The national leader., 1889-02-09
FOOD FOR THOUGHT

/ Before thou openest thy mouth thint
who may be listening.
Write it in your heart that every f,a,
is the best in the year.
God gives every bird its food bu,
does not throw it In the nest.
We never thoroughly knot, a mar
until we hear him laugh.
Before you open your mouth. think
what benefit it can produce.
Do today's duty, fight today's tempt-
ations, and do not weaken and distract
yourself by looking forward to things
you cannot see, and could not pnter.
stand If you saw them.
We men. who in the morn of youtb
defied the elements, must vanish.
Fame, like lightning. generally strikes
the man who Is not expecting it.
Man Is like glass; he must be anneaI.
ed before he is valuable for service.
The living are always, and will he
more and more, governed by the dead.
We find self-made men very often.
but self-unmade ones good eea! Of
tener.
That which we keep we may lose:
that which we give no man can take
from us.
1t is no gracious undertaking to point
| out errors even to those who are most
anxious to correct and forsake them.
Titles are valuable; they make US ac-
| quainted with many persons who other
wise would be lost among the rubbish.
Death has nothing terrible which life
has not made so. A faithful Christian
life is the best preparation for eternity.
The seeds of love can never grow but
under the warm and genial influence of
kind feelings and affectiOnate manners.
What the world wants is good exam
| pies, not so much advice; advice may
be wrong, but examples prove them
selves.
What we call curiosity and inquisi-
tlveness in other people seems in our
selves only laudable thirst for useful
| information.
If man empties his purse into his
| head, no man can take 1t from him. An
investment In knowledge always pays
the best interest.
The things Of the earth shall perish,
and this world shall pass away; but
that which we have given will then be
found to be our secLrest treasure.
One class of men must have their
faith hammered in like nail by au-
thorIty; another class must have it
worked in like screw by argument.
The stronger and more tixedly the
soul is set on one object, so much the
more does it find power to overcome all
that may be only outward or accident
al.
No man wishes to learn that which
he already knows, nCr does he wish to
be instructed concerning matters re.
gardiDg which he believes himself to
be fully Informed.
acknowledgements he earned; it cannot
be passlyely taken. Unless the mind
works for Its living 1t will always re-
main poor; neither gifts nor legacles,
neither houses nor lands, can enrich it.
Happiness, in this world. when it
comes, comes incidentally. Make it an
object Of pursuit, and 1t leads as wild
goose chase, and ls never attained.
Follow some other object, and possibly
we shall find that we have caught hap
piness without thinking of is.
Good nature disarms enmity, allays
irritation, stops even the garrulity OF
fault finding. 1t more than half over
comes envy. A really good natured
man is the most troublesome morsel
that the malign passions ever attempted
to feed upon. He is the natural super
ior of irritable persons.
There are no such things as trfes In
the biography of man. Drops make
up the sea. Acorns cover the earth
with oaks and the ocean with navies.
Sands make up the bar in the harbor's
mouth, On which vessels are wrecked;
and the little things In youth accumu-
late into character In age.
Some unidentified philosopher re-
marks that, sit is the newly rich that
make displays. 1t is the paper that has
just sprung into notice that harrahs
about its reputation. 1t is the woman
who, for the first time owns lace
shawl, who tells you what it cost"
The longer we live the more we are
convinced of the truth OF the cynlcal
remark of the unsuccessful painter,
that reputation Is rather the 0utgr0WIh
of luck than of merit. What HaW-
thorne called the cOnsplrIng clrcum-
stance rarely visits our homes, ana
when it does we are generally absent.
We owe respect to the man who,
however ignorant. makes 10 false pre-
tense. but strives to repair his denclen-
cies by attentive listening or mOdess
questions; but we can havo Only ScoIn
tor the conceited assumptions OF one
who strives to make his narroWness
appear broad, and his shallowness deep.
No man Is 80 foolish but may give
another good counsel sometimes anu
no man is 30 wise but may easily OF, Il
he will take no others counsef Dut n'S
own. But very few men are WISE W
their own counsel or learned Dy thelr
own teaching. For he that was onIy
taught by himself had fool 10 DIS
master.
Duty is the end and aim of the hign-
est life; the truest pleasures OF All IS
that derived from the consciousness OF
its fulallment. Of all others IL Is ehe
one that is most thoroughly satisfying
and the least accompanied oy regret
and disappointment. In the WORDS OF
Gao-~1 TlI 3ha consciousness or