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POLITENESS SHOULD BE ACCORDED ALL.

Politeness is a universal debt that each boy owes to every person. The matter of caste, sex, position and intelligence have nothing whatever to do with it. It should be the rule of conduct wherever and in whatever society one may be, to practise politeness.

Charles V was renowned for his courtesy. When he passed John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, he took off his hat and bowed to him, though his prisoner, who had been taken by him in battle. The poet Burns was one day walking in the street of Edinburgh when an honest farmer saluted him, which salute he returned, when some one rebuked him. Mr. Burns replied that it was not the greatcoat, the scone bonnet or the saunders boot-hose that he spoke to, but the man that was in them. Daniel Webster was once walking with a friend in Washington when a colored man passing by bowed very low to him. Mr. Webster promptly returned as deep an obeisance. "Do you bow in that way to a darky?" asked his friend. "Would you have me outdone in politeness by a negro?" replied the great statesman.

WHAT POLITENESS DID.

Mr. Winans, of Philadelphia, became independently rich through his courteous manner. One day two strangers called on him. One was a foreigner who had visited some larger establishments in the city, but on their coming to Mr. Winans', a third or fourth rate factory, he took so much pains to show all its parts and workings, and was so patient in his explanations and answers to their inquiries, that within a year he was surprised by an invitation to transfer his labors to St. Petersburg and manufacture locomotives for the Czar of Russia, He went, accumulated a large fortune, and ultimately received from his Russian workshops a hundred thousand dollars a year. Investing his money in real estate he laid the foundation of one of the largest private fortunes in Philadelphia; and all this was the result of civility.

It pays to cultivate politeness. To this day the Japanese people revere the memory of General Grant. While visiting the emperor, he was invited to cross the imperial foot bridge near the palace at Tokyo, across which none but the blood royal had ever trod. General Grant accepted the invitation and walked beside the Mikado until they reached the center of the bridge. Then he stopped, profoundly saluted the emperor, and said: "Your majesty, I have come so far to show you that I was not insensible to the honor you would do me, but I cannot violate your traditions. Let us return the way we came."

BY JOSHUA LEVERING

It is related of Cyrus, that when asked what was the first thing he learned, he replied, "To tell the truth." Truthfulness is the foundation stone of character. Without it, a life, as it is developed, becomes more and more marred and falls short of its highest opportunity and calling. All qualifications that go to make up noble manhood count for naught, where there is not a persistent adherence to truthfulness. Therefore be true to yourself and the nobler impulses and yearnings of your heart by always speaking the truth, acting the truth, and living the truth.

While a vessel was crossing the English Channel, a gentleman stood near the helmsman. It was a calm pleasant evening, and no one expected a storm. The flapping of a sail as if the wind had suddenly shifted, caught the ear of the officer on watch, and springing to the wheel, he examined the compass. "You are half a point off the course," he sharply said to the man at the wheel. The deviation was corrected, and the officer returned to his post. "It must be necessary to steer very accurately," said the observer, "if half a point is of so much importance." "Ah!" remarked the officer, "a half a point, sir, is liable to bring us directly on the rocks." What a lesson for every boy. The half a point deviation from strict truthfulness strands one on the rocks of falsehood.

WHAT IS A LIE?

The shortest definition of a lie is, "The intention to deceive." It may not be telling an out-and-out falsehood to conceal a crime, or to shield one's self, but telling it to mislead or deceive others. "The essence of the thing," said Dewey, "lies in the intention," and if the intention is to mislead, such, as Immanuel Kant says, "is forfeiture of personal worth, a destruction of personal integrity." As he contends, "a lie is the abandonment, or, as it were, the annihilation of the dignity of man." It will undermine the noble instincts of any boy and cause his character to collapse.

TELL THE TRUTH.

