Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-06-12

honestly mistaken The trickster suffers,
solely because of his bad reputation.
His word always needs Endorsement;
that of a true man will be accepted for
itself. Too much stress can not be
laid on the value of a good reputation.
1t is founded, of course, on good con-
duct, or what appears to be good con-
duct, continued through many years.
Where it has been falsely gained it is
not securely held-a breath may blow
it away-but when good reputation is
based on good character it is securely
founded and will withstand the shock
Of criticism. Desirable as it may be,
1t is not to be made the object of any
mans conduct. He should aim to be
sincere, truthful, self respecting and
good reputation will follow, and be.
come a shield to him when misunder.
standings or intrigues subject him to
trials.
In business life there is much com.
petition, and the best of men meet
those who are envious or malignant,
and suffer more or less from their
Vaccinations. 1t is then that they
need good reputation to sustain them
against false charges or a distortion of
the truth. Children have been regard
ed by different philosophers as natur-
ally depraved or as naturally innocent.
1t is difficult to make accurate obser-
vations, because from a very early age
children are very impossible, and they
begin to acquire or develop character
even before they learn to talk. They
are essentially imitators, and their
characters as children are quickly
formed upon the models they see be.
fore them and by the treatment they
receive. 1t seems to be more reason
able that they should be naturally
truthful than that they should be
naturally deceitful, and w%here-ignor.
ing the effects of inheritance-they
begin at an early age to exhibit habits
OF concealmento OF secretiveness, it may
be that they have initiated their elders,
or that, being unwisely ruled, they
have learned that they can possess
sweetmeats in secrets of which they
would be deprived if their possession
Of them should become known. 1t is
therefore importent that they should
be encouraged from the first to be
frank, sincere, truthful, and that long
before they have developed what is
called moral sense they should feel the
value of these qualities. An ofense
openly committed or frankly confessed
should be treated very differently from
n committed in secret, or concealed
OF denied. Just as the child learns by
experience that the stove is hot and
must not be touched, he should learn
that concealment and lies are ofenses
of a grave character visited by con
domination of the severest kind, and
punishment for offenses not involv wing
deceit should never be so severe as to
make the child a sneak. Thus guided
from his earliest years, the youth will
develop habits of straightforwardness
and truth telling long before he has
learned anything about moral princi,
Piles or has realized the value of a good
reputation. Indeed, he will have but
a faint conception of the value of such
reputation until he shall have reached
middle age. Then he can look back at
the life history of his acquaintance,
and see where n man of ability failed
because he was insincere and could not
be trusted, and where another made
his mark m ainly because his word was
as good as his bond. But the young
car not be expected to accept these
things merely because they are told
them. No child breads the fire, though
warned of its effects, until he has been
burned, and no young man ever needed
the good advice so often givin to him
except through the force of his own
good character. 1t is this that should
be developed through his childhood
and youth by constant cultivation of
habits of frankness, sincerity and
truth, upon which to found good repu-