The Osceola times., 1883-10-20

where his path led him. What Is 1t
that keeps men from falling, when
oscillating round the point of some
attractive temptation? Conscience.
What is the main ally and hacker of
conscience? strength of will. Men
err, and forsake the path of duty
both from lack of conscience and
from feebleness of will. Will and
conscience are the pillars which up
hold the fair fabric of a solid charac-
ter. Cannot the will be educated
by teaching us Faith in ourselves,
teaching us what we can do? A born
commander can teach even coward
to die like hero at the mouth of the
cannon, and this he does by drilling
him in the school of obedience; and
we have no doubt but what born
educator will some day appear, and
teach men how to live and die in the
path of duty. Until such IA system
Of education becomes common, the
heroes in every department of human
effort, heroes, because the exception,
will continue to cmanate from the
home; equipped for battle with weap-
ons furnished them by the pious and
loving hands ofpatient, selfrenounc-
ing mothers. Colleges are good;
but good mothers are better.
Washington and Franklin, judg-
ing them by their fruits, were edu-
Gated, in the true sense of the word,
though we all know Washington was
mainly self-taught, and Franklin
never attended IA school above the
grade of the one here at Osceola, and
left it for good, at the age of sixteen.
The guiding maxim of Washington's
life was, "therc is but one straight
course, that is, to seek truth and pur-
sue it steadily" Franklin thus ex-
pressed the ruling principle of his
life: " My rule is to go straight for
ward in doing what appears to me
right, leaving the consequences to
God" There is nothing brilliant or
electrifying in these sayings of our
two greatest men. Anybody might
have said the same things. In truth,
if their maxims had been novel and
brilliant, the probability is they
would have been false. A brilliant
orator in public assembly, would
have hardly selected either of them
as an ornament for his speech; still,
fix them in memory, mediate on
them, try them by the test Of human
experience, and they will be found,
not only true, but comprehensive
enough to be the controlling princi-
pie Of any mans life. Under either
OF them may be ranged knowledge
of right, and the will to be obedicnt
to what their consciences informed
them was right. We will add to the
above, the following uttcrances of
the renowned advocate, Thomas Err
skine, afterwards Lord High Chan
cellor of England. Standing before
the judges Of England, and uphold
ing principle which was odious to
the judges, who listened to him with
ill-concealed aversion, at the close of
an argument which is now classic
model, he said; alt was the first
command and counsel of my youth,
always to do what my conscience
told me to be my duty, and to leave
the consequences to God. shall
carry with me the memory, and |
hope, the practice of this parental
lesson to the grave; have hitherto
followed it, and have no reason to
complain that the adherence to it has
been even temporal sacrifice; ]
have found it, on the contrary, the
road to prosperity and wealth, and
shall point it out as such to my chill
dren. 1t is impossible in this coun-
try to hart an honest man; but even
it were possible, | should but little
deserve that title, If | could, upon
any principle, have consented tc
tamper or temporize with a question
which involves in its determination
and its consequences, the liberty ol
the press, and in that liberty, the
very existence of every part of the
public freedom" The Judges
promptly ruled the point against him
but subsequently, the British Parlia
ment incorporated the principle fol
which he contended in the Englisi
constitution, and the American state;
have done the same. Read this mi
tial sentence of the biography o
; Erskine: "On the 10th. day OF Jan
uary, 1850, in a small and ill-fur
nished room, in an upper fiat" o
very lofty house in the old town o
Edinturg. first saw the light, th'
Honorable Thomas ErskIne, the fu
ture defender of Stockdale, aud Lor,
Chancellor of England" The fami
ly were very poor and the visible
auspices which surrounded him at BIZ
birth were anything but tiattering
still, though poor, and one of larg'
family Of children, Tom had the ad
vantage of good, hopeful, wis
mother; and in his youth, this moth
er had said, "Tom must go to tn
bar and be Lord Chancellor" HOY
she trained him. be has just told u
I himself, and we think we can do no
.l;u.. lnAtnr % R,,,.il,nr Tho ohinct a