Talks with my Students : V 931 D EOS IMiH ■ ill 1 illlil^ HUHH IHI In ■■■■■■1 inlifiitliiSiliHilH iiP i iijt'^ fill ^ 'I! iiii'iiltilr ijijijij»l»!» U[ 1 iill 9 lllllil 1RHH IB mSKk 31 8 n III.U 1 Ha Hi Hill Class_/BJJ.S2 Book _ , G Copyright N° COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS A SELECTION FROM TALKS GIVEN TO THE STUDENTS OF SOUTH LANCASTER ACAD- EMY, SOUTH LANCASTER, MASS., DURING THEIR MORNING CHAPEL EXERCISES. BY FREDERICK GRIGGS. "On again; the virtue lies In the struggle, not in the prize." SOUTH LANCASTER PRINTING COMPANY, SOUTH LANCASTER, MASSACHUSETTS. I903. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Two Copies Received MAY 26 !^03 Copyngnt Entry CLASS) Ou XXc. No. C Q ? 8 8 COPY 8. Copyrighted, 1903, by Frederick Griggs. Published, May, 1903. PREFACE. It has been my custom for a number of years to talk to my students for a few min- utes each morning, when they assembled for the beginning of the day's work. These talks are upon various phases of character building, and the preparation necessary for a useful life. A few of them were stenograph- ically reported and published in the " Atlan- tic Union Gleaner." The suggestion was made that a collection of them should be published in book form. This book is the result. I am indebted to various ones of my fel- low teachers for helpful suggestions and criti- cisms, but especial mention is due Mrs. Sara J. Hall for her excellent literary criticism; to Mr. Paul C. Mason for the stenographic work. The book is sent forth with the hope that it may contain a word of inspiration for any thoughtful young man or woman who may chance to peruse its pages. Frederick Griggs. South Lancaster, Mass., May, 1903. CONTENTS. Adaptability . 5 Be Enthusiastic . i3 Learn to Wait 18 The Value of Minutes 25 Our Conversation 32 Economy 40 Promptness 47 Our Manners 54 The Association of Young Men and Young Women 62 " If Thine Eye Be Single" 69 The Love of the Beautiful 76 Lest We Forget 80 I. ADAPTABILITY. I want to give you a series of talks upon the qualifications necessary for gospel work- ers. Now, these qualifications are the qualifi- cations necessary for happiness in life. They are the qualifications necessary to make a success of any line of work, even in the world itself ; but I do not wish to approach it from that point. I wish to approach it with the thought in mind that I am talking to young people who are followers of Christ, and who are anxious to do the work of Christ. First, I want to talk to you upon the sub- ject of adaptability. I found my text yester- day in the remarks of Elder Conradi when he emphasized the thought that in going into distant lands we must adapt ourselves to the customs and conditions of those lands. The same thing is true when we go into other cities to carry on gospel work, even in our own commonwealth. This is also true when we go into other homes. And it is just as true in our own homes ; we find conditions which cannot be ignored. The principle of 5 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS adaptability begins, then, at home. And if you are ever fitted to adapt yourselves to the situations which you find in darkest Africa, India, China, Germany, Turkey, or even the United States, you must be fitted for them at home. Adapt yourselves to those with whom you are associated. Some persons have no pli- ability. They cannot bend, they cannot change, they cannot accommodate themselves to the whims of any one else ; and as a con- sequence, no one accommodates himself to their whims. Experience is a hard master, but a good teacher. I have learned some of these things by experience. I was asked once to go to a certain place to take up a certain work, and I immediately determined how things should be when I got there. I wrote to the people of that place, suggesting that this thing and that thing be so and so. I was not wanted. I did not go. I was afterward asked to go to another place. I had learned my lesson. I deter- mined to see if I could fit myself into the corners. I found a very irregular box, with 6 ADAPTABILITY a great many corners and crevices to fill. This is only one of the many experiences that have helped to teach me something of these principles. I think I have not learned all yet. There is a certain kind of bone which is very hard to break. One can easily bend it double, but as soon as he lets go his hold, it springs back to its first position. We call it whalebone. Now I think it a pretty good thing for some of us to have a little whale- bone in our natures ; to be able to bend, to be able to meet conditions, and yet not have our backbones broken. That would be a sad thing; for persons usually die when that happens. There is another point in connection with this that we do not want to lose sight of. Paul, as was quoted yesterday, became all things to all men. I do not understand from this that he entered into anything wrong. I do not understand that Paul changed his principles, but that he adhered to principle and made this principle meet the conditions that he found in various coun- tries, and lands, and cities, where he went. TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS I believe that Paul learned this principle so well that it came into his own family — home — life. When he abode with Aquila and Priscilla two years, I do not imagine that he changed the situation in that home very much. It is possible for one to get into the habit of wanting everything changed to meet his own whims or fancies. Every year we see this thing manifested between roommates or near neighbors. Sometimes the trouble is over very small matters : The soap dish is on the wrong side of the stand, the towel does not hang just right; this one wants more drawer room than he ought to have; the other one hangs his clothes all over the floor, and does not do his share of the room work ; he does not keep to his own side of the room ; or the neighbors do not keep out of the room when they have no business there ; and numerous other troubles which many of you might suggest. Now, suppose somebody does hang his clothes on the floor when they should be hung in the places provided for them. What are you going to do about it ? — Why, adapt 8 ADAPTABILITY yourself to the conditions. By this I do not mean that you are to leave the clothes upon the floor, and step over them, around them, or in them. Perhaps you can pick them up, and put them where they belong, and thus let the other person know why you put them there. This may lead the other person to adapt himself to your ideas. Then you are doing a double work; you are adapting yourself to the conditions, and teaching others to adapt themselves, too. I might say much more about this, but I have said enough. I have given you the outlines of the picture, and I want you to fill it in with your own experience. Now, young people, do not think for a moment that you are going to make success- ful workers in distant places until you can adapt yourselves to the conditions that you find, with your roommates, in your rooms and in your own homes. Do not think for a moment that you can go to some other town, and find the conditions that you want. You have heard the story of the man who moved into a new neighborhood. One morn- ing shortly after he arrived there he was met TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS by a neighbor, who said to him, " We are glad to see you with us, Mr. Jones." He re- plied, " I am glad to get here. I have come from a terrible place, the neighbor on my right was a stingy, mean man, and the one on my left was ugly enough for a dozen. It was an awful place." " Well," the first man said, " you will find it just so here ; " and he did ; and why ? I leave you to answer. Another thing : I was talking to a person not long ago about a common friend. I think a great deal of this friend, a young man starting in life. We were talking about his business and habits of work. I said, " I be- lieve that young fellow is going to make a splendid man." " Yes," said the one to whom I was speaking, "yes, but he is a Dutchman, and I question it." " What has that to do with it ? " I said, " there are some very clever Dutchmen in the world." The person to whom I was talking was a school-teacher in a large city, and I asked, " Don't you have Dutch children, and Irish children, and all sorts of children in your school ? " " Oh, yes," was the answer, " but I know them all by number." Let me tell you, I have discov- 10 ADAPTABILITY ered that very same spirit in this school this year. Have any of you ? Now all persons who possess such a spirit as this will never amount to very much as gospel workers un- til they get rid of it ; for God hath certainly made of one blood all the Irishmen, and the Dutchmen, and the Englishmen, and the Canadians, and the Americans, and the peo- ple of Massachusetts — all of one blood and all one people and all our neighbors, and I repeat, until we learn this lesson — the lesson of the Good Samaritan — we are not ready for gospel work. The greatest example of adaptability that the world has ever seen is that given by our Master. Living in the courts of glory, sur- rounded by adoring throngs, worshiped con- tinually, yet he adapted himself to the lowly carpenter's home in the wickedest city, prob- ably, in the world ; so wicked that it was a byword in the nation. From ruling a uni- verse, from watching millions of planets peo- pled with happy beings whirling through space, he came down and adapted himself to the life of a servant, doing the most menial kind of work. There is no condition that ii TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS can possibly come to you, or to me, where the comparison between what we had and what we have, is so great as the comparison between that which Christ had and that to which he came. This is the example that we are to follow. We are to remember, ever remember, that he adapted himself to the conditions which he found. We are to adapt ourselves to the conditions which we find. He did not swerve from the principles of right, but endeavored to change his condi- tions and make them right. We are not to swerve from the principles of right, but en- deavor to change our conditions and make them right. May God help us. 12 II. BE ENTHUSIASTIC. I spoke to you of adaptability a day or two since. Now there is one point, which, to my mind, assists very much in adapting ourselves to situations in life, and that is enthusiasm or earnestness. It is a very easy thing to stand on the bank of a stream and shiver ; while, if we would plunge in, we would learn to swim, and would get warm. It is said, that pro- crastination is the thief of time ; it is also the thief of success, the thief of character. We know what we ought to do. We have high ideals, high aims ; but we do not make these ideals real. We do not make them our own. We are continually planning to do, but we are not doing. We should plunge at once into whatever work we have to do. I think that this is particularly true in the matter of Christian experience. There are a great many persons who know that they ought to decide for Christ and right. They