How to Get on in the World | Page 6

life. "Give your child to be educated by a slave," said an
ancient Greek, "and, instead of one slave, you will then have two."
The child cannot help imitating what he sees. Everything is to him a
model--of manner, of gesture, of speech, of habit, of character. "For the
child," says Richter, "the most important era of life is childhood, when
he begins to color and mould himself by companionship with others.
Every new educator effects less than his predecessor; until at last, if we
regard all life as an educational institution, a circumnavigator of the
world is less influenced by all the nations he has seen than by his
nurse."
No man can select his parents or make for himself the early
environment that affects character so powerfully, but he can found a
home no matter how humble, at the outset, that will make his own

future secure, as well as the future of those for whose existence he is
responsible.
The poorest dwelling, presided over by a virtuous, thrifty, cheerful, and
cleanly woman, may be the abode of comfort, virtue, and happiness; it
may be the scene of every ennobling relation in family life; it may be
endeared to a man by many delightful associations; furnishing a
sanctuary for the heart, a refuge from the storms of life, a sweet
resting-place after labor, a consolation in misfortune, a pride in
prosperity, and a joy at all times.
The good home is the best of schools, not only in youth but in age.
There young and old best learn cheerfulness, patience, self-control and
the spirit of service and of duty. Isaak Walton, speaking of George
Herbert's mother, says she governed the family with judicious care, not
rigidly nor sourly, "but with such a sweetness and compliance with the
recreations and pleasures of youth, as did incline them to spend much
of their time in her company, which was to her great content."
The home is the true school of courtesy, of which woman is always the
best practical instructor. "Without woman," says the Provencal proverb,
"men were but ill-licked cubs." Philanthropy radiates from the home as
from a centre. "To love the little platoon we belong to in society," said
Burke "is the germ of all public affections." The wisest and the best
have not been ashamed to own it to be their greatest joy and happiness
to sit "behind the heads of the children" in the inviolable circle of home.
A life of purity and duty there is not the least effectual preparative for a
life of public work and duty; and the man who loves his home will not
the less fondly love and serve his country.
At an address before a girls' school in Boston, ex-President John
Quincy Adams, then an old man, said with much feeling: "As a child I
enjoyed perhaps the greatest of blessings that can be bestowed upon
man--that of a mother who was anxious and capable to form the
characters of her children rightly. From her I derived whatever
instruction (religious especially and moral) has pervaded a long life--I
will not say perfectly, or as it ought to be; but I will say, because it is
only justice to the memory of her I revere, that in the course of that life,

whatever imperfection there has been or deviation from what she taught
me, the fault is mine and not hers."
So much depends on the home, for it is the corner-stone of society and
good government, that it is to be regretted, for the sake of young
women, as well as of young men, that our modern life offers so many
opportunities to neglect it.
As the home affects the character entirely through the associations, it
follows that the young man who has left his home behind him should
continue the associations whose memories comfort him. He should
never go to a place for recreation where he would not be willing and
proud to take his mother on his arm. He should never have as friends
men to whom he would not be willing, if need be, to introduce his
sister.
These are among the influences that help to success. But association is
a matter of such great importance as to deserve fuller treatment.
CHAPTER IV
ASSOCIATION.
The old proverb, "Tell me your company and I will tell you what you
are," is as true to-day as when first uttered. In the preparation for
success, association is one of the most powerful factors, so powerful,
indeed, that if the associations are not of the right kind, failure is
inevitable.
As one diseased sheep may contaminate a flock, so one evil associate--
particularly if he be daring, may seriously injure the morals of many.
Every young man can recall the evil influence of