Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-09-25

them nOw. You lift weights to Strenpthen
your hands; you do dry work to strengthen
it; no one else can do it for you; as we'll
might you get some one else to strike tha
sand bag or lift tue weight which was to
strengthen your muscle.
Duties well done every day, and Difficult.
ties surmounted as they arise, grow easier
continually, and finally become lasting en-
joyments.
Never play cards for money. 1t il no
pleasure to win a fel~low-students money.
and it is pain to lose your own. The habit
is always bad, and oftentimes fatal; never
acquire it.
Dress like a gentleman; never be pecu-
liar or f1ashy, but dress as becomes YOU,
not as becomes some one else. Never talk
about your expenses or your money, and
never be ashamed to live with economy:
on the contrary, be proud of it. Your bus
mess now is to acquire knowledge, and you
need not be anxious to display yours, es-
pecially to older men; but always try to
learn of them.
Never say to another what it would be
unpleasant to have him say to you.
Remember that good n are of
great Importance. Manners should be
frank and easy, with dignity.
would the foul fiend. Never fawn a. TO you y
prince or swagger to a peasant. Be cour-
teous and manly everywhere and to every-
body.
Let your manner be quiet; nothing is
more underbred han a Hurried address,
with a face wrinkled all over with grin,
ming delight.
The courteous can express pleasure and
welcome with idiotic contortions, and when
these appear, whether in the son of q duke
or a drayman, they are intensely vulgar.
You cannot have good manners in the
drawing-room if your habitual manners
o,.n ho1. f1a l. lift ,.;1J ot,, won. M %la
habit be always good.
Far better that you look frigid even, than
that you degrade your countenance with
silly hilarity.
Be a gentleman, feel like a gentleman,
and you will look and act like one.
Sometimes you will be neglected, and
your vanity may feel wounded. Never let
this annoy you; be absolutely sure that in
due time all will come right, and that you
will have all the consideration which you
merit. No one can do you any permanent
injury but yourself. The world is so con-
stituted that it is not in mems power to
withhold respect from lofty character, real
ability and good conduct.
You may be invited to a ball or a dinner
because you dance or tell a good story; but
no one since the time of Queen Elizabeth
has been made a Cabinet Minister or q Lord
Chancellor for such reasons.
The years of youth are short, and the
pleasures of youth perish in manly life.
Reputation, power and the consideration
which comes of ability, attachments and
good character ere what the man from
thirty to seventy oovets. Nothing but the
well-spent years of early life can secure
these.
would keep you from no enjoyments
suited to your age which are not injurious
to your real happiness and future success.
You have health and a good constitution,
and you have no inherited tendencies to
any vice. It is easy for you to do right,
and it will be objectionable If you go
astray.
l rejoice to find that profanity is consid-
cred vulgar in England. During the two
years that I resided in England l never
heard d profane word from q gentleman.
Among the young men, slang seemed to be
at the University.
Remember hat when you are twenty
five you will desire what others value at
that age, IL SO at every stage of life. I
mean what the higher order of men value.
Live each year in the way which will
best tit you for the next year., and thus
will secure to you the happier life to come.
You start with every advantage, but for
get not that yours are advantages suited
to America, not suited to England. No
one has superior rank or higher social po-
sition than you in America. ln England
their ancient system Of p~rimogeniture and
title gives precedence and outward re-
spect, in a large degree, irrespective of
merit. 1t is not SO with us, and I am very
glad. Quarrel not at all with their sys-
tenn; they seem to like it. But never
covet it, and never commit the silly snob-
berry OF pretending to prefer it to the sys-
tenn of your own country.
The social life of England is very charm
ing, and their plan of leaving ali land to
the eldest son has built up vast estates,
adorned and dignifed with castles and
halls filled with art and luxury and refined
taste; but all this is at the sacrifice of
many human rights which we value.
Nothing like this is possible in America,
and it will not always last in England.
The substratum Of the English character
is solid, honest, truthful, and, in the main,
just. Our best traits are q heritage from
that race; but l feel quite sure that, with
all our faults, we are rapidly improving
become quite the superior people as a
whole.
Feel always a manly pride that you are
an American, and that your future is here.
There is not in all historic time, a
grander record than that of the United
States. Before the nation was a hundred
years old civil war broke out, and the
North alone had at one time more than a
million of armed men in tn field, and the
South had vast armies also. After four
years of terrible war, more than 1900, 900
soldiers were disbanded almost in a day.
They returned to the peaceful industries of
civil life without a murmur. without dis
order and without crime. Under our sys-
tenn of government they had learned to
govern themselves. Eve in the madness
of the conflict, when the President was as
~sassinated, the Government moved on
without even a ripple of disturbance. More
than three thousand million of debt was
created, and the paper money was in auch
discredit that one gold dollar would buy
two dollars and seventy cents of the paper.
But so soon as the war ended we went
bravely to work, paid off one-third of our
vast debt, and now a paper dollar will buy
a gold dollar in any part of the country,
and our national credit is of the highest
grade. We ave finished more than SEVENTY
five thousand miles of railway, revived
our industries, increased i in population, and
our prosperity is such that our annual in
come is greater than that of any nation on
the earth.
I have a letter from the Dean to-day, in
which he says: "Your sons improvement
has really astonished me-" Continue to
astonish the Dean and delight me.
This shows that you have the ability, and
that there will be no excuse and no pardon
If you are not faithful in the future. From
time to time I shall hear from the Dean,
and also from your tutor, and they will tell
me all and only the truth. They will re.
veal your shortcomings, if you have them,
as we'll as your merits. You accept too
r1,o-r Srvs+o%so,~ f,,or1 ,,~,,~ el.- A.