know what is right. They know the truth in a theoretical way — what the Bible teaches con- cerning it ; but at the same time they do not 13 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS take a decided stand. A firm position taken at once, because it is right, will bring great peace and happiness. The Scripture says, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Now, I understand that we are to be always search- ing for something to do, and the moment we find that something, we are to take hold of it with all our might ; for the entering upon the work in this manner will beget enthusiasm, if we haven't it. We are not to sit by and wait until we see everything clearly laid out before us, to know just how we are coming out in everything. If we do, we will spend much valuable time, and then we will not know. Unforeseen circumstances will con- tinually arise. Circumstances that we have not even dreamed of. We need to take hold of these circumstances, and develop quick wits, to become quick, keen thinkers, to be minute men. It is not necessary that we should be days and weeks preparing for the work that ought to be done. There are two questions to be settled, — Ought that work to be done ? and ought we to do it ? Then if that work ought to be done, and if we ought BE ENTHUSIASTIC to do it, why not take hold of it earnestly ? I repeat, then, the thought that a work entered upon with earnestness, with determination, will beget enthusiasm. I once talked with a young man about com- ing to school. He needed an education. There was the work to be done. He said that he must get the education. He was the one to do the work. He- went at it. I knew a great deal about his financial circumstances, but he went through the first year's work; he went through the second year's work also. There is not a year that I do not see young men and young women working thus. They have to beat their way through the bush. You cannot stand on the edge of the woods and see your way through. You must push the bushes aside as you go, and you will find that circumstances will carry you along. I once heard of a Dutchman who went down to a ferry to go across the water. When he reached the landing, the boat was just start- ing, and was out a few feet. He had to jump. When he landed on board, he fell, and by the time he could pick himself up, the boat, which had kept on moving, was some 15 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS distance out from the landing. On getting up, and looking back, he exclaimed, " What a jump I haf made !" We must learn to do things on the instant. The man who is wait- ing until everything is handy for him to get a good hold, and who has to deliberate at every condition that may arise, is never ready to seize the opportunity which will carry him on. I have seen opportunity represented as a young man wearing a great forelock of hair, and passing along very rapidly. All who would catch him, must seize him by this forelock as he passes; for once gone, he is gone forever. It is a good deal easier to take things as they come to you than to over- take them. It is much easier to handle a horse by his forelock than by his tail, and much safer. I once heard a story of three men who wanted to see the Empire State Express, a very fast train, running across the State of New York, and making only four stops. They ranged themselves along the track some distance apart. Soon the first man cried, "Here she comes;" and the last one 16 BE ENTHUSIASTIC said, " There she goes ;" and the middle one asked, "Where?" So with our opportuni- ties ; they often go by like that, and we must be keenly awake, in order to see and to take them. I think it is a good thing for a young man, or a young woman, to have a hard time in getting through school, or in entering any occupation. I think it is a good thing for them to work their way and not to be carried on flowery beds of ease. I was talking with a young man the other day about this mat- ter. He was saying that he owed the school. I said to him, " Turn the tables ; make the school owe you something instead of your owing the school." I know that it is hard work ; it means energy ; it means determina- tion ; but I want to tell you that this energy, this determination thus expended, is but working up your muscle for the greater bat- tles of life. So then be enthusiastic in your work. Be determined. Learn to be quick- witted, and it will result in your enjoying your work, and being good-natured in it. 17 III. LEARN TO WAIT. I want to talk to you this morning about waiting. The scripture which I read might form a text for what I shall say. "He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint ;" that men having set out upon a right course of action should keep going, and wait for the result. The one who does not learn this les- son of waiting never reaches the end of his journey. Now that is rather a strong state- ment; but I believe it to be a true one. The one who will not learn to wait, never accom- plishes his purpose. In a team of horses that I used to drive, was one that was very fretful. In the morn- ing he was ahead, and we had to adjust our lines to hold him back. Before night he was behind, and we had to adjust our lines to keep the team working evenly. That was the experience we had every day. He lagged at night because he was tired ; and he was tired because he had done a great deal of fretting and worrying in the forenoon. It is not 18 LEARN TO WAIT hard work that kills people; it is worry. Hard work, genuine hard work, rarely ever hurts a person ; but worry kills. A traveler once related his experience in going up a mountain in Europe. He started out in the morning. The air was bracing, the scenery was beautiful, his soul was thrilled with delight ; and that energy came to him which always comes as the result of good, bracing air, bright sunshine and beautiful surroundings. He started up the mountain with all this energy. As he went along he passed a peasant, also going up the moun- tain, but the peasant was not going half as fast as the traveler. He was taking a steady, even, swinging gait. The traveler wondered how a man could walk like this, with so much to invigorate him. By noon, however, the traveler was tired out, and lay down under a tree to rest. Far down the moun- tainside he saw the peasant swinging along at the same steady gait of the morning. After awhile, the peasant came up, and pass- ing the weary man, went steadily on toward the top of the mountain. The spent trav- eler had seen a new version of the " Hare 19 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS and the Tortoise." In this story we have a good illustration of how we must accomplish life's task. First, we must learn the delight of climb- ing the mountain. If we gain the top, we must patiently and perseveringly climb, hus- banding our strength ; for we are passing at every point the place where some one else has turned back, and the higher we get the more beautiful the landscape. The Scripture says that in patience we possess our souls. This principle of patience needs to come into all the affairs of our life. You need it when you get your lessons, when you do your domestic work, washing dishes, sweeping floors, or anything whatever; and you will find that if it comes into all your work, it will keep you from being angry, it will be a habit with you that will be your stay in the hour of calamity, in the hour of sudden trial. " Heaven is not reached at a single bound ; We build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit round by round." The heights that are by great men reached and kept, are attained, you remember, by 20 LEARN TO WAIT toiling steadily, earnestly upward, while oth- ers sleep. One who has reached a great height, and knows how he reached it, is not liable to be driven from that position. That is exactly why it is that rich men's sons do not accomplish much, as a rule. The only way that a rich man's son can accomplish anything, is to walk the same path that his father walked in getting the riches. The same principle which helped the father in getting the riches, must animate the son in using them. I referred in my talk yesterday to Napo- leon. Napoleon had a classic face, and yet it is said that it always looked the same, in adversity or prosperity ; that in the hour of success, when he was ruler of so many thou- sands, there was no look of triumph on his face ; and several years before that, when he was suffering adversity, there was no look of despondency. He was working according to certain principles which he believed would gain success, and when those principles had done their work, he was not surprised. That great English statesman, Disraeli, was an example of what I am talking about. 21 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS He was a Jew, and you know that the Jews have always had a very difficult time to suc- ceed in any country and in any calling. As a people they are despised. But Disraeli, in spite of the fact that he was a Jew, deter- mined to enter politics. He did not have an education at a university, and the consequent influence and fast friendships which are gained by such an education and such asso- ciation. He was naturally a very indolent person, and yet he was never absent from Parliament. It made no difference if busi- ness did lag, he never missed an opportunity to trap an antagonist, and he improved every opportunity to receive help from his asso- ciates; so that in spite of all his adverse circumstances, he pushed himself to the fore- most place in the English government. God wants you to have high ideals. Your ideals may not be, and should not be, the ideals of Napoleon, or of any great states- man or warrior. These are not the right ideals for those who believe in the near com- ing of the Lord ; I mention these examples simply to show the working of principles which are always true, even when applied to 22 LEARN TO WAIT ideals not the highest. God has important places to be filled in the work of the third angel's message, and he has especially called upon young men and young women to give themselves to these callings, to select from these various callings a definite work, and to persevere in it; because they are strong and full of vigor, and because they are at the beginning of life's race. We observe that many young men and young women run well for a time, but they are not willing to wait. They may choose a profession, but they are not willing to work at it alone. They are not willing to make themselves indispensable in their chosen work. They do not pray ; they do not trust ; and the goal they should reach is lost sight of. God, himself, in his great work for humanity gives the greatest example of this principle of patient waiting. He created a race of human beings to live an upright, righteous, happy life. They departed from this, and then he set in operation a great plan of redemption. Now God could have blotted that race out of existence in an instant, as you all well recog- nize ; but he wanted to teach every one this 23 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS lesson of patiently