Democratic messenger., 1905-05-20

to start with than yon had, hut he
hung on until mt last the financial tide
| turned his way Today he is one of the
wealthy men of this city. Then you
failed as life insurance agent. Next
you failed rs book publisher Then
you failed as Il commercial traveller
You have failed at everything you
touched. Yet men no brainier than
you who followed you have made sue
cesses in every one of these lines. You
dug your foundations; you erected one
fourth, one-half. twO-thirds, three
fourths of your walls. Then you said:
Let the unfinished towers s:Snd.
am too discouraged to climb-ASy high
er. l will go and dig elsewhere"
But would not halt here. The COM
pleted towers of life are due to grip
and grit. They are due to more than
that Their foundation stones. their ex-
cavations, their walls. are builded by
character as we'll Many n man has
had all the proper mental preparation
for life and perseverance enough In his
makeup 10 tear down stone wall with
his bare fingers If it were possible for
him so to do But, OH the other hand,
many man has lost all simply be-
cause his character could not stand the
test of truth and justice. No matter
how strong and stanch ship may be,
IL 1t has no rudder that ship becomes
plaything of every current and
menace to all ships sailing the seas.
No matter how swift a locomotive, If
1t has no Indicator to It's boiler that
engine is momentarily in danger Of
blowing up No matter how high the
walls of a tower lift themselves, II
base and in a straight line they are in
danger of tOppling over. What the rud-
der is to the ship. the Indicator to the
engine. the plumb line to the mason
building the wall. character Is to man.
1t is his ballast. his sheet anchor, his
safety valve. his protector. his all.
Sad Example.
Let me illustrate my thought by the
sad and yet brilliant life of one of the
greatest statesmen England ever pro-
duced. Charles James Fox was one of
the greatest geniuscs who ever stood In
the British house of commons. AT
twenty one years of age he was ranked
among the ablest debaters and at thir-
ty had not superior or equal In all Eu-
rope. But. though ut times he was the
most appiauded man in Europe, yet he
never could win tire confidence of the
people. They admired his intellect, but
they could not trust his heart. His
to stroll down to the parliament house.
There nightly" rs n contemporary
wrote, ''he would build up chain Of
arguments for bill he was attacking
greater and more powerful than any of
his adversaries could forge. Then he
would tear these arguments to pieces
as though they were cotton threads"
Read his speeches on the Impeachment
of Warren Hastings. Read his mas
terpicce ON the Rejection of Napo-
Icons Overtures" After parliament
adjourned then would come round of
dcbauch Gambling with him was u
mad passion. He was both spendthrift
and libertine. "IIow can he guard his
kings finances asked the people,
"when he cannot protect his own pock
etbook!" Charles james Fox had ev-
cry qualification to make himself the
political dictator of Europe save the
single essential of character. the lack
of which destroyed his whole career
for practical good.
n,.f Il hnx 20 l,0a 70.
history to prove the truth of my state
ment that character Is one of the great
est builders of the towers of life and
that without true character those tow
ers are always left in n half completed
stage Who was the most brilliant
young man of your school days with
whom you were associated? Tall. hand
some, fine looking he was. His brain
became a perfect repository of facts.
While you had to sweat and plod and
groan over your studies he seemed to
absorb his at Il glance. On the football
field or the baseball diamond he was
the schools star athlete. The girls all
fiattered him. The young men ran aft
er him. But no one could trust him.
lie was not true IIl:lI. 7OH. Siiu tUe
world. "Winfred will go right to the
front in life. Success is sure to be his"
Was it? No sooner had he left school
few years than his name got mixed up
with some shady transactions. With
all his brains and ability. what became
Of him? know and you know. He is
dead now. Il suicide: or he is living,
social outcast: or he is begging and
cheating his way through life. oh. the
magnificent ruins of the half completed
towers of life we see everywhere
around us! These towers should have
been citadels for defense and safety.
They are mere dungeons for the owls
and the bats and the vermin of sin to
inhabit.
4 Fatal Gift.
But is there no direct lesson from
this characterless tower for the women
as well as the men! How is it. o
woman. with the most brilliant friend
of your childhood days? You see her
now. perfect dream Of beauty. AS
little girl her teeth were n collection of