Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-10-10

u
The first lecture of the season, at Mechanics
hall last evening, called out as many of the lee
turc-going people among us as could find room
in the house. This opens the course of the Ly-
ceum and Natural History association for its
iorty-third season, and if it may be taken as
sample of the course, the question proposed in
the title, 'Will it Pay?" has already been au-
swered most decidedly in the affirmative. Mr..
Nathaniel Paine, president of the association,
introduced the lecturer, whose stories were scat
tered freely through the evenings entertain
ment in way of illustration. The following
portions Of the lecture, which do not include
many of the anecdotes, which written words
cannot tell, will show how the subject was
treated:
The questions on the lips or in the hearts of nine
tenthS OF the men we meet hurrying through the
streets, cr0wding the exchange jOsting each other
IN the offices OF business, at the stores the banks
the markets, on the docks avenues, in the parks
on steamboats,, or cars, are, "What will it profit
meP "What shall l make or loser" "Will it
payP In the pursuit of pleasure business or study
all are seeking to make it pay that is striving for
remuneration commensurate with their plans
schemes or labor maintain that it is the right
and duty Of every man to take care of and provide
for himself to accumulate wealth by honest indus
try to aim at valuable results, useful consequences
to labor for an accession of good and avoid detri-
ment or damage TO himself The Bible contains in
functions and inducements to industry for personal
gain. "The hand of the diligent maketh rich "Be
diligent in business" etc. The royal law "Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as myself" assumes the du-
ty OF loving ourselves; before Paul and Silas
commanded the iaiOr to believe they enioined self
preservation. "Do thyself no harm" Take care of
No. l. am aware that this maxim often assumes
offensive and contemplate modes of expression.
Take wise of No / is every mans highest du-
ty. What is No. l? 1t is myself my whole being !;
IN hut YsI AL
spirit myself as a whole. Thus the question be-
comes important, reducing it to the simple "What
sha do to benefit myself, to accomplish the best
results for myself" and this may be asked in
the spirit of large-hearted benevoleuce; help
ing myself that l may help others; and
God has so ordered that helping others is
the surest means of helping myself, in the highest
sense. The ambition of personal gain or advance
ment is NOBLE till it degenerates to seishness and
II does not pay This question naturally enters in
10 SO many varied circumstances of our lives that
it is almost uniVersal-'will it paw" | well re-
member when | was q boy at school II could not
have been more than nine years oldl a fight was
arranged between me and another boy ring was
formed, and at it we went After sparring, dancing
and lodging around each other for some time
received singer on the nose and it hurt; but be-
tore my opponent had planted another, had deci-
ded that it did not pay, and gave up the contest
Perhaps you think was coward. Perhaps was.
But ltkd1d not pay. have never engaged in game
OF hsucutf from that day to this; and think /
have the best of it, 1t does not pay for a man TO
look always on the shadows of life. There is more
anticipating trouble looking out for disaster
prophet! OF evil, They perceive the cloud in
bright skies Observe such a one. He would
throw damper on funeral. The face set in such
fororn and doleful expression, you would mag
inc that no smile could ripple the hard surface or
relax the muscles so rigid Is the cast of utter mis-
cry. II the sun shines on bright morning, "Ah,
1t won't last long; there's a mackerel sky" They
are almost YeXed at the moon in its beauty because
as the lrishman contained, il only shines bright
hights Wneh we don't want it; If it would give light
when 1t Is needed 1t would be worth while 1t does
MOI. pay to look at the gloomy side of nature. !
believe there are but few instances in
which kindness has been fairly exercised
but 1t suhdued the enmity opposed to it.
It's first effort may not succeed any more
that one shower of rain can reclaim the burning
desert but shed the dew Of its holy influence re-
peatedly in the revengeful soul, and it will become
beautiful with the flowers of tenderness Good is
omupotent IL overcoming evil. | know there are
hard cases, men who will resist and resent any ap-
preach, but from my experience and observation /
DeneYe that there are few if any, so hardened but
persevering, judicious kindness will touch some
spot in the heart for they are human And here the
lecturer recited little incident showing the power
OF kindness and frmness. parish clergyman OF
Scotland who had called on a refractory and ugly
customer, was suddenly taken aback by the refrac-
tory and ugly customers getting up and asking
no are you! 81 am the minister" minister,
what do you wantY' 81 have called to see you y
The man came up close to the minister and stretch
ing out his hand said, 'Iou have come to see me
nave you. Then see me. Do you like the looks OF
me! am not much to see, am /? Come to see
meE and then he came nearer. Now said he,
81 will kick you down stairs" "Stop! stop Don't
kick me down the stairs now, for have call TO
make above, and if you kick me down nowl shall be
oblIged 10 come oil the way up again. Don't you
seer Now If it will be any qualification to you to
kick the minister down stairs who has come to you
out of pure kindness and good will, let me go and
make my visit, and then will place myself at your
disposal That's tair." "Well, you're a rum'un,' -
and he shufled back to his seat The minister made
his call and returned, opened the door and said
Now my friend, here am. / told you would
ea aa, again and fit will beany qualification you to
KICK me down the stairs now, am at your disposal
Did you come to see me!' Eyes, did, "Sit
down." and he began to talk with the minister not
As II ne was a brute, but man and brother.