waiting until the end was accomplished. When Jesus Christ came to this earth and was crucified, it might look as if utter disaster had overtaken the great work that God had entered upon. It would naturally look so to every common observer. No, indeed ! that apparent hour of disaster, was the hour of triumph ! I want you to learn this one les- son, — that disasters, that troubles, are not a serious thing after all. Did you ever stop to think that in many of the great wars the victorious side has lost more battles, has been the oftenest defeated ? Look at the Revolu- tion. The Americans lost many more bat- tles than they gained. Disasters should never make us disheartened; they should stimulate us to energetic work, to patient waiting. So then, when you come to your lessons, to your domestic work, to anything that you have to do, take hold of it with this patient determination; for it will carry you through. Make no delay ; begin now. 24 IV. THE VALUE OF MINUTES. This morning I will talk to you on the value of minutes. Time is money; it is character. Usually, fortunes are made, and lost, by small amounts. So it is with the building of character, and the using of time to make character. DeQuincy draws a pic- ture of a beautiful woman sailing across a lake. While she was looking into the water in a dreamy manner, a necklace of pearls which she wore, had been broken, and the pearls were dropping one by one, one by one, into the water. Thus the valuable necklace was lost. This is a good illustration of the way in which our minutes, more valuable than the pearls, are often lost. It is a sad thing that so many, dreaming away life's golden time, fail to bind up this necklace of moments, and, as a consequence, one by one these pearls of time are lost, as fully, as com- pletely, as were those pearls dropping from the necklace. I believe that no one will ever achieve success, or will ever be thoroughly useful in life, who does not recognize the 25 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS worth of sixty seconds. There is a great deal that can be accomplished in sixty sec- onds. A character may be made, or lost, in sixty seconds. We are likely to think that one minute is of little consequence, and yet, I repeat, that each one of them is freighted with weighty responsibility. When we look back over the lives of men who have attained usefulness, we will find that in every case they esteemed their min- utes of great value. Benjamin Franklin once gave a good illustration of this. One day he was very busy in the pressroom. A man came up in front of the store, and spent a long time looking through the windows at the books. Finally he selected a certain book, came in, had it taken out of the show win- dow, and asked the price. The clerk told him that it was one dollar. " Where is Mr. Franklin ? " he asked. " In the pressroom, very busy," was the reply. " Well I would like to see him." " But he is very busy," said the clerk. " Well, cannot I see Mr. Frank- lin ? " Mr. Franklin was called. " What is your lowest price for that book ? " " One dollar and a quarter, sir." " Why," the man 26 THE VALUE OF MINUTES said, " it was offered to me for a dollar a min- ute ago." " I could better afford to sell it to you for a dollar then than I can now for a dollar and a quarter." " Give me your lowest price on that book." " A dollar and a half," was Mr. Franklin's reply. " But," he said, " you offered it to me for a dollar and a quar- ter." " I know it, but I could better afford to sell it to you for a dollar and a quarter then than I can now for a dollar and a half." The man took out a dollar and a half, paid for the book, and went away. He had had a lesson on the value of time by a man who knew its worth, and was able to turn it into money. The lesson which I read to you this morn- ing from the Scripture, has exactly the same thing in it. Sanballat and Tobiah and their friend wanted Nehemiah to come down from his great work to parley with them for awhile. Nehemiah was doing a great work, and he could not come down. My students, if you would be doing a great work — every time you set out to get a lesson — you would lay in your character elements that would just as certainly carry you to suc- 27 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS cess as you do it. There is no royal road to success. It is only attained by those who really appreciate the value of time used aright. Joseph Cook, one of the greatest preachers of modern times, was a poor boy ; and while at school, had to work his way. While wait- ing for his meals, instead of standing around, talking and joking with the boys, he started straight for the dictionary in the corner of the room ; and there was more truth than poetry in the saying that he had eaten the dictionary. He looked up synonyms, he looked up the meaning of words, and ac- quired, in this way, much of his great ability to use the English language. Sir Edwin Arnold wrote the " Light of Asia," one of the most beautiful poems of modern times ; but he did it in a year when he was editor of one of London's greatest journals, and in one of the most trying periods of English history. In the Philadelphia mint, in the room where gold is handled, there is a lattice-work of wood put down over the floor. At stated times, this lattice-work and the carpet are 28 THE VALUE OF MINUTES taken up and burned, and the amount of gold obtained from the carpet and from the wood, amounts to thousands of dollars; and yet these thousands of dollars are gathered by one tiny grain of gold dropping at a time. We look upon William Gladstone as a genius. We think him a wonderful man, and he was ; but to the day of his death he always carried a book in his pocket, that he might read when he had a moment to spare. That is how he became a genius. There is no genius except that of hard work. Away with so-called genius ; give me the worker ! If William Gladstone, with all of his great powers of mind, recognized the importance of carrying a book in his pocket, that he might employ the spare moments, I wonder if you and I, with our weak powers of mind, ought not to learn a lesson from it; and I will tell you that if we would improve the minutes which come to us, and which we let go carelessly when we have actual work at hand, we would find that our progress in our work would in every sense be doubled. I think it is safe to say that the majority of those in this room let half of their time go to 29 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS waste. That is a strong statement, and I see that you are looking around to your neighbor. Well, taking it for granted that it is your neighbor, shall you not consider yourself your brother's keeper, and so use your minutes that you will be an inspiration to him ? Some one has said that when we begin to turn over in bed in the morning, it is time to turn out. And the Scripture has something to say upon that point too. It says, the man who does not value his minutes, who wants a little more folding of the hands, a little more slumber, a little more rest, cometh to poverty. This is not alone a poverty of dol- lars and cents; it is a poverty of wisdom, which is above dollars and cents. Did you ever stop to think how much you can accomplish in one hour's time ? If you set apart one hour a day for solid reading, notwithstanding this time may be in snatches of five or ten minutes each, how much you can read in a year? You can read twenty pages an hour of ordinary reading. In one week, you will read one hundred and forty pages. In one month, five hundred and sixty pages. That is more than one book of 30 THE VALUE OF MINUTES usual size, it is even two books. Then it is safe to say that you can read more than a good solid book a month by gleaning an hour a day. As your power to read and to think increases, there is a possibility of in- creasing this number to fifteen or twenty books a year. Think of it ! So you may go on enlarging upon this point almost indefinitely ; for there is so much that can be said regarding the value of one minute, five minutes, twenty minutes. Edu- cate yourselves. You hear occasionally about self-made men. The man who is not a self- made man, is not deserving the name of man; and of such a man we can only say with the generosity of Portia, " God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man." It makes no difference if some one is helping you through school. You never will be a true man, a true woman, unless you recog- nize the value of the minutes; therefore, esteem them of so great worth that you " cannot come down." 3i V. OUR CONVERSATION. The Word of God has very much to say concerning our conversation. By our words we are judged. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. From the beginning to the end of the Bible, God has cautioned and instructed us with reference to the use of our words. We are to consider them carefully before we use them; for when a word has gone forth, we cannot call it back. Many times in the course of our lives we say things that we would like to call back. We see that they are doing harm, yet on and on they go, carrying trouble, perhaps, into many lives. On the other hand, a word of kindness may carry light and help into many lives. Yes, indeed, there are many reasons why we should choose our words. It is par- ticularly necessary for one who is planning to do the work of the Lord, to make a special study of his conversation, for it is the duty of every worker for Christ to be cultured and to be refined in all things. I remember when I was in college that a 32 OUR CONVERSATION young man came from one of the Western States. He came from a farm, and was as uncultured as many other boys who have come from farms ; but he had a purpose, the result of which is that he is now superin- tendent of an important mission field in a far-away land. I remember that among other things he determined that he would become a good conversationalist. You would often find him studying his newspaper, or some book, with this in view, and many times did I hear him say, " Well now, there is a good thing for me to talk about," and he would remember it that he might have some- thing intelligent to say. In one year the progress which he made in the ability to con- verse was very marked. There are two things necessary to be a good conversationalist. First, have some- thing to say ; and then, know how to say it. There are many persons, and even many noted men, who have something to say, who have an abundance of knowledge which is of no use in conversation, because their powers of conversation have not been devel- oped. Garrick said of Goldsmith, " He wrote 33 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS like an angel, but talked like poor Poll," and the same might be said of a great many per- sons. But the most useful men are those who have an abundance of knowledge, ready to use on all proper occasions. That is what you are to seek for. You are to become conversant with the facts to talk about, and then to acquire the ability to talk about these facts. We are to be disseminators of truth, and we must be wise in disseminating