The first word is, Be true. The second word is, Be trustworthy. The
third word is, Dare to do right.
First: Be true! Be what you seem to be or what you pretend to be; do not
be a hypocrite; be firm and steady in adhering to friends, promises or
principles. Be a true boy; be a true girl.
Secondly: Be trustworthy! Be worthy of trust; be reliable; make your
word your bond. Conduct yourself in such a way that people can depend on
you.
Thirdly: Dare to do right! Whatever comes or doesn’t come, stand by what
you believe to be right, even if you have to stand alone. Be honest,
upright, faithful, sincere, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that
which is good.
True boys and girls are scarce; they are not easily found; they do not
grow on trees. But, to tell you the truth, we need good boys and girls,
true boys and girls, much more than we do educated boys and girls. All
education without character is a dead weight!
Let me give you one or two reasons why you should be true, trustworthy,
and brave for the right. In the first place, for the sake of your
influence. Every boy and girl in this world has some influence. Every
boy in this world, white or black, rich or poor, high or low, is helping
his friends and playmates to grow better or worse, higher or lower in
the scale of being. Every girl in this world is likewise helping or
hindering others. If we are harsh and unkind, cruel and unjust--in every
wrong, every baseness, meanness, selfishness, we are harming not
ourselves alone but the whole great family of man. On the other hand,
when we speak fearlessly a brave, true word, when we perform cheerfully
a hard and trying task, whenever we are faithful, honest, earnest,
patient, pure, trustworthy, whether we know it or not, we are
strengthening the unseen impulses which make for nobility and higher
manhood and womanhood throughout the world. In the economy of God, by
his infinite wisdom, the humblest life reaches forward to the highest
and the highest life reaches backward to the lowest.
But perhaps you are saying that I am taking too much for granted.
Perhaps you think that it is not true that there is not one of the very
least of the great human family who is not every day exercising some
personal influence for good or evil upon the world. If you think so,
boys and girls, or older people, you are mistaken. No human being can
escape from the world’s atmosphere. Though you fly to the uttermost
parts of the sea or hide in the depths of the dense city, some life is
affected by your life. Not only some life is affected by your life, but
many lives are affected by your life. It is a thought of this kind that
Charles Dickens beautifully expresses in his story called “David
Copperfield.” He says:
“There is nothing--no, nothing--beautiful and good that dies and is
forgotten. An infant, a prattling child, dying in his cradle, will live
again in the better thoughts of those who loved it, and plays its part,
though its body be burned to ashes or drowned in the deepest sea. There
is not an angel added to the hosts of heaven but does its blessed work
on earth in those who loved it here. Dead! Oh, if the good deeds of
human creatures could be traced to their source, how beautiful would
even death appear. For how much charity, mercy, and purified affection
would be seen to have their growth in dusty graves!”
No, children, it is no idle dream, no fancy story that I tell when I say
that the humblest member of the human family, as well as the highest, is
exercising daily, whether he is conscious of it or not, some influence
for good or evil upon the world. Viewed in this light who can measure
the possibilities--the divine possibilities--that are wrapped up in
little boys and girls? Viewed in this light, how the slightest action,
the smallest of our little duties, takes on new importance! It was with
this thought in mind that James A. Garfield said: “I feel a profounder
reverence for a boy than a man. I never meet a ragged boy on the street
without feeling that I owe him a salute, for I know not what
possibilities may be buttoned up under his shabby coat.” Yes, boys and
girls, by every brave and cheerful effort that we put forth we are
reforming, uplifting, renewing, inspiring, hearts and souls we never
heard of, never knew, the whole world becoming stronger for every bit of
moral courage we create, sweeter for every kindly look we give, and
holier for every good deed we do. And, of course, the contrary is true.
When we fail, when we come short, when we sin, the consequences are not
ours alone--they extend to all humanity. We are all, white and black,
rich and poor, old and young, male and female, children of one family.
Just as the quivering circles from a pebble thrown into a lake stretch
on and on from shore to shore, so the silent impulse of a single life
thrills from heart to heart until the very edges of humanity are
touched.
There is another reason still why we should be true, trustworthy, brave.
That reason is that somebody else takes us as his ideal--his standard.
