\nSpaniards were using violence and driving away the cattle of the\npeasants.\n\nQuietly arming all her retinue, she bolted and barred all the gates and\ndoors of the castle, and returned to the banquet to complain of the\nbreach of faith. General Alva told her that such was the custom of war,\nadding that such trifling disorders were not to be heeded. \"That we\nshall presently see,\" said Catherine; \"my poor subjects must have their\nown again, or, as God lives, prince's blood for oxen's blood!\" The\ndoors were opened, and armed men took the place of the waiters behind\nthe chairs of the guests. Henry changed color; then, as the best way out\nof a bad scrape, laughed loudly, and ended by praising the splendid\nacting of his hostess, and promising that Alva should order the cattle\nrestored at once. Not until a courier returned, saying that the order\nhad been obeyed, and all damages settled satisfactorily, did the armed\nwaiters leave. The Countess then thanked her guests for the honor they\nhad done her castle, and they retired with protestations of their\ndistinguished consideration.\n\nThere is a form of moral courage which bears most directly upon\nourselves. It is seen in the career of William H. Seward, who was given\na thousand dollars by his father to go to college with, and told that\nthis was all he was to have. The son returned home at the end of his\nfreshman year with extravagant habits and no money. His father refused\nto give him more, and told him he could not stay at home. When the youth\nfound the props all taken out from under him, and that he must now sink\nor swim, he left home moneyless, returned to college, graduated at the\nhead of his class, studied law, was elected governor of New York, and\nbecame Lincoln's great Secretary of State during the Civil War.\n\nGenuine courage is neither rash, vain, nor selfish. It sometimes leadsus\nto appear cowardly; and cowardice sometimes puts on the guise of\nboldness. We need to know the individual and the circumstances to judge\ncorrectly as to whether courage is of the true order. We should all\ndiscourage the tendency to exalt brute force and mere muscle to high\nadmiration; and enforce the power of mind, ideas, and lofty ambition.\nThe noblest phase of courage and heroism is in the submission of this\nmight to the laws of right and helpfulness.\n\n\nRICHARD PEARSON HOBSON.\n\nThere is no better modern illustration of courage than that thrilling\nexploit of Lieutenant Hobson in taking the Merrimac into the harbor of\nSantiago.\n\nWhile the Spanish fleet, under Admiral Cervera, lay blockaded in\nSantiago Bay, the idea was conceived of making the blockade doubly safe\nby sinking the coal-ship Merrimac across the narrow channel. To carry\nout this plan cool-headed, heroic men were needed, who would be willing\nto take their lives in their hands, for the good of their country's\ncause. To accomplish the object, the vessel must be taken into a harbor\nfull of mines, under the fire of three shore batteries, supported by a\npowerful Spanish fleet and two regiments of soldiers. The honor of\ncarrying out this bold scheme was given to young Hobson, by whom the\nplan had been mainly outlined.\n\nHe was a young man from Alabama, twenty-seven years of age, a graduate\nof the Naval Academy in the class of 1889, being the youngest member,\nand standing at the head of his class. He had already shown himself to\nbe a gentleman, a student, and an adept in practical affairs. Now he was\nto prove that he was a hero.\n\nHere came to him, in the ordinary course of duty, the opportunity for\nwhich he had prepared himself; and the courage with which he carried it\nout made for him a name which will always be remembered in the annals\nof naval warfare.\n\nOut of the hundreds who volunteered to assist him in this perilous\nundertaking, six men were selected. At an early hour in the morning the\ngallant crew set out. Every vessel in the American fleet was on the\nalert: every man's nerves were at the highest tension over the success\nof the project and the fate of Hobson and his comrades. Thousands of\nanxious eyes peered through the darkness as they watched the old collier\ndisappear into the harbor.\n\nSuddenly the scene changed. Sheets of fire flashed from Morro Castle and\nthe other batteries along the shore. It seemed impossible for human life\nto exist in that deadly and concentrated fire. In the downpour of shot\nand shell the Merrimac's rudder was blown away and her stern anchor cut\nloose. The electric batteries were damaged to such an extent that only\npart of the torpedoes could be exploded. The result was that instead of\nsinking where intended, the vessel drifted with the tide past the narrow\nneck. The Merrimac sank but did not completely block up the channel.\n\nThe enemy's fire was so incessant and sweeping that it was impossible\nfor the crew to reach the life-raft which they had in tow; so Hobson and\nhis men lay flat on deck and waited for the ship to sink. It was a\nterrible waiting while every great gun and Mauser rifle was pouring its\ndeadly fire upon the ship. At last the end came. The ship sank beneath\nthe waves, and, through the whirlpool of rushing water, the men rose to\nthe surface and climbed upon their raft. Clinging to this, with their\nfaces only out of water they waited for daylight, and then gave\nthemselves up as prisoners to the Spaniards.\n\nIn the afternoon, Admiral Cervera sent an officer, under a flag of\ntruce, to Admiral Sampson, telling him of their safety, and adding:\n\"Daring like theirs makes the bitterest enemies proud that their\nfellow-men can be so brave.\"\n\n[Footnote: See Review of Reviews, Vol. XVIII., and Draper's \"The Rescue\nof Cuba\" and other war stories recently published.]\n\n\n\n\nXXIII.\n\nSELF-HELP.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nOur remedies oft in ourselves do lie, which we ascribe to Heaven.\n                            --Shakespeare\n\nBe sure, my son, and remember that the best men always make themselves.\n                            --Patrick Henry.\n\nGod gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest.\n                            --J. G. Holland\n\nEvery person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and\n    one, more important, which he gives himself.--Gibbon\n\n  In battle or business, whatever the game,\n  In law, or in love it is ever the same:\n  In the struggle for power, or the scramble for pelf,\n  Let this be your motto, \"Rely on yourself.\"--J. G. Saxe\n\n\nHistory and biography unite in teaching that circumstances have rarely\nfavored great men. They have fought their way to triumph over the road\nof difficulty and through all sorts of opposition. Boys of lowly origin\nhave made many of the greatest discoveries, are presidents of our banks,\nof our colleges, of our universities. Our poor boys and girls have\nwritten many of our greatest books, and have filled the highest places\nas teachers and journalists. Ask almost any great man in our large\ncities where he was born, and he will tell you it was on a farm or in a\nsmall country village. Nearly all the great capitalists of the city came\nfrom the country.\n\nFrederick Douglass, America's most representative colored man, was born\na slave, reared in bondage, liberated by his own exertions, educated and\nadvanced by sheer pluck and perseverance, to distinguished positions in\nthe service of his country, and to a high place in the respect and\nesteem of the whole world.\n\nChauncey Jerome, the inventor of machine-made clocks, started with\ntwoothers on a tour through New Jersey, they to sell the clocks, and he\nto make cases for them. On his way to New York he went through New\nHaven, Connecticut, in a lumber wagon, eating bread and cheese. He\nafterward lived in a fine mansion in that city, and stood very high\namong its people.\n\nMen who have been bolstered up all their lives are seldom good for\nanything in a crisis. When misfortune comes, they look around for\nsomebody to lean upon. If the prop is not there down they go. Once\ndown, they are helpless as capsized turtles. Many a boy has succeeded\nbeyond all his expectations simply because all props were knocked out\nfrom under him and he was obliged to stand upon his own feet. \"Poverty\nis uncomfortable, as I can testify,\" said James A. Garfield; \"but nine\ntimes out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be\ntossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my\nacquaintance I have never known a man to be drowned who was worth the\nsaving.\"\n\nWhat is put into the first of life is put into the whole of life. The\ngreat London preacher, Mr. Spurgeon, once said \"Out of a church of\ntwenty-seven hundred members, I have never had to exclude a single one\nwho was received while a child;\" and in other respects it is equally\ntrue that our earliest impressions and habits most powerfully influence\nour later life.\n\nWashington, at thirteen, copied into his commonplace book one hundred\nand ten maxims of civility and good behavior, and was most careful in\nthe formation of all his habits. Franklin, too, devised a plan of\nself-improvement and character-building. No doubt the noble characters\nof these two men, almost superhuman in their excellence, are the natural\nresult of their early care and earnest striving toward perfection.\n\nBut the opposite truth needs to be quite as fully considered. \"Many men\nof genius have written worse scrawls than I do,\" said a boy at Eugby,\nwhen his teacher remonstrated with him for his bad penmanship; \"it is\nnot worth while to worry about so trivial a fault.\" Ten years later,\nwhen he had become an officer in the Crimea, his illegible copy of an\norder caused the loss of many brave men.\n\nThe insidious growth of the power of habit is well illustrated by the\nold fable which says that one of the Fates spun filaments so fine that\nthey were invisible, and then became a victim of her own cunning; for\nshe was bound to the spot by these very threads.\n\nThere is also a story of a Grecian flute-player who charged double fees\nfor pupils who had been taught by inferior masters, on the ground that\nit was much harder to undo bad habits than to form good ones.\n\n\"Conduct,\" says Matthew Arnold, \"is three fourths of life;\" but conduct\nhas its source in character. Right conduct in life is to be secured by\nthe formation of right character in youth. The prime element in\ncharacter, as related to conduct, is the power of self-directions and\nhence the supreme aim of school discipline is to prepare the young to\nbe self-governing men and women.\n\nAn easy and luxurious existence does not train men to effort or\nencounter with difficulty; nor does it awaken that consciousness of\npower which is so necessary for energetic and effective action in life.\nIndeed, so far from poverty being a misfortune, it may, by vigorous\nself-help, be converted into a blessing.\n\nA young man stood listlessly watching some anglers on a bridge. He was\npoor and dejected. At length, approaching a basket filled with fish, he\nsighed, \"If now I had these I would be happy. I could sell them and buy\nfood and lodging.\" \"I will give you just as many and just as good,\" said\nthe owner, who chanced to overhear his words, \"if you will do me a\ntrifling favor.\" \"And what is that?\" asked the other. \"Only to tend this\nline till I come back; I wish to go on a short errand.\" The proposal was\ngladly accepted. The old man was gone so long that the young man began\nto get impatient. Meanwhile the fish snapped greedily at the hook, and\nhe lost all his depression in the excitement of pulling them in. When\nthe owner returned he had caught a large number. Counting out from them\nas many as were in the basket, and presenting them to the youth, the old\nfisherman said, \"I fulfill my promise from the fish you have caught, to\nteach you whenever you see others earning what you need, to waste no\ntime in foolish wishing, but cast a line for yourself.\"\n\nAfter a stained-glass window had been constructed for a great European\ncathedral, an artist picked up the discarded fragments and made one of\nthe most exquisite windows in Europe for another cathedral. So one boy\nwill pick up a splendid education out of the odds and ends of time\nwhich others carelessly throw away, or he will gain a fortune by saving\nwhat others waste.\n\nThere is an English fable that is worthy of special attention. The story\nis as follows:\n\nSome larks had a nest in a field of grain. One evening the old larks\ncoming home found the young ones in great terror. \"We must leave our\nnest at once,\" they cried. Then they related how they had heard the\nfarmer say that he must get his neighbors to come the next day and help\nhim reap his field. \"Oh!\" cried the old birds, \"if that is all, we may\nrest quietly in our nest.\" The next evening the young birds were found\nagain in a state of terror. The farmer, it seems, was very angry because\nhis neighbors had not come, and had said that he should get his\nrelatives to come the next day and help him. The old birds took the news\neasily, and said there was nothing to fear yet. The next evening the\nyoung birds were quite cheerful. \"Have you heard nothing to-day?\" asked\nthe old ones. \"Nothing important,\" answered the young. \"It is only that\nthe farmer was angry because his relatives also failed him, and he said\nto his sons, 'Since neither our neighbors nor our relations will help\nus, we must take hold to-morrow and do it ourselves!'\" The old birds\nwere excited this time. They said, \"We must leave our nest to-night.\nWhen a man decides to do a thing for himself, and to do\nit at once, you may be pretty sure that it will be done.\"\n\nIf you have anything to do, do it yourself; for that is both the surest\nand the safest way to permanent success.\n\n\nSTEPHEN GIRAD.\n\nWe present by way of special illustration, a few incidents from\nthecareer of Stephen Girard.\n\nA sloop was seen one morning off the mouth of Delaware Bay, floating the\nflag of France and a signal of distress. Girard, then quite a young man,\nwas captain of this sloop, and was on his way to a Canadian port with\nfreight from New Orleans. An American skipper, seeing his distress, went\nto his aid, but told him the American war had broken out, and that the\nBritish cruisers were all along the American coast, and would seize his\nvessel. He told him his only chance was to make a push for Philadelphia.\nGirard did not know the way, and was short of money. The skipper loaned\nhim five dollars to get the service of a pilot who demanded his money\nin advance; and his sloop passed into the Delaware just in time to\navoid capture by a British war vessel. He sold the sloop and cargo in\nPhiladelphia, and began business on the capital. Being a foreigner,\nunable to speak English, with a repulsive face, and blind in one eye,\nit was hard for him to get a start. But he was not the man to give up.\n\nThere seemed to be nothing he would not do for money. He bought and sold\nanything, from groceries to old junk. Everything he touched prospered.\nIn 1780, he resumed the New Orleans and San Domingo trade, in which he\nhad been engaged at the breaking out of the War of the Revolution, and\nin one year cleared nearly fifty thousand dollars.\n\nEverybody, especially his jealous brother merchants, attributed his\ngreat success to his luck. While, undoubtedly, he was fortunate in\nhappening to be at the right place at the right time, yet he was\nprecision, method, accuracy, energy itself. He left nothing to chance.\nHis plans and schemes were worked out with mathematical care. His\nletters, written to his captains in foreign ports, laying out their\nroutes and giving detailed instruction from which they were never\nallowed to deviate under any circumstances, are models of foresight and\nsystematic planning.\n\nGirard never lost a ship; and many times, what brought financial ruin to\nmany others, as the War of 1812, only increased his wealth. What seemed\nluck with him was only good judgment and promptness in seizing\nopportunities, and the greatest care and zeal in personal attention to\nall the details of his business and the management of his own affairs.\n\n[Footnote: See Simpson's \"Life of Stephen Girard\" (Phila. 1832), and H.\nW. Arey's \"Girard College and its Founder\" (1860).]\n\n\n\n\nXXIV.\n\nHUMILITY.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nHumility is the true cure for many a needless heartache.--A. Montague\n\nIt is easy to look down on others; to look down on ourselves is the\n    difficulty.--Lord Peterborough\n\nHumility is a divine veil which covers our good deeds, and hides them\n    from our eyes.--St. John Climacas\n\nHumility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all\n    virtue.--Chrysostom\n\nModest humility is beauty's crown; for the beautiful is a hidden thing,\n    and shrinks from its own power.--Schiller\n\n\nWe pass now from the strong and active virtue of self-help, to the\ngentle and passive virtue of humility. In doing so, we quickly discover\nthat it requires a sound moral judgment to strike the right balance\nbetween humility and self-reliance, and between meekness and\nself-respect. The true man is both meek and self-reliant, humble and yet\nby no means incapable of self-assertion. The really strong man is the\nmost thoroughly gentle of men, and the genuinely self-confident man is\nthe one who is most truly humble in his regard for the rights and\ninterests of others.\n\nWe have great need of this particular grace, and we ought to study its\nrelation to our life in general; for we should often have reason to be\nashamed of our most brilliant actions if the world could see the motives\nfrom which they spring.\n\nHumility has been well defined as \"a simple and lowly estimation of\none's self.\" When practically thought of, it is mostly looked upon in a\nnegative light, and considered as the absence of, or opposite to, pride.\n\nThe general line of human thinking rather tends in the opposite\ndirection; but experience teaches that if we wish to be great, we shall\ndo well to begin by being little. If we desire to construct a strong\nand noble character, we must not forget that the greatest lives have\nalways rested on foundations of humility. The higher your structure is\nto be, the deeper must be its foundation.\n\nHumility does not consist in a disposition falsely to underrate\nourselves, \"but in being willing to waive our rights, and descend to a\nlower place than is our due; in being ready to admit our liability to\nerror, and in freely owning our faults when conscious of having been\nwrong; and, in short, in not being over-careful of our own dignity.\"\n\nThis virtue is the friend of intellect instead of its enemy, because\nhumility is both a moral instinct which seeks truth, and a moral\ninstrument for attaining truth. It leads us to base our knowledge on\ntruth; it also leads us truthfully to recognize the real measure of our\ncapacity.\n\nAll really great men have been humble men in spirit and temper. Such\nwas Lincoln; such was Washington. Izaac Walton relates how George\nHerbert helped a poor man whose horse had fallen under his load, laying\noff his coat for that purpose, aiding him to unload, and then again to\nload his cart. When his friends rebuked Herbert for this service he said\nthat \"the thought of what he had done would prove music to him at\nmidnight, for he felt bound, so far as was in his power, to practice\nthat for which he prayed.\"\n\nAn instance often cited, but always beautiful, is that of Sir Philip\nSidney when mortally wounded at Zutphen as described by an old writer:\n\"Being thirsty with an excess of bleeding, he called for drink, which\nwas presently brought him; but as he was putting the bottle to his\nmouth, he saw a poor soldier carried along, casting up his eyes at the\nbottle; which Sir Philip perceiving, took it from his lips before he\ndrank, and delivered it to the poor man with these words: 'Thy necessity\nis yet greater than mine.'\" It mattered nothing to Sir Philip that he\nwas an officer and therefore of higher standing than the poor private.\nHe humbled himself and did a kindly action, and his noble deed will\nnever be forgotten.