GOOD WORDS.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 212, 2 August 1878, Page 2

GOOD WORDS.

Learn to labour and to wait; but learn to labour first. There is n*o better .test of purity, aud true, goodness than reluct-.-r-.ee tothiuk cvii oi one's neighbour, and absolute incapacity to believi-.-Mi evil report about good men, except upon the most trustworthy evidence. Happiness is like manna • it is 'to be g-ntherod in g*rs*im;, and enjoyed every day. It will, not keep j it cannot be accumulated * nor have we to £0 out of ourselves, or into remote places to gather ir,, since it has rained down from heaven at our very doors, or rather within them. The best thing* that has heen -given to may* in this world is wisdom ; the most goodly gift that can be given to him in the next is pardon. The best disposition for him is that he should have a lively appreciation of the high und o-odlike character of his own nature, so that the thought may keep him from evil, or cause bitn to repent if he have done wrong-. By example, a thousand times more quickly than by precept, children can be taught to speak kindly to each other, to acknowledge favours, to bo gentle and -unselfish, to be thoughtful and considerate of the comforts of* the family. Tho boys, with inward pride at their father's courteous dpmeanoiir, will be chivalrous and helpful to their young sißverrs ; tho girls, imitating the mother, : will be *r 6 -n Ue { , n( j patient, even when big brothers are noisy and heedless. > Dignity seldom goes out for a holiday, and never goes off guard. Rj B always to bo found at its post, vigilant, prepared to take the ofLensiva ns ft- ell as ' to defend itself, should the smallest oc- • casion ame. Tt cannot ,believe in the innocent intentions of itp friends, but devotes its brains as well as its time to suspicions which diseov'-i* noihino* hit its ov; a importance. A word or°look thoughtlessly spoken or earelesslv given wounds it to tbe muck j and what others . would pass by as not worth a second, fchoughr.imtable and irrational dignity nifiint-iins to be cause sufficient for a quarrel. What i« rerdly wanted 93 regards boys_ is to light up the spirit that is within them. In some sense and in some degree there is in every boy the material of good work in the world— in every buy--- not only in those who are briiliont, riot only in tbose who aro quick, bin in '.bono who arc stolid,' and ».*vmi hi thoue who are dull, 01* wbo jfein tv be dull. If they have only the "•o-.d will, tbe dullness will eleiu* iiway c;>y hy clay undex- the influence of the '.he good will ir they oidy exert I day's oi- or lion, makes the effort easier I i-nd mora delightful, or at any rate less fl painful, cr will fowl to its "b&cominjr fl delighiful in dvs. 'ime.. fl '/.'here is rm atop so long* as the first step in any directum., especially a 'wrong fl one, h r -v,'i«g once irakeu it, you are fl ver/ iikdy to £0 further. One who 9 steaks a penny wiil remember it when fl be thinks of stealing* a sovereign. If fl he sceals the sovereign first, when he is fl tempted, by thousands he will remember fl ho- is already * a thiof. A perfectly fl iniioconc parson dread:- the' soil of any fl sin upon hia soul, l*us after the slightest fl smirch ho cannot any " J am clean." fl The vulgar proverb, " One might as fl v/e\l be- hung for a sheep as for ii lamb," K means a gron't deal. Often the lamb flj was stolen years before, and now why flf not take the sheep 1 An idle word, flf half-oath, half-exclamation, leads the If boy to swearing. Once having sworn, fl] he will swear again. The first step B may not be much in itself, but in its B relation to our lives it is a giant's stride. B? liXjj well to remember it. Bl We may as certainly gauge the B morality of a country by the condition flj | of the women and the children, bythe Bj; beauty or the disorder of homes, and AP the respect or disdain for personal fl| cleanliness and adornment — all of whioh B| depend Solely on woman's will and per- SI ception — as we learn by the existence SI of railroads or the frequency of tele- Sp graphs where a country stand*** in reJa- Si tion to the more advanced conditions of SI civilisation. The women who disregard flp the charm of what we call the luxury, fl|l tho elegance of household and personal B| cieanlinesa ; whose eyes are not open to B| dirt- to whom, rags are no shame, Hl personal uniotmlinossno disgrace, hon)eS|| disorder no neglect of natural duty, are SI mainly responsible for the corruption SP sure to result from this* nncared-for J| condition of home life. With personal H| disregard comes personal degradation;^fl wiih indifference to home comfort, B| neglect of property ; and neglect ofS| property brings' loss, which is poverty ■! which is mendicancy — than which Do ߧ agent is more powerful in the destruC'flHl tion of all self-respect - Mm