Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-03-20
CHOICE EXCERPTS.

CHOICE EXCERPTS.
THERE is more dignity in penury, no
matter how abject, coupled with indie
pendence. than in indolent comfort
gained through the grant of favor. DO
not ask for or be too ready to receive
favor.
IT is bad policy to be naughty, repel-
lent. unsocial The most resolute aspi-
rant to wealth or position may stumble
as he climbs, and, if no one stretches
out finger to save him, may roll head
long to depth far below the point from
which he started.
IF the every day life of parents shows
that they dread nothing but doing
wrong, their children will take this
direction, sooner or later; and their
courage will, with more or less delay,
become adequate to bear and Go any
thing for conscience sake.
THE influence of outward nature, of
circumstances, of our occupations, of
our fellow men are always pressing
upon us, but the results of this pressure
upon our welfare, our character, and
our life will always depend upon the ma
ture of the inward forces with which
we meet it and respond to it.
To know others is the only way to know
ourselves. To find other men and wom-
en- better and nobler than we will teach
us humility; to find them poorer in
worldly goods, harder -natured, more en-
compassed with difficulties and perplex-
tiles, will teach us pitifulneSs, tolera-
tion, forbearance.
IT is in the home, if anywhere, that
social instincts can be wisely developed
and guided, and that the best prepara-
ton for social welfare can be made.
The very qualities that enable brothers
and sisters to live happily together also
fit them to live happily with their fellow
men in after life.
A LARGE majority of the unfulflled
duties of the world is caused by the
practice of delay. Good intentions are
abundant-the ability and the will to
carry them out are not wanting; but the
habit of prompt action has never been
acquired. Persons with this deficiency
are wrecked in an emergency.
TACT is not measured alike to those
who have it. Men possess it in differ
ent degrees; while others again are want
ing in it altogether. 1t is the outcome
of intellectual and of temperamental
qualifications, and implies the possess
ion of clear perceptions, quick imagina-
tion, and delicate sensibilities. 1t is these
that give the tactful person his subtle
intuition of another's mental processes
and modes of feeling, and in the same
moment exactly the right method of
dealing with them.
SOCIETY is continually inhaling and
exhaling, giving and taking, helping
and being helped; and its health and
growth depend upon the free and con-
slant operation of both functions. Meth
er can they be relegated to different
classes of people, some doing all the
giving and others all the receiving. To
starve one side of the nature Injuries
the whole; and, unless both are in con-
stant and happy exercise, the individu
al is mentally and morally stunted-in-
deed it will never be known how much
more generous giving there would be
in the world if there were more cor
diality and gratefulness shown in ac-
cepting.
WEALTH, we are told, is power; tai
&c nd &c
But there is a mightier force in the
world than either of these-a power
which wealth is not rich enough to pur-
chase, nor genius subtle enough to re-
flute, nor knowledge wise enough to over
reach, nor authority imposing enough to
silence. 1t is Truth--the really most
potent element of social or individual
life. Though tossed upon the billows
of popular commotion, or cast into the
seven-fold furnace of persecution, or
trampled into the dust by the iron heel
of power, Truth is the one indestructi-
BILE thing in this world that loses in no
conflict, suffers from no misusage and
abuse, and maintains its vitality and
completeness after every assault.
EVERY uON6IneuJ Vi uluSCle, WHETHER
it accomplishes anything or not, wheth-
er voluntary or involuntary, costs an out
let of bodily strength. Every thought
also involves an expenditure of strength.
Therefore, all thought involving fret,
worry, fear, or borrowed trouble, is so
much strength unprofitably expended.
You may always tell or woman whose
existence has been a lifelong fret by
their careworn, emaciated faces. They
are never healthy. Fret kills more peo-
pie than the cholera. 1t leaks away
strength constantly. AT last the weak
est organ or function gives way. This we
call disease. The doctor comes and gives
the disease Latin name. The disease
may attack the heart, liver, lungs, or
other parts of the body, but the real un-
derlying cause had been at work for
years in the patients mind. 1t may al
most be called automatic mind or body
action, or automatic exhaustion.