\n\nHumility is not lack of courage; it is not the poverty of spirit which\nshrinks from encounter. So far from destroying moral force, it protects\nand strengthens it; it sternly represses the little vanities through\nwhich strength of character evaporates and is lost. It is a noble trait\nin peasant or in prince, in the cottage of the workman or in the mansion\nof the millionaire.\n\nTrajan, the Roman emperor, has set us an example of condescension and\naffability. He was equal, indeed, to the greatest generals of antiquity;\nbut the sounding titles bestowed upon him by his admirers did not elate\nhim. All the oldest soldiers he knew by name. He conversed with them\nwith the greatest familiarity, and never retired to his tent before he\nhad visited the camps. He refused the statues which the flattery of\nfriends wished to erect to him, and he ridiculed the follies of an\nenlightened nation that could pay adoration to cold inanimate pieces of\nmarble. His public entry into Rome gained him the hearts of the people;\nfor he appeared on foot, and showed himself an enemy to parade and\nostentatious equipage. His wish to listen to the just complaints of his\nsubjects, caused his royal abode to be called \"the public palace\"; and\nhis people learned to love him as greatly as they admired him.\n\nTrue humility is not cowardly, cringing, or abjectly weak. It is\nstrength putting itself by the side of weakness through sympathy, and\nnot weakness abasing itself in the presence of that which it pretends is\ngreater than itself. The humble man is the man who feels his own\nimperfection, and therefore does not condemn another. The truly humble\nsay very little about their humility, except in rare moments of emotion,\nbut live and labor in quietness for the promotion of the public good.\n\nSincerity and lowliness of spirit have been often commended, as when the\nPythian Apollo rebuked the pompous sacrifice offered at his shrine by a\nrich Magnesian, and said that he preferred the simple cake and\nfrankincense of a pious Achaean which was offered in humbleness of\nheart.\n\nDo not allow yourselves to be deceived by false appearances, but lay to\nheart the story of the farmer who went with his son into a wheatfield to\nsee if it was ready for the harvest. \"See, father,\" exclaimed the boy,\n\"how straight these stems hold up their heads! They must be the best\nones. These that hang their heads down cannot be good for much.\" The\nfarmer plucked a stalk of each kind, and said, \"See here, foolish child!\nThis stalk that stood so straight is light-headed, and almost good for\nnothing; while this that hung its head so modestly is full of the most\nbeautiful grain.\"\n\n\"Humility is like the violet which grows low, and covers itself with its\nown leaves, and yet of all flowers, yields the most delicious and\nfragrant smell.\"\n\nThis virtue is not to be confounded with mean-spiritedness, or that\nabject state of feeling which permits a man to surrender the rights of\nhis character to any one who chooses to infringe upon them. While it\nthinks little of personal considerations, it thinks the more of\ncharacter and principle. It is really a powerful aid to progress. When\nwe realize how little we know, we shall earnestly strive to know more;\nwhen we feel how imperfect is our character, we shall make earnest\nefforts after improvement.\n\n\nPHILLIPS BROOKS.\n\nPhillips Brooks may certainly be ranked among the greatest men of the\npresent generation. He was physically and mentally strong; possessed of\na great personality that compelled him to self-assertion; and was\nself-reliant in a degree attained by but few men of his time. He\nfollowed his own convictions, in the face of much opposition, bravely\nand unflinchingly. But with all his greatness and self-confidence, he\nwas gentle, tolerant, sympathetic, and thoroughly appreciative of the\nrights of others. He made himself felt everywhere; yet he never indulged\nin controversy, and never struck back when criticised. He used his\nstrength for the good of the weak; he asserted himself in a meek and\nhumble spirit.\n\nThe story of his caring for the children of a poor woman, in the slums\nof Boston while she went out for needed recreation, shows that in the\ngreatness of his manhood he could stoop to the lowliest tasks; while\nhis unbounded love for children, kept him bright and young down to the\nvery close of his honored career.\n\nTo understand this side of his character, we recommend you to read his\n\"Letters to Children,\" of which the following, written to his niece, is\nan excellent example:\n\n\"VENICE, August 13, 1882.\n\n\"DEAR GERTIE:--When the little children in Venice want to take a bath,\nthey just go down to the front steps of the house and jump off and swim\nabout in the street. Yesterday I saw a nurse standing on the front\nsteps, holding one end of a string, and the other end was tied to a\nlittle fellow who was swimming up the street. When he went too far, the\nnurse pulled in the string, and got her baby home again. Then I met\nanother youngster, swimming in the street, whose mother had tied him to\na post by the side of the door, so that when he tried to swim away to\nsee another boy who was tied to another door-post up the street, he\ncouldn't, and they had to sing out to one another over the water. Is\nnot this a queer city? You are always in danger of running over some of\nthe people and drowning them, for you go about in a boat instead of a\ncarriage, and use an oar instead of a horse. But it is ever so pretty,\nand the people, especially the children, are very bright and gay and\nhandsome.\n\n\"When you are sitting in your room at night, you hear some music under\nyour window, and look out, and there is a boat with a man with a fiddle,\nand a woman with a voice, and they are serenading you. To be sure, they\nwant some money when they are done, for everybody begs here; but they do\nit very prettily and are full of fun.\n\n\"Tell Susie I did not see the queen this time. She was out of town. But\never so many noblemen and princes have sent to know how Toody was, and\nhow she looked, and I have sent them all her love.\n\n\"There must be lots of pleasant things to do at Andover, and I think you\nmust have had a beautiful summer there. Pretty soon now you will go back\nto Boston. Do go into my house when you get there and see if the doll\nand her baby are well and happy, but do not carry them off; and make the\nmusic-box play a tune, and remember your affectionate uncle, PHILLIPS.\"\n\n[Footnote: No really good life of Phillips Brooks has yet been\npublished; but consult his \"Letters of Travel,\" and the numerous\narticles in the best magazines.]\n\n\n\n\nXXV.\n\nFAITHFULNESS.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nFaithfulness is the soul of goodness.--J. S. White\n\nThat which we love most in men and women is faithfulness.--S. Brooke\n\nIt is the fidelity in the daily drill which turns the raw recruit into\n    the accomplished soldier.--W. M. Punshon\n\nThe secret of success in life is for a man to be faithful to all his\n    duties and obligations.--Disraeli\n\nThe truest test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of\n    cities, nor the crops; but the kind of men the country turns\n    out.--Emerson\n\n\nFaithfulness is just as possible to boys and girls as to men and women.\nTo be faithful is to be true to our own convictions,--never acting\nwithout or against them,--and true to our professions,--never breaking\npromises, or swerving from engagements.\n\nExactly what we mean will readily be seen in the following incident:\nWhen Blucher was hastening over bad roads to help Wellington at\nWaterloo, his troops faltered. \"It can't be done,\" said they. \"It\n_must_ be done,\" was his reply. \"I have promised to be there--_promised_,\ndo you hear? You wouldn't have me break my word!\" It was done, as we\nall know; and the result of his faithfulness was a great victory for\nWellington, and the complete overthrow of Napoleon.\n\nFaithfulness in the daily routine of school work has laid the foundation\nof many a noble character. There is no one thing which will sooner wreck\na young man, and utterly ruin his future prospects, than the reputation\nof being lazy and shiftless.\n\nMr. Ruskin, speaking of the importance of faithfulness among the young\npeople of England, said, \"Could I give the youth of this country but one\nword of advice it would be this: _Let no moment pass until you have\nextracted from it every possibility. Watch every grain in the\nhourglass._\"\n\nSir Walter Scott, writing to his son at school, says: \"I cannot too much\nimpress upon your mind that faithfulness is a condition imposed on us in\nevery station of life; there is nothing worth having that can be had\nwithout it. As for knowledge, it can no more be planted in the human\nmind without labor than a field of wheat can be produced without the\nprevious use of the plow. If we neglect our spring, our summer will be\nuseless and contemptible, our harvest will be chaff, and the winter of\nour old age unrespected and desolate.\"\n\nIt will be seen, therefore, that all young persons should endeavor to\nmake each day stand for something. Neither heaven nor earth has any\nplace for the drone; he is a libel on his species. No glamour of wealth\nor social prestige can hide his essential ugliness. It is better to\ncarry a hod, or wield a shovel, in an honest endeavor to be of some use\nto humanity, than to be nursed in luxury and be a parasite.\n\nThe emptiness and misery sometimes found in idle high life is\nillustrated by the following letter, written by a French countess to the\nabsent count:\n\n\"DEAR HUSBAND:--Not knowing what else to do I will write to you. Not\nknowing what to say, I will now close. Wearily yours,\n   COUNTESS DE R.\"\n\nOf course we must admit that there is variety in the distribution of\nhuman talents; and yet no one of us is incompletely furnished. Each one\nhas to be faithful only according to the measure of his trust, and is\nnot expected to make disproportionate gains. Some men are especially\nfortunate both in opportunities and in resources, while to others,\nchances of advancement come but seldom; but the man of few\nopportunities may be just as faithful as the man who has many.\n\nIf you would be accounted faithful, you must do little things as if they\nwere great, and great things as if they were little and easy. That is\nthe true road to success; and your place or station in life has very\nlittle to do with it.\n\nCalais is a pleasant seaport town of France, situated on the Straits of\nDover. Large numbers of travelers from England to France, and from\nFrance to England, pass through this beautiful town. Near the center of\nit is a lighthouse, one hundred and eighteen feet high, on which is\nplaced a revolving light that can be seen by vessels twenty miles out at\nsea.\n\nAt one time some gentlemen were visiting the tower upon which the light\nis placed, when the watchman who has charge of the burners commenced\npraising their brilliancy. One of the gentlemen then said to him, \"What\nif one of the lights should chance to go out?\" \"Impossible!\" replied the\nwatchman, with amazement at the bare thought of such neglect of duty.\n\"Sir,\" said he, pointing to the ocean, \"yonder, where nothing can be\nseen, there are ships going to every part of the world. If to-night one\nof my burners were out, within six months would come a letter--from\nIndia, perhaps from the islands of the Pacific Ocean, perhaps from some\nplace I never heard of--saying that on such a night, at such an hour,\nthe light of Calais burned dim; the watchman neglected his post, and\nvessels were in danger. Ah, sir, sometimes on dark nights, in the stormy\nweather, I look out at sea, and I feel as if the eyes of the whole world\nwere looking at my light! My light go out! Calais's burners grow dim!\nNo, never!\"\n\nExactly the opposite of this is seen in the incident which follows:\n\nA few years ago, the keeper of a life-saving station on the Atlantic\ncoast found that his supply of powder had given out. The nearest village\nwas two or three miles distant, and the weather was inclement. He\nconcluded that it \"was not worth while to go so far for such a trifle.\"\nThat night a vessel was wrecked within sight of the station. A line\ncould have been given to the crew if he had been able to use the mortar;\nbut he had no powder. He saw the drowning men perish one by one, knowing\nthat he alone was to blame. A few days afterward he was justly\ndismissed from the service.\n\nFaithfulness must especially take into account the feelings and\nexpectations we have raised in other minds. In this matter we cannot be\ntoo careful. It is said of Lord Chatham that he once promised his son\nthat he should be present at the pulling down of a garden wall. The wall\nwas, however, taken down during his absence, through forgetfulness; but,\nfeeling the importance of his word being held sacred, Lord Chatham\nordered the workman to rebuild it, that his son might witness its\ndestruction according to his father's promise.\n\nLoyalty is also a form of faithfulness. It is patriotism in practice.\nOnly the patriotic citizen is loyal to his country. The absence of this\nsentiment, in times of national peril, exposes one to indecision and\ncowardice, if not to treason. Hence its great value and beauty. It is\nindispensable to good citizenship; indeed there is no true manhood and\nwomanhood without it. It is involved in the American idea of republican\ninstitutions. It is loyalty alone which makes it possible for our\ncountry to continue on its course from year to year.\n\nThis form of faithfulness is just now commanding attention throughout\nour land. The national flag is flung to the breeze over our\nschoolhouses, that American youth may not forget their allegiance to the\ngovernment it represents. The stars and stripes floating over the\ntemples of knowledge, wherein our youth are being trained for usefulness\nand honor, is worth far more to us than we realize; and we should always\nbe ready to hail it with joyous songs and cheers.\n\n\nCYRUS W. FIELD.\n\nOne of the greatest enterprises of modern times, was the laying of the\nfirst Atlantic cable. Cyrus W. Field became impressed with the\nfeasibility of this project. He induced capitalists to put their money\ninto it; and then plunged into the work with all the force of his being.\nThe faithfulness with which he performed his task gained for him the\nunited praise of two continents.\n\nBy hard work he secured aid for his company from the British government;\nbut in Congress he encountered such bitter opposition from a powerful\nlobby that his measure had a majority of only one in the senate.\n\nThe cable was loaded upon the Agamemnon, the flagship of the British\nfleet at Sebastopol, and upon the Niagara, a magnificent new frigate of\nthe United States navy; but, when five miles of cable had been paid out,\nit caught in the machinery and parted. On the second trial, when two\nhundred miles at sea, the electric current was suddenly lost, and men\npaced the decks nervously and sadly, as if in the presence of death.\nJust as Mr. Field was about to give the order to cut the cable, the\ncurrent returned as quickly and mysteriously as it had disappeared. The\nfollowing night, when the ship was moving but four miles an hour and\nthe cable running out at the rate of six miles, the brakes were applied\ntoo suddenly just as the steamer gave a heavy lurch, and the cable broke\nand sank to the bottom of the sea.\n\nDirectors were disheartened, the public skeptical, capitalists were shy,\nand, but for the faith of Mr. Field, who worked day and night, almost\nwithout food or sleep, the whole project would have been abandoned.\n\nA third attempt also resulted in failure, but not discouraged by all\nthese difficulties, Mr. Field went to work with a will, organized a new\ncompany, and made a new cable far superior to anything before used; and,\non July 13, 1866, was begun the trial which ended with the following\nmessage sent to New York:\n\n\"HEART'S CONTENT, July 27.\n\n\"We arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank God! the\ncable is laid and is in perfect working order. CYRUS W. FIELD.\"\n\nSuch, in brief, is the story of the faithful performance of a seemingly\nimpossible task. It was a long, hard struggle, covering nearly thirteen\nyears of anxious watching and ceaseless toil. But the name and fame of\nCyrus W. Field will long be cherished and remembered by a grateful\npeople.\n\n[Footnote: See Appleton's \"Cyclopedia of American Biography,\" Vol. II.,\npp. 448, 449, and Johnson's \"Universal Cyclopedia,\" Vol. III., p. 351.]\n\n\n\n\nXXVI.\n\nTHE SECOND TEANSITION PERIOD.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nIt is the pushing fellows who get well to the front.--William Black\n\nThe tricky, underhanded individual pays higher for all he gets.\n                                           --W. M. Thackeray\n\nA man ought to be something more than the son of his father.\n                                           --J. Staples White\n\n  Honor and shame from no condition rise;\n  Act well your part, there all the honor lies.--Pope\n\nThe darkest hour in the life of any young man is when he sits down to\n    study how to get money without honestly earning it.--Horace Greeley\n\n\nIf we have seen that the first transition period in life is that which\nmarks the passing of the child into the youth, then we may safely speak\nof the second transition period as that which marks the passing of the\nyouth into the man.\n\nUsually there is involved in this change the leaving of the parental\nhome; the selecting of a business or profession; and, sometimes, the\nestablishment of a new home, and the assuming of the cares of family\nlife. It is, therefore, of importance that we should guard all the\nseveral interests of this period with more than ordinary care, and\nespecially that we should acquaint ourselves with those facts and\nprinciples which have successfully guided others through a similar\nexperience.\n\nFirst of all we must make a careful study of our possibilities. Young\nmen are constantly worrying lest they be failures and nonentities. Every\nman will count for all he is worth. There is as steady and constant a\nratio between what a man is, and what he can accomplish, as there is\nbetween what a ton of dynamite is, and what it can accomplish. There is\nas much a science of success as there is a science of mathematics. A\ngreat deal depends on the matter of laying in supplies, accumulating\nprimary stuff. A man is never too young to have that fact put before\nhim, and never too old to have it rehearsed. He will understand and\nappreciate the truth of it before he gets through life; and it is a\ngreat pity for him not to have, at least, a little appreciation of it\nnear the beginning, so as to frame his initial years in accordance with\nit.\n\nLet, therefore, nothing escape your observation--deem nothing below your\nnotice. Dive into all depths, and explore all hidden recesses that will\nrender you a master of every department of any business or profession\nyou may engage in. The man who can render himself generally useful has\nalways a better chance of getting on in the world. Whatever you\nthoroughly acquire will be a source of satisfaction and profit to you\nthroughout your future life. It will save you many an anxious hour by\nday, and many a restless one by night. Remember that the whole is made\nup of parts, and that the parts must be well understood before you can\nmaster the whole. You will never be able to manage your business\nsuccessfully without a thorough knowledge of it in all its details.\nResolve, therefore, at the very commencement of your career, to acquire\nsuch knowledge.\n\nYoung people sometimes say, \"I shall never get an opportunity of showing\nwhat is in me, for every business is now so crowded.\" Shakespeare has\nanswered this when he said, \"There is a tide in the affairs of men,\nwhich taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.\" As a matter of fact\nopportunities come to all, but all are not ready for them when they\ncome. Successful men are those who prepare themselves for all\nemergencies, and take advantage of the occasion when the favorable time\ncomes.\n\nA good many young men excuse themselves from ever becoming anything, or\ndoing anything, by the fact that they always live where it is low tide.