Connecticut western news., 1894-07-26

hSChcd Mith hesAAO Aes'S | you been making primary? In what | way has allurement gotten the upper | hands of strength? How have you suf- | fered or are you likely to suffer from this contortion of nature into wrong proportion, letting that come first which should be last, and that last which should be first?
 But this subject in its relation to ex ternal life touches the pocket
 THE PRoPoRTIoNATE USE OF INCOME.
 There are those who come into pos sessions, wise administration of which would be perpetual good; yet hardly before they realize, possessions are gone. It might seem almost out of place to speak here of a matter like this, but 1t is so true, and prevalent more widely than one thinks. A little caution on this matter in almost any assembly comes straight home to someone who is present. One has an income of so much, let it be limited, 1t usually is. He apportions third to the necessi- | ties of living, third to the indul gences of living, and a third is laid by for the rainy day. Now If every one were as wise even as this and were temperate in the nature of their indulgence, there would be com paratively few to suffer. The world would be we'll rid of greater part of its miseries. This Is not done. The third to be laid aside is reduced to a smaller fraction. The third devoted to indulgences is increased in the same proporsion; and this is not all, for there are myriad instances where laying aside | a1k1atIa~ ol1 ment, rising from its subordinate posi- tion, becomes paramount, and ID order that its increasing demands may be met, even the part devoted to necessity is encroached upon. You know how true 1t IS that a man hesitates before spend ing little sum for an article of cloth ing, yet goes easily to the place of amusement where the same amount, and it's double and treble slip from his grasp. Yet in which direction lies safety? The ques- tion seems idle. for there is but one re- ply. Address simple question to the sober reasoning of any person and the universal answer is the same. Our reasoning is so much better than our living; our precepts so superior to our practice that these indulgences entangle us in the thickets until distress comes, from which there is no relief.
 A mans mental nature represents to him higher sphere than his physical. To keep the mind we'll informed and in a healthy state Is a duty, but not to all a pleasure. The more it becomes a habit the more 1t is a pleasure, and the less habit the less pleasure; for easy pleasure runs in other directions and carries the person with it. A boy who has followed easy mental pleasure awakes from lethargic life and resolves to open bls books, study for profession and amount to something more than he has; a worthy resolve. If you know of such youth, go congratulate and en- courage him in the effort. know of a few such, but so metimes wonder if al- lurement is not beginning to entangle them little.
 Then there is danger iu de- yeloping the mental powers; dan ger of exercising them in second ary rections ct the expense ef that which should be primary and Is more substantial. But let us draw distinct lines between primary and secondary. Primary mental de- velopment Is such that must be useful and may he ornamental. If your life is to be devoted to mental instead of phys ical exertion let 1t be ID a direction that you can put to practical advantage. that you can fall back upon with assurance should the day come when you are thrown on self for sustensnoe. That is fundamental, 1t ought never to be made subordinate. Secondary mental develop ment Is that which is ornamental, and may be useful. Stress is laid upon beauty and not upon strength. Strength may be developed from the beautiful, and when this is done 1t passes over into the legitimate primary sphere where strength becomes first. A little dash in the fine arts, limited accomplishment in the ornamental with nothing more is a sacrifice of strength to beauty. The beautiful and the ornamental allure and we are easily boine away by their subtle ties, forgetting that strength is neces- sary. But tbe beautiful without the strong in the day of test falls. The an- scient Greeks never taught truer lesson to the world than was given in a piece of statuary, copies of which we see to- day Beauty in the form of woman is reclining on strength, in the form of leopard. Strength IS the fundamental, the primary on which beauty is con- structed as secondary. The order cannot be successfully reversed; and in making choice of one when the other cannot be had, he Is fated of evil who sacrifices the snb- stantial to the ornamental. Build up the mind then on strong mentsl pabu- lum and keep that foremost, something that is enduring; and make all digress- ions into the aesthetic if they are to be merely ornamental, entirely secondary. So many get hopelessly entangled in the beautiful where there is no strength
 The question again comes, in the pro- cess of intellectual growth and mental building, what habits which are pleasing but not substantial are you over indul- gin? What secondary matters con- nected with your mind-life have you been making primary? In what ways has intellectual allurement gotten the upper hands of intellectual strength? How are you likely to suffer from these inversions of the mental life into wrong proportion, allowing that to come first which should be last and that last which should be first?
 Still another application of the thought in more distinctly religious line I have seen iu person who. in years of health and pleasure, paid little heed to his religious nature, but, when disease crept upon him and life was threatened and the silence of the grave forced itself upon the thought, called for bible and sent for his minister and became serious. yes earnestly intent upon what he must do 10 be saved; 8 crisis time had come. reason awoke, sober judgment began to operate. These told him that safety lay in that thing which be had so long despised; i; and when later. under a kindly provi. dence, health was returned and vigor of body restored. the way of safety was again despised, until caught one night in the web of pleasure he suddenly and without warning was carried of.