the truth. We must acquire ability to talk and to turn the conversation adroitly in the way of truth and righteousness, that those with whom we are conversing can get some- thing good and helpful from conversation with us. Let those who have nothing to say, say it. Blessed are they who have nothing to say, and cannot be induced to say it. Make this your motto : If you have nothing to say, say nothing. An illustration of this which I once read, comes to my mind. At a gather- ing, a noted divine had listened, the whole evening through, to the idle talk, talk, talk, of a would-be young lady. As she was leav- ing, he said to her : " Young woman, I have 34 OUR CONVERSATION a bit of advice to give you. When talking in company, it will be well for you to give others an equal opportunity with yourself; for it is evident that you have nothing to give in the way of ideas." Well, that was rather hard for the young woman to have to receive such advice, but I will tell you there are a great many young persons who ought to receive just such advice as that. They have nothing to say, and yet they are saying it. But, I repeat, the first point in being a good conversationalist, is in having something to say. If there is an individual who ought to be well informed on the affairs of the world, that individual is a Seventh-day Adventist. We must know what has gone on, and what is to go on, in the world, in order to un- derstand and to preach intelligently what is coming upon the world. If you are ac- quainted with these facts, and know what they teach, if you are really aware that there is something in the world besides the weather, you will have something to talk about. Then, having read, having studied, having stored up in your minds something 35 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS to talk about, you must cultivate the power of expression. It is only by the use of a faculty that we acquire the power of any of our faculties. Knowing facts is a necessity, but being able to tell them is equally nec- essary. Probably no one ever came to be a good conversationalist without especial effort : That is to say, every one must make a study of this subject. One of the most brilliant orators that England ever produced, one of her best conversationalists, Richard Brinsley Sheri- dan, made a very careful study of what he was to say and how he was to say it. He was elected to Parliament, and his first speech there was an utter failure. To most men, that would have meant retirement from polit- ical life ; not so with this man. He set him- self to learn to talk ; and for seven years he made a very careful study of words and their uses. And what were the results? English history testifies, — a brilliant orator, a delight- ful conversationalist. And yet, to illustrate how Sheridan acquired his ability to talk, I have to give but one instance. Once in speaking of a certain person, he said that 36 OUR CONVERSATION " He used his memory for his illustrations and his imagination for his facts." A most forcible expression, but Sheridan had carried the illustration for fifteen years before the opportunity to use it presented itself, and then he used it wisely. He thought of some- thing to say, and had it ready at the oppor- tune moment. We have noticed the speeches of Webster. In his memorable debate with Hayne he used expressions so forcibly that they astonished the world ; and yet he after- ward remarked that he had had those expres- sions stored up in his mind for years. There is one more thought I want to leave with you in this connection ; namely, to be a good conversationalist one must be a good listener as well. One very noted man made it a rule not to talk for more than half a minute at a time on a subject. Then he stopped and listened for some one else to speak. In contrast with this we have rather an amusing, though perhaps an exaggerated, experience, reported of Coleridge and Lamb. Coleridge was a great talker. One morning he met Charles Lamb, then a clerk in the East India Company's employ, hurrying along to 37 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS get to his work. Coleridge had a habit of getting hold of a button on the coat of the man with whom he was talking, and closing his eyes, would launch into his subject ear- nestly and continuously. It seemed to stim- ulate his thoughts. These two men were great friends, and how to get away from his friend, Charles Lamb didn't know. At last it occurred to him that he would cut off the button. So he took out his pen-knife, and cut the threads that held it, slipping quietly away, leaving Coleridge with his eyes closed, still talking to the button. When returning at noon, he found his friend still turning that button and talking. Be sure that none of your friends have to cut their coat buttons for the same cause. You, who are in our Academy Home, have a most excellent opportunity to improve your conversational powers. You are asso- ciated daily in large numbers, and if there is a decided effort on the part of all to lift up the conversation, to talk about those things which are useful and helpful, you will find yourselves gaining one of the greatest ele- ments of education, so that when you go 38 OUR CONVERSATION from this school, you may have the ability to be useful in society. You should study to go into the best society in the world. I do not mean by that, that you are to enter into the spirit of what the world calls good soci- ety; but I think that you should have the ability to enter such society with the lamp of truth, and this ability is acquired in just the way I have suggested. * Then let us look this thing over. First of all we must have something to talk about — we must be informed. We have to study for this. We must know how to talk about the subject. Here again all need to study. We are not to say anything, unless we have something to say. We are to be good lis- teners as well as good talkers, not to talk too long, but to give others an opportunity. Study to show yourselves young men and young women with ability to meet any one in life, and present to them the saving truth of the Gospel. 39 VI. ECONOMY. I want to talk to you this morning upon the subject of economy, and I get my text from the scripture that I read in our morn- ing lesson, — " Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." Christ didn't say, "Gather up the loaves;" but he said, " Gather up the fragments." Gather up the little things that ordinarily go to waste. It is said that some housekeepers throw away more than they actually use. There is much which they think cannot be used; it is thrown away, and as a consequence many families are in want, because the housewives are not careful. Poverty and want generally result, not because of what is not earned, but because of what is not saved. I talked to you the other morning upon economy. Do any of you remember what I called it? — Sixty seconds. Yes, I talked upon the value of the minutes, and I said that, upon these sixty seconds, depends our success or failure. That talk was on economy of time. This is to be on economy of 40 ECONOMY money; but since "time is money," both talks are upon the same subject. Now money is a good and a necessary thing to have. We should appreciate money, but we ought not to love it unduly. We should want money, only for the good which it will do. There is no way of getting money, except by getting cents. If you get a dollar, you get a hundred cents. Ten mills make a cent; ten cents make a dime; ten dimes make a dollar. We can repeat this in a sing-song fashion, but to have the true spirit of these words, and to understand what they mean, is quite another thing, and it is very safe to say that not one person in a hundred thoroughly understands their mean- ing. We sometimes envy the rich the things which they have ; but the majority of rich people, I believe, realize the value of a cent more than the majority of poor people. There can be large sums of money saved by saving a few cents each day ; and when there comes a crisis in one's life, when there is a time of sickness, a time of need, when there is an es- pecial call for money to be used in the cause of right, it is indeed well to have a bank ac- 4i TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS count, to have something on hand to help with. I will tell you one way in which you can economize, and that is by paying a faithful tithe. There is something about doing this which makes money yield great dividends. The Lord has not fully explained what this something is ; but he has said it is so, and you may find it true in your experience. The paying of a faithful tithe of that which you earn, will develop a sense of economy which will fill your barns to the overflow. That is what the Scripture says, and we believe the Scripture. I believe that young people should just as faithfully tithe the ten cents which they earn as should any person and every person who reads the Scriptures. When you work and earn ten cents here in this school, or anywhere else, it should be faith- fully tithed, faithfully used, too, after you have tithed it — carefully used. Dollars, which no doubt amount to hun- dreds in the course of a year, are spent by the young people in this school for things not actually needed. Now, I want to tell you there is a great deal of fun in seeing how 42 ECONOMY much you can do without. There is a gen- uine pleasure in curtailing your wants, your needs ; and you will be perfectly astonished at the results, if you will make an honest en- deavor, and weigh carefully the need of every- thing you purchase. You will be perfectly astonished, I say ; for your bank account will grow more rapidly than you ever dreamed of. The Lord teaches us this lesson of economy everywhere. Everything in nature is saved. You cannot point your finger at a thing that is lost anywhere. You may take even a leaf. When it dies, you naturally think that that is the last of it ; but the very death of that leaf helps to give and sustain life. Every- thing is saved, even the least fragment. Now, God wants to teach you and me this lesson from nature, and as you study nature this spring, let it sink deeply into your lives. You are all here to prepare for usefulness in life. Many of you are looking to lands beyond. You are thinking of the time when you will be engaged more directly in the cause and work of God ; but I want to tell you that you can never be more directly en- gaged than you are now. You are liable to 43 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS get some wrong ideas here in this school, — wrong ideas of dress and comforts of life. You are liable to come to think that some things are a necessity, and as you get these ideas into your lives, they will hinder you and hurt you in all work which you are to do in the future. Let me illustrate what I mean by what I have just said. We have here steam-heated buildings. We heat in this way as a matter of economy, and not alone because it is comfortable. You are going into places where you will not have steam-heated buildings, and if you have the idea that this, or a similar form of heat, is a necessity, and if you talk the idea, it will not only involve financial trouble, but it will hin- der your influence and usefulness. So it is with other things which are necessities here ; they may in other places be luxuries. Live simply, dress plainly here, and you will not be hindered by wrong ideas of dress and liv- ing in the future. There is so much danger of our young people misunderstanding their needs, and feeling that they need this thing and that, not knowing what economy is. This danger is 44 ECONOMY a natural one, because but few of them have had to earn the cents, dimes, and dollars, and so do not know their worth. But one does not need to go into a place of danger to know what it means. One can be warned, he can have lessons without hard experi- ences, if he will heed counsel. Now there is no person who can help you more in learn- ing this lesson of carefulness and economy than your own selves. But to learn it, you need to be hardened. You need to make a continual study of what you can do without, not of what you must have, and of how you are to get it. That is the study with most persons, — " What we can have, and how we can get it ;" and they are in trouble much of the time because they haven't the means of getting many unnecessary things, which, because of a wrong education, they think they need. It would be a curiosity, wouldn't it, to let every one here have all the money he wants, and watch to see what he would do with it. But, I will tell you that it would be a very expensive curiosity, not from the point of money alone, but much more from the standpoint of character. 