it in our hearing, we should feel indignant, and a natural feeling of
pride would urge us to refute his statements. There are many things to
be proud of, even in a country by no means great in arms or in
territory. He would be a very small-minded man who refused to
acknowledge the right of every country to the devotion of its children.
But, as Maurice said, "he is most just to others who has the deepest
attachment to his own." It is not boasting to say that we belong to the
greatest race that the world has ever seen. The growth of our race, not
only in the little mother island, but also in every continent of the
world, has not been paralleled by any other people. No other nation in
history has retained so long its supremacy among the nations of the
earth. When the great nations of Greece and Rome reached the height of
their power, they maintained it for a time by means of slaves, and gave
themselves up to luxury and vice. But, as soon as they became effeminate
through loss of vigour and the idleness of their citizens, their power,
and even their national existence, were destroyed. Instead of
maintaining its power and wealth by slave armies and slave labour, the
English people abolished slavery off the face of the civilized world.
England paid Portugal $1,500,000, Spain $2,000,000, to induce them to
give up the slave trade. For fifty years England kept a squadron on the
west coast of Africa to keep down the slave trade, at a cost of
$3,500,000 a year. She paid the West Indies and Mauritius $100,000,000
to free their slaves. The sum which it cost the English-speaking people
of America to put down the slave trade cannot be calculated.
The ancient nations of Greece and Rome derived immense sums of money
from their colonies. They made the colonies pay for the support of all
the armies and the general expense of government. England has never
taxed a colony with any great burden. It is estimated by Sir John
Lubbock that in ten years, from 1859 to 1869, $210,000,000 was spent by
the mother country upon her colonies.
It is the glory of Canadians to belong to such a race. The old land from
which we came is worthy of our deepest love and veneration and pride. As
Tennyson patriotically says:
"There is no land like England,
Where'er the light of day be;
There are no hearts like English hearts,
Such hearts of oak as they be."
And this new land, too, claims our love and loyalty. No boy ever grew to
manhood with a fairer heritage than the young Canadian possesses. But if
his privileges are many, so, too, are the duties of citizenship. After
all, the best patriot is the best citizen. It is easy to cheer with the
crowd, even when its cry is "Our country, right or wrong." That can
never be the cry of the true patriot. In fact, real Patriotism concerns
itself not with "cries," but with deeds. He is said to be the truest
patriot "who can make two blades of corn grow where only one grew
before." How true that is for Canadians! Our country does not at this
stage of its history require the partisan, or the politician; we have
too many of them. It needs men who love her as men love their homes and
families; thinking it an honour and a pride to labour for them.
Patriotism is a sacred thing, a sacred duty. Ruskin says, "Nothing is
permanently helpful to any race or condition of men but the spirit that
is in their own hearts, kindled by the love of their native land."
It is our duty to cultivate the love of our country, to do everything in
our power to make that love stronger as we grow older. If we love our
country, if we see that in her which calls forth our enthusiasm, then we
are ready to make any sacrifice for her that she may demand, even to
shedding our blood. Ruskin also says: "It is precisely in accepting
death as the end of all, and in laying down his life for his friends,
that the hero and patriot of all time has become the glory and safety of
his country."
No. XIV.
BODILY EXERCISE
+Mens sana in corpore sano.+
+"The glory of young men is their strength."+
+"He that hath clean hands waxeth stronger and stronger."+
Dr. Hall tells the following true story: Two friends are in a canoe in
the Mozambique channel. A flaw of wind upsets the boat, which fills and
sinks, and the men are left to swim for their lives. One says to the
other: "It is a long pull to the shore, but the water is warm and we are
strong. We will hold by each other, and all will be well." "No," says
his friend, "I have lost my breath already; each wave that strikes us
knocks it from my body." In a moment he is gone. His friend can do
nothing; only swim, and then float, and rest himself, and breathe; to
swim again, and then float, and rest again; hour after hour to swim and
float with that calm determination that he will go home; hour after
hour, till at last the palm trees show distinct upon the shore, and then
the figures of animals. And then, at last, his foot touches the coral,
and he is safe. That is an example of the difference wrought in two men
merely by exercise, or the steadiness of training.