A story of Abraham Lincoln shows his love for truth. It was a bright autumn evening, when Abraham, a great awkward boy of sixteen or seventeen said to his mother, "I'm going to the woods to-morrow. I've got a good job at Laird's and as I shall be obliged to start by day-break, I thought there might be some chores you wished to have done." "You are a good boy, Abram, always thinking of helping me," said his step-mother. "If I was your own mother you could not be more kind, and God will reward you sometime. To-morrow, I am going to wash, and I would be very thankful if you would bring me a few buckets of water from the spring." Back and forth the tall boy hurried, until all the tubs and kettles about the cabin were filled. Early next morning, when Abraham was ready to start for the place where the rails were to be split, his little sister Sally said, "Can't I go, Abram?" "Just as mother says," replied he, pausing to give the little girl an opportunity to consult her mother. The mother would not consent. No sooner had Abram started than she determined to follow him, and at once cut across the field intending to reach the ravine before him and give him a genuine surprise by jumping out unannounced in the path as he came up. She carried out her plan successfully, and when she heard his merry whistle in the distance she climbed upon the bank to be ready to make the spring for his shoulders when the proper moment arrived. But the poor child had forgotten all about the sharp axe which he carried, and although she gained her coveted seat on his broad shoulders, her little bare foot received a gash from the cruel axe, which changed her merry laugh into a bitter cry. "Why, Sally! How did you get here?" was all the boy could say as he placed her tenderly on the bank and began an examination of the wounded foot. Finding it to be a deep cut, he gathered some broad plantain leaves which grew near, and by their aid soon succeeded in staunching the flow of blood. This accomplished, he tore the sleeve from his shirt, and in his clumsy way bandaged the injured foot. Carrying her home, he learnt the story of her disobedience. She would have been willing to evade the truth in order to screen herself from her mother's displeasure, but honest, truthful Abraham would not permit this. "Tell the truth, Sally, no matter what the consequences may be," he insisted; "better suffer punishment than lie about it. I don't think mother will be hard on you when she sees how sorely punished you are; but never tell a lie to shield yourself, never." Such was the course taken through life by that boy who later became the honored President of these United States.

WHITE AND BLACK LIES.

"One should never lie," said Crispi, the great Italian statesman. "I will not stain speech with a lie," said Pindar. "The genuine lie is hated by all gods and men," said Plato. "That man has no fair glory," said Theognis, "in whose heart dwells a lie, and from whose mouth it has once issued." A lie is never justifiable, and to lie a little, is, as Victor Hugo remarked, "not possible." The person who lies tells the whole lie, lying in the face of the fiend, and "Satan has two names, Satan and lying." Therefore

WHAT LYING DOES.

Nothing so corrupts early simplicity, quickly destroys the nobler instincts, and depraves the heart as falsehood. If a boy will lie about one thing, can he be trusted in anything? If he is branded as a liar, what teacher will respect him, what business man will engage him, and what court will accept his testimony? "I have seldom known anyone," said Paley, "who deserted truth in trifles, who could be trusted in matters of importance." Oliver Wendell Holmes said: "Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all." It destroys confidence, establishes false relations among men, blights the bloom of life, and saps the vital springs of existence. It is the progenitor of all wrongs, oppressions, cruelties and crimes, and what boy is there who dare do it when God prohibits it?

WHAT LYING BRINGS.

Like begets like, thus lies beget lies. Said Owen, "One lie must be thatched over with another, or it will soon rain through." Lying brings misery. It troubles the conscience, destroys the peace of mind and makes one suspicious of others. Because of this, Eugene Field, when a young man, walked thirty miles to confess to his employer and to ask forgiveness for an untruth he had told him. Lying brings punishment, for "lying lips are an abomination unto the Lord." Because of this Elisha's servant was struck with leprosy, Ananias and Sapphira with death, and many others have had the seal of God's wrath placed upon them.

