Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1894-05-17

in its train either a reward or punish
ment, however little disposed we are to
admit that such is the case.
CHOICE EXCERPTS.
For a man to say that he can never
change his opinion, is either to imply
that he is too obstinate to be taught by
experience, or that he claims infallibil-
ity.
ACTION of any kind is as opposed to
sentimentality as fire to water; and a
few years of labor or study, or even a
few months or weeks, will bring young
head into the right track.
PLEASURE, which cannot be obtained
but by unreasonable or unsuitable ex-
pense, must always end in pain; and
pleasure which is acquired at the ex-
pense of another's pain, can never be
such as a worthy mind can delight in.
WHEN man begins to do wrong, he
cannot answer for himself how far he
may be carried On. He does not see be-
forehand, he cannot know where he will
find himself after the sin is committed.
One false step leads to another; one evil
concession requires another.
THERE is no greater work on the
earth than that of developing everything
in a man, of bringing it into harmony. of
holding it back from wrong-doing, and
pushing it forward to positive excellence.
He builds great thing who build a
pyramids but he builds greater thing
who builds character.
In our lives there is a crisis in the
formation of character. 1t comes from
many causes, and from some which on
the surface are apparently trivial. But
the result is the same-a sudden revela-
ton 10 ourselves of our secret purposes.
and recognition of our perhaps long
shadowed but now masterful convic-
tions.
YEARS rush by us like the wind. We
see not whence the eddy comes, nor
whitherward it is tending; and we seem
ourselves to witness their flight without
sense that we are changed; and yet
time is beguiliDg man of his strength as
the winds rob the woods of their foliage.
He is wise man, who, like the mill
wright, employs every gust.
THE habit of dwelling on possible
calamities, of elaborating nnssible dan
gers, of prophesying grs-Is that never
come, and cherishing those that do as
sail us, leads to the manufacture of arti-
fetal trouble, from which no good can
ever spring. So far from gaining in this
way any power over real troubles when
they come, what we already possess
will be lost.
THERE is no doubt that it is better to
keep ones own council too strictly than
to give it into the keeping of others too
generously. What we have, and while
we have it, we know where to find;
when we give it away, it is lost to our
control. "a garrulous tongue, if not
checked, sings often to its own harm, "
says Scandinavian proverb; and "a
/ wise tongue keeps safe head" says an
English one.
n
Gus Antonius to "a vine which is salts
fed by being fruitful in its kind, and
bears bunch of grapes without expect
ing any thanks for it. And thus man
that is rightly kind never proclaims a
good turn, but does another as soon as
he can, Just like vine that bears again
the next season." 1t is generosity like
this that nourishes the sentiment of
gratitude in the human heart. Such
men and women are never found COM
planning of the lack of gratitude. With
out saying, they find it; without expect
ing it or demanding it, it is poured out
lavishly upon them.
NEVER deceive for the sake of fool
ish Jest, or to excite the laughter of a
few companions at the expense of a
| friend. Be anxious, when you relate
anything, to tell it just as it occurred.
Never vary in the least degree. The
reason why our ears are so often saluted
by false reports is because people, in
telling real things, add little to them,
and, as they pass through dozen
mouths, the original stories are turned
into something entirely different So,
when you attempt to tell anything that
you have seen with your own eyes, re-
late it correctly in every particular, and
as you grow older you will reap the ad-
vantage of this course.
THERE is hardly a department of life,
from the most private and secret thought
up to the most public and widespread
action, that would not be purified, ex.
alted. and made more valuable by the
presence of discrimination. 1t shows
us, for one thing, how largely the intel
lectual Life enters into and influences
the moral and the social. For, although
there must be the will to make these dis
inc tions, there must be behind it tht
power to do SO; and this power is large
ly gained and strengthened by strictl.
mental exercise. Thus it should form
one of the most important parts of al
education, and the studies that lead NJ
to it should be held in high esteem
while the continual practical applica
ton of it to the every day affairs of life
especially in all social relations, should
never be remitted.