\nPerhaps that is because it is always low tide where they live. At any\nrate, the more we learn of the history of the men who have succeeded,\nthe more apparent it becomes that if they were born in low water, they\npatched up their tattered circumstances, and beat out to sea on a tide\nof their own making.\n\nIf you would be a success in the business world, then you must master\neverything that you lay your hands upon. Bear in mind that this is your\nown interest, as well as your duty toward your employer. Think nothing\nbelow your attention; do not be afraid of drudgery. Investigate all,\ncomprehend all, grasp all, and master all. Business, like an ingenious\npiece of machinery, is made up of many complicated parts. Analyze it,\ntherefore, thoroughly search all its parts, and know for yourself how\nthey are put together.\n\nYou may cherish the hope that you will one day be an employer yourself.\nIt would be very desirable if we could repose unlimited confidence in\nthe words and acts of our fellow-men; but, unfortunately, the condition\nof the world is not as yet sufficiently advanced to enable us to do so.\nWhere you will find one that you can trust, you will find many that need\nwatching. If you should be unacquainted with some of your business\ndetails, you must trust to others, and may in consequence be deceived. A\nfew months of careful attention to it at the commencement of your career\nwill secure you against deception throughout the whole of your life as\nan employer.\n\nThen you must also be careful to remember that dividends in life are not\npaid until the investment of personal effort has been made. Sowing still\nantedates reaping; and the amount sowed determines pretty closely the\nsize of the harvest. Whether it be young men or wheat fields the\ninterest can be depended upon to keep up with the capital, and empty\nbarns in October are the logical consequence of empty furrows in spring.\nThe young man may as well understand that there are no gratuities in\nthis life, and that success is never reached \"across lots.\"\n\nSuccess means, all the way through to the finish, a victory over\ndifficulties; and if the young aspirant lacks the grit to face and down\nthe difficulty that happens to confront him at the start, there is\nlittle reason to expect that his valor will show to any better advantage\nin his encounter with enemies that get in his way later.\n\nYoung men are apt to imitate each other. Let your conduct be such as to\nbear imitation; otherwise you will lead those who are younger than you\nto form injurious habits, and be the means of leading them away from the\npath of duty. It is an obligation you owe your seniors. In the discharge\nof their duties they will have to depend upon you to a certain extent;\nand if your part is not properly performed, the whole system must\nunavoidably suffer derangement.\n\nIf the mind is temperate in feeling, deliberate in choosing, and robust\nin its willing, character becomes set and enduring. If, on the contrary,\nfeeling is volatile, choice fickle, and the will flabby, one quality\nafter another awakens momentary admiration and impulse; ideals succeed\neach other as the vanishing visions of a dream; life is passed in a\nstate of perpetual inward contradiction; and failure, both for\nyourselves and for your imitators, is almost sure to follow.\n\nNo young man can remain long in this unsettled or transition state; but\nhe must become _something_. You will therefore do well to be\ncareful how you tread this probationary ground; for it is really the\none great opportunity of your lives so far as concerns the formation of\nyour general characters. Use it thoughtfully and well, and your manhood\nwill be stronger, richer, and more helpful, all through your later\nyears.\n\n\n\n\nXXVII.\n\nORDER.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nAccuracy is the twin brother of honesty.--C. Simmons\n\nWithout method, little can be done to any good purpose.--Macaulay\n\nA place for everything, and everything in its place.--Old Proverb\n\nOrder is the law of all intelligible existence.--Blackie\n\nOrder is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of\n    the city, and the security of the state.--Southey\n\n\nThe two words \"order\" and \"method\" are so closely akin to each other\nthat it is quite difficult to separate them, even in the mind. \"Order is\nheaven's first law,\" it is said; also, \"Method consists in the right\nchoice of means to an end.\" Here a distinction is made; but the two\nwords taken together, cover the line of thought we now wish to follow.\n\nChildren nowadays do not learn to read as they once did. They go to\nkindergartens; but order is the rule even in such play-schools, and it\nis the one great reason why they succeed. All schools and colleges\ndepend upon order for successful work.\n\n\"He who every morning plans the transactions of the day,\" says Victor\nHugo, \"and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him\nthrough the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of\nhis time is like a ray of light which darts itself through all his\noccupations. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is\nsurrendered merely to the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled\ntogether in one chaos, which admits of neither distribution nor\nreview.\"\n\nThere is no talent like method; and no accomplishment that man can\npossess, like perseverance. These two powers will usually overcome every\nobstacle; and there is no position which a young man may not hope to\nsecure, when, guided by these principles, he sets out upon the great\nhighway of life. In after years, the manners and habits of the man are\nnot so readily adapted to any prescribed course to which they have been\nunaccustomed. But in youth habits of system, method, and industry, are\nas easily formed as others; and the benefits and enjoyments which result\nfrom them, are more than the wealth and honors which they always secure.\n\n\"Never study on speculation,\" says Waters; \"all such study is vain. Form\na plan, have an object; then work for it, learn all you can about it,\nand you will be sure to succeed. What I mean by studying on speculation,\nis that aimless learning of things because they may be useful at some\ntime; which is like the conduct of the woman who bought at auction a\nbrass door-plate with the name Thompson on it, thinking it might some\nday be of service.\"\n\nOrderly boys and girls are fair scholars, firm friends, and good\nplanners; they make few mistakes, and succeed pretty well in all they\ndo. Order does not make a genius; but a genius without order is\nexasperating when he is a man, and is only pardoned for his want of\norder when he is a boy because he is expected to do better each day.\nBegin with orderly _habits_; next day try order in _thought_; and then\nwill follow naturally order in _principles_.\n\n\"You would be the greatest man of your age, Grattan,\" said Curran, \"if\nyou would buy a few yards of red tape and tie up your bills and papers.\"\nCurran realized that methodical people are accurate as a rule, and\nsuccessful.\n\nThe celebrated Nathaniel Emmons, whose learning made him famous through\nall New England, claimed that he could not work at all, unless order\nreigned about him. For more than fifty years the same chairs stood in\nthe same places in his study; his hat hung on the same hook; the shovel\nstood on the north side of the open fireplace, and the tongs on the\nsouth side; and all his books and papers were so arranged that he\nclaimed to be able to find any information he needed in three or four\nminutes.\n\nThe demand for perfection in the make-up of Wendell Phillips was\nwonderful. Every word must express the exact shade of his thought; every\nphrase must be of due length and cadence; every sentence must be\nperfectly balanced before it left his lips. Exact precision\ncharacterized his style. He was easily the first legal orator America\nhas produced. The rhythmical fullness and poise of his periods are\nremarkable.\n\nA. T. Stewart was extremely systematic and precise in all his\ntransactions. Method ruled in every department of his store, and for\nevery delinquency a penalty was rigidly enforced. His eye was upon his\nbusiness in all its various branches; he mastered every detail and\nworked hard.\n\nIt has also been repeatedly asserted that Noah Webster never could have\nprepared his dictionary in thirty-six years, unless the most exacting\nmethod had come to the rescue. He himself claimed that his orderly\nmethods saved him ten or twenty years, and a vast amount of anxiety and\ntrouble.\n\nGood habits are the first steps in order for children,--punctuality,\nneatness, a place for everything. Yet, do not let habits master you, so\nthat you never can do anything except in a fixed manner at a fixed time,\nand cannot give up your way of doing for the sake of something greater.\n\nIt is true, however, that there is a wonderful force in mere regularity.\nA writer by the name of Bergh tells of a man beginning business, who\nopened and shut his store at the same hour every day for weeks, without\nselling two cents' worth of goods, yet whose application attracted\nattention and paved the way to fortune.\n\nSir Walter Scott has also said that \"When a regiment is under march, the\nrear is often thrown into confusion because the front does not move\nsteadily and without interruption. It is the same thing with business.\nIf that which is first in hand be not instantly, steadily, and regularly\ndispatched, other things accumulate behind, till affairs begin to press\nall at once, and no human brain can stand the confusion.\"\n\nThe great enemy of order is laziness. It is too much trouble to do a\nthing when it ought to be done, instead of doing it when you want to do\nit. Young people should learn to think, talk, read in an orderly manner.\n\nThe country, the state, the town, the home, depend upon order.\nSupposing each person did what he wished, without regard to the welfare\nof others,--that meals, parties, lessons, came at any time; that\ncaucuses and elections happened when any one desired them; that prisons\nand hospitals took people or not, just as superintendents felt; that\neverybody was a self-constituted policeman, yet no one wanted to be\nlooked after himself;--what a hard time all people would have!\n\nA very important point still remains to be noticed. It is this: Our\nprinciples ought to be strong enough to govern our habits. Habits may\nmake us disagreeable and fussy; principles make us broad, far-seeing,\nsympathetic, and independent. Success in life depends upon having the\n_principle_ of order. Always do the _important_ thing _first_; for that\nis what order means. Some boys and girls are orderly about their rooms,\nbut disorderly in their ways of doing things,--always in a hurry, and\nalways puzzled what to do next. Orderly people make plans, allow a\nmargin of time for carrying them out, so that they shall not overlap one\nduty with another; and then, if there is any time left, they fill it\nwith some extra employment or enjoyment, which they have kept in the\nbackground all ready for use.\n\n\nJOHN WESLEY.\n\nIf John Wesley had not been such an orderly boy, he never could have\nbeen the founder of Methodism. He was born at Epworth, England, in 1703,\nand had nineteen brothers and sisters, though only ten of them lived\nlong enough to be educated.\n\nHis brother Charles was his intimate companion. When students at Oxford,\nthey and two other friends formed a small society, which was called the\n\"Holy Club\" by those who laughed at it. They had sets of questions,\nlabeled in order for their examination. From the exact regularity of\ntheir lives and their methods of study, they came to be called\nMethodists, in allusion to some ancient physicians who were so termed.\nThe name was so quaint that it became immediately popular. They visited\nthe poor and sick, and had regular lists of inquiries and rules for\ngeneral use.\n\nAll the orderly habits of his youth guided him even when he became a\nman; and the amount of work he accomplished is almost beyond belief. In\nthe last three years of his life, although sick nearly all the time, he\npreached as many times as ever until a week before his death, in 1791.\nAlways anxious never to lose a moment, and to be methodical in all his\nhabits, he read as he traveled on horseback for forty years. He\ndelivered forty thousand sermons, and wrote many books and essays, and\ngave away in charity one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was\na great sum in those days.\n\nThe secret of John Wesley's success began in his love of order, and\nculminated in the wonderful, orderly discipline of the immense Methodist\ndenomination. At his death there were nearly eighty thousand members,\nwhose leaders, great and little, had definite duties to perform. Yet, in\nhis love for order, he never lost sight of individual poor and sick\npeople, but remembered to serve each one.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Lives of Wesley,\" by Tyerman (1876); Riss (1875); Isaac\nTaylor's \"Wesley and Methodism\" (1868); and \"Wesley's Journals,\" in\nseven volumes.]\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII.\n\nREVERENCE.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nReverence is the crown of moral manhood.--C. Kingsley\n\nNo man of sound nature ever makes a mock of reverence.--T. T. Munger\n\nTrue reverence is homage tempered by love.--W. B. Pope\n\nIn the full glow of the light of our times, only the pure are really\n    revered.--Wilberforce\n\nReverence is alike indispensable to the happiness of individuals, of\n    families, and of nations.--Smiles\n\n\nReverence is a word by itself. It has no synonyms, nor does any other\nword in the language exactly fill its place. It is not respect; it is\nnot regard; it is not fear; it is not honor. Perhaps awe comes nearest\nto it; and yet reverence is more than awe. It is awe softened and\nrefined by gentleness and love.\n\nReverence is a condition of thought and feeling which does not paralyze\naction, but kindles it; does not deaden sensibility, but quickens it.\nEven when used in a religious sense, reverence does not stand for\nreligion itself, but as a means or aid to religious thought and life.\n\nThe presence or absence of a reverent spirit is of real importance; for\nit adds to, or takes away from, our enjoyment of the world in which we\nlive. One person finds happiness everywhere and in every occasion;\ncarrying his own holiday with him. Another always appears to be\nreturning from a funeral. One sees beauty and harmony wherever he looks,\nwhile another is blind to beauty; the lenses of his eyes seem to be made\nof smoked glass, draping the whole world in mourning. While one man sees\nonly gravel, fodder, and firewood, as he looks into a richly-wooded\npark; another is ravished with its beauty. One sees in a matchless rose\nnothing but an ordinary flower; another penetrates its purpose, and\nreads in the beauty of its blended colors and its wonderful fragrance\nthe very thoughts of God.\n\nOnly the truly reverent soul can catch the higher music of sentient\nbeing, with its joys and hopes; its wealth of earnest, aspiring,\nstruggling souls; tolerant, serious, yet sunny; and read those larger\npossibilities which lie hidden in the great deeps of the most ordinary\nhuman life.\n\nWhile it is true that only the reverent can fully appreciate nature; it\nis even more true in regard to human nature. To the reverent mind an old\nman or woman is an object of tender regard; while by the irreverent, the\naged are frequently treated with ingratitude, and sometimes even with\ncontempt.\n\nOne of the lessons most frequently and most strongly impressed upon the\nLacedaemonian youth, was to entertain great reverence and respect for\nold men, and to give them proof of it on all occasions, by saluting\nthem; by making way for them, and giving them place in the streets; by\nrising up to show them honor in all companies and public assemblies;\nbut, above all, by receiving their advice, and even their reproofs,\nwith docility and submission.\n\nOn one occasion, when there was a great play at the principal theater in\nAthens, the seats set apart for strangers were filled with Spartan boys;\nand other seats, not far distant, were filled with Athenian youth. The\ntheater was crowded, when an old man, infirm, and leaning on a staff,\nentered. There was no seat for him. The Athenian youth called to the old\nman to come to them, and with great difficulty he picked his way to\ntheir benches; but not a boy rose and offered him a seat. Seeing this,\nthe Spartan boys beckoned to the old man to come to them, and, as he\napproached their benches, every Spartan boy rose, and, with uncovered\nhead, stood until the old man was seated, and then all quietly resumed\ntheir seats. Seeing this, the Athenians broke out in loud applause. The\nold man rose, and, in a voice that filled the theater, said, \"The\nAthenians know what is right: the Spartans do it.\"\n\nThe great German thinker, Goethe, claimed that three kinds of reverence\nshould be taught to youth,--for superiors, for equals, and forinferiors.\nThis was an advance over the old ideas; but, in a republic\nlike ours, reverence is not up and down; it is not measured by class\ndistinctions,--it is a spirit, to be related in sympathetic ways with\nall human beings as such; and especially with all whose lives are such\nas to command our respect and esteem.\n\nReverence can be cultivated, and needs to be cultivated in our times.\nThere is too much mere \"smartness\" abroad. In society and in the world\nwe find a flippant, cynical tone; no doubt much of this is reaction from\nold-time gloom and severity. But without a reasonable reverence we\ncannot have good manners, or loyal citizens, or possessors of really\nbeautiful characters.\n\nReverence is developed by looking for the good in others; by avoiding\nfault-finding; by associating with high-minded acquaintances; by reading\nworthy literature; by using language unstained by vulgarity; by striving\nto enter more and more into the spirit of the noblest lives that come\nunder our notice.\n\nReverence, then, is not fear; but wonder, solemnity, and veneration. \"It\nis to cherish a habit of looking upward, and seeing what is noble and\ngood in all things.\" Its blessings are many. By it we can win a masterly\njudgment to determine the fitness of behavior and habits; it will keep\nus from thoughtless words and deeds; it will make us respectful to old\nage and appreciative of the past; and, in many other ways, it will prove\nitself of real value to all who cultivate and cherish it.\n\n\nHENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.\n\nWe select, as our special example, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the best\nknown of our American poets. The great poet, whoever he may be, is\nalways reverential. His stanzas are crowned with a sacred seriousness.\nHe gives to life a \"grand, true, harmonic interpretation.\" Longfellow\nwas born on the 27th of February, 1807, at Portland, Maine. In his\nearlier years he displayed the same gentle, amiable spirit which filled\nhis after-life with sunshine and goodness.\n\nHe proved himself to be possessed of a very bright mind even as a boy,\nand entered Bowdoin College when only fourteen years of age. He\nafterwards served this same institution as professor of modern\nlanguages, and in 1835 was called to fill a similar position in Harvard\nUniversity.\n\nHe visited Europe, twice at least, for purposes of study; and, on his\nreturn from his second trip, began that illustrious career of\ninstruction and authorship which has been the source of so much\nhonorable pride on the part of his countrymen. Longfellow selected a\nhistoric home in Cambridge; it was the house occupied by Washington\nwhen he took command of the United States Army in 1776,--a spacious\nstructure, full of welcoming windows, and situated in the midst of old\nelms. Here he lived till his death; and now the stretch of land, from\nthe estate to the river Charles, has been bought and adorned as a\nmemorial.