Year: 1872

in ferior merit and who had promotion not for
ca use but of favor, when he at last compelled
re,ognition-that though late he had "iOon his
spurs," and would wear them long after others
had lost theirs. So all true merit wherever it
is. wins on the actual field of life, though it
IN ny be tardily of man, surely, and always of
itself and God. Cato, the Elder said, ait was
MS opinion that every one ought specially to
fe verence himself, for every one was always in
his own presence" Did it ever strike you that
this selfreverence is not an easy thing to have
You may have conceit and confidence and
other quality, but the man only reverences
himself when he stands upright to himself,
when to his own scrutiny he is clean OF every
littleness in soul or conduct when to himself
he is of worth that has no skulking shadow
lingering about it. Honestly, think, that the
be st opinion of man, the truest is that which
he has of himself He is not going to tell you
all about it. He is not going to empty his life
10 your ear or your curiosity or your tattle.
You are no father confessor. What part he
choose, he may divulge, he will never tell you
all, and he will battle and throw you off your
scent if you get too near but he knows more
and better about himself than all men beside,
and if he have not substance OF worth, he will
not reverence himself; if he do not reverence
himself he cannot reverence God.


Set yourselves this one only, task, young men
to live worthily. Leave name of worth





Men live lives, other men foolishly covet as
pire to. They are the cynosure Of many eyes,
yet are they as sepulchres full of dead mems


>-as Take the New York Clique, whose
Ame -ssed intos the H1story>-a-~
Did honey give them worth ? No men ever
made it so fast. Did any mistake it for worth!
Places, power, honors, notoriety, offices and ia
vors to bestow they had. Hats cameoff; votes
were plenty; levees attended; hangers-on,
called friends, abounded, but soorth &! The
most depraved parasite that fawned and fat
tened on them would laugh at the idea. The
money gone-none 80 poor as to do them re
verence Men die, and leave monuments be-
hind them men die and leave money behind
them men die and leave regulations behind
them. Monuments are apt to lie, and at any
rate mean but little. monument is only one
dead thing over another dead thing. Money


left for somebody else to use is apt to curse
lin who touches it and fails of its end. Re
putations are uncertain; good men have bad
ones, and bad men good ones. But worth is
something you can afford to leave behind,
something that will do good here when you are
reaping the other worth of it elsewhere. | re
member a banner inscribed, "deah or an
honorable life" beneath which many a brave
man has fallen. Every man ought to fight his
life out under that legend. IAN honorable
life" is all that any should covet We know
there are poor women who will choose death
rather than dishonor, who hug their purity,
spurn the lure, and go to the grave. Do
you hug purity-the jea0eIg every man
as much as of euery woman-and in
every shape shun many-shaped dishonor.
Be known as men of worth. You can't too Of
ten repeat, too earnestly stand by POpes COUP
let


Honor and shame from condition rise


Act well your part-there all the honor lies.
Well-acting is your one hope. Of all things
will it alone give you the coveted guerdon.
Reverses may come. Your name be forgotten
in busy places, "not worth dollar" at the
banks, but your integrity will not be forgotten.
Suppose it should be7 Suppose you never get
earthly award; suppose men never give you
your dues, that you know what it is to be fol-
lowed everywhere by mems i'll speech, and
will, all your best turned against you-is your
own consciousness nothing, is the approval of
God nothing? If you have worth have you not
the pearl of price, which when moth and rust
have done their worst, wears its pure face un-
dimmed, and shall take its place among the
gems that outshine and outive the stars? See
t. your manhood then out of this life make
that which shall admit you to the heavenly
ma nsions; that which shall lead you on in the
eternal ages from strength to strength, from
glory to glory and bring you to the joy of your
Lord