Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1893-03-23
CHOICE EXCERPTS.

TRUE goodness is like the glow
worm in this, that it shines most wheI
no eyes, except those of Heaven, ar,
upon it.
CHARACTER is shown more by th'
direction in which our steps are turned
than by the actual position we have at
tanned.
NEVER in our estimate of human ma
ture and human society should we for
get the good which courts no public OBJ
servation.
tive, whatever shifts mans moral posi-
ton. is mightier than steam, or caloriC
or lightning.
MANY a man who thinks he bears a
great enterprise on his shoulders is sim
ply round shouldered from carrying q
large load of self -conceit.
ONE of the illusions is that the pres
ent hour is not the critical, decisive hour
Write it on your heart that every day is
the best day of the year.
MEN are apt to mistake the strength
of their feeling for the strength of theiI
a gument The heated mind resents the
chill touch and relentless scrutiny OF
logic.
TIMIDITY creates towards and never
wins success. 1t is strong abiding faith
in ones own nobility to perform which
overcomes difficulties that others think
cannot be surmounted.
No life is worthy and noble that has
no "must" in it-that is not ready tC
bow its most cherished schemes or its
fondest wishes to the ever present au-
thority of the still small voice.
As we grow wise with age and its con-
comitant sorrowful exI nee, we find
that change, not stability, is the law OF
life, and that all things are for time
while nothing, not the universe itself, is
forever.
To be gentleman does not depend
upon the tailor or the toilet. Good
clothes are not good habits. A gentle
tleman is just a gentleman-nO more,
no less; a diamond polished that was a
diamond in the rough.
WITH our limited minds and oppor-
tunities, all our knowledge must be to a
certain extent fragmentary; but it is a
good thing to have the fragments in
some kind of order, to take stock of them
as it were, so as to know what is there
and what is not. and thus be able to use
them as required.
THE only conclusive evidence of a
mans sincerity is that he gives himself
for principle. Words. money,all things
else are comparatively easy to give away;
but when a man makes gift of his dai-
ly life and practice it is plain that the
truth, whatever it may be, has taken
possession of him.
The cup of sorrow is in constant cir
culation; we must all drink, and some OF
us drink deenly. 1t is immaterial whose
tor comes fist; the thing is, to ben' fit
by the draught, as it trequires very little
self-knowledge to convince us that we
are unequal to prosperity, and unable to
sustain it without growing careless of
things of far greater Importance.
THERE is sort of bad temper which is
exceedingly disag eeable-a discomfort
ed turn of mind. With persons of this
stamp you cannot fail to be unhappy, as,
do what you will, you cannot satisfy
them; they are ever grumbling, if not
about actual grievances, about what has
occurred or what may occur; so that
their life is consumed in long tissue
of regrets and complaints. They always
look at the dark side of the picture; they
always see the worst of everything; and
they cannot enjoy the sunshine of to-
day, because it may happen be rainy
and cloudy to morrow.
As the mind of man is so limited in
its ability to receive and retain, there
must be continual selection going on
between what to know and what to re-
frain from knowing. The wise man has
discovered that of the vast amount of
truths and facts and wonders and ideas
with which the universe is teeming, only
small fraction can by any possibility
be his; and his intelligence has no more
important task to perform than that of
deciding not only what to choose, but
what to refuse. Thus wherever there is
wise knowledge there is also a wise
and necessary ignorance.
If we did but realize the great diff
Guilty Of so appreciating the peculiar po-
sition. character, and feelings of another
as to find out what was really the best
thing for him to do, we should be much
more reluctant to give advice than we
now are. Instead of pouring it out vol
ubly upon those who do not want it and
will not follow it, we should at least
wait until it is sought, and then only give
modestly and kindly the best results of
our most careful thought and disinter-
ested sympathy. When the heart and
the mind are thus brought into full play
upon this important duty, advice will be
rarer; but it will be far better worth
having. more eagerly sought. and more