Full text of "Portraits and principles of the world's great men and women with practical lessons on successful life by over fifty leading thinkers"

4^ : " > ^N.

mmi

fiom rver "pa,"

* '*r i

REV. CHARLES M. PARKHUR.ST, b.b.

portraits end |Vii)cipIes

OF THE WORLD'S

Great Aen and Women

jessoos onj^ticcessftil [ife

leading Tffinkers.

DBSIGNBD AND ARRANGED BY

William C. King.

-- * -

WITH INTRODUCTION BT

REV. CHARLES H. "PARKHURST, D.D.

OVer 3 400

18OT.

Publishing Co.,

I Springfield, Mass.
CINCINNATI. DES MOINES. DALLAS. SAN JOSE. RICHMOND.

Copyrighted, 1894, by

KING, RICHARDSON & CCv

SPBINOFIELD, MASS.

LIFE to each of us is an ever-changing panorama. The
sights of yesterday are old, the scenes of to-day are
swiftly passing, and the pictures of to-morrow will be
new. Each day comes freighted with greater opportunities
and enlarged interests. To meet these constantly increasing
responsibilities, our lives should be developed along practical
lines. This volume points out and illustrates the principles
which must govern the minds and hearts of those who would
succeed and make the most of life and its possibilities.

The qualities of every noble life have their foundation in the
truths unfolded in this volume, and, living these truths, men
have made their lives grandly successful.

The great problem of the ages and the burning question of
to-day is, " How to Succeed."

Every generation of the past has been confronted by this
problem, and each individual is to-day asking the same vital
question. The hopes and hearts of men are all alike. They
may differ in degree, but never in kind. Your hopes are like
mine. I wish for happiness, so do you. I desire to succeed, so
do you. Our ideals of happiness or success may differ, but
each is striving for that ideal we call success. No person in his
right mind ever yet wished for ruin to his hopes.

How to bring our hopes to fruitage is the problem each one
of us is laboring to solve. This volume solves the problem, and
if it shall be the means of awakening aspirations for success
along noble lines in the minds of the young men and women
of our land, to whom it is especially sent; if it shall arouse
greater zeal, or give new courage to any faltering traveler, or
if it shall arrest any careless feet from going astray, then the
great aim and purpose of the book and its writers will be
accomplished, and the noble men and women whose portraits,
principles, and careers are here set forth, will live anew in other
lives, bringing such blessings to the individual and to the

world, as only eternity will fully reveal.

W. C K.

206490o

Golden Links in the Chain of Life.

PAGB

1 Our Noblest Birthright, ....... 25

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

2 The Meaning of Success, ....... 29

CHARLES M. GATES, M.S.

3 The Mainspring of Success, ...... 36

HON. FREDERICK ROBIE.

4 Success Wrought from the Chaos of Failure, . . .41

Prof. GEORGE S. FOREST.

5 Selecting an Occupation, ....... 44

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

6 Value of Decision, ......... 48

Prof. J. N. HUMPHREY, A.B.

7 Danger of Being Side-Tracked, ...... 52

Prof. JAMES R. TRUAX, M.A.

8 Singleness of Aim, ........ 58

Rev. GEORGE A. HALL.

9 Climbing the Ladder of Success, ..... 68

JOHN C. DUEBER.

10 Footprints of Failure, ...... .73

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

11 Dignity of Labor, ... ...... 78

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

12 Character as Capital, ........ 84

Rev. B. O. AYLESWORTH, D.D., LL.D.

13 Influence of Associates, ....... 87

Rev. F. E. CLARK, D.D.

14 Fruits of Honesty, ........ 91

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

15 Not Above Your Business, ..... . .99

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

16 Beginning at the Bottom, ....... 104

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

17 Results of Application, . ..... Ill

WILLIAM H. SCOTT, LL.D.

18 Commercial Courage, . ...... . 116

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

19 The Man of Push, . : ..... . .119

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

20 The Value of Tact, ........ 122

WILLIAM C. KING.

21 The Compass of Life, ....... 130

Rev. SAMUEL PLANTZ, PH.D.

22 The Power of Perseverance, ...... 136

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

23 Earning the Capital, ........ 143

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

24 High School of Experience, ....... 150

Rev. JOHN BASCOM, D.D., LL.D.
4

CONTENTS.

PAGE

25 Requisites for a Business Education, .... 154

HOMER MERKIAM.

26 Personal Independence, .... . 159

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

27 Importance of Self-Mastery, 170

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

28 Doings Things Well, 170

Rev. M. WOOLSEY STKTKEH, D.D., LL.D.

29 Self -Made, if Ever Made, 179

Prof. DAVID COLLIN WELLS, B.A., B.D.

30 Personal Purity, 184

Rev. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D.D.

31 The Value of a Sound Body, 189

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

32 Importance of Physical Development, .... 194

Prof. A. ALONZO STAGG.

33 Advantages of Difficulties, 199

Rev. WILLIAM DsWiTT HYDE, D.D.

34 The Blight of Idleness, 204

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.
35 What Spare Moments Will Accomplish, . . . .207

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

36 False Standards, 210

HENRY H. BOWMAN.

37 Rare Use of Common Sense, 213

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

38 Ruin in Disguise, 219

ANTHONY COMSTOCK.

39 Chasing Fickle Fortune, 228

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

40 Cutting 'Cross Lots to Success 232

Hon. GEORGE F. MOSHER, LL.D.

41 Grandeur of Patience, 236

WILLIAM C. KING.

42 Trading Opportunities for Failure, . . . . . 239

Rev. GEORGE EDWARD REED, D.D., LL.D.
43 Waiting for Something to Turn Up, 245

Rev. A. B. HERVEY, PH.D.

44 The Secret of Making Things Turn Up, . . . . 249

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

45 Luck and Labor, 253

Rev. GEORGE S. WINSTON, LL.D.

46 Reaping Without Sowing, 256

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

47 Counting the Cost, 259

R. M. ARMSTRONG.

48 Wasted Energies, 263

Rev. JOHN COTTON BROOKS.

49 The Chains of Habit, 267

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

50 How and What to Read, 271

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

51 Importance of Grasping Current Events, . . 275

Prof. OSCJLX J, CJUIG, M.A., PH.D.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

52 Chimney Corner Graduates, 278

JAMES LANE ALLEN, M.A.

53 Power of Concentration, ....

CHAS. G. D. ROBERTS, A. M.

54 Helps and Hints on How to Think, ....

Rev. B. P. RAYMOND, D.D.

55 Thought Reduces Labor,

Prof. GEORGE G. WILSON, PH.D.

56 Eyes that See, .... ...

Rev. WILLARD E. WATERBURY, B.D.

57 The Value of an Idea,

W. C. KING.

58 Put Your Ideas into Practice,

BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER, PH.D.

59 Importance of Being Punctual, . . . . .

Hon. CYRUS G. LUCE.

GO Delay Loses Fortunes,

Rev. H. A. GOBIN, D.D.
61 Strive at Possibilities,

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

62 Practice Secures Perfection,

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

63 Learning is Not Wisdom,

MERRILL E. GATES, LL.D., L.H.D.

64 Power and Possibilities of Young Men, .

JOSEPH COOK, LL.D.

65 The Influence of Young Women, ....

Lady HENRY SOMERSET FRANCES E. WILLARD.

66 Woman's Work and Wages,

NELLIE E. BLACKMER.

67 The Power of Mother's Influence

Mrs. SUSAN S. FESSENDEN.

68 Woman's Place in the Business World.

Mrs. FRANK LESLIE.

69 Literary and Professional Women, ....

Mrs. MARY A. LIVERMORE.

70 True Value of Character,

Prof. FRANK SMALLEY, M.A., PH.D.

71 Reputation Is Not Character,

Prof. N. L. ANDREWS, PH.D., LL.D.

72 Broken Promises,

Prof. JOSEPH K. CHICKERING, M.A.

73 The Beauties of Simplicity

Rev. CARTER J. GREENWOOD, M.A.

74 The Value of Pleasing Manners, . . . .

WILLIAM C. KING.

75 The Worth of Modesty,

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

76 True Nobility,

HENRY K. BUTTZ, D.D., LL.D.

77 The Breastplate of Self-Respect, ....

Rev. HUGH BOYD, D.D.

78 Adapting Self to Circumstances

Hon. EDWIN F. LYFORD, M.S.
6

CONTENTS. -

PAGE

79 Individual Responsibility, 403

Rev. W. C. WHITFORD, D.D.

80 Mental and Moral Growth, 407

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

81 Motive and Method, 411

Rev. GEOKGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

82 Courage for the Duties of Life 415

Prof. C. A. YOUNG, PH.D., LL.D.

83 Duty Before Glory, 418

Rev. GEORGE A. GATES, M.A., PH.D.

84 Poverty Prepares for Wealth, 421

Hon. J. H. BRIGHAM.

85 Where to Get Rich, 423

HOMER T. FULLER, PH.D.

86 Secret of Saving, 425

Rev. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

87 Use and Abuse of Money, . 429

Rev. WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D.

88 Dangers of Riches, 434

Prof. A. S. WRIGHT, M.A.

89 Giving Enriches the Giver, 438

A. M. HAGGAKD, M.A.

90 True Magnanimity, 442

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

91 Perils of Success, 445

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

92 Whirlpool of Commerce, 449

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

93 Gamblers and Gambling, . . . . . . 452

Rev. H. O. BREEDKN, LL.D.

94 Wrecks of Wall Street, 458

Prof. E. T. TYNDALL.

95 The Balance Wheel, 461

Rev. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

96 Use and Power of Faith, . . . . ., . .464

Rev. LEWIS 0. BRASTOW, D.D.

97 The Ministry of Trouble and Sorrow, .... 471

Prof. J. M. STIFLER, D.D.

98 Building for Eternity, .474

Rev. H. B. HARTZLER, D.D.

99 Our Great Ledger Account 478

Rev. -GEORGE S. GOODSPEED, PH.D.

100 Life's Great Guide Book, 484

Rev. P. S. HENSON, D.D.

INTRODUCTION

Rev. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D.

New York City,
The Greatest of Modern Reformers.

[HIS volume is minted from human experience and is made
up of clippings from personal life. It is an attempt to

^ put flesh and blood into black and white, and to coin
heart-throbs into sentences. In this way the personal element
comes well to the front and makes out the volume's worth and
fascination.

Life is the only thing that counts, generally speaking, in
the material world, particularly speaking, in the moral and
spiritual world. Even the Incarnation was first of all a divine
attempt to get more life, personal life, into the world ; and
Whitsuntide only stands for another gigantic experiment of the
same kind. Personality is the very substance and genius of all
truth. Christ expressed this when he said, " I am the truth."
Every one in finite degree, some more than others, some less,
is able to say the same thing, "I am the truth." Truth is, in
the first instance, personal ; and becomes less and less truth
according as the personal element is more and more wrung out
of it. It is therefore that personality is the only real teaching
power. Books are teachers, but only to the degree that they
succeed in becoming an incarnation of their authors. Educa-
tion, so far as it is authentic, is a process of personal inter-
change between teacher and taught. Teaching is the process
of knocking down the wall of partition between two intelli-

INTRODUCTION.

gences so that both combine to compose one apartment. All
who have at any time passed under the baptism of some great
loyal soul understand what this means. It is not necessary to
undertake to explain the process, but it is not difficult to appre-
ciate its reality. We can be made learned by studying things,
but in order to become educated we have to draw from a supply
that is kept flowing and ebbing with the tide of a personal pulse.
So that the value of any teacher has to be estimated not by
what he knows, but by what he is and by his communicable-
ness ; and the nearer a book can come to that, the more it
retains in it of the human pulse and the personal warmth of its
author, the more, in a word, it continues to be personal even
after it has been cast into the form of printer's ink, the more
it denotes as a book. There are books that are statuesque, and
there are books that are picturesque, but, God be praised, there
are also books that breathe : books that keep in them the life
currents of the soul they are born from : like friths that still rise
and fall with the impulse that is conveyed to them from out the
distant deep ; like sea shells that still murmur with the music
they learned while yet at home in the sea.

Not only is person the only truth, it is also the only power.
We have a way of saying that truth is mighty ; but there is no
might in truth except as in some way it is inlaid with the
personal ingredient. The might of the Gospel is simply another
name for the personal might of Christ, who is the Gospel. It is
not philosophy in the scholastic world, nor theory in the political
world, nor doctrine in the religious world that have wrought
effects ; but men, philosophy, theory, and doctrine held in per-
sonal solution. All of this was quite simply stated a good while
ago by Schiller, when he said : " Personliches muss herrschen."
What we mean will be made clear by saying that every doctrine
deserving to be called such, was, in its earliest history, a bit of
personal experience, a part of the life and being of the soul that

INTRODUCTION.

gave it birth. The trouble with doctrines in their later history
is, generally, that the original pulse has ceased to beat in them,
the life blood has dried out of them, and they are no longer per-
sonal, but furniture for the herbarium or the museum. Indeed,
we never call them "doctrines," or, at any rate, we never call
them " dogmas" till their original personal blood is coagulated,
and their remains have become archaeological.

It is much the same thing to say that all progress is personal.
History in its innermost genius is simply biography. You have
read the history of Israel or the history of any other people
when you have become personally acquainted with a dozen or
a score of the men who were its successive centers of crys-
tallization. Events do not go by show of hands. Arithmetic
has very little to do with progress. Even in countries like our
own where every man is supposed to count one, the ballot
simply demonstrates to the public eye what has previously been
personally settled by the larger thought and (let us hope) the
wider plan of a few working centrally and controllingly.

Personality is also the natural pabulum upon which soul
lives and thrives. The plant feeds upon antecedent vegetable ;
the brute upon antecedent animal ; person feeds on person, first
of all upon the Supreme Person, and secondly upon his human
reproductions. Men live upon great souls that are and have
been. Isolation is personal starvation. The power of a great
soul over a smaller one is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in
miniature. We mean by that only, that its effect is baptismal,
and that to that degree it pushes us along a line of ascent,
awakens us out of our dreams, and actualizes our possibilities.
That is the advantage of having great men and having them or
their memories become the property of the people. Just as we
need mountains in order to get rain, so we need mountainous
souls in order that the average lowlands may obtain irrigation
and cover themselves with verdure. No man can become bigger

INTRODUCTION.

unless there is some being whom he looks up to. The greatest
thing a great man can do is to stimulate the growth and encour-
age the stature of his contemporaries or successors.

Herein is the philosophy of all discipleship, whether it be the
old Greek discipleship or the discipleship of Judea or of the
later middle ages. The relation which discipleship indicates is
an exceedingly earnest one, and an exceedingly prolific one, for
it denotes on the one side the commitment of the higher to the
lower, and, on the other, the surrender of the lower to the
higher, and so insures the repletion of the lower : as Ontario
drinks at the fountain of Erie, and Erie draws perennially from
the upper lakes and the clouds.

Authors of Portraits and Principles.

HOMER MERRIAM,

President of the firm of G. & C. Merriam Company, Springfield, Mass., publish-

ers of Webster's International Dictionary.

M' Merriam has had a very successful business experience covering a period of half a cen-
tury.

CHARLES MORTIMER GATES, M.S.,

President Creamery Package Manufacturing Company, Chicago.

Mr. Gates is a thorough business man ; he organized his company, which is the largest estab-
lishment of the kind in America.

WILLIAM C. KING,

Of King, Richardson & Company, Publishers, Springfield, Mass.

This house was founded in 1878, and is among the largest and most successful publishing
houses of this country. Mr. King is a self-made man, of strict integrity, keen business ability
(a bank director), and known as an enterprising, successful business man. This volume is the
result of his plans and execution, assisted by a large company of carefully selected men and
women of broad experience and who have been successful in their various departments of life
work. Is also prominent in the management of several large corporations.

HON. J. H. BRIGHAM,

Ohio State Senator and Master of the National Grange.

Mr. Brigham is a practical farmer living at Delta, Ohio, and one of the leading men of his
state. A devoted advocate of the rights of the farmer.

HENRY H. BOWMAN,

President of the Springfield National Bank, Springfield, Mass.
Mr. Bowman started in life as a bank clerk. Is now one of the leading business men of his
city. Has the full confidence of the public, and is at the head of a large and eucceasf ul banking

HON. FREDERICK ROBIE,

President First National Bank, Portland, Me.

A practical farmer, an honored governor of his state, a successful financier, and holda the
confidence of the people of his state.

Authors of Portraits and Principles.

REV WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D, Columbus, O.,
An Honored Pastor, Able Preacher, and Strong Writer
11 ' 8 ha8 br Ught Mm int Cl Se touch and **V*r th the readers on both

REV. H. B. HARTZLER, D.D.

Director of Bible Study, Moody's Training School at Mt. Hermon and North-

field, Mass.

HON. CYRUS G. LUCE, Cold water, Mich.,
Honored and esteemed for unswerving fidelity and personal sacrifice

PROF. DAVID C. WELLS, B.A., B.D.,
Of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Graduate of Phillips Academy, Yale, and Andover Seminary. After spendintr
rman ' h

uth A '

outh. A man of strong mental powers and a forcible writer.

REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.D.,

Founder of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor
Graduated from Dartmouth in 1873. The name of this earnest, devoted Christian man is

Lrac7,?:zr,^

PROF. GEO. G. WILSON, PH D.,
Of Brown University, Providence, R I

REV. JOHN BASCOM, D.D., LL.D.,

Of Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.

f Univer K sit - v of Wisconsin. For forty years a successful teacher of

nsto Depress. A man

WILLIAM H. SCOTT, LL.D.,

President of Ohio State University, Columbus.

nf E ni?- Ca TT d - at . hi Universit y. Athens; after graduating entered upon teaching. Ex-President
University. A man of broad culture and strong mental powers.

MERRILL E. GATES, LL.D., L.H.D.,

President of Amherst College, Massachusetts.

CoSi Ua ?n d i f a m 1 Un , Iv ? reit - v of Rochester, N. Y., in 1870. For eight years President of Rutgers

college. In 1890 elected President of Oberlin College, and before accepting was elected Presi-

->l Amherst. Dr. Gates is a man of unusual talent, tact, and force. As a practical

of young men, probably has no superior. He is in constant demand as a lecturer, and

is to literary /ournals. A leader in scientific, literary, and educational work.

Authors of Portraits and Principles.

REV. SAMUEL PLANTZ, PH.D.,

Pastor of The Tabernacle Methodist Church, Detroit, Mich.
College course at Milton College and Lawrence University, Wis. Completed theological
course at Boston University.

REV. HARVEY O. BREEDEN, PH.D.,

Pastor Christian Church, Des Moines, Iowa, Editor Christian Worker.
Graduate of Eureka College, Eureka, 111., 1878. A leading preacher of the Christian denominar
tion and a popular platform orator and lecturer.

GEORGE A. GATES, D.D., LL.D.,
President of Iowa College, at Grimiell, Iowa.

Graduate of Dartmouth. Studied theology at Aiidover, afterwards studied abroad for some
time.

REV. GEORGE. S. GOODSPEED, PH.D.,
Prof, of Comparative Religion and Ancient History, Chicago University.

Graduate of Brown University, 1880, of Morgan Park Theological Seminary, 188if. Post gradu-
ate course Yale University, Ph.D., 1801. For a long time editorial assistant to Dr. Harper on
the Old and New Testament Student.

REV. B. P. RAYMOND, D.D.,

President of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.

Graduate of Lawrence University, Wis. '1870), and theological department of Boston Univer-
sity. Spent one year of study in Germany. Became president of Lawrence University and
elected president of Wesleyan University in 1889.

PROF. N. L. ANDREWS, D.D., LL.D.,
Dean of the Faculty, Colgate University, Hamilton, N. Y.

Graduate of Colgate University, 1858, also graduated from the theological department of this
institution in 1864. Spent much time in study and travel abroad. Has received the degrees of
D.D., Ph.D., and LL.D.

REV. LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D.,
Prof, of Practical Theology, in Yala University, New Haven, Conn.

Graduate of Bowdoin College, 1857. Studied theology at Bangor, Me. 1860 called to the pas-
torate South Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, Vt. Served as chaplain of the 12th Ver-
mont Regiment. In 1869 went abroad for study.

REV. GEORGE EDWARD REED, D.D.,

President of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Graduate of Wilbraham Academy, 1865, and Wesleyan University in 1869. In 1875 became pas-
tor of the Hanson Place Church, Brooklyn, largest M. E. Church in the United States. Success-
ful pastor, brilliant preacher, and widely known as a lecturer and platform orator.

REV. H. A. GOBIN, D.D , LL.D.,
Dean of the School of Theology, DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.

Graduate of the De Pauw University in 1870. In 1886 elected president of the Baker Univer-
sity, Baldwin, Kans.

Authors of Portraits and Principles.

REV. WM. DE WITT HYDE, D.D.,
President Bowdoiu College, Brunswick, Me.

Graduated from Harvard in 1879, and from Audover Theological Seminary in 1882, contributed
to the Forum and other magazines. An able scholar and a man of great ability.

MR^l^NlTLlSLIE,

Proprietor and Manager of the Leslie Publishing House, New York City.

Mrs. Leslie is undoubtedly the foremost business woman of America. At the death of her
husband, who had just made an assignment, she bravely took his place, and lifted a debt
of $300,000, and has made a fortune besides. Her only inheritance was a tremendous debt and an
opportunity.

Editorial Staff of the Daily News Philadelphia.

Graduated from National School of Oratory, 1887. Professor of Elocution, Drew Theological
Seminary- In I 890 was given charge of the educational department of the Philadelphia Times.

NELLIE E? BLACKMER,

Head Stenographer with the Publishing House of King, Richardson & Co.
Was educated for a teacher. While teaching fitted herself without an instructor for her
present position. A young woman of keen literary tastes and of rare business ability.

M. W. STRYKER, D.D., LL.D.,

President of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York.

Graduated from " Hamilton " in 1872 and from Auburn Seminary in 1876. Resigned his
pastorate in Chicago iu 1892 to accept present position. An educational leader.

PROF. ArALONZO STAGG, B.A.,

Director of the Department of Physical Culture, Chicago University.
During college course became famous as the " great pitcher " for the Yale team. After
graduation at Yale in 1888, spent two years in Yale Divinity School. In 1890 became physical
director of the International Y. M. C. A. Training School, at Springfield, Mass. 1890 elected
to present position. Mr. Stagg is the foremost educated all-round athlete of America.

REV. GEoTST HEWITT, B.D.,

An Able Scholar, Strong Preacher, and Brilliant Writer, Graduate of Harvard.

REV. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D.D.,

A Leading Divine, Thinker, and Writer, Boston.
The influence of Dr. Hale's voice and pen has made its impress upon both America and Europe.

PROF. JOSEPH K. CHICKERIXG, M.A.,
Of University of Vermont, Burlington.
Graduated at Amherst College in 1869. A broad scholar and a very successful teacher.

FRANCES E. WILLARD,

President of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
Known, beloved, and honored for her incessant labor in behalf of humanity and reform.

PROF. J. NELSON HUMPHREY, M.A.,

Of the Wisconsin State Normal School, Whitewater.

Graduated at Milton College, 1879. A successful teacher, and author of ,a popular text book.

LADY HENRY SOMERSET of London,

President of the British Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
A woman of great refinement and culture, and devoted to the great needs of the common people.

Authors of Portraits and Principles.

JAMES LANE ALLEN, A.M.,

Graduate of the Kentucky University.

Prominent literary contributor and author. Popular as a lecturer and platform orator
throughout the South.

ANTHONY COMSTOCK,

Secretary of the Society for Prevention of Vice, New York.

Farmer boy, country store clerk, served in the 17th Conn. Vols. In 1867 accepted clerkship New
York city. In 1872 began a vigorous campaign to suppress obscene literature, and has faith-
fully served the nation along this line for twenty-two years.

JOHN C. DUEBER,

President of the Hampden Watch Company, Canton, Ohio, and of the Dueber

Watch Case Company, Newport, Ky.

Apprenticed as a watch case maker. Through diligence and push, backed by integrity of pur-
pose and principle, this man has climbed the ladder of success. A self-made man.

PKOF. OSCAR J. CRAIG, A.M., PH.D.,

Professor of History and Political Economy, Purdue University, La Fayette, Ind.
Graduate of De Pauw University, 1881. Successful Institute conductor and literary con-
tributor.

REV. WILLARD E. WATERBURY, A.B., B.D.,

Pastor First Baptist Church, Clinton, Mass., and director of the Baptist Boys'

Brigade in New England.

Graduated at Syracuse University, and entered Y. M. C. A. as secretary at Concord, N. H.,
engaging in the ministry later. A strong preacher and popular, successful leader of young people,

PROF. GEORGE S. FOREST,

Of Ellsworth College, Iowa Falls, Iowa.

Farmer's son, educated at Cornell College, la. Has had a successful career as farmer, business
man, and teacher.

HOMER S. FULLER, PH.D.,

President of the Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass.

Graduate of Dartmouth, 1864. Then became principal of Fredonia Academy, N. Y. ; 1871 to 1882
principal of St. Johnsbury Academy, Vt. ; 1880 to 1882 spent in study and travel abroad.

PROF. J. M. STTFLER, D.D.,

Prof, of New Testament Exegesis, Crosier Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa.

Graduated from college, 1866, and next from Crosier. Besides constantly preaching, has
continually contributed to the religious press, prepared several books, and for many years been
prominent in the preparation of the International Sunday-school lessons.

REV. CARTER J. GREENWOOD, A.M.,

Pastor First Baptist Church, Iowa Falls, Iowa.

Educated at Homer Academy and Colgate University, New York. An able preacher and popu-
lar lecturer.

Authors of Portraits and Principles.

PROF. FRANK SM ALLEY, A.M., PH.D.,

Professor of Latin and Literature, Syracuse University.

Educated at Northwestern University, and Syracuse University. Graduated 1874 A B 1876
A.M.; 1891, Ph.D.

REV. W. C. WHITFORD, D.D.,

President Milton College, Milton, Wis.

Graduate of Alfred University. Devoted many years to building up Milton College. Super-
intendent of Public Instruction in Wisconsin for four years.

A. M. HAGGARD, A.M.,

Corresponding Secretary of the Iowa Christian Convention, Ex-President of
Oskaloosa College, Iowa.

PROF. A. S. WRIGHT, A.M.,

Of the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio.

Graduate of Union College. Studied three years in Leipsic and Paris. Called to the chair of
Modern Languages, Union College, 1888.

MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE.

Organized the Sanitary Commission in 1862. Prominent in hospital work through the Civil
War. A leader in temperance work. An able writer. Popular lecturer, favorably known
throughout the land and beloved by all.

REV. HUGH BOYD, A.M., D.D.,

Professor of Latin in Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, la.

Graduate of Ohio University, Athens. In 1883 elected president of Ohio University, but
declined.

MRS. SUSAN S. FESSENDEN,

President Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Massachusetts.
Graduated from seminary in 1855. Began teaching ; became principal of her alma mater. An
ardent worker on reform lines. A woman of high literary ability, and personal force in her
home and in public life.

GEO. F. MOSHER, LL.D.,

President Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Mich.

Graduate of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., 1869. For sometime editor Morning Star.
Served two terms in New Hampshire Legislature. 1881, appointed by Garfleld consul to Nice.
In 1886 elected president of Hillsdale College.

R. M. ARMSTRONG,

State Secretary Y. M. C. A. for Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Learned printers' trade. For many years employed with the Traveler, Boston. Six years
superintendent Monument Square M. E. Sunday-school, Boston. In 1883 entered Y. M. C. A.
work as secretary at New Bedford, Mass. Next at Springfield. Called to the State work in 1886.

HON. EDWIN F. LYFORD, A.B.,

Member Massachusetts State Senate, 1894.

Graduate of Colby University, Maine, 1877. Admitted to Massachusetts bar in 1882. Member
of Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1892 and 1893, and sent to the Senate in l*u.

Authors of Portraits and Principles.

REV. JOHN COTTON BROOKS, B.D.,

Rector Christ Church (Episcopal), Springfield, Mass.

(Brother of the universally beloved late Phillips Brooks.)
Graduated from Harvard in 1872, Philadelphia Divinity School in 1876. A devoted pastor.

Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association for New York State.
Widely and favorably known for his untiring energy and great influence among young men.

Noted Scholar, Preacher, and Lecturer, Boston, Mass.
Well known throughout the land for his vigorous thought and original style of expression.

PRES. GEoTrTwiNSTON, LL.D.,

President of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
A graduate of Cornell University, 1874. A leader among the educators of the great South.

REV. JAMESRimJAXB-U-, M.A.,

Professor of English Literature and Language, Union College.
Graduate of Union College in 1876, and from Drew Theological Seminary. Is a brilliant
scholar and a forcible writer.

REvnT^TllEN^ONT D.D.,

Pastor First Baptist Church, Chicago.

Graduated in 1844, with the first class sent out from Richmond College ; in 1855 founded
Fluranna Female Institute, Va. For twenty years Editor of the Baptist Teacher. A bril-
liant leader in the denomination.

REV. JAMES wT^OLEn^CN^i-thanipton, Mass.

Graduated from Boston University. For many years was a leading thinker and preacher
in New England. Ill health has prevented regular service for some time. His mental force
and rare literary power is exemplified in the chapters he contributes to this work.

PROF. BENJA^ulTlDE WHEELER, PH.D.,

Of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Graduate of Colby Academy, N. H., Brown University in 1875. Studied at Leipsic and Heidel-
berg, Germany. Professor in Harvard in 1885 and 1886. Called to Cornell in 1886.

REV. CHLESYOUNG, D.D.,

Of the College of New Jersey, Princeton.

Graduate of Dartmouth in 1853. In 1866 called to fill his father's vacant chair at Dartmouth,
remaining eleven years. On account of scientific discoveries, has been honored with a medal
from the French Academy of Science. Has become one of the leading astronomers of the
world.

REV. HENRY^TBUTTzTD.D., LL.D.,

President Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N. J.

Graduated from the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. Is a man of strong mental force.

REV. ATpTHERVEY, PH.D.,

President St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York.

A strong representative of the Universalist denomination. Widely known and possessed of
great power and mental force.

REV. B. O. AYL^VORTHTD.D., LL.D.,

President Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.

Graduated from Eureka College. Dr. Aylesworth is an able preacher and one of the bright
scholars and educational leaders in the Christian denomination.

PUBLISHERS' INTRODUCTION.

. THEN a stranger calls at our home we instinctively inquire
lAl of ourselves, who is he? And then later, what is he?
Books are men and women transferred by their thoughts
to paper, and, if we are wise, before we admit one to the
sanctities of our homes, we will ask who wrote it, and what is
it? Wise and good thoughts produce intelligent and good men,
for " as a man thinketh, so is he." Evil thoughts bring forth
also, but always after their kind. It is impossible to get high
thinking from low living; they never go together. He who is,
the slave of evil can never be free either to do or reach the
highest good. The evil will not let him. Books that stimulate
to high thinking produce, like good companionship, a noble
life. For goodness is just as contagious as evil. What multi-
tudes are to-day following the divine Man of Nazareth! When
Paul quotes Menander's saying that "converse with evil men
corrupts good manners," he refers to a fact in nature as certain
as gravity. And it is as true of books as it is of men. Who
can tell the power of a good or bad one? A noble life enriches
both him who lives it, and those who come after him, who are
made the better because of his example. For models are
always more effective and valuable than mere rules. They
teach both quicker and better. So Christ came and " left us
an example that we should follow in His steps." What is
true of the living man is also true of him when embodied in
a book. Neither dies when he who lived the life, or wrote the
book, passeth from earth. Not one of us can ever live or die
unto himself. Several of the authors of this volume are per-

INTRODUCTION.

sons of national reputation, whose thoughts on other subjects
are before the people. The others, while of lesser fame, are not
unknown in their several localities. All of them have had
wide observation and much experience in life, and they here
offer many wise counsels as aids to the young in the forming
of that finest and most important mechanism in the universe
character. They believe that there is just as much of true
chivalry and heroism and devotion to the right in the world
to-day, as in any past time. And no man has call to disparage
the young men and women of our land, who are as ready to
sacrifice, to do, to dare, and if need be to die for truth and
righteousness as ever the fathers were. They believe such are
just as anxious to cultivate a noble manhood and womanhood
as others have been. Neither goodness nor the love for it has
yet perished from the earth. Many a young man and woman
would do better than they are now doing, if they only knew
how. This book is designed to help such. While its writers
cannot travel the road of life for you, and so give that perfect
knowledge that can only be had by actual experience, yet next
to that actual experience the most important thing in under-
taking an unknown journey is a good guide book. Practical
experience and good examples are the indispensable and only
efficient aids in forming a noble character. The first each
must get for himself. But it has been the aim of these writers
to help you in respect to the last. We inherit money, we
inherit examples, we inherit the facts of nature, but we do not
inherit character, unless it be the bias toward one for good or
evil. You have talents, ability, power, peculiar to yourself.
Shall they bring forth a harvest of noble deeds, and so bring
that highest of successes a noble character? Character is
greater than intellect, greater than gold, greater than the
world. The end of a journey is determined in advance by the
direction in which we travel. True, one may go in a round-
about direction, and afterward come to the desired end. But

INTRODUCTION.

such a course, while furnishing a deal of exercise and wider
knowledge, requires also much time, energy, and expense, and
may cost us the possession or much of the enjoyment of the
object of the journey at the end by getting us there too late, or
too exhausted by the long travel; so that it is much wiser to
start right at the beginning, seeing it is the first start that
determines the direction in which we are to go.

We were not made to walk backward. We must travel.
None of us can stand still. Death only is still. Life is move-
ment. Nor can it be done to any purpose on an unchanging
level. We go up or down, and develop the best or worst of us
in the journey. Some of these writers tell of the struggle of
men. Struggles make men. Ease and idleness will unman the
noblest. They tell of the successes won by men and women.
The very first requisite for success is great difficulties in the
way! Without difficulties there could be no such thing as suc-
cess. Difficulties develop fiber, resolution, resources. Difficul-
ties are too often regarded as enemies. They are not such.
Storms and dangers alone make skilled mariners. The victory
worth the boasting comes after many struggles, after many
perils, after many defeats. The fiercest of foes by developing
your skill and strength, and resources, and endurance, may be
thus made your best helper. So that the very first, best requi-
site for success is poverty, toil, and difficulties. Do not be
frightened by them, or discouraged because of them. They are
your opportunities for winning success. He who refuses to
make use of. or flings away, his opportunities, flings away his
manhood. Reading the "Lives of the Saints," made a Loyola.
Beading the "Life of John Huss," made a Martin Luther.
Reading the " Voyage of Capt. Cook," made a William Carey.
Reading the " Life of Benjamin Franklin," made a Samuel
Drew. Reading Cotton Mather's " Essays to do Good," made a
Benjamin Franklin. May the reading of this volume inspire
you to live worthy the opportunities the Creator has given you.

Our Noblest Birthright.

REV. JAMES. W. COLE, B.D.

1 . TORK is the birthright of the human race. It is not a curse,
lA/ but a benediction. It is not a mark of degradation, or of

^ servitude, but an insignia of royalty. To work is god-
like. " My Father worketh hitherto," said Christ ; and all the
universe bears witness to the fact. Intense, ceaseless activity
is the law of life throughout all its physical and moral realms.
He who would live must work. There can be no growth, or
development, of body or of mind without it. When you cease
to work you cease to live. Idleness breeds stagnation, whose
only issue is corruption, decay, and death.

The progenitor of the human race, while yet sinless, had
Heaven's sign manual, work, given him to do. Paradise was
his, "to dress it and keep it." His subsequent sin and expul-
sion from Eden made no change in this fundamental law of his
life. Thereafter, to him and his, work was different and harder
and more profitless, but it was not a new thing to him ; much
less was it, as so often supposed, the result of sin.

All worlds are workshops. This of ours is no exception.
Heaven is to garner at last the best productions of earth for its
great universal exposition. "They shall bring the glory and
the honor of the nations into it." But it is only " the glory and
the honor" work that goes on exhibit there.

Are you and I now doing anything that "they" will think
worthy of preservation ? It is terrible to do nothing worthy ;
to live for nothing worthy ; to be nothing worthy.

Endowed as we are with such godlike powers in embryo, and
placed in a world that is fitted to develop the best that is in us

[ CHAPTER 1.] 25

OUR NOBLEST BIRTHRIGHT.

to the highest point possible for us to attain in our present stage
of being, what a shame it is to make one's life only a bitterness
and a curse. Alas ! how many are doing that ! To prevent
this worse than waste of existence, to help to nobler living here,
to aid in the preparation for grander work in more glorious
worlds, is the purpose of this present volume. In it will be
found words of wisdom from those who have attained, each in
his own way and place, somewhat of success in this world.

They who now speak to you from these pages are soon to
pass to the life beyond the scenes of time. Some of you must
occupy their present places, must do their work ; must, in your
turn, help others as they now seek to help you.

Listen to their counsel and kindly words of advice. It may
save you much of heartache and, perchance, despair hereafter.
You too would succeed. It is not natural to wish to be a wreck,
to be counted as "thorns" or "chaff." So it is safe to assume
that you wish to make the life God has given you a blessing to
yourself and to others. It is well, then, at the beginning of
your career, to remember that there is no teacher like experi-
ence, nor any lessons so impressive and so costly as hers.

Very many, indeed, will learn at no other school, and all of
us have, at some time, to take more or less lessons there. Yet
it is neither wise nor safe to trust wholly to what you may
learn of her, for you will find that the knowledge there gained,
however valuable, often comes too late to be of benefit to you
in this life, and serves only to remind you of your previous
folly. Be willing, therefore, to learn from others.

Example is a better, more kindly, and less expensive
instructor than experience, and the many life lessons here fur-
nished will, if rightly learned, aid you in your effort to make
noble use of the talents intrusted to your keeping. Whatever
your position in life is, be assured, first of all, that all honest
work, whether of hand or brain, is noble. It is the worker who
dignifies the task, and not the task that ennobles the worker.

Christ, at the lowly carpenter's bench, was grander far than
he who swayed Caesar's scepter. If he had then aspired to sit

OUR NOBLEST BIRTHRIGHT.

on Csesar's throne, he could not have been the Christ, for the
only road from earth to heavenly glory lies through the valley
of humiliation. Be not, therefore, ashamed either of your
lowly surroundings, or of your humble and hard work. Are
you poor and unknown ? This certainly can be no barrier to
your acquiring both wealth and honor. Rather, it should be
an added incentive. For being now at the bottom there can be
no fear of further falling, and the only direction is upward.

Unless one is low, it is impossible to ascend, and the higher
one climbs, the more the glory, and the greater the strength of
the climber. "Time and I against any other two," cried a
heathen philosopher. You should have equal courage, for there
is no stint of time in God's great universe. All the coming
ages are yours. Resolve, then, to make something noble of
yourself ; to do something worth the doing. It will require
hard work. But few persons have to struggle for success as
did that world renowned missionary and explorer, Livingstone.

His parents were in such straitened circumstances that when
he was but ten years of age he was put to work in a cotton
factory as a "piecer," in order to eke out the family living.
But the lad was hungry for knowledge, and with part of his
first week's scant wages bought a small Latin grammar, and
began to rise ! He was required to be in the factory at work
by six o'clock in the morning, and must work until eight o'clock
at night, with but a brief interlude for breakfast and dinner.
But undaunted he toiled on, hurrying at the close of his long
day to an evening school, and then home to pore over his
dictionary until midnight or later, or until, as he quaintly tells
us, his mother would snatch away the candle from him in order
to get him to bed.

In his brief account of his efforts to obtain an education, he
says : " I never received a farthing of aid from anyone. My
reading while at work was carried on by placing the book on a
portion of the spinning-jenny so that I could catch sentence
after sentence as I passed at my work ; I thus kept up a pretty
constant study, undisturbed by the roar of the machinery."

OUR NOBLEST BIRTHRIGHT.

For a dozen years he thus toiled, reading, he says, "everything
I could lay my hands on, except novels."

He became proficient in the classics. He devoured all the
books of science and of travel he could get. He studied prac-
tically geology and botany, roaming for miles in search of
specimens. Becoming a Christian, he then resolved on being a
missionary. When nineteen years of age, he was promoted to
"cotton spinning," a kind of toil, he adds, that "was excess-
ively severe on a slim, loose jointed lad ; but it was well paid
for, and it enabled me to support myself while attending medi-
cal and Greek classes in Glasgow in winter, as also the divinity
lectures of Dr. Wardlaw, by working with my hands in sum-
mer."

The record of his life and labors as a missionary and explorer
in Africa is a household tale. The story of how half the hearts
of the world were moved to learn of his fate, the sending of the
Stanley expedition to find him, and the opening up of Africa
to civilization, as a result, form the now familiar romance of
the nineteenth century. It was hard, persistent work that
made David Livingstone famous. Concerning it, he said,
" Looking back now on that life of toil, I cannot but feel thank-
ful that it formed such a material part of my early education,
and, were it possible, I should like to begin life over again in
the same lowly style, and to pass through the same hardy train-
ing." That is the kind of spirit that makes heroes. Do not,
then, shrink from your work, nor despair because of your lowly
surroundings. Sterile soil, fierce storms, and rough winds
develop the strong, toughened fiber of the oak.

God designed us for noble purposes, and put us in this trial-
world to develop the best that is in us by giving each a work to
do. Do not disappoint him and shame yourself by asking for
easier tasks, but do the work now at your hand and do it well.
Thus, step by step, you will be led up to nobler tasks and
greater usefulness, with a name worthy of rank among the
immortals.

of Success.

CHARLES MORTIMER GATES, M.S.,
President of the Creamery Package Manufacturing Co., Chicago.

IN these days of struggle and toil, of success and failure, in
the midst of competition and strife, it is well for young
men to pause at the threshold of their calling and ask
" What is the meaning of success in life? " Yea, and far
more important, indeed, is it for the man well started on life's
mission, surrounded with all the temptations of business life
and the immeasurable power of money and all its entangling
forces, to ask frequently, " What is true success?" Shall these
questions be answered according to the usual standard of the
world, " Seek wealth and amass a large fortune, and you will
never be lacking for friends and enjoyment," or shall they
rather be answered from a higher and broader standard, which
has its foundation in righteousness and its end and purpose in
the well-being of man and his eternal welfare? Shall we enter
and pursue life's mission for an altogether selfish purpose, which
seeks to acquire all things by any means which may accomplish
the end, or shall our dealings with men be tempered with jus-
tice and kindness, with some regard to what is right and fair,
man with man? Shall our lives be measured altogether by the
dollars we have gained or by the general good we have done in
the world? Having been blessed with the good things of life,
shall we appropriate them all unto self and its belittling ends,
or shall we generously and wisely appropriate a portion at least
to the needs and benefits of the thousands less prospered than
ourselves? Shall not our lives be centered in a greater and a
more far reaching end than self aggrandizement? Aye. Shall

[ CHAPTKB 2. ] 29

THE MEANING OF SUCCESS.

we not live that we may bless; gain that we may give; love
that we may benefit mankind?

Who is not fond of life's stories when we think of the count-
less numbers of them that have been told, as well as the vast
numbers unworthy to be mentioned since the advent of
man ? All history is but a story of human life. But what of
the forty or more trillions of human beings that history has
never deigned to mention, and whose names and life records
have long since passed from the annals of time, their memorials
having perished with themselves? Yet none would say that
any of these vast numbers of human beings have lived in vain,
but rather to no great end or purpose. ' Tis but the few names out
of all those countless millions that have lived in the memory till
our time. Not less than an hundred millions of men and women
have lived and died in the United States since the discovery
of America, yet out of this vast number the experts who com-
piled that extensive and most valuable " Encyclopedia of
American Biography " could find, after a most careful and ex-
haustive research, but fifteen thousand one hundred and forty-
two names among them all, and that, too, after taking in those
now living who were, by inheritance or ancestral prestige, con-
sidered worthy of being so much as mentioned. Shall you and
I be enrolled among the few or the many? If among the few,
shall it be because of noble achievements, righteous deeds, and
honorable acquirements, where the merits of our own wor-
thiness make pre-eminence, or shall we be swallowed up in that
innumerable horde of common oblivion?

' Tis a pitiful comment on human vanity and weakness that
so few are found worthy to be mentioned, and that out of that
number so few attain eminence through their own personal ef-
forts, but shine from some borrowed light of inheritance. Some
most noble names, indeed, are in the galaxy, names destined
to glow with increasing brightness as the ages move on, names
that the world will not willingly let die. But of others it can
only be said that they serve as beacons to warn us, rather than
as models by which we can build.

THE MEANING OP SUCCESS.

The Roman historian, Tacitus, that learned story-teller, says
" The principal office of history, I take to be this: to prevent vir-
tuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and
deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity." He
is right. Woe unto him who seeks eminence by dishonorable
means. The success gained by evil doing forever endangers
him who thus attains it.

There were tens of thousands of noble men in Rome in the
days of Nero and Borgia; men who went unrecorded to their
graves, while the names of those two persons stand out through
the centuries livid with their owners' infamy. Better, a thou-
sand times better, the waters of a Lethe, than such an im-
mortality of shame.

What does success mean? To many, perhaps to most, it
means the gathering of much of gold, of stocks, of lands.
America has a multitude of such successful men. A half cen-
tury ago there were but two millionaires in the United States.
Now, New York alone has more than three thousand such per-
sons. Thrice that number are said to be in this country, some of
whom reckon their wealth by scores of millions, while there are
whole brigades, and even great armies of men in this fair land
of plenty, who count their gold by the hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Nearly all of them began life in poverty, and, reckoned
by a commercial standard, they have been eminently success-
ful men. Very many of them are noble specimens of Christian
manhood, and are bravely carrying on the world's philan-
thropies, and in its best sense are successful men. Yet the ex-
perience of ages has demonstrated that it is never wise to take
the mere accumulation of wealth as the standard of true success
in life.

There are very many other things, much more valuable
than riches, for which men ought to strive. The getting of
great estates, the eager grasping after money, may ruin him
who gets it. It is infinitely better to die poor than to get riches
by any unjust means, however popular such means may be.
For individuals who, like those of many empires of the past, gain

THE MEANING OF SUCCESS.

wealth by despoiling others, like them, will sooner or later sink
beneath the weight of their spoils.

He who gets riches as spoil taken from others, rather than
as the product of his own honest efforts and skill, must always
develop the baser elements of his nature, at the expense of his
better and nobler faculties. And in such case his wealth is woe-
fully expensive to him. What a curse money becomes to its
owner, when it causes him to sacrifice all honor, all gratitude,
all friendship, and love! In the sight of heaven, what consum-
mate folly it is to seek to perpetuate a name by building up
glittering piles of gold in a world of much ignorance, vice, and
suffering, without ever lifting a hand to help, or giving a dollar
to relieve earth's wretchedness. Do not understand me as
decrying wealth. Not so! It is not in itself an evil but a good.
It can only become an evil when its possessor hoards it, to his
own and others' hurt. Wrong use will make of everything an
evil.

The vices popularly ascribed to riches are due, not to wealth
itself, but to the uses to which it is placed, and to the character
and habits of those who acquire and possess it, or to the mode
of its acquisition. He who makes his wealth a blessing to his
fellow men can never have too much of it, while he who would
use it solely for his own self-aggrandizement dwarfs his man-
hood and degrades the purpose for which he was created.

Experience has amply shown that the ambition to be enor-
mously wealthy is as dangerous as the ambition to rule an empire.
Both involve great temptations and tremendous responsibility
to God and man. Either may be acquired by determination and
long perseverance, but woe unto them who do not seek or use
either end aright. He who has received the most of the prod-
ucts of his fellow men's toil is their greatest debtor. Happily,
in this country, the man of many millions frequently carries on
vast business enterprises, thereby giving employment to many
men, and in this way becomes, to a greater or less extent, a
benefactor. Men are always in need of work, and the great
enterprises of the world supply it. Nevertheless, the man of

THE MEANING OF SUCCESS.

millions needs to remember that his millions are not wholly his
own. They are not, they cannot be, the product of his own toil.
Life is far too short for him to have earned them unaided.
Others have labored, and he has entered into their labors. He
is their debtor and will ever be. Let no one be startled at this
statement. It is easily proved.

Think a moment. The average wages of the toilers in civil-
ized lands is not fifteen cents per day, and even in our own fair
country it is not quite a dollar per day, and he who can earn
ten dollars a day is a very great exception. Yet, if Adam had
lived to this hour, and had earned ten dollars a day, and had
worked every day, including Sabbaths, for all of the past six
thousand years, and had never spent so much as a farthing of
his earnings, either for himself or his family, or for his friends,
he would as yet have earned but a quarter of Jay Gould's mil-
lions! But this man, and others like him, are 'said to have
earned their scores of millions within a score of years. Pre-
posterous! It can never be honestly done. Why, if you were
to toil for fifty years, working every day, Sundays and all, for
five dollars per day, a very good wage, and never spent a cent
of it for rent, household or personal expenses, or charity, but
saved it all, you would earn in those fifty years but ninety-one
thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. Again, how long do
you suppose it would take you to earn Jay Gould's eighty mil-
lions, if you were to work for two dollars a day without ever
taking a rest on Sabbaths or holidays, and could save every
penny of all your earnings? Just one hundred and nine thou-
sand five hundred and eighty-nine years!

Whence, then, come such immense fortunes in so short a time
to such men? Ah. largely from the pockets of other men.
Listen now. Many a widow's and orphan's inheritance, and
many a toiler's hard earned money, have been swallowed up in
those depreciated stocks, estates, and bonds, the possession of
which by these unprincipled men have given them such great
riches. Verily, such are indeed humanity's debtors, for the in-
heritance and toil of others have enriched them.
3 33

THE MEANING OP SUCCESS.

He who was called the richest man in the United States
recently died, leaving a stupendous fortune, aggregating, it is
said, more than fourscore millions, and all accumulated within
the brief space of forty years. For he died at fifty-six, and when
he was fourteen years of age he sat by the wayside a penniless
lad, weeping for lack of a dinner. As boy and man he was a
model of industry and thrift. When a lad of thirteen he had
invested the first half dollar he could call his own, in a book to
fit him for a wished-for course in a village academy; and, enter-
ing the academy, he then worked for a blacksmith outside of
school hours to pay for his board, often rising at four o'clock in
the morning, and studying until time for his tasks at the shop
to begin, in order that he might keep up with his studies. His
academic career was soon cut short by his pressing poverty, and
then he worked hard by day, and afterward studied hard by
night, to fit himself for a surveyor.

When fifteen he began to run out village lots and township
lines, and to make and sell maps of the surrounding territory.
At seventeen he started to build, as a partner, a tannery, and a
new town, and two years later he branched out as a local broker,
then as a railroad speculator and owner of a line of railroad,
buying the road at ten cents on a dollar. When twenty-two he
sold out his interest in the town and bank for $80,000 and re-
moved to New York, and was thereafter known throughout the
land as a successful stockbroker, and railroad speculator, and,
at length, the wizard of Wall street, and owner and operator of
vast lines of railways that extended even from the Atlantic to
the Pacific.

As a man, he was pure in his outer life, and temperate in his
habits, using neither liquors nor tobacco; and in his family life,
he is said to " have always been a model of purity and kindly
affection." He has been often quoted and will yet be held up
as an example of an eminently successful man. And yet truth
demands that it should be said of him that he never earned the
millions he called his own, nor were they justly gotten. To
depreciate the investments of others, forcing them to sell at a

THE MEANING OF SUCCESS.

great sacrifice; to enhance the price of gold at the expense of
one's country and its starving poor, in order that one may be
enriched thereby; to manipulate "corners" and "deals" in
the market so as to squeeze out the money from others' purses
into your own, may be considered legitimate among men, and
be an evidence of one's great ability as a shrewd, sharp, brilliant
financier, but such gold fearfully burdens its possessor at the
gates of death, where all must pass.

Alas ! when this particular man departed from the earth,
he left all those millions simply to perpetuate his family name;
while his soul entered the eternal realm, leaving no beneficent
record to endear his memory to the affections of the world. Jay
Gould succeeded in accumulating great wealth, but he did it at
the expense of justice to others, and a dishonor to himself. His
life was a colossal failure, judged from the standpoint of right-
eousness, and unworthy of emulation. Are you seeking the
highest ambition and true success? Then note carefully these
pages, and you will discern clearly the outline and principles of
a real successful life. Let your aim be not riches as an end, nor
pleasure and ease, for these are but the results of honest in-
dustry and application. Let your real purpose be exalted into
the realm of righteousness and your goal the kingdom of
heaven. To serve God and benefit mankind was the purpose
and example of the Christ, which no man has yet exceeded.

The Mainspring of Success.

HON. FREDERICK ROBIE.
President First National Bank, Portland, Me.

THE supreme agency for gaining success in any calling is
the mind. It is sometimes said, and more often thought,
that the greatest cause of success is labor meaning
energy of body, strength of muscle. It is often stated that mus-
cular labor produces the wealth of the world. This is a great
mistake. Intellect is mightier, and of more importance to suc-
cess and the highest degree of happiness, than manual labor.
Indeed, mere muscular energy does but a very small part of the
world's work to-day. It is by no means the greatest or the
most efficient agent in the production of wealth, or in gaining
success in any worthy calling. The product of a few brains is
now doing by far the richest, largest, and most important part
of the world's work of this nineteenth century. What wonder-
ful machinery for using the mighty unseen forces of nature
the brains of a few men have produced!

We have in this country sixty-five millions of people. Yet
in the United States, machinery, the product of brains, is doing
an amount of work, day by day, that would require the utmost
exertion of the muscles of more than a thousand millions of
men to perform. Skill and power a^e not of the nerve, but of
the mind. He, therefore, who teaches a man how to handle a
tool effectively, or who produces a labor saving machine, is as
much a producer of the world's food and wealth as he who uses
them. Indeed, he is much more a benefactor to his fellows than
he can be who simply employs his muscle in the production of
food and wealth. A teacher, therefore, is, in the highest sense,
as much a producer of the world's wealth and food supply as

[CHAPTER 3.] 36

THE MAINSPRING OF SUCCESS.

is the mechanic or the farmer. Nay, he is often much more so.
He who taught James Watt the principles of mechanics that
led him to that memorable walk around Glasgow green to
evolve the "separate condenser," did more to enrich the world
than any ten million laborers that ever lived. Now, just as a
man may have great strength of body, yet do nothing worthy of
it, so a man may have in him great mental sources of wealth,
yet be very poor because he does not develop them. He may
be richly endowed for the most eminent success, yet be a fail-
ure. The exhaustless well is in him, but he does not draw from
it for his own and others' benefit.

It is a fact that every step of progress that has been taken
since the world stood, has first been taken by some one man,
or, at the most, some few men who were distinguished above
their fellows by a superior energy, or foresight, or inventive
faculty. Look over the chief events of history. Who caused
them? Men of energy. Who were the actors in them? Indi-
viduals of energy, never the great masses of men. Who stand
on the mountain heights as men of foresight or invention? In-
dividuals, not the masses. Who climb the mountains? Only
a few men of energy. The laggards are at the foot.

What is energy? Power in action. When not in action,
power is not energy. Who talks of the energy of the stagnant
water? But we do of steam; that is only the water in action.
Have you inherent power? They who have it are sometimes,
but not always, conscious of it. Often it needs the repression
of poverty and the fires of adversity to develop it. Is that your
condition? Then get up steam and use your power. Aspire
after great ideals; great things; great men, of whom the world
has not a few. Do not be content to be commonplace. Strike
out for something worthy. The general level of humanity is
yet very low indeed, even in our civilized lands. Determine to
rise, and so elevate others. You can do it. Don't be discour-
aged by a sneer or a laugh. Commonplace folk too often seem
to have a common interest in wishing all to be commonplace
like themselves. But if humanity were reduced to a common

THE MAINSPRING OF SUCCESS.

level, either commercially, socially, intellectually, morally, or
physically, what a world it would be! There is abundant work
for you. Resolve to rise, therefore. Do not stay where you
are. Reach out and up. If you would elevate others, climb to
the heights yourself. Some one will be at the head and lead the
van; why not you?

That keen intellectual scold, Carlyle, was wont to speak of
the masses as the " plurality of blockheads." Whether it is an
apt designation or not, you can perhaps tell; but, if you would
reach success, you must give heed to Nature's laws, and use
your brains and moral sense vigorously. Thrift and unthrift
are not equal powers, nor will they ever be. One or the other
rules you, and will ever rule you.

Whatever men of science may say as to action and reaction
being equal in the physical universe, yet it is a fact that in the
higher realms of the intellectual and the moral, Nature abhors
an equilibrium and gives her chief honors to those who seek
the heights. Success is not a matter of luck. Nature's laws
cannot be neglected, nor defied with impunity. The laws
which govern the production of wealth, or insure success in all
worthy callings, are in the most absolute sense her laws, and
the will of man can only be their servant and never their mas-
ter. Do not for one moment imagine that because you may
take no heed of Nature's laws in the conduct of your business,
or in the government of your life, that therefore Nature will
take no heed of you. Nature is never neglectful, lax, nor lazy;
and she invariably demands interest on all her deposits. If she
has given you power for success, you must use it, or forfeit it.
It is her decree that power unused shall be dissipated. The
heat and the steam that would drive an engine soon part with
all their force if we do not use them. There is no mystery
about success. Nature gives it to him who wills. The road to
it is open to all who will take the journey, but, alas! that road is
never crowded. There are tens of thousands to whom nature
has given much of intelligence, very much of opportunity for
success, but who, to the grief of their friends, never succeed

THE MAINSPRING OF SUCCESS.

because they neglect or refuse to put forth sufficient effort to
gain the prize. Again and again you may see such men igno-
miniously distanced in the race by those who have but a fraction
of their ability. Why? Because they do not " stir up the gift
that is in them."

Look at what a single man of energy may do. In the
archives in the Atheneum at Hartford, Connecticut, there is
carefully preserved a small strip of poor paper that has a
most wonderful interest for the thoughtful. To a casual
observer it is nothing but a simple telegram sent to Baltimore
from the Supreme Court Chamber at Washington, D. C., on
May 24, 1844, by the daughter of the then Commissioner of
Patents. In telegraphic symbols, it reads, " What hath God
wrought?" It is but a bit of paper, yet it represents a marvel-
ous story of many disappointments, of toil, privation, poverty,
suffering, and a final triumph that revolutionized the business
world; that multiplied immensely its stores of wealth, and
brought the triumph of righteousness a thousand years nearer
to us. That little paper is the first public message ever sent
over the electric telegraph in the United States, by its inventor,
Samuel F. B. Morse.

There were hundreds who listened to those lectures on elec-
tricity given by Prof. J. F. Dana before the New York Atheneum
in the winter of 1826, but they were apparently and practically
lost on all but one of his audience, the son of a clergyman, and
a recent graduate of Yale, who was then earning a living and
gaining some notice by painting portraits. The effect of that
lecture upon him was to awaken a great interest in Franklin's
discovery, to crowd out his love of art, and to set him about
those long continued experiments that resulted in giving to
the world its present system of telegraphy. It is not needful
here to recount fully his twelve years of struggle, first to per-
fect and then to introduce his invention; of the scorn of his fel-
low men, who considered it a useless toy, and him a deluded,
weak-brained enthusiast; of his fruitless journey to Europe to
interest the stranger in it; of his return, when he wrote, " I am

THE MAINSPRING OF SUCCESS.

without a farthing in my pocket, and have to borrow even for
my meals, and, even worse than this, I have incurred a debt
for rents"; of his having to go twenty-four hours at a time
without food, because of his great poverty; of his efforts to pre-
vent the theft of his invention; of his oft-repeated and oft-
denied prayer to Congress for aid to practically apply for public
use his discovery on a larger scale than he could then do; of the
grant, in jest, in the closing moment of the 27th Congress of an
appropriation of $30,000, given largely to stop his begging; of
the almost failure, and then the splendid triumph, to the utter
confusion of the doubters ; of the vexatious lawsuits by jealous
rivals; of the public acknowledgment of his right to the inven-
tion; of the homeless father gathering once more under his own
roof his motherless and scattered children; and then the nations
of the world showering their gifts of medals, decorations,
orders of knighthood, and purses of gold upon the shrinking,
modest man, so long despised and rejected, who had annihilated
space on earth for them, and made the antipodes to be their
neighbors, and the secret of whose world-wide fame was his
unconquerable energy that would not brook a defeat, much less
despair of final success.

It is the example of such men, who, in spite of the mocking
crowd, persist in yoking the forces of heaven to do earth's
work, and tell her story, that should stir up the latent energies
of your soul to a determination to win success, position, and
honor, which lie within your grasp, and can be had by every
one who is willing to pay the price.

Success Wrought from the Chaos of Failure.

PROF. GEOKGE S. FOREST, Ellsworth College, Iowa Falls, Iowa.

f~* ENUINE success is not a sudden outburst of what men call
Vf genius, but rather the result of continual, patient, com-
^"l mon-place toil. The history of how success is missed
often proves as instructive as the history of how it is won; and
he who is found willing to learn from the experience of others
will evade much hard toil, loss of time, and, perchance, escape
a deal of trouble, sorrow, and regret. It seems very strange
that so many young people are unwilling to profit by the expe-
rience of their elders. Though an inevitable result is found to
attend a certain course of conduct, yet but few of them seem to
care. There are multitudes who apparently prefer to learn by
their own experience of disaster what they might have known
without its sorrow and cost.

How often we see men of ripe experience nailing guide-
boards of warning along the pathway of coming travelers! Yet
the great masses of young people rush along with scarcely a
glance at the multitude of danger signals waving from every
point of contact in our daily experiences.

How much better, wiser, and richer we ought to be than our
predecessors, for we have the multiplied experiences, accumu-
lations, and inheritances of unnumbered examples before us.
On every hand are brilliant examples of needless failure, and it
is our privilege to heed the warning and steer our little craft
clear of the shoals and breakers which have wrecked so many
lives.

Why is it? When Euclid was explaining to Ptolemy Soter,
king of Egypt, the principles of geometry, his patron inquired

[CHAPTBB 4.1 41

SUCCESS WROUGHT FROM THE CHAOS OF FAILURE.

whether the knowledge could not be obtained easier. " Sir,"
said Euclid, " there is no royal road to learning." That state-
ment is as true to-day as it was twenty-two centuries ago.
There is no royal road to either wisdom or success in business.
The path to them is not for kings alone. It is open to you and
to me. You may win them, but to win requires a struggle, per-
haps many a defeat. It is well it is so, for a victory is often
harder to manage than a defeat, as many a noted commander
has found.

If success were suddenly to come to you, it might find
you wholly unprepared for it. The discipline gained, the habits
required, in amassing a fortune, for instance, ought to fit
him who has it both to value it properly and to use it rightly;
while often experience has shown that the sudden acquisition
of wealth utterly ruined its possessor, and what is true of
wealth, is equally true of other things. So, then, if you fail in
your efforts for success once, or twice, or many times, it is by
no means a disgrace, and certainly is no cause for discourage-
ment. But if you know the cause of your failure, and can
remedy it, or avoid it, then it is a shame if you do not succeed.

When Franklin Pierce was a student at Bowdoin College, he
neglected his studies, giving much of his time to athletics and
military exercise, with the result that at the end of two years
he stood at the foot of his class. Then, stung by shame, he
resolved to redeem himself, and for the next two years applied
himself constantly to his studies, so that he was able to gradu-
ate the third in a class which included such men as H. W.
Longfellow, John P. Hale, and others of great fame. After his
graduation, and after studying law for some time with some-
what of his old spirit of negligence, he attempted to address a
jury for the first time, and broke down completely, making an
absurd failure of it. But he knew the cause, and, when a friend
attempted to condole with him over the episode, he replied, " I
will try nine hundred and ninety-nine cases if clients continue
to trust me, and, if I fail just as I have done to-day, I will try the
thousandth one. I shall live to argue cases in this court house

SUCCESS WROUGHT FROM THE CHAOS OF FAILURE.

(Amherst, N. H.) in a manner that will mortify neither myself
nor my friends." And he did, for he became in a few years one
of the most eminent lawyers of his state, and, at length, the
President of the United States.

While circumstances do not always make the man (very
many persons rising superior to and overcoming the most
repressive environments), yet they have much to do with many
in determining what the world calls their success. Many a one
is counted as a failure, who, under different conditions, would be
reckoned a brilliant success. General Grant plodded along, first
an unsuccessful farmer, then tanner, then storekeeper, until the
breaking out of the late civil war made him a great commander.
At its beginning, so distrustful was he of himself that he
doubted whether he had ability to command a regiment, but
thought he might take charge of a company. The stress and
circumstances of that dreadful war developed him. True, he
had great natural abilities, but they were dormant, unsus-
pected even by himself, and it needed certain conditions to
make a General Grant. There may be in you powers that can
never be used save under the stress of mighty exigencies; and
the defeats you now experience in your plans, the constant fail-
ure of your efforts, may be but the needed preparation for your
final triumph. If there are an hundred steps to your ladder to
success, and you have not reached it in traveling ninety-nine of
them, do not conclude that the journey is a failure. All the
other steps will be failures unless you take this last one. Press
on and up. The prizes of life are generally at or near the end
of the journey, not at its beginning, and not to go on is to miss
them. Be valiant. Fear never gained a triumph. To cherish it
is to lose your self-respect and the regard of the good. The most
untoward circumstances, the most difficult obstacles, will yield
to industry, intelligence, and courage. What seems a barrier
to one's progress often proves to be but a new starting point,
and may be so to you. Success belongs to him who dares win
it; to him who knows that no defeat can be final, save the
defeat of wrong.

Selecting an Occupation.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.C.

E who starts upon a journey should have a definite idea as
to his destination, otherwise, he wanders about aimlessly
like a vessel upon the great ocean, without chart or com-
pass, or even a pilot, driven before every wind, and
wrecked at last upon the shores of some unknown, barren coun-
try. Alas! and how many persons finally discover that life has
been spent in vain, their energies and strength have been ex-
hausted for naught; that the tree of life, which should have
been laden with fruit, is barren, containing nothing but leaves.

Life is a journey, and he who would succeed should care-
fully consider its aim and end. Life is also a growth, and it
should be developed along natural and noble lines. Every man
endowed with the faculties and intelligence accorded to the
great mass of people of this country ought to make his life a
success, especially in the present enlightened generation, and
in this, the best and greatest country of all civilized nations.
It would seem that the only real excuse for failure must be
either lack of intelligence or pure laziness.

Success is sure to crown the life of any person who possesses
an average intellect, a high ideal, a disposition to work, who is
ready to sacrifice if necessary and endure without flinching,
and is willing to bear needful trials. And yet how few succeed.
The world has ever been sharply divided into two classes,
the few who succeed, and the many who fail.

Why is it that so many fail while the opportunities are so
great and the possibilities so vast? The answer is obvious.
Men are not willing to pay the price of success, they turn a

[CHAPTER 5.] 44

SELECTING AN OCCUPATION.

deaf ear to the warnings of others; they ignore the lessons of
experience, and, with eyes wide open, head their course straight
for the rocks where thousands have gone down. Failure is the
result of disregarding natural law.

Nature is not run on theory, or guess work, but is in accord-
ance with unvariable facts. When our lives are molded in
harmony with natural law, success is certain. Nature does not
exist in vain. The universe is not a stupendous blunder. Some
time, somewhere, God gives to every one a chance to win and
wear a crown of victory.

One of the important facts of nature to be considered just
here in this volume is that men are made to differ greatly in
their natural endowments, in their fitness and aptness for par-
ticular pursuits, and, to a lesser degree, in their natural desires.
We do not all desire the same things, nor all wish to do the
same kind of work. Thus nature secures a variety of laborers
for her various fields of toil.

In order, then, to succeed in life, one should early take an
account of his stock in hand. For what is he naturally fitted?
By this is not meant simply what one desires to do, but what
can he do? For what has he an aptitude? Wishes, longings,
impulses, however good, are not always the indications of gen-
ius, nor are they invariably a forecast of an adaptation for a
special pursuit in life. If mere wishes could make men great,
or rich, there would not be a poor or an insignificant person on
earth. While, therefore, it is always advisable to aspire after
the higher, one should not undertake what to him is impossible,
nor should he fret out his days aping after the so-called great
ones of the earth. Be yourself. You have your own special
place and work. Find it, fill it. Do your work well. The world
is in need of faithful, loyal workers. If your position is humble
and lowly, strive for a higher plane. Larger positions await
you as soon as you are prepared to fill them.

Lofty places and great deeds require great courage and
great men. If you aspire after such places, make yourself
worthy of them. It is always possible for one to lead an honest,

SELECTING AN OCCUPATION.

noble, useful life, and that is success, and is as much within the
reach of the humblest toiler as it is of the king on his throne.

Neither high office nor great wealth create virtue (though,
alas, they often destroy it), and when we come to tire end of
life's narrow lane, virtue constitutes the only monument which
will not crumble with our departure. We should early in life
select some honest occupation, one that will help develop the
nobler faculties of our being, any occupation that is virtuous
is honorable, however humble it may be. On the other hand,
a business, whatever of eminence it may bring, or whatever
remuneration it may offer, if it can be carried on only at the ex-
pense of one's better nature, can never be other than infamous.

Occasionally, early in life, a strong bias of mind toward
some particular pursuit is manifested. It is nature's indication
of a calling, and should be followed. Some notable instances
are on record. The Eev. Isaac Watts, D. D., father of our mod-
ern hymnology, whose verses are sung in all lands where the
gospel is known, and will be sung down to the end of time, and
perchance in eternity, was born to poetry. His father, dis-
gusted with the child's constant rhyming, is said to have tried,
on a memorable occasion, to expel it from him by a whipping,
an exercise that was, however, brought to an abrupt close by
the little fellow r wailing out amid his sobs, "Dear father, do
some pity take, and I will no more verses make." The proceed-
ing seems at this day strangely incongruous and out of place,
inasmuch as the father himself was given to making " verses."
And, when one time the father lay in prison for conscience'
sake, the mother, too, had sat on the stones of the prison door
with her child in her arms, consoling herself, as was her wont,
with the words of Israel's immortal bard; and later she had
stimulated the lad by offering in her boarding school a prize to
the pupil who should compose the best "poem"; a prize the
child once carried off by a somewhat saucy couplet when but
seven years of age. So that by mere force of his pre-natal in-
heritance, as well as early example, Watts was born to be a poet.

Likewise, Benjamin West, when a child, robbing the tail of

SELECTING AN OCCUPATION.

his cat of hairs to make his brushes for painting, and with
remarkable skill sketching with a bit of charcoal the sleeping
face of his baby sister, to the delight of his mother, showed
what nature designed him for.

Smeaton, while yet in bibs, making his little windmill and
tacking it to the roof of his father's barn, foreshadowed the
eminent engineer he was afterward to become. Indeed, the
law of heredity indicated almost wholly for each of these their
future. We are the product of our ancestors, and when once
parents begin to pay heed to the great laws of nature govern-
ing the reproduction of the human race, there will be better
and greater men begotten than in any age of the past.

Vast multitudes are now born into the world with a curse on
them in the shape of inherited tempers, passions, tendencies,
that make life a constant, and, at times, a fearful struggle. If,
then, you have been well-born and well-bred, thank God. To
you success ought to be easy. It will be an everlasting and
unutterable disgrace if you fail. But we are not all blessed
with a right and noble pre-natal inheritance, and to many suc-
cess must come, not as the "beautiful unfolding of a natural
genius for it, but as the result of sustained, patient, common-
place, everyday effort against unfavorable influences. The
question, therefore, "What shall I do?" is a very important
one, and demands much careful consideration. Multitudes
inherit their occupation as they do their disposition, from their
parents, and so the child follows the business of the father
simply because the father was in it before him.

While this course has very many advantages, it is not
always the best. You may perhaps be able to do better things.
If so, why should you do only what your forefathers have done?
Life is full of opportunities. They are fairly hurled upon us.
Look about you. This is an age of specialties, in agriculture,
in mechanics, in science, in art, in literature. You cannot do
all, but you can do one thing well. You can surely find, then,
the place and work for which you are adapted, and, having
found it, stick. Life is far too short to be spent in roaming.

Value of Decision.

PROF. J. N. HUMPHEEY, A. P., State Normal School, Whitewater, Wis.

THE decision of a single individual has more than once
changed the current of the world's history; and that,
too, not for an hour, but for centuries. Men now speak
of such periods as epochs in the annals of time; they call their
actors men of destiny. But they who lived in those periods
did not know that the clock of the heavens had struck for a
change on earth, nor did the actors realize that the centuries
were to turn on them. The revolutions on earth, like those of
the heavens, swing on unknown centers, and it is only when
the periods are complete that men recognize the extent of the
change.

Who of those who lived in the days of that poor Genoese
wool-carder, Domenico Colombo, ever dreamed that the world's
history and progress depended so much on that man's son, and
would be so greatly changed by his seemingly wild decision to
explore an unknown sea? Nor did that homeless and penni-
less sailor, as he wandered from place to place, begging now of
grandees and anon of kings for the means to test his notion of
a water route to the East Indies, and determine the possible
existence of other lands on the way thither, ever for one
moment suspect the momentous issues that depended upon his
keeping that decision. But how much of the world's wealth,
how very much of the world's progress toward better things,
hung on that decirioii!

Who can yet tell how much the world has been influenced,
commercially, politically, socially, religiously, by the existence
and example of the United States? How much has humanity

[CHAPTEK6.] 48

SOLDIERS

VALUE OP DECISION.

gained by our free institutions, and our system of national gov-
ernment? What would be the condition of the world to-day
without them? If Columbus had abandoned his decision, would
another have soon made the journey? Or, would the world yet
be in the depths of the superstitions and darkness of his time?
Vain questions, perhaps, yet they give a faint glimpse of what
was involved in that one man's decision, persistently main-
tained, to undertake an enterprise universally condemned and
scoffed at by the men of his day.

Neither did that Wittenberg friar, Martin Luther, who in
1517 decided to publish his ninety-five propositions against the
indulgence act just issued by Pope Leo X., have the faintest
notion that he was then beginning the most memorable relig-
ious revolution of a thousand years. Nor did John Adams, two
hundred and fifty years later, understand to what his decision
to oppose the Stamp Act of 1765 would lead him and others.
But nine years after that decision, it had brought him to write
upon the eve of the assembling of the first Continental Con-
gress, " The die is now cast; I have passed the Rubicon. Sink
or swim, live or die, survive or perish with my country, is my
unalterable determination." And then, two years later, with
his indorsement, was passed that immortal resolution that
"these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and
independent states." At the birth of this new nation of the
West, the world entered upon a new political era, and a new
civilization, with the people as ruler.

History, as men know it, is almost wholly a record of the
doings of such men of decision. It is they who rule the world.
Difficulties and dangers are to them but new incentives to
action. Defeats do not discourage them, but rather give them
new wisdom wherewith to circumvent and conquer opposing
forces. While others are lamenting that circumstances prevent
their success, these men make of circumstances a ladder with
which to reach success. They climb and conquer with them or
over them. How grandly they tower above difficulties and
glory over them!

VALUE OF DECISION.

See yonder stuttering, shrugging youth attempting to ad-
dress the populace of Athens in the bema. What a miserable
failure he makes of it! How the crowd jeer at him! Surely
nature did not design him for an orator. He is weak of body,
and insignificant in form. He is subject to fits of despondency
that verge on madness. He is also excessively poor; for his
guardians have defrauded him of his inheritance and turned
him out on the world. Reason enough, surely, why he should
fail. But the indomitable will within him asserts itself. The
mocking crowd shall yet listen to him. See him now down at
the seashore shouting at the roaring waves in order to accustom
himself to hear unmoved the angry roar of his fellow citizens'
voices in their oft turbulent assemblies. Hour after hour he
gesticulates, with sword points at his shoulders to prevent that
awkward habit of shrugging. Day after day he speaks with
pebbles in his mouth to cure his stammering. His fellow men
must hear him. And they did, for ere long, in his mighty
philippics that " shook the arsenal and fulminated over Greece,"
he moved them as does the wind the forest's leaves, and they
rapturously crowned him with the palm as the king of orators,
a title that twenty-two centuries have not yet taken from
Demosthenes of Athens.

One hundred and sixty years ago, an English lad, scarce
seven years of age, stood on a slight knoll looking out over one
of England's many lovely landscapes. Daylesford Manor was
spread out before him. The picturesque village with its thatched
cottages, the old stone church with its coat of ivy, the magnifi-
cent park of ancient oaks and elms with its great herd of deer,
the vast pastures with their fine herds of cattle, and the broad
fields of waving grain, successively attracted his gaze. The
lad's parents were dead. The grandfather with whom he lived
was old and poor, and that grandfather had told him that there
had been a time when all that magnificence had been the pos-
session of his ancestors. No wonder the boy, as he looked
abroad over that great estate, was sad. No wonder that the
hot tears canae.

VALUE OF DECISION.

But presently his eye brightened, his little form stood erect,
as he formed a mighty resolve, and he stamped the soil proudly
while he cried, "I will yet be master of this estate." From that
moment his character took form. Slowly he pressed his way
through poverty, hard toil, sore trials, and vast discourage-
ments. Night and day he plodded and studied. He left his
native land for India. He became eminent for his knowledge
of that country's history, languages, customs, and literature.
Slowly at first, but rapidly at length, he acquired wealth, and
became at last the Governor General of the great British Empire
of the East. But years before this the noted Warren Hastings
had recovered and owned the home of his ancestors. That
decision of his boyhood had governed and guided him like a
star of destiny.

Decision is one of the conspicuous elements of victory in all
our undertakings. The wavering mind rarely accomplishes
anything. Decision becomes an incentive for action. With a
purpose once fixed, victory will eventually crown our labor.

Danger of Being Side-Tracked.

PROF. JAMES R. TRUAX, M.A., Union College, Schenectady, N. Y.

[HE expression "side-tracked" is ordinarily used by busi-
ness men with a tone of vexation, to explain the non-

^ arrival of expected goods. " Ought to have been here a
week ago. Side-tracked somewhere. No telling when we'll
get them now."

But why side-tracked? Why not moving forward on sched-
ule time? Why have they lost their place in the procession?
The possible reasons are various. The delayed freight may be
of small relative value. Hungry populations are waiting for
their supplies of dressed beef, and, when the rails are crowded,
they must go forward, but rags and old iron can wait. The
order in which interrupted railway traffic is resumed is instruc-
tive. First the limiteds carrying through mails, ingenious sub-
stitutes for actual personalities ; or bearing living brains in
such demand that an attempt is made to annihilate time and
space to make them omnipresent, the physician hurrying to a
critical consultation ; the lawyer to the defense of property,
reputation, or life ; the merchant to secure a coveted bargain ;
the manufacturer to gain a contract involving employment for
thousands, or to obtain an invention that will revolutionize
industry ; the statesman to sway, perhaps, the policy of a na-
tion; many of the passengers, single factors in comprehensive
movements, the success of which as a whole depends upon the
dispatch of each. Afterward come the ordinary trains with the
shoppers, and visitors, and minor workmen ; then raw emi-
grant labor ; then perishable freight, and, last of all, the bulk
of common commodities.

[CHAPTER".] 52

DANGER OF BEING SIDE-TRACKED. ,

Side-tracking may also be the result of disability, due to
structural weakness, to overloading, to premature start, to care-
less running.

Human life is a close parallel. There is the man who wants
to do only very easy things, and who fails to realize that he
thereby enrolls himself among the classes least in demand, and
that when the ways are crowded he will be thrust aside. Stu-
dents often think they act wisely in moving in the direction of
least resistance, overtraining where nature has done most, and
neglecting themselves where effort costs pain and so declares a
need. They do not comprehend the truth that it is a full mental
training that enables a man to adapt himself readily to varied
demands and to novel situations, and that the ability to meet
new emergencies by inventiveness is rarer and better paid than
mere imitative skill. Two brothers of my acquaintance, the
exact counterparts of each other in appearance, and of iden-
tical opportunity, separated on this line. One is satisfied with
a small office, a clerk's routine, so much of the world as he can
see in his daily walks between his home and place of business.
The other is an organizer, has traveled over a large part of the
globe, is an associate of the most stirring and influential, a
developer of inventions demanded by an age of progress, and a
rapid accumulator of wealth. There are young workmen who
prefer easy piece work to a complete trade, but they gain no
varied power and their life is subject to frequent fluctuations
between employment and idleness. Young men would rather
take a pleasant clerkship than put on the blouse and learn the
details of a great manufacturing business, and so they grow
gray-haired on the same stools, among scores of applicants for
their seats, while the slowly developed superintendent, or man-
ager, or master-mechanic advances in value and in independ-
ence with each added year. Lucrative political jobs seduce
many a young man into neglect of himself and of opportunities
for permanent success, and then like the magician's horse they
vanish and leave the rider midstream to struggle alone against
an overwhelming current.

DANGER OF BEING SIDE-TRACKED.

Some men are disabled by overloading; they marry too soon
or undertake too many enterprises at once, and, moving slug-
gishly or fitfully, are in the way. Others are disabled by a
premature start; they are overconfident, and enter upon profes-
sional life with sadly inferior preparation, so that every task
means not only the visible performance, but the feverish effort
to get in readiness. Their work at best is hasty patchwork,
needing constant renewal. They are ever losing opportunities
that cannot wait, and are outdistanced by younger competitors
of no great initial ability.

Great numbers are crippled by intemperance, or by any in-
dulgence that impairs mental or physical powers, or creates
unreliability in performance. They can be found on white cots
in hospitals, or moving about, languid and wan, with vital force
nearly consumed, the dupes of mocking pleasure. They can be
seen reeling homeward along busy streets, literally very much
in the way of active men. The world scarcely heeds them ex-
cept to remark "What a pity!" They are never included in
any movement of business or wholesome recreation. In young
manhood, they are retired far more completely than is the aged
citizen whose mind is richly stored with experience even though
the physical powers may be too weak for action. Sometimes
they are set in motion for short runs, but only to break down
more dismally each time, until finally they become an encum-
brance even to a side-track, and are turned over the embank-
ment to become covered with weeds and rubbish.

One of this class, who had heard of the recent wreck of
another, saw, through the glass door of the saloon where he had
been saturating himself, a sober acquaintance approaching.
Hurrying out he met him and began, " Say I want to ask you
a question. Why did Smith lose his place ? " The gentle-
man addressed, wishing to be as considerate as possible, replied,
" Really, I don't know all the reasons. You know he hasn't
been in good health for a year or two." But without further
delay and with drunken frankness, the inquirer remarked, " Say
do you know he often lectured me for the same thing?"

DANGER OP BEING SIDE-TRACKED.

"Well, it's a good thing to give it up, isn't it?" " Ye es,"
with evident sincerity. But still, well-bred as he is, he will not
give up. He will stay on the side-track.

Some men are weakened by flattery until they cease to
cultivate their powers, cease to question facts, cease to heed
honest critics, until some day they find themselves deserted, as
weakness itself, even when they thought themselves to be
storage batteries of exhaustless energy. On the other hand
some are hampered by timidity. They side-track themselves,
and deteriorate by disuse, while more confident men of less
worth hazard more and gain strength and skill in service. Even
Shakespeare would have been side-tracked if he had remained
in Stratford instead of pushing boldly out for London, to make
or mar his fortunes in that world of keen strife.

Some men are disabled by a misdirected competition, as a
freight would be if it attempted to run on the time of an express.
The poor clerk thinks he must keep up with his extravagant
friends of superior positions. There are costly lunches, gener-
ous tips, fashionable clothing, expensive recreations, some
gambling, neglect of home, putting off of creditors, shortage in
accounts, disastrous speculation, despair, robbery, flight. Per-
haps an influential friend succeeds in calling off the sleuth-
hounds of the law, or in obtaining a suspension of judgment
after arrest, but how shall he be put on the main track again?
It is next to an impossibility to secure for him any place of
financial trust. He is prone to be a borrower, a delinquent
debtor, a gambler, in spite of his lesson. He is side-tracked
for the rest of his life.

Distrust arises in various ways. A man who gains some ends
by selfish scheming and underhand practice imagines he has
found the key to success. At first it seems so, but a day comes
when he is understood; his plausible words have no value; his
essential falsity overbalances all his protestations, and even
when he would be true, he is denied the chance, the doors are
all closed against him, and he cannot be true even to himself
because he has been false to all the world.

DANGER OP BEING SIDE-TRACKED.

There is a weakness that springs from a virtue in excess.
Constant pressure destroys elasticity and overbears even rugged
strength. There are students who, awake to the priceless value
of time, anxious not to lose a moment, neglect rest and open air
exercise, abridge meal hours, give up wholesome social relaxa-
tions, and, when the earnest work of life begins, the nerves give
way; the overexcited brain will not be quiet; sleep will not
come; the momentum carries on the mental machinery even
when the throttle is closed; and a violated law of nature finally
asserts its dignity. These are the well-built cars side-tracked
because the journals are overheated. The wild dance of the
steel atoms has never ceased; they have broken ranks and are
destroying each other in their mad clash.

It would seem a thousand pities to conclude without a few
words as to the possibility of avoiding dangers so imminent.

It is wisdom to delay the start until the preparation is
complete. Unseasoned timber, untested iron, unguarded strains,
may not re veal themselves to the unpracticed eye, but use brings
out their real weakness.

Foregather, and discover the special needs of the generation
to which you belong. Do not rigidly follow an old plan of cam-
paign. Reconnoiter your special battle-field, learn the ground,
the location, and resources of your particular foe. Learn to
adapt yourself to varieties of situation. If you strive to do well
everything you undertake, you will secure the best possible
preparation for an emergency; namely, the ability to give your
whole mind to it.

Mistakes are often remediable. Weaknesses can be foreseen
and repaired. You find your knowledge defective, your methods
antiquated. Do not force obsolete plans, and do not yield to
discouragement. Give some of your spare time to supplying
defects, and even without overworking you may still hold your
right of way. Memory recalls a civil engineer, who, foreseeing
opportunities far beyond the scope of the learning which he had
brought from college, anticipated every demand by private
study, and advanced with the progress of the work to its very

DANGER OF BEING SIDE-TRACKED.

consummation, always as its supreme director. Memory recalls
the image of a man of misdirected powers, who in days of
feebleness, caused by premature decay, roused his waning
energies, held them to unflagging exercise, stayed the very prog-
ress of disease, until he had redeemed his past neglect, and had
left to his children the heritage of a great name, and to the
world the leaven of a great thought. Memory recalls another
who by one fatal error hazarded the usefulness of his whole
professional life. A wise charity shielded him. The dark
secret was buried. The man never repeated his fault, but lives
an honored, a trusted, a prudent, and sincere guide to many an
earthly pilgrim.

You thought merit alone would succeed. You find envy
blocking the way, or opening the switches. You have the right
of way, but do not neglect caution, do not needlessly provoke
opposition. Learn the supreme strength of great natures, the
reserve power of a masterly patience. Heed cautionary signals.
Keep up steam, but do not pull out the throttle until you are
sure of a clear track.

Above all, remember that character holds attainments in
place. It is seasoning, thorough temper, exactness of fit, that
subdues all parts to their true function, so that wheel holds to
axle; axle to journal-box; journal-box to truck; truck to plat-
form; platform to its load; and all move as one to the single
destination. Character is as unobtrusive as cohesion, and is
therefore in danger of being slighted, but it is after all the
master-force that holds every atom in its true sphere, and
subordinates it to the main design. A life so built, so controlled,
bides patiently its hour, but when the hour comes it is fully
ready for the severest strain of use.

Singleness of Aim..

This chapter is strongly advocated by
REV. GEORGE A. HALL, State Secretary Y. M. C. A. of New York.

3UCCESS is a relative term, and varies in its meaning with
the nature of one's business in life. In a battle, to win a
victory over the foe is success. If you start out on a
journey, to reach the point of destination is success.
The physician who saves his patients, the lawyer who gains his
case, the political leader who obtains office, the merchant who
profitably extends his trade, the manufacturer who widens
commerce, the agriculturist who multiplies the product of the
soil, the man of science or, discovery who enlarges the sum of
human knowledge, each, in his own sphere, reaches a success
that is relatively, more or less, complete. And none the less
surely does he succeed in life, who, it may be as an unknown
and humble toiler, earns an honest living by useful labor, and
by the uprightness of his life, example, and influence adds to
the sum total of private and civic virtue. For to do good, and
to become good, is the noblest pursuit of mortals. Goodness is
everlasting, and rewards its possessor with its own length of
days. He who has done his best to obtain goodness has reached
the very highest success that the heavens know. Said Cicero,
"Right is not founded on opinion, but in nature." And good-
ness is not of the earth, but of God, and he who gets it joins
himself thereby with the Creator of all things, and must suc-
ceed. Not necessarily in this world, but somewhere, he must
and will succeed. Here indeed it often happens that man's
successful man and God's successful man have no resemblance
whatever to each other. So much then as to what is implied
by success. The word unfortunately is too often limited to the

[CHAPXEBl. ] 58

SINGLENESS OF AIM.

mere getting of wealth, or to the winning of a great name
among men.

Having chosen your occupation, you of course wish to suc-
ceed in it. How can you best do so? By concentration of your
efforts upon a single thing. Many persons engaged in business
life spread their energies over too wide a field, with the result
that while they might succeed handsomely in one venture, by
undertaking too many they dissipate their powers of supervis-
ion, as well as of capital, and in the end fail to obtain the hoped-
for success. And this, too, not because success is not there for
them, but their force of time or means, or both, is too feeble
at any one point to secure it, whereas, if they would con-
centrate on any one thing, they might conquer. It is not
meant by this, that if a man has at his command more time or
capital than he can well employ in his present business, he
should not engage in another, but, if he has chosen the present
business as the main work of his life, let him have a care that
he does not weaken his force at that point. You should mass
your force at that part of the line where the brunt of the battle
is to come. If you have decided to win success in that partic-
ular business, stay there, and conquer. Many persons can
make a grand success of one particular thing, but they cannot
win in a dozen different undertakings.

In these days of constantly multiplying machinery and
appliances, the tendency is to force men more and more into
special lines of effort if they would succeed. The all-around
physician, who treated man or beast for all their ailments, and
as willingly and readily extracted your teeth as administered
medicine to you, has departed (unless indeed you may find him
on the frontiers of civilization), and in his place is another who
gives sole attention to some special bodily organs, or diseases.
So also the lawyer, who was once supposed to know and prac-
tice all kinds of jurisprudence, now confines himself almost
wholly to one particular branch of it. The same thing is true
also of almost all the mechanical trades. Garments, tools,
machinery, shoes, etc., each go through the hands of many

SINGLENESS OF AIM.

persons, who are expected to give attention to the making of
their particular part. So in mercantile affairs, horticulture,
gardening, and to an increasing degree in farming, the con-
stant tendency is to some specialty. Whether this is a wise
tendency or not, time alone can determine. One deplorable
effect is already manifest, namely, making the operative to be
but an adjunct of the machine at which he works, so that his
brain too often partakes of the ceaseless, dull monotony of his
machine. Many apparently know nothing beyond the appa-
ratus at which they preside, and, alas for the good of the human
race! they desire nothing more. If you have chosen to be a
mechanic or specialist, you should be on your guard against
this tendency to narrow the growth of the mind by this mere
mechanical absorption. You should aim to make the very best
development of yourself that it is possible to do. Strive to-day
to make yourself fit for something better to-morrow. Resolve
to grow mentally and morally. Concentrate your energies on
it, and you will rise to better and nobler things.

See what a single aim will do in professional life. "This
one thing I do," cried the great Apostle to the Gentiles; and he
resolutely and steadily refused to be diverted from it by any
possible consideration men might offer him. There were other
apostles of the Christ also, but this single aim of Saul of Tarsus
led him to "labor more abundantly than they all." But this
"one thing I do," led him to use means for success, and to send
for and make constant use of "books and parchments," and
himself "give attention to reading," in order that such "profit-
ing might appear to men," with the result that his influence
over the thought of the Christian world to-day is greater than
that of any other man that ever lived, save the Christ, whom
he served so gloriously. A similar singleness of aim has put
many a man in places of honor, or profit, in our land and time,
and that, too, in spite of the most forbidding obstacles.

One such eminent American citizen, in one of his public
addresses, said of himself and of his early trials, " I was born in
poverty; want sat by my cradle. I know what it is to ask a

SINGLENESS OF AIM.

mother for bread when she has none to give." At ten years of
age, he says, he left his poor New Hampshire home to earn
thereafter his own living as a bond boy to a neighboring
farmer. He was to serve until twenty-one years of age; to
have food and raiment, one month's schooling in the winter,
and six sheep and a yoke of oxen when his time of service
expired. He was so poor that up to his twenty-first year "a
single dollar would cover every penny he had ever spent."
But from his childhood he had an inspiration that did for him
what a fortune could not have done without it. It made him
great. This was an inspiration for knowledge, inherited per-
chance from his mother, who was ''fond of reading." And so
this poor bond boy began his service by reading over and over
again a New Testament a neighbor had given him, and the few
schoolbooks he could get, and then a lady, noticing the forlorn
lad's fondness for books, began to lend him some volumes from
her husband's library. And the boy toiled in the fields in
summer and in the forest in winter, till the evening stars
appeared, and then, when his work was done, he would crouch
by the kitchen fire (for he had no money to buy lights), and
read hour after hour, and, sometimes forgetting himself, he
would read till the morning dawned. His employer never had
cause to complain that he neglected his tasks, however hard
they were, for the lad had good health, and was an industrious,
willing laborer. At the end of his indenture he had read near
a thousand volumes of the best American and English literature
that he could borrow; works of history, philosophy, biography,
and general literature. He sold his six sheep and yoke of oxen
for eighty-six dollars cash, and that seemed a fortune to him,
who up to that hour had never possessed so much as two
dollars in money. He then worked a few months in the neigh-
borhood for a small pittance, but his mind had grown, and he
was restless to do better, and so he set out to look for a fortune
elsewhere.

After he had become the vice-president of the United States,
he told the citizens of Great Falls, N. H. , when there on a visit,

SINGLENESS OF AIM.

of this experience. He said: "I know what it is to travel
weary miles on foot, and ask my fellow men to give me leave
to toil. I remember that in 1833 I walked into your village
from my native town, and went through your mills seeking
employment. If anybody had offered me eight or nine dollars
a month I should have accepted it gladly. I went to Salmon
Falls, I went to Dover, I went to New Market, and tried to get
work, without success; I returned home weary, but not dis-
couraged, and put my pack on my back, and walked to the
town where I now live, and learned the mechanic's trade. I
know the hard lot that toiling men have to endure in this
world, and every pulsation of my heart, every conviction of
my judgment, puts me on the side of the toiling men of my
country, aye, and of all countries. I am glad the working-
men of Europe are getting discontented and want better wages.
I thank God that a man in the United States to-day can earn
from three to four dollars in ten hodrs' work easier than he
could forty years ago earn one dollar working from twelve to
fifteen hours. The first month I worked after I was twenty-
one years of age, I went into the woods, drove team, cut mill
logs, rose in the morning before daylight, and worked hard
until after dark at night, and I received for it the magnificent
sum of six dollars, and, when I got the money, those dollars
looked as large to me as the moon looks to-night."

He spent a dollar and five cents in traveling that hundred
miles on foot to Natick, Mass., twenty-five cents of it for a pair
of slippers to ease his blistered feet. Then this future statesman
agreed to work for five months for nothing, that he might learn
the trade of making shoes. At the end of seven weeks, he
found he had made a bad bargain, and, anxious to do some-
thing to obtain the education he had set his heart on getting,
he bought his release for fifteen dollars, and began trade for
himself, working sixteen hours a day, and often all night long
as well. At the end of two years of such unremitting toil, he
had saved several hundred dollars towards gaining an educa-
tion for the practice of law, but now, in 1836, strength and

SINGLENESS OF AIM.

health gave way, and, acting under the physician's advice, he
went to Washington, D. C., for rest and recreation. Passing
through Maryland, he saw for the first time what he had
hitherto only heard of, the slave toiling under his taskmaster,
and was told he must keep silence concerning it while in the
state of Maryland. While in Washington, he visited the
notorious slave-pen of Williams, on the corner of Seventh and
B streets; saw men and women sold as cattle for the crime of
having been given by their Creator' a black skin; saw husband
and wife, mother and child, separated, manacled, whipped,
and marched off to a doom that was often worse than death;
saw it done by authority of the Government. What the effect
was upon him, he himself when United States senator has told.
In an address given at Philadelphia, in 1863, during the dark
days of the civil war, he said, alluding to this visit: "I saw
slavery beneath the shadow of the flag that waved over the
Capitol. I saw the slave-pen, and men, women, and children
herded for the markets of the far South; and, at the table at
which sat Senator Morris of Ohio, then the only avowed cham-
pion of freedom in the Senate of the United States, I expressed
my abhorrence of slavery and the slave traffic, in the capital of
this democratic and Christian republic. I was promptly told
that Senator Morris might be protected in speaking against
slavery in the Senate, but that I should not be protected in
uttering such sentiments. I left the capital of my country with
the unalterable resolution to give all that I 'had, and all that I
hoped to have, of power, to the cause of emancipation in
America, and I have tried to make that resolution a living faith
from that day to this. My political associates from that hour
to the present have always been guided by my opposition to
slavery in every form, and they always will be so guided. In
twenty years of political life I may have committed errors of
judgment, but I have ever striven to write my name, in the
words of William Leggett, ' in ineffaceable letters on the aboli-
tion record.' Standing here to-night in the presence of veteran
anti-slavery men, I can say, with all the sincerity of conviction,

SINGLENESS OP AIM.

that I would rather have it written upon the humble stone that
shall mark the spot where I shall repose when life's labors are
done, ' He did what he could to break the fetters of the slave.'
than to have it recorded that he filled the highest station of
honor in the gift of his countrymen."

With that single aim before him, he now returned to study
at the Stafford (N. H.) Academy, laboring at his books with the
same untiring industry that he had displayed in earning money
for his education. Study meant business to him. His school
life was unfortunately cut short by the failure of the man to
whom he had intrusted his hard earnings, and he returned to
Natick and began the manufacture of shoes on a capital of
twelve dollars. He continued at the business ten years,
employing at length over one hundred persons in his business.
During all this time he never forgot his one purpose, but, by
reading and the constant study of public questions, he pressed
steadily towards the goal he had set.

When elected to the Legislature of Massachusetts, first as
representative, and then as state senator, he stoutly and
successfully battled for the removal of the unjust statutes that
discriminated against the people of color in his Commonwealth.
On the third day of February, 1846, he delivered before that
body, when a member of the House, one of the ablest speeches
ever made against slavery. In it, he frankly avowed, "I am
an abolitionist, and have been a member of an abolition society
for nearly ten years. I am proud of the name of abolitionist.
I glory in it. I am willing to bear my full share of the odium
that may now or hereafter be heaped upon it. I had far rather
be one of the humblest in that little band which rallies around
the glorious standard of emancipation than to have been the
favorite marshal of Napoleon, and have led the Old Guard over
a hundred fields of glory and renown." It took an uncom-
monly brave man to declare such sentiments, even in the state
of Massachusetts, at a time when Methodist ministeis were
expelled from their conference and from their churches in that
Commonwealth for simply attending an abolition meeting.

SINGLENESS OB' AIM.

But this man, who, as a homeless and penniless youth, had
entered the state but thirteen years before, had this for his
political creed, "My voice and my vote shall ever be given for
the equality of all the children of men, before the laws of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and of the United States."

In 1855, when forty-three years old, he was elected United
States senator from Massachusetts to succeed Edward Everett,
who had resigned, and at once he took his place by the side of
his famous colleague, Charles Sumner, at a time when the halls
of Congress were ringing with the fierce invectives, threats of
personal violence, and oaths of fearful import, hurled by the
men of the South against all who dared question the right of the
demand of slavery to rule the land. Five years before, they had,
by the passage of the fugitive-slave act, made the North one
vast slave hunting field. But a year before they had compelled
Massachusetts to give up the poor fugitive, Anthony Burns, and
now, by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, their victory
seemed complete; for had not a senator from Indiana publicly
boasted in the Senate chamber, that in his free state they now
imposed a fine upon the white man who even ventured to give
employment to a free black man? Yet, in his first speech in the
Senate, Henry Wilson boldly bore to these men this message as
from the North: "We mean, sir, to place in the councils of the
nation, men, who, in the words of Jefferson, ' have sworn on
the altar of God eternal hostility to every kind of oppression of
the mind and body of man.'" And when the same year, in a
notable political gathering, a delegate from Virginia, with
pistol in hand, approached him and denounced him as the
leader of the Anti-Slavery party, he replied to him that his
"threats had no terror for freemen"; that he was then and
there ready to meet " argument with argument, scorn with
scorn, and, if need be, blow with blow; for God had given him
an arm ready and able to protect his head." It was time that
champions of slavery in the South should realize the fact, " that
the past was theirs, the future ours."

Those were the days of border ruffianism, when hundreds

65 5

SINGLENESS OF AIM.

of defenseless men and women and children were wantonly
murdered in Kansas and elsewhere, by the defenders and propa-
gators of slavery, for daring peacefully to resist their attempt
to make of Kansas, contrary to the wishes of its people, and of
the statutes, a slave state. But how bravely, mercilessly, be-
cause truthfully, Mr. Wilson exposed the weakness of the
president who did not prevent those murders and outrages, and
the fawning sycophancy of the politicians of the North who
apologized for them, and how heroically he denounced to their
faces the defenders of those crimes, and of the crimes of human
slavery, in the Senate chamber, when one of their number,
Preston S: Brooks of South Carolina, had made his dastardly
and murderous assault in the Senate upon Charles Sumner.

Let the files of the " Congressional Globe" show his intense
patriotism, his broad statesmanship, both before and during
the progress of the civil war, and after its close, all of which
is too well known to be here repeated. Massachusetts kept this
man of single aim as her senator until he saw the liberation of
millions of bondmen, and had witnessed the destruction of the
most gigantic conspiracy against human progress that the cen-
turies had known; and then when General Grant was elected
president of the United States, in 1872, she gave him to preside
as vice-president of the country over the legislative body where,
for nearly a score of years, he had been the bravest, most
patriotic, most hard working, and incorruptible member. So
scrupulous had he been not to make his exalted position a means
of worldly gain, that when this Natick cobbler, the sworn friend
of the oppressed, whose one question as to measures or acts was
ever, " Is it right, will it do good? " came to be inaugurated as
vice-president of his country, he was obliged to borrow of his
fellow senator, Charles Sumner, one hundred dollars to meet the
necessary expense of the occasion. By his energy, his ability,
and uprightness, he has shown to the poorest and humblest boy
in the land that there are no barriers which can prevent his
success if he enters upon his career with right principles and
single aim.