Exercise makes the body strong. Many a man has reason to bless the
memory of his father or teacher, who, when he was a weak boy, with
flabby muscles, and without energy or strength of will, made him take
regular exercise. A young man who was threatened by weak lungs was
ordered to take regular Exercise every day with clubs and dumb-bells and
a vigorous walk in the open air. After a few months' steady practice he
found that he could, with his hands, lift his elder brother, lying flat
on the ground, by the clothes and elevate him above his own head.
Neglect of Exercise keeps the muscles weak, makes the blood impure, and
renders the body liable to the diseases which are ever ready to attack
him. We now know that diseases enter the human body by means of minute
living germs, which float unseen in the atmosphere. Practically, no
people living in towns escape these germs; but the strong body is able
to throw them off, while the weak succumbs. There are in the blood
thousands of little bodies which act as scavengers, and are continually
fighting against foreign invaders that get into the system. If the body
becomes weak through lack of Exercise, the blood suffers, the number of
scavengers becomes lessened, and disease more easily fastens upon it.
Not only is the body weakened by lack of Exercise, but the brain is even
more so. If a stream of pure blood be necessary for the strength of the
body, it is far more necessary for the health of the brain. Parents
often complain that their sons are stupid, and are not able to see
through things, and have poor memories, when the trouble lies chiefly in
the fact that the blood is unable to carry off the worn-out elements of
the brain, because it is not kept pure by regular Exercise and fresh
air. The secret of mental activity is complete bodily health. The boy
who is subject to headaches cannot study hard; nine-tenths of the
headaches arise from giving the stomach too much hard work, and the
brain too little. The stomach is capable of an immense amount of labour
if the other members of the body will only work, too; but if they get
idle, it is apt to break down under its burdens, and then the brain
suffers.
The English race has always been characterized by immense energy.
Probably no other race has ever been so distinguished for enterprise and
energy. It is the energy of the race which has led to the growth of its
vast colonies, and to the maintenance of empire over less civilized
peoples. It has made the United States the great nation that it is.
Energy makes the man, as it makes the nation. The vast majority of
people depend for energy upon Exercise. Loafing destroys energy. Mental
energy depends very largely upon physical energy, except in the case of
the sick. Physical energy depends upon taut muscles and supple joints.
The relation of Exercise to morality is very close. If a young man fills
up his spare time with Exercise, he runs no risk of going to the bad
morally. After a day's work, and active Exercise to end it, he needs a
great deal of sleep; and his sleep is sound and refreshing. The
sleeplessness that arises from loafing causes an immense amount of
mischief to the moral nature--impure thoughts, or half-waking dreams,
with, perhaps, degrading habits growing out of them. When the body is in
a good state of health, man's faith in God, and in truth, purity, and
honour, is bright and steadfast. When his body is run down, through
neglect, everything looks gloomy.
An important part of Exercise is the work of keeping the body clean. It
is just as necessary to keep the outside of the body clean and sweet as
the inside; and as the inside is being continuously cleansed by pure
blood, the outside should be cleansed regularly with water. The decayed
matter in the body, carried off by the blood, escapes chiefly in one
way--that is, through the pores of the skin, and if these pores are
allowed to get choked by neglect the dead matter remains in the system
and pollutes it, and the body soon gets out of order. It is a duty to
take sufficient exercise every day to incite perspiration, and then a
cold plunge or sponge bath, or, at least, a vigorous rub-down. If we
could only get into the habit of doing that, we might snap our fingers
at most kinds of disease.
These things depend largely upon daily Exercise: Bodily Strength, Mental
Activity, Energy, the Moral Life.
No. XV.
HABIT
+By Habit is meant accustoming ourselves to do certain things regularly.
