Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1878-01-16

time IL nlleu Win sllBhted vows and
broken promises.
The fact is, my friends, no negative
character ever did, or ever can ac-
complish anything, What mean by
u negative character in this connection
Is contained in my subject, What we
do not do" or one who never thinks
he eau do anything, and who never
tries 10 do anything. Icant has ruined
many u man. 1t has proved the sep.
ulcher Of many fond hopes and earnest
desires. ! know IL is said that the
walls OF jericho tottered and tell at
Joshua's buglc blast, but in these days
oi stern realities, II man might tOot
and puff and blow until lelernity dawned,
aud he wouldn't blow down u single
wall between him and SUCCESS. But
the trouble with great many men Is,
they won't even blow. Joshua did aud
the walls fell Now the idea want
TO get ut is, not 10 much "what we do
not dc" Us that 1t takes earnest, patient
unccasing work, from moring till night;
week IN and week out, year in aud
year out, TO make ones life successful
One week even OF rest, aud how much
have we lost. II can never be made
np-time never returns. Many bat
tic, upon which hung the destiny OF
nations depended on re.iniorcements
getting up in time. One hour TOO late
aud they might just as well have been
one year too late. Had Blucher ar
rived in time, Napolaeon would not
have lost the battle Of Waterloo, and
tue heroic Ney would not have suffered
disgrace and death for alledged treason
to his country. How many honors
and how much glory have some men
lost by being always little too late.
General Howard came III Just two
hours after Chief Joseph had surrend-
cred TO the victory flushed Miles. |
have known some men who were al
ways lIltle too late-a little behind
time. In TACT | have known some
school teachers To be guilty OF the same
thing, aud II is not to be wondered AT
that their pupils would initiate their
example. TO be On dine Is great
lesson TO learn, aud ! suppose that is
the lesson that picture is intended 10
tench--l cannot see any other possible
applications 1t can have in II teachers
institute THIS was II picture ot II last
horse hung up IN the hall.-ED
OF course no one could begin TO Gu
numeraie "What we 10 not do Life
Is too short for that. IL is only by
considering the little we do with the
much We ought to do, that we can
form any just conception OF the vast
amount We do notdo. ! propose to treat
the subject IN limited sense by calling
your attention TO II few things II is ab-
sOiutely necessary for us to do IN order
to present All ungrateiul posterity from
placing above our last resting place
that bhstering epitaph, "llis life was Il
failure"
There are four qualities, in my opin.
ION, that are absolutely essential TO a
successful liic, whether il bo in the.
ology, IN law, IN medicine, in mechan.
les, or IN any OF the various walks OF
life. They are honesty or sincerity,
industry or application, canesiness
and perseverance. OF course, am
assuming now, that the man has tai
ent, or us we generally cali ii, brains
Because you might us well try to
make n clock run without works in il,
us TO undertake TO make u successful
man in any business out of natural
born idiot. But you will permit me to
remark just here, in justice to Dame
Nature, that she never makes fool.
she only furnishes the raw material,
and let's the fellow finish the job to suit
himself. Or, to put it little more
mildly, to try to make successful man
out Of one untitled for his calling will
be failure. A teacher cannot cram u
child chock full of what the old wo-
man called "book larnin" il it have no
capacity to receive it. He can only
develop what is in the child. II il
have no talent to develop, his efforts
will be signal failure. If you plow
up field and SOW no seed in il, you
may rest morally certain the grass
hoppers won't hurt your crop the next
year. And yet know some parents
expect a teacher to teach their children
something, whether they have got
any brains or not Well, can say to all
such, the profession has not arrived at
that state Of perfection yet That is
one OF the things they do not do. But
" rctufn 10 tue proposition that q man
must bc honest aud industrious, and
earnest and persevering IN order TO be
successful, let us take them up in their
order.
First, he must be honest. lie must
be honest in his dealings with men, Tor
who would give his business into the
charge of dishonest lawyer, if there
be such n being, ii he knew it. Or
who would deal with dishonest mer.
chant or tradcsman, III he knew that he
would be cheated in his accounts? Or
IN any of the departments Of trade or
business, who would deal with man
who would always take the advantageg
No one, surely. Therefore men make
their character as much by what they
do not do as by what they do They
do not deal honestly, and their cbarac.
ter very soon becomes established.
Hence we very often hear II asked Of
II witness in court, what is the general
speech Of the people in your communi-
" as 10 the character of John Jones
for honesty. If il should be bad, he
very frequently loses his case. But
man should bc honest, not because his
property and his rights are involved,
and may be sacrificed by being dishon-
est--not because "honesty is the best
policy (for that is the very lowest in
ccntive) but because il is right to be
honest He must b honest to him.
self This implies sincerity and
truthfulness An insincerc man, Of all
Others, is the last TO be trusted and the
most dangerous. He makes promise,
but IL is made only TO be broken. lie
processes friendship, but 1t is prolesscd
only to abuse our confidence He
practices deceit, but il is pacticcd only
to betray BIS victim. Brutus, while
protesting the wurmest friendship Tor
bis benciactor, entered into wicked
conspiracy with Cassius to take bis life,
and while Caesar was busily engaged
in arrnn,nnu a Tho hnainnsq ni' thn onn t,,