SINGLENESS OF AIM.

It was said of William Wilberforce at his death, that " he
had gone to God with the shackles of eight hundred thousand
West India slaves in his hands," but Henry Wilson, the poor
bond boy, had been one of the chief agents in breaking the
shackles from four and a half millions. That purpose formed
at the slave-pen in Washington was well carried out, not indeed
as he had expected, but as God willed it.

Climbing the Ladder of Success.

JOHN C. DUEBER, President Hampden Watch Co., Canton, Ohio.

[HAT famous English prime minister, George Canning,
who, with Lord Brougham, was accounted the most
^ famous political orator of the time, was born of poor
parents. When but a year old, his father died, and the mother
to earn her living became an actress. The wandering life of
the mother worked disaster to her bright boy. He began to be
dissipated when but a lad and would soon have gone to ruin if
Moody, the actor, had not persuaded the boy's uncle, a man of
property, to take him and educate him. The uncle consented
on condition that he should abandon his waywardness, and at
twelve years of age he was sent to Eton school. Here he took
for his motto, " I must work if I would win," and applied him-
self with such diligence to his studies as to become the first
scholar in his class, both in the schoolroom and in the debating
society.

At eighteen he entered Oxford College, and, refusing to en-
gage in the athletic sports of the school, he gave himself wholly
to his studies, having, as he told a friend, a seat in the House
of Commons in view. Graduating with high honors, he entered
Parliament when but twenty-three years of age as an adherent
and firm supporter of that eminent statesman, William Pitt.
He became one of his secretaries and rose at length to be pre-
mier of the realm. He aimed at the top and by energy and ap-
plication won renown and very early reached the goal he had
set for himself.

At that same University of Oxford, fifty years before Can-
ning's time, a poor lad had come like him thirsting for knowl-

[ CHAPTER 9.] 68

CLIMBING THE LADDER OF SUCCESS.

edge, and longing to rise. He entered the school as chore boy,
and paid his way by blacking the shoes of the professors and
students. He had been, he said, a vicious boy, but he at times
had tried to help his mother (a widow who kept a small inn at
Bristol) by sweeping and mopping the room. But one day
Thomas a Kempis's book had fallen into his hands through some
means, and it had changed the current of his life. The lad
said he was not above hard work, and if possible he would like
to work his way through college. So he blacked shoes and did
chores for a living, and studied as he could.

The morals of the university were very low ; infidelity ran
wild among both professors and students, and this lad of six-
teen, who insisted upon a strict religious course of life, was most
mercilessly ridiculed by them.

The poor boy had set his mind upon being a great preacher,
and undismayed he wandered out into the surrounding fields,
where he would recite his sermons and meditate and pray. He
had a marvelous voice, but not one of those who mocked at him
ever for one moment dreamed that the bootblack was destined
to become the flaming evangel of England and America and
the most wonderful pulpit orator the world has yet seen, a
man who could, as Garrick, the actor, said of him, make men
laugh or cry by his intonation of the word Mesopotamia.

The majority of his fellow students were content with medi-
ocrity and are unknown, while the name of George Whitefield,
whose body awaits the resurrection morning in the old church
at Newburyport, Mass., is held in loving remembrance by
millions on both sides of the Atlantic as a very angel of God.

If you look over the line of great men of any age, you can-
not but be impressed with this fact, that there was something
within them that impelled them to rise. What was it? Supe-
rior mental endowments? Very rarely. Was it greater, or
better, or earlier advantages of education? No, generally the
opposite. Was it greater physical force? But seldom, if at all.
What, then, was it? Almost invariably there is but one
answer, viz., the power of will.

CLIMBING THE LADDER OF SUCCESS.

Men differ greatly in intellect, but will is not intellect. The
natural appetite and desires of men, while nearly uniform, yet
vary in intensity; but will is not appetite nor desire. The cause
of a fact should not be confounded with the fact itself; and
here is a fact, that the masses of men seem content to remain
at a common level of desire and aspiration, which level is as
yet at the bottom, where of necessity the competition must by
the mere force of numbers be greater, while only here and
there one out of the mass rises above his fellows. For
instance, in business life there are many mechanics now in the
industrial world, but few of them are what may be termed
really first-class.

There are many lawyers, but very few are first class.
Wherever you may go, a first-class orator, or reader, or
teacher, or preacher, or merchant, is rarely found, and when
found no one of them is exceptionally endowed with intellect
above his fellow men. It is often found that many others had
similar desires and aspirations, but they did not rise, while
these few did. Why? Scan it closely, and you find that
these willed to rise. They resolved to be masters of circum-
stances, while the masses drifted with those circumstances.
Because their parents were poor was only to these a reason
why they should not remain so. Difficulties were not obstacles,
least of all were they a cause for discouragement or an excuse
for a defeat. Why, difficulties and obstacles were the very things
made for the will to combat and overcome! If not, what need
of a will at all? What is will for but for combat and rule? Is the
strife unequal? Then the more glory to the conqueror. Surely
it is no great thing if Xerxes with his millions overcame Leon-
idas. Not to do it is a disgrace. But for Leonidas with his
Spartan band of six hundred to overcome Xerxes's millions, ay,
that were immortal renown! So these men of success set their
will in array against the natural things made for wills to con-
tend with and overcame them, and that is all there was to it.
It was no mystery or fortunate combination of circumstances,
though, as said before, these are often great aids to success,

CLIMBING THE LADDER OF SUCCESS.

inasmuch as it is necessarily easier to overcome a little diffi-
culty than a multitude of greater ones.

Two young men, students of Yale College, were one day
discussing their future plans, when one of them declared it to
be his purpose to become a member of Congress within six
years. His companion generously laughed at what he imagined
was a fond conceit. Said the other, " If I did not believe that
I shall be a member of Congress within six years from to-day I
would immediately leave college." He had decided on his
plans; he was fitting himself accordingly. He had set his will
to accomplish it if life and health remained to him, and within
the six years John C. Calhoun became a member of Congress
and was destined to wield an influence by force of his will, the
evil results of which yet abide in our country.

Our minds are the vital force that deals with and governs to
a large extent physical facts, and the will is the vital force of
the mind without which mind seems useless and simply the
creature of every whim of desire or gust of passion. Who can
estimate the power of will?

But a little more than a hundred years ago the immense
armies of Russia, Austria, and France, with their allies, strug-
gled during the Seven Years' War to conquer the indomitable
will of a single man, the flute player of Potsdam, and failed.
Again and again they sought to overwhelm him with armies
that outnumbered his three to one; armies led by veteran gen-
erals who had won many a bloody field. But the flute player
knew that if he yielded the rising nationality of Prussia would
be extinguished. He must conquer or perish. And so he set
his mighty will in array and on the awful fields of Rossbach,
Leuthen, and Zorndorf he heroically beat back his foes. They
had eighty millions of people from which to recruit their armies
while he had less than four. So it came to pass when the sun
went down on the dreadful field of Kunersdorf , twenty thousand
of his army lay dead and he had left scarce three thousand.
What wonder that he was on the borders of despair?

But the wonderful will of Frederick the Great, held by the

CLIMBING THE LADDER TO SUCCESS.

stern necessity to conquer or die, rose up from this as from
many another defeat and stalked forth defiantly, even menac-
ingly, at the last, against the combined armies of Europe, and
compelled them to forego their purpose to divide his little king-
dom among them, and to recognize Prussia as thereafter one of
the five great powers of Europe, a rank which since she has
easily maintained. The will of Frederick II. made the Ger-
many of to-day, and in it, and by it, he yet lives on earth.

Footprints of Failure.

BET. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

1 . THAT if you and I should make a failure of life? One of
lAj the lamentable facts about a failure is that it can never
^ be a blank. Always somebody or something suffers loss
by it. For our failures strike two ways, backward and for-
ward ; backward to those whose hopes for our success are
blasted, and whose pain we cannot measure, and forward to
one's posterity, who will never cease to be affected by it. By
far the worst part of a wrong act or course of life is its effect
upon the future of those who were in no wise responsible for
the wrong. What burdens are laid on others by our failures!
"Gather up my influence and bury it with me," cried a dying
man. As well ask us to turn back the stars in their courses.
Why! the influence of the first man has not yet ceased on earth,
though sixty centuries have elapsed since he departed.

And, then, very many failures might be so easily avoided if
we only knew, or if we gave heed when we knew! He who has
gone over a road can tell its dangerous places and bypaths;
and, if he has placed danger signals there to warn fellow trav-
elers, they surely ought not to neglect such signs and deliber-
ately court harm and loss by ignoring his kind foresight and
care for them. Yet, notwithstanding the many eminent ex-
amples of successful business life that have been furnished
to them, it is said that ninety-three per cent, of the merchants
of this country either become bankrupt, or fail to gain a com-
petency, and so die poor. Why is it that so many fail and so
few succeed? He who will solve this problem is surely a bene-
factor to mankind. In the city of Boston, for instance, it has

[CKAPTSBlO.] 73

FOOTPRINTS OF FAILURE.

been found that within a period of forty years nine hundred
and forty-four out of a thousand business men either failed in
their business, or died poor men, while again, taking the United
States as a whole, not one man in four, at his death, ever leaves
property enough to require a will, or an executor; and this,
too, in the richest country on the earth!

Is man then made to toil in vain, or is there a cause for these
failures? I know indeed that men talk of nature as being con-
structed and run only in accord with what they call " the
survival of the fittest," and that all her rewards are to be given
only to the few of mighty will or passion who rightly swallow
up the substance, if they do not the person, of the many. I do
not believe it. I do not believe that failure is the normal lot of
man, no more than I believe that pain is his natural condition.
Nature has made no provision in the human body for pain.
There is no contrivance nor organ whatever for it. If pain
comes, it comes as a result of violating nature's wise and benef-
icent laws for the well-being of the body. Man was not made
for pain, and, be it noted, pain is always in the first instances
caused by taking into the body an element foreign to it, and the
sensation we call pain is nature's protest against its presence.
Pain is not ingrained in nature, and, when it comes to us, it
comes as a friend to warn us, or, at the last, as a sheriff to
arrest the persistent transgressor.

You may carry the analogy if you please into business life.
Man was made for success. Yet the multitudes fail. And
then we say that success is the exception and failure the rule
of life. Not so. The simple fact is that very many men enter
upon a business career foredoomed to failure because they
ignore the greatest of all laws, the law of righteousness.

Whether you believe it or not, this world was constructed
according to righteousness, and the surest way to lose its gold is
to forsake or ignore the God who made the gold for humanity's
need. True, there are many who consider goodness as natu-
rally and necessarily opposed to the accumulation of wealth, and
who stoutly affirm that righteousness is not a factor to be con-

FOOTPRINTS OF FAILURE.

sidered in trade, especially in Wall street, or at a horse mart.
Yet, over against such teaching stands the mighty fact that all
the world's great mines and all the vast resources of her material
wealth are to-day in the hands of avowedly Christian nations,
while more than five-sixths of all the property and of all the
great money producing enterprises in England, and in the
United States, are controlled and conducted by avowedly moral
if not by professedly Christian men. Hence it is rather late in
the ages to attempt to teach men that the sure way to obtain
wealth is to forsake the God who created that wealth.

Why, if there is one fact that stands out like a mighty
mountain peak towering over all others, it is this, that virtue is
the indispensable condition among men for obtaining security
of person and of property, and for maintaining peace, and for
securing human happiness.

All the regulations for human society among civilized peoples
are made to protect virtue, and to repress vice. And the more
advanced the civilization becomes, the more indispensable, both
to the individual and to society, is virtue found to be. Suppose,
for a moment, that the regulations governing men were now
reversed so that they fostered and protected vice, and punished
and suppressed virtue; what a monstrous, inhuman condition of
affairs it would be! Whose purity, property, honor, or good
name would be secure? Indeed, who could gain wealth or a
good name under such conditions? So, then, whether experi-
ence has taught men that virtue is a necessity of civilization, or
whether virtue is imbedded in the very constitution of nature,
still the one great fact confronts us, that in order to gain a suc-
cess at all worthy of the name, we must be virtuous, that is,
righteous, for that is the same thing. And it is because they
ignore this fundamental fact of nature that so many men
in every decade are financially and morally ruined.

Listen to this true recital. On the fourteenth day of Septem-
ber, 1836, at Port Richmond, Staten Island, an old man lay dying.
He was desolate, friendless, hopeless, and poor, so poor as to
have been in his last years dependent on the charity of a

FOOTPRINTS OF FAILURE.

Scotch woman who had known him in other days. Yet, this
man had been born to fortune and to fame, for his father was a
man of wealth and large attainments. But few, if any, young
men have ever had better opportunities for obtaining eminent
success. Nature had endowed this man with all her finest gifts.
He was so brilliant of intellect as to be fitted to enter Prince-
ton College at eleven years of age. His father had been presi-
dent of that institution, and was one of the foremost men of his
time, whether as educator, scholar, author, or preacher. His
mother was the noblest daughter of the most renowned clergy-
man New England ever produced. His sister had, while living,
been the wife of one of the chief justices of Connecticut, and
this dying, forsaken old man had himself once been vice-presi-
dent of the United States, and he might easily have been its
president, honored and honorable in life and in death, if he had
not despised the law of righteousness, and substituted intrigue
and an iron will for moral principles wherewith to guide his life.
Do you ask how came he, who had been so nobly born, to
make so fearful a mistake? He had stood one time at the
parting of ways where God calls men, and another man had
directed him wrong. It happened on this wise: When a student
in college at the age of fifteen, his soul was greatly stirred by a
religious revival then sweeping over the place, and the president
of the college, to whom he went for advice in the hour of his
soul's need, had called the religious fervor " fanaticism "; and,
when still unsatisfied, some months later, he again sought- in-
struction of another noted divine, similar advice was given him,
and he believed them, and then Aaron Burr forsook the faith of
his father and mother for the then popular and loose morality
of Lord Chesterfield. It was the fruits of this apostasy that
led men to distrust the most brilliant lawyer of his day, and
caused his own political party to forsake him; and that then led
him to seek to retrieve on the "field of honor" (!) his waning
political fortunes by taking the life of his rival, Alexander
Hamilton, at Weehawken, N. J., on that fatal early morning of
July 7th, 1804. And then came in rapid succession his flight for

FOOTPRINTS OF FAILURE.

safety from the wrath of his fellow men; his lurid dreams of an
empire, and his long six months' trial for treason, with his after
years of wandering in Europe as an outcast among men; and
then the years of final recklessness and licentiousness, to the
end. Oh, if the finger posts had only pointed right when he
stood an awakened lad before Drs. Witherspoon and Bellamy!
And yet the man who was so loved by such a daughter as
Theodosia Burr could not be wholly bad. Young man, Solomon
was right when he declared that " righteousness tendeth to
life"; and Paul but wrote nature's law when he said that Godli-
ness "has promise of the life that now is and of that which
is to come."

Trie Dignity of Labor.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

ONE of the most important facts testified to by human expe-
rience in all civilized lands is this that it is disgraceful
not to work. Men in every age of the world have scorned
the idler. They have sought to instruct him by example
of industry; they have admonished him by the proverbs of the
wise; they have railed at him in song; sought to reform him by
law, and yet, like the poor, he is ever with them. Indeed, the
poor are mainly his offspring, and, but for him, they would
almost disappear from the earth.

The drones in the hive of human industry must needs eat,
and so the toilers must produce, not alone for themselves, but
for these cumberers of the ground. If labor was not so bounte-
ously rewarded the world would starve, for there is at no time
enough food stored within the houses of the earth to support its
people for two years without a harvest. Hence the toilers must
not only delve, and plant, and reap year after year, whereby to
feed and clothe themselves, but they are obliged also to provide
for these parasites on the body politic. This class of gentry,
whether clothed in purple and fine linen, or decorated with rags,
are fond of saying that "the world owes them a living," an
assertion utterly absurd, and wholly untrue. It is bad enough
to be a "do-nothing," but why add falsehood to shame by
claiming assets never possessed ? It is a law of nature that " if
any man will not work neither shall he eat." Paul the Apostle
did not originate that law. It is imbedded in the very structure
of the world.

[CHAPTER 11.] 7S

THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

How wonderfully rich our country is in its material resources!
might put the entire population of the world in our own
fair land, and easily support them all, so bountifully has God
provided for this land. Yet for hundreds of years a few thou
sand Indians owned it all, and well-nigh starved to death in it,
would have starved but for the wild beasts and birds they killed.
Why? They were idlers, and shirked honest work. How rich
this world might be if there were no idlers in it! In 1892
the cash value of the work produced by the toilers in this
country alone in that one year was seven and one-half billions
of dollars. If now the millions of soldiers, policemen, keepers of
prisons and reformatories, throughout all lands, who have to
depend upon the toilers for their bread while they are taking
care of the mischievous and vicious idlers, could be released to
do honest work, and together with the idlers each earned his
own living, this would be a world of wealth and comfort.

God designed that men should be rich. So he stored the
world underneath with uncountable treasures of gold, silver,
iron, tin, lead, and gems, and vast reservoirs of fuel, and stocked
the soil with great wealth-producing power, and crowded the
seas and air with immense material for making it. Yes, the
Almighty is immensely wealthy himself, and he would have
his children so. Sin, the sin of idleness, makes them poor. If
Mother Eve had been busily at work so that she had no time to
gossip with the serpent, she and her husband might have stayed
in Eden, and lived in luxury, but as it was in the beginning, so
now, " Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do,"
and, if you neglect work in Eden, you may have to do a worse
and harder kind outside. There is one thing which men and
women have inherited, and it seems to have struck in very
deep, it is laziness. Surely, if you judge by the fruits of idle-
ness, it must be a sin not to be doing some kind of honest work.
What stores of wisdom, what nobility of knowledge, labor
brings! And you cannot have it without labor, and hard labor,
too. Learning is not an instinct, but an acquisition, and we
shall never get beyond the need of having more and more

THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

knowledge. Knowledge, like the Creator's works, is boundless
in extent, and will continue while they endure. "Knowledge
is power." Labor alone secures it. He who would excel must
work for it, and by his labor he becomes dignified. If Michael,
the Archangel, were sent from heaven to sweep the muddy
streets of earth, the lowly work would not lower him, but how
mightily he would elevate the task! How honorable thereafter
street sweeping would be among the children of men! You
have been given your work to do. It may be lowly. It may be
uncongenial, but if it is for you to do, do it. Do it with your
might. Do it the best you know how. By doing well the little,
you will befitted for the greater tasks and responsibilities of
life; then the worker and the work alike become immortal.

By the light of torches in the early morning of March 9,
1791, an old man, eighty-eight years of age, was carried to his
burial. He had been one of the most tireless workers this
world has ever known. He literally defied death by his im-
mense labor, and left the impress of his great personality in un-
told blessings upon the lives of more millions of men and women
than any other one man has done since the days of Christ. He
was the son of an English rector, whose life had been an un-
ceasing struggle with poverty, who had been imprisoned for
debt, and who died in debt, and so this boy was early inured to
privation and toil. Twice the father's house had been set on
fire at night by the rabble whom that father's faithfulness had
offended, and the inmates by wading through flames had barely
escaped with their lives. On the second occasion, this lad, then
five years old, was forgotten in his chamber, and at the last
moment, as the roof fell in, he was providentially rescued from
the burning building by two of the neighbors. He was one of
nineteen children, ten of whom lived to mature years. They
constituted a most remarkable family. The celebrated com-
mentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, says, " Such a family I have never
read of, heard of, or known; nor, since the days of Abraham,
has there ever been a family to which the human race has been
more indebted. " John Wesley and his brother Charles were the

THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

product of noble ancestors. The man who has good, pure
blood in his veins, ought to thank God for this inheritance, even
though he leaves his parents' home without a farthing. To be
well-born is in itself a fortune, and John Wesley was well-
born. His father was an able, faithful, and talented preacher,
and a writer of note, but it was from his mother that John
derived most of the great characteristics that made him so
renowned. This woman, Susanna Wesley, was a marvel. She
was not only the mother and nurse of her many children, but
their schoolmistress and priestess as well. Her educational and
religious system of instruction had some most extraordinary
points, and was conducted solely by herself. The children, of
whom there were thirteen at home at one time, "had the
reputation of being the most loving family in the country."

Mrs. Wesley had a fine education and many accomplish-
ments. She was beautiful of form and person, and a woman
of rare energy, tact, good sense, and decision, and withal in-
tensely religious. She so molded the character of her children in
their childhood that when John Wesley finally left his parental
home, at thirteen years of age, to become a student in a prepara-
tory school, and then three years later to enter the University
at Oxford, he had already received from his mother those prime
qualities of method, punctuality, diligence, energy, and piety,
which he afterward developed into that vast system of ecclesi-
asticism and doctrine now extended throughout the whole
world, and popularly known as Methodism, so that Susanna
Wesley has justly been called, "the mother of Methodism."
As a clergyman, John Wesley " stands out in the history of the
world unquestionably pre-eminent in religious labors above that
of any other man since the Apostolic age."

A single great practical life has more than once changed the
aspect of the whole civilized world. A single poor, drudging
mechanic has by his invention of a machine, or by the applica-
tion of a force, more than once doubled the energy and wealth
of mankind. Steam was as mighty in the days of Abraham
as it was when George Stephenson yoked it to his engine to do

81 6

THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

the world's work. How it has since empowered, enriched, and
blessed the nations! Electricity has been lying around loose,
waiting for some practical mind to use it since the very dawn of
the world, and, when the man appears, it is his fate to be first
regarded, as Morse was, as a cracked-brained enthusiast, and
later on as one of the great minds of the age.

So John Wesley, who was one of the most practical of men,
was cast out from the churches and denounced as a wild vision-
ary, and mischief maker, and a teacher of sedition and heresy,
by the very men who, ere he died, came to regard him rever-
ently as the instrument in God's hands for rescuing England
from the "virtual heathenism into which it had lapsed"; and
for saving the whole Reformation movement started by Martin
Luther, from the "imminent ruin hanging over it," and for
again reviving that vital " religion that was dying in the
world," and they proclaimed him as the greatest mind that had
appeared in the religious world since the days of the Apostle
Paul.

For nearly sixty years he preached on an average fifteen
sermons a week; he wrote incessantly with his pen, and pub-
lished hundreds of volumes of books, tracts, magazines,
treatises on almost all useful subjects, classical, moral, and
religious; he traveled thousands of miles on foot, on horseback,
by coach; he was often mobbed, and for years was constantly
threatened with death by men of violence; his life was often in
peril on land and sea; he had often the largest congregation to
hear him that ever were gathered in modern ages, numbering
sometimes more than thirty thousand.

He erected hundreds of schools, chapels, churches; educated
thousands on thousands of his countrymen, and, though having
an income from his books of many thousands of dollars, he
religiously and constantly gave it away to the poor, and to
spread the gospel he preached, and at his death he had barely
enough to bury him decently. He was as saving of his time as
ever a miser was of gold; each hour had its task. His favorite
maxim was, "Always in haste, but never in a hurry." His

THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

first rule for the conduct of the thousands of men he sent forth
to preach was, "Be diligent; never be unemployed; never be
triflingly employed; never while away time; never spend any
more time at any place than is strictly necessary."

Circumstances have much to do with developing great men,
but they do not create them. John Wesley turned the most
unfavorable circumstances to bring about a revolution in the
religious world, which by its beneficent results entitles him to
be justly ranked among the great men of the ages.

This illustrious man affords a striking example of the dignity
of labor. His greatness was the result of his incessant diligence.
The world honors honest labor, but despises the idler.

Character as Capital.

B. 0. AYLESWORTH, D.D., LL.D., Pres. Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.

[HE age still throbs, though not so painfully, with an eager-
ness for industrial wealth.

> But a better age is coming, the age of Character. Al-
ready the unrest of the closing century is quieted by hope in the
next. Great hearts have the pulse at last of the world's Great
Heart. The capital of a too strongly competitive age is becoming
the capital of a less selfish time, and will have vastly more
intrinsic value.

We may profitably use the terms of the old idea with which
to express the new.

Commercial wealth adds to one's personality. A man plus
his farm, or his lands, is something more than the man alone.
He is a combination of human and material potentialities.

A man with character is more than his natural endowments
and their special training. He is these plus the wealth of integ-
rity and uprightness of which he has become possessed in the
world's struggle. Genius is not character.

Moreover, capital is the working force of its possessor. The
idler and the tramp are men minus working force, and become
a burden rather than an aid in carrying society's burdens. The
active agency in modern society is wealth except in the ig-
nobly rich.

So, too, character is the vitalizing, reshaping, accomplishing,
self-saving, and community-saving force which one must pos-
sess in addition to heredity and environment, often in spite of
them, before he may become a solvent factor in the problem of
[ CHAPTER !?] 84

CHARACTER AS CAPITAL.

life. A stagnant pool, a dry mill-race, or a cinder is not a more
forceless thing than a characterless man.

It is, furthermore, an attribute of capital that it multiplies
itself when skillfully manipulated. This is the chief fascina-
tion of wealth. It bears its own legal rate of interest and under
unusual demands often rapidly doubles and quadruples itself.

A character well begun not only steadily increases in
purchasing power relative to the esteem and affection of one's
fellows, but under great exigencies, and suddenly revealed op-
portunities, multiplies into the heroic, and into immortal worth.

If Lincoln, as a young man, could not have washed the
" smart weed " from the face of the New Salem bully, whom he
had soundly thrashed, having rubbed the biting weed into his
pimpled face, he could not have become the most magnanimous
foe any man or nation has ever known. The honesty that com-
pelled him as a store-clerk to walk six miles after dark to make
right a needy woman's miscounted change rather than wait for
a chance to explain the matter later, made "honest Abe" the
most conspicuous figure in the pantheon of human rights.

It is a unique function of wealth to cover the defects of a
financial past, and reasonably secure its future. Losses are
made good, and insurance established.

It is the noblest attribute of character that it atones for the
lack or loss of itself in the years of weakness and rebellion, and
increasingly fortifies against loss in more trying experiences
still to come. God has compassionately established this law in
his redemptive system. Yet we must not forget the psychol-
ogy of grace. It is with more difficulty than in the world of
commerce that lost character can be regained. But once re-
gained it veils the past, and glorifies the future.

Men may destroy my reputation, but I must commit moral
suicide before character dies. In this is its severer quality
manifest. No truth, at first glance, seems so unwelcome, so
crushing, as that of self-accountability. " I am to blame," are
the hardest words our stammering speech ever knows.

Upon closer analysis, however, this same truth is the divinest

CHARACTER AS CAPITAL.

part of man, the salt of his spiritual nature. It means that
character may become mine in spite of what all men may do.

"I have achieved" are God's words. We are truly his off-
spring when we utter them. Who may not say them, if he
will? Unlike the capital of marts, this capital of hearts, I,
any resolute soul, may possess. A safer reporter than Dun &
Co. compiles the list of the morally rich. No paper goes to pro-
test when it has the indorsement of character.

The great Accountant invests this capital. Words vibrant
with tenderness, deeds quick with unselfishness, sacrifices en-
dured by pierced bodies, he puts at interest in the evolution of
the race. When he strikes the balance, eternal life will be
found to your credit. The true capitalist is a foe to poverty.
So, too, the rich in character hate vice and seek to remove it
in all the lives they touch. The richest merchant prince is the
humblest man of his kind if he be a steward of God's wealth.

The noblest character is the poorest in spirit and, though he
possess all the beatitudes, walks lowly among men, holding them
to him the more closely. All greatness is meekness, for great-
ness comes through tribulation, as wealth through toil. The
highest quality of true exaltation is humility.

Character lifts us up to God, and leads us down to men.
Through it alone is the great discovery made that God is in
humanity. To know that fact is not to fail of life or heaven.

When the multitudes dead new-formed shall uprise,
And with hurrying flight shall seek the great All,
Not the boastf ulest soul nor one overwise
Will hear his call.

To some timorous plodder halting afar,
With a glance of regret towards the old earth
Where his pain and his faith had clashed in a war
That wrought his worth,

The sweet voice of the life will come like the song
Of a mother who croons her babe to its sleep.
For his pain shall be peace, and love for the wrong
That made him weep.

The Influence of Associates.

REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.D., Boston,
Founder of Y. P. S. C. E., President of the United Society of Christian Endeavor.

THERE are two great forces constantly battling for suprem-
acy in the lives of all young persons. Their success,
happiness, and worth to the world depend very largely
upon which of these forces governs their lives.

One by one, precious lives, the perpetually ripening human
harvest, will surely be gathered either by the Evil One or by
that gracious Husbandman who is always seeking to root up
the tares and to encourage the growth of the good seed. Just
as the head gardener on a large estate always has a corps of
assistants to dig and weed and water and hoe, so the two great
forces which are always striving for the possession of young
hearts have their respective under gardeners, who are always
busy.

These sub-gardeners are called " companions." They play
dolls with the children in their infancy, and go fishing with
them in their boyhood, and attend them to their first party in
their girlhood. In fact, without ever suspecting that they are
gardeners, that they are daily sowing, and nourishing, and
training, they are, nevertheless, and under the direction of
their respective masters, bringing forward this most tremen-
dous product of the ages, the harvest of human character.
Every boy who reads these pages is a far different boy to-day
because Jack and John and Bob live in the same town with
him, and every girl, though she does not herself realize it, is a
far better or worse girl because of her friends Mary and Susie
and Kitty.

I CHAPTBB 13. ] 87

THE INFLUENCE OP ASSOCIATES.

If I could transport all my readers forward fifty years, and
could then with them look back upon their past lives, it would
be easy, did not memory play us so many tricks and obscure so
many events of importance, to show them how they had devi-
ated from the straight line, how they had yielded to this temp-
tation and to that, and how at times they had been led on to
nobler and braver deeds than were their wont. In fact the
track which their lives would make, would look not unlike the
ragged, irregular line which marks the advent of a cold wave
or of a storm sweeping from west to east, as shown on our
weather reports. But every deviation from the ordinary line
of travel, every indentation and curve to the right hand or left,
almost without exception could be accounted for by the influ-
ence of one or more of those all powerful magnets, a good or
bad companion.

Some years ago I spoke some words like these to the young
people of my old church. I have never had them disputed, and
I have had more and more occasion every year to believe that
they are true. "I venture to say that not one boy in five hun-
dred ever went into a rum shop alone for the first time. He
went because he was asked to go. Because some companion
took him by the hand and said, ' Let us see what is going on in
there.' " Oh, if he could only know that the bad companion
came to him direct from the Devil, if he could see the grinning
face of Apollyon leering at him over that companion's shoulder,
how he would start back in fright and dread! I know of young
men who are going to the bad as fast as time can carry them,
and I know the cause of their downward course. It is some
evil companion from whom they have not moral courage to
break away. They walk with him to school or business. They
sit with him in church. They turn to him for his sneer or smile
when the most solemn truths are urged upon them. The tears
of mother, the warnings of father, the counsel of pastor, are of
no avail because of this evil companion.

A number of years ago I asked a large number of the lead-
ing business men of Boston to tell me what in their view was

THE INFLUENCE OF ASSOCIATES.

the greatest enemy of youth. Very many of them, speaking
out of their own experience, dwelt on the evil influence of bad
companions.

I remember that one business man wrote, " Too few thumps
and too much coddling makes the soul like dough, which shows
a dimple for each touch of sin." It is my impression that the
finger of the evil companion accounts for very many of these
sinful dimples in a wayward soul. As the housekeeper's loaf
shows every pat and pin prick, so the plastic souls of our boys
and girls are dented and dimpled all over with the marks of
good or evil companionship.

One of these strong business men to whom I wrote about the
dangers of youth answered as follows : " When I look back at
my own narrow escape from evil, of which I can hardly con-
ceive the end, it brings tears to my eyes. I think the turning
point of my life was going to California at the age of nineteen,
and by that means breaking off the acquaintances I had formed.
I was away so long that when I returned they had all scattered.
I did not think at the time I was very bad, but still from my
present standpoint it looks bad enough. I can look around me
here in Boston and see many a man who is a perfect failure
to-day who had the brightest prospects when young, and bad
company was the first step downward."

Do you wonder that with these warnings from practical
business men before my eyes I should say : Young men, if you
feel that you have not the moral stamina to break with the
companions who are dragging you down, if you feel that there
is no other way to throw off this social chain, every link of
which is a fetter for your soul, then I beg you to leave every-
thing and flee for your life, though it be to California or Aus-
tralia, or Alaska or Patagonia, though you leave father and
mother and home and church behind you, flee as you would
flee from a pestilence. But the possibility of being dragged
down by bad companions implies the equal possibility of being
lifted up by good companions, just as night implies day and
darkness suggests sunlight.

THE INFLUENCE OF ASSOCIATES.

It is not necessary for most young people to go away from
home to escape bad companions, but simply to stay more at
home, to get under the influence of the good. A gentle mother,
a loving sister, a manly brother, and the other companions who
naturally gather in such a home, are a better antidote for bad
companions than any other medicine.

In this blessed influence of good companions is found one
great benefit of young people's societies for religious and social
purposes. If the religious element is kept predominant, if the
spiritual idea is not lost sight of in the purely social and hilari-
ous, all other matters will take care of themselves. Our social
wants will not be neglected, our literary instincts will find
scope and play, and then, so far as we can find them outside of
the home circle, shall we find our best companions and our
truest friends. I have no fear of the senseless sneer that is
sometimes thrown at these organizations as "flirting societies,"
for the young man or woman who there finds a wife or husband
will have taken the most important step of all in solving the
great problem of youth, the question of a lifelong companion
and associate, and will have taken it far more wisely than if
such a partner had been sought at the ballroom or the theater.

Kruiits of Honesty.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

THE bane of the business life of to-day is the constantly
growing disposition to get money without earning it.
Money is not merely a medium of exchange, but it is also
a commodity like wheat, or corn, or iron, yet men who
would die of shame if caught stealing wheat or corn do not hes-
itate to steal money whenever the chance presents itself. They
would scorn to steal a bushel of wheat from their neighbor, and
insist upon giving him full value for it, but to get money from
him without paying dollar for dollar is quite another thing. To
overmatch him in a bargain, why, that is trade. But why is it
more a sin to steal wheat than to steal dollars? And he steals
dollars who gets them of his neighbor without having earned
them, or who does not give for them a full equivalent.

There is an almost insane desire abroad among men to get
riches, not by the old-fashioned and slow steps of industry, per-
severance, and economy, but by the quick road of speculation,
regardless of whether that speculation is a legitimate and just
one or not. There is such a thing as a righteous venture in a
business transaction, as when a man forecasts the prospective
demands of the market of next month or next year, and arranges
for the profits to meet his side of the transaction, supplying the
honest wants of the community in #n honest way. He buys at
a fair price, and sells at a fair advance on the cost. He enriches
himself by supplying the needs of the public, and not by plun-
dering it. An honest man will not take bread out of the mouths
of others to put it in his own. When he sells goods, he does
not sell his soul with them. He consults his conscience in the

[CHAPTER 14.] 91

FRUITS OF HONESTY.

countingroom quite as often as in the prayer meeting. He
could swindle within the statutes, and get rich, but he will not
do it. Happily for the race, there are yet such men, and such
just methods of trade, but the tendency of the times is to be
more and more dissatisfied with such honest ways of getting
money. Young men vote them slow, and instead of climbing
the successive rounds of the ladder of industry to reach the for-
tune at the top, they wish to go up by the quick, audacious
elevator of the stock-speculator.

It is not yet accounted a reputable thing to be a Simon-pure
gambler in business circles. Public opinion through its statutes
has decreed that the gambler must ply his trade of plundering,
if at all, in secret. He must get his hundreds, or his thousands,
from his fool-victims behind tiled doors and carefully screened
windows, subject to the accident of a swoop-visit by the police.
For, forsooth, his business beggars children, and has on it the
anathemas of wronged, deserted, robbed, and heartbroken wives
and mothers. But the broker's boards and the stock exchanges,
with their make-believe sales of things they do not own, their so-
called purchases of things they never intend to have or pay for;
who "bull" and "bear" the securities of honest folk; who can
only make profits by constantly keeping values disturbed, and
the business world in convulsions of uncertainty; whose con-
stant effort is to induce mercantile men to become dissatisfied
with slow and honest methods, and enter upon buccaneering
expeditions to frighten bona fide owners of property to part
with it at enormous sacrifices, that they may by securing it
reap a rich (even if iniquitous) profit; why, such enterprises as
these are carried on in the broad face of day, and protected by
law, and accounted highly honorable business! But, pray,
wherein do they differ from the old time gentry of the road,
who were wont to present a pistol at your head, instead of a law
book, with the same demand, " I have the power that gives me
the right, now your money or your life " ? Can you define the
distinction? Are not the men who get up corners in wheat, or
who combine to raise the price of the necessities of life to the

FRUITS OF HONESTY.

poor, as really highwaymen as the green-baize men of loaded
dice and cunningly devised card? The one robs his victim be-
cause he has the skill to do it, the other robs his because the
law gives him the power to do it. Both overreach and plunder.
To protect either by law is to put a bounty on fraud, and prof-
fer a premium for the demoralization and ruin of the public.
There are men now operating in Wall street, New York, and in
Chicago, and Boston, and many another city, who are rated at
a score or more millions in cash, or its equivalent, and who have
gained it all within a score or less of years, by just this kind of
piratical stock-gambling and cornering of the markets. And
lo! are they not all honorable men?

Now, it is not necessary to be either a gambler or a skinflint
in order to amass a fortune. No man needs to strangle his con-
science or harden his heart in order to gain a dollar, or a
hundred thousand of them. He may be eminently successful
pecuniarily without his money having the curse of his neighbor
upon it, or the condemnation of him who hath warned us,
" He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches shall surely
come to want," and " He that getteth riches, and not by right,
shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall
be a fool." Business can be carried on with astonishing mone-
tary success by rendering a just and fair equivalent for every
dollar it takes in. "A great cloud of witnesses " proves that.
The great majority of those entitled to be considered the repre-
sentative business men of this country for the past hundred
years have been honorable, sagacious, and honest traders, whose
success enriched the world as well as themselves. They pros-
pered through causing others to prosper. There are benedic-
tions, not reproaches, on their wealth, for their business has
not been based on selfishness, and developed in greed, but has
been so conducted as to prove that success in commercial lines
is not opposed to one's highest advancement in goodness, and
truth, and honesty.

Who of all the business men of his time was held in higher
esteem than Boston's great merchant, Amos Lawrence, who

FRUITS OP HONESTY.

during his lifetime gave away in charities over seven hundred
thousand dollars additional to the fortunes he left by will to his
relatives? He was the soul of honesty. Those who knew him'
said of him, " His integrity stands absolutely unimpeachable,
without spot or blemish." His history as a merchant from first
to last will bear the strictest scrutiny. He seemed ever to have
a reverence for right, unalloyed, unfaltering, supreme; a moral
perception and moral sensibility which kept him from deviat-
ing a hair's breadth from what he saw and felt to be his duty.
It was this that constituted the strength of his character, and
was one of the great secrets of his success. It was this that
secured him, when a young man, the entire confidence, and an
almost unlimited use of capital, of some of the wealthiest and
best men of that day. "His daily actions were guided by the
most exalted sense of right and wrong, and, in his strict sense
of justice, Aristides himself could not surpass him. He was a
living example of a successful merchant, who, from the earliest
period of his business career, had risen above all artifice, and
had never been willing to turn to his own advantage the igno-
rance or misfortune of others. He demonstrated in his own
case the possibility of success, while practicing the highest
standard of moral obligation."

When a lad of fourteen years he was apprenticed to a mer-
chant of his native town of Groton, Mass. " A sensible and
pious father, aided by a prudent mother, had trained the child
to become the future man," and, because of his integrity, he
was soon intrusted with the chief control of the store. When
twenty-one years of age, he went to Boston with his fortune of
twenty dollars in his pocket, and took a position as clerk in the

establishment of , and was soon offered a partnership in

the firm, but he thought their methods of business were not
strictly honest, and refused the offer. In a few months the
firm failed, and he then began business for himself on credit,
in a small way. Shortly after, his brother, Abbott Lawrence,
came to him as an apprentice, and, at the expiration of the in-
denture, became his partner, and the firm of A. & A. Lawrence

FRUITS OF HONESTY.

was known throughout the country for fifty years as one of the
largest and soundest of mercantile houses. He was the chief
founder of the manufacturing cities of Lowell and Lawrence
(the latter named after him, as well, also, as Lawrence Univer-
sity and town in Kansas); he aided scores of young men to gain
an education, and to start in business for themselves, and like
his brother merchant, John Thornton, became known far and
wide for deeds of benevolence, as well as for his great integrity
of character.

In a letter to a young man just starting in life, he gives this
as the first secret of his success: " In the first place, take this
for your motto at the commencement of your journey, that the
difference of going just right, or a little wrong, will be the differ-
ence of finding -yourself in good quarters, or in a miserable bog
or slough, at the end of it. To this simple fact of starting just
right am I indebted, with God's blessing on my labors, for my
present position, as well as that of the numerous connections
sprung up around me. As a first and leading principle, let every
transaction be of that pure and honest character that you would
not be ashamed to have it appear before the whole world as
clearly as to yourself." A second reason for his great success
was his thorough familiarity with his business. ''Supply and
demand were as familiar to him as the alphabet. He knew the
wants of the country, and sources of supply." Concerning this,
he said, " The secret of the whole matter was that we had formed
the habit of promptly acting, thus taking the top of the tide;
while the habit of some others was to delay until about half tide,
thus getting on the flats, while we were all the time prepared
for action, and ready to put into any port that promised well."
A third reason was a constant and careful supervision of his
affairs. As to this he writes, "Among the numerous people
who have failed in business within my knowledge, a prominent
cause has been a want of system in their affairs by which to
know when their expenses and losses exceeded their profits."
A fourth reason he assigns was economy. "Most of the young
men who commenced at that period failed by spending too

TRUITS OF HONESTY.

much money, and using credit too freely. I made* about fifteen
hundred dollars the first year, and more than four thousand the
second. Probably had I made four thousand the first year I
should have failed the second or third year. I practiced a
system of rigid economy, and never allowed myself to spend a
fourpence for unnecessary objects until I had acquired it."
Honest articles, sold only for what they were, and at only a fair
profit, gave others confidence in the firm, and at length enabled
them to reach a position to which few merchants attain. After
more than thirty years of business life, Mr. Lawrence wrote,
" I am not aware of ever desiring or acquiring any great amount
by a single operation, or of taking any part of the property of
any other man, and mingling it with my own, where I had the
legal right to do so."

Up to the time of his death, December 31, 1852, no other man
in this country had equaled him in the extent and amount of his
individual benevolences, and while he does not give this as one
of the reasons for his remarkable business success, it neverthe-
less was one, and by no means the least of them. While he ex-
emplified the truth of the declaration of the Bible that " the
hand of the diligent maketh rich," he was also another illustra-
tion of the truth of its statement that "he that hath pity
upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath
given will he pay him again." Three years before the close of
his long business career, he wrote thus concerning his benevo-
lence: " I adopted the practice ten years ago of spending my
income. The more I give, the more I have," and thus he who
had given seven hundred thousand dollars in charity to the
poor had more than a million* to leave for his relatives at his
death.

A famous maxim declares that " honesty is the best policy,"
but if the mere getting of money be the object of life, the
maxim is not true. A thief will beat an honest man in a trade,
by very virtue of his being a thief, nine times out of ten. He
will get more money in less time than any dozen honest men
can get. If not, how comes it to pass in the United States that

FRUITS OF HONESTY.

less than thirty thousand men have possession of more than
one-half of all the wealth of the country? Are none but them
diligent? Are none but them economical? Are none but them
intelligent? Are none but them honest? If " honesty is the best
policy " for money getting, the above fact is a sad impeachment
of the morals of the other sixty-five millions of the people of
this country. They evidently have not pursued that particular
" policy," for they have not that money. But, now, honesty
is not a "policy." It should never be degraded to the mere
level of a " management " or a "motive" for getting money.
Honesty is worth more to man than any amount of dollars, or
stocks, or bonds, or lands, can be. Honesty is a man's honor in
action. His manhood is a trade, and he should prize it as a
woman guards her virtue; he should part with life rather than
be despoiled of it. How low indeed is he who bargains it for
gold, or sells it for place or power! Young man, honesty, like
virtue, is ingrained in us by our birth, if our parents are good.
It is part of the material that enters into the wonderful thing
we call character, or selfhood. Character is not an accident.
We are not born with one, but with the material to make one.
Character is a thing of slow growth, of development, like the
body. Now as virtue or chastity has the first place, and the
best chances in the social life market, so honesty has always a
first mortgage on success of any or all kinds that is worth the
having. True, you can get much wealth the laws allow it
by parting with your honesty. So there are those who attain
to much of ease and luxury (for a while) by forswearing virtue,
but does it pay? Ask yourself that question when tempted by
gold to dishonesty of act or word. Will it pay? Believe me
there are better things, much higher, nobler things, than mere
money getting. Howbeit, the very highest type of honesty,
like virtue, is a help not a hindrance, to your getting on in the
world, even in acquiring wealth.

David Maydole was a poor country blacksmith near Corning,
N. Y., and was locally famous for his honest work, and for
making, when the occasion required, an excellent hammer.

97 7

FRUITS OP HONESTY.

One day some carpenters from New York city came to the
neighborhood to do a piece of work, and one of them needing a
hammer had Mr. Maydole make it. His fellow workmen,
pleased with its quality, bought some also, and, on their return,
induced a dealer in New York to order a dozen, but the dealer
found the price too high, and tried to induce Mr. Maydole to
reduce it by using an inferior stock so that they might be sold
in competition with those then on the market. He replied that
he would not make a hammer unless he made it in the best
manner, and of the best materials. The hammers the carpen-
ters bought proved so superior to any others that they could
get, that they asked for more. Gradually, as their quality be-
came known, his trade increased in spite of the higher price,
for the public soon learned that D. Maydole stamped on a ham-
mer meant the best that David Maydole could make, and he
came at length to have one of the largest manufactories in the
country. His honesty did not hinder but helped him.

When that famous English merchant, Samuel Budgett,
refused longer to adulterate his pepper, according to the uni-
versal custom of the trade of his time, with something that
resembled pepper dust, but was not, and rolled out his casks of
"P.D." and stove them to pieces, scattering their contents in
the stone quarry, his bank account did not suffer loss, but it
added immensely to his wealth of character. The inevitable
tendency of all vice is to bring one down to its own low level,
and when he refused longer to follow the lead of dishonesty by
adulterating his goods, even with such a so-called innocent and
harmless thing as "P.D.," and selling them for pure, instinc-
tively men recognized it as a tribute to, and triumph of, the
nobler elements of his character. For these little lapses from
honesty are as fatal to character as are the little lapses from
virtue. Said the poet, Dr. Young, " An honest man 's the
noblest work of God," and if you accept the reports of the
health commissioner as to the extent of the adulteration now
practiced in food products, he must be one of the rarest.

Not Above Your Business

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

Y a law of nature, the faults indulged in our childhood
become the vices of our mature years. The little pur-
loinings and peccadillos of the lad become the embezzle-
ments and rascalities of the man. The carelessness, vanity,
and pertness of the maid develop into the extravagance, frivol-
ity, and shrewishness of the woman. All the life of the oak lies
hidden in the tiny acorn; and the sins and crimes of after
years lie hidden in the faults of the child. All human experi-
ence has shown that it is far easier to prevent an evil than to
remedy it. A child can destroy many acorns in a brief time,
but the strength of many men is required for many days to up-
root the forest of oaks, when those acorns are fully grown. All
the men of violence and bloody crimes were once innocent chil-
dren, and their deeds of atrocity that shock the world are the
natural growth of evils nourished in childhood and youth. The
boy who, as a child and lad, took huge delight in pulling the
wings from flies and beetles, and impaling them on sharp
splints, naturally grew into that Nero, who, as emperor, ordered
the Christians of Rome to be wrapped in flax and pitch, and
tied to stakes in his royal gardens, and then burned them as
candles wherewith to illuminate the feasts at which he and
his lecherous crew were wont to recline and shout and revel,
the while his human, shrieking torches were slowly burning to
their miserable sockets. If those childish evils had but been
repressed, what a foul blot on civilized humanity would have
been prevented.

Experience has amply proved that parents are responsible

[CHAPTER 15.] 99

NOT ABOVE YOUR BUSINESS.

almost wholly for the faults of the child, either transmitting
them to him by heredity, or else cultivating them in him by
indulgence, or by unwise teaching. In the first case, we become
but the reproduction of our ancestors, and have, at times, to
confess sorrowfully to ourselves, at least, that we inherit their
vices, even if we are not heirs to their virtues. In the second
instance, we are our parents repeated, plus the faults they
developed in us. Our children of to-day are to be the parents
of to-morrow, and whatever of . faults we allow or plant in
them, whatever of wrong ideas we give them, will inevitably
bear fruit after its kind to trammel them later in their efforts
for success in life, and it may be to work their ruin. Or should
they win success in defiance of such faults, as some have nobly
done, nevertheless those faults in some form and degree will be
handed down to the coming generation, for no man ever yet
has escaped from this law of heredity.

The seeds of evil, like the seeds of plants, always produce
after their kind. It is with the hope of aiding you to avoid an
evil already too extensive that this reference is again made to
the great primal law of nature, heredity. Plant faults, and you
will reap vices. Plant evils, and you will reap crimes. The
future is in your keeping. You are to be the future men and
women of honor, or of shame. You are to be distinguished for
noble deeds, perchance for heroic daring, or you are to be the
slaves of sensuality, and the purveyors, if not the creators, of
vice. And which of these you become will be almost wholly
determined before you are twenty years old. If, in those form-
ing years, you are vain, inconstant, untruthful, and vicious,
you will be likely to continue so to old age. On the other hand,
should you have formed correct habits of life ere then, success
is sure to come to you. This evil but just referred to is the
growing disposition among the young to despise manual labor,
and seek for a genteel living. In some homes, indeed, the
young are taught by precept and by example the folly that
only professional, or mercantile, or office work is respectable;
that if one were to hold a plow, or drive a plane, or run a lathe

100

NOT ABOVE YOUR BUSINESS.

or loom, or work in a kitchen, or preside at a washtub for a
living, it would immensely lower, if not altogether ruin, one's
dignity. In consequence, what are called the professions are
crowded with those not fitted either by their natural gifts or
by their acquirements, to succeed in them, and who by the very
poverty of their surroundings are constantly subject to tempta-
tions to vice. If they were not so heavily burdened by dignity,
they might soon be above the want or genteel beggary of their
present positions, and pass their days in prosperity and useful-
ness by simply doing some honest, honorable, manual work.
But too often their "dignity" forbids, and so some suffer in
silence from want, and some resort to questionable, dishonest,
and vicious methods to gain a livelihood.

Very much of the forgery and embezzlement of the day is
due to the desire to maintain this false dignity of position with-
out hard work. Men are being stimulated by the fabulous
fortunes of a few men of note to despise the slow, plodding
ways of the fathers of the republic, and they plunge into unwise
speculations, hoping thus to amass a fortune quickly, or they
tax the energies of mind and body to their utmost in the mad
race for position, or wealth, and are wrecked in nerve and
brain while yet in the flush of their manhood. The wise content
with a frugal living and a modest competence has too largely
departed, and in its place has come a feverish anxiety for much
gold, and for luxury of dress and appointments, that is destined
to undermine, slowly, perhaps, but none the less surely, the
health and morals of the American people. It is time to call a
halt, and to remember that there are other and nobler things to
seek for than money. I would not have you despise money.
It is a most useful gift of God to men. Yet who was ever
satisfied with his pots of gold? If, however, that is what you
are determined on seeking, bear in mind that it does not require
a very high grade of brains or of morals to get it. Some of the
most successful money-getters that the world has ever known
never had an atom of greatness either in brain or soul, and,
when the Almighty took away the money from them, he found

101

NOT ABOVE YOUR BUSINESS.

only the skeleton of a man. The intellect was shriveled into a
parchment for recording stocks and bonds, while the spirit had
become simply a mummy's bag to take in gold. No, it does not
take a first-class man to get money. A gambler can often get
much of it; so can a thief; so can a rumseller. Indeed, such
persons often get more of it, and in far less time, than an honest
merchant, or a hard-working farmer or mechanic can. And
the reason is very plain. They are never above their business.
They could not succeed in it if they were. The business brings
money, and all their energies are bent to the one thing of
"getting on" by it. They may despise the business, and
despise themselves for being in it, but the "easy money" it
yields holds them to it. The instant they get above their busi-
ness, that instant the business stops. They must always be
down to its level in order to carry it on. And it is just so in all
honorable lines of industry. No man ever makes much of a
success in any one of them who gets above the business in
which he is engaged. The moment he does, that instant his
failure in it is certain.

The men of honor who amass honest fortunes by honorable
means are never above their business. No part of it is so lowly
as to be despised or neglected by them. They recognize the
all-important fact in life that no necessary work can ever be
dishonorable or degrading to any man. If you would get on in
the world, never despise any honest, hard work, or worker.
Pride, like modesty, is a most excellent thing in its place, but it
is often assumed, and is sometimes counterfeited, and then it
becomes grotesque, or contemptible. Many a young man
is "too proud" to carry a bundle through the street for his
employer, or even for himself, and orders it sent by the porter,
but the same young man is not " too proud " to shirk work, and
indulge in hours of leisure at his employer's expense, or to
indulge in indelicate speech, or to fellowship vicious compan-
ions, any one of which things will lower his dignity more in an
hour than it would to drive a dray for a twelvemonth. Peter
the Great, though Czar of all the Russias, was never so great

102

NOT ABOVE YOUR BUSINESS.

as when, in order to elevate his half-savage countrymen by
inducing them to become shipbuilders, he laid aside his royal
robes, and, disguising himself as an humble workman, entered
the East India Company's dockyard at Amsterdam to learn the
art of shipbuilding for their sakes, and lived in the lowly lodg-
ings of his fellow laborers, and ate their kind of food, and was as
one of them. Royalty's dignity was not tarnished by the deed,
but how honorable shipbuilding became to all noble minded
Russians when it was known that the Czar had learned it in
order to benefit them.

John Marshall, for thirty-five years the chief justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States, who had been general in
the army, member of Congress, senator, and envoy to France,
and his country's greatest constitutional lawyer, did not think
it belittled him to carry from the market his family supplies.
On one occasion, a pompous young fellow was loudly bewailing
his inability to find an errand man to carry a turkey for him,
when the chief justice, saying he was going past the young
man's house, offered to take it home for him. The young man,
who did not know Mr. Marshall, gladly accepted the offer, and
contentedly trotted along by his side, and, when the house was
reached, offered to pay him for the errand. When this was
refused, the young sprout made inquiry as to " who that
obliging old man was," and, when he was told, it began to
dawn on him that there was a vast difference between dignity
and dudism.

Boston's millionaire merchant and philanthropist, Amos
Lawrence, once had a clerk in his employ who was requested
to take home to a lady a small purchase, but he declined to do
it on the ground that it would "compromise his dignity,"
whereupon Mr. Lawrence, hoping to teach him a lesson, carried
it himself, much to the consternation of the fop, who had mis-
taken vanity for dignity. Unfortunately a few like him survive
to this day, but they never get above a clerkship.

103

Beginning at the Bottom.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

f~")LATO, that prince of philosophers, lays it down as an
ft axiom that whenever luxury (the product of wealth) pre-

^^ vails among a people, it invariably destroys the most
mighty and flourishing of states and kingdoms. He
also calls attention to the fact that persons born to wealth and
greatness are almost unavoidably apt to become degenerate in
vigor of body and in strength of mind; that the luxury of appe-
tite, and voluptuousness of life, that great wealth induces,
stifles the better nature of man, and renders him insensible to
the grand motives of duty, of love of country, and zeal for the
public good; that the soft and delicate life it brings subjects
men to the dominion of a multitude of artificial wants and
necessities, upon the having of which their happiness is found
at length to depend to such an extent that, through fear of los-
ing these conveniences and superfluities of life, they become
timid, fearful, and cowardly, and are unfitted to undergo the
fatigues and hardships and self-denials and struggles necessary
for great achievements, either of conquest or of defense. And
the historians of all ages and nations confirm the truth of the
great philosopher's axiom. For, as nations have become greatly
rich, they have been seen to become greatly corrupted, and to
have perished of such corruption.

Is wealth, then, a foe to civilization and a hindrance to the
development of man's better and higher nature? By no means.
Wealth is the product of civilization. Savages are wretchedly
poor. Wealth is the result of intelligence; the effect of the culti-
vation of one's nobler instincts; the creation alone of the virtues.

[CHAPTEB 16.] 104

BEGINNING AT THE BOTTOM.

Vices do not produce it, although they often steal it. And this
fruit of a good tree, the virtues, cannot necessarily, or nat-
urally, be injurious. Poverty is a greater curse to humanity
than riches ever were, and it is infinitely more to be dreaded.
It takes an immense amount of divine grace to endure poverty.
The Christ endured it, as he endured other evils, to show us
that God could develop the noblest humanity even at human-
ity's lowest point of penury, but, nevertheless, poverty is not a
thing to be desired. How it represses and perverts the finer,
nobler instincts of man! To what low depths of beastliness it
at length sinks him! How few, and how ignoble, are the ambi-
tions of the great masses of the poor in almost all lands! How
their poverty holds them down! While not a badge of serfdom,
it is an occasion and a cause of servitude. While by no means
a disgrace, it is the fruitful cause of many a shame. It is not a
crime, but it is the nursery of a vast multitude of crimes, and
no one should be content to remain in it who has the power and
opportunity to rise above it. Men may talk as they please
about the blessings of poverty, nevertheless there are but few
natures who are capable of being ennobled by it if long con-
tinued. Ages ago the wise men declared that " the destruction
of the poor is their poverty," and nature and human nature are
the same to-day. Therefore, get out of poverty as quickly as
you can; but get out of it nobly, by getting out of it naturally.
Nature makes no mistakes, and when she starts us at the
poverty point, she does so for a very wise purpose. Poverty is
the childhood period of mankind, and as the nations and
individuals who compose them advance in the intelligence and
virtue she designed for them, they naturally leave poverty
behind them. With every increase in intelligence and virtue,
wealth increases among all people. And yet, paradox though
it be, it is generally a sad misfortune, as Plato estimates, to
have been born of rich parents. To gain riches is to gain a cer-
tain kind of victory, and it is by many accounted the most
desirable victory in life. Now a victory is often harder to man-
age than a defeat. It is sometimes far more disastrous than

105

BEGINNING AT THE BOTTOM.

any defeat could be. Hence it has sometimes so happened that
the acquisition of great wealth has proved to be only a mighty
load to sink the possessor and all his in eternal infamy. They
would have been better off if they had never been rich. It is a
terrible thing to starve one's better nature simply to gain
money that you must soon leave, perchance to ignoble souls,
who can scarce decently wait for you to die ere they scramble
after your pile of gold.

A recent writer has declared that not one in a thousand of
the sons of very wealthy persons ever dies wealthy. The expla-
nation is plain and easy. The sturdy virtues of economy, of
thrift, and wise forecast that are needed to gain wealth, the
necessity to labor, the abstinence from weakening dissipation
and fleshly appetites, the constant vigilance required in the
contest for it, are all lacking in the case of him who is born
to it, and they are but seldom cultivated in him unless his
parents are persons of rare good sense. The parents are gener-
ally either so occupied in acquiring their wealth that they
neglect his education, or else they commit the task to hirelings,
who teach him rather how to enjoy and spend money than how
to earn and wisely use and care for it, with the very natural
result that whereas the father began with nothing, the son
often ends with nothing, or worse. Almost invariably the
greatest kindness that can be done to young men or young
women is to give them an opportunity to earn their own living,
even though they are heirs to a fortune. Many a man has
found that what seemed at first a hard necessity compelling
him to earn his own living, was in reality a better inheritance
than if he had been given scores of thousands of dollars without
work.

The late United States senator, Simon Cameron, for a gen-
eration known as the " Czar of Pennsylvania politics," was left
an orphan and poor when a child, and began to learn the
printer's trade when nine years of age, and at twenty-three was
the editor of the leading paper in Harrisburg. Afterward he
became a banker and railroad speculator, and at length a man

106

BEGINNING AT THE BOTTOM.

of great wealth, and a mighty factor in the politics of his state.
When forty-six years of age, he became United States senator
from Pennsylvania, which office he held for many years, until
in 1872 he resigned in favor of his son, James Donald Cameron.
Of this son, he said at one time, "He has been fortunate in
one thing, he was born poor." The elder Cameron had come
to know by experience that privation and hard work is one
of the greatest blessings that can befall a young man. It
develops the best that is in him by compelling him to cultivate
virtue if he would get on in the world.

" 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay."

One of the noblest and best governors that the state of
Massachusetts ever had, and to whom she gave the phenomenal
honor of re-electing him for seven consecutive years, was
George N. Briggs, the son of a Revolutionary soldier, who was
afterward a blacksmith. George was born at Adams, Massa-
chusetts, April 13, 1796, and died of a- gunshot accident at
Pittsfield, Mass., September 12, 1861. When eleven years old,
he was obliged to seek his own living, and was apprenticed to a
hatter at White Creek, New York. Three years afterward, an
elder brother gave him a year's schooling, for the lad, imbued
with the idea of becoming a lawyer, was giving every leisure
moment he could get from his work to study. Concerning this,
Mr. Briggs wrote years afterward: " In August, 1813, with five
dollars I had earned at haying, I left home to go to studying
law. I had a brother living on the Hudson, whom I visited in
September, and then, with my trunk on my back, came into
Berkshire county, penniless, and a stranger to all except a few
relatives and friends, most of them as poor as I was, and that
was poor enough." But the penniless lad studied hard, and
worked his way in every honest mode he could, and five years
later was admitted to the bar of his native county, and soon
took his place as a most eloquent pleader and keen debater. In
1830 he was elected to Congress as representative, and he served

107

BEGINNING AT THE BOTTOM.

six terms, and then from 1843 to 1851 was governor of his state.
During his governorship, the celebrated trial and execution of
Professor Webster for the murder of Dr. Parkman took place,
and Governor Briggs, believing that justice and the best inter-
ests of the people would be served if the law took its course,
resisted the mighty efforts then made for a commutation of that
sentence. After his retirement from the gubernatorial chair,
he was for five years a judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
He was a man of deep religious convictions, and at his death
was president of the American Baptist Missionary Union, and
of the American Tract Society at Boston, of the American
Temperance Union, of the Massachusetts Sabbath School
Union, and a trustee of Williams College, besides holding a
membership in various other charitable and religious organiza-
tions, positions none of which, in all human probability, he
would have reached but for the spur and incentive born of his
early poverty.

The visitor at Lancaster, Pa., will find, in a large private
cemetery at that place devoted to the burial of the poor of all
nations and creeds, a tomb of the donor, who was buried there
August 14, 1868, and on which tomb he caused it to be recorded
that he had chosen that private spot, "not from any natural
preference for solitude, but, finding other cemeteries limited by
charter rules as to race, I have chosen it that I might be enabled
to illustrate in my death the principles which I have advocated
through a long life, equality of man before his Creator." It
is the grave of America's " Great Commoner," Thaddeus
Stevens, the heroic leader of the patriots in the House of Rep-
resentatives during the dark and troublous days of the Rebel-
lion. He was born in Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont,
April 4, 1792. His parents were in very humble circumstances,
and Thaddeus was a sickly child, and lame, but intensely
ambitious for an education. His noble, devout mother exerted
herself to the utmost to aid him in his struggle, and by her help,
and his own determined efforts, he was enabled at length to
enter the University of Vermont. While there his father died

108

BEGINNING AT THE BOTTOM.

in the war of 1812, and the university closed because of the
war. He then entered Dartmouth College, from which institu-
tion he graduated in 1814. He became a teacher in the academy
at York, Pa., and while there privately studied law, and in 1816
began to practice as attorney at Gettysburg, Pa., where for six-
teen years he stood in the very front rank of his profession,
helping many a struggling young man to an education, and
fighting mightily to establish a free school sj'stem of educa-
tion in his adopted state, in which for many years he was a
member of the Legislature, and known everywhere as the
unterrified champion of freedom, and of free speech and
thought.

Living on the borders of a slave state, he was an ardent
abolitionist, and rescued many a fleeing fugitive from being
returned to bondage. As an instance of his kindness of heart
toward the poor, despised black race, he stopped over night at
a Maryland tavern when on his way to Baltimore to buy some
law books for his scant library, in the early days of his practice
as a lawyer, and a negro woman in great distress begged him
to intercede with the landlord that her husband, a slave, who
was also the landlord's son, might not be sold from her. Forth-
with the young lawyer pleaded with the unnatural father in
behalf of his humble daughter-in-law, but pleaded in vain.
The "boy" should be sold, and he must have three hundred
dollars for him, and no less. Finding entreaties all in vain,
Stevens bought the landlord's son, and at once gave him free
papers, and, abandoning his journey and the much coveted law
books, returned to fight more fiercely than ever the barbarous
system that degraded a man to the level of a beast.

In 1842 he removed to Lancaster, where he met with great
success in his profession, and might have amassed much wealth
but for his constant and lavish private charities. In 1848 he
was elected to Congress by the Whig party, where he remained
until 1853, when he retired and practiced law again for five
years to repair financial losses with which he had met, and
then in 1858 he was re-elected to Congress as a Republican,

109

BEGINNING AT THE BOTTOM.

which party continued him in office as its representative until
his death. A master of invective, how he thundered against the
rebels in Congress and out of it! Even in the thick of the fight,
he rallied his countrymen to stand by Freedom's altar, never
ceasing, never faltering, in his demand that all men should be
free in limb, in thought, in speech; and he lived to see the land
he loved so intensely delivered from the curse that for ages had
rested upon it, for now man could no longer buy and sell his
fellow man as though he were an ox. When Freedom writes
up her heroes, chief among them will be found the name of
Thaddeus Stevens, the grand old Commoner. An orphan
asylum at Lancaster, for the poor children of both the white
and black races, that he founded by his will, perpetuates his
memory there.

110

The Results of Application.

WILLIAM HENRY SCOTT, LL.D., Pres. State University, Columbus, Ohio.

OW much we shall accomplish in life depends on our
ability, our opportunity, and our application. The first
two are fixed quantities. Our natural ability was deter-
mined before we could exercise any agency or choice. Over
what is now our acquired ability we once had a large deter-
mining power ; but for our present use it too is fixed. However
we may modify it hereafter, we can do nothing to make it at
this moment different in one jot or tittle from what it is. The
past was the time to mold the present, but the past is gone, and
no man has any more power in it. We once held also a large
determining power over what is now our opportunity. But that
power has been exhausted, and at each occasion we must accept
our opportunity, if we accept it at all, just as it is.

But the third factor is in our control. We may determine
what amount of application we will join with our ability and
opportunity. It is by our application therefore that the result,
so far as we have any power over it, is always measured. The
only question that concerns any man is, How should I use the
gifts and occasions that I now have in order that I may perform
my duty in life and attain my proper destiny? It is idle for him
to complain that he has not been endowed with greater talents
or favored with a better opportunity. Repining will only impair
his present action. All that remains for him is to put forth his
ability, whatever it is, in the improvement of his actual oppor-
tunity.

What results may he expect? Perhaps success in the out-
ward thing that he aims at. Burritt, the blacksmith, began his

[ CHAPTER 17. ] 111

THE RESULTS OF APPLICATION.

career as a student of languages while he was working at the
anvil fourteen hours a day. When his great acquirements
became known and he was asked how he had made them, he
wrote, " All that I have accomplished has been by that plodding,
patient, persevering process of accretion which builds the ant-
heap particle by particle, thought by thought, fact by fact."
Palissy, toiling in the face of poverty and failure to discover
the secret of the white enamel, was so intoxicated with en-
thusiasm that men thought him a fool. God's fool he was, with
a great hope at his heart for which he gladly suffered the loss of
all things. His reward was success in what he sought and an
immortal name. Tennyson, living apart, kept his mind brood-
ing poetic themes, and through years of habitual retirement he
nourished the thoughts and framed the expressions that made
him the first poet of his generation. Gibbon has told us what
years of research, reflection, and composition it cost him to
produce his history a work to which, with all its faults, we may
apply the language which he applied to the empire itself " a
solid fabric of human greatness." Michael Angelo observed
nature with a searching and critical eye. He studied human
anatomy with extraordinary minuteness and thoroughness.
He would begin a piece of work in the most elementary way,
and develop it through each stage, often by repeated trials and
always with the closest attention. While he was painting the
Sistine Chapel he would not allow himself time for meals or to
dress and undress; but he kept bread within reach that he might
eat when hunger impelled, and he slept in his clothes. What
were the results? Paintings, statues, buildings, military works
of the first order, "miracles of genius" which have remained
unequaled by any modern hand.

No less is it true in the pursuits of common life that by stern
and laborious application each individual realizes the best
results of which he is capable. Whatever your place, you can
make the most of it by applying yourself wholly to it. In
almost every case the best work is the result of the greatest ap-
plication. It comes only at the last and as the effect of the final

112

THE RESULTS OF APPLICATION.

process. It is the exquisite product of all the resources and
activities that can contribute to its perfection. It is the last and
richest drop of the vintage.

Any work that is worthy of us has its difficulties. But what
work is it whose difficulties cannot be overcome by heroic
application? It is wonderful how the face of a dismal situation
brightens when a calm and steady will confronts it. What
seemed a mountain proves an airy phantasm. What seemed
an impregnable Gibraltar is found to be penetrated with secret
passages and stairways. But, however real and stubborn the
obstacles may be, they almost always give way before a spirit
of earnest application. Yet not always. The outward reward
of even the most faithful endeavor sometimes fails. Either
ability or opportunity, or both, may be wanting. Many causes
may intervene whose existence and influence cannot be fore-
known.

But there are other results that never fail. One of these is
the growth of opportunity. Rigid for the present, for the future
opportunity is elastic. Opportunity that is used opens the way
to that which is greater. Press up to the boundary of the op-
portunity in which you now are, and it will be easy to step forth
into the one that lies just beyond. Application is the path from
lower opportunity to higher.

There are deeper and more abiding results. We may not
aim to accomplish them. We may even be unconscious that
they are forming. But while we are engrossed in pursuit of the
outward object, the reaction of each effort that we put forth is
impressing itself infallibly and ineffaceably in our nature. Our
acts are recorded within us as if graven with an iron pen and
lead in the rock forever.

The secret of self-improvement is that under the law of sup-
ply and demand strength comes by use. Every exertion con-
sumes force, thus creating a want; and nature, wise economist
as she is, immediately stores a surplus where the want arises,
against future demands. The power to do grows by faithful
doing, and our ability, though for our present need it is neither

113 8

THE RESULTS OF APPLICATION.

greater nor less than it is, can be made for the future indefinitely
broader and more effective.

Application brings ease as well as strength. What we do
often is done with less and less exertion. Learning is in great
part but the process of acquiring ease by practice. The soldier,
the penman, the musician, the orator, learn to perform the
movements which their vocations require by repeating them till
body and mind respond habitually and without effort.

Application produces skill. Up to a certain limit ease and
skill increase together; but beyond that limit as the action
becomes easier improvement is apt to cease. For while ease
results from mere repetition, skill increases only by repetition
that is conducted with attention and care. As attention and
care decline, the performance becomes more easy but less skill-
ful. Thus ease and skill, so far from growing in harmony side
by side, become opposed to each other. Although the work as
we performed it at first has become easy, the work as we ought
to perform it is as difficult as ever; for all the energy that
we are now able to save from the lower forms of effort through
the ease which practice has brought us should be directed to
more perfect achievement. Much' of the mere routine of life
we may turn over to habit and be content to get through it
easily; but our real work should always command our highest
intelligence and our fullest energy. In this we ought always to
do our best; and if we do, we snali never cease to improve.

The hardest nature, apparently intractable by any force, will
gradually yield to the influence of its own action; and thus an
inner transformation may eventually be wrought. It is true,
most men fail in their efforts at reform; but it is because their
will is weak or because they do not wait with patience for
results. These are the two requisites time and an inexorable
will. Given time enough, a will that knows no change can sub-
due the passions and develop the power and transmute the
nature of the most degraded soul that breathes. No matter
how weak a power may be, rational use will make it stronger.
No matter how awkward your movements may be, or how

114

THE RESULTS OF APPLICATION.

obtuse your senses, or how crude your thought, or how unregu-
lated your desires, you may by patient discipline acquire, slowly
indeed but with infallible certainty, grace and freedom of
action, clearness and acuteness of perception, strength and
precision of thought, and moderation of desire. If you will
apply your inner force to the achievement of a high and
magnanimous life, you shall yet see with the imaginative eye
and hear with the musical ear and think with the illuminated
understanding and feel with the pure and serene heart. A
transforming spirit will brood over you, shedding a slow diffus-
ing light through your darkness and out of the chaos of your
nature evoking the beauty and order of a new life. Steadfastly
work and wait, and the secrets of science, of literature, of art,
may one day lie open to your mind and you may rise to ranges
of experience whose noble splendors surpass your present power
to comprehend.

With persistent faith all can be done. Not in a day, not in
a year. The results of application are a form of growth, and
like all growth they proceed slowly and unconsciously. But by
faithful application, doing.each day what can be done in that
day, by thoughtf ulness, by aspiration, by patient, undiscouraged
fidelity in every least thing as well as in every greatest thing,
the sublime result will at last be realized.

Find your true end. Let the desire to attain it be to you as
the breath of life. Let your application to it be steadfast
and unremitting. Commit yourself to it in unreserved devo-
tion. The results will assuredly be the largest measure of
achievement, the largest measure of happiness, and the attain-
ment of the noblest nature that are possible to your endowment
and your opportunity.

115

Commercial Courage.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

T is a misfortune to a man to have the path to success made
smooth and easy to him; for in such case he fails to
develop the sturdy virtues and personal resources that are
alone the product of hard toil, economy, and thrift, and upon
the development of these qualities depends the value of his
manhood. True, the qualities may exist in him, but in such case
they remain in embryo. The value of muscle depends not on
its flabbiness, which is the result of want of exercise, but upon
its strength and endurance, which alone come by use. Brains
are valuable, not for their bulk, but for fineness, also due to
use. And one's virtues or one's resources become valuable in
proportion to their development. Use develops skill, aptness,
strength.

The value of all victories depends not altogether upon the
getting them, but upon how you get them. Sometimes a vic-
tory costs too much, and great wealth is often not worth the
getting. If to gain victory you must part with honor, truth,
manhood, then defeat is far preferable ; for in such case the
defeat becomes the victory when viewed from life's last hours.
Honor and manhood outrank all wealth or position at that
point, and beyond it. Many young men are apt to lose heart if
their first plans and efforts for success miscarry; as though
perfection were due to a first trial, or fruits were to be plucked
before the seeds were grown. When a young man fails in
business, lie and the world too often think he is ruined,; as
though the first skirmish made or unmade the warrior; as
though one chance for success were all that Providence gives

[CHAPTER 18.] 116

COMMERCIAL COURAGE.

us! Young man, ten thousand chances are before you. With
the proper use of your present opportunities, new ones will
appear. The due employment of your resources to-day will
bring you new power to-morrow. Life is a constant unfolding
of new opportunities, new resources, new powers. How much
we have to-day that our fathers never dreamed of! And there
will be more to-morrow. Neither nature nor human nature is
exhausted.

A stout heart, a dauntless will, and a pure spirit are invinci-
ble everywhere. Nature yields her hidden treasures to him
who dares seek them. Of her comes wealth ; of her comes
success, but not to the faint-hearted. Fear keeps many a man
poor, and often causes business men to fail. General Sherman
tells us that he was offered corner lots in San Francisco in 1848
for $16 each, and could have bought gold mines for a few score
dollars apiece, but was afraid to invest. In a few years there-
after they were worth millions. A man of very great wealth
declares that he never made any money only at times called
panics, when every one seemed possessed by fear. Then he
bought, and when men recovered from their fear he was rich.
Nearly every panic of these modern times is gotten up by men
of daring to enrich a few individuals, and the moral is a very
plain one don't get frightened. You may lose money; but
what matters it if you do not lose honor or health ? All the
capital of the world is simply the overplus of toil; that is, what
is left after supplying the daily wants of mankind. If yours
has departed, you can easily get more by toil, industry, econ-
omy, perseverance.

Never despair. Life is not solely for getting a living; it is
for developing the perfect man, body, mind, and soul. And
that is often better obtained through what men call failures
and defeats, than by victories. Be brave. Cowardice is born
of fear, and fear is weakness. Noble manhood and noble
womanhood grow from resolute, determined spirits that take
this life's vicissitudes to be, what indeed they are, the needful
preparation for far more responsible and ennobling duties and

117

COMMERCIAL COURAGE.

employments in the life beyond. In this world's business
affairs the man who refuses to consider himself defeated
sooner or later wins success. He may not win the first battle,
nor the second, nor the third, but, like Bruce of Scotland, he
will fire his spirit in the hours of dejection that come to us all,
with the perseverance even of the humble spider, and like him
cry, " I, too, will yet conquer."

Sometimes a young man fresh from college, and full of its
lore, gets discouraged if his brilliant talents do not at once
put him in the highest positions; forgetting that skill is as
needful to success as is knowledge of principles; and skill is
born of toil. If you are but of good courage, you will find your
place made for you, or make one for yourself. The world's
great enterprises were not projected nor carried out by cowards.
If De Lesseps had heeded the " It can't be done," of the
world's faint-hearted croakers, there would now be no Suez
canal. If Jay Cooke or Cakes Ames had taken counsel of the
multitudinous prophets of fear, we should not now have our
Pacific railroads. In all just, honest, honorable enterprises
" I have'' waits on " I dare."

113

The Man of Push,

REV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

, what is it? Our latest and largest dictionary* defines
it as "persevering energy"; "enterprise." Definition,
however, is hardly necessary. We Americans know
full well the meaning of the term. We are the most
pushing people on the face of the earth. As a nation we have
more energy, enterprise, and go-ahead than any nation the
world has hitherto produced. Says Emerson, " Import into any
stationary district, as into an old Dutch population in New York
or Pennsylvania, or among the planters of Virginia, a colony of
hardy Yankees, with seething brains, heads full of steam-ham-
mer, pulley, crank, and toothed wheel, and everything begins
to shine with value."

There has lately come into colloquial use in our country a
rather inelegant but forceful word which expresses exactly
what we mean by a man of push. It is the word "hustler."
To hustle is to push or make your way with difficulty through a
crowd. To-day the thoroughfares of life are crowded; if a man
would win a place in the ranks of professional or mercantile
life, he must push for it. Push brings men of mediocrity to the
front, and enables them to stay there. In these days of keen
competition, a man without push is soon jostled aside and falls
into the rear. Push is the passport to success. Push paves the
way from poverty to wealth.

In no profession or pursuit is eminence achieved apart from
push, apart from hard, persistent work. " I find," said Liv-
ingstone, the great missionary explorer, "that all eminent men

The Century.

[CHAPTER 19.] 119

THE MAN OF PUSH.

work hard." We may be sure there has always been hard,
earnest, persistent work somewhere before eminence has been
gained.

" The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night."

There is absolutely no substitute for that persevering energy
which we call push. Scientists tell us that the various forms of
energy manifest in the physical universe light, heat, gravita-
tion, magnetism, electricity are all convertible into one
another. But if a man has not mental energy, push, no other
qualification he may have is convertible into it or can be a substi-
tute for it. Nothing can take its place. Learning cannot. Talent
cannot. Genius cannot. Genius is a dazzling thing, but it is
not exempt from the law of labor. It must plod if it would win
the prize. Genius is not a something that can dispense with
toil, but rather a something that inspires the soul to persevere
in needed toil. The world's greatest men have ever been its
most energetic workers.

Genius, unless it have inherited wealth, must push and plod
or it will die in the poorhouse.

History is full of splendid examples of what may be accom-
plished by energy and indefatigable push. Push led Columbus
out from his Spanish hills across the western waves. In his
journal, day after day he wrote these simple but sublime words,
"That day we sailed Westward, which was our course." Hope
might rise and fall, terror and dismay seize upon the crew at
the mysterious variations of the compass, but Columbus, unap-
palled, pushed on due west, and nightly wrote in his journal
the above words. A sublime example of push! It was push on
the part of Knox that led to the reformation in Scotland; push
on the part of the Wesleys that regenerated religious life in
England. It was push on the part of men like Garibaldi,
Cavour, and Mazzini that in our day has unified Italy. Push
is the word that explains the marvelous career of Napoleon.

120

THE MAN OF PUSH.

Under all difficulties and discouragements whatsoever, his
motto was, " I press on." When told the Alps stood in the way
of his army, "Then there shall be no Alps," he said, and he
built the road across the Simplon pass. Push is the word that
explains all the wonderful achievements and triumphant prog-
ress of this nineteenth century. It has built immense cities
where a few years ago were rolling prairies; it has girdled the
globe with railroads and given us Cunard steamers for ancient
shallops, so that we can go from Chicago to London in a week.
It teaches us to raise our crops, and creates yearly more wealth
than the Orient ever knew.

The man of push is a man of intelligence. He knows at
what he is aiming, and works towards it like a Hercules. His
push has a purpose behind it. His energy is not blind, neither
is it fitful nor easily daunted. It devotes itself to a given
object; is not drawn off to side issues; is quiet but incessant in
operation; attends strictly to business; overcomes difficulties,
not necessarily with noise and bustle, but one by one by steady
pressure. Old Commodore Vanderbilt, being asked what he
considered the secret of business success, replied, "Secret?
There is no secret about it. All you have to do is to attend to
your business and go ahead." Push is the application of mind
to material conditions with wealth as the result. Your man of
push sees where land will be wanted, clears it accordingly, lays
it out, goes to sleep, and wakes up rich.

The man of push masters his circumstances and is not
mastered by them. He believes that

" One constant element of luck
Is genuine, solid, old Teutonic pluck."

Circumstances have rarely favored famous men. They have
fought their way to triumph through all sorts of opposing
obstacles. Milton wrote Paradise Lost in blindness and poverty.
His motto was,

" I argue not

Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer
Right onward."

121

THE MAN OF PUSH.

Linnaeus, the great naturalist, was at one time so poor as to
be obliged to mend his shoes with folded paper, and to beg his
meals of his friends. George Stephenson, the inventor of the
locomotive, began life as a common collier, working in the mine.
Nearly all the men who have risen to greatness began life under
unfavorable conditions. Circumstances seldom conquer a man
of push and determination. In the words of Tennyson,

" He breaks his birth's invidious bar,

And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows of circumstance
And grapples with his evil star."

This chapter cannot be closed better than in the words of Sir
Thomas Fowell Buxton. " The longer I live, the more certain
I am that the great difference between men, the feeble and the
powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy and invin-
cible determination a purpose once fixed and then death or
victory."

122

The Value of Tact.

WILLIAM C. KING, Springfield, Mass.

I ACT is defined by Webster as being that peculiar skill and
ready power of appreciating and accomplishing whatever
^ is required by circumstances.

Men of great talents and profound wisdom are constantly
being distanced in the race of life by those who have but a
fraction of their attainments.

The latter have the faculty of using all the ability they pos-
sess to the best advantage.

Talent is mental or physical power, while tact is the ability
to use talent skillfully. While the man of talent is getting
under headway, the man of tact steps in and wins the race.

Wisdom will tell you what to do, while tact will show you
how it is done ; this is not because tact is wiser than his neigh-
bor wisdom, but because he is more ready and apt. His vision
does not take so wide a range as wisdom, but is more pointed
and direct. The man of wisdom convinces, the man of tact per-
suades. The one overwhelms with his arguments, the other
pleads or persuades. One uses logic, the other rhetoric; one
appeals to the intellect, the other to the sensibilities, and, as the
common people are not learned logicians, the man of rhetoric
draws the crowds and pockets the cash. Talent gets high com-
pliments, while tact carries away the prize. Men often ask
why the man of wisdom does not succeed better in winning the
laurels of life, and wonder why men of tact get so many of
them. But there is no great mystery about it. Tact is ever on
the alert for personal advancement, while wisdom seeks per-
sonal improvement. Tact has a keen eye for opportunities to

CCHATTBR 20.] 123

THE VALUE OF TACT.

win success, while wisdom is laboring hard to deserve it. Tact
keeps its ear adjusted to catch all hints, while wisdom is con-
tent to give them. Wisdom has always something worth hear-
ing, with but few listeners; while tact never lacks for hearers,
whom it entertains if it does not instruct. Tact will adapt
itself to circumstances, while talent too often ignores them.
Wisdom is demanding in its claims, while tact will yield to
conquer. Wisdom condemns the weaknesses of humanity,
while tact ignores them or uses them to climb to place and
profit. In a sentence, tact is the faculty of adaptation to the
emergencies real or supposed of the present, while wisdom is
for the permanencies of all time. The man of wisdom is not
always the man of tact, while the men of tact are rarely noted
for great learning. They are what the world calls " practical
people " persons who are more anxious to conciliate than to
antagonize others. Hence men of tact figure among the most
successful in business affairs, but they are rarely found among
the ranks of the reformers. Reformers are men of different
mold. Reforms come, however, but seldom, and the masses
must have work and bread, and "practical" men must provide
them. So it comes to pass that these men of tact constitute the
life of commerce and of trade. Both commerce and trade are
intensely conservative and will not willingly forego their divi-
dends, therefore men of reform must be content to be " voices
crying in the wilderness" until wrongs are no longer bearable;
then the men of tact execute the reforms. That remarkable
man of the 19th century, Abraham Lincoln, although the
instrument in the hands of Providence for the liberation of four
and a half millions of bondmen, was not by nature, habit, or
education a reformer, and neither himself nor the political
party electing him to the presidency had any thought of abol-
ishing slavery.

Lincoln was a man of most wonderful tact. It was that tact
which gave him immortality of fame and gave to his party a
lease of power for thirty years, proving once more that men
and parties will ever gain length of days through righteous-

124

THE VALUE OP TACT.

ness, his great distinguishing characteristic. He had good
talents, but they were by no means of the highest order. He
was surpassed in some respects by many men of his day, but
he had industry, ambition, and a large stock of good common
sense, ruled and directed by a tact that led him at moments of
destiny to champion the cause of the oppressed, because on
that side his tact taught him lay victory for himself and party.

With what adroit and well-nigh infinite tact he held his way
through the stormy political campaigns that resulted in his
election, and then through those fierce, troublous, and bloody
days of the civil war! Other presidents have been as patriotic
as he; some of them have been far greater statesmen, but as a
political tactician he stands unrivaled, and, because of the
peculiarity of the times in which he lived giving him great
opportunity to exercise that tact, he has stamped the pages of
history with a deathless impress. He never had a year's school-
ing. We quote from his own words regarding his parentage
and early life.

" My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of
age and grew up literally without any education. He removed
to what is now Spencer county, Indiana, in my eighth year.
We reached our new home about the time the state came into
the Union. It was a wild region with many bears and other
wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were
some schools, so called, but no qualifications were ever required
of a teacher beyond ' readin', writin', and cipherin' ' to the rule
of three. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened
to sojourn in the neighborhood he was looked upon as a wizard.
There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education.
Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much, still,
somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three,
but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little
advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked
up from time to time under the pressure of necessity. I was
raised to farm work, at which I continued till I was twenty-
two."

125

THE VALUE OF TACT.

He knew nothing of grammar, indeed, scarce understood
what it means, nor did he study it until he had grown to man-
hood, when he wearily and alone plodded through the book, on
finding that he could never hope to be a lawyer without the
knowledge of constructing sentences. Yet how that tact of his
led him in after days to say the right word at the right place!
That is what tact does, and its possessor becomes renowned.
Who quotes that learned and eloquent oration of Edward
Everett, delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg ceme-
tery, November 19, 1863? But these few terse, tactful sentences
of Lincoln's, written hurriedly on scraps of paper while going
thither on the cars, on being informed that he would be
expected to say something on that occasion, have already
passed into fame as one of the rarest classics in the English
language.

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth
on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedi-
cated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now
we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that
nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long
endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We
have come to dedicate a portion of the field as a final resting
place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might
live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot conse
crate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living
and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above
our power to add to or detract from.

"The world will little note nor long remember what we say
here, but it never can forget what they did here. It is for us,
the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us here to be dedicated to the great task remain-
ing before us, that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full meas-
ure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead

126

THE VALUE OF TACT.

shall not have lived in vain; that this nation under God shall
have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the peo-
ple, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth."

To what heights this poor backwoods boy had grown! On
the first day of January of this same year he had as the chief
magistrate of the land proclaimed liberty to the captives, and
so by that action this man of tact, who in his struggle with
Stephen A. Douglas for vantage ground in the coming contest
for the presidency had chosen for policy's sake to give a quasi-
support to the efforts of reformers against that hideous mon-
strosity and libel on humanity, slavery, had been driven at last
by the hurrying feet of events to become himself a Reformer!
Yet his tact even then led him in his message to the next
Congress to base such official action as he had taken wholly
upon the ground of public policy rather than upon righteous-
ness, and then he went on to address them as a reformer might
have done. Hear him as he pleads for the support of Con-
gress.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this
Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite
of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can
spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we
pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest gen-
eration. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the
responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure free-
dom to the free, honorable alike in what we give and what we
preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best
hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail.
The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just, a way which, if
followed, the world will applaud and God must forever bless."

His tact won the day again, and a year later he had grown
so brave a reformer as to be able to say to Congress on Decem-
ber 6, 1864: " While I remain in my present position, I shall not
attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation;
nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the

127

THE VALUE OF TACT.

terms of that proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress.
If the people should by whatever mode or means make it the
executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I,
must be their instrument to perform it."

Brave words, bravely spoken! yet truth demands that it be
said, however wise Abraham Lincoln was or might have been,
if he had not had such amazing tact he would not, he could
not, have succeeded as he did. For the records of his adminis-
tration show that there was on more than one occasion a time
of deadly peril to his country, and to himself as the leader of
his party, when this tact alone had stood forth and seemingly
rescued them from ruin.

What an inspiration to the poorest boys of the land his
quaint, homely, successful life has become! Doubly dear to
the world is he also, because at the last he was called to give
his life a sacrifice on the altar of that freedom he had dared to
proclaim to others. And so the thousand pages quarto of con-
dolences preserved in the State Department at Washington
that were sent from every civilized nation of the earth, when
they had learned of his untimely death at the felon's hand,
proves that this child of poverty, this man of many limitations
but of great sensibilities, who had become the astute politician,
the able president, and Treason's victim, had won humanity's
heart at the last by being humanity's friend. Tact brought
Lincoln to greatness: devotion to freedom brought him immor-
tality of name.

But it is not alone in the professional life that this quality is
found to be in the very highest degree necessary for success.
Tact must be in constant exercise in business affairs if one
would reach eminence. There is scarcely a great merchant or
successful business man of to-day who is not an example of
this desirable possession.

We frequently hear it said of a man, " He possesses great
talent and exhibits little tact," meaning ability to adjust him-
self to conditions and circumstances and utilize his power and
wisdom in securing practical, successful results.

128

THE VALUE OF TACT.

In practical everyday life tact towers far above talent.

Talent without the mellow, winning influence of tact would
be like a sturdy forest oak without its luxuriant garment of
green to shelter the weary traveler from the pelting rays of a
summer's sun. Tact overcomes every difficulty and surmounts
or removes every obstacle.

Every chapter of this volume represents a star in the great
constellation of success, and the little star of tact lends bril-
liancy to many of her larger and more dignified neighbors.
She holds within her hand the key to success, wealth, an<*
honor.

129

The Compass of Life.

i I&T BttpflBr -'T^-^-flHtfltr* 1 * ^ "*

REV. SAMUEL PLANTZ, PH.D., Detroit, Mich.

N that wonderful novel of Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables,"
there is one chapter which the reader will never forget. It
is entitled "A Tempest in a Brain." Jean Valjean has been
nineteen years in the galleys for stealing a loaf of bread and
subsequently trying to escape from his imprisonment. He has
at length been liberated but only to fall again into crime. By

coming in contact with the saintly Bishop of D he has become

not only transformed but transfigured.

Having assumed another name, he has established himself
in an obscure village, intent on two things, hiding his real name
and sanctifying his life by doing good. Here he has accumu-
lated great wealth and won the profound respect of all who
know him by his benevolence and humanity. But one day an
old man who has stolen a bough of apples, by a case of mis-
taken identity, is arrested as Valjean, and is in danger of being
condemned to the galleys for life. The question now comes
before the true Valjean, shall he disclose his real name, and
surrender himself as the escaped convict, or shall he allow the
other man to go to the galleys in his place ? He goes to his
room, shuts himself in, and meditates on his duty.

The conflict between motives within him is fearful in its
intensity. Expediency whispers to him of the toil of the gal-
ley service, of the loathsome companions he will have there,
of the weight of the iron he will feel on his ankles and wrists.
It points out how he will have to surrender his plans for helping
the poor and sick, and above all how his ward Fantine and her
child Cosette will have no one to assist them if he is gone. It

i CHAPTER 21.] 130

ACTING ON PRINCIPLE.

tells him that the old man is a thief at best, and probably
deserving of all he would get. He makes up his mind not to
disclose himself. " Just then," says Victor Hugo, " he heard an
internal burst of laughter." His conscience burst the web of
sophistry he was winding about it, and stood before him, and
ridiculed him to his face. But he persists. He rises, burns the
galley suit and other relics of his past life which he has had hid
away, and will thus wipe out the last possible trace of his being
Valjean. There is no one present. It is decided, he says.
But again comes the internal burst of laughter, " That is
excellently arranged, you scoundrel!" He falls asleep. Voices
speak to him. He awakes and walks to the window, but no
stars are in the sky. A little longer the struggle continues.
Then he arises.

He is calm now. The voice of expediency has been drowned.
He is acting on principle. Right has arisen before him as more
sacred than life. He enters a vehicle and drives as rapidly as
possible to the place of the trial. As he enters the court room,
he hears the condemnation of the old man. He is Jean Val-
jean, an ex-convict, and is to spend the rest of his days in the
galleys. Then the real Jean steps forward and declares him-
self. By a mark on his arm he proves his identity. It was a
sublime spectacle, that of a man of distinction denouncing him-
self that a poor old thief might not suffer unjustly in his place.
The crowd in the court room felt in their hearts, says Hugo,
that they had seen the shining of a great light, and so they
had; for they had beheld, in a trying exigency, principle rising
triumphant above expediency, a man choosing to sacrifice every-
thing in order to do right.

Jean Valjean is a lesson to all of us. There can never be a
compromise between a true man and his duty. The word ought
is one against which nothing can be weighed. Put it in the
scales, if you will, and see if it is possible to place anything on
the other side which will outbalance it. Try wealth, honor,
reputation. Will they outweigh it? No, they are like dust
in the balance. Cast in pleasure, inclination, love of ease, tem-

131

ACTING ON PRINCIPLE.

poral interests, put your loves and your hopes in. Behold the
word ought outweighs them all.

Here is a soldier with an empty sleeve. The day came when
the question arose whether he should go to the front in the war.
He had an aged father and mother to support, a delicate wife and
young children who needed his care. He knew that the long
march meant fatigue, and the battle field meant death ; but in the
scales of duty the little word ought stood firm against them all.
This word ought is heavier than the word expediency, or desire,
or danger, or parents, or children, or wife, or life itself, the
preservation of which has been said to be the first law of nature.
Says a brilliant writer and says it truly, " If you please, sum
up the globes as so much silver and the suns as so much gold,
and cast the hosts of heaven as diamonds on a necklace, into
one scale, and if there is not in any part the word ought, if
ought is absent in the one scale and present in the other, up
will go your scale laden with the universe, as a crackling
Daper scroll is carried aloft in a conflagration, ascending towards
the stars." Again, it has been said, "God is in the word ought
and therefore it outweighs all but God." The same thought
was present in the mind of Bacon when he remarked, "He
who resolveth to do every duty is immediately conscious of
the presence of the gods."

" What motive may

Be stronger with thee than the name of wife?
That which upholdeth him that thee upholds
His honor : oh, thine honor, Lewis, thine honor ! "

KING JOHN, Act III., Sc. 1.

Stop a moment. Call the roll of the world's heroes. Who are
they? Always and eternally the men who have obeyed the word
ought crying out in the soul, those who have acted from prin-
ciple. All greatness lies in motive, and no motive is great
which is not rooted in conscience. A man cannot be a hero
until he has sacrificed self to duty. Take John Maynard stand-
ing at the wheel of the burning vessel on Lake Erie, and hold-
ing her steadily toward the shore while the angry flames made
a winding sheet of glory about him. What is the essence of

132

ACTING ON PKINCIPLE.

his heroism ? He was acting on principle, seeking by sacrificing
himself to save his fellow men.

So with John Howard, who enters the pesthouse of Italy to
find the cause of the plague which is sweeping away hundreds
of his fellow beings. Patriotism is simply acting on principle
toward one's country ; philanthropy is acting on principle to-
ward humanity; and religion acting on principle toward God.
All the virtues, chastity, temperance, forbearance, kindness,
integrity, truthfulness, benevolence, all these are only the
effulgence of principle obeyed. This is the foundation of char-
acter in a man ; for as Emerson has said, "A healthy soul stands
united with the Just and the True, as the magnet arranges itself
with the pole; so that he stands to all beholders like a trans-
parent object betwixt them and the sun, and whoso journeys
toward the sun, journeys towards that person."

There are men, and their number is legion, who try to tie prin-
ciple to the apron strings of policy. Says one of Shakespeare's
characters : " I, I myself, sometimes, leaving the fear of God
on the left hand and hiding mine honor in my necessity, am fain
to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch." There are many such, men
whose honesty is a convenience, and whose principles are
shifted here and there for momentary advantage. They are
"gentlemen who serve God as far as will give no offense to the
devil," to use Wendell Phillips's cutting definition of a modern
politician. When they think there is a slice of fat on the side
of wrong, and only a slice of lean on the side of right, they
traffic with their conscience, and pretend to be what they are
not. They do not, as Emerson puts it, continually stand for a
fact. We all know about the demagogue in politics, the stock-
waterer in business, the bribe-bought legislator, and the smooth
talking liar behind the counter who is all things to all men.
These men have cast principle overboard and worship at the
shrine of policy. And all of them are rogues, a menace to
society, and a disgrace to mankind. Policy is never to be a
motive. It is the antipode of right, which is to sit alone on the
throne. Nor is there any gain in it in the long run. It is writ-

133

ACTING ON PRINCIPLE.

ten in the laws of the universe with pen of iron that truth and
truth alone shall prevail. Policy may win for a day, but man's
life reaches out into eternity and up to God. The time surely
comes sooner or later when policy has to sew fig leaves together
to cover its shame.

Not so, however, with principle. No sins find it out. No
risings of conscience trouble its breast. No obstacles hinder
its final rewards. The man of principle will be the one on
whose brow the golden crown of favor and esteem will finally
rest. He may not obtain so much of material things as the
man who, acting on policy, sells his soul for gain ; but material
things are not all. Lazarus, the beggar, may after all have
more than rich Dives at whose gate he lies. There are
spiritual as well as material values, and an ounce of the former
outweighs a ton of the latter. It is a wise saying, for example,
of the Preacher, "A good name is rather to be chosen than
great riches." Even those who act on policy themselves esteem
principle in others. Nicholas Biddle of Philadelphia, when
president of the old United States bank, once dismissed a clerk
because he refused to write business letters for him on the Sab-
bath. The young man was thrown out of employment by what
seemed to some an over-nice scruple of conscience; but what
was really true fidelity to principle. Not long afterward, how-
ever, Mr. Biddle, being asked to nominate a cashier for another
bank, recommended this young man, mentioning what had oc-
curred as proof of his integrity arid trustworthiness, and adding,
" You can trust him, for he would not work for me on Sunday."

Acting on principle gives character a peculiar savor, a kind
of heavenly aroma which speaks out above one's acts. It makes
the actor himself rise before us as greater than his deeds. It is
said that those who heard Lord Chatham felt there was some-
thing finer in the man than anything he uttered. There was,
his moral tone. The depths of his being rippled on the surface.
The fragrance of his spirit spread abroad. This is what we
want in these days when so many men give a commercial value
to morals, and the voice of conscience seems to be dying down

134

ACTING ON PRINCIPLE.

to a moan. We need men who pitch their lives to the highest
key, whose eye sweeps the whole horizon of duty, whose prin-
ciples are as stable as the position of Gibraltar by the sea. We
need men of moral nerve, whose first and sole inquiry is not, is it
expedient, but is it right. Such men are God's noblemen. They
walk the earth, in it but above it. Africa is growing greenest
laurel, but she grows none green enough to adorn the brows of
such men as these. South America has quarries of fairest
marble, but none too white on which to carve the names of such
sons of truth. Asia has sky-kissing Himalayas, but she has
no peak high enough to pedestal the statue of those who are
always sensitive and responsive to the voice of God in the soul.
The cities of the earth have builded splendid mausoleums for
their great soldiers, statesmen, and kings ; London her West-
minster Abbey, Paris her Pantheon cathedral, and Memphis
her pyramids : but no mausoleums are rich and gorgeous enough
to appropriately commemorate the memory of those in whose
lives principle has ever been authoritative, and with whom to
do what is right has ever been regarded as the supreme law.

" My conscience, hanging about the neck of my heart, says very wisely to me,
* * * ' Budge not ' ' Budge,' says the fiend. ' Budge not,' saye my conscience."

MEBCHANT OF VENICE, Act II., Sc. 2.

135

The Power of Perseverance.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

[HE book of Nature is the oldest of all God's testaments to
men, and the most important. On it are based all the
^ others. But for it, they would not be. To render it a
success, they are given. Not that the book of Nature is imper-
fect, but men are imperfect. The volume is yet too wise for
them to understand it. Its pages have been open to be read of
all men for thousands of years, yet they do not even now know
how to train and care for their bodies so as to make of them a
success. If they did, physicians would long ago have departed,
and hospitals and asylums be unknown. And as to the best
method of developing and using that one mighty and only
instrument for gaining success, the mind, how wide is the dif-
ference of opinion among them, and what a lamentable failure
many of them make of it! Happy is the man who can read
Nature aright, and then obeys her instruction, for, " He that
doeth these things shall live by them," is the promise. But
multitudes of men misunderstand, or abuse, or refuse Nature's
teachings as to the body, and disease and pain come, followed
by the doctor with real, or assumed, antidotes and palliatives.
Men overlook, or scorn, or are ignorant of Nature's mental laws
for success, and in consequence the maimed, the wrecked, the
failed, are everywhere, appealing both to the philanthropist
and to the philosopher of morals for aid.