\n\nThe writings of Longfellow are household possessions, fully as much in\nEngland as in America, and we need not enumerate them. They are famous\nnot so much for originality, as for their calm, spiritual, purifying\nmessages. They are full of good-will, aspiration, trust, and real\nloftiness of tone. Indeed, Longfellow \"loved to make clear his\ndiscipleship to him whose ministry was love, whose flock was all\nhumanity, whose kingdom was peace and righteousness.\"\n\nSo deep was the impression made by Mr. Longfellow's beauty of character,\nthat it equaled his literary fame. He always responded to callers, and\nthey came by hundreds; he never refused his autograph; children loved\nhim; his charities were manifold; young authors received his\nencouragement. Modest as to his own writings, he strove to praise the\ngood in others. Every one who met him perceived the source of all this\nrare grace and fascinating nobility of soul to be a sense of the glory\nand divineness of all life. His soul stood in a reverential attitude\ntoward existence, and a marvelous light shone through him and his\npoetry as the result.\n\nDown to the last his pen was active. He died on the 24th of March, 1882.\nDegrees and honors had been freely bestowed on him; but the highest\ntributes came from his admirers on both sides of the Atlantic; and his\nreverential spirit still lives in hundreds of those who read his\nbeautiful verses.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Life of Longfellow,\" and \"Final Memorials\" both by his\nbrother; Samuel Longfellow, and articles in all the best magazines.]\n\n\n\n\nXXIX.\n\nSENTIMENT.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nSentiment is nothing but thought blended with feeling.--J. F. Clarke\n\nSentiment takes part in the shaping of all destinies.--R. Southey\n\nA little child is the sweetest and purest thing in the world.\n                                                   --J. S. White\n\nSentiment is the life and soul of poetry and art.--J. Flaxman\n\nSentiment is emotion precipitated in pretty crystals by the fancy.\n                                                  --J. R. Lowell\n\n\nIt is quite difficult to define sentiment. This has been done, however,\nby the use of the following figures. \"We may think of it as color,\nwithout which nothing in nature or art is complete. A colorless\ncharacter is as unsatisfactory as a colorless landscape. We may also\nthink of it as cement; for it serves to bind together the ordinary facts\nand incidents of life. Just as the bricks and stones of a building are\nuseless until held in the places designed for them under some governing\nplan, so we may say that a selfish and gross character is not bound\ntogether by noble sentiments. Or we may say, again, that sentiment is\nthe wing-power of man, whereby he has ability to fly away from the\ncommonplace and unworthy. By it the ordinary citizen becomes a glowing\npatriot; the drudging youth turns into the devoted statesman; and life\nis made better in a thousand ways.\"\n\nIn one of our memory gems we find it asserted that \"sentiment is the\nlife and soul of poetry and art.\" Perhaps this statement may help us\nhere. Pure poetry is the perfection of prose, or prose idealized. \"It is\na dream drawn from the infinite, and portrayed to mortal sense.\" It\ntakes a great mind, a great genius to weave into a gossamer web,\ncomplete and perfect in every part, a story, a tale, an idea, which\nalike charms the mind, enthralls the sense, and enchains the spirit.\nPoetry is the perfection of language. It is not a mere mechanical\ncontrivance of words, but a glorious picture in which the outward\nexecution is lost in a glory of expression.\n\nThe poet Holmes was brimful of sentiment. Listen to him as he talks\nabout the flowers.\n\n\"Do you ever wonder why poets talk so much about flowers? Did you ever\nhear of a poet who did not talk about them? Don't you think a poem,\nwhich, for the sake of being original, should leave them out, would be\nlike those verses where the letter 'a' or 'e' or some other is omitted?\nNo,--they will bloom over and over again in poems as in the summer\nfields, to the end of time, always old and always new.\n\n\"Are you tired of my trivial personalities,--those splashes and streaks\nof sentiment, sometimes perhaps of sentimentality, which you may see\nwhen I show you my heart's corolla as if it were a tulip? Pray, do not\ngive yourself the trouble to fancy me an idiot, whose conceit it is to\ntreat himself as an exceptional being. It is because you are just like\nme that I talk and know that you listen. We are all splashed and\nstreaked with sentiments,--not with precisely the same tints, or in\nexactly the same patterns, but by the same hand and from the same\npalette.\"\n\nTo say, as some do, that there is no place for sentiment in life, would\nbe almost equal to saying that life is devoid of joy. But who says there\nare no joys in life? Take, for example a good pure natural laugh. We\nhear it bubbling, gushing, pealing out, every now and then, from some\nglad child of nature; and we say, there _is_ joy in life. The gloom of\nages has been lightened with laughter and song.\n\nThere is much to awaken deep and real sentiment in us as we gaze on the\ntree-tops, the mountains and hillsides, the gurgling waters and sweeping\nbillows; on sunlight, shadow, and storm. Behind the forest-leaf we\nsuddenly discover a songster, the gleam of an oriole's breast in a bed\nof mantling green. Nature always rejoices. She has been singing and\nlaughing all down the ages. She does her part grandly for the happiness\nof man; and as we come into closer touch with her, sentiment arises as\nnaturally in our hearts, as does the water in her bubbling springs.\n\nWe may find a place for sentiment in all life's changeful affairs. Even\nthe stern realities of war do not entirely eradicate from the heart that\nfeeling for suffering humanity, which is the highest expression of\nsentiment.\n\nThere were but few who were so thoughtless as not to be stirred with the\nfeeling which possessed the heart of Captain Phillips, and the crew of\nthe battleship Texas, when, as they stood on the deck, with uncovered\nheads and reverent souls, on the afternoon of the engagement before\nSantiago, the knightly old sailor said: \"I want to make public\nacknowledgment here that I believe in God. I want all you officers and\nmen to lift your hats, and from your hearts offer silent thanks to the\nAlmighty for the victory he has given us.\" But it was not the mere\nvictory over a foe that caused this general and thoughtful lifting of\nheart; it was exultation at the triumph of justice and the progress of\nfreedom.\n\nThe presence or absence of sentiment in our lives is largely accounted\nfor by the fact that we usually find what we are looking for. The\ngeologist sees design and order in the very stones with which the\nstreets are paved. The botanist reads volumes in the flowers and\ngrasses which most men tread thoughtlessly beneath their feet. The\nastronomer gazes with rapt soul into the starry heavens, while his\nfellows seldom glance upward. If we seek for the beautiful and the pure,\nit will be quickly revealed to us; and the sentiment of loving gratitude\nwill arise within us as the result.\n\nNature takes on our moods; she laughs with those who laugh, and weeps\nwith those who weep. If we rejoice and are glad, the very birds sing\nmore sweetly; the woods and streams murmur our song. But if we are sad\nand sorrowful, a sudden gloom falls upon nature's face; the sun shines,\nbut not in our hearts; the birds sing, but not to us. The beauty of\nnature's music is lost to us, and everything seems dull and gray. The\nlack of sentiment narrows and belittles us; and, for that reason, we\ncannot afford to be without it.\n\nWe must always strive to keep in mind how important sentiment is to a\nhappy and useful career, whatever position in life we may happen to\noccupy. Noble sentiments are the richest possession we can have. They\ncheer us when we are despondent, they sing to us when we are lonesome,\nand they help to keep us young. They are like brilliant poets and divine\nmusicians; by whom the true, the good, and the beautiful are kept\nconstantly before our minds.\n\nIt is this trait of character which has to do greatly with worship,\nreverence, and aspiration. Morality needs to be touched by sentiment or\nemotion. Sentiment leads us to love sacred spots, to create\ncommemorative days, and to sing songs of gratitude together. It makes\nlife of far greater worth to us in every way. We must also glance at\nwhat is known as public sentiment. Public sentiment is not voluntary or\nself-creative. It is generally a thing of slow growth, springing from a\ngradual accumulation and development of evidences, impressions, and\ncircumstances. It is a matter of education, impressed upon the masses by\nthe most intelligent or the most influential forces of a community; and\nas it is often merely the adoption by the masses of the opinions of a\nclass, clique, or ring, it is as likely to be wrong as right, since it\nfrequently serves to popularize evils, the existence and the continuance\nof which, minister only to the benefit of a few.\n\nBut public sentiment, is after all, quite largely a personal matter. We\nall help in making it; and we should therefore be exceedingly careful as\nto the sentiments we personally cherish; for these are a very real part\nof the sentiments of the community as a whole.\n\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\nPerhaps we should be safe in saying that the kingdom of music is\nespecially the realm of sentiment. Music raises us to a loftier plane of\nthought and feeling. It has been beautifully said that \"The composer's\nworld is the world of emotion; full of delicate elations and\ndepressions, which like the hum of minute insects hardly arrest the\nuncultivated ear.\"\n\nWe select as our special illustration Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born\nat Bonn, Prussia, in the year 1770. His father was a musician, and\nsuffered from two great foes,--a violent temper, and a habit of drink.\nThe family being poor, young Ludwig was made to submit to a severe\ntraining on the violin from the time he was four years old, in order to\nobtain money. By the time he reached the age of nine, he had advanced so\nfar in music that his father could not teach him anything more, and he\nwas passed over to others for further education. When he was fifteen\nyears old he was appointed assistant to the court organist; and, in a\ndescription of the various musicians attached to the court, he is\ndescribed as \"of good capacity, young, of good, quiet behavior, and\npoor.\"\n\nAt the court he was an object of admiration, and his popularity was\nconstantly on the increase. Absorbed in meditation, he forgot ordinary\naffairs. One illustration is as good as a dozen. He loved the sound of\nflowing water, and frequently would let it run over his hands until,\nlost in some musical suggestion from the murmur, he would allow the\nwater to pour over the floor of his apartment until it soaked down and\nastonished the dwellers below.\n\nHe was very democratic, and desired that all men should enjoy freedom\nand equal rights before the law. When asked once, in court, to produce\nthe proof of his nobility, he pointed to his head and heart, saying, \"My\nnobility is here, and here.\" His high-strung nervous system would\naccount for many of his peculiarities. By those who did not understand\nhim he was called \"a growling old bear.\" On the other hand, those who\nappreciated his genius called him \"a cloud-compeller of the world of\nmusic.\" He is in music what Milton is in poetry,--lofty, majestic,\nstately.\n\nBeethoven died on March 26, 1827, during a terrible thunderstorm. His\nfuneral was attended by all the musicians of Vienna. The crowd of people\nwas so enormous that soldiers had to be called in to make a way for the\nprocession; and it took an hour and a half to pass the little distance\nfrom the house to the church.\n\nSentiment in music leaves one in an uplifted and wholesome state of\nmind. Sentimentality in music may give a momentary pleasure, but it is\nreally hostile to strength of character; and this truth applies, with\nequal force, to every other feature of our lives.\n\n[Footnote: See Thayer's \"Biography of Beethoven\" (1879); Schindler's\n\"Beethoven;\" and Grove's \"Dictionary of Music and Musicians.\" Magazine\narticles on Beethoven are also numerous.]\n\n\n\n\nXXX.\n\nDUTY.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nThe path of duty is the way to glory.--Tennyson\n\nA sense of duty pursues us ever and everywhere.--Webster\n\nThe consciousness of duty performed \"gives us music at midnight.\"\n                                               --George Herbert\n\n  I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty.\n  I woke and found that life was Duty.--E. S. Hooper\n\nLet us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us dare\n    to do our duty as we understand it.--A. Lincoln\n\n\nSamuel Smiles, who has written a most excellent book upon this subject,\nsays, \"Duty is the end and aim of the highest life; and it alone is\ntrue.\" It is certain that of all the watchwords of life, duty is the\nhighest and best. He who sincerely adopts it lives a true life; he is\nreally the successful man. It pertains to all parts and relations of\nlife. There is no moment, place, or condition where its claims are not\nimperative.\n\nObedience to the commands of duty, and the ruling desire to be useful,\nare cardinal elements of success. It is at the trumpet call which duty\nsounds, that all the nobler attributes of manhood spring into life; and\nduty is something that must be done without regard to discomfort,\nsacrifice, or death. It must be done in secret, as well as in public;\nand according to the measure of our faithfulness in this respect, will\nbe the real measure of our manhood.\n\nHistory and biography are fairly crowded with examples of the faithful\nperformance of duty, and the glorious results which have followed; such\nas Nelson at Trafalgar, Luther at the Diet of Worms, General Grant in\nthe Civil War; and scores of other instances of note. But equally\nvaluable are the cases of ordinary life. The engineer on the locomotive;\nthe pilot at the helm of the storm-tossed vessel; the mother in her\ndaily routine of work; the merchant upholding laws of trade in honor;\nthe schoolboy plodding through studies in a manly thoroughness; the\nreformer of slums letting her little candle of service shine in the\ndark;--all these and similar instances are full of guidance and\ninspiration.\n\nThere are two aspects of duty; namely, cheerful duty and drudging duty.\nOne says, \"I want to do something;\" the other says, \"I must.\" Our New\nEngland forefathers were followers of duty, but they found very little\njoy in it, as we understand that word. We should endeavor to improve\nupon their methods, but we shall find it difficult to improve upon\ntheir faithfulness.\n\nThe life of Sir Walter Scott affords an interesting illustration of\nstrict obedience to the line of duty. His whole life seems to have been\ngoverned by that sense of obligation which caused him, when a young man,\nto enter a profession which he heartily disliked, out of affection for\nhis father; and, later in life, to set himself to paying off the debt\nincurred by the publishing house of which he was a silent partner. His\nsense of duty was expressed in his declaration that, \"If he lived and\nretained his health, no man should lose a penny by him.\"\n\nJust what is meant by faithfulness to duty may be clearly seen in the\nfollowing incident. During the famous _dark day_ of 1780, in\nConnecticut, candles were lighted in many houses, and domestic fowls\nwent to their roosts. The people thought the day of judgment had come.\nThe legislature was then in session in Hartford. The house of\nrepresentatives adjourned. In the council, which corresponds to the\nmodern senate, an adjournment was also proposed. Colonel Davenport\nobjected, saying, \"The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is\nnot. If it is not, there is no cause for adjourning; if it is, I choose\nto be found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be\nbrought.\"\n\nUpon the world's great battlefields, this matter of faithfulness to duty\nhas always been deemed of the first importance. Previous to the battle\nof Lutzen, in which eighty thousand Austrians were defeated by an army\nof thirty-six thousand Prussians, commanded by Frederick the Great, this\nmonarch ordered all his officers to attend him, and thus addressed them:\n\"To-morrow I intend giving the enemy battle; and, as it will decide who\nare to be the future masters of Silesia, I expect every one of you, in\nthe strictest manner, to do his duty. If any one of you is a coward, let\nhim step forward before he makes others as cowardly as himself,--let him\nstep forward, I say, and he shall immediately receive his discharge\nwithout ceremony or reproach. I see there is none among you who does not\npossess true heroism, and will not display it in defense of his king, of\nhis country, and of himself. I shall be in the front and in the rear;\nshall fly from wing to wing; no company will escape my notice; and\nwhoever I then find doing his duty, upon him will I heap honor and\nfavor.\"\n\nAnother great military commander was the Duke of Wellington. He once\nsaid to a friend: \"There is little or nothing in this life worth living\nfor; but we can all of us go straight forward and do our duty.\" Whether\nserving at home in his family, or serving his country on the field, his\nsense of duty was the one high and noble purpose that inspired him. He\ndid not ask, Will this course win fame? Will this battle add to my\nearthly glory? But always, What is my duty? He did what duty commanded,\nand followed where it led. It was his firm adherence to what he thought\nwas right, that brought down upon him the violence of a mob in the\nstreets of London, assaulting his person and attacking his house, even\nwhile his wife lay dead therein. But the memory of few men is now more\ngreatly honored; and his example is worthy of careful study and close\nimitation.\n\nThe foregoing facts show, far better than argument, both the nature and\nplace of duty in the work of life. We see it in practical operation,\nalways timely, honorable, and attractive. It cannot be discounted or\neven smirched. It stands out in bold relief, supported by a clear\nconscience and strong will. It demands recognition, and it always\nsecures it.\n\nMore than sixteen hundred years after an eruption of Vesuvius had buried\nPompeii in ashes, explorers laid bare the ruins of the ill-fated city.\nThere the unfortunate inhabitants were found just where they were\novertaken by death. Some were discovered in lofty attics and some\nin deep cellars, whither they had fled before the approaching\ndesolation. Others were found in the streets, through which they were\nfleeing in wild despair when the tide of volcanic gases and the storm of\nfalling ashes overwhelmed them. But the Roman sentinel was standing\nat his post, his skeleton-hand still grasping the hilt of his sword, his\nattitude that of a faithful officer. He was placed there on duty, and\ndeath met him at his post.\n\nNo man has a right to say he can do nothing for the benefit of mankind.\nWe forget that men are less benefited by ambitious projects, than by the\nsober fulfillment of each man's proper duties. By doing the proper duty,\nin the proper time and place, a man may make the entire world his\ndebtor, and may accomplish far more of good than in any other way.\n\n\nLORD NELSON.\n\nHoratio Nelson was born at Norfolk, England, September 29, 1758. He\nreached his manhood at a time when the nations of Europe were engaged in\ndeadly strife. A love of adventure and a daring spirit, which developed\nduring his earliest years, inclined him to follow the sea. From his\nfirst entrance into this calling, genius and opportunity worked together\nto make him the leading factor in Great Britain's prominence as a naval\npower.\n\nFor several centuries, previous to the time of Nelson, Great Britain had\nbeen rapidly advancing her commerce. In the protection of this commerce\nmany a naval hero won renown; but the tide of influence and of power\nfound in Nelson its perfect fulfillment. He was a man of extraordinary\ngenius. He saw clearly; acted vigorously. He felt that it was his\nbusiness and his duty to watch over England's interests upon the sea;\nand both men and women felt perfectly safe while Nelson had command.