Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1869-04-02

train of cars over q long reach of level
prairie. Standing or the front platform
of the rear car, the train, running as it
furies fed its fires, | noticed with surprise
that the coupling which joined this car to
the next was slack, and car itself actually
! pushing on those before it. Only at in
tervals would the iron links straghten
aud the car feel the force of the ponder.
Gus engine which drew the train. You
see, VIcroR, the car had got habit of
running-it had gathered momentum,
and same force which had put it in mo-
ton would have been powerless to arrest
its course. Now, habit is simply mo-
mentum in given direction in life. Its
beginnings are slight, but its gathered,
cumulative strength is almost beyond
conception or belief No rule can meas
ure its force-no calculus determine its
limit--no law control its power. II is a
strong, imperious giant. 1t binds its
victims with chains softer than silk, but
stronger than steel. lmpalpable, unseen,
its power can fitlv be compared to that
invisible law of gravitation which binds
the universe of God together, and con-
| trolls the courses of the wondering worlds.
One may well be awod in the presence
of such power, and if you can but feebly
estimate its strength, you will not need
be admonished to DO careful what habits
you form.
As you grow older. VIcroR. you will
be surprised at the paltry nature of the
topics which engross many mems
thoughts and fill their speech. The husks
on which the Prodigal Son had nearly
starved, were opulence itself compared to
the mental pabulum on which SO many
fill their dwarfed, distorted minds. The
small talk, the neighborhood gossip, the
retailing of rumors, the rehearsal of un
important events, the surmises and the
speculations about other peoples plans
and purposes, -these absorb the mental
life of very many, and are at once the
indication and the cause of barrenness of
soul and poverty Of mind. To the small
things of your own life, and the lives of
those with whom you live, give careful
attention, for they are the friction in the
machinery of life, but let the deluge of
small talk which will surround you be
as powerless to arrest your attention or
disturb your repOso. rs the hail, beating
against closed blinds, is impotcnt to in
wade the security of the room within.
Another thing you will remember,
VIcToR, that character is the most valu.
able part of man. 1t is richer than
wealth, better than brilliancy, grander
than intellect. 1t is the besetting sin of
youth to worship mere intellectual power.
You will guard against the ascnation of
this fault. A firmly established charac-
ter is the only sure base on which a noble
superstructure can be reared. Great in
teIlectdal orlliancy or power, divorced
from moral worth, is like marble shaft
resting on shifting sand,-in the first
tempest it will be oyerthrown, aud lie
soiled upon the earth above which it
should rise. History, and your own OBJ
servation will teach you that the lives of
many of the most highly gifted are val
liable only as beacon lights to warn 9TH
ers of the ruin in which they aaye been
engulphed. A man without character
often achieves n seeming success, but his
triumph is transitory. Like the ungodly
man, mentioned in Scripture, yet lit
tie while and he shall be clean gone;
thou shalt look after his place, and he
shall be away" A man with compelling
brain, with generous impulse aud ready
sympathy, with no faint of meanness
soiling his life, no canker of deceit fes-
tering in his soul, whose convictions have
crvstaIlized into character, in whose frank
and fearless eye beams benedicton on
all Of beauty and truth and flashes scorn
on all Of faIseh,od and pretence
man is tho /" the nobe>t work of God"
That you, VICToR. may become such
a man, each day comforting blessing and
enjoying content, uutl the last day shall
come, aud YOU pass to the . other side
of life," where
"Quiet reigns and brings to brain and breast
The benedicton of unbroken rest"
is the sincere wish of your friend,
Lutte A. TAYLOR