The most important of all things to you in this world is
yourself. I do not mean your selfishness, but your selfhood,
or, if you please, manhood. Or, as the good old Anglo-Saxon
word "manhood" means, the kind, the quality, the manner,

[CHAPTER 22.] 136

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE.

of man you become. Nothing in the universe can ever take
the place to you of yourself. What manner of man will you be,
is therefore the all important question. On it depends your
final, eternal success or failure. Now success, like life, is a
most momentous thing. Things destined to endure are long in
maturing. The success you seek for should accordingly always
be worthy of you; for the testament of Nature, and the testa-
ment of the Bible, have the same foundation proviso, "What-
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." In order to
reap, one must prepare seed and soil. He must sow; he must
cultivate; he must have long patience for it; he must reap
when the harvest is ripe. He who will not do all these will not
succeed. To do them requires much perseverance, for casual
effort will not accomplish it.

See how some men of note won their success in life. It may
not be the kind you desire, but this is the way theirs came to
them. Elias Howe, the inventor and patentee of the first prac-
tical sewing machine in this country, received a royalty on hia
patents during his lifetime of over two millions of dollars. In
1844, after five years of apparently fruitless experimenting, he
hit upon the present principle of the sewing machine, that of
a needle grooved, and eyed at the point, and two interlocking
threads. Although unknown to him, Mr. Walter Hunt of New
York had embodied essentially the same principle in a machine
constructed ten years previously, but which Mr. Hunt had laid
aside as useless.

Mr. Howe was by no means an extraordinary genius, nor a
remarkable mechanic, but at the first a plain, plodding farmer
boy, and later an everyday mephanic, and was considered
rather dull brained by the neighbors. He was born in Spencer,
Massachusetts, July 9, 1819, and died in Brooklyn, New York,
October 3, 1867, three weeks after the expiration of his patent
on the sewing machine. His father was a small farmer and
miller, living in the south part of Spencer, and, when a small
child, Elias had to help eke out the family living by sticking
wire teeth into leather strips for cards (then made by hand) for

137

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE.

the woolen and cotton machines used in his own and neighbor-
ing towns. His schooling was very meager, being only that
gained in the winter terms. When eleven years old he " lived
out" at a neighbor's for a year. He then worked for his father
awhile, and when sixteen he went to Lowell and worked in a
cotton factory for fifty cents a day until the panic of 1837 closed
the mill, and then he traveled to Cambridge, and obtained work
in a machine shop, rooming with his cousin, afterward known
as Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks.

In 1838 Mr. Howe went to Boston to work for a machinist,
where he continued for some years, or until his interest in his
"machine " led him so to neglect his work that he had to leave.
That "machine" of his originated in this wise: shortly after
going to work in Boston he chanced to overhear a conversation
in which one of the speakers, a gentleman of wealth, offered to
guarantee a fortune to the man who should invent a machine
for sewing. Young Howe gave it no thought, but, in 1840,
being of legal age, and then getting nine dollars a week, he ,
took a wife, and shortly after found that his family needed
more money for a comfortable support than he was earning.
Besides, his work was hard and his health poor, and his wife
not over strong, and discouragement was coming, and so one
evening in 1841, as he sat watching his weary wife at her stitch-
ing, that remark about a fortune to the man who should invent
a sewing machine flashed on him like an inspiration. Immedi-
ately he determined to make one, and thereafter gave every
moment of spare time to thought and experiment on it.

When he had to leave his employer, his father, who had
moved to Cambridge, made room for him and his family in the
garret of his house. George Fisher, an old schoolmate of
Elias's, then lived in Cambridge and had saved some money.
To him Elias went, and had many a long conversation, trying
to induce him to assist in the enterprise. At length Fisher
agreed, for a half interest in the invention, to provide a home
for Howe and his family and advance five hundred dollars, and
more if needed, for tools and materials to make the machine,

138

THE POWER OP PERSEVERANCE.

and, with his father's attic as a workshop, Howe set to work
with great enthusiasm, unmindful of the laughter and ridicule
of his acquaintances, who thought they were surely right in
judging him to be "half witted." After many a failure he suc-
ceeded, in May, 1845, in getting a machine made that would
sew more strongly than a tailor could, and then in July, to the
intense delight of himself and partner, he made up on the
machine two suits of clothes, one for each of them, and they
thought that fortune was now at hand. Some further improve-
ments were then made on the crude machine, and they began to
make up some of them. But it then cost two hundred and fifty
dollars to make such a machine, and they could not sell them to
families at that price, and journeymen tailors denounced them
as contrivances to take bread out of their mouths; so Mr.
Fisher, whose one suit of clothes had now cost him over two
thousand dollars, would do no more, and Elias had again to
move his family to his father's attic, and begin work as a rail-
road engineer. He was unfitted for this, and had soon to give
it up.

Mr. Howe's machine was patented in the United States, Sep-
tember 10, 1846, and, after many vain efforts to*interest capital-
ists in it, he succeeded at last in sending one of the machines
to London, England, by his brother Amasa, in October, 1846.
The brother sold the machine to a corset maker, William
Thomas, for fifty pounds, which included the sole right to con-
trol the manufacture of it in England. Mr. Thomas agreed
also to pay a royalty of three pounds for each machine sold,
and to pay Elias three pounds a week while fitting the machine
for corset making. Amasa came to America, and in February
of the next year returned with his brother Elias to England,
where Elias entered the service of Mr. Thomas, and soon after
sent for his wife and three children. At the end of the seven
months Mr. Thomas concluded that he no longer needed the aid
of the inventor, and soon made it so uncomfortable for him that
Mr. Howe left.

Many months of great poverty now fell to his lot. Sickness

139

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE.

came to him; starvation looked in at the window. At length a
charitably disposed acquaintance gave him a little help, and he
set about to make and sell a machine. By the -aid of relatives
and friends and the pawnbroker, he at last got money enough
to send his family home to America, and when he had completed
the machine, although it was worth fifty pounds, he sold it for
five, and took a note at that. Discounting the note for four
pounds, he took passage for New York, where he arrived in
April, 1849, with two dollars and a half in his pocket. Here
tidings of the fatal illness of his wife met him, and, begging his
way home to Cambridge, he arrived only in time to receive her
dying farewell. Soon after news of the wreck, on Cape Cod, of
the ship that brought his few household goods came, and the
poor man literally sat amid the ruins of his family and his hope
of a fortune.

But the clouds that so long lowered over him now began to
lift, and he found that, though the capitalists would not buy his
invention when he offered it to them, they had not hesitated to
steal it while he was absent from the country, and that other
inventors had combined his discoveries with improvements of
their own, and sewing machines were rapidly coming into use.
He succeeded in interesting a friend, George W. Bliss, who,
taking as security a mortgage on Mr. Howe's father's farm,
bought out Fisher's interest in the invention, and after Mr.
Howe had succeeded in redeeming his original machine, and
his letters patent, which he had been compelled to pawn in
London, he began suit against the infringers, and in 1850 he
commenced to manufacture his machine in New York, and
thereafter was above want. In 1854 the United States courts
decided the case against Isaac M. Singer and others for in-
fringements, in Mr. Howe's favor. The infringers combined
and paid him royalties that enabled him in 1855 to repurchase
the rights he had parted with in the sad days of poverty and
sickness, and Mr. Howe established a large factory at Bridge-
port, Conn., for the manufacture of his machine, and soon
became a millionaire.

140

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE.

Mr. Howe was intensely patriotic, and enlisted as a private
in the 17th Connecticut regiment in the War of the Rebellion,
and personally advanced the money to equip and pay that regi-
ment at a time when the Government was financially embar-
rassed. He remained in the service until ill health compelled
his retirement, and he will be gratefully remembered with
Whitney, Fulton, McCormick, and the many other Americans
whose perseverance and triumph over giant obstacles not only
ennobled them, but enriched their countrymen as well.

John Hughes, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York,
was born at Annaloghan, Tyrone County, Ireland, May 24, 1797,
and died in the city of New York the 3d day of January, 1864.
His father tilled a very small plot of land called by courtesy a
farm, and was very poor, and as soon as John could work he
was set to planting potatoes, cutting and hauling muck for fuel,
digging ditches, and anon "gardening a bit for the gentry."
He then worked in a factory as a mill hand, dreaming all the
while of sometime being a priest in his church, for his parents
were devout Romanists and the lad's ideal was a priest. He
had no education worth the naming and no influential friends,
and his church did not then look out so eagerly as now for the
education of its aspiring youth, so his prospects were very dark
and unpromising indeed.

In 1816 his father emigrated to America, and settled in
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The next year John landed in
New York, a penniless young man. Here he worked at wharf-
age and at odd jobs, then, reaching his father's home, he worked
as a day laborer, broke stone, jobbed around town, and toiled as
small gardener for seven dollars a month, stinting himself and
trying to save something towards getting that education for the
priesthood of which he dreamed. After two years of struggle,
and getting no nearer his goal, he was becoming discouraged,
when he heard that at the Mount St. Mary's College of his
church near Emmitsburg, Maryland, there were free scholar-
ships. He started for that place, walking more than half the
way from lack of money. When he arrived, worn, dusty, and

141

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE.

seedy in appearance, he was told, to his horror, that the free
scholarships were all taken, and, alas! he had no money to pay
for tuition. He hung about the place on the verge of despair.
He had come so near his haven, and now to fail! Soon his little
store of money was gone, and he was suffering, arid in despera-
tion he went to the president of the college, and begged for
work to keep him from starving. The good man set him at
gardening, and soon learned his story, and resolved to help
him. He was far behind in book knowledge, but, when oppor-
tunity for study was given him, he applied himself most dili-
gently, so that at twenty-nine years of age he was able to enter
upon the priest's office that for fifteen years he had held before
him as the prize of life.

He was a born fighter, and, beginning his ministry in a small
parish in Philadelphia, he was soon in high controversy with
the clergy of the Protestant faith. He wrote much, but very
hastily, very diffusely, and not always correctly. He never be-
came a scholarly man or a great thinker, but the controversial
spirit, his untiring industry, and his zeal for his church built up
his parishes and attracted attention to him, and when forty-five
years old he was made Bishop of New York, and twelve years
after was made Archbishop. While arbitrarily ruling his dio-
cese, he was nevertheless a most adroit and skillful politician,
and did more to build up his church in this country than any
man had done before him. Americans remember him grate-
fully for his ardent devotion to the cause of the Union in the late
civil war. He went, with others, at the request of Secretary of
State Seward, to England and France, during a critical period
of that war, to influence those governments to remain neutral
during the strife. His lowly origin, the difficulties he triumphed
over, the great eminence he attained in his church, the remark-
able influence he had over men notwithstanding his limitations,
are a striking instance of the power of perseverance.

142

the Capital.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

1 .THAT is capital? Most writers on economics answer, "Cap-
lAl ital is surplus; the storage of the labor of the brain and
^ muscle; the overplus from the daily needs and uses of
men." If this general definition be a true one, it can apply only
to the outer, material forms of wealth. For one's wealth does
not consist solely in the possession of money, however vast that
sum may be. A simple definition of the word will show this.
Strength is strongness. Length is longness. Breadth is broad-
ness. Wealth is " wealness " or wellness; things that make for
one's well-being. Is the miser a wealthy man? Do the millions
of gold some men get tend to their well-being? Is it not true
that the getting of money develops in some the baser elements
of their nature, so that occasionally you may see persons whose
riches have but served to make them meaner than the meanest
poverty could ever make them? Can such persons be truthfully
said to be wealthy or well-being persons? The word, you see,
has broken away from its original foundation, and is by many
persons regarded as simply synonymous in meaning with
money. But money is not an end; it is a means to an end, and
that end is nobly to live the life that is given you. If money or
any other product of the earth will help you do that, then get
it, get all you can of it; but if it would hinder you in your
development of true manhood, then avoid it. Earn something
else by your brain and muscle, if you would be wealthy.

When that noble man, the late Prof. Louis Agassiz, was
asked why he did not use his great talents to gain money, when
he was offered three hundred dollars each for a course of six

[CHAPTEK 23. ] 143

EARNING THE CAPITAL.

lectures, he replied with lofty scorn, "I cannot afford to lecture
for money." To him there were far more valuable and won-
derful things in this world than money. Alas! that there are
but few like him. The citizens of ancient Rome were wont to
place the statues and images of their great ancestors on pedes-
tals, and in the vestibules of their houses, in order to remind
themselves and their children of those ancestors' virtues and
glorious deeds, and to inspire them to emulate them; and for
one hundred and seventy years they allowed no painted or
graven image of a deity among them, with the result, as
Plutarch tells us, that for two hundred and thirty years after
the founding of Rome no husband deserted his wife, nor any
wife her husband, and for six hundred years there was no
parricide known, and for forty-three years, during the reign of
Numa Pompilius, the temple of Janus, the god of w^f, contin-
ued closed, there being no war, nor sedition, nor conspiracy.
Would that Americans could be diverted long enough from
their worship of Mammon to cultivate some of the virtues of
those old heathen! Perchance, then, they might, for the peace
of their families and the good of the republic, imitate the
example of that famous Themistocles of Athens, who, when
two suitors, one a poor man and the other rich, sought for the
hand of his daughter in marriage, chose the poor man, saying
he desired as a son-in-law a man without riches, rather than
riches without a man.

But now you are a man, and a man of business desires and
wishes to succeed in some particular business. You have
virtues and some talents, but, it may be, very little money,
perhaps none. Can you succeed without money? Certainly.
Some of the richest men in this country began their business
life without a dollar. Nature is just as ready to help you to get
riches as she was to help them. She will give as good returns
to-day and to-morrow as yesterday. Money is but one of the
numerous and valuable things to be found in her vast store-
houses on land, and in the seas, and in the air, and in the sun,
and you can get it out if you wish and will. Perhaps you have

144

EARNING THE CAPITAL.

heard it said that " it takes money to get money." No, it
doesn't. Money is not a loadstone, drawing its kind only.
Money is only lumps of matter dug out of the ground, and
shaped in certain forms and stamped with a design, and you
can get an abundance of it without digging in the earth for it,
and trying to catch it with another piece of the same kind.
What! get money without capital? No, with capital. Why,
man, you are a capitalist! Wages are only a form of income.
An everyday laborer is a capitalist. Every person to whom
God has given brains and a good body is a large capitalist.
Your mind, your muscle, is your capital, and with them you
may earn what you will. All the riches of the world is the
product of the labor of brain or muscle. Your brain may be a
veritable gold mine if you will but develop it.

In 1882, at Christie's rooms, London, a little daub of matter,
only twelve by nine inches, that a brain had put on canvas,
sold for thirty thousand dollars. It was Meissonier's " Napo-
leon the First in the Campaign of Paris." The same artist's
" 1814" was sold for one hundred and seventy thousand dollars;
eight years later, Millet's " Angelus " brought one hundred and
ten thousand dollars, and Murillo's " Conception of the Virgin"
one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars. Great fortunes,
you see, that the brain produced. The musician Paderewski
spent a few weeks in this country a year ago, and then
carried home with him one hundred and seventy-five thou-
sand dollars, as the proceeds of his brain. Sir Walter Scott
was a silent partner in the firm of the publishers of his books.
The firm failed, and he was involved in debt six hundred
thousand dollars in consequence. He was then fifty-six years
of age. Summoning all the energy of his mighty brain to the
task, he labored incessantly, by night and day, sending out
volume after volume, until in five years he had paid it all by
the product of his brain. Yes, brains are great money-getters,
if you use them for that purpose. The son of a farmer in the
state of New York, a sickly lad, Samuel J. Tilden, so used
his brains as to bring him a fortune, by the practice of

145 10

EARNING THE CAPITAL.

law, of five millions of dollars. A Swedish young woman,
Jenny Lind, twenty-eight years of age, came to the United
States with nothing but her voice, that her brain had
cultured, and in ninety-eight nights she had sung out of
the pockets of the American people seven hundred and
twelve thousand dollars. Another Swede, Ole Bornemann
Bull, so manipulated a violin as to draw out of the same Amer-
ican people in a single season more than a hundred thousand
dollars; while an American-born lad of English ancestors,
Edwin Booth, so used his brains while an actor, that in less
than two months' time he had taken in from the people of
San Francisco alone, over ninety-six thousand dollars. But
why multiply instances in literature, art, oratory, music, the
drama, all going to prove that your brain is your capital, and
that all you need to do if you wish for money is to use it.

Brains, when combined with muscle, and used for mere
money-getting, often yield fabulous fortunes. A German, John
Jacob Astor, living in New York, so used his that in sixty-
three years he had accumulated a fortune estimated at twenty
million dollars. Two millions came from his trade in furs,
teas, silks, and sandalwood, some millions from interest given
him by the revenue laws, the balance coming from his real
estate investments. He was born in the village of Waldorf,
near Heidelberg, Germany, on July 17, 1763, and lived to be
nearly eighty-five years old, dying in New York, March 29, 1848.
His mother was a devout, hard-working peasant, of a close, if
not penurious, disposition, whose soul was often vexed beyond
all endurance by her shiftless, rollicking, beer-drinking hus-
band (by trade a butcher, at which business John Jacob also
worked when a lad). And so the home life, comfortless and
stormy, early led John's three older brothers to go out into the
world to earn their own livelihood. One of them, Henry, had
settled in New York, and was also a butcher, and his letters
telling of his thrift filled the lad with an unconquerable desire
to go thither also. After his mother died, and the father
remarried, the storms in the home waxed yet more furious and

146

EARNING THE CAPITAL.

continuous, so that poor John Jacob was often obliged to hie
him to a neighbor's garret or outhouse, for refuge, and for a
shelter for the night. He was poorly fed, and more poorly
clad, and shrank from his boyhood companions for shame of
his home and heritage.

When seventeen years old he succeeded in getting from his
father a reluctant consent to join his brother in America, and
the sturdy, well-built youth of iron frame, with two dollars in
his pocket, set out to seek his fortune across the Atlantic
ocean. Walking to the river Rhine, he hired as a raftsman and
worked his way to the coast, and with the wages paid him went
to London, where one of his brothers was living, and with
whom he stayed two years, working like a galley slave, and
living like a miser to save the money needed to carry him to
the "New Land " of his dreams. When the Revolutionary
War closed he bought a steerage passage to Baltimore, and
with twenty-four dollars in his pockets, a small bundle of
clothes, and seven flutes, bought as an investment, he sailed for
the United States in November, 1783. On the ship a fellow
German told him of his experience in America, how he had
gone there penniless and friendless, and, beginning in a small
way, had acquired quite a competence as a fur trader, and
advised him to engage in the same business, giving him what
knowledge he possessed as to the method of conducting it.
They traveled together to New York, and, arriving at the
brother's house, at once laid the plan before him; he advised
that John Jacob enter the service of a furrier, to learn the busi-
ness thoroughly. The next morning the three sallied forth, and
at length found a Mr. Robert Bowne, a furrier of long experi-
ence, who engaged John at two dollars a week, and board.
Here he beat furs, and sought all possible knowledge concern-
ing fur-bearing animals from nature, from traders, and from
savages.

He was soon made buyer for the establishment, and took
long trips on foot with a pack of trinkets on his back, going
north into Canada, and west to the frontiers, driving wonder-

147

EARNING THE CAPITAL.

fully sharp bargains with Indians and trappers to the enriching
of his employer and himself. As soon as he had learned the
routes and the business, he set up for himself, and began in 1786
to accumulate his immense fortune on this wise; after a few
trips he took a small store in Water street, which he furnished
with toy cakes and notions for Indians, who at that date brought
in furs to New York. Anon, with his pack of trinkets on his
back, he would leave the store in charge of the wife whom
he early married, and would take long tramps on foot through-
out northern, central, and western New York, buying his skins
from settlers, trappers, savages, wherever he could find them,
giving a dollar's worth of trash for a beaver's skin, which
he would ship to London, where it readily sold for six dollars.
With the six dollars he would buy goods that he could easily
sell in New York for twelve. Soon he was able to employ
agents, and multiplied his routes. Then he bought a ship to
convey his goods to and from London. Shortly after he began
to ship furs to China, then the best market in the world for
them, and brought back cargoes of teas, and silks, and spices,
frequently doubling his money. Accidentally he learned of
the enormous value of sandalwood in China, and, loading tons
of it at the Sandwich Islands for a mere pittance, he soon
had a monopoly of the trade in that wood, and for many months
fairly coined money. Often his profits on a voyage of each of
his fleet of ships that he came to own amounted to seventy
thousand dollars for each one. .

During the War of 1812, and for many years, the United
States tariff on tea was twice its cost in China, but the govern-
ment gave a credit to importers on the duties due it of from
nine to eighteen months, so that he could get two and three
cargoes from China and sell them at enormous profits before he
had to pay the duty on the first cargo. And for eighteen or
twenty years, John Jacob Astor had what was actually a free-
of -interest loan from the government of over five millions of
dollars, a condition of things that admitted of getting rich very
rapidly. As fast as his gains from his business came in, he

148

EARNING THE CAPITAL.

invested them in real estate by purchase in fee simple where he
could, and where the owners would not sell, he got, if possible,
long period leases of valuable property in what was soon the
heart of the city. He bought Richmond Hill, Aaron Burr's
estate of one hundred and sixty acres, for one thousand dollars
per acre. Twelve years later, it was valued at one thousand
five hundred dollars a single lot. Learning that certain lands
in Putnam county were held by a defective title, he bought up
what was then the worldly possessions and homes of seven
hundred families, for one hundred thousand dollars, and then
he compelled the state of New York to pay him five hundred
thousand dollars for this land, to rescue the victims of the defect-
ive deeds from his grasp, and save to them their homes.

During most of his long life, his brain and body were simply
a great and wonderful money-getting machine. He seems to
have never known what real generosity was either in his busi-
ness or out of it, and left his money at the end very unwill-
ingly, and simply because he was obliged to do so. The love of
it grew with his growth, but it never waned with his departing
strength, and at the last dominated and ruled him with a relent-
less tyranny that was not only grotesque, but contemptible,
because the victim delighted in it, and called it glory. He had a
mind capable of far better things, and, while he was what the
world reckons a thoroughly upright and honest business man,
truth compels it to be said that he was not an admirable model,
nor a safe one for you and me to follow. The one thing that
keeps his name and memory green is his gift by will of four
hundred thousand dollars to establish the Astor Library in the
city of New York. His immense estate was left to his children
and has been since continued in the family, and, like those of
the Bedfords and Westminsters of England, consists to a very
large extent in real estate, over a thousand valuable properties
being now owned by them.

149

Higli. Schiool of Experience.

JOHN BASCOM, D.D., LL.D., of Williams College.

If If Y friend, Professor Perry, recently remarked to me:
I Y I " Nothing is perfect in the world except the world itself
1 1 as a school of discipline."

A knowledge of the world that which the world
teaches us is the substance of all knowledge. No matter
what ideas we entertain, or how we have come by them, they
all need illustration and confirmation by experience. The
world is many sided in its lessons, and these lessons, if rightly
learned, all sustain and complete each other. Our most exact
knowledge, which we designate as science; our daily gleanings
of truth, which we term observations; our widest hopes of the
future, which we call faith, are all bound up in one volume,
and that volume is the world. If the world, wisely rendered,
gives us no warrant for our beliefs, our beliefs are null.

Moreover, it is not the world at rest but the world in motion
that we are called on to understand, that is impressing upon us
the greatest variety of convictions. We study the locomotive,
even when it is standing still, in reference to its ease, velocity,
strength, and safety of movement. It is a thing to be compre-
hended by virtue of its power to press forward with its loaded
train. The world is to be understood in its progress and in ref-
erence to its progress. Leave it to stand still, study it as stand-
ing still, and we shall no more catch its true idea than we
should the purpose of an engine, never having seen it speed
along the track.

We all meet in the school of experience; and it is the school
in which most of our acquisitions are made, and in which they

[CHAPTKB 34.] 150

HIGH SCHOOL OF EXPERIENCE.

are all tested as to their worth. What we term education is
made up of a few antecedent suggestions which we are to
verify in experience ; a few of the most general forms of
knowledge, like the knowledge of numbers, which we are to
employ in experience. The quicker we get, fairly well equipped,
at work on the world itself, the more actual and substantial our
knowledge will be. The failure of education, so far as it has
failed, has been that it has kept the mind back too long from
the very facts with which it must learn at length to deal. We
a'rm the young soldier so carefully that we forget to teach him
his manual of arms ; or we suppose that this manual will be an
adequate substitute for the clear eye, the active thought, the
firm mind, which are developed in conflict itself. We may
hasten to the battle without arms, or we may be so long in arm-
ing that the battle may be over before we reach it. The true
test of our preparation and our promptness that which teaches
us what preparation and promptness are is the very struggle
itself.

Experience, like all schools, has its defects, its difficulties.
The man who has been taught by experience is very likely to
be overconfident. To know how to do a thing, to be able to
follow up the knowledge at once by doing it successfully, seem
so certain and undeniable a power that its possessor may well
enough pride himself upon it ; may easily enough have a little
scorn for one who, with apparently wider knowledge, hesitates
and trips in its use. Experience readily begets a confidence
that is closely akin to conceit.

The difficulty lies, not in the thing known, but in the fact
that it is only one among many things that should be known.
Knowledge won in experience is liable to be narrow. Over-
confidence arising out of the clearness, and, at the same time,
restrictedness of one's observation, is the danger of the man
who is taught by experience only. We must broaden our
thought through and with our fellow men. Our own experi-
ence must be corrected and completed by their experience.
The world, therefore, in which we are all taught, in which we

151

HIGH SCHOOL OF EXPERIENCE.

turn floating impressions into knowledge which gives power,
must be the human world, quite as much as the physical world.

The man of business must deal with men and not with
products merely ; not with men in relation to products alone,
but in the full range of their personal experience. This is the
true world, the large world, the spiritual world, in which we
are. One may fatally mistake men, touching them exclusively
on the side of self-interest. He may win a shrewd, cunning
form of sagacity that is very far removed from wisdom, and is
by no means the truth which experience was ready to teach
him. Simply because experience is so great a school, we must
come to it with some greatness of mind, ready to be taught
many things ; and ready to review the things we have learned
many times, that we may apprehend them more completely.

Looking on experience as a school, the first requisite is that
we should take a liberal course in it, that the studies we pursue
shall be fitted to correct, extend, and sustain each other. If we
add, for instance, to the desire to obtain wealth or office or
social position, the desire to attain and impart large and secure
happiness, the schooling of the world will be instantly altered
immensely thereby. Though the presence of the two things,
we will say wealth and happiness, may in many respects con-
cur, they will constantly modify each other; and the lessons
which we should have wholly lost, or fearfully perverted, with
the one notion, will be, by means of both notions, bound up in a
fortunate, harmonious whole of truth. The world has many
stands, and many wise men are rehearsing its varied instruc-
tions from them. If we would be well taught, we must listen
to more than one speaker. The world is a broad world, and we
must enter broadly into it.

We have said also that it is a world in motion; hence we can
apprehend it well only as we see and share its movement.
We must inquire not simply what are existing facts, but what
those facts are fitted to bring forth. Here, a narrow experience
signally comes short of wisdom. Many men, sharpened by a
most telling and real experience, nevertheless fail grievously

152

HIGH SCHOOL OF EXPERIENCE.

by virtue of their very successes. They have thought that the
getting of something was sufficient, and have never once asked
the world what would come of it when it was won.

Somehow or other, we seem to think, in a vague way, that it
is faith alone that asks the question of fruits, and then gives us
a remote and doubtful answer to it. Experience, observation,
also ask this question, and give it a very immediate and final
answer. We must study the world in motion if we would
understand what is of real worth in it, what will abide in it,
whither it and we are going.

We may well fellowship each other, and strengthen each
other, for we are all in one school, and what we learn singly
will be as nothing compared with the success of our common
effort to render the world as a school of human life in terms of
reason. A wide, penetrative, far-reaching outlook over the
world is the labor, joy, and crown of our lives.

"Fie upon it, that experience should be so long in coming !"

153

Requisites for a Business Education.

HOMER MERRIAM, Springfield, Mass.
Pres. G. & C. Merriam Co., Publishers Webster's International Dictionary.

I WOULD recommend at least a good common school educa-
tion backed by good deportment and strict integrity. Then
select a business with reference to natural fitness and

preferences, not taking into account present wages so much
as the probabilities of the future, whether it is a business that
means only day wages all one's life or whether there will be
opportunity for growth and expansion.

To bring out all there is in a man, he needs the planning, the
thought, the mental training, involved in conducting a business
for one's self. There are advantages in a college education if
properly utilized ; too often, however, the college graduate has
not learned that close application of ten hours a day or more is
needful to success, and he is not as a rule quite flexible enough
to fall readily into full sympathy with beginning at the bottom
and thoroughly learning the details from the foundation. After
over fifty years of business experience and close observation, I
think that as a rule, for education for business, the four years
spent in college could be more profitably applied in mastering
the details of some business.

Before selecting a business or securing a position, take a care-
ful inventory of the moral surroundings, business integrity, and
general character of employers and those in authority. These
factors are essential to mental and moral growth, and also es-
sential to true success in business.

If a desirable opening does not present itself, endeavor to
secure a situation more or less akin to your choice, constantly
watching for an opportunity for improvement. Thus employed,

[CHAPTER 25.] 154

AIljROAD

A BUSINESS EDUCATION.

habits of application are formed and all that is learned will be
more or less useful all through life.

A business selected and a place secured, then strictly begins
the business education. It is generally best to take one of the
lowest places in the establishment, giving mind and hand
earnestly to the learning and doing the duties involved; doing
all that is required and more if opportunity affords. While
doing this, watch the places that are above you in the business,
and learn all you can of the duties of such positions without
neglecting your own, so that you may be ready to step up higher
when opportunity offers. Then, when one above you is laid aside
by sickness or otherwise, the employer will be much pleased if
he finds that you are qualified to step into the place, and well
perform the duties of the higher position. If you will follow
this line, keeping to one kind of business, keeping your breath
free from strong drink and tobacco, keeping your mind and
body pure, you will be well educated for business, and will be
likely to become a prosperous and successful business man.

Many years ago a publisher in New York having established
a profitable business, not having firm health, wanted a partner
as a worker. Among his customers was a young man in a
comparatively small business in western New York, a diligent
worker, with moral, religious, and business character all cor-
rect. For these, he was invited to become a partner with the
New York publisher. The business grew until another partner
was needed. A young man in a comparatively small business,
selected for same reasons as the first, became a partner. The
senior member of the firm died, and another partner was
wanted. Some years before this, a firm in a small western city
had failed* and gone out of sight. Some of the creditors of that
firm were now surprised at receiving from its junior partner an
inquiry whether they would release him from the old obliga-
tions, on his paying ten per cent, of the same, saying that he
had no means for paying, but had friends who would advance
the ten per cent, if he could be released. The proposition was
accepted and he at once became a member of the New York

155

A BUSINESS EDUCATION.

firm. He had gone to New York, obtained a situation with
the house, and made himself so useful that he was wanted as
partner, ^he three partners were selected not for capital but
for character. The house was the firm of Ivison, Blakeman,
Taylor & Co., for years the largest school book publishing house
of the country.

A young man was for several years clerk for the firm in
which I was a partner. He learned the business, then went to
New York and secured a situation with the house I have named.
A while afterward I inquired of the senior partner of that house
how well the young man filled his position. The reply was,
" He is a pretty good clerk, as clerks go. If young ladies come
in, he wants to stop and talk with them, he wants to dress well,
he wants to stop work when the clock strikes; he is pretty good
as clerks go, but as for being willing to take off his coat, and
work as I am willing to work, he does not want to, and there
are very few of them who do." I think that young man had as
good a chance before him as did the one who came from the
West and became/ a partner, but he failed to improve it and
went downward instead of upward.

Some time ago I saw a gang of men at work on the street
railroad; only one of them had his coat off, and that was the
superintendent of th road.

Young man, if you desire to become superintendent, or
proprietor, instead of being only a digger, work with your coat
off, and work as if every dollar made in the business was made
entirely for you.

Another young man came to us as clerk. After being with
us some three or four years, he proposed leaving us, but he had
made himself so useful that we could not spare him, and took
him into the business as a partner, and now for many years he
has been the head of the house, doing a large and profitable
business. So it has been in many other instances; a clerk has
made himself so useful that he could not be spared, and so must
become a partner, but to do so he must put close work of hands
and mind into the business, and plenty of it.

156

A BUSINESS EDUCATION.

There are always instances of prosperous men who have
worked hard, are beginning to grow old, and want a young
man as partner; they do not want money capital, they have
enough of that, they want character, right habits, work, and
these are the best capital a young man can have.

A merchant in Boston wanted a boy. One was recom-
mended to him from the country, some twenty miles away.
The merchant decided to try him, and sent a dollar to pay his
stage fare to the city. On the day when he was expected the
boy appeared, at a late hour. The merchant asked somewhat
sternly, " Where have you been? The stage was in long ago."
The boy meekly replied, " I did not mean to offend you, sir; it
was the first dollar I ever had, and I wanted to keep it and so I
walked." " You did just right," said the gentleman emphatic-
ally, "now go and get your supper and come to work in the
morning " ; and he said to a friend who heard it, "I would not
take a thousand dollars for that boy." In process of time, the boy
became a partner in the business.

Sometimes a single act or a single day shapes a young man's
course and prosperity for life.

Many years ago I was traveling on the river St. Lawrence; on
Saturday afternoon I stopped at a hotel on one of the Thousand
Islands to pass the Sabbath. Several young men, commercial
travelers, spent the day there. On Sunday morning all but
one of them went out on the river and spent the day there.
That one went to church and kept the Sabbath. He made him-
self known to me, was traveling for a relative of mine. Some
time afterwards he applied for a situation to a large manufac-
turer, who wrote me that the young man had given a refer-
ence to me, among others. I replied that my knowledge of
him was limited, but I gave the facts about that Sabbath. The
young man obtained the situation, and he afterwards told me
that he thought my letter decided the matter. The manufac-
turer's son, upon whom he relied, had died. He took the young
man into his family and brought him forward in the business.
In a few years the senior died; the young man was elected in

157

A BUSINESS EDUCATION.

his place as manager of the business, with a fine prospect before
him.

Young man, there is abundant room for you in the higher
and more responsible positions of life. You are needed. Will
you rise to the emergencies and make yourself worthy of con-
fidence and become qualified for responsibility? If so, be will-
ing to do anything and everything that will advance the
interest of your employer, and you will soon become too valu-
able to remain in the lower positions and will be asked to step
up higher.

Make yourself worthy and the honor will come.

158

Personal Independence.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.C.

11 If EN are not, as a rule, self-reliant and independent. They
I Y I need props and aids both to stand and move. What are
^ Icalled the great men and women of any age or nation
are the prize beings of the human kind, showing not
the average of the race, but rather what can be done under
certain conditions. The conditions, as well as the product,
may be very exceptional, and so furnish no present wise
criterion by which to judge. And he who under ordinary cir-
cumstances should attempt to imitate them would inevitably
meet with disappointment, and perhaps loss. The times develop
great men, and great men modify the times. Each of us has
his appointed place and part in the economy of nature, and
however insignificant we may be, or however low the place
assigned to us, we may be assured that we are not made in
vain.

Nature is not constructed or run at haphazard. The wisest
of us do not yet know the plan on which nature is built; and
the men of any generation can see but a very small part of the
design unfolded in their day; so that it is useless for anyone to
object to its wisdom, or to find fault with his particular place
or time, or the kind of work in this world assigned to him. It
is yet far too soon to find fault with anything of nature's handi-
work or belongings. The all important question is, What
ought I to do in life, and what is the best way to do it? Each
of us must fill his own place and do his own work. If we
refuse, or do the work illy, nature casts us aside as rubbish, as
the " thorns " and " chaff " whose end is to be burned. Harsh,

[CHAPTER 26.] 159

PERSONAL, INDEPENDENCE.

perhaps, but who can say it is not just? Now all thorns are
perverted growths in nature, abnormal products of the natural
world, and as culture increases they are eliminated, sloughed
off, from the stock. They may have served a purpose as thorns
in the then condition of things. But with the development of
the plan of nature, they are then found to be no longer needful,
and who can dispute the wisdom that discards them?

It is conceded that humanity is slowly progressing upward,
but, however many ages there have already been, they are as
nothing to those that await the race. We are as yet in the
" first of the things" the Bible says, and nature confirms it, so
that it is altogether too early to pronounce concerning "what
we shall be " or what anything shall be in the ages ahead of
us. But we may rest assured of one thing, that nature's high-
est and best product is not thorns; that, while the average of
the race of men may yet be very low, the exceptionally great
and good of the ages show the possibilities of the race even
under present conditions. If the conditions improve, what
may not the race become, more especially if the best predomi-
nates at last? There is infinite variety in nature. All lives do
not run in the same channel. Even in the same family what
diversity of forms, of features, of mental and moral character-
istics are to be found.

Now nature is intensely individualized, and the momentous
question before us is this: Is my type of individual to continue
or to be sloughed off in the upward reach of the race? History
shows that some types have already disappeared from this
little planet, and others are now vanishing. Nature, with the
advancing culture of the race, throws them aside as unworthy
of perpetuation; or, having served their inferior time and place,
they are not found adapted to superior conditions, and so dis-
appear. In every age of the world there are seen to appear a
few great men; men who tower above their fellows; men who
are leaders; men who set the pace for a generation. Now,
great men are either great blessings or great curses to their
fellow mortals. Of whatever their greatness may consist,

160

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

whether they are great in intellect, or great in riches, or great
in position, or great in power, none others have such oppor-
tunities for good or ill; none others are so sovereign in blessing
or in cursing to the world as they. Greatness of any kind is
always a gigantic public trust, and woe unto him who defaults
or misuses it. When nature endows a man with exceptional
gifts of intellect, his fellows instinctively recognize it as their
right, and his duty, that he use these gifts to uplift and advance
them in goodness and truth. So doing, they perpetuate his name
and fame as a benefactor. If he leads them astray or subverts
their best interests, he is ultimately cast out, as a noisome
thing, to rot.

Equally so when men with exceptional gifts to amass riches
acquire them, it is no less their duty to use them to ennoble
and bless their fellow men. Great wealth is also a great public
trust to be used for the public good, and not merely for the
owner's profit or pleasure. Men instinctively recognize this
when a rich man dies clinging to the last to his pile of gold, or
when he dispenses it for purely selfish or private ends. If our
many millionaires of the present time fail to recognize their
stewardship towards their fellows less fortunately endowed,
history will ere long inevitably record another lesson which
ought to have been taught the world thoroughly enough by the
French Revolution. For the ability to get riches is as truly an
endowment as is the ability to gain knowledge. The scholar is
a debtor to his fellow men, and no less so is the man of wealth.
The scholar and the man of wealth each may claim his knowl-
edge or riches solely as of his own personal right or belongings.
Nevertheless, all men recognize the fact that their duty is
higher than their personal rights. The path of duty, and not
alone the path of enjoyment, is the path of safety, and the true
road to nobility. Property has duties to be performed, as well
as rights to be protected, both in the sight of men and of God.
Now the men who reach positions of eminence of any kind
among their fellows must needs be self-guiding and directors
of others, and cannot be of those who are nursed, sustained,

161 11

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

and led by their fellow men. Their resources must be in them-
selves alone.

He who goes in advance, and thus leads, must assume and
bear great responsibilities. He who leads must of necessity
depend on himself; he must needs go alone, not with the crowd,
but in advance of it. He must guide himself and others. And
in order to do so he must be personally independent. By this
is not meant oddity or impudence, or disregard of the opinion
or wishes of others, but the just and wise use of his own facul-
ties; the reliance on his own resources; the will and ability to
stand alone, if need be; the purpose to win one's way, however
long it may be, or whatever may be the obstacles in one's
path. No one ever gets above the average of any community
in which he lives, or above the average success of any partic-
ular business pursuit in which he may engage, who is not
thus self-reliant. " I lead, let others follow," must be their
motto, and by this nature specializes such, individualizes them
for their leadership.

When that "man of destiny," Napoleon Bonaparte, had had
himself proclaimed as Emperor of France, and the English
government, ignoring the fact, continued to address him simply
as general, he remarked to a friend, "They may call me what
they please, they cannot prevent me from being myself." The
being himself was what puzzled the men of his time. They
could understand ordinary men, but this extraordinary individ-
ual, who would copy nobody, who would not follow custom or
precedent, who would be himself alone, and who for fifteen
years kept all Europe in an uproar and frenzy of fear, was a
riddle that is not yet wholly solved. Whether his wild, inordi-
nate ambition and wonderful personality combined to make of
him a great military hero, or simply and only a monster of
rapine and slaughter, will be permanently known when right-
eousness becomes the standard of judgment for the great men
of the earth as well as for the small. In that day, I opine, the
lowliest peasant who does "justly, loves mercy, and walks
kumbly with his God " will have greater reverence among: men

162

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

and angels than any or all of those who, like Napoleon, wade
through seas of blood to sit their little hour on gilded pedestals
called thrones, the while that fawning sycophants crown them
with mock reverence and hollow praises.

This is a world and a universe of facts that sooner or later
demolishes all theories and opinions of men that are not in accord
with those facts. In the natural world it is found to be a fact
that fruits of the very choicest and best kinds can be grown at
less cost than is required for inferior sorts. So also the experi-
ence of mankind has abundantly shown that it costs far more
to grow and care for a criminal, whether great or small, than it
does to grow and care for an honest and useful citizen. Again,
in horticulture, inferior fruits are grown not so much by culture
as by neglect. It is even so with mankind. And the crying
need of the age has ever been, as it is now, for the careful and
systematic culture, not of a part, but of the whole, of the
intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature of man. If the moral
and spiritual nature of Bonaparte had not been neglected, what
a saving to the world in blood and treasure it would have been!
Merely intellectual culture made him a military prodigy, and a
thing of horror. If to that military culture had been added the
equal development of moral and spiritual nature, his church
would have canonized him as a saint. To cultivate the intellect
alone is to make a man either a very proud philosopher, or a
prouder devil. Cultivate the whole man and you get a child of
God. When this last is done on earth, the world will no longer
take as its most illustrious models those men, however great, or
wise, or rich, who have gained their eminence at the expense
or by the ruin or destruction of their fellow men. When this is
done, a new type of heroes and heroines will appear in the
world's niches of fame, the perfected fruit of the Perfect Man.
For, believe me, the lowly carpenter of Nazareth, who, counter
to the opinion and customs of his own and all other ages,
taught both by precept and by his example that the only true,
and the highest and best use of life was to "go about doing
good," is an immeasurably grander, loftier type of man than

163

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

the Corsican lawyer's son ever became by all his years of
bloody military brigandage, notwithstanding that by his method
he won a crown among men, while the Nazarene perished mis-
erably on a cross. It cost the world over eighteen billions of
dollars, and more than six millions of human lives to rear and
maintain Napoleon, while the total expense to it of the entire
human life of the Man of Nazareth was less than three thou-
sand dollars, and the shedding of no blood save his own, given
to redeem men.

If that huge sum of money, and the immense amount of
human energy and effort continued through so many years to
perpetuate a Napoleon, had but been given to the work of
producing men of the type of Jesus of Nazareth, how much it
would have ennobled, how much it would have enriched, how
very much it would have blessed and elevated and advanced
the world. He of Nazareth was wonderfully independent in
thought and deed, and more autocratic than any other that
ever appeared on -earth, and he taught that no one should be
called master save himself. But how vast the difference
between the independence he taught men to have and to show
forth, and that which is so generally called independence!
And yet history shows that his kind is the only one that will
bring you and me to the noblest, highest, and most permanent
success and fame.

Said Martin Luther, " It is God's way, of beggars to make
men of power, just as he made the world of nothing." Luther
was himself one of the most remarkable instances of the truth
of that saying. There have been men of mightier intellect, of
far greater culture and refinement of character, of more relig-
ious fervor and zeal, and of greater force and wider influence
in the molding of human opinions than he, yet Carlyle but
voiced the sentiment of the Protestant world when he said of
him, "I will call this Luther a truly great man; great in intel-
lect, in courage, affection, and integrity; one of our most
lovable and precious men. A right spiritual hero and prophet;
once more a true son of nature and fact, for whom these centu-

164

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

ries and many that are yet to come will be thankful to Heaven."
The reader is doubtless familiar with the main lines, at least,
of the life of this great leader of the reformation in Europe.
What a wonderfully independent spirit he was! And how true
to the life is the character sketch he gave of himself as being
"rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike, born to
fight innumerable devils and monsters, to remove stumps and
stones, to cut down thistles and thorns, and to clear the wild
woods." And right royally did he fulfill his mission.

This son of a poor miner was born on St. Martin's eve,
November 10, 1483, at Eisleben, Saxony, and died when sixty-
three years of age at the same place, on February 18, 1546. His
father designed him for a lawyer, for which profession he
seemed to think the lad's pugnacious spirit was best adapted;
and so the noisy and mischievous boy was early sent to school,
and received along with other lessons, innumerable floggings at
the hands of his teachers. Fifteen of these floggings he says
he had in one forenoon. But he thrived on them, and was
withal a ready learner. When he entered the school at Mans-
field, his poverty compelled him, in company with some other
scholars as poor as himself, to become a strolling musician,
both in that place and in the neighboring villages, singing, as
the custom of the day was, from door to door, and then
begging for bread to support themselves at the school. There
followed a year at a Franciscan school at Magdeburg, and later
he entered the Latin school at Eisenach, still begging his bread
as before by singing. But the life was a hard one, full of many
sore trials. The fare, too, was poor; and the road ahead long
and discouraging, and the poor boy was about to give up the
struggle for an education, when a kind-hearted woman, Ursula
Cotta, pitying him, undertook his support, so that he was able,
when eighteen years of age, to enter upon a course of study at
the University of Erfurt. At the end of four years he gradu-
ated as Master of Arts, in the year 1505.

During his student life a severe fit of sickness brought him
to death's door, and a friend lost his life in one of the duels,

165

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

then, as now, so common in German universities. Anon a bolt
of lightning struck at his feet, and his somewhat naturally
superstitious nature was aroused, and he resolved to become a
priest instead of a lawyer. Accordingly, July 17th, 1505, he
entered the Augustinian convent at Erfurt, and, after three
years there, became a professor of philosophy at the University
of Wittenberg. While at the convent he was noted for his
devotion and self-denying labor. He was the sweeper, porter,
beggar for the institution. Here he met with and studied for
the first time a Bible, also the writings of St. Augustine, and
Tauler's sermons, and was much helped to independent thinking
by the commentaries of Nicholas de Lyra, and the counsels of
Johann Staupitz, the superior of the order of St. Augustine.
In 1510 he made that memorable journey to Rome as a penitent
seeking pardon for his sins, and was slowly climbing on his
knees the steps of the Scala Santa, opposite the church of St.
John Lateran, when he heard an inward voice saying to
him, " The just shall live by faith," and, rising, he there
resolved to give up the vain endeavor to secure pardon by out-
ward ceremonials, and to take it as a gift of God received by
faith alone. Returning to his professorship, he was made a
Doctor of Divinity in 1512, and for eight years thereafter he
remained within the fold of the Catholic Church, laboring to
reform the glaring abuses he found therein.

When Pope Leo X. engaged in the task of rebuilding St.
Peter's Church at Rome, that prelate aroused the faithful of his
flock by promising indulgence to all who should contribute
toward the expense of rebuilding, and sent forth the Dominican
monk, Tetzel, to dispense them in Saxony. Tetzel was uncom-
monly zealous both for the worthy father of his church, and for
himself, and farmed out the indulgences promiscuously, even
making an open sale of them as a quittance in full for future
sins, as well as for those of the past, to the infinite disgust of
the thoughtful, and the great scandal of the devout, among
whom were the faculty of the University of Wittenberg. Ere
long, Professor Luther protested against the indulgence sales

166

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

of the monk by his famous ninety-five Latin theses, which he
proceeded to post up on the doors of the Schloss-kirche at Wit-
tenberg, on October, 31, 1517, and sent a copy of them to the
Archbishop of Magdeburg, begging him to put a stop to the
scandalous practices of Tetzel.

Immediately a storm arose and raged. The infant press took
up the strife, and it spread throughout Europe like wildfire.
In 1519 Dr. Eck and Dr. Luther held a public debate at Leipsic
on the question, and the excitement spread faster and waxed
fiercer. Professor Luther was supported by his University,
and protected from civil violence by the elector of Saxony,
Frederick the Wise. Leo X. at first considered the matter as
simply a quarrel between the monks of the Augustinian and
Dominican orders, but in June, 1520, when better informed, he
issued his bull of excommunication against the heretic Dr. Mar-
tin Luther unless he recanted within one hundred days. But the
mediaeval professor had more "spunk" than some of our
modern religionists or even that eminent scientist, St. George
Mivart, has had, and so he not only refused to recant, but
openly burned the Pope's bull before the Elstergate of Witten-
berg, December 10, 1520, in the presence of the students and
faculty of that university.

Now the war raged hot and furious, and soon Europe was in
the throes of the mightiest revolution it had ever known. The
frightened spiritual hierarchs invoked the aid of the civil
government against the daring heretic, and a few months after
the. Wittenberg escapade, the young German emperor, Charles
V., summoned him for trial before the Diet of Worms. The
friends of the young professor, knowing his life was now at
stake, sought to persuade him not to attend the Diet. But with
the heroic answer that though there were as many devils there
as tiles on the roofs of the houses he would go, he set forth,
and was greeted on his arrival at that city by some two thou-
sand persons who sympathized with him, and escorted him to
his lodgings. On entering the hall where the Diet was held,
the old commander, Freundsburg, tapped him on the shoulder,

167

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

and kindly, warningly, said, "Monk, monk, thou art on a
passage more perilous than any which I and many other
commanders ever knew in the bloodiest battlefields. If thou
art right, fear not, God will sustain thee."

At the Diet he was confronted by the haughty and mighty
dignitaries of the Roman Church, by the Emperor of Germany,
with the barons, nobles, and grandees of his empire, and a vast
concourse of spectators, and when called upon to recant what
they called heresy, he proceeded boldly to defend his doctrine,
and in his defense he announced on April 18, 1521, his ever-
memorable and ever-safe declaration: " Unless I shall be
refuted and convinced by testimony of the Holy Scriptures, or
by public, clear, and evident arguments and reasons, I cannot
and will not retract anything, since I believe neither the Pope
nor the councils alone; both of them having evidently often
erred, and contradicted themselves, and since it is neither safe
nor advisable to do anything against the conscience. Here I
stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me! Amen!" The
Diet pronounced the ban of excommunication of the empire
against him, as the church had previously done, and thereafter
he was an outlaw, both before the church and the civil govern-
ment.

The agents of Frederick the Wise protected him, and for ten
months secreted him, under an assumed name, in the castle of
the Wartburg, near Eisenach, in Thuringia. But the horrors
of the Peasants' War were abroad in the land, and the wild
vagaries of some of the Anabaptists; and the to him strange and
erratic preaching of his colleague, Carlstadt, induced him to
come from his retreat, against the advice of friends, in order
that he might rescue the child of religious freedom of thought
from being strangled in its infancy. And thenceforth, amid
many perils, through all those turbulent and epoch-making
years, he both gave and received many a sturdy blow, and
made and alienated many a friend. In June. 1525, he returned
to one of the ancient practices of the Roman Church he had
left, and, to the surprise alike of his friends and enemies, he

168

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

took to wife the ex-nun, Catherine Von Bora, in order, as he
said, to please his father, to tease the pope, and to vex the
devil, and continued thereafter to prize his " Katy above the
kingdoms of France, or the state of Venice."

His habits, if contrasted with those of our modern times,
would be considered rude and gross; but they were, like
himself, the product of his age. He had a wonderful faculty
of expressing, in the everyday speech of the people, the views
he held. He lacked utterly the legislative faculty of John
Wesley, and was far inferior to John Calvin and the Geneva
reformers, both as a thinker and reasoner. He was impatient
of contradiction, and of an imperious and overbearing spirit that
he was never able to master, and he was mentally so limited
that he could not willingly grant to others the right of conscience
and of private judgment in religious things that he claimed for
himself. He was often coarse in his thought and language, as
were the times in which he lived. But he was emphatically a
man of devotion, of faith, and prayer; and he lived in and with
his Bible, as but few men have ever done. He put the energy
of his being into his words and deeds, gave to the German race
a translation of the Bible that is yet without an equal in that
tongue, and which alone would immortalize his name. He
compiled and wrote the catechisms of the church now called by
his name. He compiled, translated, and wrote, books, tracts,
and hymns, one of which last, the " Ein feste Burg ist Unser
Gott," the famous war song of the Reformation, written in
1529, and based on the forty-sixth Psalm, is sung around the
world by the men of all Protestant creeds. Though a fighter,
and living in, and the child of, those times of blood and per-
secution, he came to his grave in peace, and has a name
among the very chief of the world's reformers. A man of
the people, his personal independence of character soon made
him in those fierce, tempestuous times, a leader and spiritual
ruler of the people; and to-day, after the lapse of three and
a half centuries, no name is so revered by Germans the world
over as the name of the once poor beggar boy, Martin Luther.

169

Importance of Self -Mastery.

EBV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

VICE is only another name for weakness and decay. Ages
have proved that virtue alone can give us strength and
life. Each person finds within himself, and everywhere
he goes, the eternal contrast and the eternal choice
between good and evil. If he choose the good, then strength
of body, of mind, of character, comes to him, and ultimately
the highest success of which he is capable. If he choose evil,
the one inevitable result is loss of power to do the best work of
which he might be capable, and, sooner or later, a collapse of his
physical and mental force, and, finally, failure. In the busi-
ness world, a poor workman always diminishes profits. And
for this reason wages must be paid out of the profits of one's
business, otherwise they must be taken from the capital, which
can mean but one thing, the destruction of all business.

In the commercial world it is found that profits go with
quality, not quantity; the higher the quality, the greater the
profits; unless, indeed, one is dealing wholly with the ignorant,
or with children, or savages, incapable of appreciating quality.
A small good painting, or sculpture, or work of art is worth
immensely more in the world's markets than far larger ones
that lack their quality. Merit, not space, determines the price
and the profits. Again, the best produce and the best goods
are found to bring the best prices, they being in the end the
cheapest because they are the best. He, therefore, who would
succeed in business must perforce not be a poor workman.
Nor, if he be an employer, must he use such workmen if better
ones can be had. Poor workmen cheapen products; hence, the

[CHAPTER 27.] 170

IMPORTANCE OF SELF-MASTERY.

better the workmen, the greater the profits. Now, vice makes
poor workmen. There are no exceptions in any age, nor
among any people. True, some peculiarly vicious persons have
attained to more or less of eminence in the world, and some-
times in business. But no sensible person will deny that such
individuals would have been far greater and grander, and
doing better, nobler work, if they had not been the victims of
their vices. He, therefore, who wishes the highest success in
life must shun the vices, whatever their name or nature,
whether the generally recognized sins, or what men call the
lesser evils, as the vice of idleness, or a disregard of others'
rights, or of one's obligations, or the multitudinous petty wrongs
that affect society. A man must be master over all evil, and
not the victim or the slave to it, if he would reach the grandest
success.

Society is surcharged with so-called small vices to which
many young men succumb through their social instincts, and
which vices experience has shown do effectually destroy all
hopes of high success in life, whether such success be the best
development of our character, or merely the acquiring of a for-
tune, or the winning of fame, or the gaining a position among
men, or the doing good to one's kind. While these evils of
appetite do not at once destroy life, and while they do not
immediately impair the bodily or mental vigor, yet they do
hinder immensely in the contest for the sublime success of
which man is capable, and quite generally they prevent even a
moderate degree of success in one's life.

Consider a very common illustration. According to official
returns there is spent each year in the United States more than
twelve hundred millions of dollars for intoxicating beverages,
and more than three-fourths of this immense sum is spent by
the poor of the land, who seemingly never stop to think that it
is this and its kindred evils that make and keep them so poor
and degraded. Blatant demagogues, moved with envy or self-
seeking, are fond of declaiming against the possessors of large
landed estates in this country as though they were robbers of

171

IMPORTANCE OF SELF-MASTERY.

the poor, and yet, every time they and their dupes swallow their
worse than useless mug of beer, they each gulp down a square
yard of as rich land as there is in the United States. That is to
say, the mug of beer costs more than the present average price
of land per square yard in the country. What landed pro-
prietors the poor might become if they would but renounce
such evils, and save their earnings! It is the nimble nickels
that run away with the dimes and the dollars. He who saves
them is a capitalist. He who uselessly, needlessly flings them
away is a spendthrift whose poverty is of his own producing.
The little savings are what make the capital.

The advancement of the human race must largely if not
wholly depend upon their acquiring this habit of saving. The
civilized nations of the earth are the only savers. Savages are
notorious spendthrifts, and averse to labor, and yet they endure
more privations to get a bare subsistence than any capitalist of
the day has done to accumulate all of his gains. As a rule, the
poor man who wastes his earnings toils harder and is com-
pelled to endure more privations than our rich men have done
to become possessed of their riches. Yet their wealth is wholly
the result of saving, as all the wealth of the world is, and sav-
ings are always the product of toil. So, then, if you would
advance in civilization, you must toil and you must equally as
well save this beer money. And, further, we all know from
observation, the use of intoxicants soon destroys a man's value
as a workman. It is always the poor workman who is the first
to be discharged when " hard times " come; and the first to
" come on the town for support." It is poor workmen who fill
the almshouses, jails, and penitentiaries, and who make up the
vast army of tramps in all countries, who roam about whether
the times are " easy" or "hard." Indeed, the poor workmen
(made poor by their vices) are almost wholly responsible for
the extent of the "hard times." But for him they would sel-
dom if ever occur.

Once in about twenty years we have in this country what is
called a "panic" in the business world. Manufacturing well-

172 *

IMPORTANCE OF SELF-MASTERY.

nigh ceases, commerce languishes, and " hard times " are on
the people. Now the waste from and by the drink-traffic alone
in these United States amounts at the end of that period to a
little more than double the annual earnings of all the people of
this country. In consequence, the commercial world finds
itself overburdened; nature is exhausted and demands econ-
omy and rest. " Now," cry the demagogues, " there is an over-
production of manufactures and the products of the soil. There
is no market for goods. We must have new outlets for com-
merce. Manufacturers are getting rich at the expense of the
working man: and we must revise the tariff." Yea, verily. But
why fume at the wrecks of the flood, while you leave unvisited
and untouched the mighty fountains that produce the floods?
It is true that there is no market for the products, and the sav-
ings, but why ? Is it not simply because the great armies of the
poor of the world, who far outnumber the well-to-do, and who
need those products and ought to have them, whose physical
and moral salvation depends on having them, have wasted and
do so waste the products of their own and others' toil, for that
which is not bread, that they are no longer able to buy, and in
consequence your markets are glutted with goods, and panics
come and "hard times" follow until such time as nature can
recuperate the waste? He who wastes his substance in riotous
living must come to want at last.

Make it possible for the toilers of the world to buy by remov-
ing the enormous annual waste to them caused by vices, and
how the wheels of commerce would spin, and peace and plenty
everywhere abound, and over all the weary lands come the
benediction of Heaven.

The masses of the world in all lands are very poor. The
bulk of the people in our own land are poor. It is not strange
that they are so. The so-called petty vices bring them to
poverty. There are tens of thousands of families in this coun-
try who have spent a fortune in chewing, smoking, and snuff-
ing filthy tobacco, and they have nothing to show for it but
disordered nerves, ashes, quids, and stench. A dollar a week

173

IMPORTANCE OP SELF-MASTERY.

is a low estimate for the cost of tobacco for many families. If
saved and deposited every six months at seven per cent, com-
pound interest, it would in fifty years amount to twenty-two
thousand, four hundred and twenty-three dollars, and at the
end of eighty years there would be a snug fortune of one
hundred and eighty-one thousand, seven hundred and seventy-
three dollars, so that but for these vices they might soon be
well-to-do capitalists. In truth, the vices are all wonderfully
expensive and ruinous, and if you would win your highest suc-
cess you must avoid them; you must be master over them; not
of one only, but of all of them. See how one of our noted
Americans overcame them, and to what eminence it led him.

The late Admiral David G. Farragut, of heroic war mem-
ories, at the close of the late civil war in this country, gave
this account of the cause of his great naval success and fame.
"Would you like to know," said he to a friend, "how I was
enabled to serve my country?" "Of course I should," replied
his friend. "It was all owing," said the Admiral, "to a reso-
lution that I formed when I was ten years old. My father was
sent to New Orleans with the little navy we had, to look after
the treason of Burr. I accompanied him as a cabin boy. I had
some qualities that I thought made a man of me. I could
swear like an old salt; could drink a stiff glass of grog as if I
had doubled Cape Horn, and could smoke like a locomotive.
I was great at cards, and was fond of gambling in every shape.
At the close of dinner one day, my father turned everybody
out of the cabin, locked the door, and said to me, ' David,
what do you intend to be?' 'I mean to follow the sea,' I said.
' Follow the sea,' exclaimed father; ' yes, be a poor, miser-
able, drunken sailor before the mast, kicked and cuffed about
the world, and die in some fever hospital in a foreign clime.'
'No, father,' I replied, 'I will tread the quarter-deck and
command, as you do.' ''No, David, no boy ever trod the
quarter-deck with such principles as you have, and such habits
as you exhibit. You will have to change your whole course of
life if you ever become a man.' My father left me and went on

174

IMPORTANCE OF SELF-MASTERY.

deck. I was stunned by the rebuke and overwhelmed with
mortification. ' A poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the
mast, kicked and cuffed about the world, and die in some fever
hospital! That's my fate, is it? I'll change my life, and
change it at once. I will never utter another oath, never drink
a drop of intoxicating liquor, never gamble.' And, sir, as God
is my witness, I have kept these three vows to this hour.
Shortly after, I became a Christian, and that act settled my
temporal as it settled my moral destiny."

What a wonderful uplift toward the noblest success in life
vast multitudes of young men would at once receive, if they
would but make and carry out similar resolutions. As vice
makes poor workmen, and as poor workmen reduce and often
destroy all profits, business interests require, even if there were
no moral considerations, that you should be virtuous in order
to succeed! But, believe me, not this world alone, but the
universe itself, is set toward the production and perpetuation
of the virtuous man.

175

Doing Things Well.

M. WOOLSEY STRYKER, D.D., LL.D., President Hamilton College.

THE word well is allied to the word weal. It has the
notion of will and of wish. It suggests both an ideal
and a purpose. One might write a book upon the im-
morality of carelessness. Whoever consents to less than his
thorough best is neither shrewd nor good. To do things by
halves or thirds, to put only a part of one's self into the given
task, whether the tool is a pen or a pick, is to add to the general
bulk of unrighteousness.

The old sculptor who said of his carvings, whose backs were
to be out of all possible inspection, "but the gods will see,"
touched this matter to the quick. A result which one passes
for his honest best, and which he knows is not that, is a kind of
counterfeit. This felony has its reflex penalty in the slow effac-
ing of the capacity to excel. It reacts in the deterioration of
those faculties which gain by exactions, and dwindle by indul-
gences. Skill is wit plus will. To accept conventional esti-
mates, to excuse one's self by averages, to let facility cheat
thoroughness, to intermit that stern self -censorship, which both
fidelity and farsightedness command, is to be always an appren-
tice, and never a master.

This adroit shirking when it becomes deliberate, or even
chronic, puts a period both to mental and moral growth. Putty
will for a while cover a multitude of sins; but, whether men
discover the ill doer or no, the sins of superficiality will find the
man out and wreak their inward penalty by making his soul
shallower.

The genuine man, whether his product is books or boots,

[CHAPTEB 28.] 176

DOING THINGS WELL.

whether he works by the year or by the day, will not willingly
sacrifice quality to quantity. He will value the idea that lies in
that keen German proverb, " The good is enemy to the best,"
which is to say that the passable blinds us to the perfect, and
that offering a medium result we come to be incapable of the
maximum. The so-called " pretty good " thus becomes the very
bad.

The men who renounce mediocrity and uplift the average of
the world are such as are never complacent with any present
performance, and who by the energy of a great ideal first grasp
and then tread every rung of the ladder. When a genuine and
capable nature apprehends that slovenly performance is posi-
tively depraved, and that individuality is only another term
for exceptional devotion to some line of effort, there breaks
upon him vertical light.

Such a vision of what is possible to faithfulness and deter-
mination, will, if it is adopted into purpose, exorcise lethargy,
indecision, procrastination, and all their fellow devils. The
little idols of seeming and getting and all the inane pantheon
will fall before the right-angled determination to do and never
to be satisfied with half doing.

" Heartily know
That the half gods go
When the gods arrive."

Doing well does not mean that we are to pause because we
have done as well as another, nor because yet another's best is
to us at present inaccessible.

It is not a relative but an absolute well-doing that God and
men have a right to require at our hands. However, that is a
noble discouragement which gauges its progress up by the top-
most rather than midmost competitor. I have always found
help in a wise paragraph of Richard C. Trench" Fit, square,
polish thyself. Thy turn will come. Thou wilt not lie in the
way. The builders will have need of thee. The wall has more
need of thee than thou hast of the wall."

177 12

DOING THINGS WELL.

" Seconds " may go cheap; but there is always a market for
prime men. It will be found in the long run, and often in the
short dash, that there is nothing more practical than a high and
relentless ideal. And the ultimate and inestimable reward of
work well done is the answer of a man's own soul in deep
approval. Self-respect attends the outlay of one's total energy for
worthy ends. The mere hireling, whether carpenter or king, is
one who never tastes the pure springs of manliness. The
solid soul who writes not alone on a crest, but on his heart,
ich dien, attains "a peace above all earthly dignities." "In
the morning," says Marcus Aurelius, "when thou art sluggish
at rousing thee, let this thought be present, ' I am rising to a
man's work.'"

And the Sage of sages speaks yet as he spake through the
seer of Patmos, " I know thy works." His " well done " will be
the recognition and reward of all true men.

178

Self-Made if Ever Made.

PHOF. D. COLLIN WELLS, PH.D., Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.

IN July, 1870, the armies of France and Germany stood face
to face upon the Rhine. Appearances favored France.
She was richer and more populous ; the organization of hei
forces appeared to be perfect. " On to Berlin," was the cry from
Paris as the armies met. To the astonishment of Europe the
French forces were cut in two and rolled into Metz and around
Sedan like shore wreckage driven before a tidal wave. Within a
few weeks, two great armies and the Emperor surrendered.
Paris was taken, and German troopers paraded her streets. It
was wonderful.

As men thought it out, they came to see that it was not
France that was beaten, but only Louis Napoleon and a lot of
nobles, influential because they bore titles or were favorites.
Unhappy Louis Napoleon, the feeble bearer of a great namet
Emperor, because of his name and criminal daring, upon the
throne of his illustrious uncle, the man who made himself and
the name! By a series of happy accidents he had gained some
credit in the Crimean War, and at Magenta and Solf erino. The
unmasking time had come, as it always comes when sham,
artificial toy-men meet genuine self-made men.

Such were the leaders on the German side. What a group
they were, merely those four out of a great number, every man
the creator of his own greatness ! King William, Bismarck,
Von Moltke, and Von Roon.

William, strong, upright, warlike, and beloved by his people,
" every inch a king." The German soldier, disciplined to per-
fection in the school and barracks, equipped and supplied by

[CHAPTER 29.] 179

SELF-MADE IP EVER MADE.

Von Roon, Minister of War, a master of administrative detail.
Arms in perfect order, provisions enough and just where they
were wanted, and a railway system so nicely organized as to
handle the armies with utmost ease. Bismarck, the master
mind of European politics, no miscalculation here. Above all,
Von Moltke, chief of staff, who hurled armies by telegraph, as
he sat at his cabinet, as easily as a master moves chessmen
against a stupid opponent.

A rare man this Von Moltke! One who made himself ready
for his opportunities beyond all men known to the modern world.
Of an impoverished family, he rose very slowly and by his own
merit. He yielded to no temptation, vice, or dishonesty, of
course, nor to the greater and ever present temptation to idle-
ness, for he constantly worked to the limit of hum an endurance.
He was ready for every emergency, not by accident, but because
he made himself ready by painstaking labor, before the opportu-
nity came. His favorite motto was, " Help yourself and others
will help you." Hundreds of his age in the Prussian army were
of nobler birth, thousands of greater fortune, but he made him-
self superior to them all by extraordinary fidelity and diligence.

The greatest master of strategy the world has ever seen was
sixty-six years at school to himself before he was ready for his
task. Though born with the century, and an army officer at
nineteen, he was an old man when, in 1866, as Prussian chief
of staff, he crushed Austria at Sadowa and drove her out of
Germany. Four years later the silent, modest soldier of
seventy, ready for the still greater opportunity, smote France,
and changed the map of Europe. Glory and the field marshal's
baton, after fifty-one years of hard work! No wonder Louis
Napoleon was beaten by such men as he. All Louis Napoleons
have been, and always will be. Opportunity always finds out
frauds. It does not make men, but shows the world what they
have made of themselves.

On January 25, 1830, in the Senate of the United States,
Hayne of South Carolina presented the Southern doctrine of
nullification and state rights, in a powerful and plausible speech.

180

SELF-MADE IF EVER MADE.

Webster proposed to answer him next morning. His friends
protested that the time for preparation was too short. Next
morning Webster delivered the greatest speech in American
history. He had prepared for it all his life. " There is no such
thing as extemporaneous acquisition," he once said. This
opportunity did not make Daniel Webster ; he had made him-
self, and responded naturally to the opportunity.

These examples from political and military life can be
paralleled in every calling every day. Every obituary of
scholar or millionaire tells the same story, that men are self-
made if ever made. Francis Parkman, half blind, was Amer-
ica's greatest historian in spite of everything, because he made
himself such.

It is the greatest glory of America that it is the land of self-
made men. Here all is in free movement, and every one finds
his own level. Fathers and grandfathers cannot long hold one
up, or keep him down. Personal value here is a coin of one's
own minting, one is taken at the worth he has put into him-
self.

This does not mean that every boy can make anything of
himself. Natural talent and opportunities for using it are to be
considered. Talents differ, and so do opportunities. What is
meant is that upon one's self depends the use made of talents
and opportunities. The finest talent can be wasted, as John
Randolph wasted his by drink, or crowning opportunities thrown
away, as Aaron Burr threw his away. If opportunities are
earlier neglected, fine talents are never revealed, the world is
poorer, the man is a failure.

This failure to make the most of himself may be, in one case,
the failure to be a first-class carpenter, a master workman; in
another, to be a thrifty, prosperous farmer; of still a third, to
be a studious, growing doctor or lawyer. It is all relative to the
start and surroundings. This does not condemn anyone to any-
thing beforehand. Poverty and lack of friends did not con-
demn Lincoln and Garfield to ignorance and obscurity. In the
United States, wealth and power are in the hands of men who

181

SELF-MADE IF EVER MADE.

have won for themselves. This is admitted, but it is often for-
gotten that the same rule is true all the way through society,
as true of the good blacksmith as of the railroad magnate. The
man who, like Adam Bede, always drives a nail straight, and
planes a board true, whom men always employ at good wages,
is equally the maker of his own fortunes.

It is mostly a moral matter, an affair of character in its
widest sense. This character building is delicate work. One
has a dozen chances to spoil it in the making, every day and
for three hundred and sixty-five days in the year; perhaps for
seventy years, as in Yon Moltke's case.

It is often a small thing that turns the scale. It may be that
the favor of superiors or the public is lost by a hasty temper or
a sour spirit; things within one's own control. Others train
themselves to self-control and kindness, and win. This one may
drink his first glass, and die a drunkard, or at best squander
money that should be saved to noble uses. Another is an idler
and wastes his time, with the result that he is ignorant when it
is essential for him to know, or without resources when fronted
with starvation or sickness. Another is a spendthrift and
never gets ahead, however hard he works. Another yields to
some weakness or passion, and finds himself heavily handi-
capped for life.

It is fundamentally true that one gets a better position, in
the long run, only by filling well his present one. Fine qualities
are perhaps better known to observers than to their possessors.
The banker or the merchant notes them in subordinates; they
are welcomed in the laborer; a doctor or a lawyer is employed
because of them. Each one is his own best recommendation
for promotion.

Advancement usually comes unexpectedly. One cannot
prepare for it as if it were in the calendar. It is like the com-
ing of the kingdom of heaven. The young officer, Von Moltke,
mastered Russian as his fifth modern language, thinking it
might be sometime useful, as it was. He perfected himself in
every accomplishment and so was always qualified. It is the

182

SELF-MADE IF EVER MADE.

midnight oil that makes the great scholar. The pebbles in his
mouth made Demosthenes, and the " well-stocked pigeon holes "
made Daniel Webster.

All this means that one takes out of life only what he puts
into it. If anything fine and noble is to be made of life, one
must do it himself.

183

JPersonal Ferity.

REV. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D.D., Boston, Mass.

[HOMAS ALVA EDISON was once asked why he was a
total abstainer. He said, " I thought I had a better use
^ for my head." The answer is worth remembering by any
young fellow who means to use his brains. A wonderful bat-
tery they make. Every morning they take up their work, and
start us on our daily pleasure or our daily duty, if,

If we have not undertaken to impose on nature's plan for
them.

If we have not tried this stimulus or that stimulus, not in the
plan for which they were made.

The young man who means to do the best possible work his
body and mind can do, keeps his body and mind as pure, as
clean from outside filth, as Edison keeps his brain.

This is what is meant when we are told to keep ourselves as
pure as little children are.

The readers of this book are so well up to the lessons of this
time that they know that the men who are trained for a foot-
ball match, or a running match, or a boxing match, have to
keep their bodies from any stimulus but that which is given by
food prepared in the simplest way, so as to suit the most simple
appetite.

It is not simply that a man's body must be in good order
itself. What is needed is that a man shall be ready and able to
govern his body. He shall say "Go," and his body shall go.
He shall say "Go faster," and his body shall go faster. His
will, his power to govern his machinery, depends on his keep-
ing himself pure.

[CHAPTEB 30.] 184

PERSONAL PURITY.

Three hundred years ago, a certain set of men and women
in England earned for themselves the name of Puritans. That
name was given them because they kept their bodies pure.
Those men and women did this because the Saviour of men and
all his apostles commanded them to do so. The New Testament
insists on personal purity as the beginning of all training and
all knowledge. " The wisdom from above is first pure," it says.
And such men as Paul and Peter and the rest, who changed the
world, insisted on personal purity. They meant that a man's
body should be so pure as to be a fit temple of God. The Puri-
tans of England believed in such instructions, and they kept
their bodies pure. In his intercourse with women, in his use of
stimulants, a Puritan gentleman earned his name by his chas-
tity and his temperance.

The Cavaliers, the men at court, ridiculed this obedience to
divine law. What followed on this ridicule ? This followed :
that, when the questions of English liberty were submitted to
the decision of battle, when the fine gentlemen of the court
found themselves in array against the farmers of Lincolnshire,
led by Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan troopers, who kept their
bodies pure, rode over the gay gentlemen who did not keep
their bodies pure.

What happened on our side of the water was that the hand-
ful of Puritan settlers in Plymouth and in the Bay, who kept
their bodies pure, were more than a match for the men of Mas-
sasoit and Philip, who did not keep their bodies pure. They
could outmarch them, could outwatch them, could outfight them.
They could rule their bodies. They could be firm to a purpose.
They had at command such strength as had been given to them.

The young men who read this book probably know better
than I do what are the temptations which now offer themselves
in the life of an American boy. They are different in different
places. I know that, not long ago, I was speaking on the need
of immediate act if one would carry out a good resolution. I
was in the largest theater in Boston. I looked up at the third
gallery, which was crowded with several hundred boys and

185

PERSONAL PURITY.

young men. I said, "Go home, and take down from the wall
of your room the picture you would be ashamed to have your
mother see there." An evident wave of consciousness passed
over the hundreds of witnesses, as they turned to each other, as
they smiled, or in some way showed that they knew what I
was talking about. This is certain, that in the life of cities
young men are the men solicited to throw away the purity of
their bodies and to give up their self-control.

I say young men know better than old men what are the
present temptations. If young men knew as well as old men
do how much of the best life of every country is lost because
the young men do not resist those temptations, they would pay
more attention to what old men say to them. I was talking on
this matter with a young artist the other day, and on the moment
he named to me five of the most distinguished of the younger
artists of France who had been lost to France and to the world
by sensual habits. And anybody who knows the history of the
tug of war between France and Germany twenty years ago
knows what happened then. War tests all forms of manliness.
It tests endurance and physical strength and patience under
disappointment. We know who went under when the French
troops, all rotten with the impurity of France, met the German
peasants. The French Empire disappeared because of the disso-
luteness of the French Empire. A court like that could not
expect the support of soldiers any stronger than the officers of
the headquarters-staff who marshaled them.

To a man deep down in licentious or intemperate habits, it
is very difficult to prescribe the remedies for his cure. The
trouble is that he has lost the power of will. It is very hard
then to make him will or determine anything. The poor crea-
ture does not know what determination means. He says at
night, " I will never touch liquor again," and the next day, when
he passes a liquor shop, he says, " I have changed my mind,
and I will take it again." Indeed, he has not changed his
mind ; he has almost no mind to change. He never made a
resolution, because such a man cannot make a resolution. But

186

PERSONAL PURITY.

we are not addressing him in this book ; we are addressing
young men.

For young men, the course is distinct, and not so difficult.
The prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," states it very pre-
cisely. This is the reason why the men who wish to have our
cities temperate wish to close the open saloon in the city. They
want to save young men from a very fascinating temptation.
For every young man who reads this page knows that, while he
might go into an open shop with a friend to drink a glass of
beer, to treat or to be treated, he would not so much as think of
buying a bottle of liquor to carry it up to his own private room
and drink it there. What we want, when we say we wish we
could shut up all the liquor shops, is to save from temptation
people who have not formed the habits of drinking. Just the
same thing is to be said as to the temptations to unchastity.
If you do not begin, you will not take a step forward. The
moment that you find that a book is impure, or, as I said to
those boys in the theater, is such a book as you would not show
to your mother or your sister, that is the moment to put that
book into the fire. Indeed, the mere physical act of putting it
into the fire will be a good thing for you. It will be like one of
the old sacrifices on the altar.

And if you want any reason which you can state to a friend
or to yourself, for your taking such a course, the reason is, that
you wish to keep mind and body in the condition in which it
pleased God to make them. You mean to train yourself pre-
cisely as the trainer of a football team or a baseball team or a
boat crew trains his men. You mean that your hand shall be
steady, your feet quick, your arm strong. And, more than this,
you mean to have these powers in immediate command, so that
they shall do just what you, the living man, want to have done.

Let me say a word from personal experience. All intelligent
young men are, and ought to be, interested in literary work.
They are all interested in the authors whom they love to read.
I should like, therefore, to close this paper by saying that I have
known most of the American literary men of my time. I have

187

PERSONAL PURITY.

kncm A many of the ablest American physiologists of our time.
Such men will differ, I suppose, as to the question whether,
after men begin to die, a physician might recommend a stimu-
lant for waning powers, when a particular effort was to be
made. A man begins to die when he passes the age of forty-
five. But even if you grant, what certainly is not proved, that
after men begin to die, a glass of beer or a glass of wine may
be sometimes recommended in certain lines by medical advisers,
I think nobody pretends that this is done for any other reason
than to resist for a moment, more or less, the decay of declin-
ing life. This book is written for people who have not begun
to die. It is written for young men in the fullness of their
power. To such men I want to say, what I have said again
and again in public, and what has never been challenged. I
have worked side by side with other men, on the newspaper
press, in my own profession, and in various public cares ; and
from what such men have said to me, and from my own expe-
rience, I know that the brain of man works most accurately
and most steadily, and therefore most reliably, when it is never
plagued or perplexed by the influence of liquor. I know that
the literary man who is a total abstinent comes back to his
desk every morning most easily and most readily. On an
emergency he sticks to his work for four and twenty hours, if
it is necessary, most cheerfully. And in that four and twenty
hours his work is best worth reading. You may ask any news-
paper man you choose, or any literary man of fifty years'
experience who has known the other literary men of his time,
and they will substantiate my answer. You may' ask any
trainer of athletes, and he will sustain my answer. For abso-
lute physical exertion the point is conceded. The riflemen who
take the prizes in England are total abstinent men. And
Greely told me himself that if he were to take another party
to the North Pole he would take no man if he was not a total
abstinent by habit and principle. In point of fact, the great
exertion by which the American flag was planted nearest the
North Pole was made by men who had no regular spirit ration.

188

Value of a Souincl Body.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

I HE immense advance of this age over preceding ones is
due not to our superiority in our natural powers of body
^ or of mind, but to the construction of fine implements
whereby the range of the bodily senses has been so greatly
enlarged. What stores of knowledge, what sources of material
wealth, have been opened up to men by the telescope, the
microscope, the spectrum, the minute delicate balances of the
chemist, the choice instruments of the physician and surgeon,
and the marvelous appliances of the mechanic and the inven-
tor, whereby the hitherto hidden forces of nature are put to use
for the comfort, welfare, and enriching of mankind! If our
bodily senses had not been so enlarged by these things, in what
branch of knowledge would we be superior to the men of other
generations?

Whatever may be the conditions of existence in other
worlds, it is certain that in this one the mind of man is not
only located by his body, but developed by the body; so that
our body is, to the highest degree, a necessity to the well-being
of our minds. When the body is defective, through lack of
organs, the mind is limited by being shut up in that direction.
Persons born blind, or without hearing, or speech, are not nat-
urally defective in mind, but the mind is shut up through lack
of organs of manifestation and use.

That marvelous thinker, Bishop Butler, suggests that the
mind of man may have many hidden, undreamed-of powers,
not now used because of a lack of bodily organs for their devel-
opment, so that to a degree our present bodies may be a

[CHAPTER 31.] 189

VALUE OP A SOUND BODY.

limitation to the mind, repressing its energies! However this
may be, it is certain that whatever of value our bodies here
possess is due to the indwelling mind. The body without a
normal mind is not only a useless thing, but a burdensome
thing, as is manifest in the case of idiots and the insane. But
in these cases the defect or impairment of mind, whereby the
body becomes a burden to be cared for by others, is primarily
due to a defect or impairment of the body's functions or organs,
and when that impairment is remedied the mind renews its
normal condition.

How, or by what, mind and body are connected, or by what
agency they act or interact on or through each other, none can
as yet tell. We only know that the body is as necessary to
constitute a man as the mind is. We know, top, that whatever
impairs the body limits, by that impairment, the mind. We
also know that vice corrupts the body; and we also know that
this vice depraves through the body (if it does not deprive) the
powers of the mind. Now, mind is the developing, governing,
enriching factor in this and all other worlds. Without the
mind the body is dead, inert, useless. Of what possible value
were a universe of matter without mind? Further, in all
beings (unless, indeed, the uncreated Being is an exception)
the mind must of necessity be localized and centralized in a
body if individuality exists. Of what use were your mind or
mine if it were uniformly distributed throughout infinite space?

That we shall individually exist hereafter is to me not a
doubtful problem, but a demonstrated certainty. And that
we shall have a body is also sure. To what extent it may
differ from our present bodies, I may not now speak. But this
I wish here to emphasize. No one questions that the mind can
be and is depraved through and by means of a vicious bodily
life. No one can reasonably question that if the mind exists the
moment after leaving such vicious body, it exists in its essen-
tiality just as it existed the moment before leaving that body
i. e. , depraved. Take now the doctrine of the Scriptures as to
the resurrection of the body (a teaching unfortunately in these

190

VALUE OF A SOUND BODY.

days held in abeyance if not openly repudiated, yet to me one
most natural and accordant with nature and her unfoldings),
and the value of a sound body becomes a thing of tremendous
import. Here, as just now noted, a defect in bodily organs
limits by deprivation the mind. Here a vicious bodily life
depraves the mind, and so also limits the mind. How feeble is
the mind of the drunkard and the licentious! How ignorant,
and gross, and poor, and vile this world would be if all were
such! The mind gross but a moment before going out of this
world is a gross mind the moment after, for transmigration is
not transmutation.

The Scriptures teach the same doctrine that nature does, to
wit, that like assimilates to like throughout the universe.
Even the atoms of matter will unite, or coalesce, only under
certain conditions, or in definite proportions. Vice transmutes
the powers of mind and by that transmutation impairs it. Vice
transmutes the powers of the body, and by that transmutation
impairs it. The drunkard, the debauchee, changes by his life
of vice the very character and constituency of the blood cor-
puscles on which the growth, development, strength, and
efficiency of the body depend, so that at last the body breaks
down and disintegrates.

" There shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the
unjust," taught the Saviour of men, and unless it can be shown
that the mind dies, this must have reference alone to the body
of man. That the mind does not, cannot die, is to me a cer-
tainty. Now, "with what manner of body do they come" in
the hereafter? Each with body fitted to the place it is to fill,
matched to the mind it embowers! Why, that is simply carry-
ing onward the present course of nature. And yet men cry out
against the Bible teaching that hereafter the filthy mind shall
be seen and known by its filthy body resurrected and con-
joined to it. All created minds are necessarily centralized in a
body. Nature makes her environment after the manner of the
thing interned. Worlds are fitted for the beings that inhabit
them. And minds and their bodies are not merely co-related,

191

VALUE OF A SOUND BODY.

but conjoined each after its manner and kind. Even as to the
holy and the blessed of men it is written, that, like as " one
star diff ereth from another star in glory, so also is the resurrec-
tion of the dead."

Young man, this ought to give you a solemn pause when
you are tempted to vice. Experience here shows that vice will
not merely impair but destroy your prospects in this world,
because of its impairing and destroying power on the body and
mind. And nature and her Creator forewarn you that it will
have equally deleterious and unchangeable effect in the life to
come. One is greatly hampered in this life if born with a cor-
rupted or deformed body, however strong or brilliant and noble
the mind may be. But to carry an inherited deformed body
and an imbecile mind in this world is a trial indeed. Nature
here, by locking up the mind, abates the affliction to the inno-
cent victims of others' wrongdoing. Will she be equally sym-
pathetic hereafter to those who here consciously work evil to
themselves? Does she not here give such "the reward of their
own hands " ? What if she carries it out hereafter and it come
to pass as prophesied of old, that those " that sleep in the dust
of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt' ? Here we pity those who
inherit idiocy; and we blame while we pity those who by
vicious ways bring idiocy upon themselves, and then, well, we
can't help it, we are forced to put them away from us for care
and keeping; if we did not they would so hinder us in our own
better life, and then they serve as warnings to us to beware of
vice.

Young man, young woman, are you to be only a beacon of
warning hereafter, instead of nobly serving him who gave his
life for noble ends? This, you, and not another, must deter-
mine. To do work effectively here one must have both
knowledge and proper tools, and the efficient tool for all our
work is the body. A weak, sickly, or defective body puts one
at a disadvantage. You should therefore as carefully train,
develop, and discipline and use your body as you would the

192

VALUE OF A SOUND BODY.

mind; for through the body the mind is enlarged, and through
it, it is yet to be perfected. A great part of our present life is
necessarily taken up with the growth and care of the body.
Some of the Greek philosophers contended that the body
through its appetites hindered right thinking; some of the
ancient Hebrews held, as do many moderns, that it hinders
right doing and so they seek to make its desires an excuse for
an evil life. But the Creator did not make a mistake when he
gave us this body. It is a most wonderfully made instrument
for doing and learning most wonderful things. But like all his
good gifts it must be rightly used. The best bodies, like the
best minds, when perverted become the worst and most
depraved. For the higher the height, the farther and deeper
the fall. A sound body, rightly used, is the best help to the
unfolding of the mind here; and upon the proper development
of that mind depends the future body we shall have. " Each
in his own order," saith the Word. What order shall you and
I be in?

193 is

Importance of Physical Development.

PROF. A. ALONZO STAGG,
Director of the Department of Physical Culture, Chicago University.

THERE is nothing more interesting in the world than
watching the growth of things, and noting their devel-
opment. We plant our garden with many kinds of
seeds. Eagerly we watch for the appearance of the tiny
sprouts, and as eagerly observe their growth. We organize a
society or a business scheme and are interested heart and soul
in its progress. A baby comes into the family, and we are
intensely wrapped up in him. We watch his daily progress and
note each sign of increasing intelligence and strength. "My!
how you have grown, my lad, since I last saw you. How tall
are you, and how much do you weigh ? " are questions frequently
asked of a growing boy. So the world takes note of the hun-
dreds of thousands of growing youths. Development in any
good form is what people are on the watch for, whether mental,
moral, or physical. But it is physical growth which calls forth
most frequent comment. Everybody can see that. The evi-
dence is presented to their eyes. See the slight form of a girl
developing into the symmetrical form of a woman, or a lanky
boy filling out into the full vigor of manhood. " How strong he
is getting to be also! He can almost wrestle his father, or carry
his mother in his arms, or handle a bag of meal." There are a
thousand and one things for which a boy needs strength. If a
boy, a man surely.

Yes, physical development is what most of us boys are inter-
ested in. We want to be as strong or stronger than our fathers.
We want to be taller and heavier, to be able to lift more and
walk farther. But, my lad, none of these things can be brought

L CHAPTER 32. ] 194

IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.

about unless you are willing to work for them, or play for
them, if you will. The large frame, the full, deep chest, the
strong muscles, do not grow unless they have work and
exercise to enlarge and strengthen them. Of course food is
necessary to the body also, but we all get that. What we do not
all get, however, is proper exercise to develop the physical part
of our being to its fullest limit. Some of us have reasons for
not taking the proper exercise, but in most cases, if the truth
were known, the person has plenty of opportunity to get the
exercise, but is either too indolent or too indifferent to take it.
Does this hit any of you, my readers?

Now for a word on importance. The importance of anything
is measured by its usefulness. The telegraph and telephone
have become important because of their service to mankind.
Stretch a wire across the continent and attach no transmitter
or receiver to the ends of your wire, and it becomes of no prac-
tical use, only a resting place for swallows. Build a ship
complete in every detail out on the prairie apart from its place
of service, and as an aid to mankind it is as useless as Noah's
Ark upon the top of Mt. Ararat. The things which are of use to
man, the theories which can be crystallized and put to service,
the thoughts which assume practical forms, these are what
the world demands, and in the long run these are the only
things to which the world will hold fast. Let a Bell invent a
telephone, an Edison an electric light, a Froebel the kinder-
garten method, and prove their utility, and the world will not
give them up until another telephone, or electric light, or child-
training method has proved its right to supplant the first.
Physical culture has proved itself important and necessary, no
matter what differences of opinions as to methods may exist in
the minds of educators, and the time has now come when no
boy or girl should be able to say like Topsy, " I just growed," so
far as his or her physical condition is concerned. But in order
not to say this, most young men and young women will need
to take the matter of fitting themselves with a fine physique
into their own hands. Some states make mental training

195

IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.

compulsory, but as a rule they leave the physical training,
which should supplement the intellectual, to be worked out by
the children themselves.

But now I want to say a few words on the importance of
developing the body. It is important, first, because the body is
the home of the mind, which every one is trying to develop to
the greatest degree. The body has the most intimate relation-
ship with the mind, and in great measure is its servant, and
obeys the command of the will. The will speaks to the body
through its motor nerves, and the body responds according to
the sharpness of the command, and its ability to obey. But
the body influences the mind in an important way, also. A
puny body means a small supply of blood, which means limita-
tion in mental endurance, and in recuperation after prolonged
mental effort. The brain is fed by the blood, which is also its
scavenger, carrying away the waste matter produced by the
process of thought. Now, it is as apparent as the fact that one
and one make two, that, other things being equal, the man who
has the largest supply of rich, pure blood will be able to give
more sustenance to his brainy to cleanse it better and more
quickly of its waste, to work longer and produce better
thoughts, and to recover sooner after the work, than a man
who has a smaller supply of blood, and that not so pure. There
are other influences, however, which affect the mental powers,
otherwise the man who has the largest quantity of blood
within his body would have the greatest mental development.
There are great differences in the quality of brains, some being
much more highly convoluted and sensitized than others, but,
given such a brain, it would many fold increase its power if
assisted by a plentiful supply of pure blood.

Further, health and vigor of the body in all its organs affect
the health and vigor of the mind. Full health and vigor can
only come when the body is developed in all its parts. Man is
a unit made up of a complexity of parts, which bear a sym-
pathetic and helpful relationship to each other and to the
whole, according as these parts are in a healthy condition.

196

IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.

An abused stomach or an exposed nerve is sufficient to set
aside mental application for the time being.

It is easy to see how important, how absolutely necessary,
it becomes for man to possess a good physical development.
If force of circumstances, or ambition, or unwise living, enter
into his life in such a way as to tax his body severely, then
his life becomes full of trouble and exhaustion. Yes, and how
often is one's body taxed in the ordinary affairs of life. We
must catch a train. It is necessary to run in order to do this,
sometimes to run fast. If 6ur body is in proper physical
condition no harm will result, but if otherwise we run at a
great risk of a serious strain, for we have never subjected
ourselves to enough exercise to strengthen properly the heart
and lungs. Walking along the street one falls on the ice. If
the muscles of the body are in proper condition nothing serious
will result, but should the accident befall a poorly developed
person, the shock and bruises may seriously affect his health.
But there are a thousand and one ways in which a fine phy-
sique is found necessary in a lifetime. Much of the tired feeling,
and nearly all the collapses of middle life, can easily be avoided
by giving proper attention to physical training in our younger
days. One so developed is not subject to this languor, and is
almost unconscious that he possesses a body.

We should be proud of our physical development. The
young man with a fine physique walks along the street
knowing and feeling his strength, and with the consciousness
that he can take care of himself. His muscles fairly ache to
rescue some one from danger; to stop a runaway team, or to
perform some other heroic deed which seems in keeping with
his fine physical development and muscular prowess. And
what lad is there possessing such muscular powers who does
not think of such things, and is not constantly on the alert for
just such opportunities for usefulness ? Such a young man will be
quick to act when emergencies come. He will not be confused,
for he knows his capabilities and can quickly bring them into
service.

IMPORTANCE OP PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.

Yes, every boy and girl, every young man and woman, can
well afford to give time and attention to acquiring a healthy
and vigorous body. It is time to call a halt on puny, sickly,
hollow-chested and weak-kneed men and women. There are
enough such people in the world now, who are moaning with
pain and sending forth their sad complaining, and you, my
boys and girls, you, my young men and women, are the ones to
call the halt. Develop that body which God has given you.
Run and romp and play games; skate and ride your bicycle;
row and swim; play baseball and football and tennis; engage
in all the sports of youth in fact, and then, in addition to doing
these things which take your fancy, take gymnasium work
under a good instructor, and you are well started toward a
happy and successful life.

198

The Advantages of Difficulties.

REV. WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE, D.D., President Bowdoin College, Maine.

THE philosopher Kant remarks that a dove, inasmuch as the
only obstacle it has to overcome is the resistance of the
air, might suppose that if only the air were out of the way,
it could fly with greatest rapidity and ease. Yet if the air
were withdrawn, and the bird were to try to fly in a vacuum, it
would fall instantly to the ground, unable to fly at all. The
very element that offers the difficulty to flying is at the same
time the condition of any flight whatever.

The chief difficulty which a locomotive has to overcome in
moving a train is friction. Yet if there were no friction, the
locomotive could not move the train a single inch. The resist-
ance of the water against the prow is the chief difficulty that
the steamship has to overcome ; yet if it were not for this same
resistance of the water against the blades of the propeller, the
ship would not move at all.

This same law, that our difficulties are the conditions of our
success, holds true in human life. A life freed from all difficul-
ties would be a life shorn of all its possibilities of power. Mind,
like matter, is plentifully endowed with inertia. Powers not
called into active exercise lie dormant. And powers suffered
long to lie dormant die. Difficulty is a spur that wakes us up
and compels us to exert our powers. And the exertion gives us
new power ; and so out of our difficulties is born our strength.
The child of luxury, whose wants are gratified, whose faults
are overlooked, whose whims are indulged as fast as they arise,
has no occasion to develop self-control, self-reliance, self-sup-
port. Hence he grows up without them ; and when the time of

r CHAPTEB 33. ] 199

THE ADVANTAGES OF DIFFICULTIES.

trial comes he is found heartless, helpless, hopeless, in the face
of conditions which the sons of poverty and toil master with
perfect ease.

This is the reason why the average country boy so easily
outstrips the average city boy in the keen competitions of city
life. The city boy has hosts of acquaintances and friends ;
while the boy from the country is an utter stranger. The city
boy has polished manners ; while the boy from the country
may be awkward and bashful. The city boy is given a good
start in the office ; while the country boy has to begin out in
the factory or warehouse. The city boy has friends on the look-
out to secure him chances of promotion ; while the country
boy has to work his own way by his own exertions. This goes
on perhaps a dozen years ; and to all appearances the city boy
has altogether the best of it. At the end of that time there is a
change. A man is wanted who thoroughly understands the
business .from top to bottom ; one who can put into it energy
and force ; one who will give his days and nights to its develop-
ment and extension. It is^no longer a question of granting
favors to this or that individual. It is now a question of urgent
need. The business must have the right man or fail. The firm
turns to these two young men. One has been in the office all
these years ; comfortable and contented ; he has saved nothing,
not taking the trouble to familiarize himself with the petty
details of the business or to cultivate the acquaintance of the
men who are actually engaged in the rough, hard work which it
involves. He does very well where he is. He is a good book-
keeper. But he is not qualified to take the control of the actual
work. The workmen would take advantage of him. Customers
would get the best of him. He will not do. The firm turns to
the other young man. He has learned the processes peculiar to
the business. He knows the men with whom he has had to
deal. He has had a small salary, but has saved a portion of it
every year. He understands the business better than anyone
else. He wins the promotion he deserves. The boy who has
had to earn his living knows the value of a dollar as the boy

200

THE ADVANTAGES OF DIFFICULTIES.

who has always had his spending money given to him never
canl The young man who has been knocked about in the
world appreciates kindness and love as those who have always
had plenty of friends and favors too often fail to do. The man
who has been misunderstood and criticised and condemned
unjustly acquires a firm reliance on his own integrity of pur-
pose which the popular man is very likely to lose.

Even the severest physical defects and limitations have
their compensations. There is no misfortune which a resolute
will may not transform into an advantage. A closer acquaint-
ance with the inner life of men of large achievement seldom
fails to reveal the presence of some early privation, some bodily
infirmity, some sore bereavement, some bitter disappointment,
which has served as a secret spur to their endeavors. Out of
hundreds of such cases I will cite two American historians :
William H. Prescott, and Francis Parkman. In earlier days
the order at college dining tables was not perfect ; and fre-
quently a "biscuit battle" followed the conclusion of the meal.
In his Junior year, as Prescott was passing out of the Commons
Hall after dinner, he turned his head quickly to see what the
disturbance was, and was hit in the open eye by a large, hard
piece of bread, which destroyed the sight of the eye. On his
return to college after the resulting illness, he " now deter-
mined to acquire more respectable rank in his class than he
had earlier deemed worth the trouble." A year and a half later
the other eye became inflamed and affected with rheumatism.
For weeks at a time he was compelled to remain in a room so
dark that he could not see the furniture ; and here he walked
hundreds of miles from corner to corner, thrusting out his
elbows so as to get warning through them of his approach to
the angles of the wall, from which he wore away the plaster by
the constant blows thus inflicted on it. He was compelled to
abandon his chosen profession of law. At the age of twenty-
five he found himself with greatly impaired eyesight, and with
no accurate knowledge of the modern languages. Yet he chose
as his life work history, which more than any other line of liter-

201

THE ADVANTAGES OF DIFFICULTIES.

ary work requires eyesight ; and a branch of history which re-
quired the constant use of the languages of Southern Europe.
He at once set about the training of his memory ; and persisted
until he could prepare, work over, revise, correct, and retain in
his memory the equivalent of sixty pages of printed matter ;
which he would then dictate to his amanuensis. In the face of
these difficulties he produced the history of Ferdinand and Isa-
bella, the Conquest of Mexico, and the Conquest of Peru. And
later, when he could use his one remaining eye only one hour a
day, and that divided into portions at wide intervals, he pre-
pared his history of Philip II. As President Walker of Har-
vard University said, "We lamented the impairment of his
sight as a great calamity ; yet it helped, at least, to induce that
earnestness and concentration of life and pursuit which has
won for him a world-wide influence and fame."

Francis Parkman, in his college days, at the age of eighteen,
devoted himself to the history of the French settlements in
America. In order to understand the life of the Indians, who
played so large a part in the history which he was determined
to write, he went and lived among them in the far West. In
doing this he greatly impaired his health. His eyesight was
affected so that he could not read or write but a few minutes at
a time ; and his general health would not permit him to apply
himself to study more than half an hour at a time. Yet, like
Darwin, who could study but twenty minutes at a time, and
that rarely more than twice each day, he has left us a splendid
monument of work done so thoroughly that no one will ever
need to do it after him.

The men who succeed best in the end are frequently the men
who have most difficulty at the start. The greatest orators,
from Demosthenes to Webster, have made wretched failures of
their first attempts. During the years he was at Phillips Exeter
Academy, Webster, although he committed piece after piece to
memory, was so overcome when called upon to speak that he
never was able to leave his seat. Difficulty may come, as in
these cases from excess of power, which is at first uncontrol-

202

THE ADVANTAGES OF DIFFICULTIES.

lable, but is the condition of great achievement when control is
gained. The colts which are hardest to break make the best
horses to drive.

No young man should be discouraged by difficulties ; for
nothing worth doing was ever free from them. They are the
stuff success is made of.

" Then welcome each rebuff
That turns earth's smoothness rough,
Each sting that bids nor stand, nor sit, but go !
Be our joys three parts pain!
Strive, and hold cheap the strain
Learn, nor account the pang ; dare, never grudge the tnroe 1 "

203

The Blight of Idleness.

REV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D., Springfield, Mass.

WE live in a day when the poet and the philosopher have
combined to sound the praise and dignity of labor.
Idleness is no longer deemed honorable or genteel.
Work is the new patent of nobility. " The latest gospel in this
world is," says Carlyle, "Know thy work and do it."

No man, rich or poor, has any right to be idle if he is able to
work and can find work to do. Every man born into the world
is bound to perform his proportionate share of the world's work.
He cannot, unless he is a hermit, live by and for himself alone.
He is born into society, stands included in society, derives un-
numbered benefits from society, and so is morally bound to
make some contribution to society.

Work is the law under which men live. Fish do not leap
from the lakes into our frying pans, nor loaves of bread drop
down from the skies; forests and clay banks do not shape them-
selves into dwellings, nor the mines automatically give up their
treasures; and so long as they do not, the life of man on this
planet can have no other law than that of unremitting toil. Let
the world play holiday for a year and famine would reign from
pole to pole. The world is always within one year of actual
starvation. We really live from hand to mouth, and the world's
incessant toil is all that keeps its fourteen hundred millions alive.

Since work is the law by which men live and society exists,
the lazy man who will not work is a nuisance and a burden to
society. Somebody else must do double work that he may live
without doing any. An able-bodied, healthy man who spends
his days in idleness, refusing to contribute his share of work,
manual or mental, for the maintenance of the world's life, is a

[CHAPTER 34.] 204

THE BLIGHT* OP IDLENESS.

traud and a cheat. A man who shuns work defrauds and dis-
graces himself.

Idleness if it became general would bring a universal blight
over the earth's surface If the world to-day wears a different
look from what it wore when Adam walked in it, if foul jungles
have been cleared and waste places reclaimed, if stately cities
have arisen and the desert been made to rejoice and blossom as
the rose, it is all by reason of the labor that has been bestowed
upon it. Man by his work has "stamped the brute earth and
the raw materials taken out of it with the signature of mind."
Let labor cease and the earth would revert to a wilderness.
Industry and civilization go hand in hand. Indolence and bar-
barism a*re invariably linked together. By idleness it comes to
pass that instead of the fir tree comes up the thorn, and instead
of the myrtle tree comes up the brier. Says Solomon : " I went
by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void
of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns,
and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall
thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well:
I looked upon it, and received instruction."

But idleness brings a blight not only on the earth and on
man's possessions; it also brings a blight on man himself.

(1) It blights his powers. Man is a bundle of latent powers
and capacities. Labor, in its varied forms muscular and men-
tal, is the divinely appointed way by which our powers and
capacities are to be quickened and unfolded. But an idle man's
powers, being unexercised, remain undeveloped; and not only
so, they even wither and shrink. Capacities unused waste
away. We read in Scripture that the man who hid his talent
lost it. Every member of the body and every faculty of the
mind has a function to fulfill. Let them lie in idleness, and
feebleness and atrophy ensue. A man needs work, then, not
only for work's sake but for his own sake. He thereby per-
fects himself. Toil is a great teacher. Daily work is a daily
school of patience, punctuality, fidelity, honesty, truthfulness,
and all the virtues. Idleness is a school of nothing but vice.

205

THE BLIGHT OF IDLENESS.

It is a tomb in which a living man shuts himself. It is the
blight of every talent, the paralysis of every power.

(2) Idleness blights a man's happiness. There is joy in
work well done. The humblest mechanic who accomplishes a
given piece of work experiences a pleasure the idle man never
knows. No bread eaten by man is so sweet as that earned by
his own labor. No man can be happy who is living a useless
life. Everybody despises him, and in his inmost heart he at
length comes to despise himself. Self-respect wells up in the
heart of a man whose powers are employed for useful ends.

(3) Idleness blights character. " Satan finds some mischief
for idle hands to do." It was when King David tarried in idle
luxury in Jerusalem, instead of taking the field in person and
leading his army to battle, that he fell into the double crime
that is the only blot on his otherwise fair fame. A man is
never so well fortified against evil as when he is busy. The
bicycle is kept upright by its own velocity. When it stops it
falls. Regular employment is a moral safeguard. "Doing
nothing is an apprenticeship to doing wrong." When you find
a young man doing nothing, the chances are ten to one that he
is drifting to the bad. Satan finds his recruits largely among
loafers. Idleness is the mother of crime. Some time ago a
young man was sentenced to the state prison of Connecticut for
forgery. As he was changing his own for the prison suit, he
remarked to the officer, " I never did a day's work in my life."
The officer sagely replied, "No wonder, then, you have brought
up here." The devil tempts all other men, but an idle man
tempts the devil. The idle brain is the devil's workshop.

Dream not, then, young man, of a life of idleness. " One
monster there is in the world," says Carlyle, "the idle man."
Honorable toil is the road to health, wealth, and happiness.
Idleness will prove a curse to you and an injury to those with
whom you come in contact. It will blight your powers of mind
and body and at last it will bring you down

" To the vile dust from whence you sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung."
206

What Spare Moments Will Accomplish.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

11 !f IKD rules this world. The day of government by mere
I Y I brute strength and numbers has departed. Machine
^ 4^ guns and needle guns conquer and keep in quiet not
merely the savage but the civilized races of men.
Mind is rapidly making " grim and horrid war" to be a
civilizer and peacemaker by reducing war to mere butchery
and so by making it too costly, making it unpopular. Mind is
also making the grosser passions of men too dreadful to be
tolerated. Even those seemingly omnipotent passions of gain
and lust will soon be subdued, either by reason, or by dynamite.
Some misguided souls are even now undertaking to do it by the
last process.

But, is there not a better way? Mr. Andrew Carnegie, him-
self many times a millionaire, has well and truthfully said,
" The man who dies rich dies disgraced." It will yet be changed
to read, " The man who lives rich while any of his fellows
shiver and starve, lives disgracefully." It may be too early to
preach this, but it will yet be popular; for not only is mind
abroad, but hearts are coming.

Mind and heart rule the next life and make it an endless joy
to those fitted for it. They should rule this world, and may
sometime. When they do, "swords will be beaten into plow-
shares and spears into pruning hooks." When they do, life on
earth will not be, as it is now, for the great majority of its
inhabitants, a mere pitiful scramble for an existence in which
the poor have no leisure and the rich have too much, but earth
will have, as heaven has, its days of play and times of jubilee.

[CHAPTER 35.] 207

WHAT SPARE MOMENTS WILL ACCOMPLISH.

Men have to work there as here, but life was never intended to
be an everlasting treadmill grinding out food merely to keep
the body alive. God is good enough and nature bountiful
enough to make this world a paradise. But things are yet much
awry. I have my notion as to how, and why it is so, but this is
not the place to utter it, and seeing we are yet obliged to be on
the go most of the time to keep the wants of the body supplied,
I am asked to tell how the mind can manage to get its share of
good things. The reply is indicated in the title of this chapter.
" Spare moments " will do it. They have done it for others, and
will do it for you.

The bulk of mankind get their mental food what little they
have at second-hand shops and are yet in their minority, hold-
ing to what their fathers held, and doing what their fathers
did. Should an original thinker arise among them they usually
label him " heretic " or "fool" and then calmly wait for the
next generation to pronounce him philosopher or saint, and
deplore their fathers' folly. You should, by God's grace, rule
your own kingdom of brain, and " call no man your master."
But you will never do it unless you cultivate that kingdom, and
for this you must have time. The choicest ideas, like the
choicest fruits, do not grow without culture. But give them
culture, and, lo, how by God's grace they flourish and enrich
the world! How prolific they sprang, from Moses " skilled in
all the learning " of that one university country of his time,
Egypt; and from that mighty and grand Paul, " brought up at
the feet of Gamaliel," president of the famous school of 1200
students at Jerusalem, longing even in his old age and nigh
the gates of paradise for " books and parchments"; and from
Augustine blessed with all that the schools of his day could
give him; and from that poor German miner's son fresh from
the University of Wittenberg, whose brains flashed fire over the
dark ages; and from John Milton, the best scholar of his time;
and from John Wesley, the Oxford graduate; and from
Jonathan Edwards, the Yale collegian, not to mention the hosts
on hosts of their fellow men, eminent in religion, in science, in

208

WHAT SPARE MOMENTS WILL ACCOMPLISH.

art, in literature, who, whether they were blest with the schools
or without them, fed the brain by knowledge culled in their
moments of leisure, and scattered it abroad to elevate and
ennoble mankind.

Get but one new thought or idea a day, and you will be rich
in fifteen thousand of them in forty years, and be a learned
man. Give but an hour a day to careful, thoughtful reading
for forty years, and you will have read seven hundred and thirty
volumes large duodecimo. How proficient in many a branch
of learning you may become with but an hour a day! Robert
Bloomfield, a poor boy deprived of schooling, shut up to caring
for hogs and sheep, and then to the shoemaker's bench, became,
by diligently improving the few leisure moments he could get
while at work, one of the most learned Biblical scholars of his
or any other age, and ranked among the best educated men of his
time in other branches as well. Elihu Burritt, a poor fatherless
boy apprenticed to a blacksmith and toiling twelve hours a day
at the forge, studied mathematics, Latin, and Greek at the anvil,
and after the day's work was done studied while other boys
played or slept, and so became in thirty years, the marvel of his
time, and is known in many a country as " the learned black-
smith." Gideon Lee was so poor in his boyhood that he was
compelled to go barefoot, even in winter, but, working hard and
improving his leisure moments in storing his mind with useful
knowledge, he became at length a rich merchant and mayor of
New York city. Literally, thousands of men whose names
blaze on the world's roll of honor have done the same, and have
risen by saving the time which others flung away. If you will,
you can do likewise and become rich in stores of wisdom.

809

False Standards.

HENKY H. BOWMAN, President Springfield National Bank, Springfield, Mass.

3OME one has said, "Show me the companions, the habits
of life, the present tendencies of a young man, and I
will foretell his destiny." The task is not difficult, "as
a man thinketh in his heart so is he." There is abun-
dance of sound truth in the language of the old darky, who, to
the objection of his grandson that hell could possess no reality
because the supply of brimstone would be insufficient, replied,
" Why, bress you, honey, dey takes deir brimstone wid 'em."

A noble or an ignoble character are alike results, and the
forecast of the end of a present course in human life is not impos-
sible, nor strange, nor difficult. " Do men gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles? " No, never! Yet many young men
are careless in the discharge of the duties of their positions,
loose in their choice of companions, unwise in their habits, and
wonder why they do not get on, why promotion does not come
to positions of greater trust, and they comment harshly upon
their "hard luck." There is no "luck" about it; it is a result,
the cause lies in themselves, and is entirely within their con-
trol.

Some years ago a boy entered a store in Chicago as the
youngest clerk; he was told to be on hand at eight o'clock each
morning, and immediately inquired if there would be objection
to his coming at seven, that he might have more time to see
that everything was in order. He was ambitious not to dis-
cover how little he could do and retain his place, but how much
he could do, and he labored early and late to make himself
necessary to his employer. He succeeded. Such service is

[CHAPTER 36.] 210

FALSE STANDARDS.

bound to win success; no other fruit grows in that soil. That
boy, now a man in middle life, is a leading manufacturer in a
New England city. There is no mystery about it. ''Whatsoever
a man soweth that (that only) shall he also reap."

Success! What is this thing all desire, few comprehend,
and less are willing to pay for? Many young men think, or
seem to think, the coveted prize will fall to them without effort,
but it will not. If it were something external to the man, it
might be so. Possibly men might then wander aimlessly,
drifting with the tide, shifting with every changing breeze, and
gather success as a sort of side issue while lounging along the
highway of life. But it cannot be so acquired; it is not for sale
upon those terms; it is no accident, but a result; it does not
come by chance, but as a reward of long and patient effort.

Success in its highest expression is making the best of one's
self; it is doing with steadfast, unremitting fidelity the homely
duties of everyday life; it follows closely upon an unwavering
recognition of the fact that the surest guarantee of advance-
ment is the faithful discharge of the duties of the lower place,
the filling the subordinate position so full of honest service that
in the nature of things promotion must ensue. It was the man
faithful over a few things who was made a ruler over many.
In a word, success is character. Young man, make the best of
your talents, your opportunities, yourself. Beware of false
standards in your conduct and methods of life. Imitate not
him whose moral life has the slightest taint either by associa-
tions or personal conduct. Follow not the example of anyone
whose methods of business are at all questionable. Keep your
life and character free from blemish or stain. Aim high. Low
motives, inferior aspirations, any attainment less than the best
you are capable of, are all unworthy of you. The world was
not called into being for your exclusive benefit, others have
rights as well as you. Believe, and let the belief have expres-
sion in your life, that when the Saviour of men said, " I am
among you as one that serveth," he was an abiding example to
all who should come after him. That is a miserably false

211

FALSE STANDARDS.

standard in life, a low and utterly unworthy view of its possi'
bilities and its importance, that, moved by no high purpose,
walks blindly and with ill-considered steps along the King's
highway. That life alone fulfills its obligations that is earnest
and helpful, strong and true.

" To thine own self be true ;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."

812

Rare Use of Common Sense.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

I HE fish in the waters of the Mammoth cave have places for
eyes but no eyes, their eyes having been lost through
^ disuse, due to the absence of light. Nature gave them
eyes, but they found themselves in conditions where the eyes
could not be used, and so perished by inactivity. Use would
have saved to them the faculty of sight. Three-fourths of the
days of the average civilized man must be spent in work for the
support of himself and society. Work is as necessary to his
welfare as morality. Yet many men take work as they take
bitter medicine, under protest or with a grimace. But it is
work that develops manhood, and the perfected state of man
will appear when each individual of the race does his appro-
priate work. There is more work done in the world to-day than
ever before ; more work of brain and more of muscle. Just as
fast as men become Christianized they must work ; for to a
Christian, work is as much a duty and a privilege as is worship.
By means of work and worship, God is developing the perfect
man. Laziness and sainthood never dwell together.

All our faculties are given us to be used. Use strengthens
and develops them. Misuse and neglect will weaken and ulti-
mately destroy them. The absence of light will destroy your
eyes. You must use them if you would keep them. So as to this
faculty of " common sense," you must use it if you would keep
it. Many persons seem to think that the business of all others
can be and ought to be carried on according to the dictates of
common sense, but successfully to manage affairs like their
own requires extraordinary sense, and so, by neglecting to use

[CHAPTEB 37.] 213

RARE USE OF COMMON SENSE.

this faculty, they fail. The majority of men are not deficient
by nature in this sense; else how can it be " common " to men?
It would be a misnomer to speak of the existence of " common
sense " if it is only possessed by a few individuals of the race.
The famous aphorism of Rev. Dr. Emmons, that "common
sense is the most uncommon kind of sense," is very wide of the
mark. The good doctor is often quoted as an example of the
absence of the faculty, because though a very learned man of
his time he did not know how to do so commonplace a thing as
to harness a horse ; nor would he ever undertake it though
having several horses on his farm ; nor would he even unhar-
ness them, and when at an unfortunate time he was obliged to
get his faithful old family horse from the chaise, unaided, he
did it by taking the harness entirely to pieces by unbuckling
every strap he could find. He was not an " unfortunate," lack-
ing common sense, but was simply one of the very numerous
class who neglect to make proper use of the sense God has
given them. His ignorance of common things was due not
to a lack of ability to learn them, but to a lack of inclination to
use that ability. Negligence or laziness made him, as it has
made many others; the butt of their fellow men. He could have
learned, and with his abundant opportunities he ought to have
learned, and not to do so was a disgrace. He who stumbles at
the head of the stairs is very apt to go to the bottom, and the
worthy and learned parson, by refusing to use the faculty God
gave him wherewith to know common things, came danger-
ously near being classed as a fool by the average man. But as
the combined folly of all fools never yet resulted in wisdom,
but only served to make wisdom the greater contrast, so the
very general neglect to use this sense called "common sense"
has so magnified it that when a man does by its aid accomplish
his purposes, others who at the first derided him for what they
called his folly, end by admiring what they call his genius;
whereas genius is nothing in the world but common sense at
work for noble ends, and refusing to be discouraged.

Charles Goodyear was for the greater part of ten years gen-

214

RARE USE OF COMMON SENSE.

erally considered woefully lacking in common sense because he
persisted at the task which he had set for himself, namely, to
discover how to vulcanize rubber. Friend and foe alike dubbed
him "the India rubber maniac." But neither the ridicule of
friends nor the worse suffering of his family, reduced by his
constant experiments to the direst poverty, and to the necessity
at one time of selling even the children's schoolbooks to provide
them food, could deter him. Hungry and well-nigh naked,
penniless and well-nigh friendless, he toiled on, and succeeded
at last because his common sense had been so developed as to
notice the trivial accident of a fragment of his compound falling
upon a hot stove, and the change produced in it by the heat.
Noticing that gave him his great discovery and fame. But he
would not have noticed it if his sense had not been educated.
He lived to see his discovery applied to more than five hundred
different uses, and giving employment to more than sixty
thousand persons, and greatly adding to the comfort and wel-
fare of mankind on sea and land, in war and peace. And
although at his death, in 1860, he was yet in debt, he had
made a multitude of men rich by his unrequited toil, and came
to be acknowledged as one of the world's benefactors, and was
at last given medals and decorated with honors as one whose
good sense had enriched and ennobled mankind. But if he had
not succeeded, the common herd would yet be calling him
a fool. Was he ?

Inventions have produced the great bulk of wealth of this
wealthiest age of the world (nine-tenths of it, it is claimed) and
have added immensely to the well-being of man ; but the
great majority of those inventions were due, not to the use of
extraordinary sense, but to common sense. It was a plain
common sense woman who nailed some shears to the edge of a
board by one of their blades, and then, connecting their loose
blades by a wire, showed the operation to the elder McCormick.
Out of that common sense device came the present mowing and
reaping machines, to lighten toil and increase the food supply
and wealth of the nations. The common sense of Ames put an

215

RARE USE OF COMMON SENSE.

extra plowshare on the other side of a plow, and the world had
the first sidehill plow, and he a fortune.

After being buried for three centuries there was dug up in
1865, the oven and some other relics of Bernard Palissy, the
potter, who for sixteen years toiled night and day in a poverty
that compelled him to burn even the floors and furniture of his
humble home to carry out his numberless experiments made to
discover the art of enameling pottery. Though denounced as a
devil, he succeeded, and now the work of that humble potter,
who was by far the first chemist of his age, is to be found alike
in the humble houses of the poor, and the palaces of kings.

Coal, considered only as a black stone, lay under the ground
and on it for ages, until common sense used it for fuel; and
now it gets out of it not only heat and light, but the many beau-
tiful aniline colors, and paraffine, and there are yet other things
to come.

Who can estimate the value to the world of the spinning
frame for carding, drawing, roving, and spinning cotton goods,
calico, and flannels? Yet the poor barber, Richard Arkwright,
was declared to be in league with Satan while he was perfect-
ing and testing his machine, and was considered bereft of
common sense by the mob, who destroyed his mill and machin-
ery. Yet this very mob afterward came to acknowledge that
this man who toiled while they slept, and whose family often
suffered for lack of food while he worked at his "machine,"
and who became so ragged that he could not go abroad in the
daytime, was a wonderful friend to them, in that he vastly
multiplied their comforts and increased their wealth, by mul-
tiplying work for them while he lightened their toil. Even so
was his contemporary, Hargreaves, the inventor of the spin-
ning-jenny, who was denounced and his machine destroyed by
a mob; and the weaver, Joseph Marie Jacquard, inventor of the
pattern weaving machine for silks, carpets, etc., whose house
was pillaged by his fellow workmen, his looms destroyed, and
frequent attempts made to take his life as one who was bring-
ing them to starvation and ruin. Yet they soon after lauded

216

RARE USE OF COMMON SENSE.

him as a hero, when they saw that he was multiplying work
for them, and so increasing their wealth and comforts. When
Ark wright and Hargreaves were given the order of knight-
hood, and Jacquard the cross of the Legion of Honor, and a
statue to his memory in his native city, where he had been
mobbed, men gently acquiesced, and said it was well; these
were men of common sense.

That once poor Danvers boy, George Peabody, who became
the world's greatest philanthropist, both in the extent of his
charities and the magnitude of the money he gave to help the
poor, said in a public address when on a visit to his native
place, " There is not a youth within the sound of my voice
whose early opportunities and advantages are not very much
greater than were my own, and I have achieved nothing that
is impossible to the most humble boy among you." But they
seem not to have believed him. For while since then many of
her young men have been supported at the public expense in
jail and poorhouse, Danvers has had no other George Peabody.
Why? Said the Duke of Argyle, "The ideals that men worship,
the propensities they indulge, the habits and manners they
allow to grow up among them, the laws and institutions which
embody their conceptions of political authority and of social
obligations, all these are the very seat and center of the
causes which operate upon the rise, duration, and decline of
wealth." ("The Unseen Foundation of Society," chap. 6,
p. 163.)

Many a man is to-day cursing what he calls his " ill-luck,"
and talking as if he believed a malignant destiny had thwarted
his every effort to succeed, whereas it is his own vices that
have defeated him; and he who is now destitute, it may be,
might have lived in competence if not in wealth, if he had been
industrious and prudent at the beginning of his career. A few
indeed are foredoomed at birth, by their inheritance of vicious
tendencies, to be held in thrall by poverty, unless the grace of
God rescues them. But the average man's wealth and
advancement depend upon himself, upon his opportunities, and

217

RARE USE OP COMMON SENSE.

the use he makes of them. It is good work that brings good
luck. A productive machine cannot remain productive if it is
constantly being damaged. You are a productive machine;
both your body and mind are such. Why make them useless
by neglect, or a vicious use of them, and so become at last
yourself a burden on others? Why should thrift be taxed for
the support and sole benefit of the idle and vicious? Surely to
live on the industry and property of others, when you can
support yourself, is both an indecency and an outrage. You
may, if you choose, look on the necessity to work that is laid
upon man as a wrong. Nevertheless, it is not so.

"Right," said Cicero, "is not founded on opinion, but in
nature." If it is right to have a stomach, you should work to
fill it if you can, or else go hungry. Why should another,
perhaps not so able as yourself, work to put food in your
mouth? Every refusal to obey the law of right is a folly and a
crime against your own good. It is right that you should work.
He who despises the right despises him whose likeness the
right is. No man has ever yet been able to build an enduring
structure on the foundation of a lie. Sooner or later his edifice
tumbles into ruin. Now it is a lie that any success worth the
name can be had without work, and hard work, too. A victory
that is worth the naming must be fought for. And the victory
that is offered you and me is of such magnitude and far-reach-
ing results that it is an honor to be chosen of God for such a
fight. Don't despise it, and be an idler. Don't despise it and
compromise it away by an unwise or a vicious use of the
powers given you. Many a young man and young woman
fancy they may have a gay time in their youth, and ofttimes
in places when vice is made splendidly attractive in order to
wean the people from righteousness, and then after they have
sowed their few wild oats, they can settle down in life and
achieve success. Poor simpletons! they follow folly as the
donkey does the grass which the driver offers him, but always
an inch from his nose. And, like him, when they would return
it is too late, and their strength has fled.

218

Ruin in Disguise.

ANTHONY COMSTOCK,

Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, New York City.

" The labor of a day will not build up a virtuous habit on the lines of an old and vicious
character." BCCKJUXSTER.

THE folly of youth is, oftentimes, the ruin of future pros-
perity. The psalmist of old cried out because of the
effect, in after years, of the sins of his youth. Ephraim
"smote upon his thigh" and cried out bitterly because of the
curse flowing from the sins of his youth. Job said, "Thou
writest bitter things against me, and makest me to inherit the
sins of my youth."

The sins of youth, or, to use a common expression, " the sowing
of wild oats in youthful days," brought a harvest of bitterness
into the lives of these men of old.

It is not my purpose, in this article, to discuss the causes that
have led to the decay of cities, fortresses, or castles, nor search
for the secret that has overturned nations in the past.

Rather, we discuss the work of destruction to health and
morals that is going on in our very midst.

The lives of men, like the history of cities and nations in the
past, are for our example, instruction, and warning. We need
not go back to ancient history, however, to ascertain the cause of
decay and destruction that is going on about us. We must look
facts, unpleasant though they be, in the face. We must take
the world, to-day, as it is, not as we would wish it were.

People who live in our large cities, and are actively engaged in
the busy world of manufacture, trade, and commerce, are mak-

[CHAPTBB38.] 219

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

ing life a rapid transit, and are being whirled along at a pace
that kills.

A fair illustration of the nerve-grinding process may be
witnessed during the business hours at any of the stock, produce,
manufacturing, or mercantile exchanges, where transactions,
embracing thousands of dollars of stock or produce, are opened
with a shout and closed with a nod of the head or gesture of the
hand from the party fortunate enough, in the confusion, to
catch the seller's eye.

Fortunes amounting to millions of dollars are made in a few
brief years by sharp and unscrupulous men. But these fortunes
cannot bring peace, happiness, and security into the home.
They oftentimes smother conscience and torture the soul.
Wealth and position cannot prevent death from entering the
home, nor curb the appetite for strong drink and unclean living.

Too often wealth is misapplied to furnish those things which
an inherited appetite suggest, or which unhallowed passions
and tastes crave and demand.

For every effect there stands a cause.

For every harvest there has been a seed sowing.

What is the cause, to-day, of the downfall and ruin of so
many youth ?

What is the cause of so many scandals in high life ?

Why are there so many houses of prostitution and dives in
our great cities, and why are they steadily on the increase ?

If diphtheria appears in a tenement house, if a case of yellow
fever or smallpox is discovered in the community, immediately
the health officers seek to quarantine the disease and discover
its source. In like manner, let us look for the cause of the moral
leprosy existing in our land. Our young men and maidens are
falling like autumn leaves upon every side of us. Many are
stricken down by a contagion that destroys character, blasts
future prospects of happiness, and mortgages the soul to the
devil.

Much of the sorrow and misery, squalor and want, moral
leprosy and sin, that now curse the human race, and are leading

220

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

so many to ruin and destruction, is to be charged up to the four
great crime-breeders of the day:

Intemperance, gambling, evil reading, and infidelity. The
first three, like marauding guerrillas scattering missiles of death,
are destroying thousands and tens of thousands. Their victims
are struck down in the homes of the wealthy and through all
grades in society to the hovels of the most wretched. Sons and
daughters are stricken with a moral pestilence in the home.
Guardians and parents are mourning over the loss of their chil-
dren. Parents' hearts are broken, and schools, seminaries, and
colleges are disgraced by the discovery of evils growing out of
debauched minds.

Many evils sting to death in secret, while others stalk forth
in open day.

The policy shop, lottery office, gambling hell, pool room, and
race track gambling receive the patronage of some so-called
respectable men, and are allowed by a deadened public con-
science to conduct their business in open day, in defiance of law,
order, and morals.

Intoxicating liquor is on tap in the land. Collected into one
stream, and allowed to flow into one river, it would almost out-
rival Niagara's mighty flow.

Evil reading is the miasma of the moral atmosphere, which
poisons the soul. Much of it is disseminated broadcast, and
frequently enters the home where children dwell, with the tacit
consent of the parent.

Outside of a very limited circle of earnest, devoted, and heroic
men and women who have supported the work of the New York
Society for the Suppression of Vice for the last score of years,
there are very few in the community who have any idea of the
blasting influences and the appalling effects flowing from the
devil's printing press.

Many of the books are of a character so degrading that no
human mind can be brought into contact with them without
feeling a shock ; while imagination receives an indelible stain
that nothing but the grace of God can remove.

221

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

Many of these publications reach innocent childhood and
youth without the knowledge of parent or teacher.

The bloom of youth fades ; the eyes become sunken and lus-
terless. The spirit is broken. The will becomes paralyzed, the
conscience seared, the heart hardened, and the soul damned by
these corroding influences, which, like wild beasts of prey, are
hunting our children in secret to destroy them.

Two hundred and twenty-nine different books, many of them
of the vilest possible character, have been published in this
country during the past last half century. Like a moral pestilence
they have swept over the land. Many and many a home has
been shrouded in misery ; many a young life quenched because
of the fatal stab that has come through the tainted pages of
such publications.

The catalogues of schools, colleges, and seminaries have been
collected by these moral cancer planters, and the names of inno-
cent boys and girls, thus obtained, have first been used to send
the circulars and advertisements of the party first obtaining
them, and then these names and addresses are sold as a matter
of merchandise to other scoundrels, in order that they, too,
may bid for the moral purity of these innocent ones, by sending
their advertisements of corrupt enterprises to defraud and ruin.

The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice have
seized more than one million of names and post office addresses
found in possession of persons raided or arrested by them.

Again, schools and seminaries are invaded by miscreants who
copy with a pen some short sketch from a foul book, or some
poem or doggerel of a filthy character, and then, getting it into
the hands of one bad boy or debased girl, a whole school will be
defiled.

A young lad, a few weeks ago, was found in an institute
with some of the foulest pictures, which he was in the act of
showing to a number of his schoolmates when detected.

Another institute of learning was visited by the agent of the
Society for the Suppression of Vice, and every boy in the school
had, or had had, the vilest possible matter ; copies of which had

222

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

been made by boys and girls and passed from one to the other,
until, not only all of the boys, but a portion of the girls, had
been infected with this deadly virus.

One instance brought to the writer's attention, a young man,
one of seven children, his father a minister, was found with
twenty-one varieties of these matters, which he had been copy-
ing with his own hand and sending to boys in a school on the
Hudson. When his father's attention was called to the fact
that his son had possession of these things, some of which he
had had for a period of seven years, with tears streaming down
his furrowed cheeks, he said: "This explains it all. This
explains why Willie is not converted. All of his brothers and
sisters have been brought into the fold of Christ except him.
We have prayed in the class room, at the prayer meeting, and
family altar for his conversion, but nothing would seem to
touch him."

Again, the "blood and thunder" story papers are breeding
youthful criminals. Many and many a boy who has been
arrested for larceny, dishonesty, highway robbery, or for mur-
der, has traced his downfall to the fascinations and allure-
ments of the half -dime novel, or " Boy and Girl Story Paper "
of modern days.

One young man was arraigned at the Tombs police court
recently for manslaughter, who, after reading some of these
stories, had purchased a revolver and when in dispute over a
gambling game (doubtless learned from the same source), hav-
ing been told that he lied, deliberately arose from his seat at
the table, drew his revolver, and with the braggadocio of a dime
novel hero said, "Johnnie, that has got to be wiped out with
blood," and shot his associate down.

Three young men were committing a burglary. One of them
shot and killed the proprietor of the store thus being raided.
When arrested and told that the man was dead, he says, with
the unction of a dime novel fiend : " I must be a ' tough ' now.
A fellow is not a ' tough ' until he has downed his man. "

Intemperance, gambling, and evil reading sow to the wind

223

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

and reap the whirlwind. They each create crimes where they
do not exist, and nurture them wherever they exist.

Infidelity, an apologist for free license to do as you please,
would remove the restraints of religion and morals from the
propensities of the wicked.

Intemperance has so branded its victims in society, that the
government in taking the last census discovered " one million
habitual drunkards." From other sources we find that from
seventy-five thousand to one hundred thousand drunkards die
each year. Nine hundred millions of dollars are spent annually
in the liquor business. There are about 65,000,000 inhabitants
in the United States. This means one in every sixty-five is an
habitual drunkard. But nearly or quite one-third of our popu-
lation are twenty-one years of age or under. As few minors or
children are habitual drunkards, we have a proportion of about
one to forty-four of our adult inhabitants, habitual drunkards.

Then, sad thought ! the majority of these million habitual
drunkards are parents, bringing a tainted race into the world.
Many of the children of to-day, then, have inherited appetites
for strong drink. With open saloons upon every side, and a
weak public sentiment against the drink curse, a free, open bid
for the ruin of these birth-cursed ones is made in open day.

These figures and facts, awful though they be, are silent as
to the harvest of crimes, poverty, and want flowing from this
seed sowing of intemperance and folly. No word is mentioned
of the hundreds of thousands of homes wrecked, or the women
degraded by squalor and shame. The millions of children of
these drunken parents seem to awaken no voice in their behalf.
The chivalry that strikes for helpless women and innocent,
defenseless children has been palsied by the mockish sentiment
that ''the drink curse has come to stay, and nothing can be suc-
cessfully done to remove its ravages." Many professing Chris-
tians will not refrain from the use of wines and liquors as
beverages for their brethren's sake, although the curse of intem-
perance enters the very fold of the house of God, to number its
victims. The reckless saloon-keeper is encouraged, shielded,

224

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

and sustained by the patronage of so-called reputable citizens ;
while political bosses stand in the shadow of death to collect
assessments out of this blood money.

Let political bosses take their hands off of the superintendent
and police force, and leave them- free to enforce the law, and
the manly instincts of the entire force would soon drive these
crime-breeders into dark corners and narrow limits. Instead,
the corrupt saloon is a pap for politicians to fatten upon.
Assessments must be paid regularly, from saloon, dive, gambling
hell, and disorderly house, to enable political bosses to live
without work, and carry each election for party ends, and
against the rights of the people.

The gambling hell takes its place beside the saloon, often-
times within the very precincts of the saloon. Brothels surround
the saloon and the low playhouses, even as " the mountains are
round about Jerusalem."

The policy shop and the pool room are doing tenfold more
harm to the rising generation than all the faro banks and
roulette tables in the country. Into the poisonous air of a policy
shop, children from tenement houses, wives of laboring men
(crazed with the idea that they can make something in these
haunts of crime), drop their pennies to enrich this meanest of all
mean gamblers. Our young men are drawn in, to associate
with some of the worst elements of society, by the offers of great
return for small investments. The policy shop, pool room, and
race track are taking from the hands of the poor the money
that should buy bread for starving children.

In raiding policy shops in the city of New York, it is no
uncommon sight to see little girls and boys, hardly as high as
the counter over which the policy writer does his business, come
in with a piece of paper with numbers upon it, which some
crazed man or woman desires to bet, and a few pennies accom-
panying this play, tightly clasped in their hands ; and I have
more than once seen these little tots reach up and deposit their
numbers and money into the hands of men whom we were about
to arrest.

225 W

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

The curse of horse-race gambling is worse to-day in our land
than the poisonous miasma of the Louisiana lottery. More
homes are wrecked, more young men ruined, more embezzle-
ments, more defalcations, thefts, robberies, breaches of trust,
suicides, and murders result each year from pool gambling and
betting on horse racing than ever were known to exist in the
palmiest days of the Louisiana octopus, which for a quarter of a
century hung suspended over this nation.

Easy-going citizens may shut their eyes, if they will, to the
awful harvest gathered by this nation from the corruption of
youth by intemperance, evil reading, and gambling.

Simply because people will not stop and reflect, because they
will not admit what is apparent to every thoughtful man and
woman, does not remove the curse, nor make the harvest of
these crime-breeders any the less terrible to this nation. Nor
does it stop the dread consequences of the future or its awful
results. To sum it up in a word, the tolerating of these crime-
breeders is every year calling for more judges and courts to try
the criminals created by them, more grand juries, and longer
terms of service for each session of the court. Each year there
must be an additional tax to provide for more police officers
more peace officers. Annually there must be an enlargement of
reformatories, penitentiaries, states prisons, jails, hospitals, alms-
houses, while paupers' graves multiply.

What mockery ! what absurdity ! what short-sightedness it
is to employ in a great city a large army of peace officers, and
then, by the same token that appoints these officers to power,
that uniforms them and pays their salaries, authorize crime-
breeding establishments to open their doors to tempt our young
men from paths of virtue and honesty ; and to lay traps for the
feet of those who have been cursed by an inherited appetite for
strong drink, or tendency to wrongdoing.

In other words, to appoint a policeman to patrol the sidewalk,
and then line his beat with saloons that degrade manhood,
dethrone reason, fire the brain and passions, and turn men
from sober, industrious, bread earners, to victims crazed by the

22G

RUIN IN DISGUISE.

drink curse, who, when fired out of the saloon upon the officers'
beat, are either taken to jail, to be provided for at public expense,
or sent home in this mad condition of mind to vent their wrath
upon the noble women and helpless children that dwell beneath
the roof which they once provided as a home for their loved
ones.

Intemperance, gambling, and evil reading are as parasites
that are boring into the hull of the ship of state. They are
microbes of contagion, and are sending more deadly disease
into the community than can be charged to smallpox, scarlet
fever, Asiatic cholera, or any other of the dread contagions
against which this nation has wisely quarantined its ports.

Because of the seed sowing of these crime-breeding monsters,
we are growing up an undergrowth of criminals. Children are
born into the world with criminal propensities.

Over and above each of these foul and vicious monsters
outgrowths of man's greed comes the shriek of the infidel,
removing the restraints of religion and morals from the propen-
sities of the wicked; blasphemously crying out, "No God,"
" No hope of heaven," " No eternity."

The remedy for all these calamities that are growing up in
our midst, casting a dark shadow over the future of this nation,
is the cleansing of the heart of man by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the turning of this nation unto God, and the exalt-
ing of his word in the hearts of the children. With the conver-
sion of sinners unto God must also come, as an imperative duty
and necessity, the stopping of the devil's seed sowing for evil.
We must prevent the crushing out of moral and religious senti-
ment, through the saloon, gambling hell, and by the devil's
printing press. If we would stop crimes, we must stop crime-
breeding. In order to prevent a criminal harvest, we must stop
that seed sowing which germinates crime.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap."

227

Chasing Fickle Fortune.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

'T is often a great misfortune to have a fortune. "They
who seek for riches fall into temptations and snares, and
many foolish and hurtful desires which drown men in ruin
and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all evil."
It is too often reckoned the chief end of life to get much of it.
Men search sea and land to find it. They endure untold priva-
tions to obtain it. Women are eager to marry it. Health is
sacrificed for it. Morality is flung away to gain it. Honor is
counted as naught in the wild rush for it. It is the century's
badge of heraldry, the insignia of rank, the key that opens the
doors of privilege and preference. Men look at all things
through gold-suffused eyes. Everywhere the multitudes are
clamoring for gold. " Give us gold," is the well-nigh universal
cry as attested by the universal* seeking. America is pre-emi-
nently a land of gold. But great wealth in the hands of a few
invariably breeds trouble.

Money is a concentrated and centralized power in politics,
while the power of the masses is too often scattered, diffused,
and dissipated. As a result, wealth often elects its legislators
and enacts laws favorable to itself, and is now steadily reducing
government to a science for making money. In consequence
we have now in this country two wide extremes of society, the
millionaire and the tramp. Deep poverty is as unfavorable to
morality as great wealth. And when these two extremes of
the body politic, the tramp and the millionaire, become hope-
lessly diseased, the body must die. The mortification at the
extremities will destroy life at the center. To oppress men,
whether by law or custom, sinks them to a low level. To pam-

[ CHAPTER 39.] 228

CHASING FICKLE FORTUNE.

per them is equally ruinous because equally corrupting. The
specially privileged classes never willingly renounce their priv-
ileges. America, therefore, needs to dread these two men,
the millionaire and the tramp. Neither should be especially
cultivated by process of law.

Money, however, is as essential to the development and wel-
fare of mankind as are light and heat. While not bread, it is
the great agency in bringing bread to the world. While not
raiment, it is the essential factor in producing it; while not
education, culture, advancement, progress, yet each of these
largely depends upon it; where it is lacking, they decay. The
more abundant it becomes, the greater the prosperity and hap-
piness of mankind. Whence, then, is the wrong of its getting,
whether it be by one man or the million? There is never any
wrong in it, in itself. It is the wrong use that makes it an evil.

Wealth, like light and heat, is one of nature's products,
and designed, like them, for man's well-being. But for heat and
light we should die. Yet a man may get so much light, or he
may use it so improperly, as to destroy his eyes. He may get
so much heat as to burn his body to a crisp, or he may use
either or both these material agents to another's wrong. If a
man so monopolize nature's store of light and heat as to compel
his fellows to sit in cold and darkness, he commits an outrage,
albeit he do it by means of a superior knowledge or skill not
given to them. Light is as essential to human welfare as eyes
are. Eyes do not create light, but they use it. Without eyes,
light would be useless. Light and eyes give us knowledge and
enjoyment of the objects in nature, but they do not create those
objects. The unwise use of objects frequently destroys the
eye. A wrong use of light will also destroy it; so that the very
things for which the eyes exist may prove to be their destruc-
tion. Nevertheless, those things are not evils. So, also, money
is a good thing in itself; a very necessary thing for man's
well-being. Without money, he would cower like the savage
in cold and darkness. Yet, what multitudes of men and
women are debased and destroyed by money. Thus the best

229

CHASING FICKLE FORTUNE.

things in the world if taken out of their places or uses may be-
come the worst things. He who makes the gratification and
cultivation of his natural appetites the main pursuit of his life
becomes a loathsome debauchee. The most intense love for the
virtuous does not become unholy, because the unclean choose
to pervert nature to their own destruction. But he who seeks
appetite for appetite's sake inevitably destroys both it and him-
self. So man's natural desire for wealth may be turned into the
great instrument of his woe.

Money is not a sin, nor the desire for it guiltiness, any more
than our natural appetites are sins. It is the perverted use, the
undue seeking for these things, that brings guilt. He who
makes it the chief business of his life to " seek" money, lowers
and debases his nature by that seeking, and so falls into tempta-
tions and snares, and foolish hurtful desires. Nevertheless,
money is a necessity to man. All men need money, need it for
their highest good; need to use it, not abuse it. He who unduly
seeks it, abuses it. He who gets it unjustly abuses it. He
who seeks it for his own selfish ends abuses it, and then, like all .
perverted things, it becomes a curse instead of a blessing.

Seven persons, at different times, each drew the first prize of
one hundred thousand dollars in a government lottery, with
this result: The first to win was a paying teller in a bank, a
quiet, industrious young man. On receiving the fortune, he re-
signed his position at the bank, began a career of extravagance
and dissipation, and in two years was reduced to beggary and
died in a public hospital of diseases engendered by his vices.
The second to draw the grand prize was a man in middle life,
having a fine family and a good business situation. When the
money was paid him, he also became a spendthrift, a drunkard,
and a debauchee, and soon spent his fortune with the harlots he
had chosen in place of his family. Then he borrowed money
on his reputation for wealth, became a bankrupt, and spent his
later years in prison for debt. The third was a merchant not
inclined to extravagant habits or vice. He was doing a good
paying business. With his enlarged capital of one hundred

230

CHASING FICKLE FORTUNE.

thousand he now greatly extended his business with a purpose
to become one of the merchant princes of the land. But while
he could conduct his little business well, he was not adapted to
work his enlarged field, and, making poor investments, he soon
became bankrupt, and was subsequently obliged to seek work as
a clerk in the very store of which he had been the former owner.
The fourth to whom the fortune came was a poor widow un-
blessed of suitors. She at once became " very attractive" to a
swarm of admirers, one of whom she soon married. He was a
gay, dashing cavalier and spent the fortune for her in an amaz-
ingly short time. Then they separated. Then came a divorce,
and she was left far worse off than when a "poor, lone widow
woman." The fifth fortunate owner of the prize was a noted
singer in his country, who had already earned a small com-
petence by his talent. He gave up his profession and launch^
out as a banker and broker, intent on becoming a millionaire.
But he quickly found others more skillful than he, and they
soon took from him the hundred thousand and the little fortune,
and he had to begin life over again. The sixth to win was a
poor, laboring man of naturally penurious habits. When the
gold came to him, he hoarded it most religiously, loaning it
only at exorbitant rates, and constantly fretting lest some of it
should be lost or stolen. He became a sordid, miserable miser,
living for and gloating only over gold, and was at last meaner
than the meanest poverty could make him. While his stock of
gold increased, his soul grew smaller and smaller, and he died
as many another has done, shamefully, wickedly rich, but only
in gold. The seventh to whom the fortune came, led, like most
of the others, the spendthrift's short, gay life to poverty and
misery and ruin, and lost his all when he parted with righteous-
ness to gain the unhallowed gold.

If the time, energy, ingenuity and perseverance exercised by
the thousands in trying to make a fortune quickly and by illegit-
imate means were turned into an honest channel the world
would be infinitely better, happiness and prosperity more gen-
eral, and there would be less poverty, vice, and crime.

231

Cutting 'Cross Lots to Success.

GEORGE F. MOSHEB, LL.D., President Hillsdale College, Mich.

IT is generally not a good thing to attempt. Napoleon III.
tried it at Sedan and was ignominiously defeated. Grant
fought it out " on this line," counting neither time nor
effort as too costly for the end in view. From the time of Alex-
ander, who desired his preceptor to show him some shorter and
easier way to learn geometry, men have found that the shortest
cut to success has been the patient pursuit of a toilsome and
possibly tedious way.

But the "short cut" has a siren voice and mien. It espe-
cially tempts the business man. If three-fourths of the men who
enter business make a failure of it, it will be found that three-
fourths of the failures are among those who have tried the short
cut. Tweed and his famous ring tried it. Winslow, since 1876
in hiding in some quarter of the globe, tried it. The staked-out
towns in our western country, with more vacant than occupied
lots, and with more grass than traffic in their streets, are signs
of it. If any of these have succeeded, it has been because
patient industry and j conservative capital have centered there
and furnished the conditions which have made the boom a bar-
gain, and given the corner lot its value.

The foundation of business prosperity may be laid in some
crucial moment, as when one resists some great temptation to
be dishonest, and masters the evil tendency; but the building
of the structure itself is a long task. "There is nothing," said
Beecher, " like a fixed, steady aim, with an honorable purpose."

An esteemed citizen of Massachusetts died in 1893 leaving an

[CHAKPBB40.] 232

CUTTING 'CROSS LOTS TO SUCCESS.

honorable name and thirty million dollars. The beginnings of
both his wealth and his good name lay in the purpose rigidly
adhered to by his grandfather "to make a little better shovel
than anybody else, in fact, the best shovel that can be made."
" I know of no short cut to wealth," said the elder Rothschild,
" but I have generally found it to be a good rule to buy when '
others wanted to sell, and to sell when others wanted to buy."
" Take care of the cents," said Stephen Girard, " the dollars will
take care of themselves." " No abilities, however splendid,"
said the great merchant prince of New York city, " can com-
mand success without intense labor and persevering appli-
cation." " This one hundred dollars shall gain me one thou-
sand," the writer heard a young man say at Monte Carlo in 1882.
He played, lost a fortune of seven thousand dollars in twenty-
four hours, and then sent a bullet through his brain in the gar-
den of the gambling hall. The Bible did not contradict sound
business experience in pronouncing a woe on those "who make
haste to be rich."

The same temptation is also strong for the student and the
professional man. Two or three hours on a given lesson when
one may "cram "the text into the mind in an hour or less;
seven years in the college course and the professional school
when one might buy a diploma at a trifling cost of money and
almost of no time, seem like great obstacles to the young man
or woman impatient of discipline, or delay. The preacher who
buys or borrows his sermons, the lawyer who AV >rks for fees
rather than to protect truth and justice, the editor who drives
his brain with stimulants, the physician who is willing to
violate law and morality because " there is money in it," all
these are examples of the prevailing desire to win success sud-
denly, and of its failure. They are the men who are " plucked "
at commencement time, who soon come to be known in the
newspaper offices as " penny-a-liners," and who are designated
by the honorable and painstaking members of the other pro-
fessions as "quacks," "plagiarists, "and "pettifoggers." Wasted
energies, a discredited name, public distrust, poverty and

233

CUTTING 'CROSS LOTS TO SUCCESS.

shame, these are among the penalties to those who try to win
success at the expense of virtue and honor.

After all, it depends mainly on the true nature of success,
and whether it lies in the direction of the short cut or not.
That is not success which is not essentially worthy of achieve-
ment, and a worthy end is spoiled if it be sought by base means.
Given the worthy end, and sometimes the dash wins it. It was
thus that Napoleon I. added another kingdom to his empire
at Marengo, and that Sheridan won a victory at Winchester.
It is the quick move that often decides in business ventures.
"Be an off-hand man ; make your bargains at once," was the
advice of the great English financier to his apprentice. But
that implies genius, and even genius somebody has defined as
being "infinite patience." The fable of the hare and the tor-
toise still has its message for this rushing age. " Prayer and
provender," says the proverb, " hinder no man's journey. There
is no time lost in sharpening the scythe."

Even if there be such a possibility as " cutting 'cross lots to
success," it is only in exceptional cases, and doubtless in those
cases somebody's care and persistence have gained what some-
body else's smartness has seized. It is Goodyear in his rude
laboratory enduring poverty and failure until the pasty rubber
is at length hardened ; it is Edison biding his time in baggage
car and in printing office until that mysterious light and power
glows and throbs at his command; it is Carey on his cobbler's
bench nourishing the great purpose that at length carried the
message of love to benighted India; these are the cases and
examples of true success.

Macaulay describes the boy Warren Hastings, then a lad of
seven, lying on the banks of the stream which flowed through
his ancestral estates, and vowing in his poverty and weakness
to regain that lost domain. That purpose never forsook him.
He pursued it with that calm but unyielding will which was one
of his characteristics. In India ruling fifty million people, amid
all the distracting cares of war, finance, and legislation, through
all the turns of his sad and eventful career, this end was never

234

CUTTING 'CROSS LOTS TO SUCCESS.

lost sight of, and before his long public life, so singularly
checkered with good and evil, honor and shame, was ended, he
had become Hastings of Daylesford, and when at length he
died, it was to this home of his fathers that he was borne for
burial.

Most real successes are won that way. It is the old route of
patience and labor. It is lesson after lesson with the scholar,
it is venture after venture with the merchant, it is trial after
trial with the inventor, it is voyage after voyage, even against
mutiny and tempest, with the discoverer, it is picture after
picture with the painter, even failure after failure with the poet
and writer, that at length wins this prize that most men are
seeking. If now and then, with Byron, some one awakes to
find himself suddenly famous, yet the majority of people find,
with the Duke of Wellington, that "the secret of success is
firmly doing your duty in that station of life to which it has
pleased God to call you."

235

The Grandeur of Patience.

WILLIAM C. KING, Springfield, Mass.

T^ATIENCE is one of the grandest virtues of the finite
ft being, and to it may be credited greater achievements
X^ and nobler results than the world has yet acknowl-
edged. It is that peculiar quality of mind and heart
which seals all complaining lips, soothes the wounded heart,
and simply abides the time for the accomplishment of a pur-
pose. To act is a noble thing, but to wait patiently exhibits a
nobler and a higher power of manhood.

It is not always an easy task to wait patiently while we
feel that we are approaching the object of our desire, yet seem
to see it receding from us.

One of the serious barriers to thoroughness in the education
of the young men and women of our land is the feeling that
the highest triumph of life is to complete their education before
reaching twenty.

The boy looks out upon life, and, seeing men vigorously
engaged in their various pursuits and callings, he feels that the
years devoted to study and preparation are largely thrown
away. He resolves to hasten through, and take a short cut
across the field of knowledge. Consequently he rushes blindly
into the arena of life's activities but illy prepared for the great
combat.

It has been stated that only about seven per cent, of busi-
ness men succeed in life. No doubt this large percentage of
failures is due to the impatience of youthful years. Young
men do not appreciate the true value of a thorough preparation
for life's work, but enter upon business or professional life

[CHAPTER 41.] 236

THE GRANDEUR OF PATIENCE.

before they are sufficiently matured either in education or in
years, hence they lack the stamina essential to success.

By reading the biography of some great man who won fame
and honor, a young man is fired with a desire to become great
and honored also, and he at once sets about to reach the goal.
He does not stop to analyze the life of this great man and fol-
low him from the cradle of poverty, through long years of
hardship and struggle, years of discouragement and thwarted
plans, years in which there were, by far, more cloudy days
than sunshine, but he sees only the brilliant crown studded
with stars of success. He ignores the element of time in reach-
ing the goal of -greatness. He sets aside the factor of life's
developing hardships and forgets that true greatness is built
upon a foundation laid deep, broad, and solid, requiring time
and patience. The would-be great man is too impatient to
master the elements of his chosen theme, but, on the principle
of the greater including the less, he plunges into the very heart
of his subject, and soon becomes bewildered, discouraged, and
with shame and humiliation abandons his wild notion of leap-
ing upon the platform of greatness.

Many great and useful men, it is true, have completed their
college course while very young, but nature smiled upon them
in a generous manner. Their peculiar aptitude for acquiring
knowledge enabled them to pursue their course at a rapid pace
without impatient haste. Some pronounce a man of this class
a genius, forgetting that genius consists of a special aptitude
for performing great labor, -patient, persistent, incessant labor
Nature furnishes us with the grandest example of patience
in the whole realm of the universe. Her patient hand is seen
on every side. From the tiny acorn she slowly rears to full
stature the mighty oak of the forest.

' Through what long and weary ages has nature pounded
on the granite doors of giant mountains, pleading for crumbs
that fall from rocky tables, that she may bear them down to
the vales, to feed the hungry guests that wait in the halls
below. Through countless ages she has stood with patient

237

THE GRANDEUR OF PATIENCE.

hand and sifted into river beds and ocean depths the fine
alluvial morsels that she begged from miser mountains."

Patience has produced the grandest results in the achieve-
ments of man. As one writer beautifully expresses it:

" There is no shining goal of human glory too bright or too
remote for patience. No height can tire its wing. Strike from
the firmament of human greatness every star that has been
placed there by the hand of patience, and you cover that firma-
ment with the veil of midnight darkness. It is patience that
has crushed mighty evils and wrought sublime reforms in
human history; patience, that dared to stand up and meet the
taunts of ignorance and bigotry; patience, that has calmly
walked back into the shadow of defeat, with 'Thy will be
done ' upon its lips; patience, that has breathed the fiery smoke
of torment with upturned brow."

Patience is one of the grandest representatives of the
Creator. Truly has it been said:

" Patience comforts the poor and moderates the rich; she
makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, unmoved
by calumny, and above reproach; she teaches us to forgive
those who have injured us, and to be the first i$ asking the for-
giveness of those whom we have injured; she delights the
faithful, and invites the unbelieving; she adorns the woman
and approves the man; she is beautiful in either sex and every
age."

238

Trading Opportunities for Failure.

REV. GEORGE EDWARD REED, D.D., LL.D.,

President Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.

COOKMAN, one of the most distinguished preach-
*-r ers of the earlier portion of the century, once chaplain to
^^ the Senate, and finally lost in connection with the foun-
dering of the ill-fated " President " in the year 1841, used to
say that were it to be given to him to live his life over again,
and were it possible, also, for him to choose the particular por-
tion of the world whereon his re-advent should be made, together
with the date thereof, the country which of all others he would
select as the theater of his re-appearance would be the United
States of America, and the time the latter half of the nineteenth
century. Then, as it seemed to him, would life be most worth
the living.

What man living to-day, what one cognizant of the wonder-
ful progress of an age grander in achievement, more prolific in
opportunity, in every realm of human striving, more exacting,
too, in its demands, than any similar period of time in history,
will for a moment question that George Cookman was right?

If, as one of our poets has said,

" In an age on ages telling,
To be living is sublime,"

then, surely, is it sublime to be living to-day. Never, certainly,
was the march of the human mind more majestic, never oppor-
tunities more generous and inspiring, never rewards more ample
and satisfactory.

Congested as may appear the market for unskilled labor,
whether in business, mechanical, or professional life, it yet

[ CHAPTEB 42. ] 239

TRADING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAILURE.

remains true that nowhere is the market for skilled labor over-
crowded; nowhere the supply of competent men, of competent
women, men and women who are achievers, who can do
things, who can bring things to pass, equal to the demand.

The demand, however, let it be observed, is for competent
men ; of incompetents, the number is legion.

A thousand pulpits vacant, in a single religious denomina-
tion, a thousand preachers standing idle in the market place,
while a thousand church committees scour the land for men to
fill those same vacant pulpits, and scour in vain, is a sufficient
indication, in one direction, at least, of the largeness of the
opportunities of the age, and also, of the incompetency alleged.

Why this state of affairs? Why this splendor of opportunity,
coupled with failure, so widespread, and so alarming, to meas-
ure up to the height of the same?

The heading of the chapter indicates, as fully, perhaps, as
any other of this book, the answer, namely, the trading of
opportunities.

Of what avail the wealth of openings for successful work, if
there be not in men the spirit which induces to the right using of
the same? Verily,

" There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows, and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat ;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures."

Of the truth of these familiar words human life, whether high
or low, furnishes ample illustration. Opportunity comes to
every man; success only to him who has the wisdom, energy,
courage, and determination promptly to grasp and utilize the
same.

A few years ago in a town of Connecticut, the writer saw a
young man driving a dump-cart through the streets, an
occupation honorable enough in itself, but to him dishonor-

240

TRADING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAILURE.

able in the extreme. All looked at him as he passed, and all
with a sense of indignation. His story was known. Two
years before there had come to him, by inheritance, a fortune of
twenty thousand dollars, to one of his antecedents a fortune
princely indeed. With the twenty thousand dollars came, also,
one of the finest farms of that region. When he drove by that
day, every dollar was gone. Fast men, fast women, fast living,
carousing, gambling, drinking, had done it all.

The splendid opportunity had been traded away, "for so
much trash as may be grasped thus." He wanted pleasure
the wild, loose life and he had it, for two years; then the
dump-cart!

" Take my name from your church book," said a young man,
standing by my side, by the altar of a city church. " Strike it
out. I want my liberty." Up to that hour that young man had
been steadily rising in the esteem of all who knew him. The
church had been to him as a ladder assisting him to the heights
of popular regard. The prospect before him was as fair as
human heart could wish. Then came the tempter, whispering of
"unnecessary restraint," of " freedom from ecclesiastical strait-
jackets," of " larger liberty," of " repudiation of old-fogyism,"
and he fell; disappearing, as did the young man of the Scrip-
tures, "sorrowful because he had great possessions," because he
could not make the sacrifice demanded by the faith he had
avowed; because he had neither the wisdom nor the courage to
stand in the life which, thus far, had so powerfully contributed
to his success. Appeal was useless, and with a sinking heart
we watched him going out, like another Judas, into the night.

" J. died last night. Come and conduct funeral service." So
ran the telegram. As we read it, there rose before us the form
and face of one of the most brilliant and promising young men
of our acquaintance, one once a member of a Christian church,
honored by all, " excellent and of good report " in every way, a
fond husband, an affectionate father, a successful man of busi-
ness afterward, an agnostic and a failure. Death had come
and there remained but a shadowed grave; shadowed by the

241 16

TRADING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAILURE.

remembrance of a life wasted, of powers misused, of influence
perverted in the advocacy of ideas repudiated, it is true, on the
threshold of eternity, but repudiated too late to counteract the
evil of those wasted years.

These are but samples from the ever-unfolding book of
human experience. Everywhere about us, in the churches, in
the shop, the mill, the office, the trading goes on.

It goes on, too, in colleges and schools, no less than in the
ordinary walks of life. Every year hundreds of young men
are sent home from halls of learning, branded with a reputa-
tion sure to follow them through life. Before them have been
the great possibilities for education and mental development
open to the youth of America as to the youth of no other land
of earth; behind them fathers and mothers willing, at any cost
of personal sacrifice, to furnish the means wherewith to afford
to their children privileges, the like of which they were never
permitted to enjoy; about them instructors, abounding in the
learning of the schools, and rich in stores of practical wisdom,
ready to act as counselors and friends; all that anyone could
ask, in the way of opportunity, within their grasp. Young
men, working their way amid poverty, privation, and want,
looked upon them, envious of their condition, angered, almost,
at the contrasts presented in their respective conditions and
experiences. The verdict was, " expelled." Opportunities of
acquisition of knowledge, of mental discipline, of preparation
for useful service, of winning fame and fortune, all counted as
nothing, when laid over against the delirious pleasure of a
single forbidden hour.

Opportunities lost, generally speaking, are lost forever; they
come not back again.

" A thousand years a poor man watched

Before the gate of Paradise ;
But while one little nap he snatched,
It oped and shut. Ah ! was he wise ? "

A few years ago there arose in the West a congressman, a
man who flashed and flamed for a brief day athwart the

242

TRADING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAILURE.

horizon of our political life; then, like a meteor, he disappeared.
In an unlucky hour a letter so full of grotesque spelling that
even Mrs. Partington would have blushed to own authorship
thereof, found its way into print, with the congressman's name
attached. The country burst into a laugh, and the man was
doomed, literally laughed out of the court of public opinion.
Not even his pitiful plea that some one had " mucilated " his
letter could avail. The glamour was gone and, with the
glamour, the ambitious politician.

Deficiencies of like character have robbed many a man of
distinction which otherwise might have been his. Never stop-
ping to think of the value of opportunities for the gaining of
education; refusing to believe that they would have anything
to do with manhood, too late, they would have given fortunes
for the acquisitions those lost opportunities would have af-
forded. Yet the trading goes on. Everywhere the gambling
spirit prevails.

" Trading in futures," men term those transactions where
they buy and sell that which, as yet, is not, and that which,
likely, may never be, but of all "tradings in futures" none are
so frightful in their outcome as those in which honor, reputa-
tion, good name, respect of men, hope of success, everything,
is bartered for the pleasure that simply destroys; that happiness
that perishes with the using. Looking out over the wrecks of
human lives, lining, in every direction, the coasts of human
experience, marking the fallings of men and that which ruined
them, how significant become the solemn, and, as some think,
almost mocking words of one who, favored with opportunities
such as have come to but few of any age, or clime, yet turned
aside to vanity, dying at last of weariness and vexation of
spirit. " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart
cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of
thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that
for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." Seize,
then, the chance that comes to you.

Do as did the dying Garfield when told that there was but

243

TRADING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAILURE.

one chance out of a hundred for him to live. Say with him,
"I will take that chance!"

" Be wise 1 The tide is at its height,
Which now may waft thee to the wished-for shore ;

Thy home 's away, and swift the moment's flight ;
The goal, the crown 's right on, thine eyes before ;

The trumpet calls to gird thee for the fight ;
Hark ! now it sounds, but soon shall sound no more I "

244

Waiting for Something to Turn Up,

REV. ALPHEUS BAKER HERVEY, Pn.D.

President of St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York.

THIS was the motto of that extraordinary man, whose inter-
esting biography we owe to the pen of Mr. Charles
Dickens, the late Wilkins Micawber. If closely pressed,
we should have to admit that his career was not especially dis-
tinguished by what we call success. As a business man he
does not shine forth an example to the world. It does not appear
that Her Majesty ever selected him, as she did Bessemer, and
Mason, and many others, for knightly honors, as a recognition
of his great services to the wealth-producing activities of the
nation. He was often deeply concerned in business transac-
tions, and was justly celebrated for the number and variety of
the legal papers which he signed and executed. Few in his day
were more familiar with the stamped paper on which subjects
of the British Crown record their contracts. His were always
contracts to pay certain sums due, for value received. Though
a distinguished man of affairs, his sense of meum et tuum was
that obscure or defective that he considered himself to have
fully discharged a debt when he had signed one of these bills.
In consequence, those having the misfortune to be his creditors,
taking a different view of the matter, and not finding these
bills passing current like those of the Bank of England, sub-
jected this great " financier " to endless troubles, by means of
writs, and civil processes, and deputy sheriffs, and debtors'
prisons, and things of that sort. Indeed, one can hardly read
the story of this remarkable man, whose history so brilliantly
illustrates our theme, without coming to see that it requires
almost as much genius, and quite as much trouble, to manage

[OHAPTEB 43.] 245

WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO TURN UP.

" to live on nothing a year," as Thackeray phrases it, as it does
to earn an honest livelihood.

Mr. Micawber is the type of a class of " dead beats " which
infest every community. They are great humbugs, but they
probably humbug themselves even more than anyone else.
They are selfish and ignoble, and mean-spirited to the last
degree. But they are also preternaturally conceited. They
have such lofty opinions of their merits and abilities that they
think Providence, or Fortune, or whatever rules the world, is
bound to make great things turn up for them. There is a prov-
erb, long current, that "God takes care of the lame and the
lazy." I suspect it originated in the philosophy of those who
are always "waiting for something to turn up." Of course
these people are always disappointed. They deserve to be.
They come to nothing but disaster and disgrace. It would be
an impeachment of the wisdom and justice of Providence to
suppose it would bestow special favors on men of this kind.
Things do not "turn up" in this world. They are turned up.
It is the active not the passive voice in such matters. There is
an endless chain of efficient, natural causes running through
life. Nothing comes from nothing. Multiply even billions by
a naught and a naught is the product. There is also a law of
equity. Men get what they deserve. Victory is won only by
strenuous, brave battle. Success is gained only by effort, by
labor, by self-denial, by skill and patient long-continued strug-
gle. " Waiting for something to turn up " is waiting for moon-
beams to turn into silver, for magic and chance to take the
place of natural law in the universe. It is the philosophy of
the shiftless, the refuge of the lazy, the excuse of the improvi-
dent.

But perhaps my readers will ask, "Are there then no favoring
circumstances and conditions in life?" "Is there no tide in the
affairs of men which taken at its flood leads on to fortune? 1
Yes, doubtless; but only for those who work and wait, not for
those who lie and wait. They are for those who are out in the
midst of life's activities, "doing their level best" under all

246

WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO TURN UP.

conditions and circumstances, not for those who skulk and
shirk. The best chances come .only to those who take all
the chances, good and bad, and make the most of them. The
big fish, as well as the little, are caught by those who go a-fish-
ing, not by those who stay at home.

The best of all opportunities are those which arise out of a
strong, resolute, earnest, faithful man's own character and per-
sonality. It was a part of the philosophy of the younger
Disraeli, that " man is not the creature of circumstances, but
circumstances are the creatures of man." His own remarkable
career is a strong proof of the truth of the maxim.

Much is said now about " environment " and its important
relations to the evolution of life. This is only a new name for
old things, viz., circumstances and conditions, the things stand-
ing round about the life. But the life, not the environment, is
the really important factor in the case. That is power. That
transforms, shapes, uses, the crude elements standing around.
So the living man in the world is the only source and center of
original power. In him is life, transforming force. Circum-
stances are plastic in his hands and yield themselves to his
touch. He changes them by contact with himself, from crude,
lifeless elements into inward living force. Obstacles tower
before him like mountain chains, stopping his path and hinder-
ing his progress. He surmounts them by his energy. He makes
a new path over them. He climbs upon them to mountain
heights. They cannot stop him. They do not much delay him.
He transmutes difficulties into strength, and makes temporary
failures into stepping stones to ultimate success.

In his great epic, Vergil sang of " arms and a man." In our
modern epics we sing of " man and his machines." But in the
new time as in the old, the man is infinitely more than either
arms or tools. He it is, if he have the manly spirit, if he have
courage, if he have ambition, if he be a man and not a dolt, or
a block of wood, who will go forth and with a masterful hand
turn the world about. He will not weakly and meanly " wait
for something to turn up."

247

WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO TURN UP.

Search the history of the world through and you will find
that all the great captains of industry, as well as of war, the
mighty men of action and influence in the world, in art, in
science, in invention and discovery, in philanthropy, in states-
manship, are men who do not " wait for something to turn up,"
but who take hold of the world's work and do it. The duty of
doing is for all and each, both small and great, in the propor-
tion of his ability and strength. It is, beyond all expression,
ignoble, unmanly, and cowardly to sit down in this great busy
world idly " waiting for something to turn up."

248

The Secret of Making Things Turn Up.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

" The heights by great men reached and kept,

Were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night."

aOME of them were, but not all. Some persons have stum-
bled into great places for a time, or upon a great fortune,
and so have gained a name and fame that could not be
said to be either of their making or seeking. They simply hap-
pened to be there at the auspicious time and place and were
lifted into greatness. Some have inherited special conditions
favorable to gaining a fortune or fame ; but outside of or with-
out those conditions, they would have been only ordinary per-
sons in ordinary circumstances of life. Others have attained
to great fortune and eminent distinction regardless of the most
unpromising circumstances of birth and life. Yet even these last
were not independent of place, and time, and education for their
success. Indeed, it may be truthfully said that no man is wholly
independent of circumstances ; and that his environment will
determine both his place in history, and his degree of success in
life. Would Shakespeare have been Shakespeare in any other
age or country? If Dante had lived in our time, he could not
write "The Inferno," neither could Milton now write "Paradise
Lost." The progress of thought since their day would prevent.
Alexander the Great could not now conquer the world; nor
should we have the famous names of Wellington, Grant, or
Sherman, if they had lived in more peaceful times. What other
age, or what other country, could produce the present enormous
number of American millionaires? Great names as well as

I CHAPTEB 44. ] 249

THE SECRET OF MAKING THINGS TURN UP.

great riches are sometimes due to other causes than an over-
mastering intellect, or "the hand of the diligent."

The owner of a corner lot in San Francisco, California,
traded it for a suit of clothes. The lot is now worth over a
million dollars; but it was not " the hand of the diligent" that
made its present owner the millionaire. In Melbourne, Aus-
tralia, in 1837, a corner lot was sold for one hundred and sixty
dollars. Fifty years later it was worth $2,466,500, and its
owner a rich man, but not by his own " diligent hand."

The founder of the house of Rothschild was a poor Jewish
clerk in Hanover, Germany. He afterward began business in
a very small way as banker at Frankfort, and became distin-
guished for two things, his shrewd good sense and unswerving
integrity. When the French army invaded Hesse-Cassel in
1806, compelling the Elector William to flee the land, William
deposited with Mr. Rothschild for safe keeping for eight years,
the sum of five millions of dollars without interest, or security
other than his integrity. It was the judicious investment of
this huge sum left to him without interest, and not merely the
" hand of the diligent," that was the prolific source from whence
came the present colossal fortune of the house of the Roths-
childs. When Meyer Anselm Rothschild died, his heirs
continued to pay the Elector an annual interest of two per cent,
on the five millions, until in 1823 they paid the principal to
William's son and heir.

So, likewise, the vicissitudes of the war of 1812 gave to
Stephen Girard the bulk of his millions, just as the civil war
enabled other men to amass their present great fortunes. Said
the old Celtic-Breton law, "There are three periods at which
the world is worthless, the time of plague, the time of a
general war, the time of a dissolution of spoken promises."
But in each of these times a few persons become greatly rich.
While our late war wasted hundreds on hundreds of millions of
dollars, and hundreds of thousands of human lives, it also devel-
oped hitherto unsuspected resources of wealth and methods
of getting rich, together with a surprising energy of mind that

250

THE SECRET OF MAKING THINGS TURN UP.

made some men very wealthy and others greatly famous.
Nevertheless, war is robbery; war is infamy; or, as General
Sherman tersely, truthfully, put it, " War is hell." Mankind
will yet come to see that slaughtering one's fellow man is the
most unremunerative industry ever devised on God's green
earth; and, like all forms of injustice, it is sure to bring either
sooner or later, its own dire, evil effects. When righteous laws
shall prevail, then cannon shall remain silent.

Man never would have emerged from barbarism if he had
not sought out and made use of the hidden wealth of the land.
And to do it successfully, men require and must have freedom,
intelligence, and morality. Wherever tyranny prevails, the
people are poor. Few under absolute monarchies are rich,
and their riches, like that of the governments themselves, were
due to plunder taken from others less powerful. Education is
necessary to obtain wealth. Coal, electricity, sunlight, water,
and air have been in the earth since man was created, but
ignorance got no wealth out of them, nor ever would. Men
educated to desire only the bare necessaries of existence never
make a market for anything but those necessaries. Educate
them to appreciate and to desire other things, and you increase
both their wealth and the wealth of the world. Not only is
education thus necessary to increase wealth, but the best
educated man has the most chances for success in life. The
editors of the Dictionary of American Biography, who dili-
gently searched the records of living and dead Americans,
found, as elsewhere stated, fifteen thousand one hundred and
forty-two names worthy of a place in their six volumes of
annals of successful men, and five thousand three hundred
and twenty-six, or more than one-third of them, were college
educated men. One in forty of the college educated attained
a success worthy of mention, and but one in ten thousand of
those not so educated, so that the college-bred man had two
hundred and fifty times the chances for success that others
had. To particularize: Medical records show that but five per
cent, of the practicing physicians of the United States are

251

THE SECRET OF MAKING THINGS TURN UP.

college graduates; and yet forty-six per cent, of the physicians
who became locally famous enough to be mentioned by those
editors came from that small five per cent, of college educated
persons. Less than four per cent, of the lawyers are college-
bred, yet they furnished more than one-half of all who became
successful. Not one per cent, of the business men of the
country were college educated, yet that small fraction of
college-bred men had seventeen times the chances of success
that their fellow men of business had. In brief, the college
educated lawyer has fifty per cent, more chances for success
than those not so favored; the college educated physician
forty-six per cent, more; the author, thirty-seven per cent,
more; the statesman, thirty-three per cent.; the clergyman,
fifty-eight per cent.; the educator, sixty-one per cent.; the
scientist, sixty -three per cent. You should therefore get the
best and most complete education that it is possible for you to
obtain.

Morality, integrity, and education constitute a triangle of
power for turning possibilities into realities. A man may
succeed without much of an education, but his chances of
success are immensely enhanced if he possesses a good educa-
tion. We do not mean by this that a man must spend years
within the walls of a college. A person may become well
educated and never see the inside of a college or even a high
school.

The present day affords opportunities for gathering knowl-
edge which lies within reach of everybody, and he who would
gain knowledge need not remain ignorant.

Knowledge, then, is one of the secret keys which unlock the
hidden mysteries of a successful life.

Get knowledge, be strictly honest, be diligent, and perse-
vere, and you have the secret of turning things up and making
your life a success.

252

Luck: and Labor,

REV. GEORGE T. WINSTON, D.D., LL.D.
President University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

LIFE is full of golden chances, but only wisdom sees them
and only labor reaps their harvest. "Luck comes to
those who look after it," says a Spanish proverb. " Luck
meets the fool, but he seizes it not," says the German.

The great Napoleon declared himself a " Child of Destiny "
and professed to believe in luck. After Waterloo he confessed
his real belief. " Providence," said he, " fights on the side of
the strongest battalions." God helps those who help them-
selves.

Among the Greeks and Romans luck was worshiped as a
goddess. But even in that age of childish superstition and
scientific darkness, wise men saw the folly of worshiping
what we ourselves create.

" Nullum numen Jidbes, si sit prudentia; nos te,

Nos /admits, Fortuna, deam caeloque locamus"

" O Luck, thou hast no existence, if we were only wise; it is we, it is we that
make thee a goddess and place thee in the skies."

Genuine sons of fortune are always self-begotten. From the
obscurity of doubtful birth and life in a cabin, Abraham Lin-
coln rose to the height of human power and fame. Fortune
was ever at his side to make him or to mar. He took her
gently by the hand and made her his servant. What Clay and
Webster, what Chase and Seward, what Everett and Douglas,
could not accomplish was done by the humble rail-splitter.
The same opportunities came to them all. Lincoln seized them
and held them with such wisdom and power that he seemed
almost to create them. Fortune knocked at his door and he

[CHAPTEB45.] 253

LUCK AND LABOR.

did not keep her waiting. His career was guided by unerring
wisdom. He was no accident. The political wisdom of the
century was embodied in his life. His oratory is the voice of
humanity.

Wisdom and labor are the parents of luck; for only wisdom
can see opportunities and only labor can use them. "Labor
conquers all things," said the poet Vergil. " Diligence is the
mother of good fortune," said Cervantes. "The gods sell
everything for labor," says an ancient proverb. " 'Tis in our-
selves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are gardens, to the
which our wills are gardeners; so that if we will plant nettles, or
sow lettuce; set hyssop, and weed up thyme; supply it with one
gender of herbs, or distract it with many; either to have it sterile
with idleness, or manured with industry; why, the power and
corrigible authority of this lies in our wills."

Bernard Palissy, the celebrated potter, spent the labor of
years and much substance in seeking to produce enamel. In
the final experiment he spent six days and nights without sleep
at the furnace. His supply of fuel being exhausted, he pitched
into the furnace his garden palings, his household furniture,
shelves, and doors. " Poor crazy fool," said wife and neigh-
bors. But the great heat produced the enamel, and now
Palissy was a "child of fortune." Wisdom and labor had
made him great.

"Nil sine magno
Vita labore dedit mortalibus."
" Life gives nothing to mortals without great labor."

For more than fifty years John Wesley preached fifteen
sermons a week. Great men are all great laborers. Even
genius is only infinite capacity for intelligent labor. No great
product is spontaneous. Webster's finest outbursts of eloquence
were carefully elaborated in his study. His energy and his
capacity for labor were truly Herculean. Sidney Smith aptly
called him "a steam engine in trousers."

Patrick Henry's immortal speech in the Virginia House of
Delegates was not only carefully composed but the very ges-

254

LUCK AND LABOR.

tures were studied and practiced with the patient skill of an
actor. Professor Moses Coit Tyler, in his life of Henry, shows
beyond question that the orator's career was wrought out by
toil and labor as well as by talent.

There is a task for every man in life. No lucky throw of
the dice will ever win the golden apples in the garden of Hes-
perides. Only the toil of Hercules can gain them. " Where-
fore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man
should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion."

" Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."

255

Reaping Without Solving.

*-!*{-

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

I HERE are some things in the world, the uses of which are
not yet perhaps discovered, that need no cultivation by
^ us, but grow spontaneously, as, for instance, weeds,
thorns, noxious plants, poisonous insects, destructive reptiles,
and animals. But useful things, pleasant things, valuable
things, must be cultivated. To do this requires opportunity,
time, means, and toil. The first three God furnishes bounti-
fully, the last he requires us to supply. He might do it all for
us, but, with our present natures, that would be a great misfor-
tune.

In Honduras, and in some other tropical countries, nature is
so prolific, that with a fortnight's toil one can get a food supply
for a year. But thus, through a lack of stimulus to labor, the
natives have become most degraded beings, some of them, both
men and women, according to the statement of the late Bishop
Simpson, who witnessed the scene, having become so lazy that
they lie on their backs under the banana trees, eating the fruit
from the branches, too indolent to stand and pluck it. Ten
thousand such creatures would not be worth one stirring
Yankee. But the Yankee might become such if you took away
from him the necessity to toil.

For another to help you to a living makes you a dependent,
and by taking away the necessity and stimulus of doing for
yourself enfeebles you, and sooner or later unmans you. He
who is too weak, or too lazy, or too proud, to help himself to an
honest living by doing honest work is doomed to failure. To
desire exemption from the necessity of work; to wish for learn-

[ CHAPTER 46.] 25G

REAPING WITHOUT SOWING.

ing without the task of acquiring it; to covet ease with nothing
to- do- but " enjoy yourself," by wealth, however great, or by
pleasure, however intense, is to desire corruption, decay, and
death. The bodily senses become satiated, palled, sickened,
and turn at length into instruments of torture through mere
pleasure, as many a glutton and reveler and debauchee have
found to their horror, while mere idleness undermines and at
length pulls down both soul and body. How inane, and feeble,
and vapid are the idlers of the world!

The beginning of all excellency lies in the determination
to make the best use of one's self. To help yourself, to earn
your own living, to win your own fortune, to make your own
way in this world, is the only means possible by which your
powers of body and mind can be developed; and, upon their
proper development depends your highest, best success, here
and hereafter. No other can develop them for you. You alone
can do it, and to teach you how to do it is the purpose of this
book.

There are altogether too many persons anxious to live upon
the toil and profit by the fortunes of others rather than to earn
their own. Do you know what that means ? It means to be a
thief and a vagabond. Does that sound harsh? Read this testi-
mony from the chaplain of one of the large prisons of to-day :
"From my experience of predatory crime, founded upon a
careful study of a great variety of prisoners, I conclude that
habitual dishonesty is to be referred neither to ignorance, nor
to drunkenness, nor to poverty, nor to overcrowding in towns,
nor to temptation to surrounding wealth, nor, indeed, to any
one of the many indirect causes to which it is sometimes
referred; but, mainly, to a disposition to acquire property with
a less degree of labor than ordinary industry." If they had
been willing to earn their own living, to give honest work for
honest dollars, they would not have been there. He w v ho is not
willing to do his work well and honorably, save when his
employer's eye is on him, is a dishonest man. He who is not
willing and does not strive to give a just equivalent for what

257 17

REAPING WITHOUT SOWING.

he receives is a thief. He wants to get something for nothing
in return. He is a first cousin to the "gold-brick," "salted
mine," and "doctored oil-well" people. They are only after
a little larger something for nothing, perhaps, than he.

To get by unfair means the toil or the wealth of another will
never be any other than a misfortune to him who gets it. Even
when another gives you a fortune you did not earn, it proves
in general a misfortune by arresting the development of your
own powers of manhood, that need and must have work in
order to grow. Say you that a great fortune is a very desirable
and good thing? True, but it is by no means the best thing.
The value of a good thing is determined by the length of time
it will remain good. If its goodness vanishes in a moment,
can he be called wise who gives his life for that moment's
gratification? Is it not a large waste of this life to seek only for
those things that must end with our present existence, and this life
is but a moment? Was Jesus of Nazareth a lunatic or a philos-
opher when he bade us, " Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven "?

You must make your own fortune on earth if you would be
honest, and honorable, and gain a well-developed manhood.
Luck will not bring it to you. Cunning or petty scheming will
not secure it for you. Depending upon the patronage of others
will not gain it, but your own industry and fidelity to the right
will. Even so in heaven. If you would have treasure there
you must lay it up. No other can do it for you. It is not there
awaiting your coming, else why the command to " lay up for
yourselves." There is no reaping there the benefit of another's
sowing, but " whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap."
What kind of seed are yousowing? Will the reaping make you
honorable hereafter and well-to-do? Poverty here has many a
burden and sorrow, but to be poor hereafter is to be poor indeed.

258

Counting the Cost.

R. M. ARMSTRONG, State Secretary Y. M. C. A. of Massachusetts.

NO man, as the Great Teacher has told us, enters upon any
worldly project, begins to build a tower or to wage war
against an enemy, without first sitting down and count-
ing the cost. To do so would imply folly, and invite
shame and disgrace. We have been endowed with the power
of thought, and to go through this world without exercising
this power is to abdicate the throne of reason, and bring our-
selves down to the level of the brutes that act only from impulse.

No prudent man will enter any course of conduct without
first reckoning what such a course is likely to cost both to him-
self and others. This would be both foolish and perilous.

" Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," and
he will reap much more than he sows. Would that young peo-
ple might have this passage of sacred writ burned into their
souls! Almost any day, unless he stop to think, a man may do
some act that will cast a blight over his entire life, and perhaps
determine his destiny. A man would be almost as safe in mid-
ocean on a rudderless ship, or on a flying train that had no
engineer, as in living in a world like this, and in an age like the
present, without thinking.

If young people would but look about them, they would see
in so many families, and certainly in every community, wrecks
men (and women too) who failed to count the cost, and after
a few years' of sowing to the flesh, have reaped the whirlwind.
Young men and women, think. Take warning from the far
too numerous examples all around you.

Youth is proverbially thoughtless. It is full of ardor, energy,

[CHAPTER 47.] 259

COUNTING THE COST.

and enthusiasm. All things wear for it the charm of novelty
and freshness. It sets out on the voyage of life with " hope at
the prow and pleasure at the helm." While all this forms the
strength of youth, it at the same time exposes it to many
dangers. Just because of its ardor and whole-heartedness, it
is liable in a thoughtless moment to enter upon some path, the
end of which means ruin and disgrace.

Youth has had no experience in the evils of life, knows not
the pitfalls that lie in the way. Many a pathway opens on
either hand, which to a young man seems inviting and pleas-
urable, but which is extremely hazardous. The first steps in
the way of sin are always attractive. " There is a way which
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death." Forethought is imperative. Before taking the first
step in any path that opens, think of the end. Sit down and
count the cost. Act not in haste.

Among the evils into which young men fall are the follow-
ing:

Social Drinking. It is estimated that more than 60,000 per-
sons in this country annually go down into drunkards' graves
an exceeding great army. Not one of this number ever
intended to become a drunkard. The expression, " I can drink,
or let it alone," is often heard. Reader, if you are in the habit
of drinking moderately, try to do without stimulants for a
week, yea, for a day. Many have tried this, and found to
their amazement that they were slaves to the drink habit.
Every drunkard is a person who tried to be a moderate drinker,
and failed. The only safety is in letting the vile stuff alone.

Gambling. This is one of the most fascinating forms of
vice, and young men unthinkingly become entangled in its
meshes. A social game of cards, with a small stake " just to
keep up the interest," is played and then the larger stake fol-
lows. Defaulters and suicides are on every hand as a result of
this modern curse. The only safety is never begin. Count
the costs.

Sensuality. Universal experience proves that sensuality

260

COUNTING THE COST.

does not pay. Misery and crime follow in its wake. God
stamps it with the mark of displeasure. The very counte-
nances of those who indulge in it are changed. Our insane
asylums are filled with its victims, and homes which might be
happy, were it not for this seductive evil, are homes but in
name. A deadly inheritance is handed down to the children.
Oh, that men would but think before taking the first step away
from virtue!

Evil Associates. To voluntarily go in bad company is to
court the society of the devil. A man usually takes on the
moral and mental complexion of the company he keeps. The
forming of a new companionship frequently marks a turning
point in a young person's life. Advice of good people should
be taken in the matter of choosing associates. We sink or rise
to the level of those with whom we mingle. No one can afford
to associate with those whose companionship will drag him
down. It costs too much. Resolutely turn away from the
mean, the profane, the impure, the skeptical. Choose the good,
the true, the pure, the manly. If the companionship is what it
should be, the vices referred to will be avoided without much
effort.

Trashy Eeading. When the taste for impure and exciting
reading is once acquired, it is no easy matter to break away
from it. A freshet of vile reading matter floods the country.
Young people purchase indiscriminately. Many a young man
of promise has been side-tracked by indulging in sensational
and impure reading. The books cost little, but if one counts
the cost to his manhood the purchase will never be made.
Seek the advice of wise counselors, who will gladly assist in
the selection of healthy literature.

Worldly Success. That which is often called success in life
is not worth the price paid for it. ''Not slothful in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Oh, how can men forget
the direct command of God! A man says, " I am going to give
my undivided attention to business for the next twenty years.
I will not give time or money to benevolent objects now. I

261

COUNTING THE COST.

will give much time and thousands of dollars by-and-by."
That man will never give either time or money. He will grow
more mercenary as the years go by. Men grow prematurely
old in their greed for wealth. They lose their interest in and
love for all that is good and true. Man pays too dear for
so-called success when it is purchased at the expense of intel-
lectual, moral, and spiritual development. Man is more than
money, his soul greater than the world, eternity greater and
more enduring than time.

Count the Costs. Use your reason. Take warning from the
failures on every hand. What is the universal experience?
What is the natural outcome of indulgence in the above-
mentioned evils? Young men, if you enter a life of sin and
forgetfulness of God, you have no valid reason to believe that
you will fare better than the thousands who have preceded
you, and have been swallowed up in the maelstrom and are for-
gotten.

262

Wasted Energies.

REV. JOHN COTTON BROOKS, Springfield, Mass.

. TASTE in any particular means diminution of absolute pos-
lAl session in the world of that which counts for something

^ in life, the absence of which is an actual loss to the
world, and to its possessor. As the world goes on becoming
more and more intelligent about itself, and the number of its pos-
sessions and their value, it becomes more and more aware of its
waste, and the most successful man in all departments of life is
he who can lessen waste. The prevalent aim now is not to add
to our present resources so much as to make the very most pos-
sible out of them. To find out uses for the persons or things
which are now wasted in life is to be the glorious work of the
men of the next generation, and that which will contribute
most to their enrichment.

If what we have said be true, the waste, therefore, of any-
thing begins when it does not find the end of which it is worthy,
and that end, it being a possession of man, evidently must be
the highest possible service of man, or, rather, the service of
the highest part of man. This is all expressed in those words
of the Disciples about the ointment which the woman was pour-
ing on Christ's head, "To what purpose is this waste?" Blind
spiritually though they were, their argument yet rightly takes
for granted the fact that lack of purpose means waste, and they
challenge her to show her purpose in dealing with this valuable
commodity of the world, of which, although nominally her
own, she is responsible to the world for the use. The necessity,
therefore, in avoidance of waste, is the thorough knowledge of
one's nature and needs, and the purpose for which one lives,

[ CHAPTEB 48. ] 263

WASTED ENERGIES.

and then the appreciation of the adaptability of the various pos-
sessions of one's life to satisfying those needs, and the fulfill-
ing of that purpose. We can see from this that a purposeless
life, or a life of low nature, is sure to be a wasteful life.

Now let us take this special possession of energy and see its
possibilities of waste. Let us not think now of what we are usu-
ally afraid of wasting, our money, or time, or thought, or love,
but of this alone. In the first place, what is it? I should say that
we should best describe it, though it is not easy to do so in any
words, as power in action. The reason that we find it so hard
to define is, I think, that it is one of those things which shows
itself in its results much more than it does viewed by itself.
Indeed, it amounts to nothing if it is not acting, it cannot be
said really to exist at all then, as our description of it implies
power in action. It is living only when it is active; then, I can
have power and yet not be accomplishing anything, but I can-
not have energy without doing something. This shows us very
plainly the value of energy in the world. It takes up the power
that there is in a man and turns it to account, makes it applied
power, able to reach results. It stands midway between the
force and the work, and brings them together by reaching out
a hand to each. What can be comparable with this energy
as a human possession? It creates money, it saves time, it
carries out thought, it satisfies love. It is the engine which
takes the steam of the boiler and gives it in activity to the
waiting machinery of life to fill the world with finished prod-
ucts. The waste of such a thing as this, the greatest of the
world's necessities, is most serious to contemplate, and our sub-
ject grows in magnitude as we proceed. The question of option
in regard to it gives place to that of duty. The interests of the
world are involved in the economy or waste of the energy
of the individual.

And here we have discovered one great means of waste of
this precious thing in what we have said. For we have seen
that energy ceases to be when it ceases to act. Do we not per-
ceive, then, what a loss of it may and does come constantly

264

WASTED ENERGIES.

from its non-use? Scientific men tell us that it takes an addi-
tional five per cent, of fuel to raise a body of water again to the
boiling point when it has once been suffered to fall below it.
How carefully should we consider, therefore, the causes which
in any way may tend to diminish the use of a man's energy,
and especially in his early life. The conditions of body and
mind which prevail in him have a bearing on this important
possession of his life, which we rarely stop to consider. The
breakfast which he eats this morning and the exercise which
he takes will have a large share in deciding whether he is to be
energetic or not to-day. And we cannot say that that is all,
and that each day's life is complete in itself, for we know
that the wrong diet and habit of a man, continued day after
day, have a cumulative effect upon his constitution, which
steadily wastes all the energy that he originally possessed.
And another cause, little thought of, is the neglect of educa-
tional advantages in early years, which, if faithfully acquired
by study and reading, bring a man's mind into infelligent sym-
pathy with the interests and needs of the world about him, and
also take away that restraining self-distrust which keeps many
a one from use of his best energies, and therefore the achieve-
ment of the best results, from lack of confidence in his powers
and abilities as compared with those of others. And, far
deeper still, and more serious in their influence, are the faulty
spiritual conditions which are suffered, ofttimes unconsciously,
to grow up in our natures. Self-complacency, if indulged, tells
a man before long to let well-enough alone, and not to exagger-
ate the need and requirement for action on his part in life.
Jealousy, and its companion or cause, lack of love for others,
shuts the energy of life off from its healthiest range of opera-
tion, and takes away its best motive. Finally, saddest of all
the deadening influences in a human life, the root and spring,
indeed, of these others, loss of faith in God, and consequently
in man, for the last cannot exist without the first, absolutely
kills out all energy by robbing it of its vital principle, belief in
life of any kind as a reality at all.

265

WASTED ENERGIES.

But now to go on and think of the other form of waste of
energy which comes from the misuse of it. This leads us
straight to the thought of purpose in life, for the results of
energy and not the mere employment of it is that wherein alone
lies its value. An energetic person who is so only for the mere
enjoyment of the physical or mental excitement of being so,
however pleasurable that may be, is completely wasting his
energy. And even if the emotion which moves the energy gets
further with it and reaches some end, if that end be neverthe-
less unworthy of the employment of so great and precious a
factor in the world's life, by reason of its being immoral as
designed for the injury of the interests of some fellow man, or
else narrow and selfish as concerned only in the welfare of the
man himself, again we have a terrible waste of that energy for
which every one who possesses it is accountable to God and the
rest of mankind as joint owners with himself. It is in this idea
of responsibility that we can alone arrive at any intelligent esti-
mation of the real waste of energies in life. Unless we regard
energy everywhere, in every shape in which it presents itself,
and in every man in whom it is found, as a trust, and the use
of it as a religion, it will be sure to be wasted, just as life itself
in a vast number of cases is being unconsciously wasted every
moment. Any energy which is not consecrated energy is thrown
away and lost, however much it is used. And the saddest part
of it is that it is not only lost, but (as waste, we have seen,
always signifies) the man robs God, the world, and himself of
it when he so uses it. All existence is dealt with dishonestly,
and is the poorer for it. This is what makes this subject of
vital moment in every life, and shows us the awful significance
of wasted energies.

266

The Chains of Habit.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

( ( Ain\HE Chains of habit " (from Latin habere, to have),
i. e., "the chains of having." Having what? In
civilized lands no person of sense speaks of there
being such things as the chains of honesty, the chains of truth,
the chains of purity, the chains of honor, the chains of right-
eousness; but they do speak of the chains of dishonesty, of
falsehood, of vice, of dishonor, of sin. Why? Because each
recognizes that the first are in strict accord with the best
interests and the highest development of men, and so are not
chains but are our natural belongings, and that the latter only
debase and ruin man. From whatever source this knowledge
may have come to them, whether by experience, or tradi-
tion, or revelation, they hold that to have the first of those
things is to be free, and to have the last is to be a slave, and
they have embodied that thought into both their language and
their law.

We were designed for freedom. Slavery of the body was
felt to be and is now recognized by all civilized nations as
an abhorrent thing, not to be tolerated, but to be abolished.
They will yet hold that slavery of mind is worse. The laws
that govern the physical world are no more wise and immu-
table than are those governing the mental. In accord with the
first the body was designed to take in foods, not poisons. Yet
a man may so accustom his body to the use of the deadly and
violent poisons of alcohol, of tobacco, of opium, etc., as to
become in soul and body their most abject slave, and be led to
commit the most atrocious crimes while under their influence,

[CAPTBB 48.] 267

THE CHAINS OF HABIT.

or in order to obtain them. In such case, their fellows speak of
them as being diseased, and the victims of the alcohol, tobacco,
or opium habit, etc. First, they had the drink, or the tobacco,
or the opium, or the lust of pleasure or of gold, and could have
left them. Now the drink, the tobacco, the opium, the lust,
the gold, have them and they are eternal slaves, and who shall
deliver from that bondage?

So likewise the mind was designed for the knowledge of
truth, and not error. Yet a man may so accustom himself
to error as to become its most devoted slave, and be led
to commit the most fearful crimes in order to defend it, or to
propagate it. The dungeon, the rack, the gibbet, and the
stake, bear witness to this in earlier times, and the dynamite
bomb of the anarchists in these modern days. But does truth,
any more than virtue, need violence to propagate it, and make
it flourish? Does not the use of violence disprove the claim to
be either virtue or truth? A sober man does not commit the
awful deeds that dehumanize the drunkard, nor will the man
of truth persecute, torture, and kill his fellow men, to establish
the truth. Truth never needs that.

How do men come to be drunkards, or slaves to the vices?
Sometimes by inheritance their parents before them being
such; by dalliance with them; sometimes by education by
another; more generally by forming the habit in childhood and
youth, by sipping cider, wine, beer, etc. Acts repeated make
habits. No man ever became a drunkard by one drink. It
was keeping at it that at last made him a slave. And then
how abject he is. Listen, while an ex-slave, John B. Gough,
tells of it. " Oh, it is pitiful, it is pitiful the appetite for
intoxicating liquors when it becomes a master passion! one of
the most fearful that man was ever subject to! And not only
is it amongst the low, as we call them, and the illiterate; not
only amongst those whose first words they heard were words
of blasphemy, whose first words they uttered were words of
cursing; but it also holds the man a slave who stands in front
of the counter and pleads for drink: ' Give me drink. I will

268

THE CHAINS OP HABIT.

give you my hard earnings for it. I will give you more than
that. I married a wife, and promised to love and cherish her
and protect her ah! ah! and I have driven her out to work for
me, and I have stolen her wages and I have brought them to
yoli give me drink, and I will give you them! More yet; I
have snatched the bit of bread from the white lips of my
famished child I will give you that if you will give me drink!
More yet; I will give you my health! More yet; I will give you
my manliness! More yet; I will give you my hopes of heaven
body and soul! I will barter jewels worth all the kingdoms of
the earth for "what will a man give in exchange for his
soul" all these for a dram! Give it to me!'" Young man,
water never made a man such a slave as that. No drink nor
food in nature ever wrought such evil to men. It is only the
poisons that work such havoc; and it will yet come to pass that
the community or state that licenses the making of such slaves
of men by the drink traffic will be deemed to be in league with
hell.

How do men become slaves of error? How do men become
thieves, liars, lecherous beasts, and men of violence and blood?
By the teachings of parents or others, it may be more gener-
ally, however, by little acts of dishonesty; by slight deviations
from truth; by hearing or telling stories they would blush to their
finger-tips to have their mother, sister, or a virtuous maiden
hear; by little acts of cruelty and robbery repeated till the heart
is hardened and conscience is stifled, and the brain inhabited
by unholy, cruel, and foul things, and the nature finally sets
wholly to evil.

Acts form habits; habits form character (from the Greek
charassein, to cut furrows, to engrave); and character tends
constantly and swiftly to fixedness. And when the plastic
mind of the child and youth has hardened into the man of evil,
what can change him? When he is old he will not depart
from the way in which he was trained whon a child; unless it
be that some miracle of grace somewhere arrest him, and the
Infinite One change the "heart of stone "again to one "of

269

THE CHAINS OF HABIT.

flesh." But will he? and where? and when? We see here
how quickly the folly of the child becomes the vice of the
youth, and then the crime of the man. When each of us shall
enter upon the next state of our being, shall we find the law of
that life to be what the Scriptures forewarn us to wit, ' he
that is holy shall be holy yet more and he that is filthy shall
be filthy yet more "? If so, how fearful to enter it in chains to
evil habits of whatever name or kind!

2TO

How and What to Read.

KEY. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

CENELON declared, "If the riches of the Indies or the

\( crowns of all the kingdoms of Europe were laid at my

k feet in exchange for my love of reading, I would spurn

them all." Would you? Think for a moment what it

means. On the one hand it means to have more wealth and

worldly grandeur and power than any one man has ever had.

And for it you are asked to give up the " love of reading."

Would you doit? Stay a moment, what does that involve?

An ignorant, belittled, besotted soul, for time and eternity!

The mind, the soul, can no more live without knowledge than

the body can without food.

There are three sources of knowledge, experience, conver-
sation, reading. How exceedingly limited would be one's experi-
ence and conversation, without one's reading, or the reading
of others. Books contain the experience, the conversation, the
investigation, the thoughts, the deeds of the world's men and
women. Books contain the knowledge of the ages concerning
other worlds and beings, and our duties or relations to them.
Books feed the mind, develop the soul. How few, and feeble,
and absurd, and childish, are the thoughts and deeds of the
peoples who have no books! How they wallow in ignorance
and mere animalism! Of what benefit then would the world's
wealth be to such a savage or an ignoramus who would not read,
but preferred the world's gold to reading? Books are the world's
ages of wisdom, stored for the benefit of coming peoples.
What infinite misery and suffering we should be saved from if
we but heeded their story!

[ CHAPTER 60. ] 271

HOW AND WHAT TO READ.

Books are the world's phonographs of the dead, who speak
to us in them of their lives, their loves, their thoughts, their
times and deeds. Here you may call up the shade of Xenophon
and hear from him the graphic story of The Retreat of the Ten
Thousand, or Plutarch will come at your bidding, and tell anew
the deeds of the ancient worthies. Caesar will recite for you his
campaigns, or Demosthenes or Cicero deliver in your hearing
their great orations. Euclid will come from the dust of Egypt
and repeat the problems with which he puzzled Ptolemy two
thousand years ago, and Socrates and Plato speak to you on the
mighty problem of the hereafter, and holy Paul and John will
tell of the glories that await in heaven. Or you may hear
the long silent voice of David sing again in your ears the holy
songs of earth and of Zion, or Moses shall repeat over the com-
mandments that God gave to him for you and me. Aye,
out of this phonograph you may hear "words of life" from the
lips of the Saviour himself. Here Galileo, Newton, Herschel,
come to show us the amazing wonders of God's universe, that
their eyes have looked upon, and here come the toilers and trav-
elers of all ages and climes on earth and sea, poets, philoso-
phers, sages of science, romancers, reformers, prophets, priests,
kings, each ready to tell us, through the books, of what they
knew or could hear, of things that then were, and of nations
long dead, or of things that are yet to come.

Verily he who is not fond of reading is poor indeed. There
are letters yellow with years that the wealth of this world could
not buy, simply letters written by fingers now turned to dust.
In them, surging through them, I hear again the melody of a
voice that made one life at least a diapason, and reading them
they prompt to nobler living and the getting of a spirit meet for
the time when life again shall throb with harmonies that shall
be eternal. So you should read all books. Read them to be
made stronger, better, wiser by them. Shun as deadly virus the
reading that lowers or weakens your manhood. Ther6 are anti-
dotes for many bodily poisons but "who can minister to a
mind diseased " ? You would not willingly associate with one

272

HOW AND WHAT TO READ.

taken with infectious disease why take to your spirit a leprous
companion in the shape of a false or vicious book ? Read slowly
all books that are worth reading. Many books are only froth;
an ocean of them would furnish no nourishment. Don't get
them; or if you have them don't waste time over them. Many
books are sweets ; most novels aim to be such. If you take
them at all, take them very sparingly and only the choicest and
purest. In large quantities they fearfully impair digestion.
Our public libraries are making a multitude of young mental
dyspeptics, who will feed on nothing else but these sweets, some
of which are poison. Aim to read books that will make you think.
Some books do not, because there is no thought in them; the
maker could not give what he had not.

We give you a list that will help to thinking, and thinking
is what you need in order to grow. Food must be digested and
turned into bone, sinew, muscle, to be of benefit to us. And you
must turn mental food into fiber if you wish to grow. You
must take time to think. One cannot be always eating even good
food unless he wishes the dyspepsia, or means to die early.
So do not be always reading. One good strong book thoroughly
digested is worth a dozen dainty tid-bits nibbled at constantly.
When you read, do it with pencil in hand to mark the-places
suited for your digestion that you may come there again.
Neither minds nor stomachs are all alike, but some relish one
thing, some another. There is an abundance for your liking,
and such as will nourish you. Don't read simply as a dissipa-
tion, i. e., " to kill time." You cannot " kill time," and such an
effort will only kill you. Don't gormandize. The glutton as
well as the fool shall come to want.

Read to grow, and grow to read; and, to do it, you must
above all else read, mark, and inwardly digest the book of all
books the Bible. I know there are some who dissent from this
last, persons who seem to take a sort of gruesome delight in
thinking they were " born orphans," and that if the Father of
the universe ever existed he is now dead, and his burial place has
been discovered by them. Nevertheless he is intensely alive,

273 18

HOW AND WHAT TO READ.

and in his phonograph, the Bible, you may hear him speaking
words that never man spake, which if you heed and obey will
make you " meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light."

