Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1894-03-15
CHOICE EXCERPTS.

CHOICE EXCERPTS.
EACH mans life is unity. There is
an underly ing principle which explains
both his private and public life; and un.
til we apprehend that We do not know
the man.
EVERYTHING that can cheer, amuse
and entertain should be contributed to
the meeting of family or friends. Re-
freshment of heart and mind should be
considered equally important with re-
freshment of body.
DILIGENCE will insure success; slack
ness and neglect mean inevitable fail
ure. To know how is of course much;
but to do the best you know, and keep
diligently at it, is the best way to learn
how, and the only sure road to success.
CARLYLE speaks of "the divine rela-
tion which in all times unites a great
man to other men," 1t is only as we
perceive this relation and recognize its
immense significance that we can ever
truly honor humanity or estimate the
real value of its highest manifestations.
SAY NO, and mean it. The man who
tries to break away gradually from his
evil happiness will surely fail, for the
reason that he begins by yielding in a
measure to his enemy. Any compro-
mise with evil, however slight, is wrong;
and ones only safety is in fOrsaking ut
terly the wrong.
THE chief nobility of life is work. We
live in working world. The idle and
lazy man does not count in the plan of
campaign. Labor found man brute
and mas made him an intelligent agent.
1t discovered him dwelling in caves,
clad in the skins of the chase. devouring
uncooked flesh, and has made him what
he is to-day.
ONE of the first lessons that young
man should learn is faithfulness to duty
and trustworthneSs in small matters.
Having these, the foundation of pros
perity is laid; and, if to such character
istics are added determination to be-
come absolute master of the business
and the capacity to grasp the various
requirements, the highway to wealth
and standing is well laid out.
Is there not little too much of gratu-
itous fault-fnding? With some people
it becomes very hateful habit,to which
they are chronically addicted. Contin-
ual reference to mistakes induce will
f,,l in fa 1ior "
with incessant complaint breeds con-
tempt for it. The safest rule seems to
be that only when all other and gentler
resources have been tried and proved
useless should we venture upon the dis
tinct mention of specific faults.
IT is not sincerity that leads men to
be rude and blunt, thonghtless and un-
kind. Let no one lay this fiattering
junction to his soul. Very often it is
simple egotisn that is so full of self and
its own concerns that it hastens to force
them upon other persons quite unneces-
sarily. Every thought, however crude,
must be uttered; every opinion, however
shallow, must be aired; every difference
of taste or sentiment or idea must be
emphasized, and all in the much abused
name of sincerity.
THERE are not few people the measure
of whose charity seems to correspond
with the distance at which it is exercised.
Their imagination. .scorning what is close
to them, leaps over sea and land with
the utmost celebrity, and they easily SYM
pathize with the sufferings and igno-
rance of far-distant natives and savage
tribes. They willingly give their money
or their time or their interest to relieve
or instruct such as these-and so far
they are to be honored for it. But when
they are cold and deaf to the aching
needs of their own country, to the tale
of distress in the next street, and to the
claims of their own families, they may
well be reminded that charity begins
at home"
If we look at human affections gen.
orally. we can see in them sufficient of
benefcent purpose, instances numerous
enough of good resulting from evil, Of
effects from causes apparently unlikely
to produce them, of the connection of
suffering In one aspect with the promo
tion of happiness in another to induce
us to believe that where we do not OBJ
serve this there is nevertheless a real
good being effected that would, if per-
ceived. be more than sufficient to vindi-
cate this world from the charge of being
left to the freaks of chance, or prey to
the savage malignity of a demon. How
often does the misery of a man in one re-
spect conduee to the benefit of higher
part of his nature, or if not of himself,
yet of others, whose good shall far out
weigh the suffering that was the means
of obtaining It'll There are other laws
than those of human communities, laws
that form the basis of life and of our
nature. by the provisions of which it is
secured that no man liveth to himself"
Beneath the compensstions that we see
on every hand, in the blending of the
natural qualities of men, in the adjust,
ments of the economic principles of 30
ciety, may we not, too. believe that there
is subtle connection in virtue, of which
the defeat draws with the attendant
advantage? So that forever, as at first,
1t is breath of God, which passes over
the dark waters of the world.