\nThe pure flame of patriotism burned brightly in his heroic soul. He\nbelieved, with Lord Sandon, that nothing could be nobler than a\nfirst-rate English sailor; and he acted in strict accord with this\nbelief. He attained one victory after another, until the battle of the\nNile, one of his most brilliant successes, made the navy of England a\nterror even to its bravest enemies. The superiority of the English fleet\nwas mainly due to his genius; and the dread his name inspired was one of\nthe principal causes, that, a few years later, kept Napoleon from\ncarrying out his threatened invasion of England.\n\nHis high sense of duty, and what he expected of those under his command,\nis well illustrated by his signal to the English fleet, when they were\nabout to engage the French in the great naval battle at Trafalgar. When\nall were ready for the attack, Nelson said, \"I will now amuse the fleet\nwith a signal.\" Turning to the signal officer he exclaimed, \"Send this\nmessage,--'England expects every man to do his duty.'\" When the signal\nwas comprehended by the men, cheer after cheer rang out upon the air,\nand under its inspiration they won a glorious and a decisive victory.\n\nThis message was characteristic of Nelson. Upon his entering into this\nengagement, which proved to be his last, he is said to have remarked, \"I\nthank God for this great opportunity of doing my duty.\" While in the\nthick of the engagement, Nelson was struck down by a cannon ball, and\nlived but a few hours afterward; but long enough to hear the English\nshouts of triumph. He had left to the world a type of single-minded\nself-devotion, that can never perish.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Life of Nelson,\" by Southey (1828); \"Letters and\nDispatches of Lord Nelson,\" by N. H. Nicols (1860); \"Lady Hamilton and\nLord Nelson,\" by J. C. Jeaffreson; and Mahan's \"Life of Nelson,\"\nrecently published.]\n\n\n\nXXXI.\n\nTEMPERANCE.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nRum will brutalize the manliest man in Christendom.-J. B. Gough\n\nRum excites all that is bad, vicious, and criminal in man.-J. S. White\n\nThere may be some wit in a barrel of beer, but there is more in leaving\n    it alone.-C. Garrett\n\nSobriety is the bridle of the passions of desire, and temperance is the\n    bit and curb of that bridle; a restraint put into a man's mouth; a\n    moderate use of meat and drink.-Jeremy Taylor\n\nTemperance is corporeal piety; it is the preservation of divine order in\n    the body.-Theodore Parker\n\n\nTemperance may, in its narrower sense, be defined as the observance of a\nrational medium with respect to the pleasures of eating and drinking.\nBut it has also a larger meaning. The temperate man desires to hold all\nhis pleasures within the limits of what is honorable, and with a proper\nreference to the amount of his own pecuniary means. To pursue them more\nis excess; to pursue them less is defect. There is, however, in\nestimating excess and defect, a certain tacit reference to the average\ndispositions of men, and the law of usage or custom of the times.\n\nThe word temperance has, we repeat, become narrowed and specialized. We\nmean by it, not exactly temperance, but abstinence. The word does not\nconvey the full force of its older meaning. That signifies, \"the right\nhandling of one's self,--that kind of self-control by which a man's\nnature has a chance to act normally;\" and this aspect of our subject\nmust not be overlooked, for it is of great importance.\n\nInstead of being the secondary thing which some think it to be,\ntemperance is really a much higher virtue than patience or fortitude. It\nis the guardian of reason, the bulwark of religion, the sister of\nprudence, and the sweetener of life. Be temperate; and time will carry\nyou forward on its purest current till it lands you on the continent of\na yet purer eternity, as the swelling river rolls its limpid stream into\nthe bosom of the unfathomable deep.\n\nBut even in the more general meaning now given to the word, temperance\nis worthy of our most careful study.\n\nConsider what it is to gain the mastery over a single passion! And\nthink, also, what it is for the mind to be ruled by an appetite! Look at\nS. T. Coleridge--a poet who might have sung for all time, a philosopher\ncapable of teaching and molding generations, skulking away from the eye\nof friends and of servants to drink his bottle of laudanum, and then\nbewailing his weakness and sin with an agony, the bare recital of which,\nmakes our hearts bleed with pity. Our task is not only to subdue a\nserpent, to tame a lion,--there is a whole menagerie of evil passions to\nbe kept in subjection, and when the drink habit prevails, we shall soon\nbecome too weak for such a task.\n\nTemperance is an action; it is the tempering of our words and actions to\nour circumstances. Sobriety is a state in which one is exempt from every\nstimulus to deviate from the right course. As a man who is intoxicated\nwith wine, runs into excesses, and loses that power of guiding himself\nwhich he has when he is sober or free from all intoxication, so is he\nwho is intoxicated with any passion, led into irregularities which a man\nin his right senses will not be guilty of. Sobriety is, therefore, the\nstate of being in one's right or sober senses; and sobriety is, with\nregard to temperance, as a cause to its effect.\n\nThe evils resulting from intemperance are so numerous and so destructive\nof human happiness and life, as to command universal attention. Not only\ndoes intemperance greatly increase pauperism and crime, but it often\nleads to sad calamities which might otherwise be quite largely avoided.\n\nAn old English sea-captain relates the following fact, of which he was\nan eyewitness:--\"A collier brig was stranded on the Yorkshire coast, and\nI had occasion to assist in the distressing service of rescuing a part\nof the crew by drawing them up a vertical cliff, two or three hundred\nfeet in altitude, by means of a very small rope, the only material at\nhand. The first two men who caught hold of the rope were hauled safely\nup to the top; but the next, after being drawn to a considerable height,\nslipped his hold and fell; and with the fourth and last who venturedupon\nthis only chance of life, the rope gave way, and he also was\nplunged into the foaming breakers beneath. Immediately afterward, the\nvessel broke up, and the remainder of the ill-fated crew perished before\nour eyes.\n\n\"What now was the cause of this heart-rending event? Was it stress of\nweather, or a contrary wind, or unavoidable accident? No such thing! It\nwas the entire want of moral conduct in the crew. Every sailor, to a\nman, was in a state of intoxication! The helm was intrusted to a boy\nignorant of the coast. He ran the vessel upon the rocks at Whitby; and\none half of the miserable, dissipated crew were plunged into eternity\nalmost without a knowledge of what was taking place.\"\n\nThere are still a few people who openly ridicule both total abstinence\nand its advocates, and some, who are wicked enough to endeavor to\nmisrepresent those who labor in this cause. These persons do not always\nsucceed, however, as the following incident will show: Horace Greeley\nwas once met at a railway depot by a red-faced individual, who shook him\nwarmly by the hand. \"I don't recognize you,\" said Mr. Greeley. \"Why,\nyes, you must remember how we drank brandy and water together at a\ncertain place.\" This amused the bystanders, who knew Mr. Greeley's\nstrong temperance principles. \"Oh, I see,\" replied Mr. Greeley, \"you\ndrank the brandy, and I drank the water.\"\n\nIt will be found that abstinence from intoxicants is by far the best\nrule of living. There is a large amount of genuine wisdom in the words\nof a middle-aged German who, some years ago, spoke as follows, at a\ntemperance meeting: \"I shall tell you how it vas. I put my hand on my\nhead; there was von big pain. Then I put my hand on my pody; and there\nvas another big pain. There was very much pains in all my pody. Then I\nput my hand in my pocket; and there vas noting. Now there is no more\npain in my head. The pains in my pody are all gone away. I put mine hand\nin my pocket, and there ish twenty tollars. So I shall shtay mit de\ntemperance.\"\n\n\nFATHER MATHEW.\n\nTheobald Mathew was an Irish priest. He was born in 1790, in a great\nhouse in Tipperary, where his father was the agent of a rich lord. The\ndelight of his childhood was in giving little feasts and entertainments\nto his friends. As long as he lived he was fond of this pleasure.\nIndeed, when, at the very last, his physician had forbidden him to\nreceive company, he was found by his brother giving a dinner to a party\nof poor boys.\n\nAt twenty-three years of age he was ordained, and was known from that\ntime as \"Father Mathew.\" After a short time in Kilkenny, he went to\nCork, which was his home for the rest of his life. He was not thought\nmuch of as a scholar, nor at first as a preacher; but he had a warm\nheart and every one liked him. Thus he passed quietly along until he\nwas forty-seven years old; and it did not seem as if the world would\never hear of \"Father Mathew.\"\n\nThere was a little band of Quakers in Cork, who had started a total\nabstinence, or \"teetotal society.\" They interested Father Mathew in\ntheir work, and, in 1838, he signed the temperance pledge and enrolled\nhimself as a member.\n\nVery soon every one in Cork had heard of what Father Mathew had done. He\nbegan at once to preach that men ought not to be drunkards, and that\nthey ought not to use what would make drunkards. The people of Cork had\nalways thought what Father Mathew did was right; and they thought so\nnow. In three months twenty-five thousand persons had taken the pledge.\n\nThe story of the new movement spread quickly over Ireland, and Father\nMathew was wanted everywhere. Wherever he went the people crowded to\nhear him. There were many pathetic scenes at his meetings; for women\ncame dragging their drunken husbands with them, and almost forcing them\nto take the pledge. Men knelt in great companies and repeated the words\nof the pledge together. In Limerick the crowds were so dense that it\nwas impossible to enroll all the names. More than a hundred thousand\nwere thought to have taken the pledge in four days.\n\nAs a result of his work the saloons were closed in many villages and\ntowns; and, within five years, half the people in Ireland had taken the\npledge. The quantity of liquor used fell off more than half, and there\nwas a similar decrease in all kinds of crime.\n\nThen came the terrible years of the Irish famine. By the failure of the\npotato crop, hundreds of thousands died of starvation or of fever.\nMultitudes had to leave their homes to get government work; and hunger\nand despair brought a new temptation to drink. Father Mathew's heart\nwas well-nigh broken with seeing the misery of his countrymen. The food\nwas taken from his own table to feed the hungry. Every room in his house\nwould sometimes be filled with poor people clamoring for bread; and,\nlargely as a result of this terrible strain, he was stricken with\nparalysis.\n\nAs soon as Father Mathew had partly recovered from his illness he longed\nto do something for his people across the sea. In the year 1849 he\nsailed for New York. The mayor of that city made him an address of\nwelcome; and at Washington he was honored by being admitted to the floor\nof both houses of Congress. In spite of his broken health, he visited\ntwenty-five states, spoke in over three hundred towns and cities, and\ngave the pledge to five hundred thousand people. He returned home\nthoroughly exhausted, and soon had another stroke of paralysis. But\nloving friends cared for him; people still came for his blessing, or to\ntake the pledge in his presence. He died in 1856, and all the people of\nCork followed him to his burial.\n\nIt is said that seven million people took the pledge of total abstinence\nat Father Mathew's hands; and it is thought that hundreds of thousands\nnever broke it. There is now a new feeling about temperance in the\nEnglish-speaking world. Drunkenness is now looked upon as a disgrace;\ntotal abstinence is becoming the habit of increasing numbers of people\nfrom year to year; and in the production of this changed feeling, this\nsimple-hearted, earnest Irish priest did more than any other man.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Father Mathew, his Life and Times,\" by F. J. Mathew\n(Cassell & Co., 1880), and \"Biography of Father Mathew,\" by J. F.\nMaguire, M. P. (London, 1863).]\n\n\n\n\nXXXII.\n\nPATRIOTISM.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nThe noblest motive is the public good.--Virgil\n\nThe one best omen is to fight for fatherland.--Homer\n\nPatriotism is a principle fraught with high impulses and noble\n    thoughts.--Smiles\n\nThe revolutionist has seldom any other object but to sacrifice his\n    country to himself.--Alison\n\nIt is impossible that a man who is false to his friends should be true\n    to his country.--Bishop Berkeley\n\n\nPatriotism is defined by Noah Webster as \"the passion which aims to\nserve one's country.\" As it is natural to love our home, it is natural\nto love our country also. As the poorest homes are sometimes most\ntenderly loved, so the poorest and barest country is sometimes held in\nmost affection. There is, perhaps, not a country in the world the\ninhabitants of which have not, at some time or other, been willing to\nsuffer and die for it.\n\nBut as we think of our land, we quickly perceive that no body of young\npeople ever had a more valuable inheritance than that which we have\nreceived; and we are under the greatest obligations to protect and\npreserve this land, and transmit it, full of the grandest achievements\nand most glorious recollections, to posterity.\n\nThis affection is natural, because the town and the nation in which one\nhas lived, is, like the home, bound up with all the experiences of\none's life. The games of childhood, the affection of parents, the love\nof friends, all the joys, the sorrows, the activities of life, are bound\nup in the thought of one's native land.\n\nIt is not merely natural to be patriotic, but it is also reasonable and\nright. Nearly all that makes life pleasant and desirable, comes to us\nthrough the town or the nation to which we belong. Think how many\nthousands in our country have toiled for us! They have made roads, and\nthey have built churches and schoolhouses. They have established malls\nand post offices. They have cultivated farms to provide for our needs,\nand have built ships that cross the ocean to bring to us the good things\nwhich we could not produce at home. They have provided protection\nagainst wrongdoers; so that if we sleep in peace, and work and study and\nplay in safety, we are indebted for all this to the town and nation.\n\nWhen the bells are ringing, and the cannons are firing, on the Fourth of\nJuly, we must not think merely of the noise and fun. We must remember\nthose who on that day agreed that they would risk their lives and\neverything that was dear to them, that their country might be free. We\nmust also think of those who in times of peril have given themselves for\ntheir nation's good; of those who found the land a wilderness, and\nsuffered pain and privation while they made the beginning of a nation.\nWe must think of those who, ever since that time, when ever the liberty\nor the unity of the nation has been in peril, have sprung to its\ndefense.\n\nAt the end of the war of the revolution, Washington was at the head of\na mighty army, and was the object of the enthusiastic love of the whole\npeople. He might easily have made himself a king or an emperor. It was\na marvel to the civilized world when he quietly laid down all his power.\nHe suffered himself to be twice chosen president; and then he became\nsimply a private citizen. This seems to us now the most natural thing in\nthe world; but really it was something very rare, and gave him a fame\nsuch as few heroes of the world enjoy.\n\nThere have been heroes in peace as well as in war, men who have\nconquered the wilderness, who have upheld justice, and have helped on\nwhatever was good and noble. And there are also many persons among us\nwho are unworthy to live in our country, because they are not willing to\nsuffer the least inconvenience on its account.\n\nThen there are many men who are even so unpatriotic as to sell their\nvotes. Think of all the cost of money and of noble lives at which our\nliberty has been won. Think how, in many parts of the world, men are\nlooking with longing at the liberty which we enjoy; yet there are those\nto whom this hard-won freedom means so little that they do not strive to\nfurther the country's interests in any way.\n\nWe must never forget, as we think or speak of patriotism, that such\nprivate virtues as honesty and industry, are its best helps. Whatever\ntends to make men wiser and better is a service to the nation. The\ncountry will one day be in the hands of those who are now boys and\ngirls; and to you, we say, serve it, guard it, and do all that you can\nto promote its good.\n\nThere is a fine field for the exercise of patriotism in trying to\nimprove the condition of affairs in the towns and cities in which we\nlive. We find ourselves in the midst of a conflict between the criminal\nclasses on the one hand, and the people on the other,--a conflict as\nstern as was ever endured upon the battlefield, amid the glitter of\ncold steel and the rattle of musketry.\n\nThe man or woman of the school committee, working conscientiously that\nthe boys and girls shall have the best education to fit them for future\nlife, is a patriot. The teacher who patiently works on with that great\nend in view, is the same. If greed or bigotry claims from town, city,\nor country, that which will debase her people, every boy and girl,\nevery man and woman, should instantly frown it down. This is true\npatriotism, and the influence of every person is needed for the right.\n\nEvery good man in politics wields a power for good. Every good man not\nin politics is to blame for political corruption, because by neglecting\nhis plain duty he adds to the strength of the enemy. Let it be known\nthat, with you, principle amounts to something; that character counts;\nthat questionable party service cannot count upon your suffrage.\n\n\nJOHN ADAMS.\n\nBut little has been written of the child-life of John Adams, the second\npresident of the United States; a man of unflinching honesty, and a\npatriot of the noblest order.\n\nThe Adamses were an honest, faithful people. They were not rich, neither\nwere they poor; but being thrifty and economical, they lived with\ncomfort. Stern integrity was the predominant quality of the farmer's\nhome into which John Adams was born in 1735. It must be remembered,\nthroughout his life it was the sturdy qualities of his ancestors that\nmade him the statesman and patriot whom we know.\n\nThe boy did not show much fondness for books. He preferred life out of\ndoors among the birds and the squirrels, roaming the woods,--living just\nthe life a wide-awake boy on a farm would lead nowadays.\n\nHis father gave him the opportunity of a liberal education, and he\nentered Harvard College when he was sixteen years old. It is curious to\nnote that the students were all enrolled according to social position,\nand John Adams was the fourteenth in his class. In college he was noted\nfor integrity and energy as well as for ability,--those qualities which\nthe sturdy line of farmers had handed down to their children.\n\nThe year he graduated, then twenty years of age, he became teacher of\nthe grammar school in Worcester, Massachusetts. There he earned the\nmoney to aid him in studying his profession, and the training was\nexcellent for the young man. He decided that he would be a lawyer, and\nhe wrote: \"But I set out with firm resolutions, never to commit any\nmeanness or injustice in the practice of law.