One day, as Archbishop Leighton was going from Glasgow to Dumblane, a storm of lightning and thunder burst upon him. He was observed, when at a considerable distance, by two men of bad character. They had not the courage to rob him; but, wishing to extort money from him, one said, "I will lie down by the wayside as if I were dead, and you shall inform the archbishop that I was killed by the lightning and beg money of him to bury me." When the Archbishop arrived, the wicked wretch told the fabricated story. The Archbishop sympathized with the pretended survivor, gave him money, and proceeded on his journey. But when the man returned to his companion, he found him really lifeless. Immediately he began to cry aloud: "Oh, Sir! he's dead! Oh, Sir, he's dead!" On this the Archbishop discovered the fraud and turning to the living man said, "It is a dangerous thing to trifle with the judgment of God." How much better and safer to speak the truth, for

Truthfulness is the foundation of character. It is the basis of true manhood. Its spirit pervades the closest relation and highest intercourse, its law holds the planets in their course, and it is the presiding principle of every true and noble life. A greater tribute could not be paid to anyone than "his word is as good as his bond." No more worthy epitaph or eloquent remark could be uttered of Colonel Huchurin, than when a friend, attesting the simplicity and nobility of him, said: "He never professed the thing he intended not." No eulogy can surpass Xenocrates of Petrarch, who, standing before an ecclesiastical tribunal where an oath had been required of others, said, "As for you, Petrarch, your word is sufficient."

An important conference was being held in the Executive Mansion in Washington. A caller had sent in his card, but either the caller was unwelcome or the time was quite unsuitable for his admission. One of the persons turned to a servant and said, "Tell the person who sent up the card that the President is not in." "No," said General Grant, "tell him no such thing." Then, turning to his friends, he remarked: "I don't lie myself, and I don't want any of my servants to lie for me."

"To the beloved memory of A righteous man

TRUTHFULNESS IS THE MOST HONORABLE AND SAFE COURSE.

Truthfulness underlies all honest and faithful work, all social confidence, all right fulfillment of relations and self-respect. It regulates lives and improves and elevates those it characterizes. It is one great secret of success in business, a magnet that draws confidence and wields a power second to none in the universe. A poor Persian boy was about to leave his mother's home, to engage in business in the city. Within the lining of his coat she sewed forty golden dinars which she had saved during years of labor. Before the boy started she cautioned him to beware of robbers as he went across the desert, and as he left the home, she said: "Fear God, and never tell a lie." The boy started, and toward evening saw in the distance the glittering minarets of the great city, but between the city and himself he saw a cloud of dust. It came nearer. Presently he saw that it was caused by a band of robbers. One of them approached him, and unceremoniously inquired what valuables he had. The boy answered with candor: "Forty golden dinars are sewed up in my garments." Discrediting the boy's story he wheeled his horse around and rode back to his companions. Soon another robber came and said: "Boy, what have you got?" "Forty dinars sewed in my garments," he answered. The robber laughed and rode away. At last the chief came and asked him what he had. The boy replied, "I have already told two of your men that I have forty dinars sewed up in my clothes." The chief ordered his clothes torn open, and the money was found. He was then asked what induced him to make such a revelation. "Because," said the boy, "I would not be false to my mother, whom I solemnly promised never to tell a lie." The robber leaned upon his spear and after reflecting said, "Wait a moment." He mounted his horse and rode back to his comrades, but soon returned dressed as a merchant. "Boy," said he, "art thou so mindful of thy mother, while I am insensible at my age of that duty I owe God? Give me thy hand, that I may swear repentance on it." He did so, and his followers were struck with the scene. Said he, "I am a merchant. I have a large business house in the city. I want you to come and live with me to teach me about your God, and you will be rich, and your mother some day shall come and live with us." Then one of the robbers turned to the chief and said, "You have been our leader in guilt, be the same in the path of virtue." And taking the boy's hand, they all promised to lead new lives.

Boys, speak only that which is true. You may do much good by it, although you may never lead a band of robbers to God and honesty. But--

TRUTHFULNESS IS THE WINNING SIDE.