45 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS Poverty is a good thing, and if you are having a hard time to get along, rejoice in it. It will do you good. Set yourselves about it to save everything you can. See how many things you can do without; for this is the very education you will need when you go into distant countries. You will find a hun- dred things, a thousand things, here to-day that you cannot have when you get into those lands. This studying to do without, will help you to develop a quick wit, and to see new ways of getting along. Make as many of your things as possible, — don't feel that you need to buy them. It is well, in- deed, for young people to be compelled to make and to save. Save even the scraps of paper. Every little while I find good paper thrown away, which might be saved. A pad costs ten cents, and you only have to use up a few pieces of paper until the pad is gone. " Study to show yourselves approved unto God ;" and you can study in these matters as well as in any others ; and when you find yourselves in poverty, when you find that you do not have everything that you want, rejoice and be glad, for it will do you good. 4 6 VII. PROMPTNESS. Every one wants to succeed ; but success awaits only those who begin their work promptly, and keep at it until it is accom- plished. The beginning and doing of a work in this manner always begets confi- dence. Would you have confidence in a clock that runs all right to-day, to-morrow stops, the next day loses an hour, and the next, gains one ? What would you give for such a clock ? — Nothing. And what would you give for a young man or young woman who would work in that way ? You might give something, but you would not give much. A clock can be repaired so that it will go as it ought. And a boy or girl whose character is not strong, may have it transformed so that it will be true. It is regularity which makes a man or woman of real worth — regularity in begin- ning and in going. A good clock goes tick, tick, tick, and keeps steadily at it. Sixty of these ticks make a minute. Sixty minutes 47 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS make an hour. Twenty-four hours make a day. But it is all in the tick. Napoleon ascribed his success to the fact that he was never behind hand. The great British admiral, Nelson, ascribed his success to the same thing — that he was always a few minutes ahead of time. These two great men, the one the maker of the French na- tion, and the other the saviour of the Eng- lish nation, each ascribed his success to the fact that he drove his work, and never allowed his work to drive him. The beginning of a work in a punctual, prompt, energetic way gives an impetus that carries one well through. And yet, in spite of this, there are many who come up to the work which they have to do a little behind hand. They have three hands, — u a right hand, a left hand, and a little-behind-hand ;" and the "little-behind-hand " gives them far more trouble than either of the others. You know we cannot see that "little-behind- hand," because it is behind us ; but whether we see it or not, many of us have it. Those who have it, should at once consult a sur- geon, that it may be removed; for it is a 4 8 PROMPTNESS dangerous member, and will grow faster than either the left or the right hand. I will give you the name of the surgeon. It is " I " — the first person of the personal pronoun. And if you go to that surgeon with the de- termination to endure the ordeal, I think that the limb can be amputated; but you must not take an anaesthetic for the operation. Many persons, who have this limb and wish it amputated, take an anaesthetic; but you see it is " I " that is removing the limb, and " I " must be wide-awake. What a splendid thing it is to find a per- son upon whom we can always depend ! At the unveiling of a statue in New York, the man who was to take the most prominent part, was not on hand five minutes before the time set for the unveiling, and the others who were to participate in the exercises were becoming very anxious. Horace Greeley, who was among those to take part, made, in his blunt way, this remark : " If that man is alive, and not in prison, he will be here." Shortly the man appeared. He said, " I am very sorry to have been delayed, but one of the streets was so jammed that it was impos- 49 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS sible to get through. I intended to be here several minutes earlier, but was thus de- layed." Such a man as that can be relied upon, and if the circumstances are in his con- trol, he is always at his work when it should begin. There is a story told of Mrs. Washington, the wife of General Washington, illustrating the fact that in this point she possessed a character equal to that of her husband ; for you will remember that General Washing- ton was always on time. The story is this: Mrs. Washington was having a noted artist paint her portrait. She was to begin a sit- ting one morning at her house at seven o'clock. Peale, the artist, arrived at exactly the appointed hour, but thinking that it was rather early to disturb Mrs. Washington, remained outside on the veranda for ten min- utes longer. When he rang the bell, Mrs. Washington, herself, came to the door. She looked at her watch and said, " Yesterday I arranged all of my work for to-day. This morn- ing, I have given my daughter a music les- son, have read the morning papers, and have been waiting for you ten minutes." It is 50 PROMPTNESS unnecessary to say that ever after, Mr. Peale was on time, according to his appointments with Mrs. Washington. There is something delightful in dealing with persons who are always prompt. There comes an inspiration from their lives. This element of promptness comes into our spiritual lives. We are not to put off until to-morrow the work which we should do for the Lord to-day. Do not think that you will make valuable workers unless punct- uality and promptness are brought into your lives. God himself is a God of order. You need only to watch the rising and setting of the sun, the coming and going of the seasons, to be thoroughly aware of the fact that he is punctual. Millions of planets are whirling through space under his direction, and yet every one of them comes to an exact point at an instant of time. When we speak of to- morrow, and a certain hour and minute of the day, we are liable to overlook the fact that the very making of an appointment in the future, depends upon the punctuality of God ; for if, in his work, he should be an in- stant behind, or ahead of time, our plans would certainly miscarry. 5i TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS An appointment becomes a debt. We owe it to those with whom we have made the appointment, not to consume in any way, a minute of their time. If we could only re- member that " time is money," — yea, that it is far more valuable than money ; for it is, as Ben Johnson aptly expressed it, " the stuff that life is made of," we would cease to be tardy. Others have rights which we are bound to respect, and when we rob them of valuable time, we are doing them a greater wrong than to take their money. The com- mandment, " Thou shalt not steal," has an application to some things besides material things. We can rob others, and rob our- selves, of little moments of time that make up half a life, and unless our consciences are clean, we will not realize the wrong of it. A minute is a little thing, but we must remember that it is by heeding little things that character is established. Galileo dis- covered the law of the pendulum by watch- ing a lamp swinging — a very little thing. But the law of the pendulum discovered by this means is one of the great laws of nature. Newton was set to thinking upon the great 52 PROMPTNESS law of gravity by seeing an apple fall. The principle of our suspension bridges was sug- gested to a man by seeing a spider's web spun from one point to another. Apples had been falling ever since apples grew, lamps had been swinging ever since lamps had been hung up, and spider's webs had been spun from one point to another ever since spiders learned the art, — little things ; but the grasp- ing of these little things by active minds which could turn them to account, has wrought great changes in scientific thought. So do not esteem the minute of small value because it is little. Get this lesson thoroughly, — that living is not existing. Be on time. Be ahead of time. Push your work, and never let it push you, and you will find real delight in living. I think that the man, who is being dragged along by the chariot chains of his work, is existing, and a miserable existence it is, too. On the other hand, the man, who is riding in the chariot, and who is pushing the battle, experiences an exhilaration of life and power, which is real living. Enjoy life. God wants you to. Christ has died that you may. 53 VIII. OUR MANNERS. I want to talk with you this morning about our manners and our dress. It has been said that manners makes the man, and that dress makes the man, and yet neither of them make the man. But it is true that our estimation of people must, to some extent, rest upon their appearance to us, — the man- ner in which they dress, and the manner in which they act. The Scripture clearly en- joins us regarding these matters. You will remember that we are told to be courteous, to be highly affectioned, to be thoughtful of one another's feelings, to bear one another's burdens, and to bear our own burdens. I cannot imagine the