\"\n\nThere were stirring times in the colonies when John Adams was thirty\nyears old. The British government imposed taxes and searched for goods\nwhich had evaded their officers. The matter was brought before the\nSuperior Court. James Otis argued the cause of the merchants; and John\nAdams listened intently to all this great man said. He afterwards wrote:\n\"Otis was a flame of fire.... American independence was then and there\nborn. Every man appeared to be ready to get away and to take up arms.\"\n\nThen the Stamp Act was issued. John Adams's whole soul was fired with\nindignation at the injustice. He drew up a set of resolutions,\nremonstrating against it. These were adopted, not only by the citizens\nof Braintree, but by those of more than forty other towns in\nMassachusetts; and the landing of the Stamp Act paper was prevented.\nCourts were closed, and the excitement was intense. John Adams boldly\nsaid that the Stamp Act was an assumption of arbitrary power, violating\nboth the English constitution and the charter of the province.\n\nIn connection with what is known as \"The Boston Tea Party,\" came the\nclosing of Boston's ports, because the tea had been thrown overboard,\nand the city would not submit to the tax. A Congress was convened in\nPhiladelphia, and John Adams was one of the five delegates sent from\nBoston. He knew the grave responsibility of the time. With intense\nfeeling he exclaimed: \"God grant us wisdom and fortitude! Should this\ncountry submit, what infamy and ruin! Death in any form is less\nterrible!\"\n\nJefferson and Adams were appointed to draw up the Declaration of\nIndependence. Mr. Adams insisted that Jefferson should prepare it, and\nhe with forty-four others signed it. Mr. Jefferson wrote: \"The great\npillar of support to the Declaration of Independence, and its ablest\nadvocate and champion on the floor of the House, was John Adams. He was\nour Colossus.\"\n\nIn various ways, John Adams served his country with unswerving loyalty.\nWhen Washington was chosen president, Adams was chosen vice-president\nfor both terms, and was then elected president. To the very last he was\nalways ready to give his word--strong, convincing, powerful as of\nold--in the defense of the right, even if he had to stand entirely\nalone. And the story of his manly independence will always add to the\ndignity of the early history of our nation.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Life and Works of John Adams,\" by C. F. Adams (10\nvols.); \"Life of John Adams,\" by J. T. Morse; and article in Appleton's\nCyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. I., pp. 15-23.]\n\n\n\n\nXXXIII.\n\nINDEPENDENCE.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nKeep out of the crowd, if you have to get above it.--M. C Peters\n\nThe freedom of the mind is the highest form of independence.--G. B. Fisk\n\nA country cannot subsist without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.\n                                                      --Rousseau\n\nThe spirit of independence is not merely a jealousy of our own\n    particular rights, but a respect for the rights of others.\n                                                 --S. Baring-Gould\n\nThe love of independence is not only instinctive in man, but its\n    possession is essential to his moral development.--George Eliot\n\n\nA great many persons carry in their minds a very mistaken idea as to\nwhat constitutes a truly noble life. To live is not merely to exist; it\nis to live unbiased and uninfluenced by low and belittling human\ninfluences. It is to give breadth and expansion to the soul; first\nthrough a clear discrimination between right and wrong; and then in\nliving up to the right. Full manhood, the full realization and fruition\nof all that is best and greatest in man, depends upon freedom of thought\nand independence of action.\n\nSome countries have given especial attention to the cultivation of this\ntrait. For example: It has been pointed out that \"among the bestproducts\nof Scotland has been her love of independence. A ruggedness\nof spirit has marked her children. Strength stamps her heroes. The\ngentle Burns was as strong as Knox,--not in character, but in the\nassertion of 'A man's a man for a' that;' and a great many of Scotland's\nnoblest sons have been brought into public notice through the\nmanifestation of their strong personality.\"\n\nVast numbers of men and women ruin their lives by failing to assert\nthemselves. They sink into the grave with scarcely a trace to indicate\nthat they ever lived. They live and they die. Cradle and grave are\nbrought close together; there is nothing between them. There have been\nhundreds who could have rivaled the patriotism of a Washington, or the\nhumanity of a Howard, or the eloquence of a Demosthenes, and who have\nleft behind them no one memorial of their existence, because of lack of\nlofty courage, sublime moral heroism, and the assertion of their\nindividuality.\n\nThe world's greatest things have been accomplished by individuals. Vast\nsocial reformations have originated in individual souls. Truths that\nnow sway the world were first proclaimed by individual lips. Great\nthoughts that are now the axioms of humanity sprang from the center of\nindividual hearts. Do not suffer others to shape your lives for you; but\ndo all you can to shape them for yourselves.\n\nSydney Smith insisted upon this quality of manhood and womanhood as\nindispensable. He said: \"There is one circumstance I would preach up\nmorning, noon, and night, to young persons for the management of their\nunderstanding: Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your\nown line of talent. Be what Nature intended you for, and you will\nsucceed; be anything else, and you will be ten thousand times worse\nthan nothing.\"\n\nIt is a good thing for a boy to wait upon himself as much as possible.\nThe more he has to depend upon his own exertions, the more manly a\nfellow will he become. Self-dependence will call out his energies, and\nbring into exercise his talents. It is not in the hothouse, but on the\nrugged Alpine cliffs, where the storms beat most violently, that the\ntoughest plants grow. So it is with man. The wisest charity is to help a\nboy to help himself. Let him never hear any language but this: You have\nyour own way to make, and it depends on your own exertion whether you\nsucceed or fail.\n\nSherman once wrote to General Grant, \"You are now Washington's\nlegitimate successor, and occupy a position of almost dangerous\nelevation; but if you continue, as heretofore, _to be yourself_,--\nsimple, honest, and unpretending,--you will enjoy through life the\nrespect and love of friends, and the homage of millions of human\nbeings.\"\n\nOf course we must guard against the error of carrying our sense of\nindependence too far. Wordsworth hit the truth when he said: \"These two\nthings, contradictory as they may seem, must go together,--manly\ndependence and manly independence,--manly reliance and manly\nself-reliance.\"\n\nStill, after all is said, we do need more healthy independence. Looking\nout upon society, we see how slavish men and women are to fashion and\nfrivolity. Society life is largely a surface life, spoiled by fear of\ngossip. Young people need to take clearer views of this matter, and to\nstand by their own convictions at any cost. The question to be settled\nby most of us is, Shall I steer or drift? Our advice is, by all means\nhave a lofty purpose before you, and then remain loyal to it.\n\nSome boys think independence consists in doing whatever they please.\nThey think it is smart to be \"tough.\" A story told by Admiral Farragut\nabout his early boyhood, aptly illustrates this phase of young America's\nindependence. He says: \"When I was a boy, ten years of age, I was with\nmy father on board of a man-of-war. I had some qualities that I thought\nmade a man of me. I could swear like an old salt; could drink as stiff\na glass of grog as if I had doubled Cape Horn; and could smoke like a\nlocomotive. I was great at cards; and fond of gaming in any shape. At\nthe close of dinner one day my father turned everybody out of the cabin,\nlocked the door, and said to me: 'David, what do you mean to be?' 'I\nmean to follow the sea.' 'Follow the sea! yes, to be a poor, miserable,\ndrunken sailor before the mast; be kicked and cuffed about the world;\nand die in some fever hospital in a foreign clime.' 'No,' said I, 'I'll\ntread the quarter-deck, and command as you do.' 'No, David; no boy ever\ntrod the quarter-deck with such principles as you have. You'll have to\nchange your whole course of life if you ever become a man.'\n\n\"My father left me and went on deck. I was stunned by the rebuke, and\noverwhelmed with mortification. 'A poor, miserable, drunken sailor\nbefore the mast!' That's my fate, is it! I'll change my life, and change\nit at once! I will never utter another oath; I will never drink another\ndrop of intoxicating liquor; I will never gamble! I have kept these\nthree vows to this very hour. That was the turning point in my destiny.\"\n\nA great many men begin to lose their individuality of conviction the\nmoment they begin life's business. Many a young man has sacrificed his\nindividuality on the altar that a profligate companion has built for\nhim. Many a young man who knew right, has allowed some empty-headed\nstreet-corner loafer to lower his own high moral tone lest he should\nseem singular in the little world of society surrounding him. And many a\nlad whose life promised well at the beginning, has gone to the bad, or\nlost his chance in life, because he never learned to say \"No!\"\n\nIn the Revolutionary War, after the surrender of General Lincoln, at\nCharleston, the whole of South Carolina was overrun by the British army.\nAmong those captured by the redcoats was a small boy, thirteen years of\nage. He was carried as a prisoner of war to Camden. While there, a\nBritish officer, in a very imperious tone, ordered the boy to clean his\nboots, which were covered with mud.\n\n\"Here, boy! You young rebel, what are you doing there? Take these boots\nand clean them; and be quick about it, too!\"\n\nThe boy looked up at him and said: \"Sir, I won't do it. I am a prisoner\nof war, and expect proper treatment from you, sir.\" This boy was Andrew\nJackson, who afterward became president of the United States. Boys with\nsuch a spirit make noble men.\n\nExaggerated individuality makes a man impracticable. But the danger of\nour times is to copy after others, and thus destroy our force and\neffectiveness. Live, then, like an individual. Take life like a man--as\nthough the world had waited for your coming. Don't take your cue from\nthe weak, the prejudiced, the trimmers, the cowards;--but rather from\nthe illustrious ones of earth. Dare to take the side that seems wrong\nto others, if it seems right to you; and you will attain to an order of\nlife the most noble and complete.\n\n\nTHOMAS JEFFERSON.\n\nFor the last one hundred years, one of the first historical facts taught\nthe youth of American birth, is that Thomas Jefferson wrote our famous\nDeclaration of Independence. His bold, free, independent nature,\nadmirably fitted him for the writing of this remarkable document. To\nhim was given the task of embodying, in written language, the sentiments\nand the principles for which, at that moment, a liberty-loving people\nwere battling with their lives. He succeeded, because he wrote the\nDeclaration while his heart burned with that same patriotic fire which\nPatrick Henry so eloquently expressed when he said: \"I care not what\nothers may do, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.\"\n\nIn all nations men have sacrificed everything they held dear for\nreligious and political freedom. Their names are justly written in the\nbook of fame; but in the front rank of them all, we place the brave\nsigners of the Declaration of Independence, with Jefferson in the lead.\n\nThe acceptance and the signing of this document by the members of the\nContinental Congress was a dramatic scene, seldom, if ever, surpassed in\nthe annals of history. As John Hancock placed his great familiar\nsignature upon it, he jestingly remarked, that John Bull could read that\nwithout spectacles; and then, becoming more serious, he began to impress\nupon his comrades the necessity of all hanging together in this matter.\n\"Yes, indeed,\" interrupted Franklin, \"we must all hang together, or\nassuredly we shall all hang separately.\"\n\nThe Declaration of Independence placed the American colonies squarely\nupon the issue of political freedom. Its composition was a master-stroke\nwhich will continue as a lasting memorial to the head and heart of its\nauthor.\n\n[Footnote: See \"Thomas Jefferson,\" by J. T. Morse, Jr. (in American\nStatesmen Series), and \"Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson,\" by Sarah N.\nRandolph, his great-granddaughter.]\n\n\n\n\nXXXIV.\n\nTHE IDEAL MAN.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nFrom the lowest depth there is a path to the highest height.--Carlyle.\n\nA man seldom loses the respect of others until he has lost his own.\n                                                   --F. W. Robertson\n\nThere are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must\n    hunger after them.--George Eliot\n\nThe man who thinks himself inferior to his fellows, deserves to be, and\n    generally is.--William Black\n\nIt is characteristic of small men to avoid emergencies; of great men to\n    meet them.--Charles Kingsley\n\n\nEvery man has characteristics which make him a distinct personality; a\ndifferent individual from every other individual. It is an interesting\nfact that a man cannot change his nature, though he may conceal it;\nwhile no art or application will teach him to know himself, as he really\nis, or as others see him.\n\nIf the idea of humanity carry with it the corresponding idea of a\nphysical, intellectual, and moral nature--if it be this trinity of being\nwhich constitutes the man,--then let us think of the first or the second\nelements as we may, it is the third which completes our conception. Let\nus praise the mechanism of the body to the utmost; let it be granted\nthat the height and force of our intellect bespeaks a glorious\nintelligence; still our distinctive excellence and preeminence lies in\nmoral and spiritual perfection.\n\nThere are those who think and speak as if manhood consisted in birth or\ntitles, or in extent of power and authority. They are satisfied if they\ncan only reckon among their ancestors some of the great and illustrious,\nor if noble blood but flow in their veins. But if they have no other\nglory than that of their ancestors; if all their greatness lies in a\nname; if their titles are their only virtues; if it be necessary to call\nup past ages to find something worthy of our homage,--then their birth\nrather disparages and dishonors them.\n\nThat these creatures lay claim to the name and the attributes of man, is\na desecration. Man is a _noble_ being. There may be rank, and\ntitle, and ancestry, and deeds of renown, where there is no intellectual\npower. Nor would we unduly exalt reason. There may be mental greatness\nin no common degree, and yet be a total absence of those higher moral\nelements which bring our manhood more clearly into view. It is the\ncombination of intellectual power and moral excellence which goes to\nmake the perfect man.\n\nThe world wants a man who is educated all over; whose nerves are brought\nto their acutest sensibility; whose brain is cultured, keen, and\npenetrating; whose hands are deft; whose eyes are alert, sensitive,\nmicroscopic; whose heart is tender, broad, magnanimous, true. Indeed,\nthe only man who can satisfy the demands of an age like this, is the man\nwho has been rounded into perfectness by being cultured along all the\nlines we have indicated in the foregoing pages.\n\nThis education must commence with the very first opening of the infant\nmind. Our lessons will multiply and be of a still higher character with\nthe progress of our years. Truth may succeed truth, according to the\nmental power and capacity; nor must our instruction cease till the\nprobationary state shall close. Our education can finish only with the\ntermination of life.\n\nEvery one is conscious of a most peculiar feeling when he looks at\nanything whose formation or development is imperfect. Let him take up an\nimperfectly-formed crystal, or an imperfectly-developed flower, and he\ncan scarcely describe his feelings. The same holds true as to the\norganization and structure of the human body. Who ever contemplates\nstunted growth, or any kind of visible deformity, with complacency and\nsatisfaction? And why should we not look for full mental development,\nand for the most perfect moral maturity? If what is imperfect\nconstitutes the exception in the physical world, why should it be\notherwise in the world of mind and of morals? Is it a thing to be\npreferred, to be stunted, and little, and dwarfish, in our intellectual\nand moral stature? Or do we prefer a state of childhood to that of a\nperfect man? If the mind is the measure of the man, and if uprightness\nconstitutes the noblest aspect of life, then our advancement in\nknowledge and in righteousness should appear unto all men.\n\nThere is a god in the meanest man; there is a philanthropist in the\nstingiest miser; there is a hero in the biggest coward,--which an\nemergency great enough will call out. The blighting greed of gain, the\nchilling usages and cold laws of trade, encase many a noble heart in\ncrusts of selfishness; but great emergencies break open the prison\ndoors, and the whole heart pours itself forth in deeds of charity and\nmercy.\n\nThe poor and unfortunate are our opportunity, our character-builders,\nthe great schoolmasters of our moral and Christian growth. Every kind\nand noble deed performed for others, is transmuted into food which\nnourishes the motive promoting its performance, and strengthens the\nmuscles of habit. Gladstone, in the midst of pressing duties, found time\nto visit a poor sick boy whom he had seen sweeping the street crossings.\nHe endeared himself to the heart of the English people by this action\nmore than by almost any other single event of his life; and this\nincident is more talked about to-day than almost any of his so-called\ngreater deeds.\n\nNot what men do, but what their lives promise and prophesy, gives hope\nto the race. To keep us from discouragement, Nature now and then sends\nus a Washington, a Lincoln, a Kossuth, a Gladstone, towering above his\nfellows, to show us she has not lost her ideal.\n\nWe call a man like Shakespeare a genius, not because he makes new\ndiscoveries, but because he shows us to ourselves,--shows us the great\nreserve in us, which, like the oil-fields, awaited a discoverer,--and\nbecause he says that which we had thought or felt, but could not\nexpress. Genius merely holds the glass up to nature. We can never see in\nthe world what we do not first have in ourselves.\n\n\"Every man,\" says Theodore Parker, \"has at times in his mind the ideal\nof what he should be, but is not. In all men that seek to improve, it is\nbetter than the actual character. No one is so satisfied with himself\nthat he never wishes to be wiser, better, and more perfect.\"\n\nThe ideal is the continual image that is cast upon the brain; and these\nimages are as various as the stars; and, like them, differ one from\nanother in magnitude. It is the quality of the aspiration that\ndetermines the true success or failure of a life. A man may aspire to be\nthe best billiard-player, the best coachman, the best wardroom\npolitician, the best gambler, or the most cunning cheat. He may rise to\nbe eminent in his calling; but, compared with other men, his greatest\nheight will be below the level of the failure of him who chooses an\nhonest profession. No jugglery of thought, no gorgeousness of\ntrappings, can make the low high, the dishonest honest, the vile pure.\nAs is a man's ideal or aspiration, so shall his life be.\n\nBut when all this has been said, it still remains true that much of the\ndifference between man and man arises from the variety of occupations\nand practices,--a certain special training which develops thought and\nintelligence in special directions. All men meet, however, on the\ncommon level of common sense. A man's thought is indicated by his talk,\nby verbal expression. Mental action and expression is affected by the\nsenses, passions, and appetites.