San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-11-30
Advice 10 a Young Man.

Don't be mean, my boy; don't do
mean things and saymean things: Oui:
tivate a feeling of kindness, spirit OF
charity broad and pure for men ana
things. Believe the best OF every
body, have faith in humanity, and
as YOU think better of other people.
YOU will be better yourself. You can,
with some accuracy, measure man S
character by the esteem in which he
holds other men. When L hear a
man repeatedly declaring that all other
men are knaves, | want q strong IN
dorsement on that mans paper before
| I'll lend him money. When a man
assures me that all the temperance
men in his town take their drinks on
the sly, l wouldn leave that man and
my private demijohn-if had one
together in a room five minutes.
When a man tells me he doesn't
know one preacher who isn't a hypo-
critic, | have all the evidence
l want that that man is a liar. Nine
times in ten, and frequently ottener'
YOU will find that men endeayor to
disfgure all other men with their own
weaknesses, failings and vices. SO do
you, my boy, think well and charita.
bly, of people, for the world is full of
good people.
And if you are mehn, you cannot
conceal it. People will know it. Our
unfortunate, human fondness for Cos,
sip always puts us in possession OF all
the worst qualities OF each other.
Don't you and your intimate friends,
my boy, discuss the weak and evil
points in your neighbors' characters?
Of course you do; and when you are
the absent one, be assured, Telema-
chus, that your friends are in like
manner dissecting you. Indeed they
are. They know all about you, and
that which you would have least known,
they know the best.
And at any rate, my son, you know
it, and that is enough. Sometimes L
wonder what a mean man thinks
about when he goes to bed. When
he turns out the light and lies down.
When the darkness closes in about
him, and he is alone and compelled
to be honest with himself. And not
a bright thought, not a generous i'm,
pulse, not manly act, not a word OF
blessing, not a grateful look, comes
to bless him again. Not a penny
dropped into the outstretched palm of
poverty, nor the balm of loving word
dropped into an aching heart; no sun
beam of encouragement cast upon
struggling life; the strong right hand
of fellowship reached out to help some
fallen men to his feet-wheD none of
these things come to him as the God
bless YOU of the departed day, how
he must hate himself! How he must
try to roll away from himself and
sleep on the other side Of the bed.
When the only victory be can think
of is some mean victory in which he
has wronged a neighbor. No wonder
he always sneers when he tIies to
smile. How pure and fair and good
all the rest of the world must look to
him, and how cheerless and dusty and
dreary must his own path appear.
Why even one lone, isolated act of
meanness is enough to scatter cracker
crumbs in the bed of an average, or
binary man, and what must be the
feelings of man whose whole life is
given up to MEAN acts? When there
is so much suffering and heartache
and misery in the world, anyhow,
why should you add one pound of
wickedness or sadness to the general
burden. Don't be mean, my boy.
Suffer injustice a thousand times rather
than commit it once.-BWlingtOn
Harheye.
The Bank Of England.