The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-09-26
Our 0lio.
A Fathers Letter of Advice.
Be Gentleman, and yOu Will Look
anG act Like One.
Words of Wisdom TO an Absent Son.

The death of Edward Pierrepont, secre-
tary of the American legation at Rome, has
resulted in the publication of the following
letter of advice, written him while at col
lege by his father, Hon. Edward Pierre
pont, late Minister to England
No. 1O3 FIFTH AVENUE, New YORK
My Dear Son.-I would gladly save you
from much annoyance and from many sor-
rows by giving you the benefit of my own
experience | have been through the pre-
paratory schools and university, and know
all their trials and their temptations. |
also know how prone boys are to think
that the times have changed since their
fathers were young, and that the true rules
for the conduct of life have ceased to be
the same. My son. as you grow older you
will find that from the time of Solomon to
this hour human nature has not changed
at all, and that the guide to prosperous
and happy life is precisely the same as it
was when that wise man wrote. The boy
who is fortunate enough to have father
whose experience is large and varied, and
who communicates it with no possible mo-
tive but the best good of his child, has
great advantage if he will heed what is
told him, but will suffer all the more deeply
in the end if he comes to see that the care
and the earnest warning and the faithful
counsel have been disregarded
Danish forever from your mind that
folly which young men so very stupidity
cherish, that fthe world and the ways of
the world are essentially different now from
what they were forty years ago." and set
tie forever in your mind certain principles
which you are never to doubt, and never
to swerve from in your course of life.
First That there is great first cause
which rules the world-a something which
we can but dimly comprehend, because it
is too vast for our finite minds. 1t is the
infinite. 1t is God. 1t is fruitless to try
''to find out God" He is "our Father in
Heaven" this is all that the simple child
can know it is all that the most learned
man can ever know. That this Great Gre
ator is just and merciful, and rules by
equal laws, we have every reason to believe,
and that it is one of the CREATOR laws that
our lives may be influenced by earnest
prayer for guidance in the right way there
is no doubt.
[ do not mean that to pray for specific
things, such as riches and honors, will bring
riches and honors as matter of course,
but that honest and earnest prayer to our
Father in Heaven for guidance in the way
that is for our best good is sure to bring
strength and enlightenment to the mind,
and thus to aid us in the affairs of life
Every day ask your Heavenly Father to
guide you in all things in the way which
is right, and you will not 60 wrong.
Most of the scientific men of our time
devote themselves to the study of the laws
of matter, and they seem to forget that
man, even while on earth, has a spiritual
as well as material nature They find
nothing but matter in the brain which they
dissect, and they jump at the conclusion
that there is nothing but matter. Their
discoveries in the laws of matter are won
derful and invaluable, but they utterly ne
glect the study of spiritual laws, which are
as real and as certainly part of man as the
grosser substance. That the soul survives
the body, and that it is happy Or miserable,
according to the deeds done in the body" :"
never allow yourself to doubt If skeptics
wish to talk to you about it, don't argue !;
arguments on these subjects never do any
good you might as well argue that you
love your mother Practice what I sug-
gest, and you will know from conscious
experience that what [ tell you is true, and
you will be made much happier and serener
day by day, and far more prosperous in
this world. When in the family of the
Rev. Mr. Seymour, at Holme, Pierrepont,
you saw how cheerful and serenely happy
they all were under the influence of re-
ligious life.
Second. That truth, unfaltering integ-
rity, justice, and honor are never to be
departed from under any circumstances.
Lies come from meanness, low vanity,
cowardice, and a depraved nature and they
always fail of their object and bring the
liar into contempt. Without strict integ-
rity, Justice, and honor no one can have
continued success in anything, or lasting
respect from anybody. Every one is found
out sooner or later, and much sooner than
he supposes Indeed, your true character
is sure to be known, and sure to be justly
appreciated.
[ pray you, my son, never trouble your
self about popularity Do right, the best
you can; deserve respect, and you will be
certain to have it.
If you see fellow-student who is always
manly, honorable, brave, and just, and who
devotes himself to the duties before him
every day, who resists temptations to pleas
ures which interfere with his health, and
hence with his success, you cannot help
admiring and respecting him; and so it is
with the most jaded idler at Christ's church.
Oxford has never graduated man who
was an indolent failure at the college who
ever became an eminent success afterward
and she never will.
Attend to the dutiesand obey the laws
of the university. 1t ometimes enters the
shallow heads of young men that it is clever
and spirited to transgress the rules. 1t is
supremely silly. It req uires neither brains
nor courage to break the laws, and comes
of desire to get cheap noteriety through
cowardice or vice, and the aspiring idiot
always fails in the end Thieves and burg
lars 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 dc
each duty every day. If you let burden
of arrears accumulate it will discourage
YOU. IF you have five things to do each
day they are easily done, but if you put
them off with the idea that you can dc
fifty on the tenth day, you will surely fai |
Mind not what others do; they may be
able to waste more time than you can afford
more likely, however, that they will fail.
Many in Christ's church do not expect to
make any figure in the world, and have nc
ambition but to pass through; and many
affect to despise the dilligent.
If you have not determined purpose tC
take stand as a scholar and to lead an
earnest, manly life after you leave Oxford
then leave it now and save me the NORTH
cation and expense, and yourself the re
proach and scorn which your countrymen
bestow upon wasted opportunities, Dc
well, and there is nothing in my power
which | would not do to advance you. b
, e;Inro tbrou0h vour own Incidence