Many of the great leaders in the world's history were self-
educated.

It is astonishing what a broad education may be secured
through a systematic course of reading.

The following list of books forms a wide range of practical
knowledge which may be mastered in a year, and lay the
foundation of a comprehensive education.

A valuable course of reading, FIFTY-TWO VOLUMES, including
every department of literature :

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY Outlines of Universal History, Dr. G. P. Fisher; Shorter
History of the English People, Greene ; Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, Creasy ; Leading
Events of American History, Montgomery ; The American Commonwealth, 2 vols., Bryce; Our
Country, Strong ; The New Era, Strong; Life of Washington, Irving; Life of Lincoln; Life of
Garfleld.

TR A VELi Bird's Eye View of the World, Reclu*>; Due West, Ballon; Over the Ocean,
Curtis Guild.

RELIGION The Bible, especially John, Mark, Proverbs, Acts, Psalms, I. and II. Timothy,
James; History of the Christian Church, G. P. Fisher; Manual of Christian Evidence, Rev.
..A. Row.

SCIENCE Physical Geography, Russell Hinman; Physics, J. D. Steele ; Political Economy,
Ely; Walks and Talks in the Geological Field, Winthell; Recreation in Astronomy, Warren;
Chemistry, Appleton; Introduction to Botany, Steele; Hygienic Physiology, Steele.

ESSAYS, etc. Sketch Book, Irving; Outline Study of Man, Hopkins; Self Reliance, Manners,
Friendship, Love, Emerson; Self Help, Smiles; Ethics of the Dust, Ruskin; Hand-Book of
Universal Literature, Botta; Makers of Modern English, Dawson.

POETRY AND DRAMA Paradise Lost, Milton; Hamlet, Shakespeare; Julius Caesar,
Shakespeare ; Lady of the Lake, Scott ; Marmion, Scott ; Tennyson, Whittier, Longfellow.

FICTION David Copperneld, Dickens ; Vanity Fair, Thackeray ; Hypatia, Kingsley ; Ken-
ilworth, Scott ; John Halifax, Miss Muloch ; The Pilot, Cooper ; Adam Bede, George Eliot ; Ben-
Hur, Wallace; Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan; Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne ; Tom Brown at Rugby,
Hughes ; Uncle Tom's Cabin, Mrs. Stowe.

274

Importance of Grasping Current Events.

PROF. OSCAR J. CRAIG, A.M., PH.D., Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.

THIS is an age of activity and advancement. The one
who succeeds will do so because of his ability to enter
into competition with others and win success by his own
energy and acuteness.

There is not a profession but has many followers. There is
not a business that does not apparently have as many engaged
in it already as can pursue it with profit. There is not an occu-
pation that does not seem to lack room on account of the num-
bers that have chosen it. In order to insure success under
these circumstances it is not enough that one is willing to work,
to plan, and to economize. Something more is required than
simply earnestness, thrift, and attention to business.

The man or woman who would succeed in this age must be
able to take advantage of every circumstance. To take advan-
tage of circumstances they must be understood. Things hap-
pen and afterwards we know their meaning. This will not
suffice. We must be able to give the interpretation at once.
If we do not some one else will, and will also reap the benefit.

Not only is it a requisite of success that we be able to inter-
pret the meaning of facts as they occur, but we must know
that which is likely to occur. The man who succeeds must not
only be equal to the emergency, but must be able to create
an emergency where none exists. Men are not so much the
product of the times as the times are what men make them.

It is not possible for one to isolate himself from the present
and give his whole attention to his business to the exclusion of
surroundings. True, there are many who attempt to do this,

[CHAPTER 51.] #75

IMPORTANCE OP GRASPING CURRENT EVENTS.

but they never attain to more than a respectable mediocrity and
spend their lives in a fool's paradise without knowing it.

These things being true, it is of the utmost importance for
one to know current happenings. Further, in this age of papers
and periodicals, it is inexcusable indolence not to be informed
concerning current events. The current events of to-day
become history to-morrow, so that he who grasps the present as
it comes has also the immediate past at his command. There is
but one way of forecasting the future and that is by under-
standing the relation of the present to the past. The one who
fully comprehends the present must also know how the past is
related to it. There is not an isolated fact in history, neither
is there an isolated current event. Every fact bears definite
relation to some other fact,' and so every current event has its
relation to some other event, as cause, effect, or corollary.
Happy is he who is able to grasp these relations, for he holds
the promise of success. The one who is not able to do this
fails to win. He stops to wonder. He is surprised that others
succeed and blames his own lack of success on his evil stars
or the machinations of an enemy.

The successful man of to-day is the wide-awake man. He
not only knows his own business well, in fact, a little better
than anyone else, but he knows something of life around him.
It is this that has given the characteristics of the present age.
Newspapers abound, filled not only with current news, but with
current knowledge. We have magazines and periodicals with
their rich stores of material. Books are on every hand and on
many subjects, but predominant will be found some reference
to the present.

History and economics are receiving more attention than
ever before because men want light on present problems. The
greatest problems of to-day are political, social, and industrial.
The trend of education in the present age is another argument
in favor of a knowledge of the present.

The question is no longer, What do you know? but, What
can you do? The expression " Knowledge is power" is an old

276

IMPORTANCE OP GRASPING CURRENT EVENTS.

adage, but" to-day it is a back number. Power is only in the
ability to apply knowledge, and so we find a class of schools
gaining in favor that not only furnish knowledge but train their
students in the application of it.

In these technical schools it is the present that must take
precedence, although viewed with all the light the past can
shed upon it. Not the ancient history of the steam engine is
demanded, but the ability to construct the most modern and
complete form; not the story of how Franklin discovered the
relation of the lightning to the electric fluid, but the ability to
design and construct the dynamo that will run the greatest
number of lights at least expense; not how the subject of
alchemy has developed into modern chemistry, but how to con-
duct manufactures, prepare fertilizers, and compound pharma-
ceutical preparations with the least possible waste.

These things are possible to those only who know the present,
and, fully comprehending current events, are able to turn them
to proper account in the routine of daily life.

277

Chimney Corner Graduates.

JAMES LANE ALLEN, Noted Lecturer and Writer, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

f TUNDREDS of young men in this country, because they
|SJ cannot go to college, give up the thought of ever becom-
A ,1 ing educated, relinquish the happiness, honors, and use-
fulness which education alone can bring, and enter upon
early manhood as self-accepted failures. I should like to link
my arm within that of each of these young men and walk out
with him some night when the heavens are clear. Then for
every star that he could point out to me, beginning with the
brightest, I would undertake to point out for him some shining
name among the living or the dead, who, without college or
teacher, transformed his inner darkness into light, his igno-
rance into knowledge, and is now set, either as a greater or as a
lesser light, in the firmament of the world's benefactors. The
dawn would break and we should still be talking ; and for
nights to come there would be no end for the names, as there
would be no number for the stars.

Not lack of schools and teachers, nor want of books and
friends ; not the most despised rank or calling ; not poverty nor
ill health nor deafness nor blindness ; not hunger, cold, weari-
ness, care, nor sickness of heart, have been able to keep men in
this life from self-education. What is it that you want to learn
and cannot ? Is it writing ? Remember Murray, the linguist,
who made a pen for himself out of a stem of heather, sharpen-
ing it in the fire, and for a copy book used a worn-out wool card.
Is it English grammar ? Remember Cobbett, who learned it
while he was making sixpence a day, often with no light but
winter fire light, and often crowded away from this and reduced

[ CHAPTER 52. ] 278

CHIMNEY CORNER GRADUATES.

almost to starvation if he spent but a penny for pens or paper.
Have you no money to buy books? Remember More, who
borrowed Newton's Principia and copied it for himself. Is it
the multiplication table you wish to learn? Remember Biddle,
the poorest of boys, afterward known throughout the world,
who learned it up to a million by means of peas, marbles, and
a bag of shot. Is it music? Remember Watt, inventor of the
steam engine, who, with no ear for music, mastered harmonics
for himself because he had determined to build an organ. Is it
Latin? Remember the son of a poor jeweler, afterward Sir
Samuel Romilly, who learned it untaught. Is it Greek or
Hebrew? Remember the dull carpenter apprentice, Lee,
afterwards master of many tongues and professor at Cam-
bridge, who began by buying a Latin grammar, sold his Latin
books and bought Greek ones, sold his Greek books to buy
Hebrew ones, always teaching himself. Is it geology? Remem-
ber Hugh Miller, who learned in a stone quarry. There is little
taught in the school that men have not taught themselves amid
difficulties and despite obstacles greater perhaps than you have
ever known.

Are you hindered and disheartened by your position in life
and the sort of trade you follow? Well, what then, in heaven's
name, are you? A barber? So was Arkwright, founder of the
cotton manufacture of England, who began by shaving people
in a cellar at a penny a shave. Are you a coal miner? So was
Bewick, founder of wood engraving. Are you the son of a poor
farmer? So was Sir Isaac Newton, the sun itself in the heaven
of science. A bricklayer? So was Ben Jonson, one of the most
illustrious names in English literature. A tailor? So was
brave Hobson, admiral of the navy. A butcher? So was
Wolsey, the most illustrious cardinal of England. The fireman
on an engine? So was Stephenson, inventor of the locomotive.
A shoemaker? So was Edwards, the profound naturalist. A
bookbinder? So was Faraday, afterwards lecturer on chemistry
before the Royal Institution. From every human craft men
have started out in quest of knowledge and found wisdom.

279

CHIMNEY CORNER GRADUATES.

You say, Ah! these were extraordinary men; I am ordinary
and cannot do what they did. Certainly not. You miss the
lesson: do what you can with your powers and opportunities as
faithfully as they did what they could with theirs. Then per-
haps you will find yourself no longer ordinary. For what
made these men extraordinary? Genius? Don't you believe it.
If you could collect them into one august company and bid each
rise and state the secret of his success, perhaps not one would
say, my genius. One would say, my patience; another, hard
work; another, energy; another, perseverance; another, mem-
ory; another, common sense; another, self-reliance; another,
the habit of attention; another, not wasting time; another, the
capacity to take infinite pains. All the answers would be the
simplest; and these are the old, old answers that have been
given since the world was made and must be given while the
world shall stand. Nor can anything new be said to you that
has not been repeated to every generation seeking knowledge
this side of the youthful priests of Egypt and the calm scholars
of Greece, except this one thing, that self-education is more
practicable in the United States at the present time than in any
land in the past; for four reasons: books are cheaper than ever
before; text-books are now made simple and easy to meet the
wants of students at home; much of the knowledge taught in
the universities is now put within reach of the chimney-corner
student in a popular form through newspapers, weekly and
monthly publications; and in every village, so widespread has
education become, will be found some persons to whom the
solitary, earnest toiler can apply for suggestion and guidance.
These advantages the self-educated men of the past never
enjoyed. What is your further necessary outfit? It is very
simple: a few hours of leisure out of every twenty-four; a little
money; and the determination to act as teacher to the powers
of your own mind.

Yes, that is the whole truth; teach yourself. You can; if
ever educated, whether in college or not, you must. For what
is a college? A place where a set of men will train the powers

280

CHIMNEY CORNER GRADUATES.

of your mind for you and require you to absorb knowledge?
No. I was thrown with many hundreds of young men in my
university; afterwards I taught hundreds of others. It is my
firm conviction that the greatest number of those who failed
did so from this mistaken idea of a college as a place where
they would be trained and be taught. But a college is mainly
a place where you train yourself and teach yourself under
guidance and with certain advantages. In a gymnasium who
carries on your muscular education? You. You tug, you
expand your chest, you push, pull, strike, run. A teacher in a
college no more trains your mind than one in a gymnasium
trains your body. He gives out from day to day mental work
for you to train your powers upon. You go off to your chimney
corner and do this or not. Then you go back to him and he
finds out what you have done; whether you have trained
memory, patience, self-reliance, attention, capacity for work,
and capacity to take pains. But all the teachers in the world
cannot train these powers for you. They only guide, encour-
age, inspire, as you draw these things out of your own nature,
toiling in some chimney corner of solitary effort. But if you
must train them in college, can you not train them out of col-
lege? Life is the answer. Life, the world, trains every power
to the highest exercise and efficiency in persons who never saw
a college or had a teacher.

Here, then, perhaps, we reach your greatest difficulty; you
believe you can attend to the training of your powers, but
for guiding them in the pursuit of knowledge a teacher is indis-
pensable. True. But now make your greatest discovery of the
goodness and wisdom of nature, who realized that while few of
the myriads of her human creatures could ever pay for a
teacher, all of them needed to be taught, and so bestowed upon
the human mind not only the power to learn but also the power
to teach itself. She has made you to yourself both pupil and
teacher, school child and school master. If you will only learn
well all that your mind can teach you, your education will
never lack breadth and depth and sublimity. Who taught the

281

CHIMNEY CORNER GRADUATES.

first astronomer? Who the most advanced one living to-day?
Who taught Gray American botany, or Audubon American
ornithology, or Franklin science, or Edison invention? Who
in every age and land has taught those who knew more of any
subject than all others? Who taught these teachers in col-
leges? All have been taught by the teacher you possess the
teacher within. On going to college a young man's first
astounding discovery is often this: that every teacher there
sets him to teaching himself. The better college student you
are, the more independent you will be of every other teacher
than yourself. If in college you cannot teach yourself at all,
you fail and education becomes impossible.

But if you have to teach yourself in college, cannot you do
this out of college? Life is the answer. Life, the world, is
self-taught in a thousand cases where it is college-bred in one.
Thus, whether you go to college or not, all education is essen-
tially self -education; and in the truest, noblest sense of patient,
energetic self-reliance every graduate is a chimney corner
graduate.

282

The F>o\ver of Concentration,

CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, A.M., F.R.S.C., F.R.S.L.

The Popular Canadian Writer, Fredericton, N. B.

OBSERVE two rivers, each delivering a great volume of
water to the sea. The one, after rushing with the fresh
force of youth from its mountain birthplace, spreads itself
out upon the low-lying lands. Lacking the wholesome
restraint of firm shores, of fixed limits, its currents split, wander
all abroad, and waste themselves. Losing its native energy, it
soon lets drop the burden of silt or debris which it carried at
first without effort ; and wide shoals presently form to further
choke its course. The rich plains which it should have opened
up to the service of mankind are turned by its misdirected flow
into pestilent marshes. Its power is either wasted or become a
curse.

With a force perhaps less joyous and less abounding, the
other stream sets out on its career. Its source may be less
high, less unsullied, its tributary rivulets more laden with refuse
and scourings. But when it reaches the great plain it is held
within bounds. Its banks are high enough and strong enough
to curb its impulse. With the vigor of its current un dissipated,
it now cuts itself a channel deep and clear. Its undivided force
bears easily onward the burdens wherewith its start was handi-
capped. Its full and steady flood becomes the feeder of great
cities, the highway of enlightenment and progress. Its power,
concentrated and controlled, is one of the benefactors of man-
kind.

Let us change the figure, since no one figure can do more
than present a single view of the complex attribute of human

[CHAPTER 53.] 283

POWER OF CONCENTRATION.

action which we are considering. The sunlight on a winter's
day may stream down upon us ever so copiously, and yet, per-
haps, not raise by the fraction of a degree the temperature of the
flesh exposed to it. But let these diffusive rays gather them-
selves into the focus of a convex glass. The result is signifi-
cant. The concentrated beam of force impresses itself now with a
fiery insistence. It will take no denial. In a few seconds it
will scorch the flesh. It will set fire to the dry wood of the
window-sill, though ice be forming all about it.

From the world of daily experience we might draw many
more such parables of the power of concentration. In a word,
concentration is that which makes force speedily and directly
effective. Who has not seen the small man of nervous organ-
ization, acting under stress, accomplish feats of strength that
baffle men of twice his muscular development ? He was able,
when spurred on to it, to concentrate all the force of his muscu-
lar system at the one point where it was just then needed, the
arm, or the leg, or the back, or the shoulder, and so for the
moment that one member attained an astonishing strength.
The moment, perhaps, was a vital one. That man's strength,
because he had the power of concentration, became great for
the great emergency.

Who has not seen the boy or girl of merely average brains,
but with a clearness and persistency of aim', distance competi-
tors of thrice the original endowment ? The clearness of aim
gave concentration ; and this concentration made the lesser
volume of force the more effective.

And who has not seen the brilliant student, with capacity to
learn all things, with sound principles, with ripe culture, with
refinement of taste, equipped, in a word, for the richest con-
quests of life and fate, who has not seen such a one fall piti-
fully short of achievement, by reason of a wasteful or wavering
dispersion of his gifts ? His powers lacked the burning-glass
of one clear purpose. They were never brought to a focus.

"Jack of all trades, master of none." This is the plain
aphorism into which the world has crystallized its contempt for

284

POWER OF CONCENTRATION.

the man who lacks the power of concentration. Brains, talents,
capacities, this man has doubtless had them, from the ear-
liest days of human society. Without them he could never
have been even a "Jack" of more than one trade. But the
stream of his force has ever spread itself thin. And so he
dwells in the world's scorn, who might have 'been enrolled in
the temple.

Seeing that the power of concentration means success, we
cannot take too much pains to cultivate this power, we can-
not too prudently and too tirelessly guard against a wanton
dispersion of the currents of our force. When discipline and
education, applied upon the base of our native gifts, have more
or less adequately equipped us for the work of life, it is of the
highest importance to make haste and set ourselves a worthy
aim. Happy indeed is he who never needs to pick and choose a
purpose, but who, instead, has his purpose born within him, or
is early seized upon by an impulse whose authority and worth
are beyond denial. But many of us must select our aim in life,
making a cautious appraisal of our own preferences and capac-
ities; while others again are constrained to take whatever
course is in view, fitting themselves to this as best they may.

To the first class, those whose purpose draws them as the
pole draws the needle, concentration comes of itself. A great
impulse, a consuming zeal, and their energies are bent all one
way, as the wind bends a field of wheat. By the second
class, however, concentration must be sought with prayer
and fasting, for it is most sharply repulsed by circumstance.
With a little leaning this way, a little talent that way, an
extrinsic preference for some quite other goal, and an oppor-
tunity, perhaps, close by, yet not congenial to the venturer's
gifts and uses, it will be hard to choose one course, and still
harder, when trials come, to avoid repenting of the choice.
Yet, the choice once made, concentration will speedily deepen
the channel into which we have turned our currents. Concen-
tration will soon stimulate to the dimensions of a talent that
which was at first, perhaps, no more than a scarce perceptible

285

POWER OF CONCENTRATION.

tendency or fancy. Concentration will give to all the secondary
or mechanical operations of our effort the ease and exactness
of habit, setting free so much more force for initiative, origi-
nating power, all that which thrusts a man to the front in his
vocation. Concentration, too, will excite the growth of that
enthusiasm (the French call it le cceur au metier], without which
one can never be a master in his craft.

Workers whom an inexorable destiny has placed in the
third class may often find themselves launched upon a career
for which they are naturally as unfitted as a colander for the uses
of a bucket. Their daily task may leave all their best powers
unemployed, while calling for the exercise of those very facul-
ties with which nature has been least careful to endow them.
The situation is indeed a hard one. Despondency plucks at the
sleeve of him who stands in it. There seems to be no way out.
But even here concentration offers the best hope of escape. It
has the virtue to so encourage and conserve the feeble capaci-
ties in their forced exercise, as to make possible at length that
scanty measure of success which may avail to open a door of
escape into less trammeled activities. The best way to con-
vince your world, be it a big world or a little, that you can do
triumphantly well the thing that you are fitted for, is to do with
concentrated fervor and fidelity, when it is your duty, the
thing you are manifestly not fitted for. Keep hammering
away at one spot long enough and you will make your mark
there, be the hammer no bigger than a toothpick.

286

Hints on How to Think.

REV. B. P. RAYMOND, D.D., President Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn,

I A I E are always safe in Questioning nature, and when we are
yu sure of her answer, we may depend upon it with the ut-
^ most confidence. How does nature deal with the inno-
cent, beautiful, unthinking babe? For the babe that is born
into that home among the hills of New England is not yet a
thinker. It has powers that will enable it to think when prop-
erly brought into exercise. Indeed, it is not yet properly a
person; it has capacity to become a person, that is, a being that
thinks and wills. It is an it, and we very correctly call it an it.
We say, "Is it not beautiful?" but we never say it, of the boy
or girl ten years of age. It has become a person, and we say
he or she is beautiful. How does nature bring about this mar-
velous transformation? She receives this helpless giant from
the arms of its mother, and begins its training by compelling
the boy to ask questions.

Go out with the boy that has a really living mind after this
transformation has been carried on for a few years, and see
how nature treats him. She sets up interrogation points along
the roadside, and he runs into them. He asks, " What makes
it dark?" "Does the sun go to rest because it is dark?" "What
makes the moon run with you when you run, and stand still
when you stand still?" "Who made the stars?" "Who made
God?" "Can God see me in the night? When the gas is out?
When I am asleep? " " When does God sleep? Does he not get
very tired?" Nature has set up question marks in every empty
bird's nest, in every ghostly shadow that goes creeping over
the mountain side, in the stars above, set deep and mysterious

[ CHAPTEK 54. ] 287

HINTS ON HOW TO THINK.

in the blue dome, and in the rocks beneath. Nature has filled
the world with wonders, and her interrogation points become
interrogations naturally and necessarily in the mind of every
healthy boy and girl, man or woman.

One question answered is a hundred planted, and they spring
fresh and green like living shoots about the roots of a great
tree. The answer that nature makes to the query how to learn
to think is, "Ask questions." If a man observes the rising and
setting of the sun as the ox does, without reflection, he will know
no more about it than does the ox. He may feel a sense of
comfort in the warm light, and may lie down to chew his cud,
much as does the ox. His intellectual life will be about as near
zero as it is possible for an intellectual being to be.

There is a great deal of mental dissipation in the reading of
weak books, books that lead neither to thought nor to action.
James Freeman Clarke once gave this advice, "Read much,
not many books." He expounded his text by urging thorough
reading of the best writers. Some books are worth reading a
half dozen times, and many not at all.

We need not be afraid to be ignorant of many of the books
of our time, if we know something thoroughly concerning a few
great books of the time. Even though a young man may have
few opportunities in the schools he may become an educated
man. Let him consult some educated man who he knows
will be glad to help him. Select books along some serious line
of solid reading, and then by a little determination adhere to a
plan to read in that line every day for a year. One will be sur-
prised at himself as he looks back over the ground covered by
an hour a day of real work. He will begin to find himself at
home among thoughtful men on that subject. He will grow in
intellect, in self-respect, and will find himself related to the
kind of men and books that quicken thought. Every great
science is more or less intimately related to every other science.
" Read much, not many books." Learn something well.

This habit of asking questions of nature, of great books; the
habit of looking through nature and books for the mighty forces

288

HINTS ON HOW TO THINK.

which explain nature and history, calls out the reflective powers
of the soul, trains the man to think, and he reaps his reward in
increased possessions and enjoyments of the best things.

The man who is passive and who reflects not at all upon
nature, man, God, or destiny, knows next to nothing. The man
who reflects little, knows little, and the man who summons
himself to reflection that is vigorous, searching, sustained, and
extensive, knows much. This power cannot be inherited. It
cannot be put on and taken off like a suit of clothes. It is a
power gained by mental gymnastics. Swing the clubs of
reform. Think! Race with the swift-footed ideas as they run
through the course of history. Think! Wrestle with the prob-
lems of politics, morals, and religion. Think! Do not be in a
hurry, but think, conclude, and act. This is the philosophy of
mental growth in a nutshell.

The North American Indian who lives in our great West
does very little thinking; he does not summon himself to the
task of asking and answering hard questions. He stands at the
confluence of two mighty rivers, and only sees a promising pool
for fish to supply his physical need, or a beautiful stream on
which to dream while he floats his birch canoe. He sees upon
the prairie only the buffalo herd, hears the thunder of its wild
rush, but thinks only of buffalo skins to keep him warm when the
winter moons return. He sees the mountains, but thinks only
of the wild turkey or the fallow deer. He does not summon his
thoughts to anything deeper or worthier than the supply of his
physical necessities. The white man's mind acts upon this
scene in quite a different way because he has trained himself to
think. He sees the same streams and the same prairie and
buffalo herd with its stalwart leader, but he thinks little or not
at all of fish, or birch canoes, or buffalo meat, or skins; he sees
the promise of a great city at that favored center. He sees the
support of teeming millions in the vast prairies which lie fat
and rich and wide about him. He sees the mountains, but no
wild turkey; the fallow deer do not attract him, except it may be
for a passing moment. He sees in the mountains the coal and

289 19

HINTS ON HOW TO THINK.

copper, the iron, silver, and gold which make civilization possible
and powerful. What is the difference between him and the
North American Indian? Just this: the white man thinks, he
applies his mind to the phenomena about him, asks a thousand
questions, turns nature around and looks at her on every side,
sees her in manifold relations, knows her, loves her, wooes her,
wins her, and what a bride she becomes to him! We may learn
to think by thinking. Ask questions and then answer them,
raise difficulties and then remove them.

290

Thought Reduces Labor.

PROF. GEORGE G. WILSON, PH.D., of Brown University.

1 TOW is it that man accomplishes so much? Some animals
jNJ 'are larger, have more strength, can move faster, can fol-
A 1 low a trail, may live on land or in water, do not need so
tender nor so long care in infancy, do not require cloth-
ing, shelter, and many other necessities for man's existence.

Such being the case, one might at first think the greater
possibility of development would be in some other animal than
in man. The ants work faithfully ; the bees are examples of
diligence ; the beavers show much intelligence in the construc-
tion of their dwellings, yet all these manifest practically the
same characteristics, and .live the same life generation after
generation. Little of the past enters into their lives. Some-
times the same nest, cave, or hole may serve as the home of
several generations ; but little of what those preceding saw,
knew, or did affects those that come after.

One of the great hindrances to the progress of most animals
is the lack of thought, or, if there be any well developed
thought, the lack of a means of registering and transmitting it
to others. Some animals by instinct or foresight provide for
the future, yet even these repeat the same labors year after
year without the application of improved methods.

How does man gradually become superior to nature's forces,
while most animals fir>d in them the same obstacles year after
year? It is true that God in the beginning commanded that
man should be "fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it ; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and

[CHAPTEB55.1 291

THOUGHT REDUCES LABOR.

over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that mov-
eth upon the earth." Here were great forces, animate and
inanimate, to be brought under man's power. The labor of
primitive man, or of man in uncivilized countries, even now
brings little more than food and shelter, and these often of the
poorest sort. Even existence must often be a struggle. An
uncivilized man's hardest labor may bring only an extra fish or
two ; indeed, his dreary round of life may differ little, so far as
civilized man can see, from that of lower animals. A few sim-
ple implements, a monosyllabic language, a limited range of
action and thought, usually characterize man in his lowest
stages.

Yet it is this power of thought that gives him superiority
over other animals. His cunning plans entrap them ; his intel-
ligence shows him how they may be trained and used. Over
" the fish of the sea," " the fowl of the air," and " the living
things upon the earth," man has obtained a measure of domin-
ion ; even the great whale has felt his keen lance. The cow,
the horse, the dog, and many other animals serve him.

From the other animals man differs greatly in his power
over thought. Through his ability to express it in language, he
becomes acquainted with the acts of others. The thoughts of
early days were handed down by tradition. A great step in
advance was taken when thought was expressed by means of
symbols. These symbols were rude in the beginning, like the
picture writing of ancient peoples, or the figures on Dighton
Rock.

When letters came to be used, there was a still greater step
even though these letters must be slowly written by hand, but
when John Gutenberg, about the year 1450, showed the civil-
ized world how this labor might be lessened through the use of
movable type, another wonderful advance was made. Man
was no longer dependent upon what he could hear from the
mouth of others, or upon the slow process of recording thought
by hieroglyphics, or even handwriting. By printing, many
copies of a page could be far more easily made than a single

292

THOUGHT REDUCES LABOR.

one formerly was. The thought of the past could be preserved
with that of the present. The hard labor once needed was no
longer required to make the thought of one age a basis for the
action of another.

It is very easy to see how this preservation of thought of the
past in books and language of the present reduces the labor of
man from day to day. A single table of logarithms abridges
the labor of mathematical computation ; the nautical almanac
greatly lessens the labors of the seafaring man ; a cook book
does the same for the housekeeper ; a single set of rules, the
result of the thinking of some learned man, makes difficult
undertakings easy for men who but for these rules would never
dare attempt such labor.

The compounding of many valuable substances, or even the
manufacture of gas for illuminating purposes, is a simple labor
for those who are acquainted with the principles applied by
William Murdoch in 1798. The labor of those who have come
after him has been lessened by his thought. A library in a
town or city may contribute much to the progress of the town
or city by reason of the thought stored upon its shelves.

Communication between man and man has been greatly
enlarged through language in the forms already mentioned, yet
other forms of expressing thought have been found in modern
times. The telegraph and telephone are the most marked ex-
amples of such means.

Man has put his thought in other forms than spoken, pic-
tured, or written language. By use of some of the forces of
nature, he has made other forces his servants. Carlyle called
man a "tool-using animal." It is through tools and machinery
that man has been able to multiply the efficiency of his labor.
The savage increased his power by the use of the rude stone
hammer. The civilized man brings to his assistance the giant
steam hammer of the great machine shops and foundries. The
early farmers labored long to do the work of a single mowing
or reaping machine. The Massachusetts shoemaker of a few
decades ago used but simple tools. Now the complicated ma-

293

THOUGHT REDUCES LABOR.

chinery directed by a workman here and there does the work
of many an olden shoemaker. Weaving is something far dif-
ferent from the long process of the eighteenth century. The
stored thought of Whitney, Arkwright, Slater, and many oth-
ers enters into the production of cloth.

Invention, the flower of thought, has made possible what but
a little while ago was thought impossible. Large populations
are supported on small areas, or in sections formerly thought
uninhabitable. The inventions of Watt and Stephenson have
opened up vast territories, and made their resources available.
Where, in the middle of the nineteenth century, slowly moving
wagon trains carried men and supplies to the far West, vesti-
buled trains, luxurious in appointment, and fast freights, fifty
years later, perform the same services. " Time-and-space-con-
quering steam," as Emerson names it, under the direction of
thought, has revolutionized the world of labor.

The application of electricity bids fair to accomplish even
greater wonders than steam. These are not new forces, but
thought has harnessed them to do the work of man. Years of
testing are sometimes necessary for the final discovery of the
best means of governing force. The arc light was known to
Sir Humphry Davy from his study of electricity in 1813, but it
needed the Brush system of 1878 to make it practical for street
lighting. The incandescent principle of electric lighting, long
known, awaited an Edison to make it feasible for general pur-
poses. Edison's inventions are in no sense the product of
chance, for he says, "I never did anything worth doing, by
accident." In his own words, his rule is, "When I have fully
decided that a result is worth getting, I go ahead on it, and
make trial after trial until it comes." Cyrus W. Field on one
side of the Atlantic, and Sir William Thomson on the other,
w r orked long and faithfully before their thoughts were realized
in the great Atlantic cable.

How wonderful these great inventions are, those who live
in daily contact with them hardly realize. There is needed
such a contrast as between this and the preceding century, or

294

THOUGHT REDUCES LABOR.

as between the conditions of the civilized and uncivilized coun-
tries of the present day. It is easy for those, who, a few years
ago, wondered at the first telephone, to appreciate the feelings
of the savage warriors of Lobengula, king of the Matabele,
when on a visit of investigation in England. It was not impos-
sible for them to believe that the English could make a machine
which, by some means, to them mysterious, might speak Eng-
lish, but when one of them at one end of the telephone line
heard the words of his friend at the other end, in the dialect of
the Matabele, his wonder knew no bounds.

Not alone has electricity, once so feared by man in the light-
ning, been chained by the thought of man and made his serv-
ant, but many other of nature's forces do his will. Carlyle
questions of powder, " The first ground handful of nitre, sul-
phur, and charcoal drove Monk Schwartz's pestle through the
ceiling : what will the last do ? " Where man once labored years
to produce but slight impressions upon the face of the moun-
tains, now by powder or dynamite the same labor is done almost
in an instant. Hills are leveled, and through the hearts of
mountains, once considered impassable, dynamite has opened
tunnels for the commerce of the world.

There seems to be no place in life where thought will not
reduce labor, not only in the mammoth undertaking, but also
in the trivial daily duty. The schoolboy hastening through his
essay, careless of moods and tenses, fumbling several books for
apt illustrations, opening the middle of the dictionary for a
word beginning with c, finds next day his work must be entirely
rewritten. To the one who thoughtfully plans the labor of the
day, the tasks are easier, and both labor and laborer are digni-
fied. As Emerson says, "No fate, save by the victim's fault, is
low."

Thought is one of the most valuable forms of property, since
it makes possible the greatest achievements. Yet " thought is
the property of him who can entertain it, and of him who can
adequately place it." Applied thought accomplishes far more
than years of labor. As the thought-bulk of the world becomes

295

THOUGHT REDUCES LABOR.

daily greater and greater, man obtains a wider and wider
dominion over the forces of nature, and thus by the application
of mind to matter will he, in the language of Carlyle, " achieve
the final undisputed prostration of Force under Thought, of
Animal courage under Spiritual."

296

Eyes That See.

RET. WILLARD E. WATERBURY, B.D., Clinton, Mass.
Pastor First Baptist Church and Adjutant Boys' Brigade of New England.

/ / T"7OR I am fearfully and wonderfully made ; marvelous are
I ( thy works." As I write, my eye takes in the paper be-
i. fore me, then the various objects in the room, in their
form, color, direction, and distance. I next look from
my window and see the dwellings, factories, business blocks,
and church spires, and the hills stretching far away into the dim
distance, while over all the clouds, like phantom ships, go sail-
ing in the sea of blue. All these things I take knowledge of by
means of a little spherical mechanism less than an inch in diam-
eter. 'The objects on my desk or about the room I may touch
and handle; the far-away hills with their mottled coverings of
forests and snow I also touch, though not with the hand. I
cannot go to them except by a journey of many hours, but I
open my eyes and they are brought to me on the wings of light.
Yes, I find they have been knocking at the curtain of my win-
dow with the coming of the dawn, and when I close my eyes
for a day dream they are gently tapping at the closed portals,
and wait to reveal unto me their mingled majesty and beauty.
Eyes that see, " The eye sees what it brings means of see-
ing. To Newton and his dog Diamond, what a different
pair of universes!" And many a man goes through life
with open eyes indeed, but with a brain behind the eye so
sluggish that he sees little more than does the dumb brute by
his side. The eye is, after all, but an instrument of the brain,
and what we urge is that the brain be taught to use with more
skill this delicate mechanism. We need educated eyes, trained
powers of perception and reproduction. Walk through the

[ CHAPTKB 56.] 297

EYES THAT SEE.

streets of the city with a companion, look at the same show
window for an instant, and then ascertain- which can give the
fuller account of what he has seen. The eye is capable of
being trained to a process of instantaneous photography, which
will afford both pleasure and profit to the possessor.

As children we begin with laboriously grasping a word at a
time in silent reading, and some never get beyond that stage;
others gain power to read a line at a time; still others are
known to have attained such proficiency as to grasp the
thoughts expressed on an ordinary book page at two or three
glances. These readers are not necessarily superficial, nor
indeed do they always read at this rate, any more than one
who is swift of foot always runs. But we have possibilities of
development, which, if brought out, would add greatly to the
sum total of our worth.

The difference between the success of this one and the
failure of that one, is often simply in the use of the eyes. One
sees and' seizes that at which the other but idly glances. The
successful man indeed sees more than the facts or objects
which come under his notice. He sees them as doors of oppor-
tunity which wait to be pushed open and give him access to
something better beyond. In reading the lives of inventors
and discoverers we often come to this expression, "He noticed
that " and then follows the account of how some commonplace
thing, which others had repeatedly passed around or stumbled
over, became his stepping-stone to success.

The opening of the mouth of the Mississippi by Captain
J. B. Eads is a case to the point. The great river is constantly
bringing down great quantities of sand and mud, which grad-
ually fill up the mouths of the stream. The sand bar thus
formed had so increased that it finally blocked up the passage
to such an extent that large and heavily loaded ships coulcl
pass over it only with the greatest difficulty. On one occasion
over fifty vessels were seen lying north of the bar, waiting for
an opportunity to get to sea. Sometimes they were delayed for
days or even weeks, and were obliged to be at great expense

298

EYES THAT SEE.

for steam tugboats to haul them through. The national
government and the state of Louisiana had expended millions
of money trying to remove the obstruction, with but partial
and poor success. Captain Eads noticed that where the river
was narrow the current was strong, and so deposited but little
mud to fill up the channel, and he was convinced that by build-
ing new banks on each side near the mouth of the river, thus
narrowing and greatly increasing the velocity of the stream,
the mud and sand would be swept out to sea. And then if the
bar were dredged out it would not form again.

Congress was slow to give consent for trying the experi-
ment, as nearly all the civil and military engineers opposed it.
But finally permission was given and Captain Eads set about
his task, and in four years what he had seen in possibility
others saw in realization, so that now large ocean steamers
pass up to New Orleans or out to sea without difficulty. Two
millions of dollars per year are thus saved, and the commercial
importance of New Orleans has been greatly increased.

We must not suppose that discoveries and inventions are
ordinarily the result of chance. We are correct in saying of
discoverers and inventors, "they noticed, "but we should be far
from the truth in saying, "they happened to notice." They
noticed because they had cultivated their powers of observa-
tion, they had eyes that saw. What seemed a stroke of luck to
their fellows was in fact a result of pluck in going through the
world with eyes open rather than sauntering on in dreamy
idleness. Sir Isaac Newton worked out the statement of the
law of gravitation, and discovered that the same force that
caused the apple to fall from the tree in his mother's orchard
kept the moon in its orbit. Other men had seen apples fall and
the moon move onward in the heavens, but he was the first to
see the connection between them. While in the University of
Cambridge he was so close a student that he often sat up the
entire night working on some difficult mathematical problem,
and in the morning would seem to be as much refreshed with
his success as though the hours had been given to sleep. It

299

EYES THAT SEE.

was in the summer of 1665, while at home, that, seated in the
orchard and seeing the ripe fruit drop, he fell into one of his
profound meditations on the nature of the force which caused
it to fall. The train of thought seemed to have been some-
thing like this: 1. These apples fall in a direct line toward
the center of the earth. The same force causes a cannon ball
to curve toward the same point. Everything in the world is
drawn and held by it. 2. If these apples fell from a tree half
a mile high they would not the less seek the earth's center.
3. Suppose an apple should fall from the moon then what?
He saw that the movement of the moon in its orbit around the
earth is really a constant falling toward the earth; that it is
constantly drawn by the earth from a straight line in which it
would move by its own momentum, were it not for the attrac-
tion of the earth. But not until 1682 did he complete the
problem, and give to the world the solution.

For true success there must be not only the general powers
of observation, but a specialised training of those powers, so
that we shall be searching for our specialty. Yonder stand
three men upon a hilltop. The first is a dealer in real estate.
His trained eye enables him to estimate the fertility of those
broad acres in the valley, and the value of those forest-covered
slopes, or the possibilities of making the sightly eminence upon
which they stand a suburban settlement, where men may build
homes away from the noise and smoke of the city. The next
is a geologist. His eye takes in the nature of the soil, the rock
formations, the scattered bowlders, the outlines of hills and
valleys and courses of rivers, and he sees how through
unmeasured ages the forces of nature have been bringing to its
present form the region of country which is spread out at his
feet. The third is a painter. For the possibilities and utilities
of the valleys and hillsides, or the processes by which they
came to their present form, he cares but little. He looks with
an artist's eye, and his soul swells with an artist's joy, and he
longs to capture for his canvas these valleys of verdure, the
river which like a silver ribbon seems carelessly thrown down

300

EYES THAT SEE.

among the green, the wooded hills which rise one behind
another and grow blue in the distance, the white houses away
up the valley yonder, which seem like scattered pearls in a
setting of emerald, and the hazy sky which throws a veil of
dreamy softness over the whole landscape. Each of these men
has eyes that see, but the eyes of each have been differently
trained, and so each sees his specialty.

The true poet must have eyes that see. He is more than a
maker of rhymes and meters. He must see and show to us
what ordinary eyes have not detected. For example, one of
our poets, in giving a picture of the Netherlands, writes:

" The sails of windmills sink and soar
Like wings of sea-gulls on the shore,"

and we are thrilled with the aptness of the comparison. Of
the Lighthouse he says:

" It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp

The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace ;
It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp,

And hold it up, and shake it like a fleece.
The startled waves leap over it ; the storm

Smites it with the scourges of the rain,
And steadily against its solid form

Press the great shoulders of the hurricane."

The incoming tide and the plashing waves are fittingly called
the "clasp," and "kiss of peace." The white fleece of foam
from which the waters are shaken out and fall back, we also
see after the poet has shown it to us. The " startled waves "
leaping over the barriers at the shore we recall, and we
remember that they came rushing in swifter than the wind, as
though seeking to escape from some pursuing enemy. The
"scourges of the rain "picture the many lashes, each numer-
ously loaded and all wielded by the wrathful wind. And when
this does not avail, the wind, which has now become a hurri-
cane, presses its mighty shoulders against the tower of stone,
causing it to quiver indeed, but not to yield.

301

EYES THAT SEE.

We usually find what we search for. He who is looking
for evil motives and deeds in his fellow men will be quite likely
to find them. And some seem to make this their wretched
specialty. They pride themselves on their insight into human
nature, but for any good they do you will look in vain, they
are detectives rather than physicians. There should be a care
not to develop the eyes to see evil, since we inevitably become
transformed into the likeness of that which we have as the
object of our attention. A man's object in life will surely bend
and mold him into conformity to itself. An old whaler said
that he had for more than a score of years sailed the seas for
the capture of sperm whales, and he supposed his heart would
be found by a post mortem examination to be in the form of a
whale.

While we should not be searching for sin, we should
train our eyes to see danger signals, and make sure that we
have not become morally color-blind. It seems strange that
some persons should be unable to distinguish red from green.
Dalton could see in the solar spectrum only two colors, blue
and yellow, and having once dropped a piece of red sealing-
wax in the grass, he could not distinguish it by its color. Dr.
Mitchell mentions a naval officer who chose a blue coat and red
waistcoat, believing them to be of the same color. Color
blindness is usually in relation to red, and yet red is the
universal danger signal. Young people often say, "I can't see
the harm of this or the wrong in that," and, refusing to take
the word of others that the signal shows red and indicates
danger, they rush on to ruin.

As color blindness is the occasion of many wrecks and ruins,
so nearsightedness is the cause of many sad failures. The
trained eye of the sailor will detect a sail out on the horizon,
when a landsman would see but the meeting of sea and sky.
The eye should be trained to long distance seeing, for often we
must pass through defeat to victory. Temporary loss may be
the gateway to permanent gain. In most enterprises there is
at first a necessary sinking of some capital, but this becomes

302

EYES THAT SEE.

the out-of-sight foundation upon which the superstructure may
be solidly reared. The farmer, the merchant, the manufac-
turer, look ahead, often a long way ahead. They have eyes
that see. The chess or checker player who sees but one move
ahead will seldom win unless he plays with another who is
equally stupid.

But finally in all our seeing and seeking let the object be a
noble and worthy one. I have read of a man who found a
valuable gold piece, and from that time forth he walked with
eyes upon the ground searching for gold pieces. He would not
lift his eyes, lest he should overlook some money lying in his
path. In the course of his life he did find several pieces, but
meanwhile his soul was becoming narrower and more sordid.
He saw not the blue skies, the fleecy clouds, the rainbow arch,
the stars brighter than gold, the crescent or full-orbed moon.
He had eyes to see, but better far for his soul had he been
blind. I read of the great leader and law-giver Moses, " He
endured as seeing Him who is invisible." And more than we
need the power to find gold dollars or eagles, or to see stars
and moon and sun, do we need to have this promise as our
possession: " Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty;
they shall behold the land that is very far off."

303

Th.e Value of an Idea.

WILLIAM C. KING, Springfield, Mass.

THE true value of an idea is beyond the power of computa-
tion. The world is not governed by gold, but by ideas.
The man who works without ideas becomes a mere
machine, stupid and void of either mental or physical growth.
The man whose mind is kept in a condition of healthy activity,
becomes an intellectual power. He is constantly evolving
ideas which are of value to himself and the world.

Gutenberg was a young man whose mind was active. He
was familiar with the laborious and difficult task of producing
manuscript volumes. He conceived the idea of making movable
type and thus of making books by printing instead of by
the slow process of writing. As we look upon the vast prod-
uct of the printing press, and consider the immeasurable in-
fluence it has exerted for four centuries, who can estimate the
value of this one idea? If it had remained in the closet of dark-
ness hidden from the world, the common people of the present
generation would be but slightly, if any, emerged from the
intellectual night which had hitherto enveloped them. Guten-
berg was a thinking man. He communicated his ideas to
his wife and received from her a smile of approval and
encouragement. He at once began to put his idea into tangible
form, and, as a result, we to-day have the art of printing with
a wide diffusion of its products, and consequent intellectual
stimulus and influence throughout the civilized world.

The idea of bridling the electric current and sending it
across the continent and around the world at a speed of light-
ning, freighted with thought and intelligence, is beyond the
power of human computation in point of value to the world.

[CHAFTEB 67.] 301

THE VALUE OF AN IDEA.

To-day we sit in our office and audibly speak with persons a
thousand miles distant, recognizing their voices as distinctly as
though in the same room. If the idea of the electric current
for conveying sound had never been put into practical use,
what a loss the world would have sustained!

James Watt little realized the value of an idea as he was
experimenting with his mother's teakettle. Had the power of
steam never been developed, we should doubtless still be trav-
eling by the old stage coach and on horseback. What a blessing
has come to our homes, and to the world through the idea of
the sewing machine, conceived by Elias Howe! Although he
became almost swamped in the mire of difficulties and discour-
agements, he was possessed of a wonderful tenacity of purpose;
every obstacle was trampled under the ponderous foot of deter-
mination, and the result is known to the civilized world.

The wonderful advances made in mechanical devices and
in science are the result of ideas. Men have studied, wrought,
and labored diligently to reduce these ideas to practical use.
As a result we see on every hand the gigantic strides of im-
provement and progress. Nowhere on the face of the earth is
there greater incentive for the development of ideas and their
application to practical use than in our own country.

The opportunities for advancement and improvement are by
no means exhausted. We have scarcely read through the
primer of inventive genius. In every department of life's
activities large rewards are offered for ideas.

What is your occupation or particular line of work? Is there
not some part of your daily toil which could be simplified and
its accomplishment facilitated by the introduction of an idea?

The worth of an idea should be apprehended by every young
man and woman, as an appreciation of its value will exert a
strongly beneficial influence upon the choice of occupation,
companions, and books.

Seek to gain ideas from others and to develop them from
your own resources. Their possession and use will make you
wise to know and to do.

305 20

Put Your Ideas into Practice.

BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER, PH.D., Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

" 1 . THAT does, what knows, what is ; three souls, one man,"
lAl so the doctrine of John reads in the words of Brown-
^ ing. Doing, knowing, being; action, intelligence,
character; these three are the trinity of life, and how can either
be spared? The mere knowing of things does not make charac-
ter, any more than the rules and canons of an art make skill.
Acquaintance with the conventionalities of society does not
make a gentleman. On the other hand, mere busyness is not
being. Bare locomotion does not generate soul power. The
restlessness of the house fly yields, we suspect, no fruit, either
in knowledge or wisdom. Character is begotten of intelligent
acts. It is the resultant of choices. What we are at any time
is the product of all our deliberate acts. We are what we have
done. Every single act of the will yields its insensible but none
the less certain contribution to the sum of character. Elevation of
moral character comes only through the furnace fires of moral
testing and struggle. The half-reformed pickpocket, who, on
seeing a handy purse in the outside pocket of his neighbor on a
street car, prayed for strength, and changed his seat, made a
gain of strength thereby. He could have made greater by sit-
ting it out.

The supreme end of life is not found in knowing or in being.
That were selfishness. The possession of character or knowl-
edge is no end in itself. Character that does not act is dead.
Action is its oxygen. The death is by asphyxiation. Knowl-
edge that does not take shape in deeds, that does not apply
itself to life, that does not take the life-form, is rubbish. Be--

[CHAPTER 58.] 306

PUT YOUR IDEAS INTO PRACTICE.

tween true learning and pedantry there is a deep gulf fixed.
The one has a purpose with reference to the life of man, and is
transmutable into acts; the other is an end to itself, is selfish,
and takes hold on death.

The supreme end of life is not found in knowing or in being,
but in putting knowledge and being into action. Personality is
the active form of being. Herein lies the contrast between
Christianity and the great Hindoo religions. Christianity looks
to the development of personalities, personalities that live and
act the beneficent life of God, and so become the sons of God.
The Hindoo religions look to the annulment of personality.
Life is all sorrow. Desire, effort, action, is the gre.at sin.
Release from personality and absorption into the world-all is
the true salvation. The one is the religion of optimism and
action, the other of pessimism and quietism.

How natural it is to convince one's self that this is a per-
verse and hopeless world, and to shrink back into quiet with
one's self, and let things drift. The dubious man is seldom a
man of action. He will criticise the action of other people
freely, but he will not take the responsibility of action upon
himself. In council he will evolve a dozen reasons against a
proposed plan, but will not formulate a substitute. His work
all goes into the breeching and not into the traces. It is pre-
eminently the men of hope, of outlook, the optimists, who act.
Action is creative, and the motive power of creation is faith.

Distrust, then, is the first ground of inaction, and the second
is like unto it, cowardice. How we stand shivering and
dawdling before the bath, afraid to take the plunge. Action
involves responsibility. Assuming responsibility is bravery.
The heroes, the great leaders of men, are the men who take
upon themselves the responsibility of action. The world is
always waiting for men to lead it, men who have the courage
of their convictions, are willing to select a course of action, take
the risk, and start upon it. The men who forever stand count-
ing the cost and estimating the disgrace of failure, they cannot
be leaders. They are cowards.

307

PUT YOUR IDEAS INTO PRACTICE.

Cowardice is the second ground of inaction, and the third IL
akin to it, moral laziness. The will is weak. The fuse goes
out before it reaches the charge. The case was clear, the
opportunity apparent, but the will would not act. Knowledge
would not transmute itself into action. " A little more sleep, a
little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep."
Half the sloth is moral sloth. More men fail through debility
of will than through intellectual or physical debility. Force
and energy are largely matters of the will.

Another ground of inaction is confusion of purpose. Men do
not think the matter through. They do not grasp the essentials
of the situation. They wallow in its details. They fail to
gather all the conditions within a single field of vision, so that
perspective is possible. Various possibilities of action stand in
confused conflict. The mind is a jumble. Now one course,
now another, seems good. It is a great thing for a man to know
what he wants. A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Conflicting and unsteady purposes throttle action.

Elaborate theorizing often proves in practical life a check
upon action. Theorizing becomes an end to itself. It affords
in itself a distinct satisfaction, especially when the theorizer is
not troubled with any responsibility for their enactment, or
with any relation to the actual vulgar state of things in life.
Some minds are natural generators of schemes and theories.
There is steam enough in the boiler, but it never goes to the
cylinder. It never makes the wheels go round. So it becomes
merely a question of explosion and ruin or of the safety-
valve and waste. Generally it is the latter.

Thought that is to go into action must know life. Theolo-
gies that are constructed in seclusion from life are not likely to
touch life. They can be rehearsed and defended and subscribed
to, but men do not usually live by them or die by them.

The best test of a theory or an idea is to put it into practice.
If you are convinced that political conditions are not what they
should be, and have an ideal of a better way in mind, do not
think you are. justified in hiding your ideal in a napkin and

308

PUT YOUR IDEAS INTO PRACTICE.

yourself in a monastery. Do something. Attend the caucuses.
Go there with a plan of action. Organize support for your
idea. Push for nomination and election men who represent
your idea. Secure a place on a political committee. Propose a
definite plan. Do not spend yourself in criticism of what other
people are doing. Do something. One chief reason why poli-
tics are what they are is that the people who have the higher
ideals prefer to put them into laments rather than into action,
and people who have low ideals put them into action rather
than into laments.

Put your ideas into practice. It is better for the ideas.
That is what they were intended for. Exercise is their hygiene.

309

Importance of Being Punctual.

HON. CYRUS G. LUCE, Ex-Governor of Michigan.

I HERE is no teacher so wise as the Creator of the universe.
There is no model so perfect. There is no other example
^ that can be so safely and profitably followed. In every
movement of the entire universe, the importance of punctual-
ity is taught. He who knows all things, and controls all things,
is so observant of its necessity that the sun, moon, stars, as well
as the earth, move on, each in its own orbit, for thousands of
years, without once being behind time for a single moment. So
punctual and accurate is nature's machinery, so prompt is the
engineer, that astronomers can determine the rising and setting
of the sun and moon, and the eclipses that will occur, for cen-
turies to come. But none can calculate the consequences of a
failure on the part of any of the heavenly bodies to be on time.

Reliability and punctuality furnish the foundation upon
which the whole structure of creation rests. So far as the
plans of the Creator relate to the world in which we live, they
are centered in the population that have in the past, do now,
and shall in the future inhabit the earth. In order to accom-
plish the highest purposes of life, rules must be adopted for the
guidance of conduct, and when good rules are once adopted
they must be adhered to with religious fidelity.

While the duties that fall to the lot of any one individual are
so small when compared to those which affect the whole creation
that they are scarcely discernible by the naked eye, yet every
wie, no matter how humble, has functions to perform that
affect not only one's self, but one's associates. Punctuality on the

[CHAPTKB 59. ] 310

IMPORTANCE OF BEING PUNCTUAL.

part of a boy or girl when first attending school adds materially
to the comfort and profit of all who attend in the same room.
The laggard who enters the schoolroom late not only suffers a
personal loss, but inflicts a wrong upon the teacher and entire
school. This is just as true as it would be if some little star
should be tardy in its movements, thus throwing the entire
universe at least into temporary confusion. Very early in life
we form habits good or bad which go with us to the end. The
habit of being behind time in entering the schoolroom, unless
broken off by a determined purpose and firm will, will affect
life's work all along the years. There is no line of life work
where punctuality is not a necessity. However lofty may be the
aims and aspirations of individuals, in ninety-nine cases out of
a hundred they cannot be realized without this cardinal virtue.

The men whose names adorn and honor the pages of history
have been renowned for the possession of this one trait of
character as much as or more than for any other. On time, on
time, has been their motto from the beginning to the end of
their career. But we need not look alone to the lives of the
distinguished. Perhaps it is wiser not to do so, for but very few
live the lives of the distinguished, and even these few need no
prompting ; they understand the importance of punctuality. In
everyday life it is just as essential. The clerk in the store,
bank, or commission office will never rise or become a necessity
to his employers unless he is in season and out of season.

On time ! on time ! This must become a part of his very life.
Unless he does this, upon him neither his employers nor their
customers can rely. And the rule that applies to the employee
must be well learned and practiced by the employer. The bank
whose doors do not open promptly at the accustomed hour is
heralded as a broken bank. A minute late casts suspicions ;
five minutes late and a bank failure is announced, and all of its
attendant evils afflict the community.

The same rule, to a greater or less extent, though not so
forcibly illustrated, applies to all the callings in which men are
engaged. The farmer sometimes acts as if he thought that his

311

IMPORTANCE OF BEING PUNCTUAL.

calling was exempt from an application of this unerring rule
that applies to all things in heaven and on earth, but no greater
mistake ever entered the head of mortal man. The farmer is
engaged in the most important occupation known to the head
or hand of man. Upon the products of the soil all rely for their
anticipated prosperity. If the farmer does not lay broad and
deep the foundation, other structures beside his own must
crumble and fall, and to fill the demands that are properly made
upon him, he, like the great stars, must be punctual in the orbit
allotted to him in nature's economy. He must plow, plant, and
cultivate on time, or the burdens imposed upon him at harvest
time will be light indeed, and thus will be destroyed one of the
main pillars of the edifice that sustains commerce, manufac-
tures, and trade throughout the world. No more important
lesson can be taught to the farmer's boy than is found in the
everyday life of the successful, practical farmer. Every hour
presents an object lesson. Every year many of these are pre-
sented to the mind of the close observer, and the central idea
of all these is found in the two words, thoroughness and punc-
tuality. Without this virtue, a high permanent success seldom
comes to the tiller of the soil. Hence farmers and farmers' sons
can learn that they and their business prove to be no exception
to the general rule that affects men in all other legitimate occu-
pations. Punctuality for them means not only greater pros-
perity, but lighter labors, and more leisure, more frequent
opportunities for social enjoyments, and intellectual improve-
ment, fewer failures, heavier crops, and frequently better prices.
Boys on the farm, be punctual, and prosperous and happy as a
result. A good lesson in punctuality is taught to all men by the
news gatherers for daily papers. The fierce competition between
publishers, and their keen anxiety to be the first to promulgate
and scatter broadcast important events, induce them to employ
none as reporters but the most prompt and punctual men in the
market. These men will chase a phantom as well as a reality.
They will face the winter's cold, and the summer's heat. If a
burglary is committed, they are there. If rumors of a murder

312

IMPORTANCE OF BEING PUNCTUAL.

reach their ears, no night is so dark, no danger so great, as to
deter them from a punctual appearance on the spot, and, as a
reward to the one who shall first reach any scene of disaster,
a rise in salary is a certainty, while the laggard loses his
place. These men in the prosecution of their calling teach les-
sons that should be indelibly impressed upon the minds of all.
Their success as well as failures ought to stimulate to activity
all young men everywhere. With them punctuality is an abso-
lute necessity. But how to be punctual is a question that con-
fronts all, and torments many. In response to chiding or
prompting, the most common reply or excuse is, "I had no time."
The close observer of men and things is impressed with the fact
that it is those who perform the greatest tasks who are the most
punctual, and it is they who do the least who the most fre-
quently disregard all rules relating to punctuality. The men
who do the most seem to have more time to assume new duties.
The hardest worker of the present century was Horace Greeley.
From 1840 to 1870 he was the great editor of the greatest news-
paper of the times. He wrote longer and stronger editorials than
any other writer during all these years. Still he was, or always
seemed to be, ready to do an unlimited amount of outside work.
He traveled abroad, and he compassed our own continent from
ocean to ocean. He lectured in scores of places, at home and
abroad. He wrote and published a large volume on "What I
know about farming," and later he wrote and published two
large volumes upon the "American Conflict." All this time
he was discharging the exacting duties that devolved upon
the editor of a great metropolitan daily and weekly news-
paper. How did he perform all of these herculean tasks is
a question that comes home to all of us. The answer is found
largely in the fact that he was always punctual. He not only
practiced this virtue, but enforced it upon his employees, and
others with whom he was associated. Again, he was method-
ical; this is a twin brother to punctuality. Without this
men cannot achieve great victories over obstacles, nor climb
high on the ladder of fame, fortune, and honor. In order to be

313

IMPORTANCE OF BEING PUNCTUAL.

punctual, one must be methodical. Just so much time must be
allotted to a discharge of the various duties assumed. Failure
is stamped upon the brow of him who permits his work to chase
him during the hours, days, weeks, months, and years of a life-
time. This is especially true of one who undertakes to do much
in the world. Just a little may be accomplished without method.
We should all be possessed of an ambition to do much, not
a little, with life's opportunities. The misfortunes which arise
through want of method and punctuality are recorded on almost
every page of the world's history. For the want of it, bat-
tles have been lost, and national banners have trailed in the
dust. Both history and observation bring to our attention the
awful results of being a moment too late. The opportunity
comes and passes by, never to return. We may grieve over the
fatal consequences that flow from our want of punctuality.
We reflect upon the failure of darling objects, but are, when too
late, powerless to avert the disaster. Of all the men on earth
who should in season and out of season be punctual in the dis-
charge of every duty, it is the men who run the trains over the
bands of steel that checker this whole country from ocean
to ocean, and from the lakes to the gulf. The remorse and
anguish which often follow as a result of being one moment
too late in the performance of a duty as engineer on a railroad
locomotive are fearful to contemplate. As these words are
penned, there comes back to us fresh recollections of fearful
disasters that recently occurred in Michigan and Indiana. It
was during the height of travel to and from the Exposition
at Chicago, that a train heavily loaded with excursionists from
the fair was standing on the main track at Jackson, Mich.,
when another equally heavily loaded train overtook the first
section , wrecked two cars, and killed fourteen human beings.
The engineer applied the brakes one moment too late. A fast
express was hurrying to Chicago over the Wabash road. A
freight train was side tracked at a small station in Indiana. The
brakeman was thirty seconds too late in turning the switch.
The rapidly moving passenger train crashed into the freight,

314

IMPORTANCE OF BEING PUNCTUAL.

and precious human lives were lost. Later and sadder was an
accident that occurred at Battle Creek, on the Chicago and
Grand Trunk railway. The engineer was two minutes too late
in stopping his train. As a result twenty-seven valuable lives
were lost ; communities were shocked ; mourning was carried
into many a household. The engineer suffers in sadness and
sorrow, and all of this because he did not promptly and
punctually obey orders. We will not harrow the reader with
further recitals. These are only given to emphasize the im-
portance of being punctual. Yet less painful and important
results come home to all of us as we review the experiences and
observations of a lifetime, and we think if we had been there
on time, it might have been different.

" For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these : ' It might have been ! ' "

815

Delay Loses F^ortuine.

EEV. H. A. GOBIN, D.D., Dean of De Pauw University, Indiana.

30ME virtues seem to be opposed to each other. Energy
is quite unlike patience, caution stands over against
courage, and independence is not suggestive of humility.
But this opposition is more in appearance than in reality.
Each of these qualities keeps the other in proper limits. An
excellency can easily be perverted into a fault. An excess of
courage becomes rashness. An extreme caution is timidity.
But where courage is restrained by caution, and caution is
quickened by courage, then symmetry and force of character
are produced.

Energy, courage, and independence are positive qualities.
They incite to activity. They generate and sustain great enter-
prises. Modern civilization is the product of these characteris-
tics. The passive virtues humility, patience, and meekness
would have no value if not associated with the above positive
traits. Even justice and equity would have no existence if
there were no heroic spirits to define, illustrate, and maintain
them.

The absence of positive traits in any life is sure to work dis-
aster. No advantage of birth or position can be a substitute
for them. When the Prince of Coburg was engaged in his war
with the Turks, he commanded, in person, an army of thirty-
seven thousand men. He was defeated by an army of twenty-
eight thousand. About nine miles distant was his general
Suvoroff with an army of twenty-two thousand. When Coburg
was defeated, he sent the following sorry message to Suvoroff :
" I was attacked this morning by the Turks. I have lost my

[CHAPTKB 60.] 316

DELAY LOSES FORTUNES.

position and my artillery. I send you no instructions what to
do. Use your own judgment, only let me know what you have
done as soon as you can." Suvoroff immediately sent this
stinging reply: " I shall attack the Turks to-morrow morning,
drive them from your position, and retake your cannon." Su-
voroff kept his word, and before the next night Coburg had his
old position and his artillery. Coburg was a prince by heredity,
but Suvoroff was more than a prince by achievement. Coburg
would have lost everything by his irresolution and delay had it
not been for the alertness and vigor of Suvoroff.

Human life is an incessant conflict. Hence the constant use
of military illustrations to represent the qualities and conditions
of a successful life. The Prince of Peace said, " I came not to
bring peace but a sword." Peace as an ultimate condition is
the result of a victorious conquest. Even divine love meets the
resistance of the human cross in coming to the hearts of men.
In some cases a crown comes to a brow by the accident of
heredity. But the crown represents some preceding conflict.
The crown was first worn by a conqueror before it could be
transmitted. The world will soon insist that crowns can be
worn only by those who achieve them. There will be no trans-
mitted crowns. Heredity is losing all its advantages as a basis
of preferment. This is true not only in the political world, but
in every walk of life. The supreme question is not, who is his
father? or, what is his family? but, who is he? What has he
done? What can he do? Fortunes are lost by delay not merely
as to acquisition on the part of the low born, but fortunes are
lost by delay as to retention on the part of the high born. In
our public schools the sons of the richest sit side by side with
the sons of the poorest. They study the same lessons ; they
recite to the same teacher. Their tasks are the same. It will
not do to say to the poor boy, "Be spry, my lad. Work quick
and fast. No time for delay. You have your fortune to gain,
your crown to win," but to the rich boy say, " How happy you
are! You don't need to study. Your fortune is made. You
are rich by inheritance."

317

DELAY LOSES FORTUNES.

All observation shows that as much tact and energy are
needed in keeping fortunes as in gaining them. A most conspic-
uous scene in every community is the decay and wretchedness
of rich families. Scarcely a neighborhood but that an exam-
ple can be found of a fortune lost by the delay to acquire the
mental and moral traits necessary in the safe conduct of busi-
ness affairs. It will not do to charge these misfortunes to " bad
luck." Addison wrote in the Spectator his view of this apology
respecting the decline of English families: " I may here as well
as anywhere impart the secret of what is called good and bad
luck.

" There are men who, supposing Providence to have an
implacable spite agai,nst them, bemoan in the poverty of a
wretched old age the misfortunes of their lives. Luck forever
runs against them and for others. One, with a good profession,
lost his luck in the river, where he idled away his time a fishing,
when he should have been in the office. Another, with a good
trade, perpetually burned up his luck by his hot temper, which
provoked all his customers to leave him. Another, with a
lucrative business, lost all his luck by amazing diligence at
everything but his business. He gave his golden hours to
games, races, and yarn-spinning company, and came back to his
books and accounts with brains dull and heavy as lead. Another
who steadily followed his trade, as steadily followed his battle.
Hundreds lose their luck by indorsing, by sanguine specula-
tions, by trusting fraudulent men, and by dishonest gains. I
never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, care-
ful of his earnings and strictly honest, who complained of bad
luck. A good character, good habits, and iron industry are
impregnable to the assaults of all the ill luck that fools ever
dreamed of. "

This description, written at the beginning of the eighteenth
century, is just as appropriate for the close of the nineteenth.

" Bad luck " is generally a fool's apology for his incompe-
tency and indolence. The chief reason why more men and
Women do not make a better success of life is not because they

318

DELAY LOSES FORTUNES.

are ignorant of the true conditions of thrift, but because they
delay to put these conditions into immediate and constant use.
A Spanish proverb says, " The road of ' by and by ' leads to the
town of ' never.' " The wild boy and frivolous girl say, " Time
enough to be sober minded when I get old; now is the time for
fun." But the days are flying by; even the years are going too
fast, and the unfortunate youth is getting more and more of a
dislike for serious work. Fun is a just and delightful relaxation
after hours of steady employment. But fun as a business
becomes a sorrowful task. Fun is the condiment which gives
more relish to solid meats ; but who could become healthy and
strong on a diet of pepper sauce and bonbons? The first mean-
ing of the word relaxation is a release from tension and confine-
ment. It can only be a luxury when it is the rebound from the
girding up in noble toil. If one should ask, "How can I get
the sweetest sport, the richest fun, the finest pleasure?" the
answer would be, " Put the most of your time to solid labor and
then, when you unbend for amusement, you get the full flow of
enjoyment unrestrained by a consciousness that you are neglect-
ing important duties."

If the evening of life is to be an occasion of rest and con-
genial society, then the forenoon must be given in a worthy
manner to a worthy business. What affliction is more distress-
ing than poverty in old age! When the old are poor, they are
generally lonely, or worse than lonely, by the frowns and tones
which indicate that they are an incumbrance. But if they have
a competency in property and income, they will not need for
pleasant friends. It is not worth while to get angry at such a
condition of things, and rave and vituperate that none are so
deserving of comfort and friends as the aged who are poor.
Complaining will only increase the solitude and wretchedness.
Instead of attempting to reconstruct society in order to adapt
it to your future misfortunes, better construct your life so that
you will enjoy good fortune to the end of your days. The best
way to do this is to get the best possible wisdom of earth and
heaven and without delay put this into your mind and con-

319

DELAY LOSES FORTUNES.

duct. The wiser the early morning, the sweeter the shades of
evening.

" Shun delays, they breed remorse ;

Take thy time while time is lent thee :
Creeping snails have weakest force ;

Fly their fault, lest thou repent thee.
Good is best when sooner wrought,
Ling'ring labors come to naught.

" Hoist thy sail while breeze doth last ;

Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure!
Seek not time when time is past,

Sober speed is wisdom's leisure ;
After-wits are dearly bought ;
Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought."

320

Strive at Possibilities.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

VERY much of time, effort, and culture is needed to perfect
the choicest things of nature. Many unpromising seeds
and stocks have, by culture, been developed into the most
beautiful of flowers, and the most delicious of fruits and foods.
Culture brought out their latent, unsuspected powers and
virtues and established their value. Many things now called
mere useless weeds would, if cultivated, prove most valuable
flowers or foods. The generally used and very valuable potato
of commerce bears but a slight resemblance to the insignificant
tuber, the product of which Sir Walter Raleigh had such diffi-
culty in getting his countrymen to try three hundred years ago.
In Cato's time oats were considered only a weed, and rye was
not grown, and corn and rice were unknown to the civilized
world, and silk was thought to be a thing scraped from the mul-
berry tree.

It has taken centuries to bring the world up to its present
state. We are the fruitage of many generations, and yet the
perfect man has not come. But in due time he will appear.
You and I may hasten his coming by making the most of our-
selves. Richter said, " I have made as much out of myself as
could be made of the stuff, and no man could require more."
Yet the masses of men and women seem content with medi-
ocrity. But few realize their capabilities, and fewer yet seem
to care.

The schoolmaster was wont to say of one of England's noted
statesmen in the lad's boyhood, "he is a dunce," and, years
after, when the boy grown to manhood, attempted to speak in

[CHAPTKB 61.] 321 21

BTKIVE AT POSSIBILITIES.

Parliament and made a most ridiculous failure of it, the sneers,
laughter, and taunts of his fellow members seemed to confirm
the teacher's estimate of him. But though humiliated and
shamed beyond endurance, he exclaimed as he sat down dis-
comfited, "It is in me, and it shall come out!" And it did.
For Richard Briiisley Sheridan became the most brilliant, elo-
quent, and amazing statesman of his day. Yet if his first
efforts had been but moderately successful, he might have been
content with mere mediocrity. It was his defeats that nerved
him to strive for eminence and win it. But it took hard,
persistent work in his case to secure it, just as it did in that of
so many others.

Said James Parton, " Men destined to a great career, I have
observed, generally serve a long and vigorous apprenticeship to
it of some kind. They try their forming powers in little things
before grappling with the great. I cannot call to mind a single
instance of a man who achieved success of the first magnitude,
who did not at first toil long in obscurity." This witness is
true; the world's great names were not made in a day. It took
John Milton forty years of toil to produce " Paradise Lost," and
William Cullen Bryant rewrote his " Thanatopsis " more than
a hundred times, and then he was not satisfied with it, feeling
that he could yet do better. David Hume labored thirteen hours
a day for many years before his great " History " was prepared,
while Noah Webster toiled for thirty consecutive years to pro-
duce his dictionary. Bishop Butler rewrote his immortal
"Analogy" twenty times, and Gibbon his "Memoirs" nine
times, while Burke rewrote parts of his great speech against
Hastings thirteen times.

True, these men were men of great abilities. But the begin-
nings of talent or of genius are, like the other things of nature,
very small, and, if uncultivated, they remain dwarfed or disap-
pear; and if the world's great men had not so persistently
worked, they would never have been heard of. President Way-
land, of Brown University, was accustomed to say to his students,
"Young gentlemen, remember that nothing can withstand

322

STRIVE AT POSSIBILITIES.

day's works." And Daniel Webster declared that it was this,
not genius, that gave him his fame, when he said, " I know of no
superior quality that I possess unless it be the power of applica-
tion. To work, and not to genius, I owe my success." Charles
Dickens is called a man of genius, yet this is his testimony con-
cerning himself: " I have tried with all my heart to do well; and
whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to
completely. In great aims and in small I have always been
thoroughly in earnest. I have never believed it possible that
any natural or improved ability can claim immunity from the
companionship of the steady, hard-working qualities, and hope
to gain its end."

Another of the world's great men, Sir Walter Scott, who
was also a tireless worker, in a letter to his son, admonishes
him on this fashion: "I cannot too much impress on your
mind that labor is the condition which God has imposed on us,
in every station of life. There is nothing worth having that can
be had without it. ... As for knowledge, it can no more be
planted in the human mind without labor, than a field of wheat
can be produced without the previous use of the plow." Believe
me, the poorest, most insignificant boy or girl never dreams of
the great reserve of power, the immense capabilities of the
human spirit. If they would but seek to develop it within
themselves, what deeds of high renown they might accomplish.

Said the eminent Dr. John Kitto: " I think that all the fine
stories about natural ability, etc., etc., are mere rigmarole, and
that every man may, according to his opportunities and indus-
try, render himself almost anything he wishes to become." His
witness is entitled to great weight for he had a cruel, drunken
father, who reduced his family to great suffering and beggary,
and John, losing his hearing by an accident, was sent to the
poorhouse to be taken care of. But the sorrowful lad thirsted
for knowledge, and his progress in his boyish studies astonished
the authorities. At length a benevolent man took him from the
poorhouse and sent him to school. Though deaf for life, such
was his untiring industry that he became one of the most

323

STRIVE AT POSSIBILITIES.

renowned Biblical scholars and writers of his age, and his
works are read to-day with great profit and delight in Christian
homes throughout the whole world.

The average man or woman content with commonplace
attainments sometimes wanders at the progress of men like these,
but this progress serves only to give us an inkling of the yet
undeveloped and unknown powers of men. These did not
reach the highest point of expansion. They had latent capa-
bilities undreamed of. The Scriptures declare, " It doth not yet
appear what we shall be." Very many buddings of our nature
do not even appear in this "the first of the things" for man-
kind. There yet awaits transformation " from glory unto
glory " in the on-coming ages.

Two young students of Williams College sat by a hayrick
discussing their future, when one said to his companion, " You
and I are little men, but before we die our influence must be
felt on the other side of the globe." And it was, for then and
there was born the great American Foreign Missionary Asso-
ciation's work for the salvation of the heathen world. Those
students were poor and humble young men, but the fire of
divine love for the perishing moved them to action and they did
what they could.

You may be very little, but you can make your influence
felt not only in this little world, but also in other grander and
nobler worlds in the "ages yet to come," by making the very
best and most of yourself in this life. This is God's design for
us. Listen to his word, "To the intent (Gr. "for this express
purpose ") that now unto the principalities and the powers in
the heavenly places, might be made known through the church
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord," " that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." You may have been born
and are now living under what you consider great disadvantages
of poverty or of inherited weaknesses. But these should be
goads to spur to new diligence rather than excuses for idleness.

324

STRIVE AT POSSIBILITIES,
i

"To start in life with comparatively small means seems so
necessary as a stimulus to work," said Samuel Smiles, "that it
may almost be set down as the secret of success."

Look around you on the world's most successful men and see
if it is not true, and then strive at the great possibilities before
you " It is not that which is done for a young man that is most
valuable to him and others, but that which he is led to do for
himself." Aim at the eternities to come and develop the very
best of yourself for the nobler work and being that there
await us.

325

Practice Secures Perfection.

1 5=@=! {

REV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

IT is a truism that forms the title of this chapter, but it is
none the less important on that account. There is only
one way to learn how to do a thing, and that is by doing it.
No art, no pursuit requiring skill, is mastered at once. It
must be wrestled with long and patiently before it gives up its
secret.

A man can learn how to saw wood in about fifteen minutes,
and can then earn a dollar a day at that business the rest of his
life. It is a useful occupation, but demands neither skill nor
long training for its successful prosecution. Muscle with a
moderate degree of intelligence is all that is necessary.

It is very different with pursuits demanding dexterity, skill,
and brains. Years are required to gain the mastery over them.
"How long did it take you to prepare that sermon?" asked
some one of Dr. Lyman Beecher. "Forty years," was his prompt
reply. Giardini, when asked how long it would take to learn
the violin, replied, " Twelve hours a day for twenty years." It
would be very pleasant if we could learn to play the violin or
piano by inspiration. But the great musicians did not learn in
that way. Incessant practice was the price they paid for their
proficiency. Not by sudden inspiration but by painstaking cul-
tivation are dexterity, mastership, and facile power of any kind
acquired. Nothing is done easily, not even walking or talking,
that was not done with difficulty at first. Practice in any line
of action brings to our aid the law of habit, a law which reigns
in the muscular and mental no less than in the moral realms of
action.

r CHAPTEB 62. ] 326

PRACTICE SECURES PERFECTION.

Do anything a sufficient number of times, and you acquire
facility in doing it. Every action tends to repeat itself; re-
peated action begets habit, and habit is second nature. All the
powers and possibilities within us lie subject to this law of
habit. Practice puts the law in operation, evokes latent possi-
bilities, and calls into action powers which would otherwise
have lain ingloriously dormant.

A child has all the organs of speech that the consummate
orator has, but he has not acquired the power of using them.
That power was gained by practice. Gladstone was once a
prattling, stammering boy, but by practice his vocal organs
became flexible, and adapted to all the intricacies of expres-
sion, until at length listening assemblies sat charmed by the
music of his resounding periods.

Listen to a great pianist like Paderewski, whose touch is
marvelous, whose fingers glide over the keys as if instinct with
life, and it seems as though it must always have been easy for
him to play; but on inquiry you learn that it was by practice,
incessant and severe, from early years to manhood, that he
acquired that exquisite skill.

" Those who are resolved to excel," said Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds, " must go to their work willing or unwilling, morning,
noon, and night ; they will find it no play, but very hard labor."
Some one has said that no great work is ever done in a hurry.
With equal truth it may be said that the power to produce a
great work is never acquired in a hurry. No one ever wrote an
immortal poem, painted a great picture, or delivered a famous
oration without serving his apprenticeship, and doing what we
may call the drudgery of his art. It may have been in secret
that the drudgery was done, but done it had to be. Vasari
relates in his " Lives of the Painters," that Giotto could with
his hand draw a perfect circle, but he does not tell us how many
imperfect ones he drew before he made a perfect one. Even
Titian and Raphael had to begin by drawing straight lines-,
Beethoven and Mozart by picking out the notes one by one; and
Shakespeare himself had to learn the alphabet before he wrote

327

PRACTICE SECURES PERFECTION.

Hamlet and King Lear. Little by little these things are learned.
" There is no such thing," said Daniel Webster, " as extempo-
raneous acquisition." Perfection is not gained, any more than
heaven, "at a single bound." " We build the ladder by which
we rise."

Charles J. Fox was a gifted man, but his gifts had to be
gradually developed by practice. He made it a point to speak
in Parliament every night for his own improvement. Henry
Clay's advice to young lawyers was not to let a day pass with-
out exercising their powers. His own early practice of the art
of speaking is well known. At the age of twenty-seven he
began and for years he continued the practice of daily reading
and speaking upon the contents of some historical or scientific
book. These offhand efforts, he says, were sometimes made in
a cornfield, and not unfrequently in a barn with only horses
and oxen for his auditors. Not sudden inspiration or illumina-
tion while speaking, but careful cultivation, he gives as the
secret of his oratorical power.

Be not discouraged if progress seems slow. Time and toil
will work wonders. Practice is the prelude to the song of
victory. Do your best every time. Kemember Beethoven's
maxim, " The barriers are not erected which say to aspiring
talents and industry, 'thus far and no farther.' "

328

Learning is Not Wisdom.

MERKILL EDWARDS GATES, LL.D., President Amherst College, Mass.

" To -what purpose should our thought be directed to various kinds of knowledge, unless
room be afforded for putting it into practice, so that public advantage may be the result ! "

SIK PHILIP SIDNEY.

IN certain moods you may spend an hour in turning over the
leaves of a dictionary when you are not " using " it. But
you will hardly call a dictionary interesting reading!
Why? Not because there is too much learning in it, but
because the knowledge contained in it is not alive. There is no
such orderly arrangement of facts, no such systematic unfolding
of principles, as marks the scientific treatise. It lacks the inter-
est that attaches to the progress of events in a history, to the
growth of character, the unfolding of plot in the novel. The
dictionary is a mass of knowledge, valuable for reference; but
it presupposes a man with intelligence, purpose, and will, to use
this knowledge.

For the successful conduct of life, mere learning is not enough.
We do not undervalue learning. All knowledge has a certain
value. Probably the danger that least of all threatens your life
is the danger of knowing too much! But it is possible to be very
learned, and yet to be singularly destitute of the ability to make
learning of any use, to one's self, to one's friends, or to the world
at large. Learning is not wisdom. In order that learning may
be intelligently acquired, even, there must be a wise appreciation
of the ends for which it is to be attained, of the relations which
the knowledge you are acquiring bears to other departments of
knowledge, to the conduct of your own life, to the thought and
the life of your fellow men. It is not merely a question of what

[CHAPTER 63.] 329

LEARNING IS NOT WISDOM.

you know. To what purpose do you know it ? How much do
you see in it ? To what use will you put it, for. others or for
yourself ?

The knowledge that conies of itself through the mere experi-
ence of living is not enough to make one wise. How many
men and women you know who have been beaten upon by all
the stormy experience of fifty years, and sung to by all the
beauty and joy of life for fifty years, who still seem none the
wiser for it. One does not grow wiser by mere passive existence.
If experience is to be of value, it must be reflected upon, it must
be reacted upon, by the self within. You must learn your own
lessons from experience, with conscious effort, and with the
determination to learn them and to use them, or you will never
be wise, even in the lowest sense of the term.

Nor is the knowledge that is strenuously worked for, that is
won by sevef est effort, in itself enough to make one wise. It
is not always true that "knowledge is power." Sometimes
acquired knowledge is only the cause and the evidence of
exhausted and wasted energy. Learning that is consciously
labored for, as well as the knowledge that comes from experience
of life, if it is to contribute to true wisdom, must be seen and
used in the light of a higher vision. Knowledge must be directed
to the attainment of ends higher than mere acquisition, whether
of learning, or money, or fame and selfish power.

The knowledge which you have worked severely to acquire,
furnishes a presumption that in thus working you have acquired
power of will and the habit of the intelligent application of all
your powers to the task that immediately confronts you. To
this extent, the possession of knowledge creates a presumption
in favor of your possessing wisdom. But it does not prove that
you are wise.

Do you recall some of the elementary definitions of the science
of mechanics? "Work is the production of motion against
resistance." "Energy is the power a body has of doing work."
"Potential energy is the power to do work which belongs to a
body by virtue of its position," as, e. g., to the tightly coiled

330

LEARNING IS NOT WISDOM.

spring, to the uplifted hammer of the pile-driver ; these bodies
by virtue of their position are in possession of potential energy,
of energy which may or may not be used to accomplish wise
ends. Learning is at best but potential energy. If wisely used,
if intelligently directed to right ends, learning may become
" kinetic energy," power actually put forth in useful work.

Learning alone will not make your life productive of good.
There must be right feeling and strong willing before results
follow. Knowledge ought to lead to right feeling. But knowl-
edge does not always result in clear vision, right feeling, and
right action. When it does we call it wisdom.

Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much ;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."

Perhaps there is less of the conceit of learning among Ameri-
can scholars than in Europe. But we sometimes see traces of
that conceit, which is always the mark of the petty soul. There
is the conceited pedant. There is the dilettante in learning,
finical in his moods and his intellectual habits, a "man who,
thinks himself supreme or precious, and spends his life in turn-
ing pretty phrases, when not engaged in admiration of his own
exclusive intellectual possessions."

The wise man, with his learning, has the intelligence that
teaches him how to use his knowledge. He has true views of
life ; right ends, and the skill to attain them. He is unselfish
in his aims.

" Here the heart

May give a useful lesson to the head,
And learning wiser grow without his books."

No man can be called truly cultured, truly wise, until his
relations to his fellow men and his power to serve them fill a
larger place in his thought and effort than does his wish to
advance his own interests, to press for his own selfish advantage.

To be wise, then, you must have a right aim in view, the
true end of life clearly before you. It is no accident that in the
Bible wisdom always includes morality and the willing service
of God. All the world's great poets, too, speak to us always of

331

LEARNING IS NOT WISDOM.

morality, and the unselfish service of our fellow men, as char-
acteristic of the highest wisdom. There can be no true view of
life where the highest ends of life are ignored. Always, how-
ever much of learning he may have acquired, the man who
"says in his heart, there is no God," shows himself destitute of
true wisdom, "the fool" of Proverbs, and, in the light of
philosophy and poetry, always " the fool."

If you are wise, you will ask yourself seriously, " For what,
for whom, do I intend to live ? " Two answers are possible :
" I mean to live for myself "; "I mean to live for God, and so
for my fellow men." Every man's life, whether he is conscious
of it or not, vibrates full and strong to the keynote of one or
the other of these two answers.

He who lives for God will find himself irresistibly impelled to
the best and widest service of his fellow men. He who lives for
self, however he may strive to strengthen his position by maxims
of worldly prudence, fails of all the highest ends of living.

Reckon from self as a center, and your fellow men are your
hated rivals in the struggle for existence and advancement.
Ambition's law of life becomes the blood-stained " survival of
the fittest " ; and the highest glories life can yield you, in their
hollow and transitory splendor will be yours but for a tremulous
moment, until the younger, the more vigorous, the more fortu-
nate competitor shall thrust you aside, and for his brief moment
wear the bauble for which you strove until your selfish life went
out in nothingness.

Reckon from God as the center, and your fellow men become
your brothers, infinitely worthy of your loving interest, since
one Father has made all our spirits after his own image, and one
Saviour has died to redeem from sin and restore to God-likeness
all who will turn to him, even the most debased. Thus reckon-
ing from God as the center, the law of self-abnegation, of loving
service, becomes the law of your life.

"But I have a duty to myself; I am under obligation to
make the most of my own life," you say. Unquestionably !
And you will do the best for yourself, intellectually and morally,

332

LEARNING IS NOT WISDOM.

when you subjugate yourself to the service of God in the service
of your fellow men. Thus living, the feverish strain will be
taken out of life ; its hot, panting rivalries you need not longer
know. The success of all good and true men will be your suc-
cess. The spirit of Him who came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, will possess your soul ; and failure for you will
be impossible.

The very effort for others' welfare, and for the maintenance
of righteousness, which may exhaust your vital powers, will still
assure your deathless victory your true success !

Herein is wisdom, that you learn much, and put your
learning and your life to the highest uses.

333

The Power and Possibilities of Young Men.

JOSEPH COOK, LL.D., Boston.

*7f LL thoughtful young men have many day dreams of the
U[ important and noble things they will do, and the men of
/ 1 power they will become in after years. These imagin-
ings are more or less colored, as all our dreams are, by
their local associations and surroundings. Those of us who
have come to maturer years, on looking back over the track of
experience, see that many of these fond fancies of youth might
have had fulfillment, if the dreamers had but had proper instruc-
tion as to the use of the powers given them by nature. You
mean to make a success of life what is needful to attain it?
May one who has had much observation of his f ellowmen be per-
mitted to outline the things that in his judgment go to make up
a successful life, and to indicate briefly how they may be secured?
Five things, at least, are necessarily included in all true success.

(1) Self-support; to obtain which a good degree of health of
mind, certainly, and also more or less of bodily vigor and indus-
try are required.

(2) A good education, i. e., a wise training of head, hand, and
heart; all of them, and not, as is so often attempted, the culture
of but one or two. All are necessary to make the perfect man,
and all should be educated aright.

(3) A good occupation, whether mechanical, agricultural, or
professional, and one in which you should be proficient to a
degree that removes from it all of irksomeness. So far as pos-
sible the occupation should be one suited to your individual
endowments, and to your home and school training. It should
be one in which you can do good and get good.

64.] 334

THE POWER AND POSSIBILITIES OF YOUNG MEN.

(4) A home in which to anchor the heart and garner the
fruits of toil. It may include simply a wise, cheerful, single
life, or the wife and children given you by Heaven.

(5) And chief, a saved soul and a pure body. This means
certainly as much as a deliverance from the love of sin, the
guilt of sin, and the filth of sin. Having these things, life may
be said to be successful. Lacking any of them, it is to a greater
or less degree a failure.

These United States are pre-eminently the land of young
men, and for young men. They conduct the business, and con-
trol the affairs of this country, as do the young men of no other
nation on the globe. Our institutions develop the youth of our
land very quickly, and bring them to the front early, and your
opportunities must soon be met. The hour to secure the very
best success of which you are capable will shortly arrive. Shall
your powers be developed to meet it? Will you make the best
possible use of them ? This is for you to determine. Shall
yours be among the noblest and best of lives ? You can make
it so. Do you inquire how ? By developing aright the mind as
well as the body.

There is a best way to live, and it is certainly wise to live
that best way. How can it be done ? In order to live the bodily
life well, one must have needful food, and use it properly. One
may starve his body in the midst of plenty if he does not take
and eat of Heaven's bounty. The mind, the heart, or affectional
nature can no more grow without appropriate food than the
body can. One of the chief uses of food for the body is to pro-
mote the growth of bone, nerve, and muscle for work; food is
not to be taken solely for the amusement of the appetite. Food
when not followed by work, i. e. , exercise, will in time impair
the body it was meant to nourish and develop.

Bodily athletes are made by food and work. The mind needs
mental food ; but it must be digested and assimilated by work,
and, when so used, what prodigies men may become! Look out
over the ages and see the long line of heroes, grown, all of them,
from small beginnings. Are your powers feeble ? So were theirs,

335

THE POWER AND POSSIBILITIES OF YOUNG MEN.

but they developed them. Are your possibilities unknown?
So were theirs, but they grew and expanded them. And you
may. As one should get the best and most nourishing food for
the body, so of the mind.

Avoid cheap things. Shun slops. Poverty may compel one
to live on cheap bodily food, albeit it hinders growth and
impairs strength, but surely in this country, and in these days,
one need not starve the mind. But get the best. Then use it,
work by it, live by it. An ounce of solid truth, well used, is of
more worth to you than would be a planet's weight of any knowl-
edge which you do not put into deed, or incorporate into mental
fiber.

Avoid mercilessly all second rate, or worse, matter. You
will get a new body by and by, but the mind, the soul, the self-
hood, lives forever. Therefore, put mainly the best and choicest
into it. Do you ask which is best? The world has very many
good, but there is only one best. Do you inquire which it is?
Ask the Covenanters, Puritans, Pilgrims, blessed martyrs, apos-
tles, prophets of all time, what gave them strength for such
heroic deeds and hallowed deaths, and there will be but one
answer.

Do you know of a book in all the world that you shall
wish to pillow your soul on when the body is dying? Very
well; that is the one for you to cultivate and feed your mind on
now. There is but one such, I repeat, in all the wide world. It
is the book that has made, and yet makes, more noble men and
women than any or all other books or things combined, the book
from whence comes all other excellence. It is the book that
can alone make your life and mine a complete success. That
book is the Bible. While not neglecting the many other good
and valuable books of the world, you should, above all others,
read this. Study it. Transmute it into deed. Become obedient
to its truths. Follow its directions, and you shall become at
length the perfect man. It gives and develops power as no other
does, and it alone prepares man for the tremendous possibilities
of this life, and those of the life that is to come. As a song

336

POWER AND POSSIBILITIES OF YOUNG MEN.

of life I venture to dedicate this hymn to you young men and to

entitle it

THE BATTLE CRY OF SUCCESS.

Now the Lord hath spoken to me,
May no evil day undo me ;

Lies before me clear and fair,

Pathway up a mountain stair,

Sunlight in the upper air.

Many years Thy Whisper moved me,
Many years Thy llight Hand proved me ?

Thou afar didst see to-day ;

All the noontide hidden lay

In the morning dim and gray.

Many lands and many oceans,
Many peoples in commotions,

Thou hast shown me as a sign

That Thy Whisper is divine ;

May Thy purposes be mine 1

Evermore by Thee enshrouded,
In the azure sky or clouded,

Let me follow Thy behest.

Without hasting, without rest,

As a star moves toward the west.

Thou my Helmet, Falchion, Leader,
Lord and Saviour, Interceder,

Both my left hand and my right,

Fill with javelins of light

And with ten archangels' might I

337 2*

The Influence of Young Women.

LADY HENRY SOMERSET, London.
President of the British Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

Miss FRANCES E. WILLARD,
President of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

' T is within the present province of mankind to develop nature
but not to improve on it. All the present deliciousness of
fruits or flowers was contained in the original seeds out of
which they were developed. Men have added nothing to nature.
Now the normal condition of men and women is that of the fam-
ily. Without one's family, what were all else of life? Without
them would life be worth the living? How could there be
love, and hope, and ambition, without the family? There might
be lust of appetite, of acquisition, of conquest, for mere exist-
ence, but how could holy love exist without the family relation?
And love is life. In the Bible the words are almost inter-
changeable in meaning.

Now men are ruled by their appetites, and women by
their affections, until education has taught them the proper
uses of both. As the highest relation is the family, the highest
position in that highest relation is given by nature to women, to
wit, the care and culture of home and children. She holds in
her keeping the happiness and the welfare of the world.

As a rule the first seven years of life determine the future of
the child and so of the man. If the home-life is cheap, frivolous,
impure, unintelligent, its product will be such. Not only a man,
but a man's children, are what his wife will let them, and him,
be. If she is socially, naturally, his superior, she can elevate him.
But if she is socially inferior to him, her condition fixes his
status : for, however good or great a man may be, he is always

LCHAPTKK 06. J 338

THE INFLUENCE OF YOUNG WOMEN.

degraded and humbled in his own sight and in that of the
world, when he has to blush on account of or make apologies
for his wife.

The young women of to-day will be the matrons of to-mor-
row, and while they never can make over the young men
whom their mothers have made years ago, they can almost
wholly determine the character of the next generation, by
wisely using their influence with the present one. What kind
of associates, what kind of companions, will you choose among
men? Fate will not fix it for you, but you must determine it.
There are serious vices among men, foul blots on humanity that
impair its energies, that bar all upward progress of the race,
that are steadily dragging it downward to bestiality and diab-
olism, vices that breed crimes, natural, unnatural, and pre-
ternatural, by which and from which woman has been and is
the silent, greatest sufferer, shall they be perpetuated? On
its answer hangs the destiny of the ages. Shall the vice of
the father be fastened on your innocent child through you?
That is the problem you are to solve. Over against the world's
misery stand the young women of the day with power not
merely to assuage it, but to blot it out. Will they do it? Do
you ask how? By resolutely refusing to be the medium for its
perpetuation. Demand purity of thought, purity of purpose,
purity of deed inexorably of the young men with whom you
consort. How long would the vice of drink, the filth of tobacco,
the delirium of gambling, the leper-seeking of lust, dwell in
this world, if the young women in it were to refuse fellowship
with any young man tainted by them? Not a generation.

How often one may see on the public thoroughfares,
intelligent, refined virtuous young women in company with
gentlemen acquaintances who so far forget the honor of the
lady's company as to belch forth the smoke and stench of the
cigarette and cigar, or the lesser filth of the quid? Would they
do it if they knew they should forfeit the lady's favor? No
young lady wishes to go through the Golgotha of suffering of
the drunkard's wife yet how few have courage to refuse

339

THE INFLUENCE OF YOUNG WOMEN.

association with a young man who takes his wine, if he be a
man of wealth, or position? No young man of sense would
take for a consort one whose impure life would entail nameless
sufferings on himself and offspring. Why should not a young
lady be equally prudent and exacting? Demand of your
gentleman friends both the purity of life and of speech they
require of you. Believe me, there is no young man whose
acquaintance is worth the having who will not respect and
admire you more for refusing to fellowship what he may call
his petty weaknesses, than he will do if, for the sake of his
company, you quietly ignore vices you would not think of
cherishing in yourself. You know and he knows that a
woman's social condition, aye, her eternal condition, is deter-
mined, not by her wealth, nor by her beauty, but by her moral
and mental qualities. Will the eternal balance be less exacting
in his case? If not, why do you seek to make it so in this life
by smiling on his vices?

The young women of the world must redeem it of its vices,
or doom it. Nature no, he who created nature has given
them an influence that would regenerate the race if they would
but use it aright. Nature's great decree is that man shall seek
his mate, not the mate the man. If he come unclean of body
or of soul shall he find the pure equally as ready as the unclean
to welcome him? Shall there be no distinction? Is it not time
that the pure young women of the land face toward the future,
and demand a noble, virtuous companionship? It will come,
but only at their bidding. To have it come, frown down
intemperance, the tobacco evil, profanity, impurity of deed
and speech, idleness, and dudishness. Insist on the cultivation
of mind as well as brawn, of godliness rather than covetous-
ness, of gentleness as well as genteelness, of truth rather
than tricks in trade. Have it understood that respect, courtli-
ness, and kindness toward one's own mother and sisters is as
great virtue in a young man as vows of love to his sweetheart.
Make it known that honor is greater than gold, and that the
heart outweighs and outranks the brain.

340

Woman's Work and Wages.

NELLIE E. BLACKMEK, Springfield, Mass.
Head Stenographer King, Richardson & Co.'s Publishing House.

" I stood up strait and worked
My veritable work. And as the soul
Which grows within the child makes the child grow,
So life, in deepening with me, deepened all
The course I took, the work I did."

ELIZABETH BARRETT BBOWOTNG.

NEVER since "Adam delved and Eve span " has anyone
questioned woman's right to work. She has fed and
clothed the world, she has given unremittingly of strength
of body and of soul; but the wage-earning woman is dis-
tinctively a factor of the complex problem of our modern life.
Rapidly woman has worked her way into the wage-earning
world, with a remarkable facility and power of adaptation
entering every industry which does not require the exercise of
great physical strength. This is well. The outlook of woman
has been widened, her dormant capacities quickened and de-
veloped, she has been removed from the humiliating position of
a dependent, she is valued as never before; and, as an indirect
result, both men and women have come to understand more
clearly that the welfare of the human race depends as much
upon the position and welfare of woman as upon that of man.

Never yet has any great tidal wave of progress swept up the
shore of time without carrying before it something of value that
had been builded with patient care, destroying, only that more
beautiful and enduring structures might be raised on firmer
foundations. This change in the industrial world has taken
place so quickly that the times have not kept pace with it.
Equilibriums have been disturbed and complicated social prob-

[CHAVTEB 66.] 341

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

lems arisen that will require time and patient thought to adjust.
But it is plain that the advantages to woman and to the world
at large of this change are inestimable, while the disadvantages
may be overcome, not by yielding any of the ground gained,
but by a steady pressing forward to a surer footing on heights
beyond. Although this change in affairs has brought about
evils and difficulties which did not before exist, it has set us free
from dangers and difficulties still greater. The strong cords of
tradition and custom by which woman was bound have been
broken and she is free to do whatever she can do. With an
unswerving purpose to exalt womanhood and secure its rights
in the world of industry, never sacrificing principle nor yet
arousing needless antagonism, the stronger helping the weaker,
let every self-supporting woman stand in her place, proud to be
a help, not a hindrance, a producer as well as a consumer, and
glad to take her part in a forward movement involving the wel-
fare of woman and so of the race.

If any working woman to-day feels that her lot is a hard
one she may well be thankful she was born no earlier. But
little has been written about the common women of the early
and middle ages. In every age there has been a class of women
highly favored. Born to wealth and the heritage of a noble
family, endowed with beauty and that indescribable power
called "charm," men have been ready to serve them, to fight
for them, and, if need be, die for them. Who has not been
thrilled by the stories of the knights "without reproach or
fear," who, bidding farewell to the ladies they left protected by
castle walls, rode away "redressing human wrongs?" But
what proportion of the women of those days, think you, were
" ladies," and what proportion the slaves, not the queens, of
men?

Up to the opening of the present century there was small
place for a woman forced to self-support. In colonial times
wages in this country were about what they were in England,
and a woman might earn a shilling a week by weeding or pos-
sibly two shillings by a week's work in the harvest field.

342

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

Domestic servants received about $30 a year, but there was
small demand for them. During the first quarter of this cen-
tury women school teachers were paid $1.00 a week and
"boarded 'round," teachers of especial skill receiving as high
as $1.25, which was considered great wages for a woman. In
those days every one was comparatively poor and both food
and clothing coarse and plain. All manufacturing was of the
simplest character and done in the homes. The farmer raised
the sheep and the farmer's wife and daughters carded and spun
the wool and made the garments the family wore. Linen cloth
was made at home from the flax raised on the farm. Cotton
cloth, being something they could not make themselves, was
not used, and they alternately shivered in linen and perspired
in woolen, both kinds of cloth being coarse and heavy com-
pared with the machine-made goods of to-day. Coarse shoes
were made at home by the men, the women " binding" them,
and the women braided from coarse straw the hats then worn.

With the building of the factory and the introduction of the
manufacture of cotton cloth, a new era opened for the women
of our land. To be sure, the days were unmercifully long and
the pay small, but the girls who gladly thronged into the fac-
tories from the New England homes were inured to hardship
and accustomed to long days of toil without pay. Small won-
der they considered it a privilege to work but little harder and
to receive in return that magic medium of exchange they had
sometimes seen in the hands of their fathers, but rarely in the
hands of their mothers, and of which few had ever possessed
as much as a dollar. Lucy Larcom's charming book, " A New
England Girlhood," describes perfectly the change in the life of
the times brought about by the cotton factories. The average
wages of the workers were about sixty cents for a day
thirteen to fifteen hours long, while the most expert could earn
from six to eight dollars a week. But they had good board at
the corporation boarding house for $1.50 a week and saved
money.

Following the establishment of the cotton mills came the

343

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

shoe factories, the paper mills, the straw shops, and, as the coun-
try increased rapidly in wealth and industries of various kinds
multiplied, women were employed more and more, as female
help was more plenty as well as cheaper than male help.

Whenever a new industry or calling has been opened to
women the pioneers have had to bear more or less unpopularity
and scorn; but they have made the way easy for those who
have followed them until it is almost universally conceded that
a woman's sphere is wherever she can render efficient service.

The labor reports state that about four hundred kinds of
manual labor are now done by women in the United States, and
Miss Penny in her encyclopedia of occupations open to women
mentions five hundred and thirty-one suitable employments for
women in the arts, sciences, trades, professions,' agricultural
and mechanical pursuits, and these may be increased by sub-
division. Statistics show that not less than seven per cent, of
the population of the United States are women engaged in gain-
ful occupations.

