Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1885-09-11

If you see fellow student who is al
ways manly, honorable, brave and just,
and who devotes himself to the duties
before him every day, who resists tempt
ations to pleasures which interfere with
his health, and hence with his success,
you cannot help admiring and respect
ing him. Oxford has never graduated
man who was an indolent failure at
the college who ever became an emf
nent success afterward, and she never
will.
Attend to the duties and obey the
laws of the university. 1t sometime
enters the shallow heads of young men
that it is clever and spirited to trans
gress the rules. II is supremely silly.
1t requires neither brains nor courage
to break the laws, and comes Of desire
to get cheap notoriety through coward
ice or vice, and the aspiring idiot always
fails in the end. Thieves and burglars
break laws; true men keep them; they
are made for good.
The great secret of making the labors
Of university life or Of other life easy is
to do each duty every day. If you let
burden of arrears accumulate 1t will
discourage you. If you have five things
to do each day, they are easily done !;
but if you put them of with the idea
that you can do fifty on the tenth day,
you will surely fail.
Mind not what others do; they may
he able to waste more time than you
can afford; more likely, however, that
they will fail. Many in Christ Church
do not expect to make any figure in the
world, and have no ambition but to pass
through; and many affect to despiSe the
diligent.
If you have not determined purpose
to take stand as scholar, and to lead
an earnest manly life after you leave
oxford, then leave it now, and save me
the modification and expense, and
yourself the reproach and scorn which
your countrymen bestow upon wasted
opportunities. Do well, and there is
nothing in my power which | would
not do to advance you. Be failure,
through your own indolence, weakness
and indulgence, and though you are my
only son, should feel that | had one
too many.
Success comes not of spasmodic effort,
but of continued everyday work.
Read the fable of the hare and the
tortoise and profit by its teachings, and
remember that success, with honor, is
one of the highest pleasures of life. l
have many fears lest in companionship
with so many young men of easy for
tune, and no ambition beyond that of
the easy life of an English gentleman,
you lose the sturdy purpose which
should animate you daily. Remember
that America is not England. No one
is born to titled greatness or to any
other greatness here; he who gets 1t
must achieve it, and he who cannot
achieve it in some form is of small con-
sideration. We have no idle class, and
| trust that we may never have. An
idle life is a worthless and unhappy life.
Never 90 to balls or parties in term
time, and avoid late wines and suppers
at all times; they always injure the
health, and without health life has
scarce pleasure.
From his birth Samson drank neither
wine nor strong drink, and those who
train for the ring initiate his example.
During our late war it was conclusively
proved that those who drank water
only, escaped disease and endured fa-
tigue far beyond the others.
cannot too strongly urge upon you
the importance of early retiring to rest.
Investigation into the causes Of longev-
ity have shown that early sleep and
early rising are among the chiefest rea-
sons of long life, and science has re-
vealed the fact that the magnetic rays
Of the son are widely different in the
morning from those Of the declining
day. AS the sun goes down most of the
beasts and birds seek their place of rest,
many of the flowers and plants and
trees fold their leaves; and the large
sun-fower, which looks toward the
sinking sun i'm the west, is turned TO
greet him in the morning toward the
east. AS he approaches 10 usher iE the
day, all nature, from bird to flower,
seems animated with invigorated life.
Then the mind of him who has had re-
freshing sleep awakes with its best
thoughts, its wisest plans, its largest
capabilities. But this can come 10 him
only who has spent the midnight hours
in sleep. Sleep restores the nervous
forces of the exhausted brain, and the
best constitution will soon be shattered
and the best mind will become unstrung
II sleep is neglected. 1t was justly
called
"Sore labor's bath,
Balm of hurt minds. great natures second
course,
Chief nourisher at LIES FEAST"
Third-That economy il virtue aud
that extravaganza is a vice, never for
get.
You never see man Of forty who re-
GREETED his economy; you will see
plenty who mourn their early extraya-
gance. Lavish expenditure never wins
respect. 1t may win temporary fatter-
ers. who despise the fool they hatter.
Pay every debt you owe, but
"Neither a borrower nor q lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend"