Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-06-24

comes to be done. Quite likely it will
not be easy; you will not get any mental
training from doing. easy things, but
from doing hard things so well that they |
get to be easy. The world will never |
wait for you; you will not generally have
time to talk about the thing to be done
or theOrize about 1t, but the Opportu- |
nifty will present itself, and If you have
the habit of fidelity in doing everything, |
the little things and the great, as well as
they can possibly be done, You will not
only get that thing done well, but
you will fit your mind to seize oppor-
tunities; so that, perhaps, the first thing
to be said about fidelity is that it teaches
the mind to seize opportunity.
The ancients represented opportunity
as figure with forelock of hair and
without drapery fleeing past at the
highest speed; so that If you failed to
catch her as she came towards you there
was no hope that you could ever lay
your OBTAINING hand upon her and bring
her back. The man or the woman who
simply and faithfully does what presents
itself at the time it presents itself has
learned to seize opportunity as 1t passes.
But sometimes opportunity, instead OF
fleeing past quickly, comes haltingly;
and faithfulness will not only enable the
mind to do well the thing that presents
itself quickly, but to have patience to
watch and to do the thing that IL to be
done at the best time. There is Persian
story that a man waited thousand
years at the gate of Paradise for the
gate to open so that he could go in; he
4 1tyhi hn oil
gate opened-and shut. The faithful
watcher is as much to be an object of
our praise as the faithful dOer.
There is another thing about faithful
ness. If you are bent on doing well the
thing that comes to you, it will distinct
ly occupy all your time and you will not
have time to complain about it or to ex-
cuse yourself from not doing. Napoleon
in selecting his officers said he avoided
the man who always excused himself
and the man who complained, because
these men had no time for anything else.
There is true wit as well as wisdom in
the adage that there are two things
never to be complained of, the thing
that you can help and the thing that you
cannot help. If you can help it go
ahead uncomplainingly and help it; if
you cannot, be silent and watch. When
you have the temptation to complain
about anything try being silent about it
and see if that won't do better. The
philosophy of silence is great philoso-
ply to learn, few people learn it.
There is another thing about faithful
ness. The man who is faithful to the
interest in charge, who is bent upon
doing the thing before him in the very
best way, acquires that directness of
mind that gets at results Immediately.
Rockefeller, who started as poor as any
body can be, and who has now an income
of two million dollars month, or As
cents every time the clock ticks, says he
acquired the mental habit by which he
mastered the field of finance, by becom-
ing direct in his methods and losing no
time. If you have the habit of being
faithful in everything you do, the habit
of doing each thing the best that it can
possibly be done, you may not all be
rich,-you may not all want to be rich
but whatever you set yourselves to do
you will do well, and you will have the
satisfaction not only of doing that thing
well, but of fixing your mind in condi-
ton of fidelity and so having faithful
character.
Success is not duty, you can have it
or not, as you choose, but success will
certainly come from doing everything
the best it can possibly be done. John
Rand said of William Pitt Fessenden
that he won all the cases he ought to
win, and Mr.. Reed said of that remark
of Mr.. Rand, that this was much higher
praise than if he had said that he had
won every case he tried. And so say
you are not expected to succeed in every
individual thing you try to do; but you
can do everything faithfully. that is, the
best that it can possibly be done. II
you do this the highest result is that in
tensity and directness of mind and
character which enables you to get to
the end that you are after by the nearest
and most direct way.
think | should like to preach n SER
mon on faithfulness and to take as my
text "He that is faithful in that which is
least is faithful also in much," and if
did, | think should close it by illus
trating the fact that faithfulness leads
directly to results and by quoting John
Bunyan when he describes the end of
Faithful in the Pilgrims Progress, when
he says that he saw in his dream that at
the end "there stood behind the multi
tude chariot and couple of horsemen
waiting for Faithful who was taken up
and straightway was carried through
the clouds with sound of trumpets,
by the nearest ,cay to the celestial gate"
Faithful got his reward by The nearest
rdy.
The commencement concert Wednes-
day evening by the Haydn Quartette of
Portland, assisted by Mrs. Louise Gala
han O'Neill, Reader; Miss Bertha Webb,
violinist, and Miss Alice l.. Philbrook,
Pianist, was an unqualified success.
The large dining hall at the Sturtevant
Home was filled upon the occasion of
the commencement dinner Wednesday.
Eloquent and able speeches were de-
livered by DR.. F. c. Bowman of Duluth,
Mimi, Mr.. Briggs of Washington, ID. c
Rev. C.. NJ. Emery of Southern Pines,
n. c., Hon. Clarence Hale of Portland
and Prof William f. Sargent of Hebron.
Among the very interesting historical
documents that have been added to the
Hebron Academy collection the past
year, is one secured and framed by
Judge Bonney. 1t is the Phi Beta Kappa
diploma given by Alpha Chapter of
Dartmouth College to the late Hon.
Albion h. Paris and bears date 1906.