The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-06-21

i
The world is just now facing a number
of problems which are comparatively new,
and you will have plenty of time TO go
through college before they are all solved
some Of these problems concern the very
fundamental principles OF our existence
Our notions Of right aud wrong are under
going an important modification. II used 70
be that II man kept hardware store ne
would sell nails at little lower price per
key to a customer who bought hundred
than 10 a customer who bought but one, ano
nobody questioned the moral rectltude OF
such a practice. SO 1t was thought IN days
gone by that railroad company haNlhs
transportation facilities to sell might carry
freight at a lower rate per car for Gus
toner who had hundred carloads than for
the customer who had but Onei and sueh
a practice was not supposed to involve any
moral turpimde But nowadays, men go
10 prison for such q thing, and perhaps they
should: but II IL is morally wrong for ran.
road company 10 carry hundred cars oi
freight at a lower rate per car than II VIII
carry one, how shall we justify the sale Of
beefsleak to hotel at lower rate per
pound than it is sold TO you and met II
one is q social evil, why is not the other
alsol Some say it is. And so ] say our no.
tions Of right and wrong are undergoing q
change. 4 square deal is the watch
word for the hour, and square deal IN ey, !Ni
cry department. 1t will be the educated
man and woman Of the future who will be
best able to define a square deal and TO make
one when they know the definition.
We have laid up for ourselves treasures
on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt
and thieves break through and steal, and
where our treasure is, there is our heart
also. With heart and earthly treasure
united, il was supposed by the ancieni
prophet that the nation must decay. II may
be for YOU and your contemporaries 20 say
whether the words OF Hebrew prophecy shall
fit the record Of American history, and u
may be for YOU to help TO show the world
how to sail the ship Of state safely into the
haven VI virtue with its treasure still IN
store.
In such an era, there is a glorious part
for every player upon the stage Of life. We
can not all play leading roll, but It is i'm
portant that all the minor parts be handled
with fidelity.
Kiplings story Of the Ship that Found Her
self in which the different parts each had
a word to say by way Of emphasis OF its i'm
portance in the relationship Of the whole,
and then he continued:
So it is with the body polite, no man is
independent Of those about him. We are all.
in a sense, responsible for each other, and
we all have our honorable part to perform.
We are one body with many members and
each must bear his own responsibility,
II you perform your part, minor though
it may be, and perform il to the best of
your ability, you will not only know the JOY
Of a peaceful conscience, but you are pretty
certain to get a reward of q material sort
while you live. The reason why some peo'
Pile work hard all their lives for small com
pensation and never get promotion is that
they constantly concern themselves with the
question whether they are doing more than
they are getting pay for. They usually CON
elude that they are, and they never give
their work a thought except upon the EN-
pluyer's time. II is rule with few excep-
tons that you will never get an increase in
wages until you earn more than you are
receiving And it is equally true that when
you do earn more than you are getting for
any considerable length Of time, your merit
will be recognized and your wages in
creased.
1t is brain work that draws pay, and
there is no work so simple that 1t can not
be done better with brains than without.
The man who starts OF shoveling in ditch,
and thinks, will soon be giving directions on
the bank. while the one who works like
machine, and does not think, will remain at
the bottom Of the trench. Manual labor
reinforced by mental labor is the fortunate
combination.
Boys-don't smoke The editor of The
Saturday Evening Post says the only thing
that smoke is really good for is ham.
Don't drink Intoxicating liquor, The hrst
glass has some influence and it is not an in
huence for good. None OF us know any too
much when he is perfectly sober. Liquor
will not increase our knowledge nor our
skill Liquor as a beverage even when used
temperately. is no good. lntemperanee is
rapidly becoming a barrier to desirable EN-.
ployment even among common laborers, and
In these days when wholesale and caustlc
criticism of large corporations is constantly
ringing in our ears, II is due TO them 10
say that by the very general practice OF dis
charging men for intoNicatl0p, they are do.
ing work for the cause Of temperance
more potent than that Of any other agency.
The man who forms the habit of conviy'
ialiiy is commonly content with few and IN
ferior associates, He mistakes their opin'
ions for public sentiment and thinks HIM
self wise If they agree with him; but as a
rule such a man greatly oyerestimates MN
self
1t is well to go to q wdeawake, progress
sive church and Sunday school. Some boys
think d Sunday school is for girls and wo'
man. This is an error. 1t is for men also,
and no man should be ashamed Of his mem
bership in such an institution: A knowl'
edge OF the Bible can be acquired in sun
day school and the value of such knowledge
If it can be obtained in the light OF mod
ern scholarship is a sufficient reward for
the effort. You can better afford to be
without knowledge of any other collection OF
literature in the world than to be without a
knowledge Of the Bible,-the law, the his
tory the poetry and the prophecy Of the
race that gave us Isiah and Jesus and Paul.
Cultivate your taste for the fine arts; they
help to preserve mental balance and anord
pleas sure when other things fail,
Take the advice of your mother and con
slider it we'll She descended into the val
ley of the shadow of death to give you life.
She has bestowed upon you an atectlon
which only mother can bestow. She mas
more faith in you than SnyDou! sm eise eyer yer
had or ever will have, and if you follow her
counsels your steps will ever progress along
the path which leads to power and happi'
ness.
| speak of these matters of daily con.
duet in passing because daily conduct leads
to habit habit leads to character and char.
acter is the most valuable OF all personal
assets Character is the momentum OF one
past life. If parental influence restralns you
from detrimental indulgence day after
day abstinence becomes q Iabit when Will
make the right course easy after the re.
straint is removed. Every time we do what
we ought to do, we are more likely to do II
again. and so daily conduct gathers mo-
mentum which carries us on IN the way we
should go and becomes character,
Something has been said OF a square
deal. but we must also have an honest play.
There are men holding important positions
of trust in matters of finance whose ofhclal
honesty would not be questioned, who Will
not pay their fare on a street car unless
they are asked for it. This is not honesty
1t is dishonesty. 1t should be made a
fundamental rule in the conduct OF lie
that common honesty, even in matters which
seem in themselves to be trivial, is indlspen'
sable to prosperity and true happiness.
To find success you need not 60 far from
home. Many a man has labored under the
delusion that the best pastures were else
where and that all the opportunities have
somehow been transferred to parts un,
known and far away. We hear of one who
has come back from Alaska with a few
thousand dollars after a residence of five
years in the wilderness and the winter OF
the Klondike gold fields, and we say he got
riches in the far west But did you ever
think how much could be saved by man
living in Brattleboro at salary Of thou
sand a year if he would deprive himself to
the same extent as did the wanderer in the
gold fields
Here the speaker told Hawthorne's. story
in Twice Told Tales of the youth in the