It is found that the average age of the working woman is
twenty-five years and that she begins work at the age of seven-
teen. The average wage paid to working women in this coun-
try is $5.75. The highest average is in Massachusetts, $6.68 the
lowest in New Jersey, $5.00. These figures are perilously near
the living point, $6.00 a week being the smallest sum on which
any girl living in a city can feed and clothe herself respect-
ably. Yet hundreds of women and girls are working for $2.50
or $3.00 a week. Occupations calling for education and some
degree of mental work command about the same wages as
skill and dexterity in manual labor from eight to fourteen
dollars a week while positions calling for responsibility, busi-
ness ability, and experience, yield correspondingly larger wages.

The query is often raised why women receive less pay for
their work than men. There are many reasons, the most
obvious one perhaps, being, that they are in no position to make
terms, self-support being a necessity, and the applicants more
numerous than the places. They have here and there com-

344

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

bined to keep up wages artificially, but this is a poor makeshift,
assisting the few to the detriment of the many. In addition to
every limitation that women have to meet they nave the limita-
tions of their sex, and to this we must add the resistance of men
workers and, until recently, the loss of caste with their own
sex. One writer states that the reason women receive less pay
than men for the same work is because they are "less self-
reliant, less ready to cope with sudden emergencies, and more
easily overcome by difficulties. " Very likely. Suppose a wise,
able man of affairs should be taken from his environments some
summer day and placed in charge of a hot kitchen, with a bak-
ing in process and a dinner to be prepared. Put a crying child
in his arms, and then watch for signs of his superiority. How
would he compare with a woman in " self-reliance and the
ability to cope with sudden emergencies "? By the changes of
the times woman has been placed in a new environment and it
is not strange that she does not at once rise to the level of man
in what has always been his chosen field.

Years ago it was argued that it would not answer to open the
field of labor to women, as they would become so enamored
with the pleasure of earning their own living and the inde-
pendence it would give them, that they would not be willing to
marry. While this argument shows slight knowledge of the
human heart it suggests one of the greatest of the many
advantages that have come to woman through her ability to be
self-supporting. The average woman who has mingled with
men and women in the working world a few years as a rule has
too little sentimentality and too much common sense to marry,
merely from fancy, a man who is unworthy of her or unable to
support a family; and, being able to support herself, she is
relieved of any temptation to marry " for convenience," for a
home, for bread. As this tends to fewer marriages but more
harmonious ones, and so to the elevation of the race, let us rejoice.
A social condition which makes it easy for every woman to
take the stand that she will marry no man she cannot love,
honor, trust, and live with harmoniously, is an emancipation,

345

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

the magnitude of which can only be appreciated by comparing
it with the varying position of woman from the time she was
considered property and bought and sold like cattle down to the
present time.

While this change in the social and industrial status of
woman is an advantage and thousands of women are now happy
in earning a comfortable living for themselves, many helping
to support others as well, there is a phase of working life
that is anything but hopeful. The revelations made by those
who have patiently investigated the condition of the lower
class of working women in the large cities the sewing- women,
the cigar-makers, the great army of the unskilled are appall-
ing. Merely to read of the hardships these women undergo in
the awful struggle for a bare existence makes the head swim
and the heart fail. The interference of legislation here and
there and the strenuous efforts of philanthropists are measures
ridiculously insufficient to cope with the flood of poverty,
degradation, oppression, and wickedness. These terrible condi-
tions seem to be principally the result of unrestricted emigra-
tion and of overcrowding in the large cities. There, where
existence is worth the least, the struggle for it is the fiercest.

Under the present system of competition can we blame a
starving woman for underbidding her neighbor on work, that
she may have the wherewithal to buy bread? Can we blame
the manufacturer for buying his labor in the cheapest market?
Yes. Better starve than snatch the bread from a starving
sister. Better die in poverty than to make money out of the
suffering of a fellow creature. But this is high doctrine and
few can attain unto it. But what of a social system under
which such alternatives are inevitable and which is daily
crowding helpless women further down in want and misery in
spite of all efforts to help and uplift? It is doomed. How will
a change be wrought? Peaceably, we have reason to hope. By
force, we have reason to fear. What will it effect? A social
condition in which every man or woman willing to work shall
have a chance to live.

346

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

One obvious lesson to be drawn from a hasty survey of the
field of woman's work is that every woman who desires to be
self-supporting should aim to attain skill in her chosen work.
She should learn to do whatever she has to do as well as it can
be done. If in a place where there is no chance for advance-
ment, no opportunity to do better work and to earn more money
with the passing years, it will be worth a present sacrifice to
place herself where she will have such opportunities. This will
take time and strength for those who have drifted into the
wrong channel, but it will pay.

For those who can choose their calling and prepare for it the
field is wide. Time and money spent in fitting for a congenial
and useful occupation is a good investment for every woman
who can possibly compass it. The questions every woman
seeking employment has to meet are, "What do you know?"
" What can you do? " This demand for competency is growing
more imperative daily. It is those who know and who can do
who have employment and good pay. The welfare of all
demands that every worker shall do the best that is in her,
as every step upward leaves a place below to be filled by
another and lessens by so much the state of congestion among
the unskilled.

Not to every*woman is it given to be a preacher or a teacher,
not all can organize and plan, but there are numberless humbler
tasks that as truly meet the world's need. The less inspiring
the work in itself the greater the need of carrying to it the best
qualities of the worker. The manner in which some women
dignify every kind of work they do is a revelation. What we
deem commonplace or menial becomes noble under the touch of
their interest and enthusiastic effort. The oft-repeated statement
that it necessarily lowers a woman to enter the working world
and to toil side by side with men is an unwarrantable assump-
tion and a libel on both men and women. A refined, dignified,
gracious woman will carry those qualities with her wherever
she goes, while a rude, silly girl will be quite as unrefined and
frivolous in the home as in the shop or office. In the business

347

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

world there is no room for childishness, peevishness, or willful-
ness, and in the discipline of working life many a woman has
learned self-control and a certain consideration for the rights of
others she would otherwise have missed.

In order to make her own way a woman needs to have a
stout heart. She must not be easily overcome by difficulties
nor expect that her path will be smoothed by poetic justice.
She must learn to take people and things as they are instead of
fretting because they are not as she would like to have them,
and if she is wise she will cultivate the habit of looking on the
bright side. She must realize that superficial knowledge and
hasty, imperfect, slipshod work will not do, that weariness and
disgust before the battle is half won will not do, that nothing
but application and patient, thorough work will bring her satis-
faction or success.

It is to be deprecated that since it has become common for
young women to become self-supporting, the greed of gain has
so taken hold of some that girls are willing unnecessarily to
sacrifice an education for the work that will bring them a fw
dollars a week pin money, leaving the school for the store,
factory, or office. Parents ought to realize, if the girls do not,
that for working people the only time to obtain an education is
while young, and that two or three extra years spent in acquir-
ing knowledge will broaden the girl's outlook for life and make
her a happier and wiser woman. The working girl's life is a
crowded one. Many "keep house " in a small way and make
most of their own clothing in addition to their daily work of
from eight to ten hours. Unless the love of knowledge and the
taste for good literature is gained in school there will be little
time or desire after working life begins for the pursuit of that
culture which has been so well defined as knowing " the best
that has been said and thought in the world." With such a
taste an active force, no life is barren, no matter how full of
monotonous toil. The poorest are rich in the legacies of mind
and heart left for mankind by the thinkers and poets of all
ages. The pity is these legacies so often go unclaimed, while

' 348

WOMAN'S WORK AND WAGES.

the toil and the care of life and the deceitfulness of poverty
narrow the mental and spiritual vision until the worker fails to
see that " the life is more than meat and the body than raiment."
The habit of church attendance, although kept up with difficulty
and at a sacrifice, will serve to keep a door open into the intel-
lectual and spiritual world, and thousands of working women
can testify to the uplift received from their weekly glimpse of
truths that at once rest and stimulate.

It would be well if every worker could carry into the daily
routine the inspiration of these words of Carlyle's:

" The situation that has not its Duty, its Ideal, was never
yet occupied by man. Yes, here in this poor hampered, despi-
cable Actual, wherein thou even now standest, here or nowhere
is thy Ideal: work it out therefrom; and working, believe, live,
be free. . . . O thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the
Actual, and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to
rule and create, know this of a truth: the thing thou seekest is
already with thee, ' here or nowhere,' couldst thou only see!"

NOTE. Different phases of this subject are fully treated in the following
books :

Women Wage-Earners, by Helen Campbell.
Prisoners of Poverty, by Helen Campbell.
Woman's Work in America, by Annie Nathan Meyer.
How Women Can Earn Money, by Victoria Penney.

349

The Power of Mother's Influence.

MRS. SUSAN S. FESSENDEN,
President Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of Massachusetts.

f^ROFESSOR Drummond, in his lecture on "The Evolution
\S of Motherhood," says, "All the machinery, all the pre-
A ceding work of nature, is to the end that she may produce
a mother. The work itself is one of the most stu-
pendous processes of nature. The mother is the ultimate object
of the evolution of the animal kingdom. Nature has never
made anything higher."

At last, from the lowest form of life, at the command and
according to the law of the Author and Controller of evolution,
a mother exists. It yet remains for the world to evolve a higher
and still higher type of motherhood. The sweetest, purest,
strongest, most unselfish relationship in life is that of mother.
God intended that this should be so. To this end is the lit-
tle infant laid so helpless, the most helpless of all the animal
creation, into the arms of a mother, who has gone down into the
depths to receive it, and who should rise to the mount of self-
purification and self-abnegation that she may promote its pros-
perity and happiness.

That is a thrilling little story of the mother who was lost
upon the mountain. When the snow fell and the fierce winds
howled, and the cold penetrated,

" She stripped her mantle from her breast
And bared her bosom to the storm,
While round her babe she wrapped the vest,

And smiled to think her child was warm."
r CHAPTER 67.1 350

POWER OF MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.

It is, however, an act that finds its counterpart in kind, dif-
fering in degree, in the life of every true mother. The thought
of self is eliminated when the interests of "my child" are
involved. All the laws of nature are planned in infinite wisdom
to strengthen this bond. Because there are exceptions to it,
because there are selfish, loveless mothers, is no proof against
the law, nor any demonstration against the wisdom of it. There
exists no law without exception. Much, however, that appears
to be in defiance of this law is only the present incomplete
evolution of motherhood, which has as yet, by no means, reached
th< highest. Mothers and sisters have been greatly hampered
in their growth and influence by the condition of subordination
in which woman has been held. No character can reach its
highest possibilities in a position of subordination. Responsi-
bility, accountability, personality, are discounted and the indi-
vidual is correspondingly weakened. Before the best influence
can be established, the completest character must exist, and
that can come only when this vestige of heathenism disappears
in church and state. In this way only can God's purpose con-
cerning the womanhood of the world be brought to pass.
In whatever other relationship in life woman might or might
not find a representative in man, in this he must utterly fail;
he can never represent her motherhood. These maternal rights,
duties, and obligations she delegates to none. In this, her crown
of motherhood, woman stands peculiar, alone. The sweet joy,
the strong tie, the unquenchable love, the untiring solicitude
that swells with the first consciousness of a new life, and life
of one's own life, and ends not in time nor eternity, is such that
only experience can reveal, and even experience cannot under-
stand. Awe, reverence, adoration, are emotions not too strong
with which to stand in the holy of holies of motherhood. This
it is that makes the various Madonnas the most universally,
reverently loved of all the works of art. It appeals to every
thinking, feeling being.

" 4 mother is a mother still,

The holiest thing on earth."
351

POWER OF MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.

The influence of this maternal love re-acts upon the child
from the hour of conscious existence. Nature, who has per-
mitted no two leaves to be alike, has given a still greater
diversity to human souls. To meet the necessities of this
infinite variety, she has given to each a mother. No child has
a fair chance in life who fails to be well born and well mothered.
An ideal mother is still a thing of the future. A wise appre-
ciation of the good of the race and the influences that tend
most rapidly and surely for the uplift of humanity would recog-
nize, as the initial force, the betterment of mothers. The educa-
tion of the child begins before any conscious forces have been
brought to bear upon it.

Through all the ages, the higher virtues have become more
and more the vital moving forces in private and public affairs
in proportion as the mother element has been respected and
utilized. Our country to-day needs just this ; it needs mother-
ing ; it needs to have the power of love for humanity transcend
the love of wealth, or position. Mothers need the largest de-
velopment, the utmost freedom and dignity, to enable them
rightly to meet the demands of creating and educating the race.

Ben Jonson ascribed all his early impressions of religion to
his mother's piety. She was a woman of distinguished under-
standing. Once when some one was asked whether Mrs. Jonson
was not vain of her son, the reply was, " She has too much good
sense to be vain, but she knows her son's value." How charac-
teristic of motherhood ! " She hid all these things in her heart."
The world owes much to the early influences on the heart and
life of the child. God pity the child who has an ungodly,
worldly, frivolous mother ! Mothers have special need of the
power of the invisible, mighty love of the Divine to shed a
softening charm. They need that protecting, all-embracing
love that does not forsake its object because of weakness or sin.
It is the mother who loves, and trusts, and hopes when all the
world condemns. Mother's room, mother's heart, means home
to the prodigal. When all other influences fail, this will often
suggest the infinite love of God, and bring back the wanderer,

352

POWER OF MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.

worn by passion and the antagonisms of life, to the paths of
purity and truth. Timothy was admonished that he should lead
an exceptionally pure life because of the pious influence of his
"grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice."

Hugh Miller derived from his mother his extraordinary
genius for narrative. She possessed imaginative faculties, a
creative power of fantasy that, with training and education,
would have made her a power in the world of literature, either in
poetry or romance. Untutored, these powers led her into the
endless vagaries that were so powerful among the unlettered
people of her day. Her son, surrounded with this weird atmos-
phere, early imbibed the uncanny notions, and they powerfully
influenced him through life. He suffered paroxysms of terror in
childhood. The influence of these early impressions, all his sub-
sequent scientific education and research could not overcome.
There is little doubt that eventually his early death was caused
by this nervous strain. How important it is that mothers should
be educated ! Errors can be discovered only by intelligent
thought. The mind must be trained to reason, to create ideals,
to regulate imagination, to direct and modify emotion ; all this
can be accomplished only by education. What a shortsighted
policy was that which established schools for boys before these
opportunities were afforded girls !

Mothers should have piety and education ; they should also
have strong characters, devoted to some mighty ruling purpose.
The pettiness of some women is the bane of their children.
Consecrated strength and nobility will mold the character that
comes under its influsnce. What a charming illustration of
this power do we find in the Booth family, where all the chil-
dren followed in the path of self-renunciation so faithfully
trodden by the parents.

Mothers should have strong bodies as well as carefully
trained minds. To these should be added spiritual force and
aspiration, for the influence pre-natal and post-natal is im-
measurable, not less on mind and soul than on body. A mother
whose waist is compressed, impeding the action of vital organs,

353 23

POWER OF MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.

cannot have a healthy child ; neither can a mother whose mind
has been compressed, circumscribed to a round of petty
thoughts, be expected to influence her children to intellectual
power. Like produces like.

All influence, good or bad, springs from the character and
thought. This influence makes its way through an infinite
variety of channels. The tone of the voice, the expression of
the eye, the pressure of the hand, the unpremeditated act, all
make indelible impression on the plastic heart of the youth.
Each has its influence on the formation of character. " The
world wants men," yes, and women, too. To obtain these, we
must have the highest type of mothers. Happy the woman,
who, like the mother of the Gracchi, can point to her children
and exclaim with joy, "These are my jewels."

Frederick the Great, when he heard of the death of his
mother and sister Wilhelmina, exclaimed, "This loss puts the
crown on all my sorrows. My spirits have forsaken me. All
gayety is buried with the loved ones to whom my heart is
bound."

No position in life is superior to the influence of a mother's
love. One of earth's noblemen said, "All that I am, all that I
have been able to do, I owe to my mother."

There was once a mother whose beautiful, cherished daugh-
ter was called in the early days of budding womanhood to the
higher service of heaven. In looking over her papers, her
mother found these words in her journal, "As I have watched
the daily, hourly life of my mother through the years of mingled
cloud and sunshine, I feel that I must be true indeed to be
worthy of such a mother." Could any music of oratorio be
so sweet ?

What a proud moment to the mother of James A. Garfield,
when, at the pinnacle of earthly honor, his first thought was of
the joy his promotion would give that true and faithful heart,
and he turned and kissed his mother before addressing himself
to the waiting multitude. It was a tribute to the influence that
had made his life worthy of honor.

354

POWER OF MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.

Cowper in his touching address to his mother's picture shows
how great a power is exerted in the early years of childhood,
and how indelible is the impression of the tender touch of a
mother "passed into the skies." Love is indeed a simple
fireside thing, whose quiet smile warms earth's poorest hovel
to a home, and whose influence radiates from this center to
earth's remotest bounds.

355

"Woman's Place in the Business World?

MRS. FRANK LESLIE,
Proprietor and Manager Frank Leslie Publishing House, New York.

if TOT many years ago had this question been propounded to a
1^ circle of business men, the answer would have been
I 1 unanimous in the negative. Within our memory woman
had no place in the business world, and, indeed, seemed,
in the opinion of multitudes, to have no sphere of usefulness
outside of the kitchen, nursery, and society.

A woman's judgment upon financial matters began and ended
vvith her power of getting her money's worth out of the dry-
goods merchant, the market man, and the grocer; also, in a
good many cases, it was proved in her skill of abstracting
money on various sly pretexts from her husband's unwilling
pockets.

The husband, adopting the creed of his father, treated his
wife just as he did his children, supplying her wants liberally
if they seemed to him rational, and denying her wishes with
more or less good nature if they seemed to his superior wisdom
exaggerated.

After all, the principle is a sound one, that the money getter
should be the money keeper and dispenser; it is in the line of
justice, and that is the best law of the world in all matters
purely worldly, like money earning and money spending.

Perhaps a consciousness of this " eternal fitness " in the mat-
ter has been one of the great incentives to woman's wonderful
progress in these lines. Her wants have increased tenfold
since the days of our meek, domestic grandmothers, and have
far outrun any increased facility on the part of our natural pro-

r CHAPTER 68. ] 356

WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE BUSINESS WORLD.

tectors, and providers for meeting them. Women saw more
and more clearly that to live as they wished and expend as
they liked they must have money of their own, and not depend
upon the caprice or the capacity of some man's pocketbook.

Besides those who had the choice, there arose more and
more prominently into view that great class of w,omen unat-
tached to any man; or, if attached in the sentimental sense of
the word, unable to reap any practical or monetary advantages
from that attachment; these, too, must live, for even blighted
affections do not suffice in lieu of bread and butter.

"Men must work, and women must weep," sings the poet,
but unfortunately for woman, her need of weeping does not
preclude her need for work, and more and more does that
necessity become obvious and pressing.

Woman's first advance into the business world was timid
and tentative; she begged humbly to be allowed to do a man's
work for half a man's wages, and she received uncomplain-
ingly reproofs and sneers, and criticisms and impositions, that
few men would have offered to a felloe man, and few men
would have borne or remained under.

But public opinion, that most powerful of " governors " in
the great engine that runs our world in this country, began
first to murmur, and then to speak aloud, and at last to shout,
that this style of things was both ridiculous and unjust, and
therefore untenable. Public opinion announced that work
should be paid for, not by the sex of employee, but by the value
to the employer. If a woman puts on male attire, goes to a
counting-room and does the work of a man satisfactorily and
steadily, why as soon as her sex is discovered and she puts on
feminine garb is she to be cut down a third or a half from her
former wages? But an inborn prejudice is very hard to kill,
especially in the minds of those who profit by the perpetuity of
that prejudice, and all classes of employers, although not all
employers in any class, still persist in the mean discrimination
of sex in their payments for work equally well done by male
and female employees.

357

WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE BUSINESS WORLD.

A friend of my own, a woman of singularly fine and logical
intellect, wrote several articles for a magazine. The corre-
spondence was at first carried on under her initials, and the
publishers, supposing her to be a man, made liberal payment for
the two papers, at the same time requesting more. Another
paper of equal merit in every way was sent with the mention
that the writer was a woman. Payment was made in due
course, but of just two-thirds the amount paid for each of the
previous papers.

But woman's courage and perseverance already have con-
quered many obstacles to her success, and will in the end
conquer all. She has "come to stay" in the business world as
surely as in the world of home and of society, where her place
has always been conceded.

More than this, the timid employee, underpaid and slighted,
although the pioneer of the advancing army, no longer stands
alone or unsupported. Women of capital, of position, and of a
sublime faith in themselves and their ability, have come to the
front, and taken up their position as leaders and commanders.
The old sneer and smile have died off the lips of even con-
servative men, and few will now deny that woman is a power
to be considered not only in the world at large, but in the world
of business especially. And why not? Most women have
keener insight, quicker perceptions, readier resource, and more
fertile brains than most men. Women of the class likely to
undertake the lead in business are, as a rule, braver than men,
that is to say have more faith in themselves, and are less liable
to panic.

" Pretty bad times just now, but we shall come out all
right in the end," said a business woman to me the other day,
and, before the hour was out, a man gloomily remarked, "I see
nothing but ruin ahead, and, if it were not for the disgrace, I
would end it all to-night."

Perhaps at present this optimistic faculty in woman may
make her a little rash, a little headstrong in business
enterprises, but this is a fault which will mend itself with

358

WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE BUSINESS WORLD.

experience. Woman is quick to learn, and not too proud to
abandon a mistaken course as soon as she perceives her mis-
take; she is at once more daring and more cautious than man.
and hence one of her most important positions in the business
world, especially of the future; she can and she will open paths
on which men would never have ventured, but will stanchly
follow so soon as he is convinced of their safety.

A heavy fieldpiece is very effective when securely planted,
but the light cavalry are the guides who will test the ground
before the artillery ventures upon the possible morass.

Woman's place in business, do you ask? It is at man's side,
as in every other relation in life. Her mission is to bring her
delicate perceptions, her quick intuitions, her inherent con-
scientiousness, into the arena where they have been sadly
needed and often wanting. She can lead and she can follow
with equal facility; she will set herself and her sex upon a
vantage ground they have never yet occupied in this world's
history, and she will at once elevate and diversify the monot-
onous levels and unhealthy swamps of business ways and
walks.

Her place is like the place of the air everywhere, and of
vital need to everybody, diffusive, penetrative, universal; never
obtrusive, except when unjustly opposed, and then a power
which, although soft and intangible to the grasp, can overturn
the steam engine, which has always seemed to me a very type
of masculinity.

359

Literary and Professional Women.

MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE, Melrose, Mass.

F the women of the early century, in America, could have
looked down the years with prophetic vision, their lonely
and unsatisfied souls would have been amazed at the quan-
tity and quality of the literary work of the women of to-day.
For American women have attained a phenomenal prominence
in literature at the present time, and many of them stand in the
front rank as writers of ability. One of the most successful
magazine managers declares that " of the fifteen most success-
ful books published in the last two years, eleven were written
by women."

Miss Hannah Adams, born in Massachusetts, in 1755, was
the precursor and the pioneer of the literary woman of to-day.
From her "Autobiography," published in 1832, when she was
seventy-seven years old, we are made acquainted with the dif-
ficulties that hedged up her path to authorship, which were
even more serious than those surmounted by Harriet Martineau,
the foremost literary Englishwoman of the last century. In
addition to these, she believed so completely in the mental
inferiority of women, as announced by men at that time, that
she was almost broken down by an abject depreciation of her
sex. Her " History of New England," written in the stiff and
formal style of the day, is in many of the older libraries a book
which nearly cost her her eyesight, but which yielded her very
little in the way of pecuniary compensation.

After Miss Adams, and near the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury, came Miss Catharine Sedgwick, and Mrs. Lydia H. Sigour-
ney. The former wrote mild novels, illustrative of New England

[CHAPTEB69.1 360

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN.

life; the latter was a most prolific versifier, a writer of
sketches, of " Letters," of books of travel; fifty-seven in all,
preachy, flowery, garrulous, and sentimental. Both were
public favorites, and were widely read. Mrs. Sigourney was
called "the Mrs. Hemans of America," and both helped bring
in the larger education and the broader life now enjoyed by
women.

Lydia Maria Child was unlike either of them. She was
endowed with a decided genius for literature and art, but her
conscience compelled her to enter the anti-slavery reform at its
most unpopular stage, and just at the outset of her career, and
public favor was withdrawn from her. Her literary work was
of superior quality, and she wrote between thirty-five and forty
books and pamphlets through every one of which runs a high
moral purpose, as steadily as a trade wind blows.

The entrance of Margaret Fuller into the literary world
marked an epoch for woman. With a larger and more
thorough educational equipment than any of her predecessors,
she aspired to the loftiest ideals, and possessed inexhaustible
insight and unflinching moral courage. Her "Woman in the
Nineteenth Century" rang out like the blast of a bugle,
compelling attention and summoning women to strive for
something higher, holier, and better than anything they had
yet achieved or attempted. Its effect was immediate, and its
influence has extended to our day.

Then came Harriet Beecher Stowe, a genius, a member of a
rarely endowed family, who leaped at a bound to world-wide
popularity, through her famous anti-slavery novel, "Uncle
Tom's Cabin." It achieved a success in America and Europe
never before attained by any book, and it was written by a
woman. It entered the anti-slavery lists like an army with
banners. It silenced the sneers at " female writers," and gave
to women an impulse and a courage they have never lost, and
their tendency to literary study and work soon swelled into a
passion.

It is not possible, within the limits of this article, even to

361

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN.

paragraph worthily the leading literary women who have since
appeared. Rose Terry wrote faithful sketches of New England
life. Harriet Prescott fairly dazzled her readers with " The
Amber Gods," "Azarian," and other brilliant short stories.
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, with passionate out-going of the heart
towards women, wrote novels into which she artistically
wrought her pity for human pain, her longing for a nobler
social life, and her intense demand for justice. Mrs. A. D. T.
Whitney wrote sketches of early womanhood, which entranced
and stimulated her young readers to the lofty thinking that
lies behind noble doing. Louisa M. Alcott brought the whole
world of girlhood to her feet by " Little Women," and other
stories, published as fast as the steam-worked press could
throw them off. Frances Hodgson Burnett captivated the
readers of two worlds, as she wrote from both an English and
American standpoint. Constance Fenimore Woolson made us
acquainted with the social life and physical characteristics of
any section of our country where she chose to locate her
sketches. Helen Hunt uttered in"Ramona" her passionate
protest against a century of national wrong-doing and dis-
honor.

There is no space to speak of the brilliant writers who are
at the front to-day Margaret Deland, Miss Murfree, Sarah
Orne Jewett, Mary Hallock Foote, Amelia E. Barr, Agnes
Repplier, Lillie Chace Wyman, Octave Thanet, Olive Thome
Miller, Mary E. Wilkins, and others, each working distinc-
tively in a field of her own.

The great magazines, which publish much of the best
literature of the day, have been friendly to women writers
from the very first. " Five hundred women have contributed
articles to the Century Magazine from its organization under
the old name of 'Scribner.' Three hundred women have
contributed to Harper's Monthly, fifty-five to Scribner's Maga-
zine, two hundred to the Magazine of Poetry, and from seven
to eight hundred to the Ladies' Home Journal, in the nine
years of its existence. A year's number of that journal repre-

362

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN.

sents the work of about one hundred and forty women.
Twenty-two women have contributed to the Forum, and fully
two-thirds of the contributors to the New England Magazine
are women."

Some of the most successful editors of magazines are
women, Mrs. J. C. Croly, Mrs. Frank Leslie, Mrs. Mary Mapes
Dodge, Mrs. Ella Farnum Pratt, and the late Mrs. Martha J.
Lamb, editor of the Magazine of History, established by her-
self, being prominent examples. The women editors, and
associate editors of journals and newspapers, as also the
women journalists of the day are too many to catalogue.

The development of women as poets has kept pace during
the last half century, with their evolution as writers of fiction,
and a steady gain is perceptible all along the years. Their
verses vary as do their novels, in style and excellence. Mr. R. H.
Stoddard tells us that "there is more force and originality
in other words, more genius in the living women poets of
America than in all their predecessors. There is a wider range
of thought in their verse, and infinitely more art."

Among the women poets of the first half century were Mrs.
Frances Sargent Osgood, whose verse was extremely graceful,
if somewhat fanciful; the sisters Alice and Phoebe Gary, who
sang as the bird sings,

" that, lighting on a twig,

Feels it give way beneath her, and yet sings,
Knowing that she hath wings I "

Mrs. Anne Lynch Botta, the morale of whose song was always
elevating, and whose thought was deeper and more profound
than that of many of her contemporaries; Miss Lucy Larcom,
the friend of Whittier, whose early themes were pastoral and
domestic, but who, with increasing years, soared to the loftiest
heights of aspiration and trust; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who,
richly endowed with a rare gift of poesy, has achieved earthly
immortality with her ''Battle Hymn of the Republic/' which
breathes the most fervent patriotism.

Many of the sonnets of Mrs. Helen Hunt are worthy of a

363

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN.

place beside the best written by Mrs. E. B. Browning. Mrs.
Celia Thaxter sings of the sea, and you taste the salt spray, and
hear the roar of the waters in a storm, or the rush of the waves
up the beach, as you read her poems. Edith M. Thomas
delights her readers with the perfect finish of her work, and
the subtle beauty that pervades her verses. Louise Chandler
Moulton, who is best pleased with minor music, writes exqui-
sitely, if mournfully, of the pathetic sadness that runs through
human life, like a warp of black in a woof of white. Others
there are, a goodly company of them, like Mrs. James T.
Fields, Mrs. Piatt, Edna Dean Proctor, Louise Imogen
Guiney, and others for whose names we lack space, who are
elevating the general tone of American literature by their per-
ception of the fine details of life and nature, and by visions of
beauty which everywhere meet them, which are woven into
unaffected and inspiring songs.

The advancement of women in professional life has been
less rapid and pronounced than in literature. It was not till
the middle of the century, 1849, ( that a woman was allowed
instruction and graduation from a medical college, and not till
1850, that the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania was
founded. Men physicians and medical schools stoutly opposed
the training of women for medical practice, and also their
admission to the profession, even when duly qualified. Never-
theless women were so deeply in earnest for medical instruc-
tion, that, in 1859, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman
who received a diploma from a medical school, and entered the
profession, estimated "that about three hundred women had
managed to graduate somewhere in medicine." But their
instruction was entirely inadequate.

It was absolutely necessary that medical schools should be
founded for the education of women, and hospitals established
for their clinical training, conducted by women. To this work
they bent their energies, and in about a quarter of a century
they have established six such hospitals, and founded four
women's medical colleges. In the West many medical schools

364

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN.

of the highest standing have been opened to them, which are
largely co-educational. Then came the struggle on the part of
women physicians to obtain official recognition in the profes-
sion. It was a prolonged and acrimonious crusade against
intolerance and medical bigotry. In 1872, Dr. Mary Putnam,
of New York, returned from France with a medical diploma
from the Paris Ecole de Medecine, the first ever granted to an
American woman. She was speedily admitted to the Medical
Society of New York without discussion and the question of
the " official recognition" of women physicians was settled.

More than twenty women are now serving as physicians in
insane asylums. The census of 1880 records about 2,500 women
practitioners in the United States. In the census for 1890, this
number will certainly be much increased. ' ' What women have
learned in medicine," says Dr. Mary Putnam-Jacobi, " they have
in the main taught themselves. And it is fair to claim that,
when they have taught themselves so much, when they have
secured the confidence of so many thousand sick persons, in
spite of all opposition ; when such numbers have been able to
establish reputable and lucrative practice, to do all this shows
an unexpected amount of ability and medical fitness on the part
of women."

The struggle of women to obtain legal instruction, and
admission to the profession of law, has been equally tedious and
bitter. The common law of England becoming the law of
America, its women have been regarded as ineligible to admis-
sion to the bar, until within the last quarter of a century.
There was one exception. This was the case of Margaret Brent
of Maryland, the kinswoman of the first governor, Leonard
Calvert, who died in 1647 S leaving Mistress Brent as his sole
executrix, and as his successor as attorney for the second Lord
Baltimore. The records show that "she not only frequently
appeared in court as his lordship's attorney, but also as attorney
for her brother, Captain Giles Brent, prosecuting and defending
causes for him. Also as executrix of Leonard Calvert's estate,
and in regard to her personal affairs, nor is there any record

365

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN.

of any objection being made to her practicing as attorney on
account of her sex."

The first woman since those days to ask for and obtain admis-
sion to the bar of this country, was Mrs. Arabella A. Mansfield
of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1869. Her husband was admitted
at the same time.

Mrs. Myra Bradwell of Chicago, who had studied law under
the instruction of her husband, Judge J. B. Bradwell, was the
next to apply for license to practice law. But the Supreme Court
of Illinois, in 1869, refused her application, on the ground that she
was a woman. She carried her case to the Surpeme Court of the
United States, but, in 1873, it affirmed the judgment of the state
court. Mrs. Bradwell never renewed her application for a
license, although the Legislature of Illinois enacted that "No
person shall be precluded or debarred from any occupation, pro-
fession, or employment (except military), on account of sex."
She founded the Chicago Legal Neius, which she edited, and in
1890 the Supreme Court of Illinois, on its own motion, granted to
Mrs. Bradwell " a license as an attorney and counselor at law."

The next court case was that of Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, of
Washington, D. C., who graduated from the law school of the
National University in 1873, and was admitted to practice in
the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. She sought
admission to the Court of Claims, with a client, and also to the
Supreme Court of the United States, and was denied admission
to both. She immediately took steps to secure the passage of a
statute by Congress, which would give her admission to these
courts, drafting the bill herself, and in two years had the satis-
faction of seeing it enacted, and of obtaining admission to the
courts that had refused her. Since then ten other women law-
yers have been admitted to practice in the highest court of the
land.

Thus, step by step, women have made their way into the
legal profession, and one by one, the law schools have been
opened to them. The number of women lawyers in the country
is estimated at one hundred and fifty. In different parts of the

360

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL, WOMEN.

country, women have acted as "police judges, justices of the
peace, grand and petit jurors, federal and state court clerks and
deputy clerks, official stenographers and reporters for federal
and state courts, special examiners or referees, court appraisers,
court record writers, notaries public, legislative clerks, deputy
constables, examiners in chancery, and examiners of applicants
for admission to the bar, and state and federal court commis-
sioners, when many cases have been tried before them."

The admission of women to the theological schools and to
the ministry is still hotly contested, and they have made less
advance in this profession than in the others. In the West, the
theological schools of the Unitarian and Universalist denomi-
nations admit women, and grant them ordination when they
graduate.

The theological school of St. Lawrence University, Canton,
N. Y., is open to women, and has graduated many. Its first
woman graduate was Rev. Olympia Brown Willis, who was
previously graduated from Mt. Holyoke Seminary, and from
Antioch College, in the days when Horace Mann was presi-
dent. Mrs. Willis was the second woman minister in the United
States.

The Methodist denomination admits women to its theological
schools, but denies them ordination. The Quakers, or " Friends,"
as they prefer to be called, have always given women equal
freedom to preach with men. There are about three hundred
and fifty women preachers among the Friends at the present
time, in our country. The Free-will Baptists also admit women
to the ministry. There are indications that the orthodox Con-
gregationalists are moving towards the admission of women to
the clerical ranks. More than forty years ago, Rev. Antoinette
Brown, a graduate of Oberlin, was ordained to Congregationalist
ministry, by a council called for that purpose. Rev. Louise L.
Baker, of Nantucket, Mass., was ordained by the deacons of her
church, two of the four deacons being women. Later, Rev.
Mary Moreland, of Illinois, and Rev. Amelia A. Frost, of Mas-
sachusetts, have been ordained and installed by a ministerial

367

LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN.

council, according to the established usages of the Congrega-
tionalist church.

Rev. Augusta J. Chapin, now of Omaha, Neb., who was
associated with Rev. Dr. Barrows in the management of the
" Parliament of Religions," which was held in Chicago during
the World's Fair, is the only woman minister of America who
has received the degree of D.D. It was worthily bestowed. A
graduate of a Michigan college, she was ordained to the minis-
try of the Universalist church more than thirty years ago, has
been a settled minister ever since, receiving meanwhile, for
work done, the degrees of A.M., Ph.D., and now of D.D. About
fifty women have been ordained in the Universalist church, and
twenty more or less in the Unitarian church.

Women have an especial fitness for the work of the ministry
and the call for their service is most pressing. They constitute
three-fifths of the membership of the Christian church to-day,
and occupy many pulpits as lay preachers, or evangelists, where
they are welcomed by resident pastors. The world has already
lost much by the enforced exclusion of women from the work of
the church, and it is beginning to comprehend this and to demand
that they shall, in the clerical profession, as in others, be given
an equal chance with men.

368

True Value of Character.

PROF. FRANK SMALLEY, PH.D., Syracuse University, New York.

' F we were required to name four men who should represent
both ancient and modern times and different nationalities,
men whose lives and character are now a part of the history
and heritage of the race, whom could we name that would better
fulfill these conditions, and at the same time illustrate the theme
of this chapter, than Lincoln and Gladstone, Seneca, the Roman
philosopher, and Solon, the Athenian legislator ? Mr. Glad-
stone's ability as a wise statesman may be passed over, and he
may stand here as a type of intellectual brilliancy. No person
who is acquainted with the writings of the great premier, and
has read his speeches, will question the estimate that classes
him among the greatest intellects of his generation. This will
indeed contribute to his fame, but can anyone doubt that it is
an insignificant factor in comparison with the spotless character
that will be a potent inspiration to young men to the end of
time?

Seneca, philosopher, also tutor and counselor of Nero in the
early and only honorable part of the reign of that prince, was
one of the wealthiest men of his day. He, too, was a man of
large intellect, and, being imbued with the elevated sentiments
of the Stoic morality, he has embodied many of these in perma-
nent literary form. Seneca, however, is not remembered for
his wealth, but for the high ideal of character manifest in his
literary productions, and exemplified in his life. The former
was an incident, and so considered by him ; the latter has
immortalized him. Abraham Lincoln is a type of the noblest

[ CHAPTER 70.] 369 24

TRUE VALUE OP CHARACTER.

manhood in the highest station attainable to man. In him is
conspicuously apparent the compatibility of political supremacy
with the most unimpeachable integrity. Lincoln accomplished
a great work. He was a man of wonderfully clear vision, of
the highest qualities of statesmanship, of great wisdom in plan
and action. But is it chiefly because of that work and of these
qualities that he will always be held in affectionate remem-
brance by this nation ? No. It is because he was " honest old
Abe," and was always actuated by motives of the highest honor,
that his memory will be a blessing, and a benediction to
posterity.

The Roman poet may lament in his plaint that men thrive
by crime while integrity shivers with cold and goes hungry, but,
if his philosophy would but penetrate a little more deeply, he
might find a solution of his difficulty like that found by the
Hebrew poet when, in similar strain, he avers and deprecates
the prosperity of the ungodly. Nor need we go so far as he, to
consider the end of man; for a true estimate of the popular
respect for honor and truth will convince one that it is not yet
time to despair of the human race. Down in his heart every
man admires honesty and candor and condemns guile and insin-
cerity. The popular notion of the sterling honesty of a certain
man prominent to-day in public life is a more effective cause of
his advancement than all the arts of the politicians, and has
once and again baffled the efforts of wily opponents in his own
party to keep him in obscurity. It pays even to have a reputa-
tion for honor, but it pays far better to have the article itself,
for in the end men generally find their true level. " Honesty
is the best policy."

Six hundred years before the Christian era, lived and labored
Solon, the wise and popular lawgiver of Greece. His popularity
was not that of a temporizing demagogue. It rested on the con-
siderate judgment of the better classes which silenced selfish
dissatisfaction, and it became so great that his fellow citizens
willingly took an oath to abide by his laws ; so much did they
confide in his wisdom and motives. But his real greatness did

370

TRUE VALUE OF CHARACTER.

not appear so clearly when he was basking in the sun of popular
favor, as when, in old age, he staked his life on his character
in opposing the arts of a tyrant, then incipient, later fully
developed. His constancy, courage, and patriotism neither
favor could enhance, nor tyranny abate.

Four men have now passed in review, men noted respectively
for great talent, large wealth, high position, and public favor.
It is clear that it was not this distinction that was the cause of
their renown, but something beneath it all without which all
these would have been of trifling value. It was in fact the
talent of character, the wealth, elevation, and stability of char-
acter, whose natural effect has been to render these names
illustrious and enshrine them in the hearts of men.

An idea of the proper estimate of character is thus obtained.
It may be said to be measured by candor and honor, integrity
and conscientious devotion to duty, and it may be defined as
the one thing about us that abides ; as personal identity ; who
we are, as well as what we are ; the moral status, and of much
greater importance than the social status, a talented mind, or a
gifted person.

Character is a coin that passes current and at par value in
all countries. It is like a gold monetary standard whose value
is universally recognized. Posterity estimates men not so much
by what they did as by what they were. It honors and reveres
those who, under severe strain, have maintained their integrity,
whose devotion to principle is their legacy to man, and their
highest claim to perpetuity of fame. It holds in lasting con-
tempt those who have betrayed their country, have taken the
bribe, or have resorted to unscrupulous methods for party or
personal advantage; in a word, men devoid of principle.

It must not be inferred from what has been said, that wealth,
talent, and popular regard are not desirable. They are indeed
desirable, and are often of great service, but they are of sec-
ondary importance. The ancient Stoics made a distinction of
relative values that is worthy of a modern philosophy. Their
conception of virtue quite coincides with the estimate of char-

371

TRUE VALUE OP CHARACTER.

acter herein presented. As its elements they named justice,
temperance, courage, and prudence, whose union in the same
individual constitutes the sage the type of perfect charac-
ter. Wealth and power, beauty and health, popularity and
fame, can neither add to manhood nor detract from it, and
were therefore esteemed as matters of indifference. This is a
philosophic distinction that accords with a common sense dis-
tinction, although one need not go the whole length with the
Stoics and claim absolute perfection for the man of honor and
of character.

But let the mind return from these reflections to a further
brief study of the men whose names have been mentioned.
Was it easy and natural for them to be what they were? Were
they subject to no temptations? Did it cost no struggle to
incorporate into their lives that which shall abide, and which
constitutes them models of integrity and true manhood? We
are very prone to idealize our heroes and to forget that they
were human like ourselves, and subject to like passions. The
world is full of men of the grandest endowments who fail
because they lack the needful character. Were it not for this,
many of them in due time would take their places in our list of
heroes.

To answer the questions proposed above, it must be affirmed
that temptations are peculiarly severe to those who in some
respects excel their fellows. It is a shrewd saying of one of the
seven wise men of Greece that " the possession of power will
bring out the man "; and power here may have a broad appli-
cation. For a brief illustration, take first its most obvious
application. Nero was a wise ruler for five years ; Domitian
was a model emperor for a brief period after his accession ;
Caligula gave promise of bringing great relief to a people
oppressed by the morose tyranny of his predecessor. But in
each case the consciousness of almost unrestricted power and of
full opportunity, without the conserving grace of high motive and
patriotic purpose, resulted in a rapid downward career and ulti-
mate ruin. High station demands peculiar stability of character.

372

TRUE VALUE OF CHARACTER.

But to make a broader application of the aphorism of the
sage quoted above, and to make still clearer the true value of
character from historical illustration, set opposite the names of
the four men who were proposed as its worthy exponents, those
of other men similarly gifted or favored, but of quite different
character. And it might add interest to the contrast, and render
clearer the lesson of the illustration, if, antithetic to each, another
of the same nationality were named. Who could then be more
fittingly selected than Bacon the Englishman, for intellectual
brilliancy, Crassus the Roman, for affluence, Aaron Burr the
American, for high station, and Themistocles the Athenian, for
popular favor ?

Why does not the talented Bacon shine by the side of the
"grand old man" of these later days ? Why must he forever
occupy a lower pedestal ? The answer may be found in the his-
torical stamp that he bears and must ever bear. The charac-
terization of Pope that is inseparably connected with his name
will bear evidence to the latest generation of the fatal defect in
his character.

" If parts allure thee, see how Bacon shined,
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind."

Would any discreet young man ask for the nobility of Bacon's
intellect if it must be accompanied with the curse of his char-
acter ? If wealth constituted character as it does create social
respectability, the Roman Dives and usurer would rank with
the philosopher Seneca, and a nearly contemporaneous barber
would outrank even him. But the wisdom and stability of the
Roman sage, the beauty and moral elevation of whose senti-
ments are worthy to be compared with the precepts of the great
letter writer of the New Testament, give him unquestioned
claim to an honorable immortality, while the vulgar triumvir is
remembered only for his money, his joint usurpation of power,
and his unsuccessful generalship.

If character were estimated by political preferment, Aaron
Burr would rank next to the highest, whereas such good quali-
ties as he did possess are powerless to save him from perpetual

373

TRUE VALUE OF CHARACTER.

dishonor, and are easily forgotten in disgust at his baseness. If
popular favor were the patent of this true nobility, Themistocles,
immediately after the battle of Salamis, would be a famous
exponent, but instability and insincerity wrought his ruin in
disgraceful but merited exile. Who would venture now to
name him in the same breath with his fellow countryman Solon,
or Burr with Lincoln, Crassus with Seneca, Bacon with Glad-
stone ? And the reason for this just verdict of the popular jury
is clearly manifest.

The tests of prosperity are perhaps even more severe than
those of adversity. Both are valuable ; both operate to effect an
equitable adjustment, howsoever fortuitous circumstances may
have misplaced men in the shaking of the lots. The assurance,
however, is gratifying, that although genius may be the gift of
the favored, integrity is never exclusive and is denied to none,
and while few acquire wealth or attain distinction, a spotless
character more royal than any endowment or distinction is
the privilege of all.

374

Reputation is not Character.

PROF. N. L. ANDREWS, LL.D., Dean of Colgate University.

1 THAT is reputation? Etymology answers that it is an esti-
lAl mate, a repeated and so an established judgment. As

^ computation gives arithmetical values, so reputation is
an estimate of human values.

The word character is even more luminous in suggestion.
It signified first a graving-tool for marking upon stone or metal.
Next it was a mark thus made, then a symbolic or alphabetic
sign, and again some distinguishing feature of an object. Most
naturally, then, it has come to denote that combination of quali-
ties and traits, both intellectual and moral, which marks a per-
sonality. Who has impressed them upon us? First of all, our
ancestors. No one may deny the effect of heredity. There is
a race-character, and a family-character. "If you wish to
reform a' man, begin with his grandfather." Environment,
also, is potent. By conduct, by speech, even by look or by ges-
ture, the people with whom we associate impress us contin-
ually. But let us not exaggerate these hereditary and external
forces. The sharpest graving-tool, most constantly in use, most
efficient to form character, is in our own hands.

What is attributed to us makes our reputation; what we
are, constitutes our character. Is not the latter obviously more
important? Yet reputation has more votaries. Witness on
every hand the straining to gain public attention and to make a
name. But men cannot escape the world's daily testings. On
some wall or other is ever appearing the handwriting, "Thou
art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." Many
are the true and good, who often, without public notice, endure
.] 375

REPUTATION IS NOT CHARACTER.

life's tests. But how frequently in public relations, in business,
and in society, reputations fall like trees before the blast.
Usually character failed long before. The stock of the tree
was decayed within. Any moral standing, and any estimation
for ability, untrue to fact, are disappointing.

Let us suppose that one's character is overrated. An adven-
titious reputation, due to happy accident, or the favor of unwise
friends, is singularly insecure. Socrates illustrated this by sup-
posing an incompetent man desirous to be reputed a flute
player. He purchases a beautiful instrument, and procures
persons to praise his skill. But what a calamity befalls him if
a good judge of such music invites him to play! His only
safety, and that a ridiculous one, is in declining. And if one
has not the kind of ability that answers to his reputation, his
capacity in any other line is likely to be distrusted, and so an
overrated man may become underrated.

A thoughtful preacher once said to some college students,
"What belongs to a man will come to him." Most of them
challenged the proposition, but not a few have lived to see in it
a large measure of truth. Given rightly directed effort, and
good work is sure of recognition. Without effort, nothing
belongs to us. Marked efficiency in any line needs no self-
blown trumpet* to proclaim it. Successful men have earned
success. If a great business passes to a second generation
without the training which adapts them to maintain it, pros-
perity is rarely continued. Our only safe rule of self-judgment,
with all allowance for exceptions, is that men get what is due
them. It is a sorry sight when one is found complaining that
he is not appreciated. The trouble probably is that he is not
taken at his own estimate, but measured at his real value. In
fact, he is appreciated. Let us leave it to an lago to say that
"reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got with-
out merit, and lost without deserving." Believe rather that
the estimate of our fellows is usually just.

Reputation has undue emphasis ever as the reward of virtue.
Plato marvelously portrays two opposite characters, the one

376

REPUTATION IS NOT CHARACTER.

completely just, and the other completely unjust, but each
esteemed the contrary, and so receiving rewards exactly trans-
posed. Which would one rather be? He insists that the good
man thus misjudged is better off than the bad man enjoying
the social advantages of a supposed virtue. His goodness is an
internal harmony, preferable to every external benefit. Surely
the consciousness of moral integrity is a fountain of abiding
self-respect. Fortunately for human weakness, actual life does
not apply a test so severe. Misconception and passion may
inflict temporary loss of popularity, but, in the end, reputation
vindicates character. Not desire for a great name, but self-
respect, fidelity to principle, and loyalty to duty most need cul-
tivation. A gentleman giving his idea of dress said that he
would have the best goods nearest his person; that if any must
be coarser and cheaper, it should be his outer garments. So
self-respect, and the respect of those nearest to us, should stand
first. A reputation in keeping with these is an added but sec-
ondary good. The thing of prime consequence is what a man
is to himself, for he cannot escape his own company.

Moral worth will pretty surely be made manifest, and repu-
tation correspond some day to character. Not simply in a
future life, but usually in this, "There is nothing covered that
shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known." In
such disclosures that startle society, how painful the contrast
between what men have seemed to be and what it is now found
they are! Those who have been nearest to them are not always
so much surprised, for some slight indication of real char-
acter has already impaired confidence. Morally sound men
and women of experience often feel the character of others in
subtle, indefinable ways. Quite commonly it impresses its un-
mistakable marks upon the countenance.

The wise man will desire the reputation which comes with-
out the seeking. Let the methods of architects instruct us.
The old-time builder was likely to decide the exterior form of a
house, and then to divide the space within as conveniently as
this general shape permitted. The architect of to-day sits

377

. REPUTATION IS NOT CHARACTER.

down with the family for whom the house is to be built, and
studies internal convenience and comfort. This done, he con-
forms the exterior of the house to its inner plan. Such is the
true relation of character and reputation. We have seen chil-
dren blowing soap-bubbles, and have noticed how likely they
are to collapse, if one blows too hard. Apart from reality, ' ' the
bubble reputation " is unsubstantial and transient. The man
of genius, ability, honest attainments, and sterling character
need not concern himself about his name. He will be content
to think with old Richard Bentley that " no man was ever
written out of reputation but by himself."

378

Brokien Promises.

PROF. JOSEPH H. CHICKERING, A.M., University of Vermont, Burlington.

* M . THAT accounts," said one wise man to another, " for the

lAj lack of integrity in the social, political, and business

^ life of our time? " " The failure," was the reply,

"rightly to estimate the value of one's word; the popular belief

that people do not mean what they say, or only half mean it.

If anything is worse," he added, "than the way in which

promises are broken, it is the way in which they are made,

obligations being readily assumed by those who must know

they can never discharge them."

This conversation set me to thinking on the causes which had
brought about this condition of affairs. In thought, I followed
the child from his earliest education in the home and the school
to his entrance upon the active duties of life. I seemed to hear
the parent threatening a punishment that is never inflicted;
the teacher promising a reward that is never bestowed; the
employer holding out a hope of advancement that is never real-
ized. And then I saw how the child, putting upon a promise
the same value that he sees his superiors put upon it, is soon
copying their example. " I will surely," he says, " be back by
five o'clock; " " I will, without fail, learn my lesson for to-mor-
row; " " I will not leave the office until it has been thoroughly
swept." Promises thus readily made are as readily broken.
The next step, from matters of little to those of large impor-
tance, is a very easy one. The young man borrows money, en-
gaging to pay it at a certain time; the promise is forgotten, and
the day passes by. He pledges himself to provide for a destitute
family; something takes his attention, and the needy are neg-

[CHAPTKB72.J 379

BROKEN PROMISES.

lected. He makes a marriage engagement very hastily and
inconsiderately, sees some one else he likes better, and throws
his promise to the winds. The process of moral decay is a sim-
ple one. The man is not overpowered in a moment by a sudden
temptation; the habit has grown with his years, until it has
become a part of his very being. No obligation now has bind-
ing authority. He breaks faith with himself, with his fellow
men, with his Maker for he takes upon himself the most sol-
emn vows one can take, with little idea of their real meaning
and little conception of the sin of violating them.

I have not, I am sure, drawn a fancy picture; I have simply
set forth a state of affairs that is causing the deepest anxiety to
all lovers of their kind, to those and, thank God, they are
many to whom loyalty to their assumed or implied obligations
to the family, to society, and to the church, is a matter, not of
convenience, but of principle and duty.

If, now, it be asked, what is the remedy, at least two distinct
answers present themselves. The first concerns itself with
the individual, with you and with me. Suppose every man,
woman, and child, whose eye meets these lines should take as
his motto that adopted by a business man of large experience
and success: "Make few promises, but keep those you have
made, at all hazards." What a difference it would make in the
relations of parent and child, of teacher and scholar, of master
and servant. The merchant would no longer be in doubt
whether the note would be paid the day it was due; the judge
would not fear that the jury would return any but a true and
righteous verdict; the clergyman would not wonder whether
his church members would fulfill the solemn obligations they
had assumed. The dawn of a new day of confidence and hope
would surely be near.

The second remedy, and the only other one I shall mention,
will be found in holding up and emphasizing, in all possible
ways, illustrious examples of the virtue in question. Leonidas
and his three hundred at the pass, Horatius and his companions
at the bridge, Casabianca alone on the deck, are figures as inter-

380

BROKEN PROMISES.

esting as familiar, and will never be outgrown or forgotten..
But we need not go back to ancient days, or fly to foreign
shores; our own time and our own country furnish them in
abundance. Where can we find a better example, in political
life, of loyal devotion than in Charles Sunnier, who, having
once espoused the cause of the slave, never deserted it to the
end of his long and arduous life, bearing obloquy, misrepresen-
tation, even personal violence, without a murmur of regret. In
a less conspicuous position, whose record is brighter than that
of John B. Gough, the apostle of temperance, who, having taken
the pledge, fought a long, unwearying struggle against the
power of this habit in himself, and died with words of good
counsel on his lips? In military life, who has a better title to
fame than the great leader in our civil war, who declaring that
he would " fight it out on that line, if it took all summer," kept
his promise and saved his country?

But there are examples nearer home. Many a neighbor-
hood, many a family, has its own hero, unknown to fame, but
with record on high. Let me tell you of one.

In the study of a friend there hangs, just over his desk,
a pen-and-ink sketch that has always excited my interest.
Only lately has he told me the story. The picture represents a
boy, perhaps a dozen years old, struggling in the midst of a
swollen torrent, to reach the opposite shore. The result of his
effort seems doubtful, and the words underneath, "Faithful
unto death," increase our apprehensions. It seems that, many
years ago, my friend, then a young man, was lying sick with a
fever. His condition was critical. The doctor needed to be
with him every moment; but there were too many sick in the
village to make this possible. A distant relative of my friend,
a lad of thirteen, was staying in the house, and, as the physician
left to make another visit, he called the boy to him and said,
"If at midnight there seems any change in Harry's condition, I
shall expect you to let me know. I shall be at my office by that
hour, and, if there is need, I will return here at once. Can I
depend upon you for this service?" "Yes, sir, you can," was

381

BROKEN PROMISES.

the simple reply. Midnight came, and the need was urgent.
The boy ran a few rods down the road, only to find that the
bridge, at the other end of which stood the doctor's house, was
gone. In its place, an angry flood was sweeping everything
before it. But he did not hesitate; he was sturdy and strong,
and the life of another was hanging in the balance. Plung-
ing in, he battled long and manfully to reach the other side.
At last he gained the bank. The doctor was summoned, and,
by help of a bridge half a mile down the stream, crossed
in safety, and, in all probability, saved the life of my friend.
But alas for the boy, so brave and devoted! The exposure was
too severe, -and he survived it but a few months. He had kept
his word, he had saved the life of another at the cost of his own.
He had fought and overcome. In that family, his name is a
household word, held in lasting remembrance, an inspiration to
lofty deeds and self-sacrificing devotion.

It may not be ours to render any such service, to attain any
such distinction; but we may each, in his own place, however
humble that may be, do something to make social intercourse
truer and better, something to make faithlessness appear in its
genuine deformity, something to deserve the blessing promised
to him that " sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not."

382

The Beauties of Simplicity.

REV. CARTER JAY GREENWOOD, A.M., Iowa Falls, Iowa.

EAUTY and simplicity are not incongruous terms. The
most beautiful things are not necessarily complex; neither
does it follow that ugliness should accompany simplicity.
An apple blossom is a simple flower, and yet it is beauti-
ful in design and color. And, as Beecher says, "An apple tree
puts to shame all the men and women that have attempted to
dress since the world began." Solomon " in all his glory " was
outrivaled by a common lily of the field. And yet, the lily in
its modesty and artlessness is the very personification of sim-
plicity. Nature has a fashion of constructing the most beauti-
ful things from the simplest elements. She gathers up refuse
animal and vegetable matter and it comes forth reanimated in
other forms of life. Out of the calcareous rocks that the builders
have rejected she rears domed cathedrals frosted with stalac-
tites and paved with stalagmites. From swamp and stagnant
pool she snatches the liquid putrefaction, and distills it into
crystal dewdrops. Into her wonder-working looms she thrusts
her old and worn-out garments, and, behold, there come forth
new fabrics of finest texture and softest colors. With deft
fingers and the most consummate skill and tact she blends,
softens, subdues, and harmonizes, everywhere avoiding glare
and gaudiness. From snow-capped mountain to dew-decked
violet, Nature has emphasized the fact that beauty of the high-
est order is the child of simplicity.

As Nature is the expression of God's thoughts, so Art is the
expression of the thoughts of man. The more closely Art pat-
terns after Nature in simplicity of design, the more beautiful
will be her creations. Nature abhors affectation. When Cicero

[CHAPTKB 73.J 383

THE BEAUTIES OF SIMPLICITY.

inquired of the oracle at Delphi what course of study he should
pursue, the answer was, " Follow Nature." We should all do
well to take the advice of the oracle. Our actions are the most
beautiful, not when the most eccentric, but when the most
natural. " We are never rendered so ridiculous by qualities
which we have, as by those which we aim at," says the French
proverb. If we would acquire beauty of style in speech and
composition we should use simple language. The hymns, " My
Country, 'tis of Thee," "Home, Sweet Home," and 'Nearer, My
God, to Thee," are very simple in musical construction, but the
beauty of these old-time melodies thrills us when we weary of
the classics by the great masters. As models for constant
study and contemplation, one prefers the less obtrusive tints of
Titian to the glaring colors of Rubens. The most beautiful
queens of earth ihave not figured in courts and palaces. The
Man of Nazareth the most beautiful character in human
history was simplicity par excellence.

It might be a wise provision to establish in every educational
institution a chair for cultivating the beauties of simplicity.
We should seek to be adorned with those graces imparted by
culture rather than by the clothes made by the tailor. It was a
magnanimous act on the part of that wealthy girl graduate who
induced her companions to join with her in appearing on the
platform clad in plain calico gowns in order to place a poor
classmate on an equality with themselves. If the college gown
is a means by which the beauty of simplicity is sacrificed for
show, then it should be abolished. In line with this suggestion
Beecher furnishes these pertinent words: "A tallow candle
does not become wax by being put in a golden candlestick. If
there is no difference between you and other people, except that
you wear drab and they wear broadcloth, then there is no dif-
ference." Strive not only to be simply beautiful in every word
and act, but endeavor to be beautifully simple, which is the
most difficult art.

384

The Value of Pleasing Manners.

WILLIAM C. KING, Springfield, Mass.

*7T. PERSON'S manners generally indicate his character.
y\ They are an index of his tastes, his feelings, his temper,
* 1 and reveal the kind of company he has been accus-
tomed to keep.

There is a kind of conventional manner, a superficial veneer,
a " society cloak," used by some people on special occasions
which is of but little importance, of no practical value, and as
transparent as it is worthless.

Artificial politeness is an attempt to deceive, an effort to
make others believe that we are what we are not; while true
politeness is the outward expression of the natural character,
the external signs of the internal being. Thus a beautiful
character reflects a beautiful manner.

There is a vast difference between "society customs "and
genuine good manners. The former is a bold but fruitless
attempt to counterfeit a noble virtue, while the latter is the
natural expression of a heart filled with honest intentions.

True politeness must be born of sincerity. It must be the
response of the heart, otherwise it makes no lasting impression,
for no amount of " posture" and "surface polish" can be sub-
stituted for honesty and truthfulness.

The genius of man may for a time hide many defects, but
the natural character cannot long be hidden from view; the
real individual is bound sooner or later to come to the surface,
revealing his irnperfections, natural tendencies, and personal
characteristics.

Good manners are developed through a spirit imbued with

[CHAPTEK 74.] 385 26

THE VALUE OF PLEASING MANNERS.

unselfishness, kindness, justness, and generosity. A person
possessed of these qualities will be found gentle and polite.
Good manners should be essential factors in our education, and
cannot be too strongly emphasized when we realize that they
are but the outward expression of inward virtues, and like the
hands of a watch indicate that the machinery within is perfect
and true. A noble and winning daily bearing is the outgrowth
of goodness, sincerity, and refinement, and is the fruit of a
practical application of the golden rule, the crowning perfec-
tion of a noble character.

Among the qualities which contribute to worldly success,
true politeness takes first rank. It is said of A. T. Stewart, the
merchant prince of New York, that he owed his success largely
to his genial bearing and graceful manners.

History is crowded with examples illustrating that in litera-
ture it is the delicate, indefinable charm of style, more than
thought, that immortalizes the work. So in the business world
it is the bearing of a man towards his fellow men, that often,
more than any other circumstance, promotes or obstructs his
advancement and success in life.

The address and manner of a man generally determine his
success or failure. How often we are compelled to do business
with a person whose very presence is repulsive; he appears to
be utterly void of noble, manly qualities, while, on the other
hand, we come into contact with those whose personality is like
the pleasant rays of a June sun, warming and gentle.

The friendship of a man of genial character is courted and
sought, while the one who is cold and gruff is shunned or his
presence endured no longer than is absolutely necessary. We
are all creatures of conditions and circumstances, and depend-
ent more or less upon each other in all the walks of life.

In this day and age, under the brisk competition for patron-
age in every department of human activity, the expression of
the nobler qualities of mind and heart counts much for capital
in trade.

The person whose heart and life are right will exhibit those

386

THE VALUE OP PLEASING MANNERS.

manly, winning qualities so universally admired, and will
secure the cordial approbation, the general good will, and
hearty support of friend and stranger. There is no field of labor
where good manners are out of place, no condition of even
a depraved nature which is not influenced more or less by the
exercise of a kind heart and genial air. Even the brute recog-
nizes and shows an appreciation of kindness. These qualities of
mind and heart, cultivated and woven into the fabric from daily
life, will yield a harvest of rich fruitage.

Pleasing manners constitute one of the golden keys which
turn the bolts of the door leading to success and happiness.

The great motive power of our conduct is the heart; it is
the fountain head of all action. This truth is illustrated by
the calm words of Sir Walter Raleigh, as he was led to the
block and the executioner was trying to adjust his head to a
comfortable position: " 'Tis more important that my heart be
right than my head." The heart is the great reservoir from
whence flow the issues of life. When the heart is right the life
will be right, and success in all of its completeness will be the
fruit.

387

The Worth of Modesty.

REV. G. R. HEWITT, B.D.

NOTHING is more worthy of cultivation than simple and
unpretending manners. Hardly anything else is so
attractive. Modest behavior wins friends, while pompos-
ity and pretension drive them off. Modesty is not a
weakness, though many young men seem to think so. On the
contrary, it is perfectly compatible with strength, and as a mat-
ter of fact is generally found in men of uncommon ability and
force of character.

Modesty is not self-disparagement, but rather the appraising
ourselves at our true value. The derivation of the word is
instructive. It comes to us from the Latin, and is derived from
modus, a measure, and so comes to mean the measuring faculty.
Modesty, therefore, means not underestimating ourselves, but-
correctly estimating ourselves. It avoids self-disparagement on
the one hand, and on the other it prevents us from thinking
" more highly of ourselves than we ought to think."

Modesty is not to be confounded with diffidence or bashful-
ness. Diffidence is self-distrust. The diffident man is either
ignorant of his powers, or distrustful of them, and so shrinks
from undertaking what he may be perfectly competent to per-
form. The modest man is neither ignorant nor distrustful of
his powers, but he does not vaunt himself because of them, and
is not puffed up. Sir Isaac Newton solved one or two problems
that no other human intellect could solve, but, as Ruskin says,
he did not on that account expect all men to fall down and wor-
ship him. He was modest withal and likened himself to a boy

[CHAPTEB75.] 388

THE WORTH OF MODESTY.

who had picked up a few pebbles on the beach, while the great
ocean of truth lay undiscovered before him.

Genuine merit is always modest. The truly great man is
ever the most humble. He is aware that for everything he can
do there are a hundred things he cannot do; that for everything
he knows there are a thousand he does not know; and that if
he is possessed of some good qualities, there are others he lacks.
Ignorance alone is vain and boastful. It is the empty ear of
grain that proudly holds up its head; when filled, it bends mod-
estly downward.

The great charm of all power is modesty. The pomposity of
many people is an attempt to impose upon the world by passing
for more than they are worth. It is due to fear that they will
receive no more attention than their scanty merits deserve.
Cheek is not an " infirmity of noble minds," but afflicts only
persons of inferior powers. It deserves to fail as it usually
does. Brag, at the best, can be but a very brief substitute for
ability. Brass makes a bigger noise than gold, but it is gold
men are after, and they commonly know it when they see it.
In the long run, every man passes at his true worth. To try to
pass for a person of greater importance or ability than you
really are, is not only absurd, but also dishonest. It implies
.deceit, as well as conceit, and is therefore a fatal defect in any
character. True merit cannot be hid, and needs not to sound a
trumpet before it. If there is anything in you, depend upon it
somebody is going to find it out. If there is nothing in you,
you cannot by swagger and bluster cheat the world into believ-
ing that there is.

Avoid brag; it will bring you down in the eyes of those
whose good opinion you most desire. Cultivate simplicity in
action and in conversation. Promise little, perform much.
Neither talk loud nor dress loud. Modesty is beauty's crown,
admirable alike in old and young. It adds a grace to every
virtue, and furnishes the finest setting in which ability of any
kind may shine.

389

True Nobility.

REV. HENRY A. BUTTZ, D.D., LL.D.,

President of Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, New York.

I HE highest eulogy which can be paid to anyone is to say
that he is noble. It is comprehensive of all the virtues and
^ of all the graces. There is no one word representing char-
acter and esteem which is so all-embracing. There are some
words for which no adequate definition seems possible. The
feeling of their meaning is deeper than any impression which
language is able to convey. Such a word is nobility. If one
were to attempt the substitution of some other word for it, such
as goodness, benevolence, justice, he will find that neither sepa-
rately nor collectively do they fully express its meaning. It can
only be stated by circumlocution, and even then inadequately.

It is first of all a feeling. The appeal which is made to a noble
person is answered almost before it is presented, because his
consciousness of the needs of others is so acute that the meaning
is comprehended intuitively. Nobility is the expression, not of
the intellect so much as of the soul, not merely of the mind
but of the heart. It is often, indeed generally, expressed in the
face, for a really noble person, however much he may strive to
do so, cannot conceal from others the benevolence which controls
his life.

The nobility of feeling involves sympathy with all that is
true and good. It is the condition of a person who looks with
dissatisfaction upon everything low and degrading and is con-
scious of entire harmony with that which is elevated and pure.
Such feelings have animated all those who have been recognized
among the choice characters of the world.

[CHA.PTEK 76.1 390

TRUE NOBILITY.

Then there is also nobility of character. The feeling has
become habit, and forms what is known among men as charac-
ter. It is not a mere emotion, but a mode of life in which all the
powers and attainments are subordinated to the highest aims
and plans. The noble character finds itself so intrenched in
desires for the welfare of all, that temptations in the opposite
direction cease to be effective. In other words, his whole being
has become ennobled.

Nobility of feeling and character are always accompanied
by nobility of action. Character and action are harmonious,
and cannot be in conflict. There may be good actions per-
formed spasmodically or as the result of impulse by those
whose souls are not noble, but a steady, sustained life, doing
noble deeds, is only possible when connected with those emo-
tions and conditions which naturally and necessarily produce
them. A life that is noble is always the result of inner forces
and not of external incitements. The topic under consideration
is not merely nobility, but true nobility. This word is employed
by lexicographers and in literature in different senses. It is
applied to nobility of descent, i. e., to hereditary nobility, in
which the title descends from generation to generation. It is a
title of rank and has no necessary relation to personal charac-
ter. While some such noblemen have true nobility, there are
others to whom it is entirely wanting. There have been men
of loftiest worth who have worn the highest crowns of rank
or station, while others who are officially designated by such
titles have shown themselves unworthy to wear theirs. Of
Lord Byron it may be said that he was a great poet and a
nobleman, but not a noble man, while of Lord Shaftesbury it
must be said that he was alike noble in rank, in character, and
in works, thus combining in himself the highest qualities of
manhood.

The real nobility, however, has already been indicated,
viz., that which consists in personal worth. One may be truly
noble, and recognized as such though -destitute of learning,
scholarship, office, or rank. Indeed, it is frequently found in

391

TRUE NOBILITY.

persons of the humblest worldly circumstances. Almost every
day we read of acts worthy of heroes, done by those whose
names are scarcely known in the community in which they
dwell. Instances to justify this statement will meet daily the
readers of current literature.

The qualities then which must be sought in order to secure
true nobility are a lofty purpose, deep sympathies, and absolute
self-sacrifice. Neither is sufficient without the others. What
then is the purpose which must enter into and constitute a
noble life? It must be both general and particular. It desires
to make the best of the whole world and the best of each mem-
ber of society. It, however, must save the whole by saving
each part of it. It serves the whole society by serving the
units of which it is composed. Hence nobility does not neglect
little things or to do good in what seems small and insignifi-
cant ways. Nothing is too small and nothing is too large for a
noble soul to do. In statesmanship and patriotism both George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln were truly noble. How
lofty their aims, how earnestly they sympathized with strug-
gling humanity and how unselfish and complete were their
sacrifices!

How much nobility is found among business men! How
many are doing business, not for their own aggrandizement,
but to benefit their fellow men! A gentleman of extensive
business told the writer of this but recently that he did not
expect to make any more money. What he made hereafter
was for others.

The same is true also in professional life. In the ministry,
in law, in medicine, are to be found men, not a few, whose aim
is not wealth or fame, but who desire to serve " their generation
according to the will of God." It were easy to make a catalogue
of men and women in all ages who represent to the world this
type of character. They are the choicest treasures of our world,
more precious than mines of gold and of silver. To enumerate
even a few of them would be impossible here.

The one noble character which rises above all others is the

392

TRUE NOBILITY.

world's Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the highest
specimen of true nobility the world has ever known. Every
trait illustrating it was found in him and the attainment of
it will be best secured by the study of his life and teachings and
the imitation of his example.

True nobility is possible to all and everywhere. It matters
little whether one be in public position, or in private station, in
a royal palace or in a humble cottage, in professional life or in
daily manual labor. There is no place where it will not have
opportunity for exercise. Wherever generosity, purity, self-
sacrifice, truth, and fidelity are found, there will be found that
for which all the people of the world should seek, true nobility.

" Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies
In other men, sleeping, but never dead,
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own." LOWELL.

"Be noble in every thought and in every deed." LONGFELLOW.

393

The Breastplate of Self-Respect.

KEV. HUGH BO YD, D.D., Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

IN the olden days of the arrow and the spear and the battle-ax,
before the invention of the more destructive weapons of
modern warfare, the trusty knight rode forth to battle, or
took his place in the lists of the tournament, armored from head
to foot. A wonderful contrivance was that armor, consisting
of many parts and of various construction, some parts of solid
iron, others of interwoven links, or of interlocking plates of
steel. The helmet, to withstand the blows of the battle-ax, and
the breastplate to protect the vital organs, were some of the
most important parts.

Beautiful and befitting as was this armor in its day, it is to
us but an obsolete curiosity from a past age. The gayly capari-
soned knight of the middle ages, clad in burnished steel and
bedizened with gold, would hardly excite our admiration. His
image would be to us but an interesting spectacle from a page
of ancient history.

" The knights are dust,
Their swords are rust,
Their souls are with the saints, we trust."

We fear no more the hurling of the spear or the whizzing of
the arrow. We have come into that condition of mind in which
we look with indifference on the weapons that inflict only bodily
injury, as compared with the keener, and more destructive,
agencies that impair the moral character and maim the soul.
True, the bullet of the madman, the dagger of the desperado,
the poisoned stiletto of the assassin, are thoughts from which
we recoil in horror when presented to our minds by a near-at-

[ CHAPTER 77.] 394

THE BREASTPLATE OF SELF-RESPECT.

hand tragedy. But, in general, they are looked upon as only a
remote contingency. On the other hand, we know the sources
of moral contamination are as pervasive as the air we breathe.
Against these we must defend ourselves as best we may. No
material defense will turn aside the onset of moral pollution.
No armorial coat of mail can preserve the integrity of the
human heart. Not by external defense but by an internal power
is the soul made strong to resist its foes.

In the poverty of human speech we still speak of the new
defenses by the old terms. By such insensible degrees have we
passed from the barbarism of brawl and battle to the arts and
practices of civilized life, that we are not conscious of any incon-
gruity between the terms we use and the ideas we represent.
Though battles be no more, we still shall fight the battle of life.
We still speak of the helmet of salvation, the armor of right-
eousness, the sword of truth, the battle-ax of reform. We strike,
we cleave, we ward. We stand on guard, we lead the forlorn
hope, we push the battle to the gates of the enemy.

The transition from the old life to the new has left upon its
line of march the most enduring of all historical monuments in
the very words we use. A breath of air, thrilled by the perish-
ing organs of human speech, passes by an unseen medium to
the human ear, passes on its invisible way from generation to
generation, and from age to age, and stands a more enduring
memorial than marble or bronze.

In that defensive condition arising from a consciousness of
moral rectitude, arising from a belief in the native dignity of
one's own soul, from the feeling that nothing mean, or low, or
groveling is consistent with its own power and purpose, we may
say that the soul is defended by the Breastplate of Self-Respect.

That soul is weak that has no self-protection. It feels exalta-
tion only when greeted with the favoring shouts of the multi-
tude. When the impetus of popular applause has spent its force,
it suffers a corresponding dejection. It is serene in the sunshine,
but perturbed in the storm. It flames with ardent joy when
fanned by the hot breath of flattery. It freezes in the cold atmos-

395

THE BREASTPLATE OF SELF-RE8PECT.

phere of neglect. Without power to sustain itself in and of itself,
it shrinks in abasement beneath the weight of unjust calumny.
Slights and sneers and innuendoes torture it with keenest pain.
It goes down in the dust before the hot shafts of ridicule.

It is not well that any soul should be thus defenseless and
exposed to all adversity.

But there are yet greater perils; more to be dreaded than the
things which are merely disagreeable, or aggravating, or pain-
ful to the sensibilities are the things which bring some moral
defilement to the touch, or inflict some ugly wound in the fair
fabric of the soul's integrity.

Enticements to evil courses beset every pathway. They lie
in wait for the careless and timid. They even dare to meet the
self-confident and the strong. More especially do they challenge
to life combat every generous, high spirited, ambitious youth.
We may exalt in our thought "the power that makes for right-
eousness." We cannot overestimate the magnitude or the might
of that power. But in order that the race may triumph, the
individual must suffer. " To him that overcometh," is the word
of holy writ. " The gods sell everything at a price," is the reflec-
tion of a pagan philosopher. We may ponder the universal
scheme of all human life and see that the " Eternal Goodness"
is ever at work toward beneficent ends. We cannot paint the
picture too beautiful or too true. But to make it beautiful and to
make it true, the individual life must fight its way through, or
go down in an ignominious failure to an inglorious fate.

For this omnipresent conflict is there not some armor of truth
and righteousness that will protect the wearer, or enable him
to ward off the destroying agencies that are aimed at his life ?
Is there no defensive weapon with which to meet the entice-
ments to evil, the trend to idleness, to greed, to rapacity, to
unjust dealing, to low living, and foul thinking? We do not
mention here that supreme moral awakening that enthrones
man's higher powers, and makes all the beatitudes regnant
within him. There is a sentiment, a force, within us and upon
us ; a force, a sentiment, sometimes but dimly felt. It is the

396

THE BREASTPLATE OP SELF-RESPECT.

consciousness of selfhood. It is an enlargement of the feeling
of personal identity. It is a recognition of the soul within us
as being not our own but ourselves, not as being wise, or rich,
or great, or strong, but as being our very selves, to be defended
and kept if large and mighty, to be no less defended and kept
if small and weak. The soul is its own armor. To the enthrone-
ment of this feeling as an active agency in the protection of
character, we give the name of self-respect, a name that by light
and trivial applications has lost some of its force. Let us revivify
its import, while we are kept by its gentle, invisible power.

Self-respect, that clothes the soul as with a panoply, is an
endowment within the reach of all. It is the native covering
of every soul, sensitive and tender, but strong and defensive.
It increases in protecting power through its own use, or it may
be weakened by the carelessness of the wearer, if he allow some
secret arrow of evil to pierce between the joints of his armor.
It is not self-appreciation, for it may exist in the highest degree,
with a distrustful undervaluation of one's self. It is not respect
for one's self as the possessor of great riches. That is the wor-
ship of wealth, an abject sentiment. It is not respect for one's
self as the possessor of great beauty. That is vanity. It is not
respect for one's self as being finely or fittingly dressed. That
may be a proper feeling, but it does not rise to the dignity of
moral quality. It is not respect for great learning. It is not
respect for excellent endowments of mind. That is pride of intel-
lect, the most unlovely of all pride. It is not respect for lofty
position, for offices, for honors, for notoriety, or for fame. That
is to grasp the shadow and disregard the substantial entity. In
proportion as feelings like these gain the mastery, in that pro-
portion all true self-respect shrivels and withers and dies.

In the earliest days of man's earthly existence, his infant
thought looks upon everything, even his own form, as external
and foreign. He gazes in mute wonder at his hands, but does
not know these are a part of himself. Evidently he thinks they
are foreign bodies. But, into the frail palace of the infant soul
come unnumbered messages of pleasure, or of pain. From

397

THE BREASTPLATE OF SELF-KESPECT.

hand and foot and face and finger-tip come messages of joy or
pain, that by some mute, mysterious logic, are traced to their
source. By some experiences of pain or pleasure, the infant
man has grasped the idea of externality and self. The frail
network of nerve and filament and interlacing fiber that enfolds
his body has become a monitor and a guide. Even through its
frailness and sensibility to pain, it becomes a protection and a
defense. The infant man learns to avoid danger, and, after a
while, even to ward off peril by sturdy blows.

By a process equally slow, in years a little later, we rise to
the moral consciousness of selfhood, and attain the instinct of
the self-preservation of the soul. Not through feelings hard-
ened to the stroke of evil, but by a supersensitiveness to the pain
of injustice and untruth, we become strong to resist, and firm to
oppose. The day of our def enselessness is the day of our power.

In the daily strife between truth and falsehood, in the daily
contest between the good and evil side, in the face of the
cowardly suggestion to do a little wrong that great good may
come at last, in the still more cowardly suggestion to do wrong
for a little while because the supreme good is unattainable, in
the covert and insidious approaches of evil as well as in the
fierce onsets of temptation, the soul that has arrived at a con-
sciousness of its own supremacy, that has come into the feeling
of fidelity to itself, stands, firm, erect, and true.

Time would fail to tell, how, without arrogance or pride, the
native covering of self-respect is broadened and brightened,
made lustrous and strong, when, to the native vision of self-
hood and its instinctive protecting power, there is added some
transcendent vision of moral excellence and beauty in the soul
itself, self-seen.

For now in every moral conflict no less than in every phys-
ical conflict of tournament and battle in the olden time,

" What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted ?
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just ;
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscieuce with injustice is corrupted."

398

Adapting Self to Circumstances.

HON. EDWIN F. LYFORD, State Senator of Massachusetts.

E independent of circumstances, adapt them to your-
selves, make them for yourselves," is the boastful
advice of the self-made man.

There is in this, however, no great encouragement to
the average citizen, who, like the unfortunate Mr. Dolls, is sure
to feel that there are circumstances over which he has no con-
trol. For his comfort be it said, that it is not always safe to
rely implicitly upon the statements of the man of self-manu-
facture, especially with reference to his own mode of construc-
tion and operation.

It is true that in a sense we may often be said to control and
alter our circumstances, but the change is rather in, than out-
side, ourselves. He who moves into a new house alters his
surroundings, but he it is who has changed position, while the
house has neither burned down nor moved away. We enter
into different circumstances rather than alter the circumstances
themselves, and it is worthy of note that any advancement and
improvement we may thus make, is due very largely to a care-
ful adaptation to our present surroundings and a ready and
judicious use of the opportunities about us. While, then, the
stubborn facts may not be altered, we can conform to them,
and by so doing make them serve our ends. He who thus
adjusts himself to circumstances makes them his friends that
hasten to help at every turn, while he who fails so to do is sur-
rounded by enemies that continually annoy and attack.

In society, that man "gets on," is popular, and makes a
success who knows how to adapt himself to the people whom he

[ CHAPTER 78. ] 399

ADAPTING SELF TO CIRCUMSTANCES.

meets. This does not require him to be two-faced or double in
his dealing, nor that when "among the Romans, he should do
as the Romans do," without regard to his own sense of right,
but it does demand the use of good sense in rendering his con-
duct appropriate to the places and people in which and among
whom he is for the time placed. He who should wear crape at
a wedding or crack jokes at a funeral, would very soon have
no weddings to attend and no funeral but his own to enjoy.
On the other hand, he who is ever quick to respond to the feel-
ings of those about him, becoming a child with children and a
man among men, possesses not only the strongest element of
popularity, but a means of accomplishing untold good.

The business man must continually adapt himself to his sur-
roundings. As the nature of trade changes, as times are good
or bad, as customers are easy or hard to please, and as the
numerous chances of business are every day presented to him,
he must be ever on the alert and quick to adjust himself to all
these and the thousand other circumstances of his business
world. The exercise of this power of adaptation or, in other
words, business sagacity, insures success ; to neglect it, means
failure. The manufacturer who should still insist on turning
out flintlock guns, instead of conforming to the changed con-
dition of affairs, would find no market for his wares, and he
who should undertake to run a line of stages from Boston to
New York would be quickly taught that he ha d failed to under-
stand the requirements of the present day.

The teacher, the lawyer, the doctor, and the minister must
learn to adapt themselves to the characters with whom they
come in contact. The teacher who instructs all his scholars in
the same unvarying manner, without regard to their individ-
ual peculiarities, fails to understand the first principles of his
vocation. The lawyer and doctor are obliged to suit themselves
to their cases, their clients, and their patients, and even the
minister must deal differently with the lambs and sheep of his
flock, and preach very different sermons on Thanksgiving and
Fast day.

400

ADAPTING SELF TO CIRCUMSTANCES.

From the countless minor adaptations to circumstances re-
quired in change of place, of scene, or in society, a positive
pleasure is often derived. The person who constantly presents
to his own view but one phase of his character will soon tire of
the prospect. In adapting himself, however, to various people,
the changing moods of the same people, and to different situa-
tions and circumstances, he becomes aware of a certain variety
in his nature which gives an interest and zest to life.

Many a one who supposed himself suited to his ordinary sur-
roundings and nothing else has been agreeably surprised to find
that, under altered conditions, new capacities have developed
and powers been manifested of which he had not dreamed be-
fore. Much of the pleasure of travel and the summer vacation
is due not merely to new sights and sounds, but, largely and
especially, to learning to adapt ourselves to these changed con-
ditions. He who is fond of camp life finds a keen enjoyment in
his plain and primitive quarters, not only because they are so
different from those at home, but also because he feels a peculiar
delight in the discovery that he can live and be happy, though
the floors are not carpeted nor the streets paved. His food also
has an added relish when, in adapting himself to his summer
environment, he has discovered a hitherto unsuspected ability
to prepare it himself.

In the greater vicissitudes of life, in the often sudden
changes from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to renown,
from health to sickness or the reverse, an ability to adjust one's
self to the new conditions saves many an annoyance, lightens
many a bitter disappointment, and makes conquest possible,
when without it defeat would have been inevitable. Many a
man fallen "on evil days" has, by adapting himself to the
change, succeeded in rising again, while had he shunned com-
panionship and, keeping aloof from others, merely sighed for
past glories, he would have grown still poorer. On the other
hand, he who bears suddenly acquired wealth or popularity
without undue elation is justly counted worthy of his good for-
tune.

401 26

ADAPTING SELF TO CIRCUMSTANCES.

Modern science proclaims the doctrine of the survival of the
fittest. It tells us that those forms of life which are best
adapted to their environment are most likely to endure. It is
no less true that in society, in business, in life, the man who
has learned most perfectly to adapt himself to his surround-
ings, and to conform to the circumstances in which he is placed,
will succeed, while he who has neglected to learn this lesson
will continually struggle and continually fail.

402

Individual Responsibility.

REV. W. C. WHITFORD, D.D., President Milton College, Wisconsin.

(( Cjf WILL be somebody," exclaimed a country lad to him-
Qj self, as he, seventeen years of age and walking towards
a village in Central New York, first caught sight of the
buildings of a flourishing academy in the place. He had come
from a school district then in the backwoods, and from a home
scantily supplied with even the necessaries of life ; and was
determined to become, if possible, a student in that institution
and to complete in it a course of its hardest studies. He was
clad in rustic garments woven and made by his mother, was
blessed with a robust body and a large brain, and had formed
habits of patient industry and serious thinking.

The teachers were at once pleased with his rugged, honest
face and earnest spirit, and saw that he possessed natural abili-
ties of no inferior sort, but undeveloped. Admission to the
lower classes was granted him ; chances to pay his expenses by
working at odd jobs fell in his way ; and at the end of four
years, a diploma was handed him as the best scholar among a
dozen graduates of the school at the time.

Afterwards he finished elsewhere a college course with great
credit to himself ; some years later he returned to the old
academy as its efficient principal; and was finally elevated to the
presidency of a leading theological seminary in the West.
Hundreds of youths enjoyed his ripe instruction in each of
these positions, and were incited and guided by him to engage
in most active and useful labors. Thus he filled out a dis-
tinguished career, relying upon his own powers, and giving full
scope to a worthy ambition to rise in the world by cultivating

[ CHAPTER 79. ] 403

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

to the utmost these powers and by improving assiduously the
superior advantages he found.

It is true that a large majority of the youth of our country,
as was the case with this lad, cannot by wealthy parents,
family influences, or persons in power, be lifted into the desir-
able places in business, society, or the government. At the
best, only moderate help can be rendered them, such as must
be gauged by the limited means accessible in rearing them,
and by the other humble conditions attending their early days.
Surely, to them there is no royal road to success in the higher
walks of life, only a common, well-beaten path along the valleys
and over the hills of persistent and wearisome effort. They
gain the coveted rewards, climb to the pinnacles of usefulness
and renown, only by depending entirely or very largely on their
own individual strength and purpose. They must show the
resolution of a miner, who is represented in an old device as
standing alone before a high ledge of rocks, with a raised pick-
axe in his hands, and saying, "As I do not find a tunnel here,
I will dig one to the bed of ore myself."

Alas! very many of our youth will not attempt a vigorous
struggle to honor best their own existence and to aid in a large
way their fellow men. With the most favorable incentives to
exertion constantly before them, they are content to remain in
the lowly, inconspicuous places wherein they were born and
reared. They drift in the current of the everyday events that
occur around them. The most prospered of them spend their
lives like that dependent idler who is fitly described by an
English novelist as having " his plate of chicken and his saucer
of cream, and frisked, and barked, and wheezed, and grew fat,
and so ended." They leave nothing behind them to be added to
the world's storehouse of good. But now and then some one
belonging to this class of youth, disgusted with his aimless con-
duct and his frivolous amusements, or weary of the humdrum
and drudgery of his lowly toil, breaks away from his environ-
ment, and starts out seriously and bravely to better his state and
standing among his fellows.

404

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

As a notable and yet not a single instance, a thriftless, grown-
up boy in a New England town, sitting with several associates
by the roadside, observed a stranger riding by in a fine carriage
drawn by spirited horses and receiving the hurrahs of a crowd
of people; and the boy turning to these companions, and spring-
ing from the ground, with his face ablaze with a new anima-
tion, said to them, "I'll do that thing myself sometime." Over
a score of years afterwards, he was welcomed and cheered by
the citizens of the same place, as he, a leading member of Con-
gress, rode through its principal street on a visit to the humble
home of his childhood.

The sympathy and the helping hand of really thoughtful and
well-to-do persons are seldom withheld from the boy or the girl
that earnestly strives to overcome the hindrances of poverty,
and sometimes the unreasonable opposition of relatives and
others without ambition, and to become qualified to work in
the more remunerative or serviceable positions. In many cases
such encouragement acts as a most effective motive in these
youth, and often forms the only solid basis on which they can
reach forth and attain the object desired. It certainly increases
in all of them the responsibility to make the most of themselves,
their time, and their opportunities. The pressure of this obli-
gation should remain and grow stronger in them ; it will bring
about most beneficial results. "May the Lord bless you and
help you to be a noble man," said a great-hearted deacon of a
church to a homeless, neglected, and keen-eyed urchin, as he
placed his warm hand on the flaxen head. This prayer, this
benediction, was signally answered. A sudden inspiration
changed the course of the thoughts and feelings of the sad
and sensitive boy; a most active and brilliant career was sub-
sequently opened to him; and at his death thousands blessed
his memory.

Some one has said that the best education is gained by strug-
gling for a living. But add to this a determined purpose to
acquire wealth, to sway political power, to become an adept in
some trade or profession, or to assuage the sorrows of men, and

405

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

the culture of the needy and diligent youth will assume the
style of a much higher development. Not only will he learn
the ordinary lessons of industry, frugality, foresight, and inde-
pendence of character, but he will possess the invaluable sense
of manliness, larger freedom, skillful personal force, and broader
usefulness in the chosen pursuit of his older years. He will
attempt to perform deeds and to exert influences vastly above
those conceived as possible by a man of common training.
As a rule, he will surpass the sons of the rich in ability, in
grade of work, and in enjoying the confidence of the world.
Of necessity he has done immeasurably more to strengthen
his body and mind, to have complete control of their activities,
and to understand in a practical way the masterful adaptations
of the best means to the best ends of life, to avoid failures
and to win successes in his plans and operations. He is like
the young eagle that, when full-fledged, is driven by its
mother from its nest to hunt for its food. It strengthens its
wings and acquires a daring flight, not only in such a search,
but also in gaining a higher crag on the mountain side, where
it finds a perch of greater safety to itself, and has a wider view
of the tangled woods and the adjacent fields beneath, in which
may be hidden its prey. At length it succeeds in reaching the
tallest peaks near its former home, and finally in soaring among
the clouds a monarch over all other kinds of birds it meets in
its excursions.

406

Mental and Moral Growth.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

is necessary to the growth and well-being of the body*
both in this world and in all worlds where there are
1 bodies. Only the Self-existent and Eternal Being is self-
sustaining. All others must live by and be continued on
his bounty. To obtain the unhindered growth, and the proper
development of the body, it is a necessity that it shall receive
the right kinds of food, at suitable periods, and in proper quanti-
ties. If it be given wrong material 'as food, the body is poi-
soned, the growth is hindered, and sickness or death ensues.

Of the sixty-eight elements now known to compose the solids,
liquids, and gases of the material world, but fifteen enter into
the composition of our bodies. Growth and health can there-
fore be had only by taking as food substances that contain those
elements. If we take any outside the fifteen, they are at once
cast out, or, if retained, they poison the body. Again, the body
is weakened if suitable foods be given in too small quantities,
or at periods too far apart; so likewise the body is impaired if
suitable foods be taken in too large quantities, or too frequently.

To grow, therefore, we must give attention, to what, how,
and when, we eat. We must eat to grow. We are designed to
grow. Not to grow is unnatural. Whatever hinders growth
should be avoided. Whatever helps to a sound growth should
be sought for. There may be life without growth as in dwarfs.
But it is a sad misfortune to be a man in years and a child in
body. Such are at a great disadvantage in this world, shut out
from many an avenue to success, and deprived of many of
life's choicest blessings, and generally of family and social ties.

/CHAPTEB80.] 407

MENTAL AND MORAL GROWTH.

Dwarfs in nature are due to an arrest of growth, and this is
frequently due to a lack of food at the right time for growth, or
to use of wrong materials as foods; dwarfs are not always due
to accident, but may be deliberately produced. Men produce
dwarf trees, and plants, and animals, under nature's laws. So
likewise they produce dwarfed intellects and souls under na-
ture's laws.

You have seen men and women with fully grown bodies,
but with the intellect of a babe. You call them imbeciles.
The body grew but the mind did not. While nature merci-
fully shuts from them a sense of their condition you see it
is a very great misfortune not to grow mentally. So also you
have seen men and women with well developed bodies, and
strong, well grown minds, but who in soul were infants. They
knew no more of God in mature life than they did when babes,
and the reason was their moral nature did not grow. Giants
often in intellect, in their spiritual nature they remain dwarfs.
There are mighty philosophers in every age, who are totally
ignorant of the simplest divine things that even " babes in
Christ" know fully. To them alas! the future abuts on dark-
ness, not on radiant glory. The explanation is a very simple
one they have not grown in their moral nature since they were
born. Why? Food is necessary to growth. They fed the
body, they fed the mind, but starved their souls. Their parents
first for them, they afterward, sought out and obtained the
food needful for the growth of the body, and took it regularly,
and in proper quantities; they avoided starvation and gluttony,
they shunned poisonous substances, and so grew vigorously;
then their parents first, they afterward, cultivated and developed
the mind by daily instruction, and study, through precept, ex-
ample, and investigation, while the soul was left to grow of
itself if it could, or starve.

Men produce dwarfed trees, plants, animals, deliberatelv.
under nature's laws, ana parents nroduce dwarfed souls in their
children by shutting out God from them, by feeding their souls
on the "husks" and "vanities" of earth, or by deliberately

408

MENTAL AND MORAL GROWTH.

teaching them to use the poison of sins, that dwarf and ruin the
soul. It is a sad thing to have a child come to years of man-
hood and be a dwarf, or be deficient in bodily organs; it is
infinitely more sad to have him grow to the stature of a man
and be a fool through a defect of intellect; but when you are
transferred to another world, it will be found to be the saddest
of all things to enter it dwarfed in soul.

He who is deficient in bodily organs or growth, or who is de-
ficient in or neglects the culture of his intellect here, finds him-
self sorely hindered in this life in his efforts to succeed, and
generally becomes a dependent upon the charity of others more
favored. If such disaster comes to them through these defects
of body, in this the bodily life, what loss may not come in the
spiritual life to those who enter it mained, halt, or sickly,
through a neglect to culture the soul, or through feeding it on
the poison of sin? The soul, like the mind, like the body, was
made to grow. Not to grow is to be unnatural. You cannot feed
the body on ideas, those are for the mind. You cannot feed the
mind on strawberries or terrapins, those are for the body. The
body will not grow if fed on arsenic, or even on gold or silver.
They are very useful in their place, but that place is not the
body. You will not grow very much mentally by chasing a ball
or trundling a bicycle, or flipping an oar, or tripping the toe,
however useful they may be for bodily development, neither
will Euclid put fat on your bones. The mind as well as the
body must have suitable food, in suitable quantities, at suitable
times. It, like the body, can be dwarfed, poisoned, starved, or
overfed; and with equally as disastrous results. But properly
fed and cared for, what may not the mind accomplish. Like-
wise you can feed the mind on logarithms, the differential
calculus, and a study of earth alone, but not the soul. That
" crieth out for God, even the living God." The body will only
grow by giving it its components; the intellect develops only by
its appropriate pabulum: and the soul, being: of divine essence,
can only be nourished and developed by divine substantialities,
Then it has life "and this is life eternal, that they may

409

MENTAL AND MORAL GROWTH.

know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent." Not to know them is to be dwarfed forever. See to
it, then, that with your growth in body and in mind you also
"grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, whose is the glory both now and unto the day of
eternity. Amen."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Organizer of the First Woman's Fights Convention.

410

Motive and Method.

REV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

Y the term motive here is meant the ideal object or end
toward which our life is consciously directed. The word
is used not in its primary sense of the determining
impulse within the man, but in its secondary sense of the
object desired and aimed at without the man.

In this sense every man has, or should have, some control-
ling motive in life, something he lays to heart and lives for,
and which is the most potent agent in calling forth his powers.
No one ought to live an aimless life. It is the glory of man
that he is a creature of motives, that he can set before himself
some end or object, then direct all his energies to the attain-
ment of it.

In our time and country the most powerful motive with men
is the acquisition of riches. We are a money-loving and a
money-getting people. With us, wealth is almost esteemed a
virtue and poverty a crime. The whole movement of our social
life seems to point to riches as the chief good. The rich are
deemed happy and the poor miserable. Hence the all-impelling
motive with men to-day is the acquisition of wealth.

Now, while wealth is far, very far, from being the most
worthy motive that can actuate a man, it is yet a perfectly
legitimate motive. It is no sin to get rich or to be rich. On
the contrary, it may be the duty of some men to get rich, pro-
vided always that they get their riches by proper methods and
use them for worthy ends. One man's wealth does not neces-
sarily imply another man's poverty. It is possible to grow rich

[ CHAPTEB 81.] 411

MOTIVE AND METHOD.

in business and at the same time enrich all parties concerned in
the business. Such being the case it is, as we have said, not
only legitimate, but it may even be the duty of some to become
rich. Wealth is needful for the fullest life and the highest
well-being of any community. There can be no high civiliza-
tion without it. As one writer well says, " There is not a sin-
gle feature of our civilization to-day that has not sprung out of
money, and that does not depend upon money for its continu-
ance." Morse may invent the telegraph, but wealth must be
forthcoming before a cable can be laid 3,000 miles beneath the
sea, connecting the old world with the new. Stephenson may
invent the locomotive, but without wealth no track will be laid
nor train run from New York to Chicago. Edison may invent
the telephone, but it requires wealth to stretch the wires from
street to street and city to city, converting the whole continent
into one vast whispering gallery.

Wealth, like knowledge, is power, but whether a power for
good or for evil depends upon the possessor. When rightly used
it is a good thing, but, like every other blessing, it is liable to be
abused, and then it is an evil thing. As J. M. Barrie has finely
said, "Let us no longer cheat our consciences by talking of
filthy lucre. Money may be always a beautiful thing. It is we
who make it grimy."

There is nothing inherently wrong, then, in having as a
motive the acquisition of wealth, provided it be gained in right
ways. The danger is, however, when money-making is a man's
ruling motive, that in his haste to be rich he shall be led to
adopt methods that are not right. What are some of these
methods? Much has been written on the subject of commercial
immoralities. Space will allow only the briefest glance at some
of them.

(1) There is that commonest of all wrong ways misrepresen-
tation on the part of the seller. This may be done directly by false
statements or false advertisements, or indirectly by suppressing
the truth as to certain defects in the goods offered. Inferior
material, imperfect workmanship, deficient measure, adultera-

412

MOTIVE AND METHOD.

tion, are all forms of misrepresentation. It is possible to lie by
a label as well as by the lip.

(2) There is the way of grinding the faces of necessitous
workmen. Compensation should always be just and sufficient
to afford the workmen a decent living. To pay a workman
starvation wages on the ground that if he does not work at that
figure others will is robbery, whatever political economists may
say about it.

(3) There is the way of speculating with borrowed capital.
The wrong here lies in putting the property of another without
his knowledge or consent where it is insecure. The venture
may turn out well, but it may not, and if it does not the owner
is the loser.

(4) There is the way of trading in futures, which is nothing
but gambling. No honest equivalent is given for gains. It is
merely betting that the prices of certain commodities will be
higher or lower at a given future date than they are now.

(5) There is the way of taking advantage of bankruptcy
laws. A man by legal technicalities may evade the payment
of his just debts. Not to pay honest debts when you are able to
pay them, on the plea that you have been legally released from
them, is a species of stealing.

These are but a few of the crooked ways into which men
enter in their eagerness to be rich, to say nothing of " corner-
ings," " watering of stocks," and other questionable methods
resorted to by corporations, trusts, and "combines." The dan-
ger is, when a man has money-making as his ruling motive, that
he will be tempted again and again to traverse the principles of
morality. " They that desire to be rich," as the Apostle truly
says, " fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and
hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition."

We sometimes hear it said that if strictly honest in business
a man will never be rich. Then be poor. There are some
things better than money. Manhood, honor, integrity, are bet-
ter than money. " A good name is rather to be chosen than
great riches." To gain wealth at the expense of character is to

413

MOTIVE AND METHOD.

barter jewels for gewgaws. Riches got by guile are thrice
cursed. They are cursed in the getting, in the keeping, and in
the transmitting. To gain the world and lose yourself is to
make a poor bargain.

The Lawrences, Abbots, Dodges, Moores and Budgetts, and
other merchant princes, were rich in character as well as in
money. Their business methods were honorable to the last
degree. By industry and enterprise, by fair dealing and genuine
politeness, by punctuality and promptitude, they amassed great
wealth. They lived noble and benevolent lives. When wealth
flowed in upon them they hoarded it not for themselves, but
held it in trust for God, and used it to bless mankind and
further every good cause. They are true models for a business
man to follow.

Do not be in haste to be rich. It is full of peril. Be willing
to wait. You may be happy without being rich. Provide things
honest in the sight of all men. Remember the noble words of
George Washington, " I hope I shall always possess firmness
and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most envi-
able of all titles, the character of an ' Honest Man.' "

414

Cfar/otff Bro/ire .

Courage for the Duties of Life.

CHARLES A. YOUNG, PH.D., LL.D., Princeton College, N. J.

