THINGS THOUGHTFUL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 16 April 1932, Page 10

THINGS THOUGHTFUL

AMBITION AND VIRTUE Though ambition itself be a. vice, it is often the cause of great virtue. Give me that wit whom praise excites, glory puts on, or disgrace grieves; he is to lie nourished with ambition, pricked forward v r itli honour, cheeked with reprehension, and never to be suspected of sloth.—Ben Jonson. * * * * THE BLESSING OF FREEDOM Freedom is the first wish of our heart; freedom is the first blessing of our nature; and, unless w r c bind ourselves with the voluntary chains of interest or passion, we advance in freedom as we advance in years.— —Edward Gibbon. * * * « MEN LIKE SUN-DIALS T have known some men possessed of good qualities, which were very serviceaide to others, hut useless to themselves; like a sun-dial on the front of a house, to inform the neighbours and passengers, but not the owner within. —Swift. * c if * OUR DEFECTS Tt is in general more profitable to reckon up our defects than to boast of our achievements.—Carlyo. v- * * ’ * THE REWARD OF LABOUR Generally speaking, the'life of all truly great men has been a life of intense and incessant labour. —Sydney Smith. * * * ’ « * NOT OUR BUSINESS We have neither leisure nor responsibility for weighing in the scales of our personal moral judgment everything that happens; what is not our business we had best leave to those whose business it is. —Bishop Thorold. * « * » ON LOVING The more tenderly and warmly one loves, so much more does he discover in himself defects rather than charms, that render him not worthy of the beloved. Thus are our little faults made known to us, when wo have' ascended the higher stpps : ,of religion. Tliq more we' satisfy th’eTdemands of conscience the stronger they become. Love and religion arc here like the sun, By mere daylight .and Jorchlight. the' air of the apa f tmen& is pure and undisturbed by a single particle; hut let-in a sunbeam, and how much dust and motes arc. hovering,.-about!—J. P. Richter. **■ « * FALSEHOODS TRAVEL FAST • A lie travels round; the world while Truth is puttingihi her boots. . < —C. H. Spurgeon. * * * # LIFE A sacred burden is this life ye hear, Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly, Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly.—Frances Anne Kemble. # » * * TIME WELL HUSBANDED A man’s time, when well husbanded, is like a cultivated field, of which a few acres produces more of what is useful to life than extensive provinces, even of the richest soil, when overrun with weeds and brambles. —Hume. **. * * THE TELL-TALE BLUSH The man that blushes is not quite a brute.—Young. » # * * MEN OF CHARACTER Character is moral order seen through -thp medium of lan individual nature. Men of' character are the conscience of the society to which they belong. —R. W. Emerson. # * * * THE RESPONSIVE HEART No one is so accursed hv Fate, . No one so utterly desolate, But some heart, though unknown, Responds unto his own. —Longfellow. **. * * THE NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF MAN.

Consider the nature and circumstances of man. Introduced into the world in ail indigent condition, he is supported at first by the care of others; and as soon as lie begins to act for himself finds labour and industry to be necessary for sustaining his life and supplying his wants. Mutual defence give rise to society, and society, when formed, requires distinctions of property, diversity of conditions, subordination of ranks, and a multiplicity of occupations, in order to advance the general good. The services of the poor and the protection of the rich become reciprocally necessary. The governors and the governed must co-operate for general, safety. Various arts must he studied; some respecting the cultivation of the mind, others the c;u;e of the body; some .to ward off the evils and some to provide the conveniences of life. In a word, by the destiny of his Creator, and the necessities of his nature, man commences, at once, an active, not merely a contemplative, being. Religion assumes him as such. It supposes him employed in this world, as on a busy stage. It regulates, but does not abolish, the enterprises and cares of ordinary life. It addresses itself to the various ranks in society; to the rich and the poor, to the magistrate and the subject. It rebukes the slothful; directs the diligent how to labour; and requires every one to do his own business. —Blair. #** • * SING FROM THE SOUL. He whose soul does not sing, need not try to do it with his throat. —Carlyle. ' * * * * A CONSOLING REFLECTION Be thankful that your lot has fallen on times when, though there may be many evil tongues and exasperated spirits, there are none who have lire and faggot at command. —Southey. * * * » TELL THE TRUTH He that opposes his own judgment against the consent of the times, ought to he backed with unanswerable truths; and he that hath truth on his side is a fool, as well as a coward, if he is afraid to own it because of the currency or multitude of other men s opinions.—He Foe. * * * * LIVING PEACEABLY Living peaceably implies not merely some few transitory performances, proceeding from casual humour or the like! but a constant, stable, and wellsettled condition of being, a continual cessation from injury, and promptitude to do good offices. —Isaac Barrow. * * * * “ONLY A LODGER” When a smart Jit of sickness tells me, this scurvy tenement of my hotly will fall in a little time, I am even as unconcerned as was that honest Hibeinian who, being in bed in tbc gieat storm some years ago and told t le bouse would tumble over bis bea , made answer, “What care I, for the house? I am only a lodger!” Alexander Pope.