St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-04-17

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Proverbs 22:1.
"a good name''-I make pause in
the middle of this Scriptural sentence
that l may utter in your behalf some
! thoughts and memories and feelings
closely allied to piety, as we recall the
service, religion. life, of our brother
who rests in God, -CHARLE MAR
SHALL STONE. We shall then be pre-
pared to say with more sincerity
that "a good name is rather to be
chosen than great riches"
He does a good work for his fellow
men who, by his life, enriches common
speech and gives to all the words
that describe real living a sweeter,
more genuine helpful power. The
real dictionary OF society is not a
| book but the lives of the men and
women who make it. All words
must become flesh and dwell among
u.s. before we can know their CON
tents or power. The true meaning
of sincerity, honesty, duty, virtue,
home, ambition, hope, charity, is
learned from persons who, by their
lives, pour into these words all the
meaning they can have for any of us.
| Words are poems to him who sees
them in the light. Names are more
than poems; good names are psalms,
poetry touched by life. They repre-
sent to men what no other speech
can represent. They stand for reali-
ties; they instruct, guide and purify
all social living. The Year Book OF
the church is only catalogue, you
| say, is it. not much more? Can
you hear a name and have it reach
you as merely a sound for the ear ?
Do you not feel it to be alive, a char
acter, full of power and the sugges-
tons that lay hold on life? When [
read the names of this church, the
dead and the living, l feel myself to
be in the midst of a society where
each one represents a power and
truth in whose fellowships my heart
is made rich. He who has learned
good names has faith in life, knows
that time and truth are his friends
and that God is near.
mo man liveth unto himself" He
may imagine himself shut in the
secrecy of his purpose or habit, i'll his
study or business, but he himself is
going about unconsciously with face
and character exposed a mans name
is always the publics guest, and he,
as he really is, sooner or later goes
with it for the good or i'll of men.
The man is in his name and this goes
this way and that way without any
will of his own. 1t is the blessed
power of a good name that it can
thus speak and comfort when the
man is silent; it can act when he is
resting; be alive when he sleeps in
the grave, and be and act in a hun
dred places at once, though he can
be in only one. Today, as we hear
the name of our brother in God, we
find ourselves again in his company
and touched by the hOnesties, reali-
ties and tender sympathies of his
soul.
Every man names himself. In the
holy act of baptism we, unconscious,
are led by certain sound, but the
mes ng of that sound, the real
name, is to be given by the man him
self. Our names are our achievement
and mean what we put into them.
That by which we are called is an
empty cup as ii is given to us, and it
will remain empty till we by our
thoughts and duties fill it with the
true water of life. This blessed bap-
tism is a constant thing, the real
christening goes on through all the
years. Each day the true man is
baptized Into the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost" By his spirit and con-
duct our friend named himself; he
chose "a good name" and let it go
forth without fear. 1t is quite posi-
BILE for one to send his name forth
with instructions to tell men some
pretense of goodness, but name
cannot long remain untruthful; it
will tell the world what its owner is
There is but one way of choosing a
good name; he accepted it. 1t is the
way of sincerity, constant and con-
sistent unselfshness, loyalty to truth,
heroic indifference to what men say
the name says, holding himself above
price, deeds of charity that, like his
prayers, must be in secret.
How clearly his life tells us not
only the worth of a good name but
how to seek one. To those who
came near the confidence of his soul
he taught the secret that to seek a
good nameis not the same as to seek
a name for goodness. He who con-
sciOusly seeks a name for kindness,
honesty or power is really seeking a
bad name. The evil heart may seek
a name for goodness; it never seeks
a good name. In his sight good
name was the name real goodness
made, to which he gave no special
nor separate thought nor effort. Do
deeds of justice and kindness, and
keep on doing them, and let the
world do the work of making the
reputation. He was sensitive to the
good opinions of men, more than
they knew, because his conscience
was more sensitive to the voice of
truth, and they saw that he followed
it without hesitation The modesty
of his charity and honor were real.
His name was his other self, and he
wished this to be real, not fame nor
report, but a power for the things
that were dear to his soul. While
his right hand did not know what
his left hand did, there was no sub
conscious desire that some one should
find it out and proclaim it, nor fear
that he might live through the years
and the world remain ignorant of his
charity or heroism. He often seemed
Indifferent to applause but never
careless of that which was true in his
sight. Do not think that he was
thoughtless about his name; no true
man is. He valued it and was anX-
iOus about it, but his first anxiety
was not concerning what men said
of him; to him his name was not his
fame; he was anxious that his name