{SHOULD not like to maintain that courage is the noblest
and most admirable of human qualities, but in men it is
certainly the one that is most applauded ; the faint-hearted
and cowardly are looked down upon by all. The lack of cour-
age makes any high success impossible. There are in history
many instances of men who were pre-eminent in other qualities,
but failed to reach the goal for want of this ; they were unri-
valed in their power of organization, in their accurate perception
of the condition of affairs, and in their ability to penetrate the
designs of their opponents, but at the critical moment they had
not the nerve to cope with the occasion, and missed the chance,
if nothing worse failed in accomplishment, if they di 1 not suffer
actual overthrow.

Courage alone of course is not enough, for unsupported by
prudence and wisdom it would often bring disaster. But it is
indispensable. It is needed constantly in the performance of
duties that appear to be dangerous, or are even merely disagree-
able, as, for instance, in standing out for the right in opposi-
tion to the prevailing sentiment of 'the community, or in going
counter to the wishes of those on whom we are depondent for
comfort or support, or in denying ourselves indulgences known
to be injurious to the cause we have at heart. Indeed, it is in
such internal conflicts that true courage meets its most trying
tests; these battles are in the dark; we fight with foes invisible,
without any support of admiration or applauding shouts. Then,
too, in business of every kind, as well as in statesmanship and
war, there come continually times when risks must be taken.

[CHAPTEB82.] 415

COURAGE FOR THE DUTIES OF LIFE.

One may have made his preparation with the most prudent care,
may have provided, so far as possible, with far-reaching fore-
sight for all contingencies; but there will still be adverse chances
and possibilities, and they must be faced unflinchingly if one is
to gain any eminent success. As a rule the greatest difference
between ordinary men and those who have accomplished great
things lies largely in the courage with which the latter have
accepted responsibility and taken reasonable risks.

The courage requisite for life's ordinary duties is not so much
physical as moral; not that the former is to be despised, for it is
often greatly needed. But more frequently what one most
wants is that stout-hearted loyalty to the right which accepts
the claims of duty, plainly seen, as paramount to all others, and
does not inquire as to the ease or agreeableness of its perform-
ance, nor hesitate for any dread of consequences. This makes
a man energetic and efficient, and if he is clear sighted as to
right and wrong, and has tact and skill in action, he becomes
powerful for good. Undoubtedly if he is muddle-headed and
ethically obtuse, this very force and fearlessness makes him a
dangerous fanatic: one sometimes wishes that all fools were
cowards.

There is no doubt that courage is a quality greatly to be
desired, and the question comes, how can it be attained and
cultivated? To a great extent, certainly, it is a matter of nat-
ural temperament; some are born brave, and from the first
delight in conflict, and enjoy the stimulus of difficulty and
danger. Others are chicken-hearted from infancy, and, though
they may be very wise in recognizing what ought to be done
and how to do it, they are afraid of shadows; they see frightful
lions in every path, or walls they have no pluck to scale. The
naturally fearless man is fortunate indeed, unless his bravery
is mere stupidity and blindness. Life is easy for him in what
for others are its hardest struggles, and his keenest delights are
in experiences that are martyrdom for them. But the man not
so gifted by nature can to some extent repair his defect by
learning to look at things philosophically, especially by consid-

416

COURAGE FOR THE DUTIES OF LIFE.

ering the import of human action in its relation to character-
building, and to the life to come. He will consider that in the
highest sense no real harm can come to one who is in the line
of duty; he may suffer for the time being, but pain thus met
and rightly borne is the very hand of God, molding and form-
ing the human soul, we are " made perfect through suffering."
One will consider also that the " duty" for which he is respon-
sible consists only in honest attempt, and not in successful
achievement; the final outcome depends on many things outside
ourselves, and must be left to Providence. This idea grasped
firmly gives freedom from the paralyzing power of fear of fail-
ure. It was just this in President Lincoln that made him so
brave, with a sad, strong courage that flinched at nothing. He
had learned that the only thing for him was to do "the right as
it was given him to see the right," leaving the consequences to the
powers of heaven. To one thus loyal to what is highest within
him, nothing that is clearly duty seems impossible or hard, for
he draws upon the power of God himself.

Over the door of the great hall of Rugby school are written
the noble words of Emerson:

" How nigh is grandeur to our dust,

How near is God to man !
When Duty whispers low, " Thou must,"
The youth replies, " I can."

417.

Before Glory.

BBV. GEORGE A. GATES, B.D., Pres. Iowa College, Grinnell, Iowa.

" Not once or twice in our rough island-story,
The path of duty was the way to glory."

TENNYSON'S " Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington."

IT is a shrewd remark of Dr. Holmes that " fame comes to
most men when they are very busy thinking about some-
thing else. It rarely comes to those who say, Go to now,
let us become a celebrated individual." To set out for such a
goal as glory is an altogether cheap ambition. To pursue such
a phantom is better than to have no ambition, unless it be the
seeking of glory at the sacrifice of all else, which is simply
devilish; but the deliberate choice of such a purpose is almost
sure to fail of its achievement or to end in notoriety rather than
true, hence abiding, glory. Napoleon is a good example of this
at its worst; a man like Disraeli at its best. To the highest
natures, the pursuit of glory is a most arrant absurdity. It is
just ridiculous. It is something for a man to laugh over until
his diaphragm aches, even as over the performances of Don
Quixote.

The older the world gets, the more it builds its monuments
to those who have rendered the race conspicuous service. This
was not always exclusively so, for the reason that standards of
greatness have not always been as true as we flatter ourselves
they are now. Ages which worship power will honor those
who manifest power of some sort. But the world at its best
has learned that power is not the highest, but sacrifice.

Duty nearly always means crucifixion of some sort. There
is a philosophical reason for it. Ignorance resents instruction;
wrong resents righting; privilege dreads liberty; intrenchments
in rights yield slowly to calls to duty. So that a leader out of

(CHAWBB83.] 418

DUTY BEFORE GLORY.

ignorance, into wisdom, a fighter against wrong, an uncompro-
mising defender of right, a devastator of oppressive privilege,
establisher of liberty, the prophets little careful of right but an
infinitely insistent on duty, are sure enough of curses and may
go to the cross; hence the duty which brings abiding glory is
nearly always for the time utterly inglorious. This is the
price; few there be that will pay it. It is a hard saying; few
will hear it. Some of the prominent ones among those few
who have heard the call, and who have obeyed the call and
paid the price, have been enshrined permanently in the world's
memory. They are verily the glory of the race. For the
obscure ones who have done their part as well, it is the privi-
lege of faith to believe that their reward shall not be finally
wanting.

Whom of the past do we call glorious? Men like Buddha,
Moses, Luther, Cromwell; in our own land, Washington,
Lincoln. On what does their glory rest? Is it not in their
cases unselfish and efficient service rendered to their fellow
men? Compare the standards by which we judge them and
give them glory with the current standards of ambition among
men. With what office was Buddha honored among the
people? What salary did Moses or Luther get? What estates
did Cromwell own? How much did Washington accumulate?
Was Lincoln a rich and prosperous and comfortable man?
Let us remember that the earthly rewards of Jesus were
summed up in the death of the cross.

Is it not plain when we think of the true glory of mankind,
how trivial are many of our current ambitions? Whom, then,
of our time will be held glorious by future generations? We
cannot tell that. But we are perfectly sure of some who will
not be so held. The ambitious, rich, powerful, prominent
leaders of human society, institutions, and politics? No, no.
Not many such are called. But some will be remembered who
now are comparatively obscure, who have been so busy just
doing their duty that they have liad no time even to think of
glory, much less pursue it.

419

DUTY BEPORB GLORY.

Indeed, glory is a word which will pass out of use. It is of
a low grade of civilization. As the race becomes divine, other
ambitions than to win glory will take possession of the human
spirit. Not so much right and duty, but love and self-sacrifice,
precede and proclaim, nay, verily constitute glory. The world
builds temporary monuments to the merely conspicuous. But
the race has its abiding monuments of the heart only for
those of quite another sort; they are doers of their duty,
lovers of their kind, sacrificers of themselves. These are
they who lost their lives, and they have found them.

The only true glory which anyone can ever have will be
not the glory which he seeks, but that which is thrust upon
him. Duty can never be done for the sake of winning the
reward of recognition; it instantly becomes contemptible pride,
and must ultimately fail of glory.

The path of duty is the way to glory. There is only one
supreme duty, and that is, forgetting all about such things
as glory or self in any way, to fling one's self with divine
abandon into whatever service he can render to his fellow
men. This service itself is its own glory. To want any other
is evidence of an unredeemed life. There has been but one
perfect example of such a life on earth. We shall do well
to follow him who " made himself of no reputation." Because
he, out of love to man, perfectly did that, his place is on
the throne of the world for all time.

420

Poverty Prepares for \Vealtri.

HON. J. H. BRIGHAM, State Senator of Ohio.

VE do not write of extreme or hopeless poverty such as is
sometimes found in the wretched dens of our large
cities. Children who survive such surroundings are
more likely to gravitate towards the prison or almshouse than
to become respectable and wealthy citizens. Still there are
cases where children raised under such unfavorable conditions
have become successful and honored members of society. I
shall confine what I have to say on this subject to those who
have none of the luxuries of life, except good plain clothes and
food, and who find it necessary to practice rigid economy, and
cultivate habits of industry in their childhood days. They thus
learn the cost of a dollar, and how to get its worth when they
part with it. Having no property, or very little, they are not
likely to contract that worst of all methods of business, buying
on credit. Necessity compels them to " pay as they go," and
they soon realize that they have discovered .the " philosopher's
stone." It is time that they may depart from this safe business
rule when they do have credit, and suffer the consequences, but
the habit of " paying as you go " once formed is not likely to be
abandoned, and is one of the best preparations for wealth. I do
not of course refer to credit obtained in purchasing a farm, a
house, or the necessary outfit for business, or work, but to pur-
chase what is consumed, or what cannot be made to produce or
save money.

The absence of wealth compels thought and planning to get
along without that which we are not obliged to have, or leads

[CHAPTKB 84.] 421

POVERTY PREPARES FOR WEALTH.

us to devise ways and means of supplying our wants without
reducing our working capital. The young man who has no
money is not sought after by associates who would like to help
him spend it. He is not urged to visit the saloons and gambling
houses, as he has no feathers to pluck. Being obliged to work,
he learns to be independent and self-reliant. And when the
day's work is ended, nature demands rest, and he is likely to
heed the demand, and thus avoid the temptation and danger that
hide in the darkness, and lead many boys into the downward
road that ends in extreme poverty, if not in crime. As poverty
does not furnish means to be wasted in idling away time in
school, the poor boy is generally diligent, and forms the habit
of improving every moment that can be spared for study, and
thus another step is taken on the road that leads from poverty to
wealth. The poor young man has no time to waste in the
society of frivolous young women, and is not a favorite even of
his parents. He therefore avoids that drain which has impover-
ished many young men.

It would be an easy matter to furnish many examples of poor
boys who have become very wealthy, but it is not necessary.
An investigation will show that a very large majority of the
men of wealth in this country were comparatively poor in their
youth. On the other hand, boys who have been reared with all
the surroundings of wealth are often unable to add to what they
inherit. Many of them, in fact, sink into poverty simply be-
cause they have never been compelled to learn the value of
money by earning it by their own labor, and have never been
taught by stern necessity to economize and save their substance.
I do not say that what is true in the United States is true every-
where. I believe it is a difficult matter for the poor in the old
world to advance from poverty to wealth. What I have written,
therefore, is intended to apply principally to the land of glori-
ous opportunities, the United States of America.

422

Where to Get Rich.

HOMER T. FULLER, PH.D., Pres. Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Masg.

ONE of the ancient philosophers said, " Give me where to
stand and I will move the world." By this he meant not
place, but principles ; not locality, but a basis for thought
and conduct. A young man once said to a friend, " I am
ready to begin the practice of my profession if I can only find
a place." " It is all place," was the reply. " You can start any-
where if you have in you the marrow of success."

For the securing of a competence, there are but three exter-
nal conditions, viz., a temperate climate, a just government,
and a country which has fair natural resources. These condi-
tions exist in almost every part of the United States, and almost
everywhere it is possible for a man to acquire wealth. The
proof is found in the fact that there are to-day men of wealth
in every state in the Union, and in smaller towns as well as in
larger cities. Indeed, a large proportion of the richer residents
of our cities began life in country towns, laid there the physical
and mental foundations of their prosperity, there their accumu-
lations, and removed to cities either for greater convenience in
the prosecution of their business, or for the enjoyment in a new
sphere of society of the fruits of their acquisitions.

It is said that Portland, Oregon, has more millionaires than
San Francisco; Portland, Maine, more rich men in proportion
to its population than Boston, and that the owners of two of the
largest estates in New England have spent nearly all their lives
in towns of less than five thousand inhabitants. The founder
and endower of a New England University began his business
career in one of the most rugged hill towns of the Bay State,

[ CHAPTER 85. ] 423

WHERE TO GET RICH.

and one of the largest capitalists in New Jersey has resided
fourscore years in an upland village. Men have created towns,
and so the whole social atmosphere which has environed them.
The Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, bought a water
power, invented scales and the machinery for their manufac-
ture; developed a world-wide trade; built up a village, and
established and endowed an academy, a library and art gal-
lery, and a natural history museum.

The Cranes of Dalton, Massachusetts, the Cheneys of South
Manchester, Connecticut, the Slaters of Rhode Island, Mr.
Andrew Carnegie at Braddock and Homestead, Pennsylvania,
Mr. George M. Pullman in the Illinois town which bears his
name, and many others have made place and occupations for
themselves and thousands of their fellows. They did not find
it necessary to adopt the advice of Horace Greeley and "go
West." Indeed, they often chose most unpromising sites, but
by their energy and perseverance overcame obstacles, and made
rocks and sands and clay-banks and even mud their servitors.
In every region of our broad land, there are undeveloped re-
sources. Within ten years a small town in Vermont has more
than trebled its population and increased its wealth many fold
by quarrying granite; other towns in the same state mine
marble, or slate, or soapstone. There are millions yet in scores
of mineral deposits in the Eastern United States; and there are
millions more in the raising of fruit and vegetables right here-
abouts where we live, for a near market. But we must study
ourselves more, nature more thoroughly, the laws and methods
of business with a keen eye and an earnest purpose, put our
whole heart and our entire strength into the work we choose,
and, under ordinary circumstances, we cannot fail of measur-
able success.

424

The Secret of Saving.

EEV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

1 . TASTE makes men poor. Waste keeps them poor. Not so
lAl much the great wastes, the wars, the pestilences, and
^ the famines, although the wealth destroyed by them
during the centuries has been enormous, exceeding many times
the present wealth of the nations of the earth; but it is the
lesser and constant wastes that so impoverish mankind. Even
among the most advanced nations this waste is immense. In
England during the last six years there have been, according to
the writers of " The Land," more than a thousand million dol-
lars swallowed up in investment companies, and various bank-
ing schemes. Much more than that amount has been sunk in the
United States within that period through various speculative
enterprises. The many stock and produce exchanges have
become almost wholly speculative concerns, if not gambling
institutions. In a single year the Cotton Exchange, of New
York City, sold over thirty -two million bales of cotton, when
the entire production of cotton in this country for that year was
less than six million bales. In that same year, the Liverpool
Cotton Exchange so speculated and disturbed the market that
fifteen million spindles, giving employment to thousands of
men and women, were forced to stop work, causing a loss of
hundreds of thousands of dollars to manufacturers, and a yet
greater loss to their employees. In that year the oil wells of
the United States produced nearly thirty million barrels of oil,
but the New York Petroleum Exchange alone sold during the
year two thousand million barrels of oil, and somebody had to
lose by the gambling. In consequence of this speculation in
products and stocks, ten men in the city of New York in that

[CHAPTKB86.] 425 '

THE SECRET OF SAVING.

year gathered an aggregate of eighty million dollars, getting it
almost wholly from the gudgeons who bit at their hooks hoping
to get rich thereby.

The Louisiana Lottery took in millions of dollars from its
dupes, who sent it to them in driblets of a dollar or less, the
contributors being to a great extent the laboring men and women
of the country. Reference has already been made to the great
waste caused by the drink and tobacco habits. If now you add
to these the improvident expenditures for luxuries of food, of
clothing, of amusements, and kindred extravagances, the waste
becomes incalculable, and one need not wonder that so many
are poor. I am not speaking of the extravagance of men who
have inherited enormous fortunes, like the present Rothschilds,
one of which family paid in 1890 one hundred and sixty-eight
thousand dollars for an old historic clock not worth for service
as much as a Waterbury watch, or of that other man of wealth
who, at the Sistoii library sale in 1884, paid fifteen thousand
dollars for a Mazarine Bible that was not nearly so good as the
seventy-five cent ones of the American Bible Society, nor of
the " swells " who pay twenty-six thousand dollars a year for a
suite of rooms and board at some of the famous hotels in New
York. And yet those rich spendthrifts were not a whit more
extravagant in their way than multitudes of working men are
in theirs. It is true that the wealth of the world is very
unequally divided. But if it was equally divided among men
and women to-day, inequality would begin among them before
the sun set. Their acquired or inherited appetites, passions,
prejudices, and habits would soon produce as great inequality
as now. The same waste would produce the same poverty.

What huge sums of money are now being wasted by the
laboring man through his "brotherhoods" and their frequent
" strikes " and "lockouts! " And he has continued it for gener-
ations, and always with the same disastrous results. The
guilds and brotherhoods of the Middle Ages had precisely
the same paralyzing effect on prosperity as those of to-day have,
and for the same reason, namely, they sought to make their

426

THE SECRET OF SAVING.

power felt through the " strikes " alone, thus scaring enterprise
and capital, and, by stopping production and trade, impoverish-
ing themselves. If, instead of interfering with the inception
and management of industries they did not and could not orig-
inate, and cannot manage successfully because of a lack of
training or ability, they were to exert their power to insure sta-
bility of industry rather than to prevent it, they would be
immensely better off. Why should not these industrial combi-
nations that so often beggar rather than enrich their members
by wasting their capital ( i. e. dues, fees, and labor ) invest it
in industrial enterprises themselves, and likewise become the
much denounced and much envied capitalist? In proportion
as they feel the risks, anxieties, and hopes, and see the difficul-
ties to be encountered and overcome in order to gain success, in
that proportion will they learn that it takes more intelligence
profitably to employ muscle, and more wisdom successfully to
save and invest its products, than it does to labor with one's
hands alone. Good profits, if they came, would show them the
conditions for successful ventures; and the losses that are sure
in some way to come through the incompetency or dishonesty
of others, would show them how dependent all men are on each
other's well-doing and well-being, both for their daily bread
and for profits for their toil. *

Capital is only one of the tools that thinking men use in
originating their designs and carrying on their enterprises. It
takes a higher order of brain to develop and conduct the busi-
ness, the commerce, and the inventions of the day, than to work
at the loom or the forge. Such a brain must watch for oppor-
tunities of investment, devise plans to take advantage of them,
provide the means to do it, calculate the costs, determine the
risks and overcome them, and on the doing it successfully
depends all the laborer's work and wages. The laborer's wages
are his wealth, and that wealth stands on precisely the same
footing as all other forms of wealth do; and, like them, depends
on the general prosperity and advancement in intelligence and
culture of society.

427

THE SECRET OF SAVING.

Some day the laboring man will learn that his monopoly of
labor by means of "strikes " is just as disastrous as any other
monoply, and that he himself is responsible for many a col-
lapsed industry, many an abandoned enterprise, and much of
the idle capital he complains of, which would be invested for
mutual good, if his "strikes" did not make capital timid. No
false teaching can be of any real value to anyone, and the
sooner the man of to-day accepts it as a fact that his existence,
his advancement in society, and his increase in wealth depend
upon his intelligence, industry, and freedom from vicious asso-
ciations and habits, and the wise use he makes of his opportuni-
ties, the better it will be for him and for the world.

Ignorance is waste. Vice is waste. Sin is waste. The
universe is made up of little savings of atoms. This old earth
is but the saving of particles of sand and rock and mineral.
The great seas are but the savings of tiny drops of vapor.
Your wealth, if you get it, is made up of little savings. More
than one man's fortune has been due to the first five dollars he
put into the savings bank. More than one rich manufacturer
will tell you that his wealth came to him by what most persons
would call petty savings of materials, or of time. I would by no
means have you penurious, neither is it needful to gnaw moral-
ity to the bone as some are doing in order to get rich.

The great reason why you and I should be saving is not
merely that by so doing we shall increase our store of wealth,
and so increase our comforts and happiness, and add to the wel-
fare of the world, but our habits are made, like savings, by little
acts, and these habits form characters, and character is the only
possession which we take with us to the next world. It is a dread-
ful thing to bid farewell to this life either as a miser or a spend-
thrift. Happy is he who gets all the money he honestly, hon-
orably, can, spends it liberally for his own and others' welfare
while he lives, and leaves it without regret when his steward-
ship of it is at an end. Such a man can walk the streets of the
New Jerusalem without having to shudder at the thought of a
former deep debasement to that city's paving materials.

428

Use and Abuse of Money.

RKV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D.

1 . THAT shall we do with our money with what we inherit,
lAl with what is given to us, with what we earn? How

^ shall we use it? What principles shall guide us in
keeping it, or in parting with it?

I have put these questions to several wise men and women
of my acquaintance, and I have received various replies.

" Spend less than your income," answers one sententiously,
" even if your income be very small." This may be said to be
the first principle of personal economy. No man's life can have
any comfort or peace in it until he has learned to build on this
good foundation. He who lives by this rule may know what
self-respect is, and what is independence, and what is manli-
ness ; he who despises this rule is always at war with himself,
and is often subjected to unspeakable humiliation and embar-
rassment.

"Early learn the lesson of frugality," answers a merchant.
" I have now in mind a number of men, some of whom I have
employed, who, to my knowledge, have earned enough to have
lived well, and at the same time to have made themselves pos-
sessors of good homes, and who to-day are miserably poor,
simply because they never learned to save."

This is not a deep saying, but it has a broad application. I
have had plenty of opportunity to verify it, in a ministry
extending over thirty years, in several towns and cities, with a
large number of poor families always under my eye families
with whose habits and circumstances I have been, of course,

I CHAPTEB 87 1 429

USE AND ABUSE OF MONEY.

much more familiar than most of their neighbors were likely
to be. It is the result of my observation that the greater pro-
portion of the poverty of this country is due to foolish habits of
spending money. You may often find two families of equal
income and equal necessary expenses, one of which will be
well-fed, well-clad, and well-housed, with a slowly growing
surplus in the savings bank ; while the other will be always
destitute, and poverty-stricken, and often knocking at the poor-
master's back door. The difference is solely due to the fact
that the one family expends its income wisely, and the other
squanders its income on all manner of small luxuries and
diversions.

Most of the poverty of this country is the fruit of extrava-
gance. Nine hundred millions of dollars are expended every
year for intoxicating liquors. Of this certainly one-fourth must
be spent by the men who work for wages. Putting aside the
physical and moral injury occasioned by strong drink, the
extravagance of this expenditure is deplorable. If alcohol is a
food, as some physiologists maintain, the amount of nutrition
contained in it is infinitesimal. It must be classed as a luxury.
The same thing must be said of tobacco. And when we know
that the people who work for wages spend probably four hun-
dred millions a year on these two luxuries, the voice of their
complaint loses much of its impressiveness.

I write these words in the midst of a vigorous effort, on the
part of the benevolent people of my own city, to meet and
relieve the destitution existing among us. We are told that
there are some thousands of families for which charitable aid
must be provided. Yet I dare say that if all the money which
has been expended during the last year by these families for
strong drink and tobacco were now in their hands, half of
them, at least, would be able to pull through \his depression
without aid, and without serious discomfort. 1 have not dared
to say so much as this to my neighbors who are organizing this
relief work, for I do not wish to dampen their enthusiasm ; but
I am as sure of it as I can be of anything. There is another

430

OSE AND ABUSE OF MONEY.

fact to which I have not thought it wise to call the attention of
my neighbors at this juncture. A pretty well informed man,
who knows quite a number of our liquor dealers, told me the
other day that the universal testimony of these gentlemen is
that their business is not suffering in this depression. Such
facts are very discouraging to men of good will who wish to do
what they can for the improvement of the condition of the
wage workers.

There is, however, a great deal of extravagant expenditure,
aside from the money which goes for strong drink and tobacco
expenditure which is simply foolish or childish for the grati-
fication of a silly vanity or a morbid craving. And the extrav-
agant people in this country are not all working people ; those
who never earned a cent in their lives are apt to be utterly
unprincipled in their use of money; young people in school
and college, and the idle and dangerous classes who inhabit the
avenues and throng the watering places, very often exhibit a
plentiful lack of intelligence and conscience in their dealings
with money. The reckless use of money is characteristic of
Americans ; in no land is it gained so easily; in no land is it
flung away so profusely. Our young people early become
addicted to this vice of extravagance ; it is a vice by which
myriads are ruined.

Money furnishes a constant test of character. He who uses
it wisely ; who spends it when he ought to spend it and saves
it when he ought to save it ; who gets money's worth for it, in
the truest sense, when he parts with it, and makes it always
serve his highest interests, to him money is an unspeakable
good. In spending money rationally many of your best powers
come into play, your foresight, your judgment, your conscience,
your benevolence.

Give one young man a thousand dollars a year to spend, and
he will gain largely by the expenditure. In the first place he
will have something precious and permanent in the way of
material possessions to show for it at the end of the year good
books, choice pictures, useful furniture, and, perhaps, certain

431

USE AND ABUSE OF MONEY.

instruments of culture, such as microscopes or natural history
specimens, by which his future improvement will be assisted.
But this is the smallest part of his gain. He has accustomed
himself, day by day, to use his judgment in buying or in refus-
ing to buy; in considering what was needful and judicious
expenditure ; his will has gained firmness ; his moral sense has
been educated in resisting temptation ; in every way his char-
acter has been solidified and broadened. The value of this
kind of discipline is quite beyond estimation. It is by just such
a regimen that the sturdy virtues are nourished and confirmed.

Give another young man one thousand dollars a year to
spend, and he will lose heavily by the expenditure. At the end
of the year he will have nothing left to show for his money
except a few partly worn garments, swiftly going out of fash-
ion, and a few valueless trinkets ; his money has gone for liv-
ery bills and suppers and cigars and theater tickets and all sorts
of fooleries ; he has been ruled, in all this outlay, not by his
reason and his judgment, but by his appetites, his vanities, his
lower cravings ; every day he has known that the money was
going foolishly, and he has cursed himself for making such
improvident and unproductive use of it ; and these weak self-
indulgences have steadily lowered his self-respect and con-
fused his judgment and enfeebled his will. Let me tell you,
young men, that there is a great deal of manhood to be gained
or lost in the spending of your money!

The duty and discipline of saving is a more familiar theme
to you ; you get well lectured about that, and some of you need
all you get, and more. The importance of keeping your ex-
penses within your income and of accumulating thus, by your
prudence, some capital for business and some reserves for a
rainy day all this is not to be gainsaid. You ought to be sav-
ing something every year ; and if you do not begin now there
is danger that you never will begin. The habit of living up to
and beyond his income is a habit that grows on a man ; and it
makes little difference whether his income is one dollar a day
or ten dollars a day; the man who spends the whole of the

USE AND ABUSE OF MONEY.

smaller sum will, in nine cases out of ten, spend the whole of
the larger sum when he gets it, and run in debt in the bargain.
The habit of saving is one that you ought to form at once ; and
there is good discipline in that, as you have often been told.

But I want you to see that there is also good discipline to be
gained in spending money ; in wisely using it, as well as in
keeping it. You can buy with a small income, if you know
how to handle it, something better than rubies, something more
precious than fine gold, yea, durable riches and righteousness.

There is only one word to add. The right use of money
implies not only prudence and economy, but also benevolence.
No man in this world rightly liveth unto himself. Money is
power, and all power is for service. Every man is under obli-
gation to use his money not only productively but also benefi-
cently. Some of your best gains will come through giving.
No man gets more money's worth for what he spends than he
who knows that his outlay has gone to relieve suffering, or to
give help and comfort and happiness to his fellow men. If you
never spend any money except for your own benefit unless
you can see that it is coming back to yourself in some form of
personal satisfaction your money will be a curse to you, I care
not how you get it. So far as your own soul is concerned, you
might just as well be a miser and hoard it all, as to spend it all,
no matter how shrewdly, and put no love into the spending.

433 28

Dangers of Ricties.

PROF. A. S. WRIGHT, A.M., School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio.

T would be interesting to know just what our over-sea
visitors of last summer now think of us. Are we still
parvenus ? Is Dives, proud of his bank account and his
showily furnished house, still the typical American citizen ?
Possibly our friends have gleaned some new facts during their
summer outing. They may have learned that there are more
than five thousand public libraries in the United States, that
the best English works are more widely read here in proportion
to the population than in the mother country, that our average
citizen is more intelligent than the average Englishman, French-
man, or German. As they gazed upon that dream of the ages
by the lake-side, they may have realized that aesthetic taste,
nobility of conception, poetry of soul, were qualities not alien
to the American spirit ; at the meetings of the Congress of
Religions, they may have perceived that other divinities than
Mammon claim some measure of our homage.

And yet, in the seclusion of our homes, we will admit to our
foreign friend that our rapid acquisition of wealth has not
exercised an altogether salutary influence upon individual or
national character.

That simplicity which was the proud distinction of New
England life is no more. Walthen Fiirst, the type of the true
Swiss nobleman, naively remarks : "Why, soon we shall need to
put lock and bolt upon our doors." Few of us would care to
return to the time when there was nothing in the house worth
stealing ; many of us regret that so many burglar alarms are
necessary. We with modest incomes are quite willing to change
the style of our hats, the hats we now buy wear out, but

[CHAPTEB88.] 434

DANGERS OP RICHES.

furniture, no! Wealth has created false standards, false tastes.
Many a youth of the avenue wastes enough annually on his
shoes to add a fine section to his library, a fine collection to his
natural history museum : alack ! this youth has neither library
nor museum. The Harvard student spends five times as much
as the Leipsic student; the latter is fivefold more enthusiastic
in his search of knowledge. Books rather than rugs is his
principle; ours, rugs first, books if the money lasts. Money-
worship destroys the scientific spirit. Science like religion will
have none but pure devotees. The American boy's first question
is : " What will it cost? " his second: " What will it sell for ? "
The study for which his natural gifts best fit him, which will
broaden his mind, stimulate his emotional nature, quicken his
spiritual faculties, is spurned for one which is practical, which
has a market value. Scientific research demanding self-sacri-
fice, the study of the humanities which liberalize and strengthen,
are abandoned for cash and trash studies. The business college
supplants the college of liberal arts. Such students, called
possibly, later, men of science, are in fact bookkeepers. The
skill they possess, they sell as their butcher sells meat.

The criticism of Buckle in his "History of Civilization,"
that while "the average intelligence of the American people is
above that of any other people, America has fewer first-rate
scholars than any other nation," is a just one, and the reason
therefor is the utilitarian spirit of our land and time. Inventors,
it is said, seldom reap the financial fruit of their labors. Let us
hope that the time may come when they will not care to do so,
when great humanitarian purpose may be the motive spring of
intellectual effort, when the joy of noble thought and noble
accomplishment may seem reward that richly rewards.

It is to be feared, too, that the greed for riches is gradually
destroying those finer emotional and spiritual qualities which
are our best gifts. Mr. Sydney G. Fisher in a recent number of
the Forum has pointed to the fact that nearly all of our great
writers Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, Hawthorne, Poe, Emer-
son, Irving, Prescott, Motley, Lowell, Holmes, Channing, Tay-

435

DANGERS OF RICHES.

lor were born before 1825. He has sought an explanation in
the decline of a national spirit caused by immigration. Doubt-
less immigration has been hostile to the growth of literature. But
literature certainly that of poetry, romance, oratory, philoso-
phy is a child of nature. It must breathe pure air; that of the
mart stifles it. Wall street furnishes no inspiration to the poet.
Poetry and spirituality are freeborn. They bear their own
reward. Goethe has beautifully expressed the thought in his
poem, ''The Bard." The bard, who has just sung his most soulful
melody in presence of king and courtier, refuses the chain of
gold offered by the king. Handing back the precious gift he
exclaims :

"I sing as sings the bird

That in the branches dwelleth,
The song itself, its own reward,
From deepest soul it welleth."

ITo nation can afford to lose its ideals. Our republic was
born of a noble thought, was cradled in an atmosphere of
liberty and religion, gained the strength of youth through deeds
of self-sacrifice. The best heritage of our people is its love of
truth. Truth sits enthroned in man and nature; back of both
is the Divine. Science, literature, music, sculpture, painting,
are the outward expression of an inner soul. In touch with
the Divine man grows divine. Our best gifts are intellect and
soul both divine. If we cultivate them, we receive the best
rewards. The aesthetic grows only in contact with nature, the
intellectual in contact with men of thought and books of
thought, the spiritual in contact with God.

To barter the music and poetry of the soul for a chain of
gold is ignoble. The chain will fetter to earth. Mammon is
a mundane spirit. Listen to the poet:

" Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From heaven ; for even in heaven his look and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed
In vision beatific."

436

DANGER OF RICHES.

Neither intellectual, emotional, nor spiritual enjoyment has
any cash value. The great danger of wealth is that it tends to
dry up the springs of pure enjoyment. The stagnation or de-
terioration is gradual and insidious as is the loss of physical
power. The intellect starves, the emotions wither, the spiritual
nature dies. The possible giant becomes a pigmy. Awakening
there is none ; the dead emotions are never resurrected. The
immortal has put on mortality.

437

Giving Enriches the Giver.

A. M. HAGGARD, A.M., Ex-President Oskaloosa College, Iowa.

TWENTY years ago, in a Wisconsin town, two boys were
schoolmates. One was from a poor family; the other
from a family more fortunate. The principal of the
academy had suggested the organization of a cricket club.
Both boys were very active in the various committees of prep-
aration. In due time the first game was called, the captains
were "choosing up." Frank chose Fred, who had not signed
the constitution because he was unable to pay the prescribed
fee. Frank had paid his dues, and entered his name as a mem-
ber, but Fred would not believe it until the book was shown
him. The boys are now men. Fred declares that nothing in
all his life ever made a deeper impression on his heart. What
will he not do for Frank? He would cross the continent at his
call. He would, risk health and life itself for his friend. He
would do for Frank's children what David did for the son of
Jonathan, his deceased friend. What has Frank gained? In
Fred he has an account upon which he can draw unlimited
drafts; a bank where no draft will be dishonored; a balance
which can never be overdrawn.

This is but one incident from one life. How poor and barren
most lives would be without such deeds! Strike out the gain of
giving, and you destroy the core of history, the soul of oratory,
the beauties of literature, the glories of poetry and song, the
heroism of patriotism, the divinity of religion, and the hope of
eternity.

He who wins the choicest gains of life must give. This is
THE LAW. It is written upon the face of a world of dead mat-

CCHAPTEB 89.] . 438

GIVING ENRICHES THE GIVER.

ter. The crude, unsightly carbon must give itself upon the rack
of nature's secret inquisition, if it would shine in diamond
beauty, or adorn a royal crown. It is written upon the pages
of living matter. The seed cannot refuse the darkness and
decay of its field sepulcher and yet receive the enrichment of
a glorious harvest. . We cannot avoid the cross and yet wear
the crown.

It is written in God's Word, " Give and it shall be given
unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and
running over." God himself honors this law by filling it full.
He is the giver of that " unspeakable gift "; the giver of all
good; the giver of all givers. All across the wide, wide sweep
from the dust of the ground to the throne and heart of God,
this law reads always the same, Giving is gain.

Is it right for the giver to think of his gains through giving?
Does not such thought color his giving with selfishness? Jesus
of Nazareth not only harbored such thoughts but was borne up
thereon as by eagle's wings. " For the joy set before him he
endured the cross and despised the shame." It is not wrong; it
is not selfish. " God loveth a cheerful giver," and it is good to
think on that love. It is good to know that " whosoever shall
give to drink * * * * a cup of cold water only in the name
of a disciple * * * * shall in no wise lose his reward."

Unselfish Giving is not a giving devoid of self. To eliminate
self from giving is as impossible as to eliminate the glory of
God from the universe he has made. What then is selfish giv-
ing? It is the wrong adjustment of self. It may be so placed
as to help, or destroy. Make the centripetal force predominant
and you destroy not only the orbits but the planets themselves.
Subordinate this force and you lay the foundations of the starry
dome, and fill the universe with order and law. In like manner,
self made predominant renders true giving impossible. Self
subordinated is incense upon glowing coals. The gift without
the giver never filled the temple of the soul with the precious
aroma of love. No holy place, no high priest in royal robes, no
golden censer though enriched with diamonds, can atone for

439

GIVING ENRICHES THE GIVER.

the absence of incense, and that incense is self rightly placed,
self subordinated or sacrificed.

" He gives no gift who gives to me

Things rich and rare,
Unless within the gift he give
Of self some share.

" He gives no gift who gives to me

Silver or gold,

If but to make his own heart glad ;
Such gift is cold.

" He gives me gifts most rich and rare

Who gives to me,
Out of the riches of his heart,
True sympathy.

4 " He gives best gifts who, giving naught

Of worldly store,

Gives me his friendship, love, and trust.
I ask no more."

Laura Harvey in Demorest's,

In giving the benefit may be transferred in many appropriate
forms. That form which first recurs to most minds is money or
property. At present there is manifest a wave of benevolence.
The endowment of educational institutions, the furthering of
benevolent enterprises, and the enlarging of missionary under-
takings is characteristic of this quarter of our century. Our
multi-millionaires are doing themselves credit in these fields.
A host of men and women of smaller means are adopting the
ten per cent, rule in their giving. Personal inquiry, well
directed, will surprise many readers; first, at the number vol-
untarily practicing this method; and, next, at the wide range
of condition covered by these givers, some being very limited
in means; and, in the third place, at their testimony in answer
to our proposition, "Does giving enrich the giver?" If you
have never had communion with these witnesses, gain it at
once. Or, better yet, try the method for yourself. It is an
inspiration to meet a nineteenth century business man who

440

GIVING ENRICHES THE GIVER.

puts into his ledgers the faith of the prophets and the fervent
zeal of the reformers. Such can tell of gain through giving as
no man can write it. The shadow of such persons is sufficient
to make one feel that " it is more blessed to give than to receive."

But money is by no means essential to giving. In fact, cash
values often dwindle into utter insignificance in the greater
giving. Money is powerless in the expression of such a gift as
Arnold von Winkelried gave to Switzerland and to the cause of
freedom. The blood of our Revolutionary fathers, and the more
precious blood of Christ, are valuable beyond the expression of
figures and dollar marks. Who has not known some one, per-
haps an elder sister, naturally talented, who has given up her
classes and her prospective college course with everything
which usually inspires young womanhood, in order to care for
a large family of motherless brothers and sisters? Thus to
grow old and go alone down life's further slope is often the
divinest giving. Did not James A. Garfield receive from an
elder brother such a gift? And if so, which is now the richer? In
home life, in social and political circles, and in the business
world are mines of wealth which open to none but the true
giver. Darkness can find its way to the sun more readily than
the selfish heart to these gold mines of God.

One more question, What proportion exists between a gift
and its recompense? It is the ratio between Paul's "light
afflictions for a moment," and his " eternal weight of glory."
It is the ratio between a few cheering words one dark night
spoken on the street, and John B. Gough as he is known and as
he is yet to appear. It is the ratio between three-sixteenths of
one cent, and that place here and hereafter given by. God's
books to the widow who cast in the two mites. It is a godlike
ratio. It is clothed in his infinity.

441

True Magnanimity.

REV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

]Uf AGNANIMITY is sufficiently defined by its name. Lit-
/y I erally it means "greatness of mind." And that is just
A 1 what it is capaciousness of mind and of heart. It
may properly be regarded, therefore, not merely as a
single virtue but rather as a state of mind out of which all the
virtues grow. It is a spirit to do and to bear great things. It
bears trials without sinking beneath them, faces danger and
death without flinching; can smile benignly on the face of a foe
and rejoice in a rival's success; is serene under great provoca-
tions, and endures with a steadfast heart both perils and priva-
tions for the sake of great principles and the common good.

One of the finest descriptions of a magnanimous man to be
found in all literature is Emerson's brief characterization of
Abraham Lincoln : "His heart was as great as the world, but
there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong."

It is in our treatment of those who have done us wrong that
our magnanimity, or the lack of it, most conspicuously appears.
The magnanimous man bears no grudges, does not enter in the
ledger of memory an account of injuries or slights received,
but takes a generous view of all enemies, adversaries, and
competitors.

Cotton Mather was wont to say he did not know of any per-
son in the world who had done him an ill turn but he had done
him a good one for it.

Pericles, the renowned Athenian, was once waited upon by
a scurrilous fellow who reviled him to his face. As he was
leaving, Pericles called a servant and told him to take a lamp
and show the man the way home.

r CHAPTER 90.] 442

TRUE MAGNANIMITY.

Magnanimity towards friends is touching and beautiful, but
towards enemies it is sublime. There is a spiritual grandeur
about it that shows man at his best. The union of lofty self-
control and self-sacrifice which it displays is the thing that
impresses us.

In the Franco-Prussian war a French soldier was brought
into the operating room of *he hospital at Metz with a fearfully
shattered hand. The chloroform had begun to give out, and
the local druggists had tried in vain to make it. "Well, my
friend," says the surgeon, " we shall have to have a bit of an
operation. Would you like to be made insensible?" "Yes. I
have suffered so much all night that I don't think I could
stand it."

"Are you particular about it?" asked the surgeon.

" Why, is that stuff scarce now that puts you to sleep? "

" We have scarcely any left."

The brave fellow reflected a moment, then replied, " Keep it
for those who have arms and legs to be taken off, but be
quick." He stuffed his cravat in his mouth, lay down, and
held out his hand. "Did it hurt much?" said the surgeon,
when the operation was over. " Oh, yes; but what can you
do? We poor fellows must help one another."

The classic instance of this kind is that of Sir Philip Sid-
ney. Sidney was the contemporary of Shakespeare, Bacon,
Ben Jonson, and other brilliant lights of the Elizabethan era.
He was admired for his learning and genius, the friend of the
queen, the favorite of the court and of the camp. But he is
best known and endeared to posterity by the fact that as he
lay dying on the battlefield in Flanders and his attendants
brought water to cool his fevered lips, he bade them give it to a
soldier stretched on the ground beside him, saying, "Thy
necessity is greater than mine." Nothing is so regal in man as
magnanimity. Man is likest God when he is magnanimous.

Every man should vigorously strive to cultivate this tran-
quil self-control, this breadth of mind and heart, which are the
main elements of magnanimity. One of the best ways of doing

443

TRUE MAGNANIMITY.

so is to familiarize yourself with the lives and deeds of the
heroes of the world. Walk down the aisles of history in the
company of the great and good and you will catch something
of their spirit, on the principle that " he that walketh with wise
men shall be wise."

Without a measure of magnanimity a man is in a fair way
to become a wretched self -tormentor as he grows old. He will
be narrowed by selfishness, soured by envy, and crushed by
the disappointments of life.

The magnanimous man like the contented man has in him-
self a continual feast. He can say:

" My mind to me a kingdom is ;

Such present joys therein I find,
That it excels all other bliss

That earth affords or grows by kind.
Though much I want that most would have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave."

444

F*erils of Success.

it. -

REV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

1 . IE have not the slightest expectation of saying anything
lAj on this subject that will have one feather's weight of

^ influence in deterring anyone from striving to attain
success. Whatever its perils, they will eagerly be braved for
the sake of reaching the shining goal. All risks will be run if
only the coveted prize may be grasped.

What do we mean by success? What would probably be
the reply of four out of every five men whom you should meet
on the street if suddenly asked what they understood success
to be? They would say success consists in gaining wealth, or
at least a competence. This, of course, is not the highest idea
of success, but it is the current idea. The age is materialistic,
and success like everything else is estimated in terms of dollars
and cents. Such being the case we shall take success in the
present chapter to mean simply becoming rich or becoming
eminent, either in business or in professional life, as the case
may be.

In this acceptation of the term, then, what are some of the
perils of success? They are by no means visionary. Though,
perhaps, not so obvious as the dangers attending failure they
are none the less real.

I. There is the danger of pride. As Dr. Robert South very
pithily puts it: "Who is there whose heart does not swell
with his money-bag, and whose thoughts do not follow the
proportions of his condition? What a difference sometimes
in the same man poor and preferred! His mind like a mush-
room has shot up in a night. His first business is to forget

[ CHAPTER 91. ] 445

PERILS OF SUCCESS.

himself, then his friends. When the sun shines the peacock
displays his train."

The peril of prosperity is that it is very apt to make a man
"think more highly of himself than he ought to think."
Addison has said, "'Tis not in mortals to command success,"
but the successful man is prone to forget this, and to take all
the credit of his success to himself. He fails to make sufficient
allowance for favoring circumstances, for the element of
chance, or luck in business, or for a smiling Providence. As
Nebuchadnezzar at the height of his prosperity and pride said,
" Is not this great Babylon which I have built by the might of
my power and for the glory of my majesty?" so the prosper-
ous man to-day is apt to give the pronoun " I " a large place in
his conversation. His thoughts are likely to be filled with him-
self, with what he has, and what he has done more than others.
Such a man is apt to stop his ears to the entrance of reproof or
advice. A man of his capabilities is too wise to need the assist-
ance of another's wisdom. The wealthier a man is the wiser he
is in his own conceit. Thus prosperity begets pride, and suc-
cess gives birth to a feeling of self-sufficiency.

II. Another peril of success is that of failing to make a right
use of it. The danger attending all good things is that they
will be abused and so become evil things. Money always brings
with it the possibility of its misuse. The sudden accession of
wealth, therefore, is a perilous thing for a man unless he is
under the power and guidance of high moral principles.
He will be tempted merely to hoard it or use it for himself, to
think his one business now is to enjoy his wealth and not to do
good with it, to take his ease and pamper himself instead of
making himself helpful to society. How many men of pros-
perity to-day stand surrounded by persons and objects on which
they might bestow their wealth with the greatest advantage to
giver as well as receiver, yet they give not. The idea that
wealth should be held and administered for the necessities of
the world never seems to have entered their minds. Poverty
and suffering, the cause of education, religious enterprise and

446

PERILS OF SUCCESS.

many other claimants stand around them stretching out their
hands in mute appeal, but they either do not see or, seeing, heed
them not.

The late George W. Childs of Philadelphia, so well known
for his splendid generosity, tells in a volume of recollections pub-
lished some time before his death, that during the war he asked
a very rich man to contribute some money to a certain relief
fund. The wealthy man shook his head and said: "Childs, I
can't give you anything. I have worked too hard for my
money." Mr. Childs goes on to say that being generous grows
on a person just as being mean does, that he himself had
worked hard for his money, but always gave in proportion as
his ability to give increased, until he found his greatest pleasure
in doing good to others.

They that are strong, whether physically, mentally, 01
financially, are strong not for themselves alone, but ought tc
share the burdens of the weak. As Shakespeare has said:

" Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own. . . .
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves."

The successful man is in danger of forgetting this. When
lifted up to a point of prosperity above his fellows he is apt to
think that it is that he may shine for his own sake, and not
like the sun, for the necessities of the world.

III. Our limited space will allow the mention of only one
more peril attending success, and that is, that in attaining it a
man is liable to stunt and dwarf himself. Competition to-day
is so keen, the struggle to " get on" is so intense, that a man
who goes into business with the purpose of succeeding must go
into it over head and ears. The absorbing and feverish devo-
tion which business exacts to-day as the price of success is a
serious menace to the highest life of the nation or of individ-
uals. In gaining success it may be questioned whether a man
does not lose more than he gains. A recent able writer has

447

PERILS OF SUCCESS.

said: "The world is full of men who are atrophied on every
side except that through which they are gaining their daily
bread men who have sacrificed to success about everything
that makes life worth living." They have no time for books,
no time to bring their souls into contact with the best that has
been thought and done in the world, no time for travel, no time
for friends, no time for religion, no time even for the sweet
amenities of home. Their interests are narrowed, their souls
are warped and crippled by thinking of only one order of facts,
which order is summed up in the word "business." If the
time comes for such men to retire from business they find they
have nothing to retire to. Literature, science, religious and
philanthropic interests have now no charm or refreshment for
them. In the fierce struggle for success the door has been
closed that opens upon these fair realms, and now the key can-
not be found, or, if found, is so rusty it cannot be used. It is
easy for us to see the reason underlying the fact to which Pres-
ident Eliot refers in his address on "The Disadvantages of
Present Rich Men," when he says: "I observe that the life
of the rich man who has got his money and is a little out of
the struggle to get it, becomes dull, monotonous, and unin-
teresting."

Success in scientific or professional life is likely to be accom-
panied by the same narrowing process. The case of Darwin,
the eminent naturalist, may here be cited, who about the age of
thirty lost all pleasure in art, music, and poetry. Shakespeare
became so intolerably dull that it nauseated him. " My mind,"
he says, "seems to have become a kind of machine for grind-
ing general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this
should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone
on which the higher tasks depend, I cannot conceive." It may
well be questioned whether in very many cases the price
exacted for such success is not more than anyone can afford
to pay.

448

The Whirlpool of Commerce.

REV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

Q1MERCE is a wide word. In its broadest acceptation it
ncludes every kind of trade or business, from that of the
importer of silks and laces to that of the tin-peddler.
Wherever there is an exchange of one commodity for another,
or for money, there is commerce.

The origin of commerce is not far to seek. It was born of
men's necessities. One man had that which another wanted,
and for which he had something to give in exchange. From
this want on one side and the spirit of accommodation or of
acquisitiveness on the other sprang trade or commerce.

To-day trading has become the great business of the world.
Man is a trading animal. He takes to trading like a duck to
water. If he has no other commodity to dispose of, he will trade
jack-knives with his next neighbor.

The object of all trade to-day, of course, is gain. No man
would embark in any business enterprise without the hope of
reaping some profit from it. And when a man is once fairly
engaged in business it is astonishing how seductive it becomes.
The appetite for trading grows by what it feeds on. From
small beginnings a man is tempted to branch out indefinitely
until he soon comes to have more on his hands than he can
comfortably handle; and at last his whole life and thought
have to be surrendered to commercial transactions and the
making of money. Hence we see the fitness of the title of this
chapter. Commerce is like a whirlpool. The danger that
besets a man is that he will be drawn deeper and deeper into
the whirling vortex of trade, until his business, which should
be a means to an end, becomes an end in itself.

[CHAPTBB 92.1 449 29

THE WHIRLPOOL OF COMMERCE.

Said a young business man to the writer not a great while
ago: "I almost envy you your opportunities for study and
thought upon high themes. I dislike to be obliged to think
incessantly about money-getting. But once in you can't get
out."

A man begins by making a little. It seems very easy.
Straightway his ambition enlarges. The thought presently
floats into his mind, "Why am not I one of those born to be
millionaires?" At first a few thousands would have satisfied
him, now nothing less than hundreds of thousands will do.

If a man is doing a business of $50,000 per annum at five per
cent, he thinks he might increase it to $100,000, and so double
his profits. Or if he is doing a $100,000 business he aspires to
do a $200,000 business, or if a $200,000 business nothing short of
8500,000 will satisfy him. Accordingly he borrows capital,
enlarges his plant, employs extra help, puts additional drum-
mers on the road, and by every means endeavors to double his
sales. But he soon finds that to keep his enlarged plant
running he must offer his goods, or bid for contracts, at a
lower figure than formerly. This, coupled with the additional
cost of maintaining the larger plant, cuts into his profits; and
so it comes to pass that many men find after doubling their
sales they have only increased their cares, but have not
materially increased their profits. Inordinate ambition to do
a big business and get rich quickly wrecks a great many
men both physically and financially. Better a small, old-
fashioned business with some leisure, contentment, and peace
of mind, than a big business with anxiety, excitement, wakeful
nights, and nervous collapse.

Not content with a rapid extension of their own business,
men, in their eagerness to make money, are too easily seduced
into side ventures. They are induced to put a little money
into this enterprise and a little into that. Notwithstanding that
for every one that grows rich by mere speculation a hundred
are made poorer, yet men will invest hopefully in the most
doubtful ventures.

450

THE WHIRLPOOL OP COMMERCE.

One thing a young man should do early in his Dusiness
career is to resolve to steer clear of a life of speculation.
It brings demoralization and ruin to thousands. Moreover,
if he is wise he will think twice before investing the profits
of his own business in outside enterprises of which he has
no personal knowledge. The Honorable William Whiting,
one of the most successful business men in Western Massa-
chusetts, a man of wide experience and observation, in a
recent article on "Business Failures " has these words: "The
man does best in the long run who sticks to his own business,
is chary of outside responsibilities and schemes, and invests
his surplus that must go outside safely at six per cent."

In conclusion: A man had far better make less money
than become so involved in business that he can think of
nothing else, and at last break down of nervous worry.
Beware of the tyranny of trade. Beware of its tightening
hold upon your spirit. Trade so as to become more of a man
thereby, and not less. The commercial world is a splendid
arena for the development of manhood. Men make trade,
but trade also makes men. But alas! for one that is made
by it five allow themselves to be unmade or marred by it.
See to it that commerce does not cramp your soul, nor crush
out the nobler sentiments. See that it leaves no disfiguring
marks upon you after you have done with it forever. Give
manhood the supremacy. Keep business subordinate. Remem-
ber the Frenchman's epitaph: " He was born a man, and died
a grocer."

451

Gamblers and. Gambling.

REV. H. 0. BREEDEN, LL.D., Editor Christian Worker, Des Moines, Iowa.

I HE spirit of gambling, like the terrible breath of a noisome
pestilence, pervades society. It is the blighting curse of
^ modern American life even as it was the bane of English
society in its halcyon days. Charles James Fox, and even
Wilberforce, did not escape it. From the palatial mansion
of the wealthy gambler in the chamber of commerce, to the
thoughtless if not unprincipled young man that throws dice at
the cigar counter; from the "bookmaker" at the fashionable
club race track, to the ragged, smutty urchin who flips coppers
in a back alley, the gambling spirit is the same, and the gam-
blers are identical, save in raiment and acumen, unless, indeed,
we attribute to the first mentioned, a much larger degree of
moral turpitude.

The genus gambler is a hydra-headed monster. In his vulgar
trappings, he is the common " three card monte man " who
traps the unwary at county fairs, or on railway trains ; or the
roulette and faro manipulator in gilded dens whom everybody
looks upon as a dangerous foe to society, and a dethroner of
morality. He appears to be what he is, and is what he appears
to be. The professional gambler is under the ban of society.
He receives no sympathy from the community. His gambling
is not respectable ; it is outlawed. His work has its penalty.

But the gambler presents another head. He is not now the
ignoble, "outlawed professional," but the "speculator in com-
merce." He is clothed in "purple and fine linen." The ordi-
nary gambler, who advertises his profession, is put off the

[CHATTER 93.1 452

GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING.

"smoker," while the gambler in stocks and grain rides on a
pass in a Pullman palace car. Justice is blindfold when the
"monte man" is before her. His offense is indictable; but
when the board of trade " angel" appears, she lifts the blind,
sees who it is, and lets him pass.

The common gambler observes a strict code of honor that
spurns the use of " loaded dice," but the commercial gambler
congratulates himself on shrewdness in receiving "points " that
enable him to "corner" the market on breadstuff s.

But the monster exhibits another head, and now he is a " pool
gambler." He is an accessory of the race course and the base-
ball diamond, since these offer an arena for his cupidity and
love of excitement. Last year he paid one hundred and seventy-
five thousand dollars for the "exclusive" bookmaking privilege
at the Washington Park races in Chicago. The race track and
its adjunct, the city pool room, is probably the second most
formidable and dangerous institution in America to-day. Its
legitimate offsprings are deceit, concealment, forgery, embez-
zlement, and theft. Young men steal their employers' money
to bet on the races ; young girls sell their virtue for money to
wager and for " tips." Married women leave their families and
rob their husbands at the bidding of the " pool." It is a verita-
ble "Pandora's box. from which issue all moral evils and social
disasters, only hope is not in the box."

Still another form of the gambler appears, this time in the
drawing room, arrayed in richest gowns, cut decollete and
bedecked with jewels or clad in evening " full dress." He is
now the society gambler. Cards, notwithstanding their bad
history and evil associations, are his instruments. Progressive
euchre and sometimes poker are his games. It is not money
he seeks now, but excitement and the indulgence of a passion.
The prizes are offered only to add spice to the diversion, just as
opium in the cigarette, or the salacious and libidinous in the
modern theatrical performance, " the spice of hell." Some-
times he tries to hoodwink the uninitiated into believing that
playing for " prizes " is not gambling. But the strongest moral

453

GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING.

microscope ever known, will fail to discover the least difference
between them. In the drawing room, at the fashionable even-
ing party, a young man receives his initial lessons, and a passion
is called forth and developed which demands gratification.
Indulge it he must even though it takes him among vilest asso-
ciates and into most disreputable places. The downfall and
utter ruin of many an otherwise noble young man dates its
beginning from the decisive hour when he was seduced by the
mistress of some elegant home into playing progressive euchre
in the social circle.

But the gambler sometimes enters the sacred portals of the
church, clothed as an "angel of light," and opens up his para-
phernalia at the church fair or bazar, directing a "raffle" or
organizing a "lottery." He often deceives the "very elect"
with the specious plea that the end sanctifies the means, and
the holy place transforms the "creature." A hog, of animals
most unclean to a Mohammedan, strayed into a mosque and
polluted the temple, driving the priests almost wild with con-
sternation. But one, shrewder than the rest, solved the difficulty
on the spot. The temple was so holy that when the hog crossed
its threshold it was transformed into a pure and innocent lamb.
Even so the animal they call a "tiger," in his lair down in the
tough district of the city, undergoes a radical if not "miracu-
lous" change and becomes a sportive, stainless lamb, "when
Mary leads it into the church."

The church that tolerates, for the sake of filling its coffers
with dishonorable dollars, the unhallowed methods of the lottery
and raffle, deserves the curse of God and man. It is an ecclesi-
astical gambling den and ought to be dealt with as such. It is
more " a school of vice, and instructor of incipient gamblers,
an apologist for immorality," than a church of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

Gambling is associated with and followed by a whole brood
of dire evils and flaunting vices. It provokes the thirst for
strong drink. The terrible reaction of an exciting " winning,"
or a destructive and heavy "loss," calls for a stimulant; this

454

GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING.

"enemy in the mouth" not only dissipates depression, but
" steals away the brains," and goads its unreasoning victim to
return to the gaming table. It not only calls for stimulants but
entraps its victims in other meshes. The gambling hell and the
variety theater are mutual supports. The saloon, the " tiger's
lair," and the brothel constitute the devil's vile trinity of breed-
ing and nesting holes of sin and vice in protean forms. Gam-
bling is not only a menace to, but a withering blight upon, the
home. When it becomes a rooted passion in the heart, there is
no room for the flowers of domestic joy and peace. The " fires
of all the finer feelings become embers " upon the hearthstone of
the home which contains a devotee of the ''black art."

It has been said that a woman can forgive her husband a
hundred libations on the altar of the jolly Bacchus or the blind
god of fortune with vastly more ease than one foul sacrifice at
the polluted shrine of lustful Venus. But women should under-
stand that in seven cases out of ten, virtue is first dethroned,
the will made weak, and passion strong by slavery to gambling
and drink. Why is it that gambling has obtained such a foot-
hold in American life and flourishes almost unhindered, in its
terrible sway from palace to hovel, from plutocrat to pauper?
Because nearly everybody believes in it. It is certainly within
bounds to say that the real root of the difficulty in suppressing
this evil is that a great many people in our best society and in
our churches are not convinced that there is anything really
wrong in gambling. They ask, "Is it not lawful for me to do
whatsoever I will with my own?" The answer from a moral
standpoint should be most emphatically " No." In small mat-
ters as in great, a man is only a trustee of the property he calls
his own, and his title is only valid when he uses it equally for
his own good and that of his fellow man. He is not at liberty
to appropriate his own property to useless and malevolent ends,
to waste it foolishly, much less to use it for promoting vice.
No man has a natural right to stake one penny upon a game of
chance, no more than he has the right to take the loaf of bread
which at the time he does not want, and tread it in the mire in

455

GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING.

the presence of a hungry child. But gambling is intrinsically
evil and only evil. The indictment against it is fourfold.

First It fosters belief in luck and chance and superstition.
It offers a premium upon witchcraft and voodooism.

Second It insults labor and destroys motives to honest
industry. The young man who won one hundred dollars on the
races by risking only one dollar, or the servant girl who drew
fifty dollars by a lottery ticket for which she paid but fifty cents,
are both now thoroughly disgusted with the slow and conserva-
tive but honest methods of earning a living. "Why work
like a slave for fifty dollars or twenty dollars per month
when one can win twice that sum in an afternoon ? " The first
winning of a young man constitutes the most unfortunate
event in life, for it weakens all laudable ambition to achieve
success on skill, merit, and economy as a business man. It
begins in a desperate attempt to get something for nothing, and
usually results in getting nothing for something.

Third It corrupts the whole manhood, and prostitutes the
noblest faculties of the soul to basest uses. Its poison is
insidious.

Once in the system, like malaria, it chills and fevers and
unfits for life and shatters the constitution. It begins by demor-
alizing the powers of application. It then spoils men for the
plain duties and rational enjoyments of' everyday life. It blunts
the sense of right, until the gambler comes to regard the most
sacred things, even the manhood of man, and the virtue of
woman, as purchasable. It feeds the passion for nervous excite-
ment by bringing together the greatest number of demoralizing
stimulants. These are intensified as the stakes increase, and
the habit grows until a desperate mania, or a horrible insanity,
robs character of purpose, piety, and purity, and brings the end
of a blasted life.

It is the unanimous testimony of ministers of the gospel that
it is far more difficult to lead a man who has become infatuated
with the gambling mania to a life of uprightness and virtue
than to lead a drunkard from his cups.

456

GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING.

The wretched man upon whose soul the powers of darkness
have secured a mortgage in the game of chance will leave his
family in semi-starvation, even in sickness unto death, and
hasten like a moth to the candle of destruction.

Fourth But the chief indictment against it is written in a
very old book, in the words, " Thou shalt not steal." There
are two possible ways by which one may get money or property
from another honestly. First, he may receive it as a gift.
Second, he may render an equivalent. The gambler who
acquires money by purchasing a chance in the "pool" by a
wager, a raffle, or securing a " prize," gets it in neither of these
ways. He has simply won it. The money lost, is lost contrary
to the desire, design, and therefore to the proper consent of the
persons losing it. And the winner holds it by no better right
according to the interpretation of strict morality than the thief
or robber.

Gambling leads directly to dishonesty. The connection
between gambling and stealing is so natural and intimate that
prudent business men refuse to employ gamblers in positions of
responsibility. There are indications that a thoughtful and con-
scientious people are taking steps looking toward the suppression
of this measureless evil. Great Britain has recently formed an
anti-gambling league, and courageous leaders of Christian
thought, and molders of moral sentiment, in New York city
have projected a " National Anti-Gambling Society " for the
protection of the young and the manhood of America.

When once the American people realize the enormity of this
sin, they will drive it from the land with the besom of destruc-
tion. In the mean time it is the imperative duty of the press,
pulpit, and platform, to agitate.

May the agitation go on and increase in volume and velocity
until the reign of devils is summarily cut short until this cloud,
one of the darkest that ever dropped over the earth's fair face,
is lifted and dispersed.

457

Wrecks of Wall Street.

PROF. E. T. TYNDALL, Editor Daily News, Philadelphia.

ONE of the most fascinating spots in this country, and espe-
cially in New York city, for the young speculator, is on
the floor of Wall street stock exchange. Although each
day new additions are made to the numbers of wrecked
fortunes and blasted lives, yet each succeeding day adds new
plungers to the list. This alluring den occupies a large portion
of the block bounded by Broad, Wall, and New streets, and
Exchange place. When the excitement waxes warm even
the older members on the floor have difficulty in keeping their
heads, and the inexperienced take headstrong risks in the
turmoil and soon find that, instead of realizing the fond dream
of immense wealth, they are ruined and penniless. And it is
not only the inexperienced who are wrecked financially, not to
speak of the physical and moral influences of those gambling
places.

When the immense influence which Wall street exerts on the
trade of to-day is considered, the conclusion is, to say the least,
alarming. Millions of dollars are involved in these daily
speculations, and experience has taught that a panic there
means crash followed by crash, as most of the largest specula-
tors are directly or indirectly connected with large financial
concerns elsewhere. One of the first and greatest failures on
Wall street, known as the " Western Blizzard," occurred in
1857, when the Ohio Life and Trust Company, a gigantic con-
cern, with millions invested in stocks, failed. Business was
for a time paralyzed, as many banks, which had advanced this
supposed-to-be stanch company large sums of money for specu-
lating purposes, had to suspend, and the hard-earned savings of

[ CHAPTER 94.] 458

WRECKS OF WALL STREET.

thousands of honest men and women were sacrificed, because
of the recklessness of those gamblers. In the panic of 1873,
made famous by the issuance of 7fV Northern Pacific Rail-
road bonds by Jay Cooke, hundreds more were ruined. Then
followed " Boss " Tweed's failure in 1872, and later the panic
of 1884 precipitated by Ferdinand D. Ward and James D.
Fish; and "Black Friday "will not soon be forgotten by the
speculators of Wall street. George I. Seney, once president of
the Metropolitan Bank of New York, invested millions of dol-
lars in Wall street stocks, failed and dragged down with him,
his own bank, a Brooklyn bank, in which he was director, and
also a Brooklyn insurance company which had loaned Mr. Seney
large sums of money. James R. Keene, one of the brightest
and most fortunate speculators ever on Wall street, rolled up a
fortune of several millions in a comparatively short time, but
later through rash speculations lost it all.

And so the story runs. Success may smile upon the specu-
lator for a time, but misfortune is almost certain to follow;
then comes a wrecked life, and the unfortunate dupe is a
thousandfold worse off than if he had never made a dollar by
gambling. His nervous system has been in a constant state of
excitement and his physical constitution is more or less impaired
by the strain. A more serious impairment, however, results
from the dwarfing and stultifing of the moral sensibilities.
No person can gamble in any form without the moral nature
being affected thereby, and speculating in stocks is one of the
worst forms of gambling, as they are bought and sold on
margins. If the market goes against the speculator, he must
have more money to cover the shrinkage and hold his stock,
and there is just where the rash young man who has access to
money, not his own, is tempted to appropriate his employer's
means, with the hope of making large gains and returning the
money thus used, without any person, but himself, knowing
that it was ever taken. But, alas, how often is he swamped,
disgraced, and rui-ned for life! and this, too, is not the worst
feature of the case. Perchance a mother or a sister is involved

459

WRECKS OF WALL STREET.

in the downfall and caused to suffer agony of mind, a thousand-
fold worse than death itself. In many cases a promising young
man with means is anxious to rank among the millionaires of
the day and steps into one of those gambling shops and soon
in the excitement has his all at stake. Anxious days and sleep-
less nights are passed as stocks waver. Finally a crash comes,
ruin instead of wealth is the result, and, being driven to desper-
ation and willing to meet death rather than penury, a self-
destroyed life is the painful outcome.

These are only a hint at the evils which result from speculat-
ing on Wall street. Blasted hopes, ruined homes, broken hearts,
distracted wives and mothers, once happy children cast upon
the world with an indelible stigma resting upon them, and
untimely deaths, follow regularly and surely in the train of mis-
fortunes emanating from this den of gambling.

460

The Balance Wheel.

KEV. GEORGE R. HEWITT, B.D.

r^VERYWHERE in the material universe we behold stead-
fast order and beauty as the result of equilibrium
1^ between opposing forces. In the movements of the
heavenly bodies stability is due to the beautiful balance
between two forces, one of which tends to make the whirling
worlds fly apart, and the other of which tends to make them
fly together. In like manner, in the structure of our living
bodies, stability is the result of equilibrium between the vital
force which builds the molecules together and the chemical
force which tears them down.

As in the realm of matter so in the realm of mind and of
morals, stability and order are the result of a proper balance
between conflicting powers. We frequently hear it said of cer-
tain men that "they lack balance," or that their "mind has
lost its balance." They are unsteady. They act sometimes in
a way that seems strange and unaccountable to their fellow
men. Socrates used to say that all men were a little insane,
for they all at times did things that seemed ridiculous and
strange to others.

A perfectly sane or sound mind is a perfectly balanced
mind. Man needs a balance wheel that his movements may be
regular, orderly, and steady. Whatever serves for the regula-
tion and co-ordination of movements is figuratively speaking
called a balance wheel.

(1) Such a balance wheel in the practical conduct of life is
good common sense or sound judgment, or in other words dis-
cernment of the proper thing to do and to say and of the

[CHAPTER 96.] 461

THE BALANCE WHEEL

proper time to do and say it. Common sense is not nearly so
common as the name implies. There are people who, as we
say, always "put their foot in it." Even if they do the right
thing, they do it in the wrong way or at the wrong time. They
mar whatever they attempt by overdoing it. How frequently a
public speaker spoils an excellent speech by saying some unnec-
essary things! He weakens what he insists upon by insisting
upon too much. Essentials and non-essentials seem to have
equal prominence in his mind. He " slops over." He loses
his balance, and is carried into some extravagances of state-
ment which cause him to be less esteemed than he otherwise
would be.

Such persons fail to see things in their proper relations.
They may be learned and sympathetic, but they lack practical
wisdom, which, as Arthur Helps says, "acts in the mind as
gravitation does in the material world, combining, keeping
things in their places, and maintaining a mutual dependence
amongst the various parts of the system."

There was good old Bronson Alcott, for example, who had
both a soaring intellect and a tender heart, who was always
full of great schemes for the advancement of the human race,
but, as a recent writer says, " Alas for his family! He would
sit on his piazza expounding to visitors his plan for the emanci-
pation of women, while his wife was tugging a pail of water
from the distant spring as a step toward providing dinner for
the host and his guests." There was a lamentable lack here of
perception of the eternal fitness of things.

Some philosophers like Locke hold that sound sense, the per-
ception of the fitness of things, is not acquirable, but must be
born in a man. With this opinion Dr. Witherspoon, at one
time president of Princeton College, would seem to agree, for
he was wont to say to incoming classes of students:

" Gentlemen, if you have not learning this university is the
fountain; if you have not piety the grace of God will give you
that; but if you are wanting in common sense, may heaven
have mercy on you."

462

THE BALANCE WHEEL.

(2) As common sense is the balance wheel in practical life,
so conscience is the balance wheel in the moral life. Con-
science is that power in us by which we discern the moral
qualities of actions. It warns us before we do wrong, remon-
strates with us while we are doing wrong, and fills us with self-
reproach after we have done wrong. If, for example, a chance
to enrich myself in some crooked way is presented to me,
conscience at once warns me that it is wrong to cheat, makes
me feel that I ought not to cheat, then, if in spite of its warn-
ings, I go on and do the wrong, it chides me and fills me with
a sense of guilt and shame.

Without a conscience man is like a machine without a reg-
ulator, sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow, seldom just
right. Amid the innumerable variety of actions, choices,
impulses, feelings, likings, habits, and passions, which are
possible to man, conscience is the natural regulator and mon-
arch. It presides over them all, and subjects all to its juris-
diction. We may not obey its behests, but we cannot silence
its reproaches.

Do nothing against conscience. To disobey it is to destroy
the peace and equipoise of your inner life. An approving con-
science is a priceless treasure. It is really the smile of God.
What conscience indorses God indorses. What conscience
condemns God condemns.

Conscience is prophetic of a future life and of our accounta-
bility there for the deeds done in the body. Were this life all,
conscience would be an incumbrance. We should be over-
freighted for the voyage of life. A canal boat has no need of
a compass. A compass argues deep sea sailing. A conscience
argues eternity beyond the river of time. He who lives by
conscience lives for two worlds. He who lives for this world
only needs a balance wheel. We should call a man who could
sit on a barrel of gunpowder smoking a pipe, a rather unbal-
anced sort of man; so is the man who lives in this world
thoughtless of the next.

463

The Use and Power of Faith.

REV. LEWIS 0. BRASTOW, D.D., Yale University.

OUR conception of the value of faith will depend upon our
conception of its significance. Let us therefore at the
outset understand what is meant by it.

In theological discussions faith has often been made synony-
mous with belief. But faith is surely more than belief. Belief is
pre-supposed, but the two are not identical. Faith is the larger
word. Faith may include belief, but belief does not as a neces-
sity include faith. Belief is a response and a committal of the
mind to an object that is recognized as real or true. Faith is a
response and a committal of the entire inner self to an object
that is recognized as good. It involves a docile and believing
attitude of mind, but it includes also a certain responsiveness
of feeling and of conviction and a concurrence of will. In such
attitude of self-responsiveness and act of self-committal, faith
always recognizes its object as good. It may attribute to its
object a good that does not belong to it. That is, knowledge of
the object may be defective. But faith always attaches itself
to what it conceives to be good. No one trusts what he recog-
nizes as bad. All genuine faith therefore has a certain ethical
significance. It is the object of faith that conditions the nature
and scope of such ethical significance. The object may possi-
bly be one's self. There is a reasonable and a worthy self -trust.
If it be normal, that is, if it be neither too large nor too small,
neither too arrogant nor too degrading, neither the self-asser-
tion of pride nor the self-depreciation of conscious self-degrada-
tion, it is right and good. Every man should be able to believe

[CHAPTER 96. ] 464

THE USE AND POWER OF FAITH.

in and trust himself. Entire self-distrust is irrational and
immoral. God put strength into manhood and meant that it
should be an object of confidence. No one can fight success-
fully the battle of life otherwise. To distrust one's self in an
emergency is to invite defeat. A habit of self-distrust under-
mines strength. It is never safe to suspend one's self in the
uncertainty of self-distrust. A reasonable, well balanced self-
trust, held within the limits of a dependent life, is moral. The
object may be one's fellow men. No man can stand alone.
The world crushes the one who attempts it. It is the necessity
of life to believe in and trust one's fellows. It may often prove
a misplaced confidence. In so far as it is, it may be irrational
and morally defective. But faith cannot be called irrational, in
so far as the necessity for it is given in the constitution of the
human soul, and in the ordering of human life. To claim that
faith, exercised in entire independence of the demonstrations
of reason, is irrational, is to impeach the rationality of life
itself. Faith in man is rational and it is moral.

The object may be the world in which we live. It is an
instinct of faith that impels us to assume the order of the world,
and to commit ourselves to it. The world was made to be an
object of confidence and we are set over against it with a faith-
capacity corresponding, by virtue of which it becomes a consti-
tutional necessity to intrust one's self to it. When this confi-
dence in the world becomes an intelligent self -committal to it, as
involving a moral order, it enters the ethical domain. It may
thus possibly attain even a religious significance. All sound
faith in self, faith in fellow men, faith in the order of the world,
may possibly involve a latent or implicit faith in a higher power
above all, which is more and other than all, in whom centers
the life of man and the constitution of the world. Certain it is
that when we bring this question into consciousness, and begin
to think rationally and morally, we are obliged to postulate the
reality of God as the basis of all rational confidence in the real-
ity and significance of the universe. It is faith as related to
this higher object, faith, therefore, not in its technical and theo-

465 30

THE USE AND POWER OF FAITH.

logical but in its ethico-religious significance, that I have in
mind. And it is the object of this chapter to discuss its use and
power in life.

And, first, in mental life, or in the domain of thought and
knowledge. We begin to think in the realm of faith. All
thought that influences life presupposes faith in thought itself
and in the mind that produces it. We trust ourselves before
we know ourselves. Indeed, we trust ourselves in order to
know ourselves. Faith belongs to that part of our being that
operates to a large extent below consciousness and to a still
larger extent independently of knowledge. We take ourselves
seriously and on trust when we begin to think, and when we
attach any significance or worth to the products of our thought.
We commit ourselves in good faith to the workings of our own
intelligence, and following its lead reach what we believe to be
knowledge. And all knowledge is won only on a basis of faith.
We commit ourselves also to the faculties that lie below intelli-
gence, and believe that their witness, too, leads to knowledge.

So also do we trust what lies without ourselves. All objects
external to ourselves become objects of knowledge only because
we are so constituted that we must believe in them. We do not
prove them to be valid in order to believe in them and intrust
ourselves to them. We believe in and trust the world before
we know it. Knowledge of the world and of man is never the
measure of our trust in them. All external objects of knowl-
edge are approached along the pathway of faith. Not even a
beginning in knowledge is possible without an attitude of good
faith in what lies beyond the power of experimental or logical
demonstration. And this attitude is necessary at every step
and stage of the process up to the end. We assume the reality
of the external world. We do not demonstrate it. "By faith
we know that the worlds were made." We assume the order
and unity of the world before we prove them. Knowledge that
comes through the understanding is necessary to correct and
regulate faith, but faith is necessary to the knowledge with
which the understanding begins and completes its work. We

4G6

THE USE AND POWER OF FAITH.

know God before we prove his existence. We must assume his
existence before proof is possible. Knowledge of his reality is
given m an experience that is more than rational experience,
and it is the knowledge of faith. Thus we know the God of
redemption. We see and know nothing as it is until we see
and know it from the standpoint of a right relation. We know
ethical realities only as we are ethically responsive to them
3 know purity, justice, grace, only as we commit ourselves to
the objects in which they inhere, become subject to them and
test their reality and validity by experiment. Thus we know
God in redemption. We believe and trust in order that we may
Christianity is a revelation from without, but Chris-
tianity as a religion is revelation transferred into the domain of
experience, and such experience is the experience of faith

Secondly, its use and power in emotional life, or in the
domain of feeling. Life needs uplifting. It needs to be great-
ened It is greatened from within. It is the expansive power
of noble emotions that exalts our manhood. Largeness of heart
is necessary to largeness of manhood. Great things must be
telt m order to be known as great. Mental life is dependent
upon emotional life. The best intellectual interest in the truth
is dependent upon an emotional interest in it. Feeling is an
avenue of revelation. We see clearest when we feel deepest
the realities of the invisible. The inspired man is he whose
whole soul is moved by the power of invisible realities that fill
and enlarge him with great emotions. This is the prophet
Are there not exalted states of feeling in which we come to new
self-knowledge and to new knowledge of reality external to
ourselves? Who can know himself or the world in which he
lives, or the God which is in it and behind it until he has felt
himself lifted into some height of feeling that is large enough
to measure his possibilities? Who can know the grandeur of
life until he has been made to feel it? Who can know God
until he has been filled with a sense of his greatness and glory?
There are emotions that crowd the soul, such, for example as
may have been experienced upon a mountain summit, of such

467

THE USE AND POWER OF FAITH.

vastness and such masterful power that the whole wide uni-
verse seems new in its awful grandeur, and God gives us, as in
a moment, a new revelation of himself and of our existence.

Life needs ennobling. What takes hold of our capacity for
noblest enthusiasm in the largest, strongest, and most practical
way, must be one of the chief interests of life. Well, now, it is
faith that conditions such uplifting of soul. It is this capacity
to take in influences from the realm of the invisible and eternal,
influences that touch deeper depths of being than the realm of
thought, and to commit ourselves to what we recognize as
native to us, remote though it often seems, that enlarges us
into surprising greatness.

A great religious joy is conditioned by the presence and
fellowship of the living God realized in experience through
faith. One may prostrate himself in abject humility before the
resistless might and majesty of a godless universe, but the soul
cannot thus be exalted. Religion greatens the soul because
faith brings one into living fellowship with God. The man of
faith is always the man of inspiration. The sad lives are the
self -centered lives that exalt themselves within the cloud limits
of a world from which God has been dismissed. Over against
the lives that refuse to bow themselves in trust to a God who
has come in redemption, we may set the lives of those who
yield themselves even to an illegitimate authority. The Church
of Rome can point to lives that have been lifted to great
heights of joy by self -surrendering trust. And there may be
great elevation of soul in trusting submission to a power which
one mistakenly believes to represent the authority of God.
Better this than the godlessness that plunges thousands of the
poor and degraded, such as this great church once reached, into
hopelessness and despair. The isolation and the pride of an
age that would dismiss God from the universe are sure to pro-
duce a mighty reaction, and men will bow themselves to a
church that they may in self-defense rescue their lives from the
hardness and impoverishment of a godless secularism. Look
at the lives of the masses who have lost faith in God and in the

468

THE USE AND POWER OF FAITH.

redemption that is preached by his church. The fountains of
joy are dried. What a church can do for faith, God, who is not
adequately interpreted by any church, can do far better. It is
not faith in a church, but in a God who has redeemed us, that
can save the joy and nobility of life. Enlargement of the
capacity for intelligent faith will become tributary to the hap-
piness of the world.

Thirdly, its use and power in practical life or in the domain
of action. Faith lies at the root of all practical virtues. Chris-
tianity in making faith central in ethical life interprets all best
ethical experience. The men of achievement have always been
men of faith. What men need, when the difficulties of life
crowd upon them, is what the disciples needed and asked of
their Master, increase of faith. He whose faith is strong is
strong enough to support the faith of others. Faith is the root
of fidelity. He who trusts and is strong is the one whom others
will trust. He who finds his own foundation sure and rests
upon it will make a foundation upon which others may rest.
This, too, is the patient man who endures when hardships come.
Kaith takes hold of an object which it recognizes as good, and
having taken hold it holds on. And faith holding on to the
good in the midst of evil is patience. Patience is self -perpetuat-
ing trust. It is faith enduring to the end. True faith is moral
steadfastness. " Steadfast by faith " is the Christian's defini-
tion of patience. In it the soul keeps itself to the object of its
trust. Doubt is a parley with difficulty. Despair is surrender
to it. Faith, holding firmly to the good that lies beyond all
earthly difficulty and barrier, is the patience that insures vic-
tory. Who is he that endures but the one who trusting the
good he cannot see, a good that is not the less real though it be
unseen, waits for it? And this, too, is the courageous man who
is not only strong to wait but strong to achieve. Faith is van-
tage-ground for the fight. He who fights well must feel that
he has something under and about him that he can trust.
Hardship brings a man to a stand. It throws him back upon
something that will stand by him. He who rallies against the

469

THE USE AND POWER OF FAITH.

onset of gigantic difficulties must rally from the basis of some-
thing to which he is self-committed in mental and moral confi-
dence. No man can fight difficulties in the air. Perpetual
doubt or distrust is moral imbecility. In the presence of diffi-
culty one sees as never otherwise how necessary it is to believe
in something. Faith that takes hold on God and redemption
is at the foundation of the loftiest courage this world has ever
seen. What Christianity has done for the courage of the world
can never be adequately estimated. Faith as a working force
in the battle of life is a theme that demands a treatise. What
is left of the optimism of modern life allies itself with this
working force that Christianity has brought into and left in the
world.

In a final word, then, the modern world needs more faith in
faith. It is a simple thing, but it is a power that removes the
mountain barriers of life. Man is weak, but the power that
made and upholds and redeems is committed to him, and will
see him safely through. The wisdom and the strength of life
are in self-committal to Him.

470

The Ministry of Trouble and Sorrow.

PROF. J. M. STIFLER, D.D., Crosier Seminary, Chester, Pa.

I HERE is no house without a roof; no part of the house so

carefully kept in repair. For the summer's sun scorches

^ the unprotected head, and storms of rain and snow and

hail are sure to come. He who enters life with no shield against

sorrow and trouble has moved into a house without a roof.

The heart that never aches is not a human heart. Pain is
inseparable from mortal life. It may not be constant, but it is
inevitable. The mind struggles with mysteries which it cannot
solve; bereavements bruise and cut the tendrils of affection;
the body suffers from disease; the will is racked by disappoint-
ments, and the conscience is often blistered by remorse. And
while one has a mind to think, a heart to love, nerves to feel, a
will to determine, and a conscience to speak for God, that is,
while one is a man, he is exposed to suffering on every side.
Job had lived long and was prosperous. He said, " I shall die
in my nest." But he bitterly learned his mistake, for as there
is none that lives and sins not, so there is none that lives and
suffers not. The origin of suffering may be mysterious and its
object in particular cases far from certain, but of the fact there
is absolutely no question.

But if no good came from it, pain would disprove the benev-
olence of God. The swamps and marshes that breed fevers
and malaria grow also lilies, and some of the sweetest of them
grow nowhere else. The bitter loss of Jacob's favorite son was
the only means of restoring him to the patriarch a prince. The
hammer that breaks the hull of the nut gives you its sweet
kernel. The diamond cannot shine until it is cut. And it is

[CHAPTEB97.] 471

THE MINISTRY OF TROUBLE AND SORROW.

diamonds that are cut, not pebbles. And so no pain is malig-
nant. It is not always even a penalty, but the price without
which excellence cannot be bought.

" Heaven is not mounted to on wings of dreams,
Nor doth the unthankful happiness of youth
Aim thitherward, but floats from bloom to bloom,
With earth's warm patch of sunshine well content.
'Tis sorrow builds the shining ladder up,
Whose golden rounds are our calamities,
Whereon our firm feet planting, nearer God
The spirit climbs, and hath its eyes unsealed." LOWELL.

Now, he who does not expect to be exempt from pain, who
also believes that in some way it is beneficent, has a covering
to which to resort in the storm. " The whole wisdom and
magnanimity of life consist in a will conformed to what is, with
a heart ready for what is not." Pain is often wisdom's hand-
board pointing to a better, safer path. Sorrow is homeopathic.
We are given little doses to cure us of greater ills. The loss of
a hand spares us the loss of the arm. There are griefs that no
prudence and no forethought can either avoid or avert. But
there are others also which none but fools suffer more than
once.

Sorrows and disappointments influence character tremen-
dously. Nothing has more weight on the aim of life. Much of
our thinking and planning goes to shun what is considered life's
woes. The weak man often succumbs before these, and with
the slander against the Creator in his heart, that life is not
worth living, gives way to melancholy, moroseness, despair, or
suicide. The stoic is little better. He receives his own ills with
clinched teeth and defiant indifference, and looks with tearless
apathy on those of others. Hearts were made to ache, and it is
divinely intended that they may improve by the pain. Solomon
says, "By the sadness of the countenance the heart is made
better." And of a greater than Solomon we read, " Though he
was a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suf-
fered," and was made "perfect through sufferings." Failure

472

THE MINISTRY OF TROUBLE AND SORROW.

and disappointment have generally taught the earnest man his
choicest lessons. One of these, an American poet, says :

" Nor deem the irrevocable past

As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
If rising on its wrecks at last
To something nobler we attain."

Bereavement makes the heart tender and sympathetic; con-
fidence betrayed leads to wiser caution; sickness suggests more
care of health; failure in business teaches better methods, and
sin, unless one loves it, by soiling the conscience leads to the
Cleanser.

Sorrow confers a value which nothing else can give. Value
is more than the product of labor. There are price marks
higher than any ever reached by toil. Men esteem highest that
worthy thing for which they have suffered most. Christ not
only died for men because he loves them, but he doubly loves
them because he died for them. Liberties, political, social,
religious, are so precious because they were all bought with
blood. The sufferings of the early colonists and of the Revolu-
tionary fathers at Valley Forge endear this nation to- their chil-
dren. Dollars are but dust, and nothing that dollars can buy is
worth much. The precious things of life come to men only
through pain pain of body, brain, and heart.

Sorrows give an excellent opportunity for the exercise of the
highest virtues. It was the lepers of Molokai that made Father
Damien a hero. If the traveler going down from Jerusalem to
Jericho had not fallen among thieves, the priest and the Levite
would not have lost their reputation and the good Samaritan
would not have made his. He who lives only to escape or to
surmount his own allotted sufferings may be a prudent man but
he is basely selfish. He who can bear another's griefs is like
him who was the normal man, who suffered much himself that
all others might suffer less.

473

Bmilding for Eternity.

REV. H. B. HARTZLER, D.D.,
Bible Teacher, Moody's Training School, Mount Hermon, Mass.

{( t THEN a man builds his home," says T. DeWitt Tal-
lAl mage, "he builds for eternity." The saying is true;
^ yet the home itself is only for time, and not for
eternity. It is only a part of the scaffolding on which the
builder for eternity is doing his work of raising up the imperish-
able walls of human character. When the work of time is
done, the scaffolding falls away, and only the spiritual struc-
ture remains, "a house not made with hands," indestructible
and eternal. Looking out from the home window, upon the
whole wide realm of the material world, with all its latter-day
wonders of science, art, and discovery, and all its bewildering
variety and complexity of appliances, we see but a larger part
of a vast system of temporal scaffolding, upon which the build-
ers for eternity find temporary footing and facility to carry on
the real, abiding work of life.

One of the greatest of men, who had an experience perhaps
never paralleled in human history, in being permitted to pass
the line of the unseen and return again, with untranslatable
visions and experiences in his heart, to climb the earthly scaf-
folding and carry his unfinished work to completion, declares
that "the things which are seen are temporal; but the things
which are not seen are eternal." So the testimony of God,
through all ages, has been that this material, temporal frame of
nature is to serve a temporary purpose, for a season of time
which to him is but as "one day," or as "a watch in the
night," and then shall fall away, as the husk from the ripe

.] 474

BUILDING FOR ETERNITY.

corn, as the scaffolds from the finished building, disclosing the
great structure in all its details, on which all the generations of
men have wrought, and of which they form constituent parts.

When Jesus, the Divine Teacher, draws the line of division
between the wise and the foolish, he puts on one side all those
who build their house on the sand, for time only, and on the
other side those who build on the rock for eternal security.
Paul emphasizes the supreme importance of bedding one's life-
work on the one immovable, imperishable foundation " Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ." He carries the thought farther, from the foundation
to the superstructure, and distinguishes between the perishable
and the imperishable materials which the human builders use,
with the solemn warning, "Let each one see how he builds on
it," for, says he, "if anyone buildeth on this foundation either
gold, or silver, or precious stones, or wood, or hay, or stubble,
the work of each will be exposed to view; for the day will
expose it; because it is to be tested by fire; and the fire will dis-
close the work of each, of what sort it is. And that builder
whose work shall endure will receive his reward. And he whose
work shall burn up will suffer loss; yet himself will escape;
but it will be as from the fire."

The really valuable, precious, durable materials, represented
by gold, silver, and precious stones, which enter into the struc-
ture of a life that shall stand approved for eternity, are all
unseen and spiritual. Christ specifies some of them when he
calls the roll of the blessed ones the poor in spirit, the mourn-
ers, the meek, the hungerers after righteousness, the merciful,
the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the sufferers for righteous-
ness' sake. Peter admonishes the builders for eternity to add
layer to layer on the walls of character faith, virtue, knowl-
edge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.
Paul's specifications are almost identical, showing that both
had learned the art and science of spiritual architecture from
the same Divine Master. They are these love, joy, peace, long-
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

475

BUILDING FOR ETERNITY.

A structure built on the foundation of Christ, of such mate-
rials as these, is fire-proof, storm-proof, time-proof, judgment-
proof, eternity -proof. It shall stand, when the ''wood, hay,
and stubble " houses shall have gone up in smoke, " a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Not less true
than beautiful is the thought expressed by Frederick W. Rob-
ertson in these words: "Feelings pass; thoughts and imagina-
tion pass; dreams pass; work remains. Through eternity, what
you have done, that you are. They tell us that not a sound has
ever ceased to vibrate through space; that not a ripple has ever
been lost upon the ocean. Much more is it true that not a true
thought, nor a pure resolve, nor a loving act, has ever gone
forth in vain." Even so, for they have all gone into the solid
structure of character that is eternal.

.Says Dr. J. G. Holland, "Labor, calling, profession, scholar-
ship, and artificial and arbitrary distinction of all sorts are inci-
dents and accidents of life, and pass away. It is only man-
hood that remains." As Apelles, the famous Grecian artist,
wrought with painstaking care upon his pictures, he said, " I
am painting for eternity." But the artist laid down his brush
over two thousand years ago, and only the man -remains.

Building for eternity! How startling and soul-arresting the
thought! It can be done only in time, and all the eternity of
the builder hangs upon the character thereof. It must be fin-
ished before the material footing of time gives way, and the
scaffolding of the body, with its related world timbers, falls.
The work is great and wonderful. The time for its perform-
ance is short. Nothing else, amidst all the contending claims
of life, is of equal importance. Christ, who knows all about
both worlds, sets this work on the forefront of all endeavor, as
the supreme and all-embracing object of the highest, holiest
ambition. The man who reverses this order is branded as a
fool, who loses his eternity and himself in the poor, perishable
gain of a few fleeting years buying the self-indulgence of an
hour with the price of a soul and an eternity of unmeasured
possibilities of blessedness and glory.

476

BUILDING FOR ETERNITY.

For this great work of life God has not left the poor, grop-
ing, blundering builder to his own wit and wisdom. He has
not thrown him back upon his own resources of human nature.
He himself has drawn the plan and given the specifications. In
the Bible he has put it all down so plainly and simply, that even
the fool, with that wonderful manual in his hand, need not err.
He even offers to come into lowly partnership for co-operation
in the work, to give power, to make his strength perfect in
human weakness, to take the' heaviest burdens himself. He
has given his solemn pledge that not one thing of all that is
necessary to the completion and perfection of the work shall
fail on his part.

One by one the workmen, the builders for eternity, are dis-
missed from their work. How unspeakably sad and heart-
breaking will it be to the foolish builders to see the work of a
whole lifetime, of every toil and care, vanish in the testing fire
of the day of God! "Wood, hay, stubble!" Time, strength,
talent, painful application, all wasted and lost! Houseless,
homeless, hopeless for evermore!

But how glorious, builders, will be the day that shall declare
the work of a lifetime approved by God, and reveal the per-
fected temple of character, unhurt by the fire, "found unto
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ"!
Oh, blessed fullness of compensation for all the toils and tears,
the sacrifices and sufferings, of this little life! To be forever
with the Lord! To have a permanent place in that "city never
built with hands, or heavy with the years of time; a city whose
inhabitants no census has numbered; a city through whose
streets rushes no tide of business, nor nodding hearse creeps
slowly with its burden to the tomb; a city without griefs or
graves, without sins or sorrows, without births or burials, with-
out marriages or mournings; a city which glories in having
Jesus for its King, angels for its guards, saints for citizens;
whose walls are salvation, and whose gates are praise."

Into that city of God, with life's work well done, may writer
and reader at last have an abundant entrance.

477

Our Great Ledger Account.

PROF. GEORGE S. GOODSPEED, PH.D., of the University of Chicago.

I HE evening hour is approaching. The day's work is almost
over. We have made many entries during the busy

^ hours, but have not found time to sum them up and com-
pare debit and credit, to know where we stand. It is well to do
so now before we go home. Rest will be sweeter and the even-
ing hour undisturbed, if we have made out the balance sheet.
Then to-morrow we can go back to our work refreshed, with no
unfinished tasks lying in our onward pathway. And if we
should die, there will be no errors for our successor to correct,
and no ugly snarls for the expert to unravel.

Not every one of us keeps accounts. There are some very
careful people, who, in their family life, are extraordinarily
systematic and laborious in the reckoning of their receipts and
expenses. Then there are others so constituted that they do
not know where the money goes, or whence it comes, and they
do not care. But in one sphere we are all bookkeepers, and
our library, if it has no other book in it, has a ledger, which we
are at work upon every moment of our waking hours. It is the
book which we open from the first day of conscious responsi-
bility and close only as the night of death draws down. Then,
indeed, we take it with us where we can take nothing else, and,
on the last great day, we bring it before the great Master
Accountant when " the books are opened," and we read out
from it the record of the past, the balance sheet which deter-
mines the place and manner of our future activity through the
endless ages. This kind of accounts we cannot avoid if we

[ CHAPTEB 99. 1 478

OUR GREAT LEDGER ACCOUNT.

would, and, even when we are most heedless and thoughtless,
we are still going on with the record. Is it not worth while,
then, to take down the book before the final entry is made, to
look over the accounts, and cast up trial balances to find out
where we stand ? Come with us, each with his own record,
and as our present volume draws to a close, open life's ledger,
examine its most important accounts, ask how they stand, and,
in the light of the facts they disclose, forecast the future and
prepare for it.

The parties with whom you and I deal in life are, as individ-
uals, many and various, but in this ledger of ours they may be
summed up under three heads, Self, Society, and God. With
these three persons, many, yes, all our transactions are held,
and, as many as are the spheres and modes of dealing with
them, they, after all, are the principals. In the brief word of
counsel and conference which we are to have together, these
three accounts will occupy all our attention. Let us be frank,
sincere, seeking only to know how we stand with these three
all-encompassing factors of our life.

The account with Self, our nearest neighbor, our constant
companion how full that is in all its specifications ! Here is
your body, which the highest authority has called " the temple
of God." It is wonderful in structure, exquisite in mechanism,
of extraordinary endurance, unequaled flexibility, an illustra-
tion ana the seat of the most stupendous as well as of the most
minute of the natural forces. You have been given the charge
of it, its governance. You are engineer of the finest mechan-
ism in existence. How have you handled it ? Have you made
it the "temple of God" or the hall of Satan? Has it been
purified or degraded ?

There are your thoughts. They are part of your account
with Self. Its figures are known only to yourself and God.
You do not tell your nearest friend all your thoughts, but " He
that searcheth the heart, knoweth the mind of man." This is a
most important element in your life's business. Are those
thoughts clean and sweet ? Do you think on that which is most

479

OUR GREAT LEDGER ACCOUNT.

noble and worthy? A high aim and steadfast endeavor aftei
character is everything. Are you master of your purposes so
that, whether you sail over rough seas or smooth, whether your
way lies in the light or the darkness, you are pressing onward
toward the higher goal, never giving up though bruised and
battered? A high moral purpose in one's own soul makes the
difference between true life and mere existence. The one has
a harbor to make. The other is like a chip on the stream, the
sport of current and storm. The one lays up treasures in
heaven. The other is an eternal bankrupt. What does the
ledger say- -gain or loss? a worthy ambition or heedless, care-
less improvidence? This account with Self may well make us
ponder and beware.

You turn on a few pages and come to the account with
Society. Man enters into relation with himself first, and with
his fellow men next. Social relations bring obligations, and the
obligations fulfilled or unfulfilled appear in the book. What is
the home life? Have the children seen the father and mother
quarreling? The attitude of the son or daughter toward the
parents is the subject of a great commandment of God. What
responsibility is assumed by the father of a family, by the
mother of children!

What is the business life ? The real meaning and value of
the money you have made or lost, by fair or foul dealing, you
estimate at its true value in the ledger. Here it is charged up
for or against you. Other men may think you progressive, but
perhaps you write yourself down here as a cheat. Other men
may think you dull and slow, but your deeds inscribed on that
page show instances of self-sacrificing kindness that would
shame your slanderers. The records of your property and its
actual worth appear here. What you have given, you possess.
What you have selfishly made, you have lost. This ledger is a
great corrective of the everyday dealings of man with his neigh-
bor. And the record is made by himself.

Let us look at this account with society from two general
points of view, in terms of speech and influence. The physi-

480

OUR GREAT LEDGER ACCOUNT.

cian says to the patient first, " Let me see your tongue." What
have his words contributed to the debit or credit of a man with
his fellows? It has been estimated that one says in a week
what, if printed, would be an octavo volume of three hundred
and twenty pages. In thirty years this would amount to an
extensive library of one thousand five hundred and sixty vol-
umes. How little of it is available and uplifting material, and
how much is silly and corrupting! The great evil in our com-
mon conversation is that so large an element of it is idle, extrav-
agant, injurious. How much time is consumed in gossip more
or less slanderous! How much vulgarity and worse than vul-
garity is vomited forth from some men's mouths! On which
side of the account does all this go? " By thy words shalt thou
be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned,"

Even more comprehensive and vital is your obligation to
society in the matter of influence. It appears not as promissory
notes written on paper, but in the human hearts impressed for
good or ill by your example. The marks of influence are inef-
faceable, and yet its meaning and effect are easily overlooked.
Look around you on your associates and ask yourself, " How am
I paying the debt I owe them? Does my example point them
upward? Do my words call their better natures into action?
What kind of a mark does my life leave upon men? " Influence
is as subtle as the atmosphere, but just as penetrating and
powerful. Here are father and mother. As a great preacher
has said, " They have the marking of a child's heart. They
are writing that child's history because they are living it.
They are branding its life with shame or sealing it with
glory." Who can realize the debt of young womanhood in this
matter of influence, and how grandly may she redeem all her
obligations. Young women, if they would and dared, or desired
could transform the characters and aspirations of the young
men of our generation! Are they meeting their obligations?

Oh this influence of ours, how poorly are we redeeming our
opportunities and paying the debts which are incurred

its possession!

481 31

OtJR GREAT LEDGER ACCOUNT.

Is there then no death for a word once spoken?
Was never a deed but left its token?
Do pictures of all the ages live
On nature's infinite negative?

This is what influence that potent power of every human
life really means. And the debts incurred through its posses-
sion will be known in their entirety only when the secrets of
every human heart and the outcome of every human life shall
be revealed.

Only a word more about the last and greatest of these ledger
accounts, God. This really sums them all up. If God "is,
and is the re warder of those that diligently seek him," then in
him we live and move and have our being. We owe every-
thing to him, and what we have to pay to balance every
account, comes at last to him. What then are we doing to help
ourselves in squaring our obligation to him? How far short
comes the best endeavor! There are some who even overlook
or repudiate their debts to him. Even of those who acknowl-
edge his claims, how few do more than give him a beggarly
hour or two in the week, and begrudge it if they are called to
make sacrifice on his behalf. Ought there not to be a toning
up of our sense of obligation in relation to God ? Should not
our lives show at least some sort of acknowledgment of depend-
ence on him ? We cannot hope to pay our debts. God has put
us under obligation not only by providing for our wants, sur-
rounding us with comforts and opportunities, but also by help-
ing us in the midst of trials and difficulties into which we have
fallen by our own obstinacy and ignorance, and has given us a
revelation of himself in the Bible and in his Son, Jesus Christ.

But there is a brighter side. God has given man the privi*
lege of paying his obligations and satisfying the divine claims
by a wonderful method, agreeing to take man with all his debts
into the firm, making him a partner in the concern. All this
is on one condition, that you and I will enter the business, and
make it our one aim, our chief purpose, to forward the enter-
prises which God has in hand. These enterprises are the

482

OUR GREAT LEDGER ACCOUNT.

highest and noblest known to man. They involve the love of
God and man, the upbuilding of character and righteousness,
the bringing of the divine kingdom of peace and good will
toward all. Shall we agree? Then we can close this ledger
to-night with good hope. For he who is our principal Creditor
cancels the indebtedness and places at our disposal a capital the
like of which we never had before.

