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 HONORED CHILD.--There have been triumphs at old Rome, where
victors marched along with many a chariot, many an elephant, and many
spoils of the East; and in all times money has been lavished in the
efforts of States to tell their pleasure in the name of some general;
but more numerous and wide-spread and beyond expression, by chariot
or cannon or drum, have been those triumphal hours, when some son or
daughter has returned to the parental hearth beautiful in the wreaths
of some confessed excellence, bearing a good name.
13. RICH CRIMINALS.--We looked at the utter wretchedness of the men
who threw away reputation, and would rather be rich criminals in exile
than be loved friends and persons at home.
14. AN EMPTY, OR AN EVIL NAME.--Young and old cannot afford to bear
the burden of an empty or an evil name. A good name is a motive of
life. It is a reason for that great encampment we call an existence.
While you are building the home of to-morrow, build up also that kind
of soul that can sleep sweetly on home's pillow, and can feel that God
is not near as an avenger of wrong, but as the Father not only of the
verdure and the seasons, but of you.
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN DANCER.]
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