soon the poor creature cried out, while the tears
ran down his face, "Oh, sir, am the most God-for-
saken wretch on Garth" Then he told of wife and
children, of sorrow and SIM degradation and des-
par ana the minister poured the oil of sympathy
into his broken heart. Many other interviews fol-
lowed. And now. restored to wife, children and
soclety, ne mas been for some years constant at
tendant on the illustrations of the man, who by
persevering kindness, had touched the fountain OF
feeling in the heart so long hard. II pays to perse-
we're. 1t does not pay to be mean and humanity. 1t
does pay to be true and noble Some men are al
ways paying too dear for the whistle paving i'm
mense sums for the diamonds which are only paste
and needlessly making blunders and mistakes and
IN discovering them only when too late. What a
price is paid for fashion, Fashion carries the dav
| against philosophers and physicians, reason and
common sense. Reason advises; fashion acts: COM
mon sense speaks; but the sentence of fashion is
above appeal. The old caricatures of the enormous
wigs of our old grandmothers not more ridicu-
thank fortune have had their day. although prob a.
| bly,, to make room for some other enOrmity To
follow the fashions, some will ape detOrmity. An
| English gentlemen told me that when the duchess
Of Sutherland on one occasion visited her seat at
Trentham, she was troubled with an affection of the
neck which caused her to carry her head awry, and
nearly all the ladies of the neighborhood initiated
| the same twist as near as possible. 1t surely
| pays to get money, to accumulate property
II depends on the means by which You get it and
now you use 1t. Ask the man who has stopped to
mercantile dishonOr and baseness and who by sue.
cessfu vlllainly and swindling has realized an en-.
Wed fortune, "What have Won gained" ~ have
| been shrewd, long headed smart; am prosperous
ana man of capital" Is that all? A philosopher
says mat though man without money is poor, q
such man but money? Yes, he is man of CAPT
tal. he owns houses, lands, stocks and shares o
| capital; what is capital? Character and honol
are capital. What capital has a man when integri
| W ana nonor are gonel He must be judged by
| what ne Is, not by what he has By hpartless vii
Ia,'!y ne Is away up. Yet he is wretchedly low il
all tnat constitutes true and noble manliness Civ,
| me integrity and honor and when | die let III,
leave tine record OF an upright ife and nv epitapl
| be simply Here lies the body of an honest man
| Gold is good thing in charitable myers bnt yvhe,
| 1t becomes golden calf men worshin n and i
does not pay; Il does not pay to run in debt
| Nothing weighs down a sensitive mind more fhat
| debt. What an awful incubus is the dread Of dnns
TO be afraid of meeting your creditor to avoid ON
store after another tn nearly all closed to you
to dread arrival of the mail, for tear of remiude
| of debt; to sneak about with furtive piances OF
either sidel How the blood will tinge when tn
| question is asked, "When viii 1t be convention
for you to settle that little bill?" 1t is ALWAYS q
little bill, though it would take all you are WORT
| to pay it. Oh, the misery of being dunned
| Men have been driven nearly mad by IL
An eccentric clergyman obtained an enor
nous collection by requesting that no one shout,
contribute who was In debt so every one con
tributed. That's because most men are ashamed O
debts. Some men constantly planning to de
eeive creditor They will unblushingly max
promises with no intention OF performing them N
genius can redeem a man rom the unutterabl
meanmcss ofreokess debt. The lecturer next re
ferred to the west and gave lengthy and vivid dc
scrption Of California and the valley Of the Yost
mite, which he said IL would pay any one to visit
Then practical Jokes. Practical jokes one-side
and the fun is generally for the perpetrator, an
there is often vein of hearessness, fnot cruelty