The age-herald., 1900-01-21
THE MURMUR
 OF THE WORLD

ems. that I were lord-Timon of Athens, Act l., Scene II.
 It Is seldom that opening quotations are
 accredited here. All quotations here being
 classical, it is presumed that the average
 person recognizes them. But one of the
 master works of the Master of all men
 whose hands ''the pen pierces through and
 through" seems least to be understood,
 and therefore credit needs to lbe given to
 ~Timom of Athens" It is so wondrous true the gentle philosophy of Apemantus. Men who love to be fawned upon never ap-
 prediate real courtesy and ever mistake aattery for real praise The men who 'crook the pregnant hinges Of the Knee that thrift may follow fawning" are the men most trusted in the world and best paid. Men who love flattery do not have l any sort of appreciation of words of kind greeting from them that know not the art of lying. The plain salutation of the truest and best of mans nature, that is gratitude, is outweighed by the greeting of | the syeophant the time-server, the mere | lldtleIti. Allu IL SetlliS HO"ddaSS tioe N"S | person who does least his duty is least comprehended, appreciated, honored, re- warded.
 It is small moment perhaps. Men love
 to be fiattered We men love to be prais- ed. In the olden time the great Romans purchased friendships as matters of busi- ness. In this day men sell friendships. ic Oa difference The dlency remains the same. Question of principle in these particulars has ceased
 to be called. There was Latin maxim that every man has his price. That was to say and is to say that every man is pur- chasable. It does not follow that every man can be purchased for a money con sideration. It was meant there is ever | price for every man under the sun. That | price may be public office, or preferment; | honors, civic advancement; or it may be 1 the dearest tllng ever given by the God | above, a woman's heart, woman's faith. | a woman's wondrous love The price may | be based upon personal honor. integrity, duty to God, duty to a woman, duty to ones country. But the price is there. It I is in many things nobly named; in some | things it is mean beyond all compare. Ac- cept it as one may and however one will, | the supreme truth is, the price! What are l you paying-a woman's trust, a mans l trust honor's trust, hopes, faiths. loves, | personal vanity, distrust; what not-which of these are ye paying, o! my beloved?
 
 Men are perversey unfaithful, perversely untrue, perversely inconstant. Men are not only inconstant to women, but deplor- l ably untrue one to another amongst them l selves. This truth is always truth l Sigh no more, ladies' sigh no more; Men were deceivers ever; 1 One foot on sea and one on shore, | Constant to one thing never. It has been 50 forever and will forever be so. Men not only de- | ceiye women and themselves, but l they sometimes seek to deceive God. 1 It is true that vast multitudes are
 unwittingly untrue; and so their faults are | possibly not held against them in the great summing up of the Infinite. O, soul of | mine, it is not the contrite of heart nor l the humble of soul to whom the Lord saith I Depart ye wickedl' It Is not that way in |, the feeting present-nor in the vast here | after. It is rather to them that crieth Lord, | Lord, and are not prepared to do the Mas 1 ter's bidding. For these, even for these, | there is pardon. There Is no sin of them
 that become truly contrite. No, not one
 that cam be not forgivable. l And so let us all of us take 1t so, brave
 hearts and true, and likewise them that | falter. These lessons almost sacred, are | taught by him that sneered at flatterers: Give thy thoughts no tongue | Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. | Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. The friends thou hast, and their adoption | tried,
 | Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel:
 But do not dull thy palm with entertain l ment
 Of each new hatchd, uniedgd comrade. Beware
 | Of entrance to a quarrel: but being in, l Bear it, that the oppressor beware of thee. | Give every man thine ear;,- but few thy l voice:
 l Take each mans censure, but reserve thy l judgment.
 | Costly thy habit. as thy purse can buy, | But not express'd in fancy; rich not | gaudy:
 For the apparel oft proclaims the man; | And they in France of the best rank and | station
 Are most select and generous, chief, in | that
 | Neither a borrower, nor lender be: l For loan oft loses both itsef and friend: | And borrowing dulls the edge of hus- l bandry.
 l This above all,-To thine ownself be true; | And it must follow, as the night the day. | Thou canst not then be false to any man.
 These are perhaps the most beautiful | teachings outside of what are termed in | the religious sense the sacred writings | They appeal to all men and all women: to
 priest and publican, to the mother and
 maiden, wife and virgin; even to the little
 boy beginning his heart efforts to ascend | that mount whence Fame's proud temple
 shines afar! These things appeal to that
 soul of all of us termed by Emerson as | "the man within the breast.
 It is coming to truth, in the end, failing
 mortals journeying up the path of the
 dawn or down the sunset slope! It comes