PREFACE.
Boyhood is one of the happiest periods of life. “Ye little know,” said Robert Burns, “the ill ye court when manhood is your wish.” Taking a look backward Lord Byron cried, “Ah, happy years once more, who would not be a boy?” Thomas Moore says, in his beautiful poem: “Oft in the Stilly Night:”
“The smiles, the tears of boyhood’s years,The words of love then spoken;The eyes that shone now dimmed and gone,The cheerful hearts now broken!“Thus in the stilly nightEre slumber’s chain has bound me,Sad mem’ry brings the lightOf other days around me.”
“The smiles, the tears of boyhood’s years,The words of love then spoken;The eyes that shone now dimmed and gone,The cheerful hearts now broken!“Thus in the stilly nightEre slumber’s chain has bound me,Sad mem’ry brings the lightOf other days around me.”
“The smiles, the tears of boyhood’s years,The words of love then spoken;The eyes that shone now dimmed and gone,The cheerful hearts now broken!
“The smiles, the tears of boyhood’s years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone now dimmed and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
“Thus in the stilly nightEre slumber’s chain has bound me,Sad mem’ry brings the lightOf other days around me.”
“Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad mem’ry brings the light
Of other days around me.”
“There is no boy so poor,” said Phillips Brooks, “so ignorant, so outcast, that I do not stand in awe before him.” “I feel a profounder reverence for a boy than a man,” said President Garfield. “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 coat.” “Why, bless me! Is that the boy who did so gallantly in those two battles?” asked President Lincoln as a lad from the gunboat Ottawa was introduced to him. “Why, I feel as though I should take off my hat to him, and not he to me.”
“Get out of my way! What are you good for anyhow?”asked a cross man to a lad who happened to be standing in his way. The boy replied, “They make men out of such things as I am.” How true. That dirty boy taken by a philanthropist in New Orleans, only for the reason that he was an orphan, became Sir Henry M. Stanley, who found Livingstone and opened Africa. About fifty years ago, when New York City sought to aid her homeless children, an agent called on Judge John Green, of Tixston, Indiana, to inquire if he would take a boy. Mr. Green said, “I will, if you will bring me the raggedest, dirtiest and ugliest one of the lot.” A boy by the name of John Brady more than filled the bill. He was accepted, educated and became a missionary to Alaska. So suitable a man was he for commissioner of that unexplored land of wealth, that President Harrison appointed him governor.
Who can value the worth of a boy? Like Moses, Luther, or Lincoln, he might rise to bless a nation. Boyhood is the blossom that ripens into manhood. It is the formative period of one’s character. Said Lord Collingwood to a young friend, “You must establish a character before you are twenty-five that will serve you all life.” The building of such is the greatest earthly task, and he is the greatest man “who chooses right with the most invincible resolution, who resists the sorest temptation from within and without, who is most fearless under menaces and frowns, whose reliance on truth, on virtue, and on God, is most unfaltering.”
To aid in the growth of such is this work written. It is hoped that it will be transformed into an epitome, a registry of the reader’s own life—a compilation and condensation of the best things he shall finally leave to those who survive him. For it should
—“to one of these four ends conduce,For wisdom, piety, delight or use.”
—“to one of these four ends conduce,For wisdom, piety, delight or use.”
—“to one of these four ends conduce,For wisdom, piety, delight or use.”
—“to one of these four ends conduce,
For wisdom, piety, delight or use.”
Incorporated herein are the best things of many books; the thoughts of noble men which by the power of a just appreciation and of a retentive memory may be made one’s own. Of those who have written introductions to this work, some have since retired from their official positions, and some are dead. The stories gathered from many sources illustrate great principles, which, if carefully heeded will conduce to a happy and manly life; for
—“He most livesWho thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”
—“He most livesWho thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”
—“He most livesWho thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”
—“He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”
Yours truly. William P. Pearce.’
Success Maxims1. Have a definite aim.2. Go straight for it.3. Master all details.4. Always know more than you are expected to know.5. Remember that difficulties are only made to be overcome.6. Treat failures as stepping stones to further effort.7. Never put your hand out farther than you can draw it back.8. At times be bold; always be prudent.9. The minority often beats the majority in the end.10. Make good use of other men’s brains.11. Listen well, answer cautiously, decide promptly.12. Preserve, by all means in your power, “a sound mind in a sound body.”
1. Have a definite aim.
2. Go straight for it.
3. Master all details.
4. Always know more than you are expected to know.
5. Remember that difficulties are only made to be overcome.
6. Treat failures as stepping stones to further effort.
7. Never put your hand out farther than you can draw it back.
8. At times be bold; always be prudent.
9. The minority often beats the majority in the end.
10. Make good use of other men’s brains.
11. Listen well, answer cautiously, decide promptly.
12. Preserve, by all means in your power, “a sound mind in a sound body.”