Habit is a tendency of the mind and body resulting from frequent
repetition of the same acts.+
An old man who had very deformed fingers said: "For over fifty years I
used to drive a stage, and these bent fingers show the effect of holding
the reins for so many years." Carlyle said: "Habit is the deepest law of
human nature. It is our supreme strength, and also, in certain
circumstances, our miserablest weakness." In the life of the young,
especially, the two greatest laws are Habit and Imitation. There is
nothing a boy's parents fear so much as that he will imitate bad things
in the characters of others, and so learn bad habits. When a boy has
learnt a great many bad habits, it is almost impossible to get rid of
their effects, even though he should change his habits. They leave marks
upon the character, just as smallpox does upon the face.
It is easy to learn bad habits. It is just like the old game of "Follow
your Leader." Unless the leader is a very clever athlete, most boys
have no difficulty in following and imitating what he does. When once a
boy makes up his mind that he is not going to be very particular about
his language, it is astonishing how easily he will learn to swear, and
to use unclean words. But if he should become ashamed of such a habit,
how hard it is to drop it! He may make the strongest resolutions, and
try his best to put them in practice; but he will find himself dropping
into profane language when he gets excited, or loses his temper, or at
other times when it is particularly necessary for him to be careful.
With many people to do a thing once is to form the Habit. It is well
known that the taste for wine and spirits is often inherited by a boy
from his parents. For that boy, or young man, to drink once is to form a
Habit, though he may be quite unconscious of it. We always do form
habits unconsciously, and we often know nothing of them until they are
fully formed and have nearly mastered us. If some kind friend warn the
youth, he may drop the habit at once; but, if not, drinking will soon be
a positive pleasure, and, before he knows it, he will be on the primrose
way. Let a young man give way a few times to impure imaginations and
thoughts, and he will soon be in danger of a habit that will destroy
him, body and soul. The curse of the human race is the tendency to form
bad habits.
The surest way to avoid bad habits is to form good ones before the
former become established. And the first good Habit that will help us to
avoid or conquer bad ones is _never to be idle_. "An idle man is like
the housekeeper who keeps the door open for any burglar." I do not mean
by not being idle that we should never cease from work. But I do mean
that as soon as work ceases play should begin. Idleness is loafing; and
nothing so surely produces other bad habits as the habit of loafing. The
boy who has a game in view the moment his work ceases is not in very
great danger of forming bad habits. The boy who is in danger is he who,
having done the least possible amount of work in school hours, is tired
by the effort to do nothing, and so would rather lie upon his bed than
take exercise.
The Habit of exercise is a sacred duty. All feel the effects of
systematic neglect of fresh air and muscular training, and most young
men and boys do take exercise spasmodically--one day a great deal, and
the next, perhaps, none at all. The bodily system can no more flourish
under that sort of treatment than it could if one were to over-eat on
one day, and go absolutely without on the next. The only way to bring
the body to a high state of cultivation and to keep it there is to form
the habit of exercise, and let nothing interfere with it. It need not be
always the same; it should be varied; but it should always be active.
If a boy does not care for very violent exercise, he can substitute for
it light gymnasium work, or club and dumb-bell exercise. The great
Sandow says that he keeps his strength up to the point of efficiency by
clubs and dumb-bells, and open-air exercise. The great thing about it is
regularity; that is to say, Habit.
Another great factor of success in life is the Habit of early rising. We
all love to lie in bed a little longer than we ought; but we should
fight against it. Mr. Gladstone, throughout his years of vigour, took
seven hours sleep, and he said to a friend: "I should like to have
eight; I hate getting up in the morning, and I hate it the same every
morning. But one can do anything by habit, and when I have had my seven
hours sleep my habit is to get up." King George III. was an early riser.
He once said to a man who came late: "Six hours sleep enough for a man,
seven for a woman, and eight for a fool." Dickens use to rise at seven,
have a cold bath, "and then blaze away till three o'clock." Kant, the
greatest philosopher of modern times, used to retire at ten, and his
servant had strict orders never to allow him to sleep later than five,
no matter how strongly he might plead for rest. Sir Walter Scott said:
"God bless that habit of getting up at seven. I could do nothing without
it." The Duke of Wellington said that when we turn in bed it is time to
turn out.
