The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-28 00:00:00

Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow.
The rest is all but leather or prunella.”

. . . .
'A wit's a feather, and a chief s rod
An honest mass the noblest work of God.'
(Cheers.) 'Tire words of the wise are as -goads,' and I
would advise you to commit many of them to memory, and
to begin to do so early. 'A man is what he knoweth,'
ssa• Lord Bacon: and certainly, of all the possissions
that a man can irquire, a mind will stored with there
treasures of wisdom Is one of the most secure and enviable.

After a passing eulogium on the genius of Lord
Bacon. Mr. Walters continued
"1 might, of course, name a score of authors who stand in
the foremost rank of English literature, ant with whom I hole
you will sooner or later become acquainted ; but I purposely
abstain from doing so, because the point that I wish to impress
upon yen is the importance of s ndeavouritv to master
thoroughly a few great authors, in ord T ii .th to imbibe their
spirit, and to acquire that taste for literature of the highest
order which is akin to the love of excellence in every other work
whether of art or nature. (Cheers) . . 'tie that walketh with
wise men,' says the proverb. 'shall be wise and next to the
society of a wise and good man there is no companion like a
good book. 'lf I were to pray for a taste,' says Sir John
Herschel, ' which should statist me In stead under every
variety of eircum,tances, and be a source of happiness Mid
cheerfulness to me through life and a shield against its ills,
however things might go amiss and the world frown
upon me it would be a taste for reading. I speak it,
of course, only as a worldly advantage, and not in the
slighest degree as superseding or derogating from the
higher office, and surer and stronger panoply of religious
principles, but as a taste, an instrument, and a mode of
pleasurable gratification. Give a man this taste, and the
moms of gratifying it. and you can hardly fail of making
a loppy man, unless indeed yon put into Lis hand. a mow.
perverse selection of is ssks. Vu place him in contact with
the best society in every period of history ; with the wisest,
the wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest, the purest charac-
ters that have adorned humanity. You make hint a denicssn
of all nations, a contemporary of all ages. . . . It is
impossible bat that trte character should take s higher
ansl better tone from the constant habit of associating in
thought with a class of thinkers—to say the least
of it—above the average of humanity. It is morally im-
possible but that the manners should take a tinge of
good breeding and civilization from having constantly
before one's eyes the way in which the best fired,
and the best Informed men have talked and conducted
themselves in their intercourse with each other. There is
a gentle but perfectly irresistible coercion, in a habit of
reading well directed, over the whole tenour of a 1111111.11
character and conduct, which is not the less effectual
because it works insensibly, and because it is really
the last thing he dreams of. It civilises the conduct
of men, and suffers them not to remain barbarous.' (Cheers.)
And now, what is the practical lesson which this address,
feeble as it bas been, is intended to ineulcate 1 It
Is that of thoroughness in work. dateers.) The
chief end of all est. ition, whether displayed in the
exercise of the mental faculties or in the humbler
sphere of mechanical labour. (Cheers.) Whatsoever
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might "f That is
the golden precept which ought to be engraved on the
heart of every man. whatever his condition in life and what-
ever the work which he is called upon to do. Nelson's last
signal—. England expects every man touts his duty '—which
thrilled the hearts of the British fleet before the victory of
Trafalgar, does but express the idea which is the main-
spring of all true greeting.. whether national or private. that
of thoroughness in writ. (Cheers.) But suppose, instead of that
famous signal with which the name of Nelson will ever Ise
associated another kind of signal had been presented to the
eyes of our astonished seamen. Suppose some vile enchanter,
such as we read of in fairy tales, could have transformed
those magic words into some such as those:—