\n\nWhatever great thing in life a man does, he never would have done in\nthat precise way except for the peculiar training and experience which\ndeveloped him; and no single incident in his life, however trifling, may\nbe excepted in the work of rounding him out to the exact character he\nbecomes.\n\nThe poet is really calling for what we regard as the ideal man, when he\nsays:\n\n \"God give us men. A time like this demands\n  Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands:\n  Men whom the lust of office does not kill;\n   Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;\n  Men who possess opinions and a will;\n   Men who have honor--men who will not lie;\n  Men who can stand before a demagogue\n   And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking;\n  Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog\n   In public duty, and in private thinking.\"\n\n\n\n\nXXXV.\n\nWHAT CONSTITUTES GOOD CITIZENSHIP.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nA great nation is made only by worthy citizens.--Charles Dudley Warner\n\nNothing is politically right that is morally wrong.--O'Connor\n\nThe noblest principle in education is to teach how best to live for\n    one's country.--G. T. Balch\n\nThe good citizen will never consent that his voice and vote shall\n    sanction a public wrong.--A. M. Gow\n\nLet our object be, our country, our whole country, and nothing but\n    our country.--D. Webster\n\n\nAn old English picture represents a king, with the motto beneath, \"I\ngovern all;\" a bishop, with this sentence, \"I pray for all;\" a soldier,\nwith the inscription, \"I fight for all;\" and a farmer, who reluctantly\ndraws forth his purse, and exclaims with rueful countenance, \"I pay for\nall.\" The American citizen combines in himself the functions of these\nfour. He is king, prophet, warrior, and laborer. He governs, prays, and\nfights for himself, and pays all expenses.\n\nIt is neither desirable nor possible, however, for men to be wholly\nindependent of one another. Their very nature reveals the fact that they\nare intended to be associated in the bonds of mutual intercourse and\naffection; and such forms of associated life we see all about us, in\nthe life of the family, the community, and the nation.\n\nFor a body of human beings to attempt to live together without regard\nfor each other's interests, would be certain to lead to confusion, if\nnot to disaster. There would be no security for life or property; no\nrecognized standard of values; no ready and certain means of\ncommunication; nor any of the higher conveniences which mark the life of\nour own land and age. That which is needed to insure these necessary\nbenefits, is some common understanding, or some such generally accepted\nagreement, as finds expression in those forms of government which have,\nfor these very reasons, become common to all civilized lands.\n\nIt is in this idea of associated life that citizenship finds its real\nbeginning. But between the formulation of the idea, and such citizenship\nas we now enjoy, there have been long centuries of slow growth and\nsteady development. Each of these succeeding centuries has marked a\ndecided improvement in the condition of mankind; and the outlook for the\nfuture of the race is more hopeful at the present than in any period of\nthe past.\n\nMen like to praise old times. They are fond of telling about \"the good\nold days,\" when there was simplicity, and a rude but rugged virtue, and\nmen were gay and happy. But if you were to take these men up, and carry\nthem back there, and let them sleep where men slept then, and let them\neat what men ate then, and let them do what men had to do then, and take\nfrom them what men did not have then,--you would hear the most piteous\nwhining and complaining that ever afflicted your ears.\n\nDo not be misled by such of our empty-headed reformers as would tell you\nthat the workman's lot is harder at the present than in the far-away\ncenturies of the past; for their statements cannot be verified, but are\nuntruthful and pernicious in the highest degree. The sober, industrious,\nself-respecting artisan of to-day has the privilege of entrance to many\nplaces and families which were closed against the merchants and\nmanufacturers of one hundred years ago; and he stands possessed of\nopportunities such as were not possible even to the men of the last\ngeneration.\n\nCitizenship stands inseparably connected with the family. The family is\npractically a little state in itself, embodying on a smaller scale, all\nthose vital and fundamental principles which make up the larger life of\nthe nation. It is in the family that we first come under government. Our\nearliest lessons in obedience are those which arise from the authority\nof our parents and guardians. It is in the home that we discover that we\ncannot do altogether as we please, but that others, as well as\nourselves, must be regarded. And it will not be difficult to discern\nthat, in the various phases of home life, we have represented almost all\nthe forms of government which have become embodied in the various kinds\nof national administration now prevailing in the various parts of the\nearth.\n\nIn a well-ordered home, the authority would be such that every one could\nhave the largest freedom of action consistent with the general good.\nWhen the freedom of any one made itself a cause of annoyance to the\nrest, it would have to be curtailed. As fast as the children grew to\ndeserve more liberty, it would be given them; but always on condition\nthat they prove themselves worthy to be entrusted with this larger life.\n\nBut with this increase of freedom and privilege, comes the increase of\nresponsibility. Every member of the family who is old enough to\nappreciate its privileges, is old enough to share its burdens. Some\nspecific duties should be assigned to each, however simple these may be;\nand for the performance of these duties, each should be held to be\npersonally responsible. Precisely this is needed in the larger sphere of\nthe state; and when this can be attained and maintained, the good of the\nstate will be both effectually and permanently assured.\n\nA true lover of his country will have, as his ruling idea, that the\nstate is for the people, and that America has been made to make and\nsustain happy Americans. No nation is in a satisfactory condition when\nlarge portions of its population are discontented and miserable. The\ncomfortable classes will generally take care of themselves; but they\nneed to know that their own prosperity is bound up with the condition of\nthe uncomfortable classes. And even if it were not so, it would be their\nduty to advocate such social reforms as would tend to raise men\nintellectually, morally, and circumstantially. The carrying into effect\nof all this opens up a vast realm of service for the public good; and\nthe proper performance of this service, in all its several branches,\nconstitutes good citizenship.\n\nSpeaking in general terms, we may say that a citizen of a country is one\nborn in that country. If you were born in the United States, then you\nare a citizen of the United States. This one simple fact endows you with\nall the privileges of our great nation, and, at the same time, lays upon\nyou a measure of responsibility for the nation's welfare.\n\nIn addition to those who are trained for American citizenship in\nAmerican homes, we have among us a large body of men who are \"citizens\nby adoption.\" Millions of people have emigrated to America; and to these\nit has become the country of their own free choice.\n\nWe are sorry to observe, in certain quarters, a growing disposition to\nregard all immigrants as \"a bad lot\"; for while we concede that many of\nthose who come here, might certainly be much better than they are, we\nwould yet remind you that these \"citizens by adoption\" have repeatedly\nproved their loyalty to our national institutions, and their\nwillingness to die in following our national flag.\n\nEvery good citizen will give attention to public affairs. He will not\nonly vote for good men and good measures, but he will use his personal\ninfluence to have others do the same. Ours is a government of the\npeople, and is neither better nor worse than the people make it. We\nshould study the needs of our country, and keep ourselves well informed\non all the current questions of the day, and then, by an honest and\nintelligent exercise of the privileges which the nation grants us, prove\nourselves citizens of the very highest type.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVI.\n\nTHE CITIZEN AND THE HOME.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nThe hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.--Anon\n\nThe fireside is the seminary of the nation.--Goodrich\n\nEarly home associations have a potent influence upon the life of the\n    State.--Child\n\nNothing proves more ruinous to the State than the defective education\n    of the women.--Aristotle.\n\nThe sorest spot in our municipal and national condition, is the\n    decadence of the home idea.--G. H. Parkhurst\n\n\nThe fact that children are so long in growing up, and pass so many years\ntogether under the care of their father and mother, is most important in\nthe history of the race. During this long period of growth in the home\nthey become fitted, as they could not in any other way, to take their\nplaces in the larger world of men and women. If children remained with\ntheir parents as short a time as the young of animals do, it is probable\nthat men would never have risen above the state of barbarism. The home\nhas been the great civilizer of the world.\n\nThe home is more than the family dwelling; it is the seat of the family\nlife; and the family life stands to the life of the nation in the same\nrelation as the index to the volume, or the expression of the\ncountenance to the feeling of the heart. Our Saxon race has been\ndistinguished from its historic beginnings for its love of personal\nliberty, and is the only race that has ever been able perfectly to\nrealize this blessing in its highest and noblest form.\n\nIf the word home could be squeezed into the language of the savage, it\ncould have no such meaning for him as it possesses for us. The hut of\nthe savage is simply a place to eat in and sleep in. He selects no spot\non which to plant, and build, and educate. He claims to occupy so much\nterritory as will furnish him with subsistence, but his \"home,\" if he\nreally has one, is in the forest, like the game he hunts. It is a fact\nbeyond dispute, that all migratory people are low down in the scale of\ncivilized life.\n\nThe homes of any people are the very beginnings of its progress, the\nvery centers of its law and order, and of its social and political\nprosperity. They are the central points around which the crystallizing\nand solidifying processes of national life and growth can alone be\ncarried forward. We do not give sufficient prominence to this fact, in\nour estimate of the forces which build up our national life. We\nrecognize art and science, agriculture and industry, politics and\nmorality; but do we realize, as we should, that, beneath all these, as\nthe great foundation rock upon which they all must rest, lies the home.\nOr, to change the figure, the homes of our people are the springs out of\nwhich flow our national life and character. They are the schools in\nwhich our people are trained for citizenship; for when a young man\nleaves the paternal roof, his grade and quality as a citizen is, as a\nrule, fully determined.\n\nThe training of a good citizen must begin at the cradle, and be\ncontinued through the plastic period of boyhood and carried forward by\nhis parents, until the youth crosses his native threshold to act his\npart and assume his responsibilities in the broader field of his own\nindependent life.\n\nThe home life of New England has been the most potent force, in the\nbuilding of this great nation. The homes of our Puritan ancestors were\nreally the birthplaces of these United States. What then was the\ncharacter of these homes? They were simple and even rude, as considered\nexternally--and especially when contrasted with the homes of the New\nEnglanders of to-day. But within, there was love and loyalty, reverence\nand faith. In the early homes of New England there were so many strong\nfibers running from heart to heart, and knitting all together,--and so\nmany solid virtues woven into the daily life,--that their influence has\ndone much to make our nation what it is.\n\nA young man trained in such a home, will usually become an example of\nsobriety, industry, honesty, and fidelity to principle. He will be felt\nto be part of the solid framework which girds society and helps to keep\nit healthy,--a kind of human bank, on which the community may draw to\nsustain its best interests, and to promote its noblest forms of life.\n\nThe home is the birthplace of true patriotism; and a true patriotism is\none of the first and most important characteristics in the upbuilding of\nany nation. It is not the wild plebeian instinct that goes for our\ncountry right or wrong, which forms the real element of our strength.\nLove of country, to be a real help and safeguard, must be a sentiment\ngreat enough to be moral in its range and quality. Neither the power of\nnumbers, nor mere oaths of allegiance, will suffice. Patriotism always\nfalls back upon the home life and the home interests for its inspiration\nand its power.\n\nWhatever crosses the threshold to desolate the hearth, touches to the\nquick one of the strongest sentiments of our nature. The old Latin\nbattle cry, \"For our altars and our firesides,\" is still the most potent\nword which can be given to our soldiers, as they advance upon the foe;\nand the man who will not go forward, even to the death, for these, is\nrightly counted as little better than a slave.\n\nIf you want a man upon whom you can rely in the hour of the nation's\nperil, select the man who loves his home; for in proportion as he loves\nhis home, will he love his country which has protected it.\n\nWe therefore repeat that the homes of the people are the secret of our\ncountry's greatness. Acres do not make a nation great. Wealth cannot\npurchase grandeur and renown. Resources, however great and wonderful,\ncannot crown us with national honor and celebrity. The strength and\nprowess of any land lies in the character of its citizens; and their\ncharacter depends largely upon the character of their homes.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVII.\n\nTHE CITIZEN AND THE COMMUNITY.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nMunicipal government should be entirely divorced from party politics.\n                                                 --C. H. Parkhurst\n\nToo many of our citizens fail to realize that local government is a\n    worthy study.--John Fiske\n\nEvery citizen should be ready to do his full part in the service of the\n    community in which he lives.--E. O. Mann\n\nEach separate township needs men who will inspire respect and command\n    confidence.--W. A. Mowry\n\nLet the man who, without good excuse, fails to vote, be deprived of the\n    right to vote.--W. H. H. Miller\n\n\nWhenever men live in a community, they are placed under certain mutual\nobligations. Unless these obligations are carefully regarded the\ncommunity life will be sure to prove a failure. Man is selfish as well\nas social. The weak must, therefore, be protected from the strong; and\nin this important work there are common interests which require united\naction. This united action may be for the common defense of the\ncommunity, or for the general welfare of all.\n\nThe unit of government is generally the town, or as it is called in many\nparts of our country, the township. A town includes the people who are\npermanent residents within a certain limited and prescribed territory,\nusually occupying but a few square miles.\n\nThe government of a town, or township, is in the hands of the people\npermanently residing within the limits of that township. These people\ncombine together for the protection and mutual good of all. This is the\nfundamental principle of government. To carry on this government and\nmake the necessary provisions for the mutual good of the inhabitants of\nthe town, taxation is resorted to. The people, therefore, come in\ncontact with the government first of all at this point.\n\nTaxes are levied by a majority vote of the citizens assembled in town\nmeeting, such meetings being usually held once a year, in order that the\nmoneys necessary to be raised, and the business to be done for the\nwelfare of the people, may receive regular and careful attention.\n\nWhere the population is dense and houses are placed close together, so\nthat within a small area there is a large body of inhabitants,\nthegovernment is generally under the form of a city.\n\nOur republican government, which, after making all due allowances, seems\nto work remarkably well in rural districts, in the state, and in the\nnation, has certainly been far less successful as applied to cities.\nAccordingly our cities have come to furnish topics for reflection to\nwhich writers and orators fond of boasting the unapproachable excellence\nof American institutions do not like to allude.\n\nFifty years ago we were accustomed to speak of civil government in the\nUnited States as if it had dropped from heaven, or had been specially\ncreated by some kind of miracle upon American soil; and we were apt to\nthink that in mere republican forms there was some kind of mystic virtue\nwhich made them a cure for all political evils. Our later experience\nwith cities has rudely disturbed this too confident frame of mind. It\nhas furnished facts which do not seem to fit our theory, so that now,\nour writers and speakers are inclined to regard our misgoverned cities\nwith contempt.\n\nIt will best serve our purpose here, to outline the relation of the\ncitizen to the township rather than to the city, because its management\nis less complex and, in most cases, is more complete and perfect.\n\nMoney is ordinarily raised by taxation for the following purposes,\nnamely: the support of the public schools; making and repairing\nhighways; the care of the poor; maintaining the fire department; paying\nthe salaries of the town officers; paying for the detection and\npunishment of offenders against the law; maintaining burial grounds;\nplanting shade trees; providing for disabled soldiers and sailors and\ntheir families; and, in general, for all other necessary expenses.\n\nTo carry on the work of a town, several officers are usually appointed.\nA town clerk keeps accurate records of all business transacted; records\nall births, marriages and deaths; makes the necessary returns to the\ncounty and the state, and serves as the agent of the town in its\nrelation to the country at large. Officers usually known as selectmen or\nsupervisors, attend to the general business of the town. The town\ntreasurer receives and pays out all moneys raised for the carrying on of\nthe town's affairs. A school committee, or board of education, is also\nneeded to superintend all matters relating to our public schools. A\nsurveyor of highways must be provided, in order that the streets and\nhighways belonging to the town may be kept in proper condition; and an\nassessor and collector of taxes, to attend to the raising of supplies. A\nboard of overseers of the poor is also needed, their duties being to\nprovide for the support of paupers and the relief of the needy poor.\n\nWe do not profess to have fully covered the ground in this brief\nstatement; but only to show that life, even in the smallest communities,\nmust necessarily make heavy drafts upon the time and attention of a\nlarge number of individual citizens. But we desire to emphasize the\nfact, that each of these several offices furnishes opportunity for the\nemployment either of a competent or an incompetent official, according\nto the care with which the selection is made. It therefore becomes the\nduty of every citizen to give personal attention to such matters, for if\nthese places are filled by corrupt or even careless men, the interests\nof the community will be seriously imperiled, while if they are filled\nby honest and patriotic men, the success of the town and its affairs is\npractically assured.