Boys and girls, I want to repeat to you now some words which were
delivered long ago by the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, a man who was once the
vice-president of the United States. These words are wholesome, and
should be read and considered by parents and school teachers and by
children themselves all over our land:
“Above all things, teach children what their life is. It is not
breathing, moving, playing, sleeping, simply. Life is a battle. All
thoughtful people see it so. A battle between good and evil from
childhood. Good influences, drawing us up toward the divine; bad
influences, drawing us down to the brute. Midway we stand, between the
divine and the brute. How to cultivate the good side of the nature is
the greatest lesson of life to teach. Teach children that they lead
these two lives: the life without and the life within; and that the
inside must be pure in the sight of God as well as the outside in the
sight of men.
“There are five means of learning. These are: Observation, reading,
conversation, memory, reflection.
“Educators sometimes, in their anxiety to secure a wide range of
studies, do not sufficiently impress upon their scholars the value of
memory. Now, our memory is one of the most valuable gifts God has
bestowed upon us, and one of the most mysterious. Take a tumbler and
pour water into it; by-and-by you can pour no more: it is full. It is
not so with the mind. You cannot fill it full of knowledge in a whole
lifetime. Pour in all you please, and it still thirsts for more.
“Remember this:
“Knowledge is not what you learn, but what you remember.
“It is not what you eat, but what you digest, that makes you grow.
“It is not the money you handle, but that you keep, that makes you rich.
“It is not what you study, but what you remember and reflect upon, that
makes you learned.
“One more suggestion:
“Above all things else, strive to fit the children in your charge to be
useful men and women; men and women you may be proud of in after-life.
While they are young teach them that far above physical courage, which
will lead them to face the cannon’s mouth; above wealth, which would
give them farms and houses and bank stocks and gold; is moral
courage--that courage by which they will stand fearlessly, frankly,
firmly for the right. Every man or woman who dares to stand for the
right when evil has its legions, is the true moral victor in this life
and in the land beyond the stars.”
These brave and true words were spoken by Mr. Colfax long years ago.
They were true then; they are no less true now. Every boy in America
should treasure them in his heart. Every girl in America should commit
them to memory and make them the rule of her life. Mothers and fathers,
school teachers and preachers, and all who have the care of the young in
any way would do well to study these wise counsels and reflect upon them
and strive to impress upon those for whom they are laboring.
If you would win the victory in the battle of life, my young friends,
you must watch the little things. It is said that there is a barn upon
the Alleghany Mountains so built that the rain which falls upon it
separates in such a manner that that which falls upon one side of the
roof runs into a little stream that flows into the Susquehanna and
thence into Chesapeake Bay and on into the Atlantic Ocean; that which
falls upon the other side is carried into the Alleghany River, thence
into the Ohio, and onward to the Gulf of Mexico. The point where the
waters divide is very small, but how different the course of these
waters! So it is with people, young or old. A very little thing changes
the channel of their lives. Much will depend upon the kinds of tempers
you have, boys and girls. If you are sour and cross and crabbed, no one
will love you. If you are kind and cheerful, you will have friends
wherever you go. Much will depend upon the way in which you improve your
school days; upon the kind of companions you have; and upon the kind of
habits you form. If you would win a great victory in fighting the battle
of life you must look well to the little things.
[Illustration: ON ONE OF NEW YORK’S MANY PLAYGROUNDS.]