Life and Conduct | Page 6

handle of your being" was the direction given by a wise
counsellor to one who sought advice as to what calling he should
follow. Everyone has certain aptitudes, and as far as he is able should
keep them in view. There is often a distinct indication at a very early
period of life for what we are best fitted. "The tastes of the boy
foreshadow the occupations of the man. Ferguson's clock carved out of
wood and supplied with rudest mechanism; Faraday's tiny electric
machine made from a common bottle; Claude Lorraine's pictures in
flour and charcoal on the walls of the bakers' shops; Canova's
modelling of small images in clay; Chantrey's carving of his
school-master's head in a bit of pine wood,--were all indications clear
and strong of the future man."
(b) Whatever you resolve upon, keep to it. "One thing I do," is a great
rule to follow. It is much better to do one thing well than many things
indifferently. It may be well to have "many strings to our bow," but it is
better to have a bow and string that will every time send the arrow to
the target. A rolling stone gathers no moss. He that is everything by
turns and nothing long comes to nothing in the end.
If thou canst plan a noble deed And never flag till it succeed, Though in
the strife thy heart should bleed, Whatever obstacles contend, Thine

hour will come, go on, thou soul! Thou'lt win the prize, thou'lt reach
the goal. CHAS. MACKAY.
(c) The higher our purpose is, the greater our attainment is likely to be.
The nobler our ideal, the nobler our success. It seems paradoxical to
say it, but it is true, that no one ever reached a goal without starting
from it; no one ever won a victory without beginning the battle with it;
no one ever succeeded in any work without first finishing it in his own
mind.
Pitch thy behavior low, thy projects high, So shalt thou humble and
magnanimous be. Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky Shoots
higher much than he who means a tree. G. HERBERT.
When we go forward to life we should make up our mind what we
intend to make of life. Make up your mind after prayer to God, and
work for that.
The third essential to success in life is Moral Character, in its various
elements of honesty, truthfulness, steadiness, temperance. "Honesty is
the best policy" is one of those worldly maxims that express the
experience of mankind. A small leak will sink a great ship. One bad
string in a harp will turn its music into discord. Any flaw in moral
character will sooner or later bring disaster. The most hopeless wrecks
that toss on the broken waters of society are men who have failed from
want of moral character. There are thousands of such from whom much
was expected but from whom nothing came. It is told of a distinguished
professor at Cambridge that he kept photographs of his students. He
divided them into two lots. One he called his basket of adled eggs: they
were the portraits of men who had failed, who had come to nothing
though they promised much. What brought most of them to grief was
want of character, of moral backbone. Some of them--a good many of
them--went to drink, others to love of pleasure, others to the bad in
other ways. Good principle counts for more than can be expressed; it is
essential. Many things may hinder a man from getting on--slowness,
idleness, want of ability, trifling, want of interest in his vocation. Many
of these faults may be borne with long by others, and may be battled
with earnestly by ourselves; but a flaw in character is deadly. To be

unsteady, dishonest, or untruthful is fatal. Before God and man an
unfaithful servant is worthless. We may have other qualifications that
go to command success, such as those we have noticed,--industry and a
distinct aim,--but want of principle will render them useless. Slow and
sure often go together. The slow train is often the safest to travel by,
but woe be to it and to us if we do not keep upon the rails.
The last essential to success in life is Religious Hopefulness.--(a) Our
industry, our purpose, our principles may be all they ought to be, yet
the "race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong." But
when we find the race going from us and the battle going against us, if
we have trust in God and the hopefulness that comes from religion, we
will find heart to try again: we will not be utterly cast down. Christian
faith keeps men in good heart amid many