Son of man when here on earth as coming short in any of these respects. I cannot imagine him as making mistakes in the matter of his manners — his deportment — or in the manner of his dress. These two are very closely related. That is one reason why I have chosen to consider them together. You have heard of neckties that called so 54 OUR MANNERS loudly as to wake people up in the night, and so it seems to me that clothes, to a cer- tain extent, talk, and reveal what is in the mind and heart of the wearer. I remember hearing a story that illustrates this point. A lady was once in conversation with a young man. He talked with her in a very interest- ing way, but because of a great red coral ball on his cravat, which kept rolling in upon all her ideas, and knocking them down like nine-pins, she was unable to retain anything the young man said. It is true, after all, that our dress bespeaks our character, and that loud, showy dress often bespeaks a loud, coarse character. On the other hand, a quiet, refined dress might just as reasonably be- speak a modest, refined character. Dress does bespeak character. Now, I have not a long time to go into the details of dress, but there are a few things to which I think I may call your attention* One is neatness. It does not follow that one must have fine clothes, or new clothes, to be well dressed ; but it does follow that one must have neat clothes, to be well dressed. Then the clothes should be well adjusted. I was 55 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS once sitting behind a man who was speaking from a rostrum. His clothes were shiny and frayed, but they were clean. I saw him on the street half an hour later, and I said, " What a well-dressed man." That was the impression which I received. Then I remem- bered that his clothes were shiny and frayed, but that he had put them on right. You .know that if you should put ever so fine a garment on a bean pole, it wouldn't look well. It wouldn't fit it. One needs to exer- cise much care in regard to the fit of his clothing. A little taste will go a long way in the matter of dress. The best rule which can possibly be given you for dress is this : Dress so that no one knows what you have on ; dress so that no one notices a single article that you are wear- ing. If you do, you have a quiet dress, because there is nothing about the dress that speaks so loudly as to call attention to itself. If it is neat, there is nothing about it that will call attention to it. Again, one may have ever so good clothes, and if the hair is unkempt, the hands dirty, the teeth un- brushed, and the shoes unpolished, there is 56 OUR MANNERS something about the person, which at once attracts attention. These little matters mean much, and I think that you should be care- ful regarding them. Get good clothes, — substantial clothes, and when you have them, wear them until they are worn out, and take care of them while they are being worn. I said a moment ago that I thought Christ was not careless with reference to these mat- ters. Did you ever think of the fact that the soldiers cast lots for the garment that Christ wore? I have an idea that it was a plain, homespun garment, but I believe that it was of good material that he kept it neat and clean, and that he has set an example for us in this respect. I said that manners bear a close relation to dress. A person may be ever so well dressed, and yet if he is ill-mannered, he is still awry. He may be ever so poorly, but neatly, dressed ; and if he is courteous and refined in manners, he will pass in almost any society. Emerson, I think, has said that if a young man be given good manners and proper dress, he does not have to knock at doors for en- trance, but he is invited, urged, to come in. 57 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS Now good manners must have their founda- tion in a kindly heart. It is this being kindly affectioned one for another that makes cour- tesy. I once read a recipe for good manners. I do not know that I can give it word for word, but it is akin to this : Of the oil of common sense, three drams ; of the essence of good-will, two drams ; of the extract of the Rose of Sharon, four ounces ; of tact, two drams ; of heart's ease, three drams, and no scruples. All these put together, well stirred up, and often used, will cure any case of ill manners. The reason that we are unmannerly is be- cause we are selfish ; because we are think- ing of those things which amuse us, which give us pleasure. We are ready to laugh at others ; we are ready to notice the mistakes of others ; but large hearts do not so. Gen- eral Grant was once riding in a car, and he took out a cigar and lighted it. A woman who was sitting behind him began to cough, and because that slight suggestion did not seem to stop the man's smoking, she re- marked, " This is not a smoking car, but there is a smoking car attached to the train." 58 OUR MANNERS The man lifted the window, and threw the cigar out without saying anything. A few moments later the conductor came along, and informed the lady that she was in the private car of General Grant. It is said that there was no recognition on the part of General Grant of what had been said. He did not even turn around. You may think this rather queer, but here is the secret. Had he turned around so that she would have recog- nized him, she would have been pained at the error she had made. But he did every- thing he could to have the mistake go un- noticed. So it must be with every one of us : if we would be well mannered, we must be careful to say nothing that will in any way cause pain. Now there are certain rules of etiquette that we should observe. By the way, do you know that etiquette was once used as the name of a card tied on a bag, to tell what was in the bag ? After all, it may be that our etiquette is a card tied on to tell what is really within us. There are certain forms that we should observe, and we should recognize that their basis always rests in good- will, in 59 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS good cheer, — in the spirit of kindness to others. This spirit of gentleness is the spirit which we should always cultivate. Good manners is the only thing that will save us from ill-mannered people. Some one has said, " I will not be insulted by an ill-man- nered person, and a good-mannered person will not insult me ; therefore I shall never be insulted." It is related that at one time Queen Vic- toria had a slight difference of opinion with her husband, and the queen said some things which hurt him ; he went to his room and locked the door. After a time there was a knock, and he asked who was there. The answer came, " Victoria, queen of England, open the door." The door didn't open. By and by there was another knock. Again he asked who was there. This time the answer came, " Victoria, your wife." The door was opened. And so it is, when we recognize that others have feelings, that others have rights, the door will open. Manners is indeed the passport into all hearts, and all of us who will be the followers of Christ, and who will do the work of Christ, 60 OUR MANNERS should make an earnest study of this matter. You have a most excellent opportunity here in this place. A young man spoke to me some time ago in rather a blunt, abrupt way. I noticed it at the time, thought about it, then it passed from my mind. He came to me a day or two after, and said, " I want to beg your pardon for speaking to you in such an abrupt way. I am very sorry that I did it." There was the mark of a true gentle- man in that. A true gentleman, or a true lady, will at once rectify a mistake of any sort. Do not hesitate to beg pardon, do not hesitate to say, I thank you ; for these things indicate the kindliness of heart that should be with every one of us. 61 IX. THE ASSOCIATION OF YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN. The relation of young men and young women in our school, is a subject of interest to every one of us. A short time ago I was riding on a railroad train. A young woman got on the train, and sat down some seats ahead of me. Across the aisle was a young man, a rather foppish fellow, who endeavored to attract her attention. I soon discovered that the young woman was well aware of his endeavors, and that she thoroughly disap- proved of his conduct. I was greatly pleased with the manifestation of her disapproval, however ; for as she rode along in the car, she maintained such an air of womanly mod- esty and self-possession that it built around her a wall of defense, and became a safe- guard for the future. I want you to notice how I put that ; for it is true of every young woman. She can surround herself with an air of womanly modesty that, in itself, is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of de- fenses. Many of the passengers began to 62 ASSOCIATIONS notice the affair. It was clearly evident that they were thoroughly disgusted with the young man ; and it was just as clearly evi- dent that the young woman had obtained the high opinion of every one. There was another young woman on the train. She was just as different from the one of whom I have been speaking as you can imagine. The young man turned his attention to her. She was ready. The whole matter became interesting to the sev- eral persons who sat where they could see it. I could see at once that exactly an opposite opinion was being formed of this second young woman. No air of womanly modesty surrounded her. There are all degrees of difference between these two young women of whom I have spoken. I think the young man who would do a thing of this sort, is of the lowest character. Now, the reason why these two young women acted so differently in this matter, rested upon the way in which they had talked and thought of such things. " As a man thinketh, so is he." As a man talketh, so is he. If our talk, if our conversation, if 63 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS our thoughts, are above everything of this kind, it in itself will give us this air of mod- esty that is so desirable. A young man needs to be just as modest as a young woman. There is only one standard of character in these matters. A young man should be as careful of his words, of his conduct, in all these matters as a young woman. The world has very wrongly adopted two standards of modesty, one for young men and one for young women ; but the Christian cannot adopt them. He must recognize but the one. What I have said here with reference to the young women is just as applicable to the young men. Such young men are those who will be respected. No young man will make a proper husband unless he has the tender- est, the sweetest, and the purest regard for womanhood ; unless he esteems his mother above every other woman ; and if he has a sister, he exercises the greatest thought and care for her. No other young man will make a good husband. I have often thought of the words of General Grant in connection with the standard which young men should have. At one time he was at a party where 64 ASSOCIATIONS there were several ladies. After a time the ladies all left the