THINGS THOUGHTFUL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 18 June 1932, Page 10

THINGS THOUGHTFUL

WEALTH It is one of the strangest ironies of human experience that the man who has collected wealth should so often miss the exhilaration of distributing it, and transfers to his heirs a resource of happiness and self-respect which should have been enjoyed by himself. To bequeath wealth to worthy causes has its merits, though it is no conclusive evidence of generosity to give away what one can no longer keep; but *to grow old with means which might be distributed without injustice to heirs, and to miss the happiness of giving, is to find in old age mere decadence where one might find unanticipated joy.—Professor F. G. Peabody. * * * * WHAT DO I GAIN? If T lay waste and wither up with doubt The blessed fields of heaven where once my Faith Possessed itself serenely safe from death; If T deny things past finding out; Or if I orphan my own soul of One That seemed a Father, and made void the place Within me where He dwelt in Power and Grace, What do I gain by that I have undone 9 —William Dean Howells. * * * * “BECOMING” LIFE Life seems to me not a state of being biit a process of becoming. —Henry Van Dvkc. * * * * VALUE OF A FRIEND Poor is the friendless master of world: A world in purchase for a friend is gain.—Dr. E. Young. INCENTIVES TO DILIGENCE To be rich, be diligent; move on Like heaven’s great movers that enrich the earth; Whose moments sloth would show the world undone, And make the spring straight bury all her birth: Rich are the diligent who can command Time—nature’s stock.—Davenant. FOLLOW THE. LEADER!

It is an instinct in our nature to follow the track pointed out by a few leaders; we are gregarious animals in a moral as well as a physical sense, and we are addicted t*o routine, because it is always easier to follow the opinions of others than to reason and judge for ourselves. —Dr. Paris. * * * * BEST THROUGH LOVE Self-denial, sympathy, and faith come best through love. —Besant. BAD MEN FOND OF FAME Men the most infamous are fond of fame; ■ And those who fear not guilt, yet start at shame.—Churchill. CHOICE OF DRESS Persons are oftentimes misled in JLheir choice of dress by attending to the beauty of colours rather than selecting such colours as may increase their own beauty.—Shenstone. * * * * THE RETURN OF ACTIONS Be vicious, and viciousness may go down as all heirloom in lialf-a-hundred families; be inconsistent, and enmity to the Gospel may be propagated over a parish; give occasions of offence, and many may fall; those who are entering in the narrow way may be discouraged, and those who have already entered may be made to stumble. Ye live not for yourselves; ye cannot live for yourselves; a thousand fibres connect you with your fellow-men, and along those fibres, as along sympathetic threads, run your actions as causes, and return to you as effects. —Canon Melvill. * * * * INTELLECTUAL ACUTENESS Merc intellectual acuteness, divested as it is, in too many cases, of all that is comprehensive and great and good, is to me more revolting than the most helpless, seeming to be almost like the spirit of Mephistopheles.—Dr. Arnold. LONG ENGAGEMENTS

Long engagements are like opiumeating: all the raptures are at the beginning, and are dearly purchased by the feverish excitement and startling tremors which assail us as we proceed.—Abdv. * * * * RIGHT EDUCATION Some, as corrupt in their morals as vice can make them, have been solicitous to have their children virtuously and piously educated. —Dr. South. DEPORTMENT Be reserved, but not sour; grave, but not formal; bold, but not rash; humble, but not servile; patient, but not insensible; constant, but not obstinate; cheerful, but not light. Rather be sweet-tempered than familiar; familiar, rather than iri.tiuM.te; and intimate with very few, and with these few upon good grounds.—William Penn. FORMATION OF MIND Consider if that mind which is in your body does order and dispose, it every way it pleases, why should not that wisdom which is in the universe be able to order all things therein also, as seemeth best to it? And if your eye can discern things several miles distant from it, why should it be thought impossible for the eye of God ,to behold all things both here and Egypt, and in Sicily; why may not the great mind or wisdom of Gocl he able to take care of all things, in all places ? —Socrates. # # * # MENTAL EXERCISE By looking into physical causes our minds are opened and enlarged; and in this pursuit, whether we take or whether we love the game, the chase is certainly of service.—Burke. *■*•*■» MEN ARE NATURALLY AMBITIOUS There are few men who are not ambitious of distinguishing themselves in the nation or country where they live, and of growing considerable with those with whom they converse. There is a kind of grandeur and respect which the.meanest and most insignificant part of mankind endeavour to procure in the little circle of their friends and acquaintances. The poorest mechanic, nay, the man who lives upon common aims, gets him his set of admirers, and delights in that superiority which lu> enjoys over those who are in some respects beneath him. This ambition., which is natural to the, soul of man, might, methitrks, receive a very happy turn; and, if it were rightly directed, contribute, as much to li person’s advantage as it generally docs to his uneasiness and his quiet.—Addison. ■ * * « INCONSISTENT MEN How frfiil • and “inconsistent are men!

How differently they think and act, even for themselves, in different circumstances! How strangely does the passion of pride seek for gratification from contrary causes, from pursuing ideal good, stud from giving up that which is attainable and real One moment a man strains at a gnat, applauding himself for sagacity, in the next not suspecting himself of credulity when he swallows a camel.—Parr.