The wise boy will form habits of reading good books regularly,
especially the Bible; of exact and strict punctuality in all his
engagements, great or small; of neatness in his appearance; of personal
cleanliness; of politeness of speech. A Habit once learned will stick to
one, whether good or bad.
"Habit at first is but a silken thread....
Beware! that thread may bind thee as a chain."
No. XVI.
INDUSTRY
+Industry is the fully formed habit of work. It is that which prevents us
from wasting time, and strength, and the powers of mind. Its opposite is
Indolence, or Laziness.+
Work is a fundamental law of life. He who does not work must suffer,
whether he be rich or poor, because man cannot break any law of nature
without paying the penalty. If a man deliberately sin against nature,
that is, against God, he may be forgiven, but he cannot escape the
result, or, in other words, the punishment.
But all work is not Industry. If we are compelled to work against our
will, that is not Industry. There must be the habit, and no habit can be
fully formed without the mind's consent. Industry is work done with a
will; not at odd moments, with wide spaces of idleness between, but
regularly as a habit, which is as much the business of life as eating
and sleeping.
In the history of mankind, Industry has been a far greater power than
Genius. Genius, indeed, has been called "the power of taking pains";
that is, immense perseverance. The amount of good done to mankind by men
of genius who have had no Industry is hardly worth counting up. Nearly
all the world's great men have been men of great diligence. As Cicero
said: "Diligence is the one virtue that includes all the rest." Solomon
has the same thought: "The soul of the diligent shall be made fat." It
is astonishing what a large number of great men have risen by their own
industry to positions of the highest authority and influence. Faraday
was the greatest chemist of modern times. His father was a village
blacksmith, and he himself was first a newsboy, and then learnt the
trade of bookbinding. He became interested in books through making their
covers. Turner, the greatest modern landscape painter, was the son of a
barber. He left school when he was thirteen; and from that time earned
his own living.
Sir William Jones, the great oriental scholar, was a man of enormous
Industry. Before he was twenty years old, he had mastered Greek, Latin,
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and had made great progress in Arabic
and Persian. He divided his day as follows:
"Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven,
Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven."
Hugh Miller, the great geologist, began life as a stonemason. Elihu
Burritt, a blacksmith, mastered eighteen languages and twenty-two
dialects. Such perseverance and diligence should make us feel ashamed of
neglected opportunities.
The main thing to keep in mind about Industry is that it is a habit,
and, like most good habits, somewhat difficult to acquire. A boy is
given a piece of work by his father. He goes at it with great vigour;
but, in a short time, his attention is attracted by his dog, or birds,
and he leaves the work for something more pleasant; he is not
Industrious. A boy begins his night lessons and works five minutes, and
then remembers something that happened that afternoon at play; he
returns to his book for five minutes more, and then thinks of the next
half-holiday--and so on. Industry means concentration, and he has not
learnt anything about that yet.
At the beginning of the lesson, a boy pays close attention; but he soon
sees that his nails require attention, or his pencil a finer point, or
the nearness of his neighbour suggests a small trick. Perhaps his head
is heavy and requires to be held up by one hand, or the hero of the
latest story persists in thrusting himself upon the mind, or he wishes
he were out camping. Industry is attention; and he has not yet learned
how to keep his mind on his work.
Most boys suffer from lack of power to pay attention for a considerable
time. With some it is a disease arising from physical causes. If a boy
has got into the habit of imagining impure things, his power of
attention is in danger of being destroyed; if he has learned to practise
secret vice, his brain is being destroyed. Some boys possess marvellous
power of concentration. Macaulay's mother tells us that he wrote a
fairly complete history of the world, occupying twelve pages, when he
was seven years old. But the average boy needs to have his power of
attention cultivated, as any other faculty is trained. He can do this,
first, by striving to take an interest in everything that presents
itself to his mind, no matter how dry; and, secondly, by practising
attention. He can do this by keeping a watch open, and seeing how long
he can work without thinking of outside things. There is no more notable
example of industry in our own day than that of Edison. He is said to
sleep only three or four hours in the twenty-four for months at a time.
