Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1894-03-22
CHOICE EXCERPTS.

CHOICE EXCERPTS.
THERE may be as honest difference
between two men as between two ther-
mometers. The difference in both cases
may arise from difference in positions.
MIGHTY is envy, always, and mighty
ignorance; but you become aware of
their truly Titanic grandeur only when
you attempt to touch their owners
pockets.
SCRATCH the green rind of sapling,
or wantCnly twist it in the soil, and
SCARED and crooked oak will tell of thee
for centuries to come. How forcibly
does this beautiful figure teach the les
son of giving right instead of wrong
tendencies to the mind.
MAN, wishest thou to live happy and
wise? Attach thy heart only to that
beauty which perishes not; let thy con-
dition border thy desires; let thy duty
precede thy wishes. Learn to love that
which can never be taken away from
thee; learn to leave all when virtue or
ders it.
HE who is sympathetic has his en-
trance into all hearts and is the solver
of all human problems. To him is given
dominion where he thinks to serve; and
the love which he gives without stint. as
without calculation, he receives back
without measure, as without conditions.
IT is as easy to have good manners as
to have bad ones; but to have them they
must be taught in the nursery and used
at home. The practice of
courtesv at home will make one
courteous abroad; and to be esteemed
veil bre is certainly worth all the
trouble that can be taken to gain that
CHILDREN alone of human bein gs
have the capacity for unadulterated en-
joyment. Their childhood therefore
should be the holiday of life. Its slave
day will soon be upon them. and then
farewell forever to the merry world
without responsibility, fear or care
which is their rightful abiding place
until borne ont into the tumnlt and the
strife of the world!
WRITE it on the heart that every day
is the best day in the year, says Emer-
son. No man has learned anything
rightly until he knows that every day is
dooms day. To-day is a king in dis
guise. To-day always looks mean to the
in the face of a uniform
experience that all good and great and
happy actions are made up precisely of
these blank to days. Let us not 6e de-
ceived; let us unmask the king as he
passes.
1t is a precept of good manners and
good sense, and therefore of good style,
to adapt your illusions to your audi
ence. People who obtrnde their partic
ular shop" on mixed company, or per
plex strangers within their gates with
family jokes, are guilty of
bad manners. So, in litera-
ture, persistent illusions to out-of the
way and obscure books and characters
are equally piece of bad manners. Al
Iusiveness is felt to be offensive the mo
ment the illusions are understood.
No m Dtive, however apparently good,
should tempt us TO deny what we b..
Iieve, or to pretend to agree with that
from which in our inmost mind We dis
sent Whether we shall openly pro
claim them and push them into nO.ice.is
another matter which judgment and
wisdom must decide; but nothing can ex
cuse the weak dissimilator who through,
fear or interest perverts his real thought
and sails under false colors. No perma
nent good is gained for self, no real ser
vice is rendered to others by hypocrisy
in any Of its shade.
Go on and struggle, only remember
that your struggle viii be worthless,
however you may get the things you
seek, unless you can get not merely the
bodies of those things but their souls.
Any man who truly feels reverence for
his own property is thereby liberated
from the worst part of the slavery to
wealth. He may still struggle to be
rich, but he is not the slave of other
mems riches, nor of his own unwon
wealth for which he strives. Calm, dig.
nified, self respectful. with no bitterness
and no pride-who but he is the man
who knows how to be abased?
A MAN may be filled with knowledge
of many sorts-may, in fact. by the aid
of a retentive memory, be walking en-
cyclop@dia of information and yet have
very little power in himself. He SIN
ply holds vast quantity of facts and
truths, but does not use them. He can
tell the views of a hundred philosophers.
but has no philosophy of his own. He
has the written histories of many nations
at command, but of their underlying
canses and principles he has no thought;
still less could he apply them to the
present living issues of the day. He
may be able to quote poetry by the yard,
yet, owing to q weak and unframed i'm
agination. be unable to fathom and en-
joy single poem. He may understand
many systems of ethics. yet utterly fail
to perform single act of self-sacrifce
when duty demands it. In his case at
least knowledge is not power. 1t Is like
the heap of gold which lies idle and
useless in the chest of the miser COM
pared with what it might become if put
into active circulation for the benedt of