room. One of the men present said that he had a story he wanted to tell, now that the ladies had all left. General Grant said, " I will not hear the story that cannot be told in the presence of ladies." Young men, if you have that standard, it will lift you in the esteem of high heaven, and of all mankind as well. It is a proper thing that young people should love each other ; it is a proper thing that young people should be engaged ; it is a proper thing that young people should marry. But the trouble with the whole ques- tion, is this idle talk which goes with this matter of love ; and it is cheap gossip, which removes the sweetness and sacredness from love. The earnest Christian young man and woman will raise the standard of their thoughts and conversation above it. Says the spirit of prophecy, " Keep in check anything like favoritism, attachments, and courting. Not one thread of this is to be interwoven with their school work. No frivolity should be tolerated, and if they [some students] are determined to have their 65 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS own way, they should return to their own homes, that they may be under the guardian- ship of their own parents." I have here simply read some brief extracts concerning what the Lord has said regard- ing these subjects. I feel that this is a seri- ous matter ; I want you to take it as a seri- ous matter. Your character depends upon the way in which you look at these questions. Look upon them in the light of what I have said to you and read to you, and you will find that sweetness of life, of character, springing up in your life, that will make you a light wherever you go. We have to culti- vate our taste. We can talk of things that are helpful ; we can avoid all this spirit of flirtation that is going on in the world ; we can stand as rocks amid the moral degrada- tion that is around us. Restrain your affections, hold your affec- tions ; there is time enough yet. The Spirit of the Lord has clearly indicated that stu- dents should not form attachments while they are in school. Leave these matters un- til you have reached the age at which you can act wisely, and learn to control yourselves 66 ASSOCIATIONS while here. This is a point that I earnestly urge. It is the one point of all, not only in our schools, but in the world at large. Many of our churches are going to wreck because they do not recognize this point. Little boys and little girls are forming these attachments. Young men and young women should not have serious thoughts of marriage until they have the means of making a home. Look at the ridiculousness of it ; a young man asks a young woman to marry him when he can- not support himself. I say that a young man should have come to the years of account- ability, and have the means of supporting himself, before he asks a young woman to marry him. If I were a young woman, I would not think much of the young man who asked me to help support him. This is pure sentimentalism ; it is not built upon the foundation that will be the means of making a home in the future. The marriage institu- tion is one of the institutions that has come to us from the garden of Eden. I have talked plainly. You would natu- rally expect one in my position to talk in this way. Young people, I am not talking upon 67 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS this basis at all. I am not trying to get you to obey the regulations of the school. I am not worried about them. You can obey the regulations of the school or go home. Obe- dience to regulations merely, is not the point in the matter. I am talking upon the point of making men and women of real worth and usefulness in life. I want to tell you that frivolity and lightness of talk in all these matters will surely take from your life the seriousness that God wants you to have ; and it is the very thing that will hinder you from developing into true men and women. Look at these matters seriously. You can educate yourselves to think and talk and act along lines that will bring you untold happiness. Select pure books, good companions, and you will find yourself lifted up, and made better by the very effort that you put forth ; and that air of modesty, that air of purity, will surround you, each one of you, as a barrier that cannot be broken through. May God help us all, help me, help you, to see what we ought to do that we may become earnest, conscientious workers for him. 68 " IF THINE EYE BE SINGLE/* " If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." The teachings of the Bible have an application to all the affairs of life. The scripture which I have quoted to you is one of the most valuable ones that I could possibly read to young people. I talked to you the other morning upon enthu- siasm, but there are two kinds of enthusi- asm. There is that enthusiasm which comes with a double eye, and that which comes with a single eye. By the single eye is meant a oneness of purpose. By the double eye is meant a purpose for many things. We have the double eye when we intend to do one thing to-day and another to-morrow, and when our ideas of what we will do, change so often that nothing of consequence is accomplished. You may have seen this manifested in your reading of books. You decided that you would begin a certain course of reading, but the course was not finished. I dare say that there are many here who have begun, at some time during 6 9 ^j TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS the year, to read the Bible through, and who have not kept up this reading: that there are many who have begun to read a good book, and they have laid it aside for another, which, in turn, has been laid aside ; and so on until a half dozen books have thus been be- gun and laid aside. That is the double eye. I think that Moses gives to us in his life an example of the single eye. He was con- secrated from his birth to be Israel's deliverer. He recognized his calling, and refused the riches of the kingdom of Egypt, in order that he might accomplish his work. He was in earnest, and it seemed to him as if his breth- ren should, with him, recognize that they were to be delivered. One day he saw one of his brethren in trouble with an Egyptian ; he slew the Egyptian, and hid the body. The next day he saw two of his brethren in trouble, and feeling that they should know him as their deliverer, he was free to chide the one he considered in the wrong, saying, " Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow ? " The one who was corrected, did not understand Moses, nor recognize him as a future leader of Israel, and answered, " Who made thee a 70 IF THINE EYE BE SINGLE prince and a judge over us ? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian ? " Moses, knowing that this thing was found out, ran away in fear and discouragement. Then was a time when most men would have forgotten their calling, but not so with Moses, — forty years this heir of the kingdom was feeding sheep ; but he remembered the work for which he was chosen, and learned his lesson. Will you work forty years to get ready to begin a life-work ? We have not, of course, that amount of time in which to pre- pare for our work. I am asking the ques- tion only to bring home forcibly to you the one idea of preparation. I wish you to rec- ognize the principle of the undivided will in your preparation. Jesus Christ is another example. We see him at twelve years old recognizing his work. He had the single eye. His whole body was full of light. You will find him at eighteen years of age with this same single purpose. Again, you will find him entering upon his life-work at thirty years of age, with his course still fixed. In Paul you will find this same thing. I 7i TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS have read to you this morning of the difficul- ties, the perplexities, that this man had to meet, and yet we hear him saying, " This one thing I do," and " None of these things move me." He was not affected by them because he did not see them, or hear them, or feel them. I hurt my hand the other day when I was chopping wood, and took some of the skin off. I didn't know anything about it for half an hour. I was intent on chopping wood, and didn't feel the hurt. And so it is with things that come to us in our mental and spiritual life. If we have the one pur- pose, we are not sensible of the difficulties we have to meet. We hear this grand old soldier of the cross, Paul, saying as he comes to his death, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." That crown of righteousness is not for Paul alone ; it is for every one that loves Christ's appearing ; it is for those only, who have the same single eye which Paul had, and which you will find all Bible worthies had. One day when I was a boy, a neighbor boy came over to play with me. He brought 72 IF THINE EYE BE SINGLE along his gun and some powder. I had never been allowed to use firearms, but this boy had. He put some of the powder on the chopping-block, sprinkling it around in a ring. I remember that I ran off to the far- ther corner of the yard when he set it off, but all there was to it was a ring of black smoke. But you put one-eighth of that amount of powder into a gun, with the pow- der well wadded down behind a bullet, and then set it off, and you would better not be in front of the gun. The powder is concen- trated. This is a pretty good illustration of our lives. You sit down to your lesson. Your mind goes wandering here, there, and everywhere, and presently you think you have your lesson. You go to the recitation room, and you " know the thing, but you can- not think of it." Why? — Simply because, when you studied that lesson, the eye was not single, the energy was not concentrated upon that one thing so that it was definitely and clearly fixed in the mind. The life of Napoleon, among modern war- riors, stands out in striking evidence of what I have been saying, — a poor boy, yet he con- 73 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS ceived the idea of uniting all Europe under one government, with himself as governor. He saw that the relations which the nations in Europe were sustaining to one another, would make it necessary, for the good of Europe, that one master mind should rule them. He saw that it was absolute monarchy or anarchy. While his absolute monarchy failed, he taught all the world a great lesson by demonstrating what can be accomplished by one who has the single eye. In the northwestern part of Europe, about two hundred years ago, another man with an undivided will came into action — as does every man with an undivided will. He went to England, and studied her laws, commerce, and finances. He went into the shipyards, and studied the building of ships. In the same manner he studied in other countries of Europe. As the result of his earnest work, there suddenly is seen a white-winged fleet of commerce issuing from the ports of Russia ; a conglomeration of barbarous tribes were reduced to one government, and Peter the Great had established a nation which as- tonished Europe recognized as a menace. 