Those who live with him say that his Industry is the most remarkable
thing about him. Some one once asked him how to succeed in life. His
answer was: "Don't look at the clock!"
Attention produces the habit of Industry, that is, of wasting not a
moment in idleness. Lord Nelson said that he attributed his success in
life to a habit he formed of being fifteen minutes ahead of time for all
his engagements. Imagine a boy being fifteen minutes ahead of time in
rising, and at meals, lessons, and prayers! The habitual late comer is
destroying his faculty for Industry. No one can afford to waste time;
and there would be less time wasted if we could only remember that
idleness is Suffering, if not now, then later on.
The great Cobbet said: "I learned grammar when I was a private soldier
on the pay of sixpence a day. The edge of my berth was my seat; my
knapsack was my bookcase; a bit of board on my lap was my writing table.
I had no money for candles; in the winter time it was rarely that I
could get any evening light but that of the fire, and only my turn at
that."
Sir John Lubbock says: "Industry brings its own reward. Columbus
discovered America while searching for a western passage to India; and,
as Goethe pointed out, Saul found a kingdom while he was looking for his
father's asses."
There is, for a boy, no motto grander than Luther's _Nulla dies sine
linea_.
An old sun-dial in a churchyard in Scotland has these words engraved on
it:
"I am a shadow,
So art thou;
I mark time,
Dost thou?"
No. XVII.
SELF-CONTROL
+Self-control is the power a man exercises over himself--the power to
check his desires and passions; the power to deny himself present
pleasures for the sake of a great purpose; the power to concentrate his
energies on a single object in life.+
Self-control is the basis of all Character, and the root of all the
virtues. Without it, man is like a ship that has lost its rudder, and
tosses helpless upon the waves. Self-control is one of the hardest
things to learn, though no one can succeed in life without it. We say of
the poor drunkard: "He could never say no!" The young man who can say no
to his friends, when his Conscience tells him he should, has learned one
of the hardest lessons of his life, and is in no danger of many of the
worst pitfalls of early manhood. Tennyson says:
"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power."
The wise man said: "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."
A boy at school finds the greatest difficulty in paying _attention_.
His mind keeps wandering away from his work. He makes good resolutions,
but finds that, in spite of them, he cannot _fix_ his attention. After a
time, he despairs of himself, and gives up his chance, and perhaps
bitterly disappoints his parents. The trouble was lack of Self-control.
He had never learned how to master himself. He who can master himself
can master almost any difficulty. He must learn what Concentration
means. It is a habit, and can only be acquired little by little, by
earnest effort, and a strict watch upon self. A good plan is to keep a
watch open, and see how long the mind can be kept at work without
suffering any interruption.
If we learn to control self in one way, it becomes easier to do so in
others. If a boy is given to flying into a rage, and practises checking
himself, until the habit is controlled, it will not be nearly so hard to
control himself in other ways. One of the hardest things to conquer is
the habit of exaggeration; it is so easy to overstate a thing, so hard
to keep to the _exact_ truth. The boy who conquers a habit like that is
on the road to thorough Self-control.
Control of the appetite is, perhaps, the most difficult form of
Self-control for boys to practise. He who gives way to his appetite
yields the reins to a reckless driver. There is no vice more disgusting
or more dangerous than gluttony. It is the vestibule to all the other
vices. It is quite as important a duty to control one's stomach as to
check one's tongue. The best things are apt to come to him who has
learned to do without; though Self-control for its own sake is the
herald of happiness. In the life of General Gordon, we are told that he
once offered a native of the Soudan a drink of water. The man declined
the water, saying that he had had a drink _the day before_. A drink
every other day was enough for him; he had learned Self-control.
History is full of examples of the failure of men and nations through
the loss of Self-control. The Greek nation was destroyed because the
people gave themselves up to idleness and the gratification of their
desires. So were the Romans, who were conquered by the savage Goths, who
possessed the virtue of Self-restraint. No man ever yet became great who
did not practise the great virtue of Self-denial.
St. Paul said: "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection."
No. XVIII.
SELF-RELIANCE