Eems.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 139, 9 March 1877, Page 7

Eems.

A tart temper never mellows with age ; and n sharp tongue is the only edged tool that gfows keener with con-

stant use

In the affiirs of life activity fo to be preferred to dignity, and practical energy and despatch to premeditated composure and reserve.

The underlying cause of almost all financial distress is extravagance; of individual distress, personal extravagance ; of public distress, general extravagance.

Morality without religion is only a kind of dead reckoning — an endeavour to navigate a cloudy sea by measuring the distance we have to run, but without taking an observation of the heavenly bodies.

It is cowardice that prompts us when we seek to cast upon others the burdens we bear ourselves ; and it is a false philosophy that tries to save the wrongdoer from the punishment due to his evil deeds.

We must, if we are Avise, make some kind of calculation in our lives, and say what we shall spend now, and what we shall keep for the future. The rash say so much, which is all, and leaA'es them nothing; tho cooler, and those able to forecast with judgment, say so much, which leaves them. a. sufficiency. When you have had success and prosperity and social consideration, if your success is turned into defeat, and your prosperity departs, and your social relationships are broken off, learn how to stand sufficient in yourself Avithout these things. Learn first how to be a man by sympathy, and then learn how to be a man without sympathy.

No man possesses real strength if he cannot, after having heard 'all that others have to say, resolve, and resolve firmly, what to do, and carry his resolution into effect. Take counsel of others; profit by their experience and wisdom ; but above all, take counsel with yourself; make up your own mind what to do in this world, and — do it!

In all Buddhist temples is a tall and broad-leafed lilly, which stands directly on the front of the altar, its idea is as beautiful as its workmanship. It represents that just as the pure white flower may grow out of the mire and filth and blossom into loveliness- so may the heart of man raise itself above the wickedness and corruption of the world into a state of spotless purity-

In my experience of life, a truth which sounds very much like a paradox has often assorted itself — viz., that a man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes. So long as a man is struggling with obstacles, he has an excuse for failure or shortcoming; but when fortune removes them a!!-, and gives him the power of doing as he thinks best, then comes the time of trial. There is but one right, and the possibilities of wrong are infinite. — Huxley. The man or woman who engages iv some congenial, regular work will never be on the brink of despair ; their names will never be chronicled in the list of self'destroyers, for in idleness alone is despair. Work chases it away, no matter how thickly the clouds may have gathered. Nature is one vast workshop, teeming with millions of busy workmen. If we follow in their footsteps, all Avill be well. The beauties, gifts, and glories of nature may be scattered around us in great profusion, yet she demands toil to reach out and grasp them, and utilise them to our fancies and wants.

We are told by those who know that there are stars so far distant that it takes years for their light to reach the earth ; if they should be suddenly extinguished, we should be unaware of the fact for as many years as. might be required for their last rays to reach us. We might look up nightly and see the same old radiance as though nothing had happened. It is just so with great and holy lives. Long after they have gone out in the darkness of death they continue to exert an influence, and leave behind them a beauty and power which make it. impossible to conceive of them as extinguished.

•■ It will do !" is the common phrase of those who neglect little things. "It will do 1" has blighted many a character, blast sd many a fortuue, sunk many a ship, burned down many a house, and ruined thousands of hopeful projects for human good. It always means stopping short of the right thing. It is a makeshift. It. is a failure and defeat.. Not what will do, but what is the best possible thing to do, is the point to be aimed at. Let the man once adopt the maxim of " It will do !" and he is given over to the enemy ; he is on the side of incompetency and defeat, and Aye.must give him up as a hopeless subject. — > Smiles.

Remember in all things that if you do not begin, you Avill never come to an end. 'The first weed pulled up in the garden, the first seed in the ground, the first shilling put in the savings bank, and the first mile travelled on a journey are all important thing*- ; they make a beginning, and thereby a hope, a pro* nine, a pledge, an assurance that you are in earnest in what you have under* taken. How many a poor, idle, hesitating outcast is now creeping and crawling on his way through .tlie world who might have held np his head and prospered if, instead of putting off his resolutions of industry and amendment^, he had only made a beginning !