Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1893-10-26
CHOICE EXCERPTS.


WITH some minds of the baser sort
there is difficulty, proverbially, of for
giving those whom one is conscious OF
having injured; and again, those who
have done very great and important
service, beyond what can ever receive
an adequate return.
INVESTING money safely aud profita
bly, is an art demanding special gifts
and much training and experience. This
is proved by the numbers who fail in at
tempting it, and by the readiness with
which people turn to their neighbors for
advice in regard to it.
MONEY should be regarded with GER
tain seriousness; for it is the quintes-
sence, or representative, of the gifts of
Providence and the toll of man. 1t is
hard to get it and easy to spend. There
is peril in it, and blessedness in it. To
the wise and good, it is the best of all
servants; to the weak and foolish it is
the most terrible of all tyrants.
FUN is the most conservative element
of society; and ought to be cherished
and encouraged by all lawful means.
People never plot mischief when they
are merry. Laughter is an enemy to
malice, foe to scandal, and friend to
every virtue. Itpromotes good temper,
enlivens the heart, and brightens the in
fn11 7 of 1ar1 nh rrrhn
IF we let ourselves get into habits of
temper that are unamiable, into direc-
tion of thought that is uncharitable, we
make our way downward with cumula-
tive energy; every days ill-doing having
at its back the weight of every preced-
ing days ill-doing, and so deepening the
fall and Strengthening the growth by
the multiplied force of all that has gone
before.
IT needs wise and patient effort to
make home the most attractive place of
all-and it should never be less than
that. Those womanly arts which by the
skillful touch lend beauty and grace to
the plainest things, and from being
homely make them to be homelike, are
all needed to this end. Many husband
too prone to stay might be kept by his
own fireside by no more art or subtler
skill than this.
OBEDIENCE is the fl. st lesson needed
in authority, and he who has not learn
ed it well will never be good COM
Of hos / q
own peculiar advantages. Then, when
the mind is free from care and respon-
sibility, the details of any occupation
can be best acquired and habits of
promptness and accuracy be secured.
But those who chafe against and de-
spise their present life of restraint never
become thoroughly fitted for future
one of freedom and power.
NOTHING hurts man more than to
seem small and ignoble in his own eyes.
1t is the slavish feeling that degrades
the slave A base ambition makes the
man that cherishes it base. No man can
debase you but yourself. Slander, satire,
falsehood, injustice-these can never
rob you of manhood. Men may lie about
you, they may denounce you. they may
cherish suspicious manifold, they may
make your failings the target of their
wit or cruelty-never be alarmed, never
swerve an inch from the line your judg
ment and conscience have marked out
for you. They cannot by all their eff
forts take away your knowledge of
yourself, the purity of your motive, the
integrity of your character, and the gen.
erosity of pour nature. While these are
left, you are, in a point of fact, un-
harmed.
IT is in our daily association with 9TH
er people, whether in society, in busi-
hess, or at home, that we are in the
deepest need of forbearance. We are
irritated at countless things, and seem
goaded on to bitter words, or spiteful
illusions, or stiDging repartees. Wesee
error so plainly that we long to crush it
out by violent means, or we see faults
in others which seem to merit our Sc
verest rebuke. Or we are suffering un-
der some real or fancied unkindness or
Injustice which we burn to resent,
and which appears to us to warrant the
sternest Indignation. The forbearance
which, while enduring these heart burn
ings, can yet enforce silence on the lips
until the hot emotions have had time to
cool, and have been brought to the bar
of reason and judgment, commands our
respect and admiration.
PERHAPS there is no better test for a
mans intelligence and character than
the way in which he accepts the conse-
quences of his own actions. Indeed the
actions themselves seldom afford so true
criterion, for they may be performed
hastily or under strong impulses, while
the consequence are endured or enjoyed
at leisure, without any powerful inf1u
ence to control the natural expression
of feelings they engender. In one way
it may seem that their is not much op-
tion about accepting consequences
that, as they are inevitable, so to receive
them is simply a destiny to which all
must submit. Certainly nothing is more
entirely beyond our power to alter or
evade. We can neither prevent nor es-
cape them. The action is in our power
to do or to forbear; but, once done, its
consequences are no more to be resisted
or controlled than the winds and the
waves Yet, as the strong swimmer can
breast the waves and the skillful captain
can steer his vessel through them, though
neither can resist their force, so it is
possible to meet the consequences of
our actions, though irrevocable, in such