Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1894-05-31
CHOICE EXCERPTS.

utes imperceptibly to make us what We
are.
CHOICE EXCERPTS.
THE irst duty toward children is to
make them happy. If you have not made
them happy you have wronged them; nc
other good they may get can make up
for that.
To young man the world unknown
appears full of pleasures, and every
pleasure new; but when he becomes ex-
perienced, he finds the pleasures very
few and very old.
| COMMON sense in one view is the most
uncommon sense. While it is extreme
ly rare in possession, the recognition of
it is universal. All men feel it, though
few men have it.
THE animals to whom Nature has CIV
en- the faculty we call cunning know al
ways when to ase it, and use it wisely;
but when man descends to cunning he
blunders and betrays.
THERE are many persons of whom it
may be, said that they have no other
possession in the world but their charac-
ter, and yet they stand as firmly upon it
as any crowned king.
WHEN thy brother has lost all that he
ever had, and lies languishing, and even
gasping under the utmost extremities of
poverty and distress, dost thou think
to lick him whole again only with thy
tonguef
BE very slow to believe that you are
wiser than all others; it is a fatal but
common error. Where one has been
saved by true estimation of another's
weakness, thousands have been destroy
ed by false appreciation of their own
strength.
GOOD humor is the only shield to keep
off the darts of the satirical railer. If
you have quiver well stored, and are
sure of hitting him between the joints
of the harness, do not spare him. But
you had better not bend your bow than
miss your aim.
NONE would desire to inspire another
with seliishness, or malice, or ill-nature,
or revenge, or any other evil passion.
Yet, if we possess and retain such char
acteristics in ourselves, no effort of our
own will can prevent us from infusing
them into those with whom we miDgle.
A MOTHER once asked clergyman
when she should begin the education of
her child, which she told him was then
four years old. Madam" was the re-
ply, "you have lost three years already.
From the very first smile that CLEANS
over an infants cheek your opportunity
begins"
A LADY applied to Reynolds, the phil
anthropist, in behalf of an orphan. After
he had given very literally, she said,
when he is old enough 1 will teach
him to thank his benefactor." "Stop,"
said the good man, "thou art mistaken;
we do not thank the clouds for rain.
Teach him to look higher, and thank
Him who giveth the clouds and the rain."
THERE is seed time, and afterward
harvest. Do not think that everything
can come at once. Possess your soul in
patience. Do not expect impossibilities,
but simply the possible, for which proper
efforts have been made. Patience is not
in conflict with enthusiasm. The one is
CO. partner with the other. Neither will
get far without the other. Together
they are inviI chile.
IGNORANCE of vice has little to do
with innocence. He only is truly inno-
cent who has been tempted and has
withstood it. The untempted man may
dogmatize upon innocence and guilt,
may blame the fallen, and visit-and he
very often does visit-the poor sinful
one with heavy Indignation; but he
is hardly fair judge, any more than
he who has never been in battle knows
how a soldier should stand under fire.
1t is easy to criticise when we are far
away from the scene of action. Evil
crept like serpent into the angel-guard
ed Paradise. 1t is in vain for us to
promise ourselves immunity from the
touch of sin; we cannot play the, Phari-
see now; we are, indeed, miserable sin
ners. Snow white innocence is not with
in the hearts of one of us. Our Bible
tells us all this; it is well, inst as well,
to be convinced Of it; if the Bible didn't
instruct US, Nature would.
MOST of our desires are best and most
quickly accomplished, not by headlong
chase after them, but by due regard to
others. He who would be a good me-
chanic must obtain general information,
cultivate habits of observation, know
something of other trades besides his
own, and no more allow his mind to
grow rusty than his tools. He who would
be first-class lawyer must not limit his
study to technical law. The artist can
not afford to ignore mathematics, nor
the merchant to lose interest in reading.
Every employment thrives best in the
hands of those who unite fair general
knowledge of other things with a
specially excellent knowledge of their
own. So, when we set ourselves strenu-
ously to accomplish any given task, we
need not only perseverance to stick to
it, but ability to leave 1t at proper sea-
SONS and tosturn our mind into proper
channels, or the work itself will be less
perfectly and less speedily performed.