Searchlights on Health | Page 8

will render it
the most delightful.
* * * * *
A GOOD NAME.
1. THE LONGING FOR A GOOD NAME.--The longing for a good
name is one of those laws of nature that were passed for the soul and
written down within to urge toward a life of action, and away from
small or wicked action. So large is this passion that it is set forth in
poetic thought, as having a temple grand as that of Jupiter or Minerva,
and up whose marble steps all noble minds struggle--the temple of

Fame.
2. CIVILIZATION.--Civilization is the ocean of which the millions of
individuals are the rivers and torrents. These rivers and torrents swell
with those rains of money and home and fame and happiness, and then
fall and run almost dry, but the ocean of civilization has gathered up all
these waters, and holds them in sparkling beauty for all subsequent use.
Civilization is a fertile delta made by the drifting souls of men.
3. FAME.--The word "fame" never signifies simply notoriety. The
meaning of the direct term may be seen from its negation or opposite,
for only the meanest of men are called infamous. They are utterly
without fame, utterly nameless; but if fame implied only notoriety, then
infamous would possess no marked significance. Fame is an undertaker
that pays but little attention to the living, but who bedizens the dead,
furnishes out their funerals and follows them to the grave.
4. LIFE-MOTIVE.--So in studying that life-motive which is called a
"good name," we must ask the large human race to tell us the high
merit of this spiritual longing. We must read the words of the sage, who
said long centuries ago that "a good name was rather chosen than great
riches." Other sages have said as much. Solon said that "He that will
sell his good name will sell the State." Socrates said, "Fame is the
perfume of heroic deeds." Our Shakespeare said, "He lives in fame who
died in virtue's cause."
5. INFLUENCES OF OUR AGE.--Our age is deeply influenced by the
motives called property and home and pleasure, but it is a question
whether the generation in action today and the generation on the
threshold of this intense life are conscious fully of the worth of an
honorable name.
6. BEAUTY OF CHARACTER.--We do not know whether with us all
a good name is less sweet than it was with our fathers, but this is
painfully evident that our times do not sufficiently behold the beauty of
character--their sense does not detect quickly enough or love deeply
enough this aroma of heroic deeds.

7. SELLING OUT THEIR REPUTATION.--It is amazing what
multitudes there are who are willing to sell out their reputation, and
amazing at what a low price they will make the painful exchange. Some
king remarked that he would not tell a lie for any reward less than an
empire. It is not uncommon in our world for a man to sell out all his
honor and hopes for a score or a half score of dollars.
8. PRISONS OVERFLOWING.--Our prisons are all full to
overflowing of those who took no thought of honor. They have not
waited for an empire to be offered them before they would violate the
sacred rights of man, but many of them have even murdered for a cause
that would not have justified even an exchange of words.
9. INTEGRITY THE PRIDE OF THE GOVERNMENT.--If integrity
were made the pride of the government, the love of it would soon
spring up among the people. If all fraudulent men should go straight to
jail, pitilessly, and if all the most rigid characters were sought out for
all political and commercial offices, there would soon come a popular
honesty just as there has come a love of reading or of art. It is with
character as with any new article--the difficulty lies in its first
introduction.
10. A NEW VIRTUE.--May a new virtue come into favor, all our high
rewards, those from the ballot-box, those from employers, the rewards
of society, the rewards of the press, should be offered only to the
worthy. A few years of rewarding the worthy would result in a
wonderful zeal in the young to build up, not physical property, but
mental and spiritual worth.
11. BLESSING THE FAMILY GROUP.--No young man or young
woman can by industry and care reach an eminence in study or art or
character, without blessing the entire family group. We have all seen
that the father and mother feel that all life's care and labor were at last
perfectly rewarded in the success of their child. But had the child been
reckless or indolent, all this domestic joy--the joy of a large
group--would have been blighted forever.
12. AN