\n\nOur one supreme object should be to raise the tone of our citizenship.\nThe town or city will not become permanently better except as we who\nlive in it become better. There are large sections in all our towns that\nyield to the guidance of corrupt and designing men for the reason that\nthey are unreached by influences of a finer and more generous kind.\nPlans must be formulated by which we can come into touch with these\nlower quarters, and raise them quickly and surely to a higher level.\n\nWe all need to become better acquainted with the machinery of our local\ngovernments and with certain principles and statutes by which the motion\nof that machinery requires to be regulated. We cannot properly regulate\nthe doings of our public servants except as we are familiar with the\nlaws to which they are subject.\n\nThis question of obedience to law, can only be efficiently controlled by\nthe continued watchfulness of the law-abiding portion of the community;\nand the situation in this respect is far more grave than most people\nimagine.\n\nA recent writer speaking of the lack of a proper enforcement of the law\nsays: \"I was in a considerable Western city, with a population of\nseventy thousand, some years ago, when the leading newspaper of the\nplace, commenting on one of the train robberies that had been frequent\nin the state, observed that so long as the brigands had confined\nthemselves to robbing the railway companies and the express companies\nof property for whose loss the companies must answer, no one had greatly\ncared, seeing that these companies themselves robbed the public; but now\nthat private citizens seemed in danger of losing their personal baggage\nand money, the prosperity of the city might be compromised, and\nsomething ought to be done,\"--a sentiment delivered with all gravity,\nas the rest of the article showed.\n\nThis makes plausible the story of the Texas judge who is said to have\nallowed murderers to escape on points of law, till he found the value of\nreal estate declining; then he carefully saw to it that the next few\noffenders were hanged.\n\nWe must not take too narrow a view of public life. All civilized\ngovernments consider themselves bound to perform other duties of an\nentirely different character from those which pertain to peace and\njustice. When our fathers framed the constitution of the United States,\nthey gave in the preamble to that instrument an admirable definition of\nthe province of government. This preamble reads as follows:\n\n\"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect\nunion, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the\ncommon defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of\nliberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this\nconstitution for the United States of America.\"\n\nThe motto of every good citizen should be, \"the best means to promote\nthe greatest good to the greatest number.\" The ends to be sought are the\nmost healthy development, the highest and largest happiness to the whole\npeople; for only in this manner can we accomplish our full duty.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVIII.\n\nTHE CITIZEN AND THE NATION.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nLove your country and obey its laws.--Noah Porter\n\nThe sum of individual character makes national character.--E. C. Mann\n\nThe true defense of a nation lies in the moral qualities of its\n    people.--Edwin C. Mason\n\nEverything learned should be flavored with a genuine love of\n    country.--E. Edwards\n\nNoble ideas of citizenship and its duties strengthen the will of all\n    patriots.--Merrill E. Gates\n\n\nWe are accustomed to say that our American government is \"a government\nof the people, by the people, for the people.\" It is largely in this,\nits broad, comprehensive, and democratic character, that we so often\nventure to hold it up to view as a model which might be copied by the\nsurrounding nations to their very great advantage. And certainly no\nthinking person will deny that we have much to be justly proud of in\nthis respect; for our nation has neither parallel nor equal upon the\nface of the green earth.\n\nBut in a land like this, where the government is formed by its citizens,\nit can only be maintained by its citizens. Offices thus created must be\nfilled, and the ship of state must be manned, and manned with a careful,\nhonest, and patriotic crew, or it will be in danger of total wreck. In\nour times of peril we have been quick to see and to acknowledge this;\nand, more than once or twice, the nation has been saved by the prompt\nand patriotic action of the people. But it is not so easy a matter to\nkeep our patriotism up to its noblest and its best when there is an\nabsence of unusual or exciting causes to call it into play. We must\ntherefore glance briefly at both these aspects of the case.\n\nIt is a requirement of long standing that, in case of war, every\nable-bodied citizen must go forth as a soldier, if the government shall\nso demand. He must, if really needful, help to save the state, even at\nthe risk, or at the positive loss, of his own life. Such calls have been\nmade by our government; and the manner in which our people have\nresponded has been the glory of our nation and the wonder of the world.\n\nThe citizen must share the risks of his country, as well as its\nbenefits. He must be willing to give protection to the rights and\ninterests of his fellows, or he cannot rightly expect protection for his\nown. In this we are all so far agreed as to render anything like an\nargument entirely unnecessary; and we do not hesitate to brand all\nwho fail us, under such circumstances, as unpatriotic and unworthy of\nthe sympathy and esteem to which faithful citizenship entitles men.\n\nNow look at the other aspect of the case. The public service is not only\nfor times of war and tumult, but also for times of prosperity and peace;\nand the claims of the nation are no more to be slighted or shirked in\nthe latter case than in the former. The ship of state must be manned, we\nsay, and the public offices necessary to prosperity and progress must be\nfilled. Many of these suffer unless filled by able and patriotic men;\nand the interests, for the preservation and forwarding of which these\noffices have been created, cannot be properly served.\n\nThe crying need of to-day is for men of public spirit; for men who will\nseek the highest welfare of their fellow-citizens in general; men of\nbroad and generous views; men who look out upon life with an absence of\nthat littleness and near-sightedness which cannot distinguish between\npublic good and private interest.\n\nThose men who will take no position in the service of their country,\nunless it is accompanied with a monetary compensation, are after all,\nvery closely akin to the men who waited until bounties were offered\nbefore they would take service in connection with the Civil War; while,\non the other hand, the men who are truly public-spirited, take pleasure\nin serving the public and are liberal beyond the requirement of the law.\n\nIt has been well said that \"A public office is a sacred trust.\" Whoever\nengages in any duties of a public nature, is under the most solemn\nobligation to do those duties honestly and well. There are some public\nofficials who, because they aid in the making of the laws, appear to\nthink themselves higher than the law, and therefore at liberty to obey\nor to neglect its requirements, according as their personal inclinations\nshall direct. But this is not so; and it should be made clear to all\nsuch persons that they are in error.\n\nThe legislator is but a citizen, after all; and, as a citizen, he stands\nin precisely the same relation to the law as does his brother of the\nrank and file. Of all men, he should be obedient, and should labor to\nsurround the law with every possible safeguard; for it is among the most\nprecious and sacred of our earthly possessions. It is the charter of all\ntrue freedom. It is a power before whose awful majesty every man must\nbow, irrespective of outward position or personal influence. It must be\nreverenced, honored, and obeyed by all.\n\nNow the facts show that there is a strange ignorance, or else a strange\nlack of conscience, in this matter, and that this is so wide-spread as\nto be almost universal. It seems to be a common opinion that there is no\nparticular harm in cheating the government. If a politician secures a\nhigh government position, or a business man is fortunate enough to\nsecure a large government contract, it seems to be expected that he will\nsecure from these sources larger profits than would be possible anywhere\nelse. In other words, it seems to be expected that the government will\npay more for any service than can be obtained from an individual or from\na private corporation, and that men will charge prices, and use\ndeception and fraud when they work for the country, which if practiced\nupon private parties, would send them to prison and brand them with\nlifelong disgrace.\n\nRespecting that purification and elevation of the ballot-box, for which\nso many of our thoughtful citizens are now pleading with more than\nusual earnestness, our own thought is that it can best be accomplished\nby the establishment and strict enforcement of an educational\nqualification for voters, and by a residence in the United States of at\nleast ten years, before the voting privilege shall be bestowed. No man\nshould be allowed to vote until he can read and write. No man should be\nallowed to put his hand upon the management of our public affairs until\nhe can read and understand our Constitution in the language in which it\nis written.\n\nOne of the most ominous signs of the times is, that good men stand aloof\nfrom politics. They do this either because they do not fully appreciate\nthe importance of their influence, or from the false conviction that\ntheir votes will do no good, or, in many other instances, because they\nconsider their private business to be of more importance than the\nmatters of the state. But, in point of fact, the uplifting of the moral\ntone of our country is a service of the most importance; and, even if we\nconsider ourselves alone, it is still true that we cannot afford to pass\nit lightly by.\n\nAs citizens of the United States we stand possessed of a most wondrous\nheritage; and what the civil authorities require of us, within their\nown proper sphere, should be considered in the light of a binding duty.\nAs Professor Dole has pointed out, \"We have seen magnificent cities\nrising on the borders of the streams, and pleasant villages dotting the\nhills; a flourishing commerce whitens the ripples of the lakes; the\nlaugh of happy children comes up to us from the cornfields; and as the\nglow of the evening sun tinges the distant plains, a radiant and\nkindling vision floats upon its beams, of myriads of men escaped from\nthe tyrannies of the Old World and gathered here in worshiping circles\nto pour out their grateful hearts to God for a redeemed and teeming\nearth.\"\n\nSurely all that is worth preserving. Surely we will not allow so rich a\nheritage to run waste. Surely we will support a nation whose past is\nbright with glorious achievements, and whose future glows with the light\nof a promise so radiantly beautiful. We need only remind you, therefore,\nthat the truest and most useful citizens of our country are those who\ninvigorate and elevate their nation by doing their duty truthfully and\nmanfully; who live honest, sober, and upright lives, making the best of\nthe opportunities for improvement that our land affords; who cherish the\nmemory and example of the fathers of our country, and strive to make and\nkeep it just what they intended it to be.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIX.\n\nTHE IDEAL CITIZEN.\n\n\nMEMORY GEMS.\n\nVoters are the uncrowned kings who rule the nation.--Morgan\n\nA second-rate man can never make a first-rate citizen.--J. S. White\n\nEvery good man in politics wields a power for good.--M. C. Peters\n\nIf you want a clean city, vote to place the government in clean\n    hands.--Dr. Mc Glynn\n\nThe ideal citizen is the man who believes that all men are brothers, and\n    that the nation is merely an extension of his family.--Habberton\n\n\nWe may now proceed to bring our studies to a close. All that has been\nsaid, from the beginning, has been gradually but surely focusing itself\nupon a single point; for the development of all these several faculties\nand powers leads directly to the forming of a well-rounded and\nfully-developed manhood.\n\nA fully-developed manhood is the highest possible human achievement, and\nincludes within itself all that can be desired; and for this higher\nmanhood we now make our final and most urgent plea.\n\nThe real man is discovered in the sum total of his ideas; for it is in\nthese that his life takes shape and character, it is in these that his\ntrue self comes into view. The real power of the true man lies in his\nbeing able to turn his thoughts inward upon himself; to so gauge and\nmeasure his own powers as to put them to the best uses; and to stand\naloof from those positions and practices for which he finds himself to\nbe unfitted.\n\nThe simple application of this rule to the practical affairs of to-day,\nwould diminish the number of our machine politicians by about four\nfifths. We are loaded down, almost to the breaking point, with\npoliticians who do not understand politics, and who advocate measures\nwhich are not for the public good, because the public good is not the\nend for which they strive. But the fault is in the men themselves,\nrather than in our political system. They must first be made manly,\nbefore they can be made truly useful. They must first learn to govern\nthemselves, before they can successfully carry forward the work of\ngoverning the nation. They must be taught that bluster is not argument,\nand that to go through the motions of political service does not in the\nleast aid in the promotion of the public welfare. A single service\nrendered from the heart is often of more value than a whole life of\nnoisy and showy pretense; but again we say that such service is almost\nalways the result of a thoughtful and considerate manliness.\n\nAll this applies with equal force to the private citizen. A sturdy but\nquiet independence; a genuine love of righteousness and truth; a life of\nuprightness and integrity, of honesty and fair dealing; an absence of\ncringing and paltering, and of that miserable and contemptible fawning\nupon the rich, and that silly and despicable worship of those in place\nand power, which is too frequently to be observed;--all these things,\nand others, must receive care and attention before the ideal stage of\nmanhood can be reached.\n\nThe manly man is a thinking being. By this we do not mean to say that he\nimagines that he is running the universe, and that no one but himself is\nacquainted with the secrets of its mechanism; but that he has a right to\nweigh all questions in the scales of his own reason, and to draw his own\nconclusions from the facts presented to his mind. If he be truly a man,\nhe will hold to that which he feels to be true against all opposition,\nbut will, with equal readiness, yield in all points where he discovers\nhimself to be in the wrong. Instead of going through life in political\nleading-strings, bending to the will of one man, and gulping down the\nopinions of another, he will stand upon his own feet, put his own\nvertebral column to its legitimate use of sustaining his body, and his\nown mind to its legitimate use of directing the issues of his life.\n\nThe ideal citizen will also be a gentleman. By this term, we do not mean\nthe milk-and-water, kid-gloved creature, who so often attempts to pass\nmuster in this connection. All that we have asked for in the man, we\ninsist on in the gentleman. Sturdy independence, vigorous thought,\nmental and moral uprightness, and a backbone as strong as a bar of\nsteel,--but all tempered with a gentleness of disposition and a courtesy\nof manner which brings every natural faculty and power beneath its sway,\nand yet leaves principle and righteousness entirely undisturbed.\n\nThe real gentleman is, above all else, courteous and considerate. He is\nmaster of himself, and that at all points,--in his carriage, his temper,\nhis aims, and his desires. Calm, quiet, and temperate, he will not allow\nhimself to be hasty in judgment, or exorbitant in ambition; nor will he\nsuffer himself to be overbearing or grasping, arrogant or oppressive.\n\nThe ideal citizen will also be, in the better sense of the word, a\npolitician. Be careful to note here that we say, a politician _in the\nbetter sense_. We would have you distinguish, with the utmost\nclearness, between a politician and a partisan. The true politician,\nlooking ever to the highest interests of the state, is a public\nbenefactor; while it very frequently happens that the mere political\npartisan is a public nuisance, if not a public disgrace.\n\nThe man who sinks his country's interests in his own, and the man who\nsacrifices his personal advantages for the sake of his country's good,\nstand at the very opposite poles of human society. The man who swears by\nparty watchwords, and moves amid the burning animosities of party\nstrife, is centering his life in interests which may vanish like an\nevening cloud. Not in the loud clamors of partisan struggle, are we to\nfind the secret highways which lead to national prosperity and progress,\nbut in that quiet, thoughtful, careful study of the interests and events\nin which the national life is taking shape and color, and in the\napplication to these of the great principles of righteousness and common\nsense.\n\nThis is about equal to saying that the ideal citizen will be a patriot.\nWe have so mixed in our minds the two distinct ideas of patriotism and\nheroism, that we have need to pause for a moment, that we may\ndisentangle ourselves from the meshes of this net of misconception,\nbefore we venture to proceed.\n\nIf we call for an illustration of patriotism, you point us to some\nHoratius or Leonidas of the olden times; or to some William Tell, or\nUlysses Grant, of these more modern days. We do not say that these men\nwere not patriots, and patriots of a high order too. But their\ncircumstances were exceptional, and under these exceptional\ncircumstances their patriotism made them heroes. But if you will enter\ninto a careful study of the matter, you will find that it is the\nheroism, quite as much as the patriotism of their lives, which takes so\nstrong a hold upon your hearts.\n\nWe therefore desire to place by the side of our beloved Grant, the man\nwho, in the midst of a bitter struggle for bread, can barely manage by\nthe closest possible economy to keep his family from want and shame, but\nwho still sacrifices an hour's wages that he may go to the polls and\nvote the expression of his will, and thus support the measures which he\nhonestly believes to be for the public good; and we desire to say that,\non the ground of a true patriotism, we consider that the one is fully\nthe equal of the other, and that there is a sense in which the man of\nsmaller opportunities is the greater hero of the two.\n\nThere may be a thousand definitions of heroism, but the patriot is\nsimply \"a man who places his country's interests before his own.\" He is\na patriot who fills well his station in life whether public or private,\nwho loves peace and promotes order, who labors to uphold the good and to\nput down the bad. He is a patriot who uses all his advantages of\nfriendship, acquaintance, business connection, social position and the\nlike, in such a manner as to make these helps and not hindrances to his\ncountry's progress. He is a patriot who seeks to aid in all movements\nthat look to the instruction, elevation, and permanent betterment of his\nfellow-citizens, and to put down all such movements or institutions as\ntend to demoralize and degrade them. Such is the patriotism we plead\nfor; and such patriotism and ideal citizenship are, in our minds, just\none and the same thing.","title":"The True Citizen: How to Become One","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":68638}