St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-12-22
ST. gohnsbury .Eradrmy Column
Character and Reputation.

There is a great difference between
the man of character, and the man OF
reputation. The man of good character
generally has an honorable reputation
but sometimes even ii man of worthless
character may seem il worthy object for
Il time, but he is found out sooner Oh
later, and then his name is considered
as it should be.
Character from its Derivation, means
Il mark or token stamped upon Il per
son, and hence we see the application
of our word. The early habits of IL
person are of the highest importance
because youth is the time in which. As
il general thing, our course of life is
laid down, and the habits then acquired
VIII cling to us through life. He who
begins we'll and sees the benefits of his
good beginning, seldom changes for the
worse. To be sure, there are many
such cases, but they are few in com
palison to the many who continue as
they begin. Then also Il person, start
ing downward when Young. seldom sees
the folly of it. and 81 continues onward
from bad to worse, until he is worse
than il beast, or ut any rate is unfit for
human society.
Since so much depends upon our
early education, is it not of the greatest
Importance that we improve all our
opportunities here at school, and make
the most of every moment? We can
not he too careful of our early training
Now during these times, we see IA great
amount of fraud, and it seems as if
every man had lost all regard for honor,
and cared only for money.
There are II great many cases in
which men of good character have had
their reputation lowered so that. in the
eyes of their fellow men, they seem al
most worthless. On the other hand,
men of poor character are raised to Il
high position in society, when really
they are deserving of disgrace, and,
sooner or later, meet their dues. 1t
seems sad to think of the many men of
influence and of good reputation, ruin
ing themselves and families by their
unjust acts. The principal aim of men
now, appears to he to gain wealth in
any way they mc able, regardless of
the results to themselves or to their
fellow men. They may have been hon
est ut first, but as ii rule they have al
ways been more or less addicted to bad
habits, and now, when an opportunity
offers, they seize upon it, and, if in one
case they pass along all right, they try
it again.
If the men who are instrumental III
running the character of fellow-man,
would think how they would like the
same thing done to them, it seems as if
they might be persuaded, in their own
minds, never to allow such il thing to
happen. We all like IA good reputation,
and reputation is indeed an excellent
thing. But because il man has good
name, does it necessarily follow that his
character is good Will he stand any
higher in the last great day, than he of
good character, even though his repu-
tatiOn is bad Scripture teaches that
God looks at the heart, and unless we
are truly honest, can we ever expect
favor in his sight Too many of the
public men of to-day seem to entirely
disregard everything beyond their own
personal benefit. They regard neither
their country nor their God. They do
not see what they lose, even while they
think to gain. What does it profit
man, if he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul 7 A person who has
learned the Christian way, has much
more of genuine happiness here, than
he who lives merely for the present.
Little things go to make up character.
Not so with reputation, exactly. Every
deed of ours is so much toward improv-
ing oil debasing our characters, because
the character is the condition as God
sees it; while in reputation, the deeds
~. hy N, uaons all known to the