Poor as we are, weak as we are, as unworthy as we are, somebody else is
looking up to us--especially those of us who have been favored with
educational advantages and opportunities. And you know that the failure
of one who is invested in another’s mind with ideal qualities is a
failure beyond the actual. That is one reason why people say that, as a
rule, a preacher’s children are the worst children in the world. As a
matter of fact, they are not the worst children in the world; but, being
the children of preachers, everybody expects more of them than of
others,--they are taken as ideals, as standards--that’s all. And what
might be excused in others will not be excused in one who is taken as an
ideal. Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America’s greatest writers, in
speaking of this truth says in his story called “The Marble Faun:”
“The character of an individual beloved one having invested itself with
all the attributes of right--that one friend being to us the symbol and
representative of whatever is good and true,--when he falls, the effect
is almost as if the sky fell with him, bringing down in chaotic ruin the
columns that upheld our faith. We struggle forth again, no doubt bruised
and bewildered. We stare wildly about us, and discover--or it may be we
never make the discovery--that it was not actually the sky that has
tumbled down but merely a frail structure of our own rearing, which
never rose higher than the housetops, and has fallen because we founded
it on nothing. But the crash, and the affright and trouble are as
overwhelming, for the time, as if the catastrophe involved the whole
moral world. Remembering these things, let them suggest one generous
motive for walking heedfully amid the defilement of earthly ways. Let
us reflect that the highest path is pointed out by the pure ideal of
those who look up to us, and who, if we tread less loftily, may never
look so high again.”
Now, I have said my three words. You see they have stretched themselves
out to a great length, but I hope the boys and girls who read this book
may profit by them. Strive to be true, strive to be trustworthy, strive
to be brave. In the long run the prizes of this world, and of that which
is to come, are won by boys and girls of strong moral character, not by
those who are merely learned or rich. But, of course, I believe in
education and I believe in money. I think you ought to strive to obtain
both--both are useful, and both are necessary; but, with all your
getting, boys and girls, be sure to get those things which will reach
beyond this world and which will count for more than money or good looks
or education or any such thing when the world is on fire, when the moon
shall be turned into blood, when the trumpet sounds, and all must go to
stand before the Great King to give an account of the deeds done in the
body.
“A LAMP UNTO MY FEET.”
Once upon a time, so it is said, a little ragged boy was carefully
printing these words with a stick upon the ground, “Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet.”
On looking up from his work, the little fellow was surprised to find a
kind-looking old man watching him.
“Where did you learn that, my boy?” asked the man.
“At Sunday-school, sir.”
“What’s your name?”
“Crawford.”
“So, Crawford, you learned that text at Sunday-school. Do you know what
it means?”
“No, sir.”
“What is a lamp?”
“A lamp? Why, sir, a lamp is a thing that gives light!”
“That’s correct. Well, what is the word that the text speaks of?”
“The Bible, sir.”
“That’s right. Now, how can the Bible be a lamp and give light?”
“I don’t know,” said the boy, “unless you light it and set it on fire.”
“There’s a better way than that, my lad. Suppose you were going down
some lonely lane on a dark night with an unlighted lantern in your hand,
and a box of matches in your pocket, what would you do?”
“Why, I’d light the lantern.”
“Why would you light it?”
“To show me the road, sir.”
[Illustration: “A LAMP UNTO MY FEET.”]
“Very well. Now, suppose you were walking behind me some day, and saw me
drop a quarter; what would you do?”
“Pick it up and give it to you, sir.”
“Wouldn’t you want to keep it yourself?”
Crawford hesitated; but he saw a smile on the old gentleman’s face,
and, smiling himself, he finally said:
“I should want to, sir; but I shouldn’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“Because it would be stealing.”
“How do you know?”
“It would be taking what wasn’t my own, and the Bible says we are not to
steal.”
“Ah!” said the old man, “so it’s the Bible that makes you honest, is
it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you had not heard of the Bible you would steal, I suppose?”
“Lots of boys do,” said Crawford, hanging his head.
“The Bible, then,” continued the old man, “shows you the right and safe
path--the path of honesty, does it?”
“Like the lamp!” exclaimed Crawford, seeing now what all the old man’s
questions meant. “Is that what the text means?”
“Yes, my boy,” the man answered, “there is always light in the Bible to
show us where to go and what to do. Don’t you think it would be a good
thing to take the Bible, the good old lamp, and let it light you right
through life?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you think you will be safer with it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why?”
“Because if I’m honest I will never go to prison.”
“And what else?” asked the man.