74 IF THINE EYE BE SINGLE Now, God does not call upon you or upon me to become a Napoleon or a Peter the Great, but he does call upon us to have the spirit of building up the work which he has given each of us. Whatever thy hand finds to do, do it with a single eye, do it with a oneness of purpose, and do it now. You study your books, your lessons, but the great thing which you can get from them is the power to think hard and- fast upon a certain thing. When you sit down to take a city, be sure that you can take it, and then com- pletely raze it to the ground. Victor Hugo thought that he could write a book, but the war between France and Germany came on, and he was very much inclined to get out of the city, yet everything he had was there. So he locked himself in his room, put his clothes in his wardrobe, locked that, and threw the key out of the window. He wrote his book with the bullets whistling around his room. So must our good purposes be, so definite and so fixed that even death itself, shall not move us from them. " If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." 75 XL THE LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. This is a beautiful morning. It has oc- curred to me to talk to you this morning concerning a love for the beautiful. God is a lover of the beautiful. One has only to look out upon nature at any time to recog- nize this. God wants his children to be lovers of the beautiful ; for he wants them to have his mind and character. More than beauty of appearance, he loves beauty of heart — beauty of character; and he intends that the beauty with which he has adorned our earthly home, shall be a means of devel- oping in us this beauty of character. But I fear that the great majority of us little realize and appreciate the beauty that is in the earth. God could have made everything of one color. He could have made it a somber gray or a dead black. Trees could have borne fruit without putting forth flowers, and every- where there could have been nothing, either in form or in color, that would call forth any admiration on the part of God's children. But God did not do so ; and the very fact that 76 THE LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL God did not do this in creating the earth, and all that is in it, is evidence to me that he wants us to enjoy that which he has made. He wants us to have open eyes and an open heart, that we may appreciate what he has given us. The flowers will be soon putting forth, the leaves are coming out, and every flower and every leaf will call to you in the loudest tones possible, to see, to behold, to admire ; and you should make up your minds to do it. You should make up your minds to see the beauty that is around you in the landscape, in the clouds, and in the tiniest thing that is — a little flower, a little insect ; for everything has beauty in it. Remember the man with the muck rake, and the golden crown over his head. If he had looked up, he would have found that there is something in the earth to enjoy besides raking straws. So if you and I, in the midst of our cares and perplexities, will look out upon God's works, and will see, will study, will think of what he has made, we will find something in them to enjoy thoroughly, to appreciate thor- oughly. Look out on any landscape, and you will find all shades of color, all forms of 77 LA TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS beauty, and yet everything is blended per- fectly. You recognize that you or I could not possibly put together all colors and shades, and have them harmonious. We say, " That ribbon does not go well with that dress. I will not wear that, I will put on something else." Sometimes we see persons with such striking colors in dress that we cannot help noticing them, and perhaps re- marking about them ; but it is not so when God undertakes to clothe something. There, I think, is the difference between a finite and an infinite mind. I have looked out upon a landscape in the fall. Every shade and every hue that could possibly exist, was to be seen on that land- scape ; and yet everything was harmonious, and everything was delightful; and it re- joices the soul to look out and see it. So you will find it in the smallest of God's works. Examine a flower under a micro- scope, and you will find the most delicately tinted shades in that flower, everything per- fectly harmonious. And if our eyes were opened so that we could see the colors in the heavens, we would find the same thing true 78 THE LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL there. Those who have made a study of the heavens, tell us that the different planets are differently colored, and look like immense flower gardens; and yet no planet, as it whirls through space with its beautiful color, ever loses this harmony. You and I are to study these things. You and I are to think of these things as we walk along the way. We are not to think of our cares and troubles alone, we are to think of this beauty of color. Take the beauty of sound. I referred a few minutes ago to music. I believe it to be one of the prime elements of education. We have seven pri- mary colors, and we have seven primary sounds. I have been speaking to you about the blending of these primary colors. We have the same with the blending of the pri- mary sounds, and the harmony which is produced, should be a great spiritual lesson to each one of us. We are to blend the ex- periences of life into one harmonious whole, and we are to make our lives beautiful pic- tures ; and the harmony which exists in nature everywhere, is to assist in making our lives a harmonious whole. 79 XII. LEST WE FOSLGET. /t^OD of our fathers, known of old — V*a Lord of our far-flung battle line — Beneath whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine — Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget — lest we forget ! The tumult and the shouting dies — The Captains and the Kings depart — Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget — lest we forget ! Far-called our navies melt away — On dune and headland sinks the fire — Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre ! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget — lest we forget ! ^f, drunk by the sight of power, we loose Wild tongues that have not thee in awe, Such boasting as the Gentiles use, Or lesser breeds without the Law — Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget — lest we forget ! 80 LEST WE FORGET For heathen heart that puts her trust In reeking tube and iron shard — All valiant dust that builds on dust, And guarding, calls not Thee to guard, For frantic boast and foolish word, Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord ! Amen* — Rudyard Kipling. I am glad that the literature class have had this poem printed, and have so kindly given a copy to each of you. Perhaps you know that Rudyard Kipling wrote this poem on the occasion of Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. He had written the poem, and had thrown it into the waste-basket, because he thought it not worth the keeping. His wife found it, and, liking it, urged him to have it published. The world instantly recognized its merit, — the merit of a divine truth so beautifully and forcefully expressed. It is one of my favorite poems. Some of you who have been here for two or three years, will remember that I have read it in school sev- eral times. I have read it because our atten- tion is so forcibly called to one of the great- est principles of life, — the principle of unfor- getfulness ; one of the greatest principles of 81 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS success in life, — lest we forget. " Lest we forget," — we ought to write these words as a motto emblazoned in letters of silver and gold, and hang it in memory's halls, and every day, whether it be shiny or cloudy, read first our motto, — " Lest we forget." From the beginning to the end of God's work, we are enjoined not to forget, and are urged to remember. The scripture which I read this morning involves this idea very fully ; for, as David tells us, it was because the children of Israel forgot the loving kindness and tender mer- cies of the Almighty God, that they came into trouble and distress ; but when they re- membered their God, and turned to him, he delivered them out of all their troubles. I have recently been reading the life of King David, and the thought that he was one who did not forget, has been especially impressed upon my mind. The majority of men, when thy come into power, forget the fact that they were once small and weak, but not so with King David, — a man after God's own heart. He did not often forget. When honor was conferred upon him, he was not 82 LEST WE FORGET over elated ; for he remembered that he was but a shepherd boy. When he came to vari- ous places in his life where, ordinarily, men would have put their enemies to death, he saved them. Notice the kindness and ten- derness which he showed to Saul, to Shimei, and to Absalom. Never have I been so deeply impressed with the beauty of David's character as while reading it recently. I wish I might say that he never forgot. On one or two occasions, he did forget, and serious mistakes followed. As I came to the account of some of these mistakes, in my reading, I could not help crying out, "O, David, why did you thus mar such a glorious life ! " But the beauty of David's life, even in these mistakes, is that when they were called to his mind, and he was told that he was the man, he instantly remembered his God, and turned to him with sincere repent- ance. He did not allow the stone of his sin to fall upon him and crush him, but he climbed upon it, and fought his way back to favor with God and man. So David's life becomes an example which we are to remem- ber, even when we have done wrong. This 83 TALKS WITH MY STUDENTS great principle of love and unforgetfulness which was so strongly manifested in his life that he was called a man after God's own heart, is to be just as strongly manifested in your life and my life, that we may be called men and women after God's own heart. This principle of unforgetfulness is that which makes God what he is. He never for- gets us day or night. We are never out of his presence or out of his mind, for a single instant. And so let this lesson burn into your minds this morning ; and if in future life, there come to you responsibility and power and authority, do not forget that after all you are weakness. If in future life there come to you diversity and trouble, do not forget that there is one who is all powerful and all strong, and who will after all recog- nize the only true sacrifice, — the sacrifice of a humble and contrite heart, — the sacrifice which should be found in every one of us, whether adversity, or prosperity, attend our way. 8 4 MAY 26 1903 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Dec. 2004 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township. PA 16066 (724)779-2111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Mill 00136103118 Q SlliHI illl&i nunu MHMI i Wsmm IIHl 1 ■ HI Jk H 111 1 ii ill 1 ill i 1 llllll H 11 1 H < ■ . il i I In] i mm n