Shall we refuse ? Then I know no way of escape from bank-
ruptcy. False entries cannot deceive the Eye that looks through
all deceit. Even other men will find out at last that you are a
sham, and your own self will clamor for its due in vain, and
you will loathe yourself. And then you will come before the
great white throne, and " the books will be opened," where all
the great debt is revealed, and you will not find from God above,
society about, or self within you wherewith to cancel it. There
will be seen as in letters of fire streaming through these
accounts the secret cipher of your past and the solved riddle of
your future.

This ledger of life is an important volume, the most impor-
tant you have in your library. It may not be encouraging
to turn it over and behold how tremendously the balance
inclines to the opposite side. Yet to open the eyes, and fairly
to face the problem, is the beginning of its solution. And with
God, the principal creditor, as the friend and helper of man, we
need not fear. With his aid and in his service, we shall suc-
ceed in paying our utmost obligation to self and to society, both
in thought, in word, in deed, and in influence. We shall have
the honor and satisfaction of laying up treasures in heaven,
where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal.

483

Life's Great Guide Book.

REV. P. S. HENSON, D.D., Pastor First Baptist Church, Chicago.

I HE first recorded word of God is, "Let there be light."

He covereth himself with light as with a garment. He

^ "dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto."

He is " the Father of lights," and "in him is no darkness at all."

Heaven is all ablaze with the light of his countenance. The

celestial city "hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to

shine upon it, for the glory of God doth lighten it." And that

makes heaven.

" In his presence there is fullness of joy." Removal from
that presence means utter darkness, and that makes hell.

Earth swings midway between heaven and hell, and hence,
though not involved in ray less gloom, it is shrouded in dark-
ness that may be felt; and men grope about upon it very much as
did the men of Sodom, when they sought Lot's door on the night
of doom.

The light that once bathed it has been eclipsed by the inter-
vention of sin's dark shadow. Some little things that lie very
near we may be able to discover, but the great things, far-reach-
ing as eternity, and tremendous as the judgment, we cannot see
at all. Upon the most momentous questions that ever engaged
a human soul there is absolutely no light shed by earthly
philosophy. What ami? and Whence am I? and Whither am I
bound? and What is my duty? My danger? My destiny? These
are questions before which all the oracles of earth are dumb.
In the innermost chamber of the human soul a faint and flicker-
ing light is shining, and we call it conscience, but it is like the
smoking lamp in a miserable Lapland hut, that only makes the

[CHAPTER loe.] 484

5/r John A-Mdcdona/d

THE BIBLE THE LAW OF LIFE.

darkness visible. Some moral sense is left, enough to make
us responsible subjects of moral government, but so confused
is it in its judgments, and so weakened in its motive power,
that if we are left to it alone we shall never clearly know
the truth or thoroughly do the right. In the absence of any
higher authority man is bound to obey his conscience, even
though he have reason to believe that he cannot trust it. And
that conscience is anything but infallible is only too palpably
proved by the contradictory judgments it has registered in dif-
ferent lands and ages, touching almost every moral question.

One is bound to follow his conscience whether right or
wrong, and yet if the conscience be wrong the act is not
made right because it was performed conscientiously. Surely
this a sad dilemma for a human soul, and one that would
seem to make pathetic appeal for the intervention of a God
of tender mercy. He has proved himself graciously regard-
ful of all the lower needs of our lives. Surely he will not
be utterly indifferent to the highest. Beautiful and benefi-
cent provision in point of fact he has made to guide us in
our perplexity, and to rectify the registering of our sin-
perverted consciences. Conscience is like the pocket watch of
the engineer who runs the locomotive of a railway train. He
has a time-table and a timekeeper, and by these he must be
governed. But in the careless handling of his watch, we will
suppose he has let it fall. When he puts it to his ear he finds
it ticking still. Possibly it has been damaged, but how much
he cannot tell, and he still must be guided by it in his move-
ments on the road. And yet if it be out of order he is in
imminent danger of disastrous collision. Now to guard against
such perilous possibility the railroad company has hung up at
the stations along the line, chronometers that are supposed to
keep accurate time, and with these he must compare his watch
as he pauses for a moment for the purpose. But these chro-
nometers are regulated from Washington, and the time at
Washington is governed by the stars, for nothing below the
stars can be relied upon to run exactly right.

485

THE BIBLE THE LAW OF LIFE.

Our individual conscience is like that engineer's watch. It
has had a fateful fall, and is sadly out of order, and if we
absolutely rely upon it we are sure to come to grief and shame.
But God in great mercy has provided an infallible standard by
which to rectify our private judgments, and if we fail to make
the rectification, then the failure is at our peril.

That standard is his holy Word which is the standard for
all men and for all time, for the nineteenth century no less
than the first, for the world has not outgrown it and never will
outgrow it while the ages roll.

Talk of "The Light of Asia" it is only a "will o'the wisp"
in comparison with this. No code of ethics that the world ever
saw is for a moment comparable to this. " A lamp to our feet "
is this indeed. Not such a " search light" as that which during
the Columbian Exposition in Chicago used to flash fantastically
across the heavens, lighting up the very clouds, or in its lower
range illuminating towers and spires. What we practically
need is not a thing like that, but " a lamp to our feet."

Our pathway lies amid bogs and pitfalls, and we are
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. A single misstep may
land us in ruin, or involve us in a maze of perplexities and
perils from which we shall be extricated, if it all, only with
tears and blood. God has given us a book " to which we do
well to give heed as to a light shining in a dark place." And
there is not a single dark place that it does not illumine not
a single question that it does not answer not a single relation
in life, with respect to which it is not an all-sufficient guide. Man
has a body, fearfully and wonderfully made, capable of exceed-
ing enjoyment and exquisite pain, of splendid service and of
deepest degradation full of appetites that clamor for gratifica-
tion, and which if allowed to have full swing and sweep will
make the immortal soul their slave. What to do with that
body how to gratify it and yet to govern it this is a question
of utmost moment, and one whose perfect answer is to be found
nowhere outside the Bible.

" Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy

486

THE BIBLE THE LAW OF LIFE.

Ghost?" "Keep thyself pure." "I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service." A man upon whose heart these Scriptures
are engraven will be likely to make the most of his body with-
out allowing it ever to be uppermost.

Obligation arises from relation, and very various are the
relations that we sustain to one another, and very delicate, and
intricate, and perplexing are the obligations that confront us.
Just how to discharge them is the thing that it mightily
concerns us to know, and nowhere shines so clearly the light of
truth and duty as in the pages of Sacred Writ. If husbands
and wives would only read, and mark, and inwardly digest, we
should hear no more of the vexed question of woman's rights,
for love would be the fulfilling of the law. Every right would
be accorded without the necessity of political conventions, and
the divorce mills would cease to grind their horrid grist. If
parents and children would only ponder and practice the wise
and tender precepts that are given for their guidance in God's
old book, there would be fewer wild and wayward boys and
girls, and fewer gray hairs brought down in sorrow to the
grave.

" Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment
with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest
live long on the earth.

"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but
nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord."
This summarizes the whole parental and filial code, and obedi-
ence to this law would make every home a little heaven below.

Man is not only a member of the family, but belongs to that
wider sphere which we call society. And society has its con-
ventionalities, its amusements, its interchanges of good offices,
its fashions, and its politics, all of which are permeated by
perplexities and moral obligations. How shall these perplex-
ities be wisely settled and these obligations thoroughly met?

487

THE BIBLE THE LAW OF LIFE.

No man who has any common sense, or moral sense, or self-
respect, can afford to resign himself to the current, and allow
himself to be dominated by what is denominated the spirit of
the age, which as often as otherwise is the spirit of the devil.

" Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your minds that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Not the edict of
fashion or the mandate of a party, but the will of God, this is
the only infallible rule of life, and he who walks by it shall find
that wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths
are peace.

And man is meant not merely for the pleasurable enjoy-
ments of society, but for the sterner battles of business. And
a very trying experience is it when a young man whose
life has been all of sunny hours, devoted to physical enjoyment
and light educational employment, wakes to the realization of
the hard necessity of undertaking the struggle for his own
existence.

Every man for himself seems the motto of the world, and
the novice in business, no matter how generous his natural
impulses, is tempted very speedily to adopt it for himself. Eat
and be eaten is the law of the animal creation, and cheat and
be cheated would appear to be the law of business. Your neigh-
bors will adulterate, and misrepresent, and undersell, and
overreach. Will you allow them to take away your custom,
break up your business, and beggar your family, or do as they
do? Very likely the latter, unless firmly rooted in moral prin-
ciple and securely fortified by the word of God.

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By
taking heed thereto according to Thy word."

There are many who suspect, if they do not openly declare,
that a man cannot do business upon the strict ethical princi-
ples enumerated in the Scriptures. They are very beautiful,
they say, in theory but impracticable in business; they may do
for the pulpit, but not for the market place and the commercial
exchange. It is thought that one must give his conscience a

488

THE BIBLE THE LAW OF LIFE.

little leeway and conform to the conventionalities of trade, or
he never can succeed.

And, yet, we maintain that the Bible was not made simply
for old times, but for the new as well, and that no better busi-
ness manual has ever been devised, or will be till the world
shall end. Of "the man whose delight is in- the law of the
Lord," and who so delights in it that he meditates on it day and
night, it is written that " whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

The knave may, indeed, have a certain brief appearance of
prosperity, but the curse clings to him and his fortune, and
sooner or later it will burn into his very flesh like the poisoned
shirt of Nessus.

There is no incompatibility between business and religion,
and cannot be, seeing that the Lord has called us to both. And
we are exhorted to be " not slothful in business, fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord." And among the very foremost business
men of our time, and of all time, have been those whose Bibles
were as indispensable in their counting houses, as daybook and
ledger.

" Trust in the Lord and do good, and so shalt thou dwell
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." That is the most
stable business house in which God is a silent partner, and yet is
constantly consulted. Piety and prosperity go hand in hand.
Fools think to take short cuts, but making haste to be rich they
fall into a snare. " They shall eat of the fruit of their own
doings, and be filled with their own desires." But even were it
otherwise, even were poverty the appointed portion of all that
strictly follow the precepts of God's holy word, it would be
worth one's while to suffer it, for there are some things of
greater value than what the world calls riches.

" Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that
getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better
than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine
gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou
canst desire are not to be compared to her." What we are here
for is not to gather a heap of decaying matter with a muck

489

THE BIBLE THE LAW OF LIFE.

rake, but to develop manhood of the noblest type, that shall
worthily wear the crown of glory that the Judge of all the earth
will place upon the brow when the conflicts of life are happily
over. Well may we join with the Psalmist in saying, " Blessed
are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord."
In every earthly relation it is, indeed, " a lamp to our feet and
a light to our path."

And this last clause suggests a longer look and a wider view
than that which concerns the little details of one's life to-day.
We are so constituted that we are bound to stand on tiptoe,
anxiously peering into the great beyond. Whither am I
bound? And what is my destiny? And wherewithal shall I
appear before God? These are questions that will not " down,"
and yet they are such as no oracles of this world can answer.

" Search the Scriptures," was the voice of the Great Teacher,
" for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me." The world is full of teachers saying, Lo,
here, and, lo, there, and there be many that are ready to follow
them even to their own undoing!

Even Christendom is divided into warring sects, that mouth
their shibboleths, and confound honest inquirers with their dis-
cordant cries. "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak
not according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them."

If our Saviour's prayer for the unity of his people is ever to
be realized, as surely it ultimately will be, the consummation
so devoutly to be wished will be attained not by cowardly or
conscienceless compromise of truth, but by the surrender of the
authority of all earthly standards, and the absolute submission
of the minds of men to the infallible authority of the word of
God.

490

Ligh.ts of Canada.

Sir Oliver Mowat, born in Kingston, Ont.,
July 22, 1820. He was educated in Kings-
ton, subsequently studied law, was called to
the bar of Upper Canada in 1841 and was
created a Queen's Council in 1856. He
represented South Ontario in the Canada
Assembly frem 1857 till 1864; North Ox-
ford in the Ontario Parliament since 1872 ;
was provincial secretary in the Brown-
Dorion government in August, 1858, and
held many other public offices until he was
appointed a member of the executive coun-
cil and attorney-general of Ontario, Octo-
ber 31, 1872, and since then has been leader
of the Ontario government. Sir Oliver is
the author of many important legislative
measures in the Provincial Parliament,
among which is the judicature bill and an
act for the fusion of law and equity in the
courts of Ontario. He is a Liberal in poli-
tics, an effective public speaker, and has been
a cautious, intelligent, and successful ad-
ministrator of the government of his native
province, in which his popularity is very
great. He was knighted in 1892.

Sir John A. MacDonald, born in Glasgow,
Scotland, January 11, 1815. He was edu-
cated at the Royal Grammar school, adopted
the law as his profession, and was called to
the bar of Upper Canada in 1836. Ten years
later he was appointed Queen's Council, but
it is as politician and statesman that he won
his place in Canadian history. In 1844 lie
was elected to represent Kingston in the
Canadian Assembly and sat for this con-
stituency almost continuously until his
death. He assumed office for the first time,
May 21, 1847, entering the cabinet as re-
ceiver-general ; became commissioner of
crown lands and was attorney-general for
Upper Canada from September 11, 1854, to
July 2P, 1858, when, as prime minister, he
and his cabinet resigned ; after this he was
reappointed attorney-general, a position he
held until the defeat of the administration,
May, 1862, when he and his colleagues again
retired from office. On July 1, 1867, he was
called upon to form the first government for
the new Dominion and was appointed min-
ister of justice and attorney-general of
Canada, an office which he held until he
and his ministry resigned on the Pacific Rail-
way charges, November 6, 1873. The meas-
ures which Sir John carried through Parlia-
ment comprise the most important features
of Canadian legislation from 1854 up till the
period of his death in 1891.

Hon. Joseph Howe was born near Halifax,
Nova Scotia, December 13, 1804. He was
apprenticed to a printer, and in 1828 became
soleeditor and proprietor of the NovaScotian.
As an outspoken Liberal and friend of respon-
sible government, he was involved in a vexa-
tious libel suit, and fought a duel with Mr.
Haliburton. As a member of the Provincial
Parliament, colonial agent in England, pro-
vincial secretary, etc., he was long one of the
most prominent men in Nova Scotia, and was
one of the founders of responsible govern-
ment in the province. He resigned his office
of provincial secretary to superintend the
construction of the rail way from Halifax to
Quebec. He was (186!>-72) secretary of state
for the provinces in the Dominion govern-
ment, and superintendent of Indian affairs.
He was afterwards lieutenant-governor of
Nova Scotia. Died at Halifax, June 1, 1873.

Hon. Wilfrid Laurier, born in St. Lin, Que-
bec, November 20, 1841. He was educated
at L' Assomption College, and admitted to the
bar in 18f!5. He was a member of the Quebec
Assembly, 1871-74, and since 1874 has been
a member of the Dominion Parliament, and
was minister of inland revenue, 1877-78.
He is an eloquent speaker, and, since the
retirement of Mr. Blake, has been the leader
of the Canadian Liberals. He is an earnest
advocate of temperance, and was a delegate
to the Dominion prohibitory convention at
Montreal in 1875.

Sir John "William Dawson was born in Pic-
tou, Nova Scotia, October 13, 1820. Was
educated at Pictou College and the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh, and afterwards devoted
himself to the study of the natural history
and geology of the Provinces of Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick. His studies in the
lower forms of animal life, both recent and
fossil, have been numerous and valuable;
and he is the discoverer of the oldest known
form of animal life, the eozoon Canadenseal
the Laureutian limestones. In 1850 he was
appointed superintendent of education for
Nova Scotia.in which position he reorganized
the schools of that province. In 1855 he was
appointed principal and professor of natural
history in the McGill University at Montreal,
of which he has since become vice-chancellor.
He also organized the Protestant normal
school for the Province of Quebec. Dr.
Dawson has the degree of LL.D. from McGill
University, and is a fellow of the Royal and

490 A

LIGHTS OF CANADA.

Geological Societies of London, and a mem-
ber of many other learned societies.

Sir John Sparrow David Thompson, born at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, November 10, 1844.
He was educated at tbe common school and
the Free Church Academy at Halifax, stud-
ied law, was called to the bar in July,
1865, and appointed a Queen's Council 111
May, 1879. He was in turn a member of the
House of Assembly of Nova Scotia, attor-
ney-general of the province, premier and
attorney-general of the same until July 25,
1882, when he was appointed a judge of the
supreme court of Nova Scotia ; resigned
September 25, 1885, to become minister of
justice and attorney-general of Canada
and was elected to the Parliament of Canada.
He was appointed premier of Canada upon
the resignation of Sir John C. Abbott. He
was a member of the senate of the Uni-
versity of Halifax, held several other offices,
and was knighted for his services in 1888.
Died at Windsor, England, December 12,
1894.

Sir Richard John Cartwright was born at
Kingston, Ontario, December 4, 1835, and
was educated at his native place and at
Trinity College, Dublin, Ire. He entered
Parliament as a Conservative in 1863, but in
1870 formally severed his connection with
the Conservative party. He voted against
his old party on several questions, but was
re-elected in 1872. He then identified him-
self thoroughly with the reform party and
m 1873 accepted office as minister of finance
and was sworn of the privy council. On
May 24, 1879, he was knighted. Sir Richard
is a leader of the Liberal party and a keen
critic of the financial policy of his political
opponents.

Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, born in Logie-
rait, Scotland, January 28, 1822. Was edu-
cated at the public schools and, after
following fora time the trade of a mason,
became, like his father, an architect and
builder. In 1842 emigrated to Kingston,
Canada. He had been a Whig in Scotland
and natural lv, soon after his arrival in
Canada, allied himself with the Liberal party.
In 1861 he was elected fo Parliament for
Lambton and represented it until 1867 ; he
represented the same constituency in the
Dominion Parliament, sat for West Middle-
sex in the Ontario Assembly, 1871-72, and
was treasurer of the province during that
period. On November 5, 1873, upon the
resignation of Sir John A. MacDonald, Mr.
Mackenzie was called upon to form a new
administration, which he succeeded in ac-
complishing November 7, 1873, taking the
position of premier and minister of public

works, which he held till he and his cabinet
resigned in 1878 in consequence of the Con-
servatives being returned to power. His
administration was productive of the most
important legislation. Among the measures
that were enacted were a stringent election
law, the abolition of the real estate qualifica-
tions for members of Parliament, the enact-
ment of the marine telegraph law, the
establishment of a Dominion military col-
lege, and many others. He was three times
offered the honor of knighthood, which he
declined. Died at Toronto, April 17, 1892.

Sir Charles Tapper, born at Amherst, Nova
Scotia, July 2, 1821 ; graduated as a physician
at Edinburgh in 1843. He was appointed
governor of Dalhousie College, Halifax,
by act of Parliament in 1862, was president
of the Canadian Medical Association from
its formation until 1870, and is director of
the London board of the bank of British
Columbia. He was a Conservative in poli-
tics, but took no active part in public mat-
ters until 1855, when he was elected to the
provincial legislature for the county of Cum-
berland.. At once Tupper took a marked
position in the legislature, and when, in
185B, the Johnston cabinet was formed, he
became provincial secretary of Nova Scotia,
serving till 1860, and identified himself with
such measures as the abolition of the mo-
nopoly in mines and minerals, representation
by population and consolidation of the jury
law. In 1864 Dr. Tupper became prime min-
ister of Nova Scotia, which post beheld until
1867. During these three years he passed
the free school law, which is still in operation
in Nova Scotia. He held many other public
offices, and in 1879 was knighted, and became
a baronet in 1888. He was largely instru-
mental in securing the assent of the Maritime
provinces to confederation, and other impor-
tant legislation.

John Camphell Hamilton Gordon, seventh
Earl of Aberdeen, was born August 3, 1847.
He succeeded to his title January 27, 1870. He
began political life as a Conservative ; was
in 1875 a member and later the chairman of
a royal commission to investigate the subject
of railway accidents. In 1880, having become
a Liberal, he was appointed lord-lieutenant
of Aberdeenshire, and, for the years 1881-85.
he was high commissioner to the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Ap-
pointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Mr.
Gladstone in 1886. He became extremely
popular with the Irish people in bis mission
of carrying out the Home Rule policy of that
time, and his departure on the fall of the
Gladstone Cabinet was the occasion for much
popular demonstration.

490 B

Successful Men and \Vomen.

Trie Story of Trial and Triumph.

WRITERS AND THINKERS.

Louis John Rudolf Agassiz, naturalist, edu-
cator, born in Metier near Lake Neufchatel,
Switzerland, May 28, 1807, died in Cam-
bridge, Mass., December 14, 1873. Father
a Protestant clergyman. Studied medicine
at Zurich, Heidelberg, Munich. Perfecting
himself in study of fossil fishes, he was
appointed professor of Natural History at
Neufchatel in 1832, and spent summers in
Alps studying glaciers. Published five
volumes of "Researches on Fossil Fishes"
(300 plates), 1832-42 and a work on "Gla-
ciers," 1840, " Systeme Glaciaire," 1847. In
184B he came on a scientific excursion to the
United States, where he then determined to
live. Appointed professor of zoology and
geology at Harvard, 1848, and published
that year " Outlines of Comparative Physiol-
ogy." 1865 conducted expedition to Brazil,
exploring lower Amazon and tributaries, dis-
covering over 1800 new species of fishes,
and published in 1868 " A Journey to
Brazil," mainly written by his wife, and
that year became non-resident professor of
natural history in Cornell University,
Ithaca, N. Y. In 1871 went with the Has-
sler expedition under Professor Pierce to
South America and Pacific ocean, and
established a summer school of science in
1873. He loved knowledge for its sake, and
attracted students by his intense personality,
originality, and earnestness as but few have
ever done. A thorough believer in special
divine creations, he rejected the theory of
Darwinism and gave notable lectures against
that theory. No other man of his day,
unless it be Hugh Miller, made science so
popular and attractive as he, or was so
immense a scientific force.

Matthew Arnold, poet, author, born 24th
Dec., 1822, in Laleham, near Staines, Eng-
land, and died in Liverpool, England, April
16, 1888. He was the eldest son of Dr.
Thomas Arnold, later the head master of
Rugby School. At his birth the father was a
private tutor at Laleham, and after his
removal to Rugby and when Matthew was
twelve years of age he was sent to Laleham to
the private school of Rev. J. Bnckland
(brother of the celebrated Prof. Buckland).
Two years later he studied at Winchester

under Dr. Moberly and in 1837 entered his
father's school at Rugby. In 1840 he won
the open scholarship at Baliol College,
Oxford, and entered that institution the
following year. In 1842 he won the Herford
scholarship prize, and in 1844 the Newdigate
prize, and in 1845 became fellow of Oriel
College. Two years later, in 1847, Lord
Lansdowne, the Whig leader, gave him the
post of private secretary, and in 1851 he
married a daughter of Justice Wightman
and resigning the secretaryship accepted
the post of lay inspector of the British and
Foreign School Society, a position he held for
a quarter of a century, visiting in the per-
formance of his duties all parts of the
kingdom and making several visits to the
Continent in the interest of his school work.
He also held the chair of professor of poetry
at Oxford College from 1857 to 1867. In
1885 he visited the United States, giving a
course of public lectures in the leading
cities, oneof which, lecture on Emerson, pro-
voked much adverse criticisms from Emer-
son's friends. Of his ten volumes of
published works, two are poems, two
essays, three religious criticisms, and three
general literature, the one on " Literature
and Dogma "(1872) having perhaps the
widest circulation, and awaking many
replies.

Thomas Carlyle, author, born inEcclefechan,
Dumfriesshire, Scotland, 4th December,
1795, died in (Chelsea) London, England,
February 5, 1881. His father was a small
farmer in humble circumstances. Thomas
was a precocious reader from childhood, and
designed by his parents for the ministry,
and educated at the parish school, then at
Annan grammar school, and when fifteen
entered theEdinburgh University, and, being
undecided as to his future at his graduation,
he became mathematical tutor at Annan in
1814, and two years later went to Kirkcaldy
as assistant to Edward Irving, then conduct-
ing a school there. But Carlyle did not like
teaching, and having contracted the
chronic dyspepsia, that tinged all his
after work in life, he abandoned teach-
ing in December, 1818, and having
saved some $400, he now resolved to

491

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

study law rather than divinity, and went to
Edinburgh University for a further course,
supporting himself by writing for Dr.
Brewster's encyclopedia, and at length gave
up the law for literature. To help toward this
purpose he became tutor to the two sons of
Mr. Buller at a salary of $1,000 a year, and
having the evenings to himself he translated
Legendre's Geometry, adding to it his chap-
ter on proportion, and being one of the
finest German scholars of his age and an
oiuuiverous reader, he at this time, trans-
lated also Goethe's " WilheimMeister," and
wrote his " Life of Schiller," publishing the
latter in installments in the London
Magazine. In June, 1824, he went with
the Bullers to London, and in the
autumn left their employ but remained in
England until January, 1825, when he
returned to Scotland and wrote for the
Edinburgh Review, and other periodicals.
October 17, 1826, he married Miss Jane
Baillie Welch, and lived in Edinburgh till
the next May when poverty drove him to
reside on his wife's estate at Craigenput-
toch, a lonely, dreary spot, where he stayed
for six years, studying, writing for Reviews,
publishing translations of Jean Paul, Tieck,
Musaus, Hoffmann, and other Germans of
note, till then unknown in the English
world, and preparing some forty notable
biographical sketches for the "Edinburgh
Encyclopedia." In July, 1831, he had com-
pleted his " Sartor Resartus " (i. e., stitcher
restitched) and went to London to find a
publisher, but after many efforts failed, and
in 1833 he published it in fragments in
Fraser's Magazine. In 1834 (February)
having then saved $1,000, he suddenly
resolved to remove to London (Chelsea),
where he resided till his death. In 1837
appeared his " The French Revolution, a
History," the first of his works to whtch he
affixed his name, and he had by it become
famous. Of the thirty-three volumes com-
posing his complete works, the greatest is
his " Oliver Cromwell," and his " Life of
Frederick the Great," the latter published
in 18ti6, and the result of fourteen years of
research and prodigious labor. In Novem-
ber, 1865, he was chosen rector of Edinburgh
University, and the following March gave
there his celebrated address "On the Choice
of Books," and then in April, while absent
at the university, his wife died suddenly in
her carriage at Chelsea, and stricken with
grief and remorse he prepared those " Let-
ters and Memorials " of her that have
immortalized the gifted woman who for so
many years heroically crushed out her own
heart longings in order that her husband
might gain his renown.

Charles Anderson Dana, journalist, born at
Hinsdale, N. H. Aug. 8, 1819. His boy-
hood was spent in Buffalo, N. Y., where he

worked in a store until eighteen, studied
Latin and prepared himself for college and
in 1839 entered Harvard University, but was
obliged to leave at end of two years, and was
afterwards given his degree. In 1841 he
became a member of that famous ill-starred
socialistic experiment in which so many
notable persons engaged, known as " Brook
Farm," Roxbury, Mass. When it collapsed
he did editorial work on newspapers in
Boston for two years, afterward joining,
in 1847, the editorial staff of the New York
Tribune, and the following year spent eight
months in Europe, and on return became
one of the proprietors and the managing
editor of the Tribune, a position which he
held for fifteen years.when disagreeing with
Horace Greeley as to the conduct of the
civil war, and that editor's course concern-
ing it, he resigned April 1, 1862,*and was at
once employed by Secretary of War Edwin
M. Stanton in special work for that depart-
ment and in 1863 made assistant secretary
of War Department, spending much of the
time in the field with the armies. At the
close of the war went to Chicago, working
on a new paper, The Republican, till its
failure, when he came to New York in 1867
and organized a stock company and bought
the then moribund Sun and became its
editor, making it a renowned and profitable
journal. Mr. Dana and George Ripley were
the planners and originators of the Ameri-
can Cyclopedia (D. Appletou & Co.), work-
ing on it from 1855 to its completion in
1862, and together with General James H.
Wilson published the "Life of General
Grant" in 1868. Another noted work
of his, " Household Book of Poetry "
(1887), has gone through many editions.

James Dwight Dana, scientist, educator,
born in Utica, New York, 12th Feb., 1813.
His father was a man of means, and the son
was given the advantages of the schools of
his native town, and at seventeen entered
Yale College (attracted thither by the fame
of the renowned scientist, Prof. Benjamin
Silliman) and graduated with much honor
in 1833, and after his graduation was ap-
pointed an instructor of mathematics in the
United States Navy, and visited various
seaports in France, Italy, Greece, and Tur-
key. On his return from this voyage he
was appointed mineralogist and geologist
to United States Exploring Expedition to be
sent to the South Pacific, but as the expedi-
tion did not sail until August, 1838, he
spent the time from 1836 to 1838 as assistant
instructor in chemistry with Prof. Silliman
at Yale College. In 1838 he sailed with the
expedition and was wrecked on a sand bar at
the mouth of Columbia river. During his
absence of three years and ten months, he
had charge in addition to mineralogical and
geological departments of that of zoology,

492

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

especially the Crustacea and corals, and for
thirteen years after his return he was
employed in studying the materials he had
collected and making the drawings and
preparing the reports for publication, of
which the government issued three volumts
with plates, publishing one hundred copies
of each volume. From his return in June,
1842, to 1844, he resided in Washington, D.
C., but in the latter year he removed to
New Haven, Coun., where he has since
resided, and in that year he married Miss
Henrietta Frances, third daughter of Prof.
Benjamin Silliman.In 1850 he was appointed
Silliman professor of natural history and
geology at Yale, but did not take the chair
until 1855 ; and in that year (1850) he
became associate editor of the American
Journal of Science and Arts (founded by
Prof. Silliman in 1819), and after the death
of his father-in-law he became its senior
editor. In 1854 he was elected president of
the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science. In 1872 was given the
Wollaston medal by the Geological Society
of London, and in 1877 the Copley gold
medal by the Royal Society of London.
He is also a member of the Institute of
France, of the Royal Academies of Berlin,
of Vienna, of St. Petersburg, of the Royal
Academy of the Lincei of Rome, and of
many scientific and learned associations in
his native land. Besides the many hundred
articles he has written for scientific
journals he has written some half dozen
books of science of very wide circulation
that not only have given him much fame
but which have become accepted as stand-
ards in their departments, as, for instance,
his Manuals of Mineralogy and of Geology.

Charles Robert Darwin, naturalist, author,
born at Shrewsbury, England, February 12,
1809, died at Down, England, April 19, 1882.
Was fifth of six children born to his father,
who was a physician of marked individ-
uality and an attendant and adherent of the
Unitarian Church. Charles's mother died
when he was eight years old and his train-
ing, fell to his elder sisters; at sixteen he
went to Edinburgh University to study
medicine. This was distasteful to him and
after two years he went to Cambridge to
study for the ministry, was a poor student
standing tenth in his class ; was fond of nat-
ural history. Read Humboldt's " Personal
Narrative " while at Cambridge, which
decided him to be a naturalist. In 1831 he
went as Government Naturalist on the sur-
veying brig Beadle to South America, where
he remained five years and where he col-
lected the material for most of his important
works. In 1839 he married his cousin, Emma
Edgewood. He was extremely methodical
in work, economical of time, imaginative
and speculative of intellect; ill of health

for years, poor in memory and an
omnivorous reader. He was sir feet of
stature, thin in form, ruddy of complexion,
simple and charming in manner, and his
numerous works, while not attractive in
style, have had an immense influence,
whether for good or ill throughout the think-
ing world. He is popularly, though not
correctly, accounted as the author of the
"Evolution Theory." In his original
edition of the most noted of his works,
" Origin of Species," published in 1859, and
which was the result of seventeen years of
preparation he was extremely orthodox in
his views, but these statements he subse-
quently omitted in later editions. The most
important of his other works are "Coral
Reefs" published in 1842, "Geological
Observations" in 1844, "Fertilization of
Orchids" in 1862, "Variations of Plants
and Animals under Domestication " in 1868,
" Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation
to Sex" in 1871, "Expressions of Emo-
tions in Man and Animals " in 1872,
"Insectivorous Plants" in 1875, "Effects
of Cross and Self Fertilizations in the
Vegetable Kingdom" in 187H, "Different
Forms of Flowers" in 1877, "Power of
Movements in Plants" in 1880, "Formation
of Vegetable Mold through the Action of
Worms " in 1881.

Thomas Henry Huxley, author, lecturer,
born in Ealing, Middlesex, England, May
4, 1825. His father being a teacher in a
school at that place, he received his early
education at home, save two and one-half
years that he spent at Ealing school. In
1842 he entered the medical school of Char-
ing Cross Hospital, receiving the degree of
M. B., in 1845, from the University of Lon-
don, being the second on the honor list. In
1846 he joined the Royal Navy and was
stationed at the Haslar Hospital, and then
the same year went as assistant surgeon
on Captain Stanley's surveying expedition
to the South Pacific, making a four years
voyage, and gathering much of the material
for his work of after years. On his return
be published some noted papers, and in 1851
he was elected Fellow of Royal Society ; in
1853 he resigned his position in the navy and
the following year he succeeded Prof.
Edward Forbes as the professor of natural
history in the Royal School of Mines. He
was also the Hunterian Professor at the
Royal College of Surgeons, 1863-9, and the
president of the Geological and Ethnological
Society, 1869-70. In 1870, president of the
British Association of Science, and member
of London School Board, 1872, Lord Rector
of the University of Aberdeen, and since
has been crowned with additional honors as
member of learned bodies in various parts
of the world. His public lectures on "Man's
Place in Nature " and " The Physical Basis

493

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

of Life," as well as his published volumes,
have attracted marked attention to him as
the author of the " protoplasm theory " of
life's beginning. Prof. Huxley was the
first of learned men to extend the Dar-
winian theory of natural selection to man.

John Stuart Mill, philosopher, author, born
in London, England, May 20, 1806, died in
Avignon, France, May 8, 1873. His
father, James Mill, was educated for the
Scottish ministry and was licensed to preach,
but abandoned the ministry and became not
only a disbeliever in all religions but an
activeopponentof them. He supported him-
self after his change of views by literary
work, until, in 1819, he was given a position
in the East India House. Mr. Mill, Senior,
having adopted the views of Jeremy Ben-
tham, took his sou in baud early, and set him,
when but three years old, at learning Greek
by aid of a Greek-Latin lexicon, and so
drilled the child that, before he was eight
years of age, he had read all the Greek
authors of the University course, being re-
quired daily to report and analyze to his
father. At eight he began the study of
Latin, Euclid and Algebra, then Greek,
Roman and English History, and when
twelve he took up the study of logic,
rhetoric, political economy, and metaphysics,
being thoroughly drilled by his father in the
systems of Jeremy Bentham, Adam Smith,
and Ricardo. For fourteen years the father
took the utmost pains to prevent him having
any religious ideas whatever, teaching him
that men could know nothing of their origin,
or of that of the world, or of a God, so that
when fourteen he was a shy, timid lad, shut
out from associates of his age and ignorant
of almost all practical matters and common
subjects, but very learned on uncommon and
practically useless ones. When fourteen he
went with Sir Samuel Bentham (brother of
Jeremy B.) to France, where he studied
French philosophy and politics and began to
write for newspapers and reviews. When
seventeen he became clerk in the Examiner's
office (in East India House, where his father
was assistant examiner), where he remained
for thirty-two years, becoming an assistant
when twenty-two years of age ana examiner
in 1856, and when the office was abolished
he retired, October, 1858, on an allowance
from government. The office afforded him
much leisure, so that he continued his lit-
erary work, editing, when twenty-one, Ben-
tham's " Rationale of Judicial Evidence,"
and when twenty-nine was joint editor of
the Westminster Review. When thirty-
seven he published (1843) his "System of
Logic," and five years later his " Political
Economy," perhaps the best known of his
works. In 1865 he was elected to the House
of Commons, where he served for three
years with great distinction. He was a man

of retiring disposition, generous and liberal
in spirit, and of a pure life, albeit a wor
sniper, as he tells us, of Mrs. Taylor, whon
he constantly visited for nineteen years du
ing her husband's life, and whom hemarrit
in 1851 (Mr. Taylor dying in 1849), and wht
she died in 1859 at Avignon he built a res.
dence near her grave, where he continued U
reside till his death, saying of her in his
Autobiography, published the year of his
death, " My objects in life are solely those
which were hers, my pursuits and occupa-
tions those in which she shared or sympa-
thized, and which are indissolubly associated
with her. Her memory is to me a religion,
and her approbation the standard by which,
summing up as it does all worthiness, I en-
deavor to regulate my life."

Sir Isaac Newton, philosopher, born in
Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, 25th
December, 1642, died in (Kensington) Lon-
don, March 20, 1727. Was born after his
father's death (as was the illustrious Kepler)
and prematurely in the year that Galileo
died as a prisoner at the hands of the
Inquisition "for thinking in astronomy,"
said John Milton, " otherwise than the
Franciscan and Dominican licensers
thought." When Newton was three years
of age his mother again married and gave
him in charge to her mother, and he
attended the schools at Skillington and at
Stoke till his twelfth year, when he was
sent to the grammar school at Grantham;
being bullied by an older boy he resolved
to surpass him in study and was soon at the
head of the school. While at school he
cared more for making various ingenious
mechanical contrivances than for the sports
of his school fellows. One of the sun dials
he then cut in stone is preserved by the
Royal Society. When fourteen, his mother,
again a widow, took him to help in carrying
on the farm in his native place, but he
neglected work for study and his mother
sent him back to Grantham, where be fitted
to enter Trinity College, Cambridge, in
1661, and was elected scholar in 1664, and
the following year took the degree of B.A.
During his university course he invented
his binomial theorem and fluxions, and began
his improvements on the Huygens tele-
scopes shortly after his graduation. The
plague compelled him to retire to his native
place in 1665, where the fall of an apple, as
he sat in the garden, turned his attention to
the investigation that at length led to his
discovery of the theory of gravitation in
1680-4 and which has made his name
immortal. When the plague ceased he
returned to Cambridge and graduated M.A.
in July, 1668, and, in the autumn of same
year, made the first reflecting telescope ever
directed to the heavens (Gregory never com-
pleted the instrument he invented). New-

494

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

m's telescope was six inches in length and
-gnified forty times and enabled him to
Jupiter's satellites and phases of Venus.
1671 he made another that is now care-
y preserved in the library of the Royal
iety, in London, and January 11, of that
.r, was elected a member of the society,
,d in 1686 at the urgent solicitation of
.alley and at Halley's expense, he published
uis great discoveries in gravitation in his
great work the " Principia," that has come
down through two hundred years, adding
ever new luster to his name. He was elected
to represent the university in Parliament in
1689 and 1701. In 1696 he was appointed
warden of the mint, and promoted master of
the mint in 1699 at a salary of $7,000 a year,
holding the office till the end of his life;
and for twenty-five years he was annually
elected (1703-27) president of the Royal
Society. In 1699 he was also made member
of Academy of Science at Paris and in 1705
was made Knight by Queen Anne. He
wrote and published notable papers, the
most important of which were republished
by Bishop Horsley in five volumes (London,
1779-85) and by Sir David Brewster
(1855-75). He was of medium stature, never
married, never wore spectacles, and is said
never to have lost but one tooth to the day
of his death. He was buried with great
pomp in Westminster Abbey, where a monu-
ment to him was erected in 1731 and his
dwelling house is said to he yet kept in
St. Martin's street, London, as a place of
pilgrimage.

John Ruskin, author, born in London, Eng-
land, February 8, 1819. His father,
John James Ruskin, began life as a poor
clerk, and became a wine merchant, and
owner of extensive vineyards in Spain, and
by his industry amassed a large fortune,
which the son, an only living child , inherited.
Both his parents were Scotch, and he was
designed by them for the ministry, and care-
fully educated at home by his mother, a
woman of good attainments, and then by a
private tutor in his home (Dr. Andrews),
who taught him Latin, Greek, mathematics,
etc., to fit him for college, and he was then
entered as a student at Christ Church
College, Oxford, when fifteen years of age,
and afterwards spent two years in pre-
paratory work for the college course at the
private school of Rev. Thomas Dale, and
graduated from Oxford College in 1842,
distinguishing himself while there in the
year 1839, by gaining the Newdigate prize
for English poetry, he having written poetry
from his childhood. Immediately after his
graduation, Mr. Ruskin devoted himself to
the study of art and to water-color painting,
and made many visits to various parts of
continental Europe, and also spent much
time in Italy,especially in Venice.with a view

of reforming landscape painting and domes-
tic architecture, and he published notable
works illustrated with his own drawings,
which awakened much criticisim. In 1867
he was elected Rede lecturer at Cambridge
and given the degree of LL. D., and in 1869
elected professor of fine arts in University
of Oxford. He has given many courses of
lectures to artisans and others, and, beside
publishing numerous volumes of illustrated
works of more or less merit, has engaged
in and established various schemes for the
benefit of different classes of society in his
native land, and especially seeking to ele-
vate his fellow men.

Herbert Spencer, philosopher, born in Derby,
England, 27th April, 1820. His father, W. G.
Spencer, was a teacher of mathematics in
school in Derby, and Herbert, the only sur-
viving child, being in delicate health, did
not learn to read till seven years of age,
and when sent to school was a rather dull
scholar. In his boyhood he was fond of
rearing butterflies and insects and watching
their several transformations and making
drawings of them, and experimenting.
When thirteen he was sent to an uncle, Rev.
Thomas Spencer, rector of Hiuton, who
taught him for three years to prepare him
for college, but he refused to take a college
course. The uncle was of liberal tendencies,
which in after years were manifested in his
pulpit. The youth was a good mathemati-
cian and when sixteen devised a new theorem
in Descriptive Geometry, which was pub-
lished in the Civil Engineers' and Archi-
tects' Journal. At seventeen, ha was
indentured for a few years to Sir Charles
Fox, civil engineer, and worked on London
and Birmingham Railroad. In 1841 he
returned home and spent two years in the
study of mathematics and mineralogy and
gave attention to experiments and inven-
tions of many kinds from watch springs to
electrotyping, and in 1843 went to London
to engage in literary work, but not succeed-
ing, returned again to engineering and fol-
lowed that for some five years. Then from
1848 to 1853, he was engaged in writing
for the Economist and other journals
and published his first volume of " Social
Statics," that he afterward withdrew
and suppressed. In 1854 he put forth
the views on evolution, afterward so
extensively developed in his several works.
In 1855 he published his " Principles of
Psychology," and in 18fiO published a pros-
pectus of a universal system of evolution,
in biology, psychology, sociology, and
morality, and began the preparation of
his works which be published from time
to time but which met with limited sale, so
that when in 1881, his part eight of the series
was issued, he stated that, as he had then
sunk some $18,000 in the venture, they could

495

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

no longer be continued. Then Miss Eliza
A. Youmans, sister of Prof. E. L. You-
mans, read his work, and her brother and
others began to take interest in them and a
fund of $7,000 was raised for their publica-
tion. Mr. Spencer visited the United
States in 1882, to the great delight of his
friends here, and the year following was
elected corresponding member of the French
Academy, since which period his works
have beeu translated into various languages
Hungarian, Bohemian, Polish, Swedish,
Dutch, Danish, German, French, Russian,
Greek, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and Jap-
anese, and accepted as among the very chief
epistles of the doctrine of evolution.

John Tyndall, philosopher, author, educator,
born in Leighlin Bridge, Carlow, Ireland,
August 21, 1820, died in Haslemere, Surrey,
Eug., December 4, 1893. His father was
a member of the Irish constabulary, in
moderate circumstances, and taught him
early the elementary branches and especially
instructed him in the Bible, and when a lad
sent him to the best schools the district
afforded, where he made excellent progress,
particularly in mathematics, and at nine-
teen became a civil assistant in the Irish
ordnance survey. Being thwarted by his
friends in his plans to go to the United
States, he took a situation as civil engineer
with a Manchester. Eng., firm in the con-
struction of a railroad, giving up the
situation in 1847 to become a professor in
the Queenswood College, Hampshire (a new
institution, founded by the celebrated
Robert Owen and his disciples to inaugurate
the millennium and who had cut the let-
ters C. M. (i. e., Commencement of the
Millennium) on the front of their Har-
mony Hall. Here he first met Dr. Frank-
land, who was the resident chemist at the
college, and he now began when twenty-eight
those original investigations that gave him

at length a world-wide renown. In the fol-
lowing year himself and Frankland went to
the University of Marburg, Germany, pros-
ecuting their study and researches under
the famous Buuseu and his co-laborers.
From thence he went to study in the labora-
tory of Prof. Magnus at Berlin and returned
to England in 1851. In 1853 he was elected
F. R. S. and appointed professor of natural
philosophy in the Royal Institution (founded
1800, by an American, Count Rumford) suc-
ceeding the renowned Prof. Faraday as
its superintendent and retaining it till 1887,
when he resigned. From 1856-60 he visited
each summer the Alps to investigate the
glaciers, and in 1859 began his great
researches in Radiant Heat, and in 1863
published his famous work on " Heat as a
Mode of Motion." In 1872 he delivered
thirty-five lectures in the United States,
devoting the net proceeds to founding
scientific scholarships for original investiga-
tions (divided in 1885 among Harvard and
Columbia Colleges and University of Penn-
sylvania, and which amounted to Jf33,400).
In 1872 he awakened much criticism by his
proposed " prayer test," which was intensi-
fied by his "Belfast Address" when Presi-
dent of the British Association in 1874.
During his thirty-nine years of active life
as scientist he became greatly distinguished
for his researches as to the constitution of
light, the phenomena of sound, the nature
of the molecules, and of the disease germs,
several of his numerous works having a
great circulation in the English tongue and
being also translated into other languages,
that on " Sound " being published in China
by that government. In 1876 Prof. Tyndall
married Louisa, eldest daughter of Lord
Hamilton. Although classed by many as a
materialist, in his later years he surely was
not such. He was not only among the fore-
most scientists of his generation, but was
also a man of fine literary culture.

AMERICA'S FAVORITE AUTHORS.

WHHam Cullen Bryant, poet and journalist,
born at Cummington, Mass., November 3,
1794, son of a cultured physician. Young
Bryant was very precocious, is said to have
known the alphabet when butsixteen months
old, and at five years of age to have learned
all of Dr. Watts's poems for children. Be-
fore ten years of age was heard to pray that
God would give him the gift of poetic gen-
ius. His first recorded verses were a trans-
lation from Horace, and an address in, rhyme
recited at the closing of the winter school, at
this time being twelve years old. First book
was published in 1807 : at sixteen, entered
Williams College, taking high rank in the
classical department. In May, 1811, left
Williams, intending to enter Yale ; but found
himself unable to afford it, and entered a law

office. Just before this, wrote "Thanatop-
sis," which was printed in 1817 in the Sep-
tember number of the North American Re-
view, and afterward " The Waterfowl " and
other poems appeared in the same journal.
In 1821, read a poem before the Phi Beta
Kappa Society of Harvard, and on that
occasion met Mr. Dana, with whom, for
sixty years, he had close correspondence and
friendship. Mr. Bryant was admitted to the
bar, but did not practice. In 1825, assumed
editorial control of the New York Revieio,
and not long after became associate editor
of the Evening Post, remaining in this con-
nection until his death, which occurred June
12, 1878. Of Mr. Bryant's works it is suffi-
cient to say that with them began a new era
in American verse, and tbe* tbey ar house-

49b

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

hold treasures in the homes of our country.
Of the man, it may with truth be said, that
he was a chivalrous gentleman, a sympa-
thetic friend, and a broad-minded Christian ;
truly, his was a successful life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, author, lecturer,
born in Boston, Mass, May 25, 1803, died
in Concord, Mass., April 27, 1882. His
father (William) was a clergyman of the
Unitarian faith, and pastor of the First Uni-
tarian Church, Boston, when Ralph (the
second of his five sons) was born. He
entered the grammar school at eight(whenhis
father died), four years later the Latin school,
and at fourteen Harvard College, where he
was graduated in 182l,having earned his way
through by teaching during vacations. After
graduation he continued to teach for some
live years and studied theology under Dr.
William Ellery Channing, and spent one
year at the Cambridge Divinity School, and
in 1826 was "approbated to preach," by
the Middlesex association of his church, and
March ll,1829,ordained as colleague to Henry
Ware, Jr., of the Second Unitarian Church
of Boston, and that year married Miss
Ellen Louise Tucker. Mr. Ware resigned
in 1831 and in February of the following
year Mr. Emerson's wife died, when he
resigned and went to Europe, returning in
the fall of 1833. While in Europe he made
the acquaintance of Coleridge, Wordsworth,
and Carlyle, with the latter of whom he
maintained correspondence for thirty-six
years (edited by Charles Eliot Norton, 188^).
After his return to United States, Mr.
Emerson preached for a time at New Bed-
ford, but declined a call, and took up his
abode at Concord, Mass., where he remained
till his death, preaching for a while at Con-
cord, then at Lexington, but refusing a call,
saying, " My pulpit is the lyceum plat-
form." And so for a generation he wrote
poetry ; prepared and delivered notable
lectures on many men and things to more
or less appreciative audiences; made two
lecturing tours to England receiving hom-
age denied him at home ; wrote and pub-
lished books that waited longer than those
of Hawthorne to find appreciative readers;
was called a mystic pantheist, atheist; and
now termed prophet and seer by the children
of those who were wont to denounce him;
and is in some circles in danger of being as
much overestimated as he was formerly
underestimated both for the originality and
for the profundity of his thought ; while he
lived in his thought and purpose in advance
of his age, and while he searched after the
divine in man, he did not neglect altogther
the oppressed, but took a part in the
agitation against slavery, albeit nature
had not run him in the mold out of which
she brings forth her reformers. He was an
idealist, dreaming oft unpracticable dreams,

rather than the profound explorer of new
ways, end of higher, holier thoughts for
men; a scholar limited by a creed which
while it touches man closely holds his
Creator at too profound an angle of dis-
tance to be either known or appreciated,
and so he missed that greatest sum of all
knowledge and hope Jesus Christ.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (changed by him
from Hathorne, the original name), author,
born in Salem, Mass., July 4, 1804, died in
Plymouth, N. H., May 18, 1864. His father,
Nathaniel, was captain of a trading vessel
and died at Surinam, when the son was eight
years old, leaving beside him two daughters.
The mother never recovered from the
shock of the husband's death, but thereafter
wholly secluded herself. The father was of
a melancholy, taciturn spirit, which inheri-
tance came duly to the son. When seven he
became a pupil in the school of the lexicog-
rapher, Dr. Joseph E. Worcester, and
became fond of the English classics, but did
not relish school life. A year or two later
his mother removed to Raymond, Maine,
then a wild country, mainly forest, where
his inherited tendency to solitude grew and
expanded, and then at fifteen he returned to
Salem and privately fitted for Bowdoin
College, entering there in 1821, and wrote
poor verses, read some novels, mainly
Scott's, and " nursed his fancies." At his
graduation in 1825, he returned to Salem to
his mother's house, where for nine or more
years he was a veritable hermit, seldom see-
ing any but the members of the family and
going out of doors at night for long, lonely
walks, scribbling sketches by day only to
burm them at night. In 1831 Sir. Samuel C.
Goodrich published some of his sketches,
which led to an acquaintance with Miss
Sophia Peabody, whom he married in 1842.
In 1837 he published the first of " Twice-told
Tales " selling some 700 copies only. Two
years later George Bancroft appointed him
" weigher and gauger " in Boston Custom
House, which he held for two years and on
change of administration was ousted. Then
in 1841 he published part of " Grandfather's
Chair " and joined the noted Brook Farm
Colony (1840-7) and invested his $1,000 of
savings in it, thinking it was " an Arcady,"
but found himself he said," up to the chin in
a barn-yard." In July, 1842, he married
and went to live at Concord, Mass., where
he resided for four years supporting himself
in part by writing tales for the Democratic
Review, and on its failure and the loss of
his $1,000 at Brook Farm he removed to
Salem and became surveyor of that port in
1846, where he remained three years and
wrote " Scarlet Letter," publishing it in
1850, selling 5,000 in the first fortnight in
the United States, and it had an immense
run in this country and England and made

497

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

him famous. In summer of that year he
removed to Lenox, Mass., where he wrote
"The House of the Seven Gables" which
outsold " Scarlet Letter," and the follow-
ing year wrote " The Wonder-Book " and
"Snow Image," and then in that year he
removed to West Newton and wrote "The
Blithedale Romance," founded on life and
incidents at the Brook Farm. This work
also met with enthusiastic reception. In
1852 he bought a residence in Concord,
Mass., and the next year was appointed
United States Consul to Liverpool, England,
and, after the term expired, he traveled on
the continent and wrote of his travels and
"The Marble Faun," that had also a very
great sale. He returned to the United
States in 1860 and published sundry other
works, the last, " Dr. Grimshawe's Secret,"
an incomplete story, being published by his
son, Julian, in 1882. He died while on a
journey to the White Mountains with his
close friend, ex-President Pierce.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, author, physician,
born in Cambridge, Mass., August 29, 1809,
his father, Abiel, being the pastor of the
First Congregational Church at that place.
He was educated in the schools of his native
place, and at a school in Cambridgeport, and
fitted for college at Phillips Academy, An-
dover, and graduated from Harvard in 1829.
While at Harvard he contributed numerous
poems to the college paper, and gave that at
the commencement exercises at his gradua-
tion. His lyric "Old Ironsides," published
in Boston Advertiser, 1830, gave him a name
with the public as poet, that his subsequent
productions " Evening, by a Tailor," and
" The Height of the Ridiculous," much in-
creased. He spent a year at the Cambridge
Law School, and then decided to be a physi-
cian, and studied medicine under Dr. James
Jackson, and in 1833, went to Europe for
study, chiefly in Paris, and returned in 1835,
and the following year took his degree of
M.D., and that year published his first vol-
ume of poems, containing, among others,
" The Last Leaf," Abraham Lincoln's favor-
ite. In 1839 he was chosen professor of anat-
omy and physiology at Dartmouth College,
and the next year he married Amelia Lee,
daughter of Judge Charles Jackson of Mas-
sachusetts Supreme Court, and shortly after
resigned his professorship and took up the
practice of medicine in Boston. In 1847 he
was chosen professor of .anatomy and phys-
iology at Harvard, succeeding Dr. John C.
Warren in that chair, and went before the
public on the lecture platform, being in much
request. When the Atlantic Monthly was
established, in 1857, he began to publish his
famous serial, " The Autocrat of the Break-
fast Table," followed by " The Professor at
the Breakfast Table," and later by " The
Poet at the Breakfast Table," the series

containing many of his best poetical produc-
tions. In 1882 he resigned the professorship
at Harvard, and devoted himself to litera-
ture. In his poems he has run the gamut
from serious to gay, and has written famous
songs in both moods, the mirth, however,
far exceeding the more serious of his moods.
He has also published learned medical dis-
sertations, three of which took the Boy 1st on
prizes for excellency, and are known, read,
and admired in England and on the Conti-
nent by vast multitudes, as well as by his
own countrymen. His son, Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Jr., is a famous jurist and a judge
of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.

Washington Irving, author, born in New
York city April 3, 1783, died in Irvington,
N. Y., November 28, 1859. Was youngest of
the eleven children of his father, who was a
Scotchman and a sailor, but settled in New
York as merchant trader, and Washington
got his education in the schools of the town,
mainly in the English branches, with a
smattering of Latin, and at about sixteen he
entered the law office of Judge Hoffman and
studied law. He was a voracious reader of
such works of fiction as he could find, and
in youth wrote articles for a daily paper
under the pseudonym of Jonathan Old Style.
When he was twenty-one, his health being
frail and threatened by consumption, an
elder brother, William, then in business,
defrayed the expense of a trip to Europe,
where he remained near two years, and on
his return took up the law again; and also
essayed, with a brother and friend, the pub-
lication of a new periodical of the London
Spectator stamp and called the Salma-
gundi, which soon died. He now turned
to writing a more pretentious work, " The
History of New York, by Diedrich Knicker-
bocker," but while engaged on it Miss Ma-
tilda Hoffman, daughter of Judge Hoffman,
his friend and legal instructor, a young lady
whom he devotedly loved, died, and he
never loved again, and now sought relief
from sorrow in literature, and in 1809 pub-
lished his History, which had at once a large
sale and brought him $3,000 (a large sum
for the time). He then took a part interest
with two of his brothers in mercantile busi-
ness, and in 1815 again went to Europe on a
visit to relatives and on business of the firm,
remaining in England until the firm failed
in 1818, and then betook himself to writing
his " Sketch Book," published in 1820, and
"Bracebridge Hall" (1822), "Tales of a
Traveller" (1824), for which works he re-
ceived some $15,000. During part of these
years he was in Paris and then at Madrid
as attache to the American Legation, and at
the latter place began his " Life of Colum-
bus," published in London and New York
(1828), and which netted him $18,000. His
"Conquest of Granada" appeared in 1829

498

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

and "Tales of the Alhambra " in 1832. In
is:.'!) be was appointed secretary to the Lega-
tion at London, and resided in England for
three years, receiving there in 1831 the de-
gree of LL.D. from Oxford University. In
1832 he returned (after an absence of seven-
teen years) to New York and bought
"Sunnyside," near Tarrytown, N. Y. He
went west with John Jacob Astor and wrote
his " Tour on the Prairies," which was pub-
lished in 1835, and his " Astoria," published
the next year. In 1842 President Tyler ap-
pointed him Minister to Madrid. In 1846 he
returned to America, and 1848-50 brought
out a new nud very successful edition of his
works in fifteen volumes, and adr'ed two
more, "The Life of Mahomet" and "Life
of Goldsmith," and when sixty-nine he
began on a " Life of Washington," and at
the end of seven years completed the fifth
and last volume. Over 600.000 volumes of
his works were sold during his lifetime, and
he died rich and greatly beloved for his no-
bility of character, as well as for his genius.
A new edition of his works, in twenty-seven
12mo volumes, was issued 1884-6, and it
is said that over a million and a half copies
of his various productions have been sold
in the United States, and he is recognized
as one of the most pleasing and successful
writers of the century.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet, born
in Portland, Me., February '27, 1807, died in
Cambridge, Mass., March 24, 1882. Father
a lawyer, member of legislature, and man of
means. His mother a daughter of Gen.
Wadsworth, and HenrJ was the second of
their eight children. "Was studious when a
child and fond of reading ; at twelve read
Washington Irving's " Sketch Book," which
made a deep impression on him. At thirteen
he sent his first poem to thf> poet's corner
of the Portland Gazette. At fourteen
entered Bowdoin College, the requisites for
admission at that time being verv easy, viz.,
ability to read a little New Testament
Greek, and put in lame English a few lines of
Virgil and Cicero, and a fair knowledge of
the " Walsh Arithmetic" and '' Morse's
Geography." But he had some notable
classmates, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne,
George B. Cheever, William Pitt Fessenden,
Franklin Pierce, John P. Hale, Calvin E.
Stowe, John S. C. Abbott, S. S. Prentice, fwd
others who made their mafk. Longfellow
graduated fourth in his class of forty-two
During his college course he wrote some
fourteen of his poems and published them in
the Literary Gazette of Boston, none of
them being especially brilliant ; but he
aimed at eminence in literature, for writ-
ing to his father while yet at college he said,
" Whatever I study, I ought to be engaged
in with all my soul, for I will be eminent in
something," and in his Junior year, " I most

eagerly aspire after future eminence in
literature; my whole soul burns most
ardently for it, and every earthly thought
centers in it. Nature has given me a very
strong predilection for literary pursuits, and
I am almost confident in believing that if
I ever rise in the world it must be by the
exercise of my talent in the wide field of
literature." After his graduation he tu-
tored for a short time at the college, then
entered his father's law office to study law,
but the college offering him the chair of
modern languages on condition that he first
spend three years in study in Europe, in the
spring of 1826 he went to France for part of
a year, then eight months in Spain, where
he first met Washington Irving, then a year
in Italy, and after some months in Germany
he returned and September 29 he began his
new duties as junior professor. Two years
later he married Miss Mary S. Potter of
Portland, Me., and lived contentedly on his
salary of $ 1 ,000 a year. When twenty-eight
he was invited to the chair of modern
languages at Harvard College and again
went to Europe for study of Scandinavian
languages and at Rotterdam his wife died,
and he sought to drown his grief in
redoubled application to study. On his
return he entered upon the professorship,
and in 1838 published his " Footsteps of
Angels " and " The Psalm of Life " and the
next year " Hyperion " and " Voices of the
Night." In 1843 he married Miss Appleton,
daughter of Hon. Nathan Appleton of Bos-
ton and bought the old "Craigie house"
(once Washington's headquarters) where
he lived till his death. The most noted of
his many poems are " Evangeline " (1847),
his best; "Hiawatha" (1855), " Courtship
of Miles Standish " (1858) and "Poems on
Slavery." In July, 1861, his wife while
playing with her children caught her light
summer dress on fire and was fatally burned,
and this and the trying scenes of the civil
war kept his harp silent for six years, and
then he sang again in minor lays in volumes
that appeared at intervals of a year or more,
and translated into felicitous lines the
" Divine Comedy " of Dante.

James Russell Lowell, poet and diplomatist,
was born at Cambridge, Mass., February
22, 1819, son of Charles Lowell, a Unitarian
minister, and bis wife, who was a most gifted
and intelligent woman. First tuition was
received at a private school, and, entering
Harvard in his sixteenth year, was gradu-
ated when not yet twenty. Was not an in-
dustrious student. The first known publi-
cation, under his name, was the class poem.
Entered Harvard Law School ; was gradu-
ated and admitted to the bar two years later,
at twenty-one ; but after one year, in which
he had very little practice, the law was defi-
nitely and finally abandoned for literature.

499

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

In 1841 appeared Lowell's first volume of
poems, "A Year's Life." In 1846-48, the
" Biglow Papers " appeared, vigorous satire
and inventive genius making them accepta-
ble, while moral force and unmistakable
prophecy gave them strong influence upon
the times. 1851-52 he spent largely in Europe,
and, as the fruit of this sojourn, appeared a
series of essays on Italian art and literature.
In 1855, accepted the professorship of modern
languages and literature in Harvard, made
vacant by the resignation of Henry W. Long-
fellow. Held this position for twenty years ;
and from 1859 to 1862 was editor of Atlantic
Monthly, also from 1863 to 1872, joint editor
with Charles Eliot Norton, of the North
American Review, and, during his connection
with these magazines, the second series of
the "Biglow Papers" was published. In
1875 was sent minister to Spain, and in 1880,
transferred to the same position in London,
which he held until 1885. From 1887 until
his death, which occurred August 12, 1891,
Mr. Lowell's health was poor ; and Elmwood
became a permanent residence. As a critic,
probably no American could compare with
him, unless, possibly, Edmund C. Stedman.
The leading characteristic of his work in
prose and poetry is moral nobility. Many
lines written by him have passed into the
people's speech, and will last as long as our
language.

Bayard Taylor was born in Kennett Square,
Pa., January 11, 1825, of Quaker parentage.
During early boyhood he worked on the
farm at home and at twelve years began to
write short novels, poems, and historical
essays. When barely sixteen years of age he
published his tirst poem in the Philadelphia
Saturday Evening Post (1841). At the
age of fourteen studied Latin, French, and
Spanish. At seventeen was apprenticed to
a printer, but, disliking the trade, bought
his time, arranged with the proprietors of
the Post and the United States Gazette
for a series of letters from foreign lands,
each paper paying $50in advance; Graham's
Magazine purchased poems from him, and
this raised the poet's funds to $140. He was
absent for two years, and by extreme econ-
omy and self-denial made the trip on $500.
In 1846 he published the collected accounts
of his travels under the name of "Views
Afoot." Six editions were sold during the
year. In 1847 secured a position on the New
York Tribune as man of all work in the lit-
erary department. Two years later pub-
lished " Rhymes of Travel, Ballads and
Poems," and immediately took rank as an
American poet of merit. In 1850 his Tribune
letters, entitled "Eldorado; or, in the Path
of Empire," were published. In 1851 he pub-
lished " Romances, Lyrics and Songs," and
set out again for the continent, visiting
Syria, Egypt, Palestine and Asia Minor;

then went with Perry's expedition to Japan.
Returned to the United States and began
lecturing, meeting with pronounced success.
In 1854 published " A Journey to Central
Africa" and "The Land of the Saracen";
in 1854 also, " Poems of the Orient." In
1855 followed a " Visit to China, India and
Japan." In 1855 made his famous journey
to Norway and Lapland. In 1862 was sent
as Secretary of Legation to St. Petersburg.
In 1870 Mr. Taylor was elected Professor of
German Literature in Cornell University.
In 1877 became Minister to Berlin. Mr.
Taylor published many works in addition to
those already mentioned. He died in Ber-
lin, Germany, December 19, 1878.

John Greenleaf Whittier, best if not first, of
American poets, was born at Haverhill,
Mass., December 7, 1807, and died at Hamp-
ton Falls, N. H., September 7, 1892. His
father, who in his religious belief was a
Friend, was a small farmer in moderate
circumstances, and from seven years to
sixteen John attended for six months in the
year the district school. He was fond of
reading and devoured the twenty miscel-
laneous books his father owned, and bor-
rowed from the doctor and neighbors.
When he was thirteen, one of the
then strolling merchants of the day,
spent a night at his father's house and
sang to them the songs of Robert Burns, a
name new to their Quaker ears. The
stirring stanzas made an impression on the
susceptible lad that largely determined his
future; he too would be a poet. When not
at school, and on winter evenings he worked
at shoe making and earned enough for a six
months' term in the Haverhill academy ;
then he taught a district school, and with
the proceeds took another six months'
course, which was all he had. When twenty-
two he became editor of a small weekly
paper in which many of his earliest verses
appeared; but the death of his father shortly
compelled him to return to the farm to care
for his mother, two sisters, and a brother.
and aunt. In 1836 he became secretary of
the American Anti-Slavery Society arid
went to Philadelphia to edit the Pennsyl-
vania Freeman, but a mob sacked and
burned his office and compelled this man of
peace to flee; also at Concord, N. H.,
where he went with George Thomson, he
was again mdbbed. He was elected as a
member of the Legislature from Haverhill,
1835-6. In 1840 he settled in Amesbury,
Mass., where he spent most of his later
years. From 1847-59 he was an editorial
writer for the National Era, Washington,
D. C., in which journal Mrs. H. B. Stowe'a
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" first appeared.
During all these years he was writing verses,
most of which flamed like beacon fires, or
scattered like the lightning's bolts. Of

500

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

the latter is his "Ichabod" written on
learning that Daniel Webster had spoken
in Congress in favor of the Fugitive Slave
Law. In " School Days " is found the clue
to his single life, while the world will not

willingly let die "Snow Bound," "My
Psalm," and "The Eternal Goodness/'
An edition of his poems in four volumes
appeared during the closing year of his
life.

FAMOUS NOVELISTS.

Charlotte Bronte, author, born in Thornton,
England, April 21, 1816,died in Haworth, Eng-
land, March 31, 1855. Her father was a
clergyman of Irish descent, an eccentric man,
subject to strange outbursts of temper,
gloomy, and solitary in spirit, and when
Charlotte was six years old her mother died,
and two years later she and a sister Emily
were sent to school for clergymen's daugh-
ters at Cowan's Bridge, near Ha worth, where
the father was then in charge (the school is
the original LOWOOD in Jane Eyre). They
remained here two years and returned home
in 1825, and after six years at home she was
sent to school at Roe-Head, and in 1835 she
became a teacher at that school, and after-
ward served as governess to a private family,
and then went with Emily to Brussels (1842),
to learn French and teach English in order to
qualify themselves for teaching as a vocation.
On her return, in 1844, she found her father
had become nearly blind, and her only
brother dissipated. Then she and sisters
turned to literature for a living, and the
three sisters published a volume of poems
under the pseudonym of " Currer Bell."
It had no sale, and they turned to fiction,
and the stories of her sisters Emily and
Anne were accepted and published, but her
first one could find no publisher to print it.
Then she began another, "Jane Eyre," pub-
lished in 1847, that took the English world
by storm, and that continues to be regarded
as one of the great masterpieces of literature.
Her second story, "Shirley," was published
in 1849, and the third and last, " Villette,"
in 1853. The following year she married
the curate of her father's parish, Rev. A.
Nicholls, and after a brief married life died
of the same disease, consumption, that had
already carried off her four sisters and
brother.

James Fenimore Cooper, author, born in
Burlington, N. J., September 15, 1789, died
at Cooperstown, N. Y., September 14, 1851.
He was the son of Judge William Cooper, a
Congressman who owned large tracts of
land in New York state, and the year after
the birth of James he laid out the village
of Cooperstown on his possession and
removed his family there, on the then bor-
der of civilization. Here James had limited
schooling, and then entered the family of
Rev. J. Ellison at Albany, who fitted him
for Yale College, which he entered in 1802.
Having been well tutored by Mr. Ellison
( an alumnus of an English university )

young Cooper had much leisure time at
Yale, and being guilty of misdemeanors
was expelled in his third year. He then
resolved to enter the United States Navy
and served a voyage to Europe as sailor
before the mast and then became mid-
shipman, in 1808 rising to rank of lieuten-
ant. In 1811 he married a sister of Bishop
DeLancey of New York, and resigned his
commission and resided at Cooperstown
until 1817, when he removed to his wife's
early home in Westchester county, where,
one evening, reading an English novel he
declared he could write a good one himself
and was urged by his wife to do so, and in
1820 published a tale of English life, which
met with but little favor. Urged by his
wife and friends he now gave attention to
American scenes and topics and in 1821
he wrote " The Spy," which had a wide
circulation both sides of the Atlantic, being
like many of his seventy odd productions
translated into various European and
Oriental languages. "The Pioneer," that
came in 1823; " The Pilot," 1824, said to be
the first sea-story ever written ;" The Last of
the Mohicans," 1826, gave him great fame.
From 1826-33 he was in Europe, much of
the time United States Consul at Lyons,
France. Political asperities and literary
jealousies called forth by some of his produc-
tions, led him to institute numerous libel
suits against the prominent Whig editors of
his state, which being decided in his favor
tended to embitter many against him in his
later life. Since his death his popularity
has increased and he is reckoned among the
chief of American novelists, " The Leather
Stockings, " "Wing and Wing, " "Last of
the Mohicans, " and " The Pilot " being
perhaps his best.

Charles Dickens, author, born in Landport,
Portsmouth, England, February 7, 1812;
died at Gadshill Place, Rochester, England,
June 9, 1870. At his birth his father was
clerk in the Navy Pay Office. A few years
later lost it, and the family came to great
poverty when Charles was nine years of age.
He was taught by his mother, and was a
great reader of the dozen novels his father
owned. When ten years of age, he worked
in a blacking factory, pasting labels, at six
shillings a week. Then the father, "a ne'er-
do-well," quarreled with one of the owners
of the factory, and took his son away and
sent him to the public school. When fifteen,
he was chore boy and clerk in a lawyer's

601

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

office. The father, having moved to London,
as reporter for a daily paper, the son again
had a little schooling, learning shorthand,
and then reported for a law firm, and at
nineteen became parliamentary reporter for
daily papers for five years, and wrote for
the Morning Chronicle and the Monthly
Magazine, his "Sketches of English Life
and Character," under the name of Boz,
that were very popular. When twenty-four
he wrote for the proprietors of the Monthly
Magazine " The Pickwick Papers," and
the next year (1837), "Oliver Twist," for
Bentley's Magazine, as its editor, and the
following year " Nicholas Nicklehy." Then
came " Old Humphrey's Clock," " Old Curi-
osity Shop," and "Barnaby Rudge," and in
1842 paid his first visit to the United States,
as one of the most famous of Englishmen,
and on his return wrote his somewhat caustic
"American Notes." In 1843 he began "Mar-
tin Chuzzlewit," and being in debt went to
Italy to save expense, where he finished the
story and wrote the " Christmas Carols."
On his return to England in 1845 he became
editor of the Daily News (a new journal), at
8200 a week, and it is said came near killing
it, and soon left, and wrote " Dombey and
Son," in 1846, and at intervals of three years
each, "David Copperfield," " Bleak House,"
and " Little Dorrit," and for nine years
(1850-9) he also conducted a periodical of
his own, Household Words. After Dorrit
came his "Hard Times" (1854), "Tale of
Two Cities" (1859), then his unfortunate
separation from his wife in 1858, after which
he wrote "Great Expectations" (1860-1),
and " Our Mutual Friend " (1864-5). and in
1870 began " The Mystery of Edwin Drood,"
which he did not live to finish. For the last
ten years of his life he was largely employed
on the lecture platform, as reader of his
works, making three tours of England and
one in America (1867-8), earning enormous
sums and adding much to his reputation as a
delineator of the characters of his person-
ages. His works in cheap form have had an
enormous sale in this country as in England.
His "David Copperfield" and "Tale of
Two Cities " are generally considered as the
best of his works.

Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot), author, born
in Griff, Warwickshire, England, November
22, 1819; died in Chelsea, England, Decem-
ber 22, 1880. Her father was a carpenter in
moderate circumstances, and shortly after
her birth became land agent or farmer on
estate of a gentleman in Griff. She was one
of three children by her father's second wife
and shared the middle class home of her
father till twenty-one. When sixteen her
mother died, and a year later her older sister
was married, and she had charge of her
father's house. She was educated at public
school at Col ton, and also at private schools at

Griff, Nuneaton, and Coventry. Being fond
of books and knowledge, after her mother's
death she had a private teacher at home, and
studied French, German, Italian, and music,
and a few years after studied Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, and Spanish, without being greatly
proficient in either language. When she was
twenty-one her father removed to Foleehill,
near Coventry. Here she made the acquain-
tance of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, and his
wife's brother, Charles C. Hennell, and her
character underwent a notable change. Th e
Brays were of some literary ability, and of
extreme "liberal views," and the girl, whose
family was of the devout Methodist kind,
swung at once to the most pronounced skep-
ticism, from which she never after recovered.
When she was twenty-five, she undertook to
finish for a friend of the Brays, Strauss's
" Leben Jesu," that he had begun, and she
finished it after three years of to her hard
toil, and vowed she would never translate
again. It was published by Dr. Chapman of
the Westminster Review. In 1849 her father
died, and she went with her friends, the
Brays, to the Continent, visiting Paris and
Milan, and spent some time at Geneva, and
there continued her study of music, and de-
lighted in reading Proudhon and Rousseau,
and in attending lectures on physics. On
returning to England, she met at Bray's, Dr.
Chapman, who offered her the post of assist-
ant editor on the Westminster Review, and
she boarded in the doctor's family, where she
met Mr. Herbert Spencer, who became her
friend, and introduced her to Mr. George
Henry Lewes, also HarrietMartineau.George
Combe, and other free-thinkers. In 1854
she resigned her position on the Review, and
formed, with Mr. Lewes, whose legal wife
was living, the liaison, which history, that,
like nature, makes for righteousness, cannot
condone, and together they went to Ger-
many, where he collected materials for his
" Life of Goethe," and she translated Spi-
noza Ethics, and wrote magazine articles
without signing a name to them, as was then
her custom, and read scores of books on
scores of subjects, and while at Berlin began
to write fiction for first time in 1856, in the
" Scenes of Clerical Life," which Mr. Lewes
sent to Blackwood, under the name of
"George Eliot," the publisher and the pub-
lic supposing its author was a man. She re-
ceived $600 for the first edition of it in book
form. She then worked on "Adam Bede "
for two years, publishing it in 1859 on return-
ing to England, and for which BlacKwood
paid her $8,000 for copyright for four years,
and it was translated into French, German,
and Hungarian, and she had become famoui,
sixteen thousand copies having been sold in
England the first year, and was offered
$6,000 by an American house for another
book. She now devoured, as was her cus-
tom, another long list of books, and in 1860

502

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

publienea " The Mill on .the Floss," for
which Blackwood gave her $10,000 for the
first edition of four thousand copies, and
Harper & Brother $1,500 for privilege of
using it. " Silas Marner" appeared in 1861,
and after two years in Europe (mainly in
study aud reading in Italy), "Romola" was
published in 1863, for which the Cornhill
Magazine paid her $35,000. After much
reading of Mill, Fawcett, and other political
economists, "Felix Holt" was written in
1866, for which Blackwood gave $25,000.
" Middlemarch " came in 1872, bringing her
from Blackwood over $40,000 ; and then
again reading, it is said, near a thousand
books, she brought out in 1876 " Daniel
Deronda," and again received $40,000 from
Blackwood for it. She was now famous and
rich, and in 1878 Mr. Lewes, with whom she
lived as wife, died, and her grief was great.
A year and a half later she suddenly married
John Walter Cross, a rich banker of New
York (young enough to be her son), and they
went to Italy, and on their return to London,
lived at Chelsea. Of their married life and
separation Mr. Cross says but little, in his
biography of her. After an illness of five
days she died of inflammation of the heart,
at midnight, December 22, 1880, and she,
who when urged to write her autobiography
had said, "The only thing I should care
much to dwell on would be the absolute de-
spair I suffered from, of ever being able to
achieve anything. No one could ever have
felt greater despair; and a knowledge of this
might be a help to some other struggler,"
had a name written on the roll of the world's
memorable women. A wonderfully recep-
tive, impressible soul, she would have been
much greater if her moral nature had been
stronger at the parting of the ways. But a
world built to run according to the ten com-
mandments can never long accept genius as
an excuse for sin, and the one stain on her
memory will yet blot out her fame.

William Dean Howells, author, born in
Martin's Ferry, Ohio, March 1, 1837. In
1840 father bought weekly newspaper at
Hamilton, Ohio, where the family moved,
and he learned to set type when child.
Nine years after sold out and removed to
Dayton, buying the Transcript, semi-
weekly, of that place, and changed to a
daily on which William worked setting type
till 11 P. M., and then up at 4 A. M. to " sell
papers." It proved unsuccessful, and the
family moved to Green County, and for a
year " roughed it " in a log house. The next
year young Howells worked as compositor
on State Journal at $4 a week, which
went to support the family. Then the
father bought the Sentinel of Ashtabula,
removing it to Jefferson, and William went
to work on it. When nineteen he became
state capitol correspondent of Cincinnati

Gazette and wrote also for Atlantic
Monthly. In 1860 he published a " Life of
Lincoln " and with proceeds went to bos-
ton, Mass. From 1861-5 was United States
consul at Venice, Italy, marrying in 1862
Miss Elinor G., sister of Lark in G. Mead,
the American sculptor. On return to United
States he wrote for the Tribune, Times, and
the Nation of New York and soon became
assistant editor of the Atlantic Monthly,
and from 1872 to 1881 its editor and resided
at Cambridge, Mass. The following year
he went to Europe with his family, and then
from 1886-91 was one of the editors of
Harper's Magazine and in the latter year
became the editor of the Cosmopolitan
Magazine. Was brought up in the Sweden-
borgian faith. Of his many works some
twenty are quite as well known and exten-
sively circulated in England as in United
States. Is a widely known and successful
author and editor.

Victor Hugo was born at Besancon, in 1802,
son of Major Hugo of the Neapolitan army.
The young Hugo's childish years were
passed in Italy, France, and Spain; the edu-
cation of those early years was in the hands
of the mother, an original and self-reliant
woman, who gave her three sons, of whom
Victor was the youngest, plenty of work
and the freedom of a large library; at ten
years of age the boy was able to read Taci-
tus, Homer, and Virgil, and the French
classics. In 1812, he entered upon a three
years' course of regular study at the Ecole
Polytechnique. In 1818, 1819, 1820, three
odes presented at the Academic des Jeux
Floraux, at Toulouse, received the prize,
and with these Victor Hugo entered upon a
literary career. Acquired some reputation
in succeeding years as a dramatist, but it is
in the role of novelist that his genius is
most widely recognized. On account of a
political difficulty, was banished from Paris
in 1851, and retired to the island of Guern-
sey. Of his most successful books may be
noted " Notre Dame de Paris " (1831), " Les
Miserables " (1862), and the " Toilers of the
Sea" (1865), and "Ninety-Three" (1874).
Died May 22, 1885. Few men, even among
statesmen, monarchs, and great generals,
have had anything like the immense public
triumphs the French have accorded to Vic-
tor Hugo. And his fame is far from being
merely local, is, on the contrary, wide-
spread and pervasive as the love and the
demand for good literature.

Charles Kinsley, author, poet, born in
Dartmoor (Devon), England, June 12, 1819,
died January 23, 1875. His father was a
clergyman, and Charles was educated at
home, then by tutor.and then attended King's
College, London, and afterward Magdalen
College, Cambridge, where he took his

503

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

degree in 1842. After studying law he
decided to enter the ministry, and after a
course in theology became rector of Eversley
in Hampshire, where he remained during
most of his life. In 1848 he published his
first drama, " The Saints' Tragedy," and a
volumeof "Sermons," the latter attaining a
wide circulation. In 1849 he published what
is by many esteemed his greatest work,
" Alton Locke." Of his dozen or more other
volumes, the best known are "Hypatia"
and "Westward, Hoi" Of his poems the
most popular are "The Sands of Dee," "The
Three Fishers," "To the Northwest Wind."
He was canon of Chester in 1869, and of
Westminster in 1873, and for a time chap-
lain to the Queen and Prince of Wales, and
from 1860 to 18(59 professor of modern his-
tory at Cambridge, and in 1872 he became
the editor of Good Words, and in the
winter of 1873-4 made a lecturing tour of
the United States. His sympathies, as mani-
fest in "Alton Locke," were always with
the toiling masses. His life was published
by his wife in 1877 (2 volumes).

Walter Scott, the most popular writer of his
era, was born at Edinburgh, August 15,
1771, of respectable and well-to-do parents.
Was educated at Edinburgh High School,
and at the University; was little distin-
guished in the ordinary branches of learn-
ing, but early secured a store of miscel-
laneous information. Having completed
legal studies, was admitted to the bar in
1792. In 1800 was appointed sheriff of
Selkirkshire, and in 1806, principal clerk
in the Court of Sessions. Published the
" Lay of the Last Minstrel " in 1805, which
met with great applause. " Marmion " fol-
lowed in 1808, and in 1810 the " Lady of the
Lake." Greatest celebrity was attained as a
writer of historical fiction, of which he pro-
duced not less than seventy-four volumes.
" Waverley " was published in 1814, " Guy
Mannering " in 1815. These were published
anonymously, their authorship not being
acknowledged until 1827. Also wrote a
" Life of Napoleon." Died of paralysis,
September 21, 1832. Was distinguished for
uprightness of life, simplicity of manners,
and benevolence of heart.

William Makepeace Thackeray was born
at Calcutta, July 19, 1811, son of an Indian
civil service officer. Received education at
the Charter House school, and spent a year
at Cambridge, leaving without a degree.
Intending to become an artist, studied at
Paris but without success. Had dissipated
his patrimony by unlucky speculations and
unfortunate investments, and life for some
time was a struggle. In 1837 became con-
nected with Fraser's Magazine, in which
appeared " Yellowplush Papers," the " Great
Hoggarty Diamond," the "Luck of Barry

Lyndon," and other masterpieces which
ranked him, in the minds of discriminating
readers, as, unless Dickens were excepted,
the greatest humorist of the day. Began to
write for " Punch " in 1842. In 1848 " Van-
ity Fair " was completed, and placed him at
the summit of contemporary fiction. Gave
two courses of lectures with success. Later,
wrote "Henry Esmond" (1852), "The
Newcomes" (1854), " The Virginians," and
other works. Became editor of the Corn-
hill Magazine in 1859. Retired from the
editorship in 1862, and died December 24,
1863. Was one of the greatest writers of
England in his age, its first satirist, and
almost its first novelist.

Lewis "Wallace, author, born in Brookville,
Indiana, April 10, 1827. David Wallace, his
father, was educated at the United States
Military Academy, became lawyer, judge
of court of common pleas, governor of
state, and member of Congress, where he
gave the casting vote in favor of an appro-
priation to develop Prof. S. F. B. Morse's
telegraph, which vote cost him his re-elec-
tion. Lewis's mother was daughter of Judge
Test, and his parents made much effort to
obtain for him an education ; but he did not
like school, his father saying that, while he
paid for fourteen years for him at school, he
attended but one year. Upon sending him
to college he had no better success, and soon
returned. Was passionately fond of read-
ing, drawing, and painting, often caricatur-
ing the congregation by comic sketches
when he could be induced to attend church.
Studied law with his father, and in 1852
married Miss Susan Arnold, who, like him,
is a writer of much note, several of her
novels having good sales. After his admit-
tance to the bar he practiced in Covington
and Crawfordsville, and was state senator
four years; at the breaking out of the civil
war was appointed adjutant-general of the
State, then colonel of llth Indiana regiment
of volunteers, serving in several battles in
West Virginia; was made brigadier-general
of volunteers September 3, 1861, and his
division led center of Union line at cap-
ture of Fort Donelson. Made major-gen-
eral of volunteers March 21, 1862, and did
heroic service in the second day's fight at
Shiloh. In 1863 saved Cincinnati from being
captured by General Edmund Kirby Smith,
and was assigned to command of Eighth
army corps, Middle military division, and
with 5,800 men fought 28,000, under General
Jubal A. Early, July 9, 1864, at the Monoc-
acy, and, though defeated, saved Washing-
ton from capture, by giving General Grant
time to get General Wright's division from
City Point to that city. Was removed by
General Halleck, but promptly restored by
General Grant; served on court for trial of
Lincoln's assassins, and was president of

504

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

the court that tried and condemned the
notorious Captain Henry Wirz, commandant
of Audersonville prison. Mustered out in
1865 and practiced law at Crawfordsville.
Governor of Utah, 1878-81. United States
minister to Turkey, 1881-85. Since has
given attention to literature, his most
famous works being "The Fair God " (1873),

a story of the conquest of Mexico, on which
he worked for twenty years; " Ben-Hur"
(1880), a tale of the Christ; and the " Prince
of India " (1893), a story of the fall of Con-
stantinople and rise of Mohammedanism.
His " Ben-Hur " is the most popular religious
novel in the English language, over 300,000
being sold in first ten years.

AUTHORS AND JOURNALISTS.

Joseph Addison, son of Dr. Lancelot Addison,
born May 1, 1672, at Milston, Wiltshire,
England; educated at Charter House,
Queen's and Magdalen Colleges, at Oxford.
In his twenty-second year, began writing
English verse. Instead of taking orders,
published a poem, addressed to King Will-
iam, and later, a poem on the peace of Rys-
wick, which procured for him a pension of
three hundred pounds a year. Traveled in
Italy ; returned in 1702 and published his
travels, which were in such demand that the
book rose to live times its original price be-
fore it could be reprinted. Was at different
times, commissioner of appeals and sec-
retary of state; the latter position he soon
resigned. In 1713 the play of " Cato " was
produced on the stage, the grand climacteric
of Addisou's success. Is best known by con-
tributions to the Spectator. In 1716, married
the Dowager Countess of Warwick. On his
retirement from the secretaryship, received
a pension of fifteen hundred pounds a year;
during this time wrote a " Defense of the
Christian Religion." Of Addison's charac-
ter as a poet and moral writer, too much
cannot be said; he was the ornament of his
age and country. Died June 17, 1729.

Geoffrey Chaucer, called by Dryden the
father of English poetry ; born in London,
1328 ; studied at Cambridge and Oxford ;
traveled on the continent. Subsequently be-
came Gentleman of the Chamber to the King;
his salary was doubled in 1369 ; was em-
ployed to negotiate with the Republic of
Genoa for ships for a naval armament ;
Edward repaid this service by granting him
a pitcher of wine daily, delivered by the
Butler of England. Subsequently became
comptroller of wool customs for London, and
ambassador to the French court. Income
was 1,000 per year. Embraced Wickliffe's
tenetsand was imprisoned for a time. Dur-
ing his residence afterward at Woodstock
andDownington, devoted himself to poetical
writing. Died October 25, 1400. The poetry
of Chaucer has smoothness and brilliancy ;
the sentiments are bold and the characters
well supported. Of all his works the " Can-
terbury Tales " are considered of greatest
merit.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, metaphy-
sician, and logician, bern October 21, 1772.

Youngest of four sons of Rev. John Cole-
ridge ; had but little property ; was placed
in Christ Church Hospital School, London ;
at nineteen entered Cambridge ; was distin-
guished as an eccentric genius. In 1794 pub-
lished a small volume of juvenile poems, and
soon after commenced a weekly styled The
Watchman. Was assisted by Josiah and
Thomas Wedgewood, who enabled him to
complete his education in Germany. On
returning to England, became secretary to
Sir Alexander Ball, governor of Malta. In
1812, published Essays ; " Christabel " ap-
peared in 1816; " Biographia Literaria " in
1817; "Aids to Reflection" in 1825. In
conversation Coleridge was peculiarly fas-
cinating; in appearance, striking ; in writing,
finished and forcible.

William Cowper, poet, was born at Berk-
hampstead, Hertfordshire, England, in 1731;
father was chaplain to George II. Was
educated for a lawyer, and at thirty-one
was made clerk in the House of Lords. Was
unable to occupy the position, owing to nerv-
ousness. In 1765 settled at Huntingdon ;
during retirement here published sixty-eight
hymns. In 1782 published a volume of
poems; this, being successful, was followed
by another in 1785. In recognition of his
services to the public the king bestowed
upon him a pension of 300 per annum. He
was subject to melancholy, and became
somewhat deranged. Died April 25, 1800.

Thomas Gray, poet, born in Cornhill, Decem-
ber 26, 1716; educated at Eton and Peter
House, Cambridge; went to London, 1738,
to study law. Went abroad with Horace
Walpole; father died on his return in 1741.
Discovering that the property was inad-
equate to support him in study of the law,
returned to Cambridge, where he afterward
generally resided. In 1768 was appointed
professor of modern history at Cambridge,
but, on account of poor health, never filled
the place. Died July 30, 1771. A profound
and elegant scholar, Gray had read th
works of all the English, French, and Italian
historians; was well versed in antiquities,
morals and politics. His poems, which are
few, are elegant and sublime.

Sir William Herschel, one of the greatest
astronomers, was born in 1787; son of a

505

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

musician and was instructed in that pro-
fession. Was successively musician in the
band of a Hanoverian regiment, and sub-
sequently in one connected with the Dur-
ham militia, then organist at Halifax, and
afterwards at Octagon Chapel, Bath. Astron-
omy formed an occupation for leisure hours;
finding the price of a powerful telescope too
great, constructed one for himself, and sub-
sequently made others of enormous magni-
tude. March 13, .1781, discovered a new
planet, which he named the Georgium
Sidus. Patronized by George III., and
assisted by his sister Caroline, continued
assiduously in astronomical studies, and in
1816 received the Guelphic order of Knight-
hood. Among Herschel's discoveries are the
lunar volcanoes, sixth and seventh satellites
of Saturn, sixth satellite of the Georgian
planet, and nature of the various nebulae.
He died August 23, 1822.

Benjamin Jonson was born at Westminster
in 1574. Straitened circumstances short-
ened his stay at the university; being des-
titute of resources, turned to the stage
without success. Attempted play-writing;
was at first unsuccessful, but, being be-
friended by Shakespeare, gained a liveli-
hood. His first printed play was " Every
Man in His Humor," which was followed
by another every year. In 1603, composed
part of the device for the entertainment of
King James, as he passed from the Tower to
Westminster Abbey, on the day of corona-
tion; during that reign and part of the next,
continued to preside over all the amuse-
ments and pageantry of the royal household.
Being favored of the court, became popular
with men of taste and literary talent, among
them Shakespeare, Beaumont, Fletcher,
Donne, Selden, and others. Visited France
in 1613. In 1619 succeeded to the place of
poet laureate ; and in 1633 his salary was
increased to 100. But, through extrava-
gance or carelessness, he was always poor.
Died of palsy August 6, 1637.

Samuel Johnson, born at Litchfield, England,
September 7, 1709; son of a bookseller ; edu-
cated at Litchfield school and at Oxford.
Exercises in the university showed his
superior powers. Was poor, and obliged to
leave the university without a degree. At-
tempted to gain a livelihood by tutoring, but
failed. In 1737 visited London and engaged
in writing for the Gentleman's Magazine ;
in 1747 began his edition of Shakespeare, and

published plan of English dictionary. The
Rambler was published from 1750 to 1752.
In 1759 wrote "Rasselas," receiving for it
100. In 1762 received a yearly pension of
:iOO. In 1781 finished the " Lives of the
Poets," a work of great merit, which exhib-
its sound critical views, vast information as
a biographer, and benevolent views as a man.
Died December 13, 1784.

Blaise Pascal was born at Clermont in
Auvergne, June 19, 1623; was educated by
his father, who was president of the court of
aids in the province and possessed great
mathematical abilities, but forbade his son
all treatises on geometry, lest his attention
be diverted from belles-lettres. From in-
fancy young Pascal was remarkable, wished
to know reasons and causes of everything ;
was satisfied with none but the most rational.
At sixteen, wrote his treatise on Conic Sec-
tions. A few years later solved a problem
which had perplexed the ablest mathemati-
cians of Europe. Became an ascetic soon
afterward, and espoused the cause of the
Jansenists against the Jesuits. These let-
ters are models of eloquence and wit, equal
to the comedies of Moliere or the orations of
Bossuet, and have been frequently published
in all the languages of Europe. Pascal died
at Paris, August 19, 1662, after a life of
exemplary innocence.

John James Koiisseau, philosopher, was
born at Geneva, June 28, 1712; father was a
watchmaker. Left home when very young;
and changed his religion in order to procure
subsistence. Obtained asylum with Madame
de Warens, a charitable lady. Leaving this
home later, went to Chambery, where he
taught music; thence to Paris, becoming
secretary to Montaigne, and going with him
to Venice. In 1750 began a literary career;
not long afterward retired to solitude and
study. Next produced the "Dictionary of
Music." In 1761 and 1762, published the
"New Heloise " and " Emilius," moral
romances ; some parts of these offending the
public, the author was compelled to leave
France. After ineffectually seeking asylum
at Geneva, Neufchatel, and Berne, he went to
England under the protection of David
Hume. Later, was allowed to return to Paris
on condition of writing nothing offensive to
religion or the government. The last years
of his life were spent in company with a few
friends. He died July 2, 1778, aged sixty-six.

THE "WORLD'S FOBTS.

Rohert, Browning, poet, born Peckham, Eng.,
May 7, 1812, died in Venice, Italy, Decem-
ber 12, 1889. He began to scribble poetry
when eight years old. Attended a private
school until fourteen, then had a private

506

tutor, attended lectures at University Col-
lege, London, and then traveled on the Con-
tinent. His first poem, " Pauline," was
published when he was twenty-one, followed
two years later by " Stratford." In 1846,

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

was married to Elizabeth Barrett, settling
at Florence, Italy, where his wife died fif-
teen years later. His collection "Men and
Women," was issued in 1855, and in 1863 fol-
lowed his poetical works in three volumes.
Following with several volumes of tragedy,
dramatic idyls, and lesser poems, the last,
"Asolando," on various subjects, appeared
the year of his death. By many admirers
he is regarded as the greatest English
poet since Milton. As a thinker he far
exceeds Tennyson, but lacks the latter's fine
musical versification. Many of his poems
are gems that will shine for ages.
Kobert Burns, chief of Scotland's poets, born
near Ayr, Scotland, January 25, 1759, died
July 21, 1796. His parents were peasant
farmers in very humble circumstances. Rob-
ert's shoulders were bowed with hard toil,
and he constantly suffered with palpita-
tions, headaches, and melancholy ; at fifteen
himself and brother Gilbert were hired out
to a farmer at $34 a year, and, in accordance
with the custom of the times, took stimulants
as remedy for bodily ills, which afterwards
wrought his ruin. Robert, from a child, was a
great reader of what few books were to be
had. His first verses were made at sixteen,
devoted to one of his boyish loves. When
nineteen he went to Kirkoswald school to
learn surveying. " Eating at meal time
with a spoon in one hand and a book in the
other," and while there wrote and had pub-
lished some poems including "John Barley-
corn," " Mailie's Elegy," etc. In 1783 his
father died, full of sorrow and fear for his
gifted son, and then Robert resolved " to be
a better man." The next year himself and
brother rented a farm for four years at
Mossgiel, where he produced some of his
best poems, such as the "Cotter's Saturday
Night," "To a Mouse." He issued in 1786
six hundred copies of a book of poems, for
which he received $100, and was about to
go aboard a ship for West Indies, when he
received an invitation to come to Edin-
burgh, where his book had awakened great
interest, and arrange for another edition,
was lionized, and returned with $2,500 as
proceeds of his book. He married Jean
Armour, and was appointed an excise com-
missioner at $350 ayear. But the duties of
excise subjected him to added temptations
to drink, and at the end of three years he
had to abandon the farm. Then in 1791 he
went to live in a small house at Dumfries,
living on his official stipend and the pro-
ceeds of random contributions to magazines,
and died in his thirty-seventh year, through
drink, exposure, and disappointed hopes,
leaving four sons. In his last sickness many
persons of rank came to see him, and a vast
crowd attended his funeral, for his poems
had touched alike the great ones and the
small of earth. In 1813 a monument was
erected to his memory at Dumfries.

Johaim Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, born
in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, August
28, 1749; died in Weimar, Germany, March
22, 1832. His father was an imperial coun-
cilor, an educated man, stern, cold, pe-
dantic, while his mother was a genial, affec-
tionate woman, fond of poetry and music,
and Johann, their first child, inherited, to
a marked degree, the peculiarities of both,
being, as a child, precocious, lively, sensitive,
erratic. Began early to exhibit his talent,
writing poems and childish stories before
ten years of age. His love escapades in
youth and manhood were many. He was
inconstant and unwise in his bestowment of
affection, partly due to laxity of his time,
but more to his lack of moral balance, and
this greatest of German poets led an event-
ful life in keeping with his erratic genius.
His love lyrics are many, and generally
more sensuous than sensible. In grand, ele-
gant, aristocratic verse he glorified the
paganism of which he was an illustrious ex-
ample. He at length married the woman
who for years had been wife in fact, in
order to legalize his children by her. Of
his numerous works, the " Gotz of the Iron
Hand," " Sorrows of Werther," " Wilhelm
Meister," and " Faust," are best known to
the world.

John Keats, poet, born in London, England,
in 1796, died in Rome, Italy, February 27,
1821. At an early age he was sent, with his
two brothers, to a school at Enfield, Eng-
land, where he remained until fourteen.
While a great reader, he was not a diligent
student. In 1810 he was apprenticed for five
years to a surgeon at Edmonton, and at the
expiration of the apprenticeship went to the
London hospitals for further study, and
while there he published a volume of poems
that met with no success. Ill health soon
obliged him to abandon the profession of
a surgeon, and in 1818 the -death of a
younger brother deeply affected him, and
afterward, at a time when his means were
nearly exhausted, he was taken with spit-
ting of blood and had a long illness. After
a recovery he decided to give himself to
literary work, and, greatly loving a young
lady of much personal beauty, Miss Brawne,
he hoped to make for himself a name among
men; but a return of his malady compelled
him to go to Italy on advice of physicians.
Before going he published a volume con-
taining the " Ode to a Nightingale," " Eve
of St. Agnes," and a fragment of " Hy-
perion." After weeks of suffering withcon-
sumption, attended by friends, he passed
away, saying, he felt the daisies growing
over him, and expressing a hope that
after his death he might be among the
poets of England, a hope that was realized,
albeit his tomb bears the epitaph he dictated
for himself: "Here lies one whose name
was writ in water."

507

SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN.

John Milton, greatest of poets, born in
London, December 9, 1608, died there No-
vember 8, 1674. His father, a lawyer, who
was disinherited in his youth for abandon-
ing the Catholic for the Puritan faith, was a
man of wealth, and Milton had the best of
educational advantages. He was always
constantly, severely studious, from a child
studying till after midnight. At twelve he
was sent to St. Paul's school, and at sixteen
entered Christ's College.C/ambridge, to study
for the ministry, but soon abandoned that
purpose for authorship. His mother died in
1637 and his father sent him to the Conti-
nent, where he traveled, especially in Italy,
for fifteen months, preparing material fo
his great poem he had then in mind. Civil
war and politics in England, in which he
was a leading actor, postponed it for near
twenty years. Taught private school in
1643 and suddenly married a daughter of a
debtor, a Miss Mary Powell, who left him in
a month, refusing to return, because she
was fond of company and merriment and
did not like his " spare diet and hard study, ' '
while he complained that his wife did not
talk enough to suit him! Two years later
she returned and died in 1653, leaving him
three little girls. During the Common-
wealth of Cromwell, and before his wife's
death, Milton was secretary of state, and
nobly defended the cause of religious and
civil liberty before the powers of Europe in
brilliant letters in Latin but recently dis-
covered. In 1654 he became completely
blind through excessive reading and study.
In 1656 he married Catherine, daughter of
Captain Woodcock, of Hackney, who sur-
vived her marriage fifteen months. In 1663
he married Elizabeth Minshull, at the advice
of a friend, because his daughters had
ceased to treat him kindly. They remained
at home six years longer, and amid their
daily constant quarrels with their step-
mother, with the principles he had for so
many years heroically advocated and de-
fended now hopelessly defeated, himself
loaded with shame, and shocked by the fear-
ful profligacy of the times, the poor blind
man now meditated and dictated his glorious
deathless epics, " The Paradise Lost" and
"Paradise Regained," selling them at
length to Samuel Simmons, bookseller, for
5 in hand and a promise of the same sum
on the sale of the first 1,300 copies of each
edition, no edition to exceed 1,500 copies.
It was two years before he received the
second 5; then a second edition was issued
in 1674, a third in 1678, and, finally, in 1681,
Milton's widow sold all her interest in the
work to Simmons for 8! Milton attended
no church, belonged to no religious com-
munion, had no family prayers, yet what
triumphantly religious monodies he gave the
world! He was slight of figure, even girlish
in his youthful days, quick of temper, some-

what haughty in spirit, urbane manners, a
fine musician, and noble scholar. He died
of gout and was buried by the side of his
father in the church of St. Giles, Cripple-
gate.

Edgar Allan Poe, poet, author, born in
Boston, Massachusetts, January 19, 1809,
died Baltimore, Maryland. His father,
David Poe, actor of Baltimore, married
Elizabeth Arnold, an English actress, Edgar
being born while they were filling an
engagement in Boston. Both parents died
at Richmond, Virginia, suddenly, leaving
three children, who were adopted by sym-
pathetic friends, Edgar being taken