Good old Matthew Henry used to say, "Truth is mighty and will prevail." "Falsehood," as one of the kings of Prussia said, "sometimes does good for twenty-four hours, but like a battle well fought, right comes off more than conqueror." Falsehood is always defeated. It shrinks at detection and in due time is compelled to confess. Truth is sure and has a firm foundation because it is an attribute of God. And "God and truth," said Theodore Parker, "are always on the same side." Therefore

BY GENERAL O. O. HOWARD

One moonlight night I was passing near a sentinel's post. It was during the winter of 1861-2, in front of Alexandria, Virginia, at Camp California. The sentinel, in some trouble, used rough, coarse language, closing with an oath. Approaching him, till I could see his face, think of my astonishment to find him, instead of a burly man of low life, a handsome boy of seventeen. I said to him pleasantly: "How could your mother have taught you to swear?" Dropping his head with a sudden shame, he answered, "She didn't, General. I learned it here." And indeed, it came from the influence of his associates.

One's language always gauges him.

Few things are more important and far-reaching than the use of words. If good, they

If bad, they corrupt and may flourish, as Carlyle said: "Like a hemlock forest after a thousand years."

One of the most historic structures in the world was the Campanile, or the bell-tower of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. Not long since it fell. One aged Lugui Vendrasco knew its danger. For ten years he had not ceased to beg the government to allow him to put the Campanile in better order. But his warnings were unheeded. One Sunday morning he took his son to see it. As the young man looked upon the crack he said, "That's nothing. A small crack like that can really do no harm to such a building." Replying, the father said, "Son, it is not the crack. It is that of which the crack is the effect and symbol. Our Campanile is doomed." The next morning it fell with an awful crash. In like manner many a man has come tumbling down. His character was not safe because of some flaw in it. Improper words prove its great defect as the crack did the weakness of the Campanile.

Stephen Price, once Mayor of New York, and a warm friend to boys, lost his life in a steamboat disaster. When his body was recovered, a scrap of paper was found in his pocket-book. It was so worn with oft reading that the words were scarcely legible, but two paragraphs were finally made out, one of which was: "Good company and good conversation are the very sinews of virtue." In fact, these are inseparable. Conversation is a reflex of character, and no boy can associate with another who delights in slangy, smutty talk without being more or less contaminated.

IMPROPER WORDS.

A very common and bad habit of some boys is the attachment of improper words to a sentence, as if it made it more binding. These in no sense give grace or beauty to language. They do not round out a period or enrich a metaphor. They define nothing, bound nothing, measure nothing, mean nothing, accomplish nothing, and he who uses them should be shunned. Vulgar expressions are never in order. "They help," as South says, "no one's education or manners. They are disgusting to the refined, abominable to the good, insulting to those with whom one associates, degrading to the mind, unprofitable, needless and injurious to society," and beneath the dignity of any self-respecting person. "Are there any ladies around?" said a young officer to a group of others, "I've a splendid story to tell." "There are no ladies present," said General Ulysses S. Grant, who overheard the remark, "but there are gentlemen here, sir, and what is not fit for a lady to hear, is unfit for a gentleman."

AVOID PROFANITY.

George Washington made the following law August 3, 1776, which he caused to be read to the men under his command: "The general is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in an American army, is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have but little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our armies if we insult Him by our impiety and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it."

Years ago the Hon. John Finch visited an asylum in the East and asked to see a certain professional gentleman committed there. He had been a good and true man, but by overwork, physical and mental, had wrecked himself and become a raving maniac. The superintendent of the asylum said, "You will not want to see him again, he swears so." As they entered the room in which the man was locked in a "straight jacket," the most vulgar oaths came from his lips. Touching the superintendent Mr. Finch said, "What can this mean? When I knew that man he was one of the grandest Christians, true, noble and good in every respect; and now to hear such vile language coming from him surprises me." The superintendent said, "He learned to swear when a boy. The impressions made on his brain at that period of life when the brain most readily receives impressions now become the governing ones. In this asylum we can almost uniformly tell what have been the habits, customs and abuses of insane people when they were children. The brain at such times receives impressions readily, the impressions are permanent, and if they have indulged in vile practices, or used bad language, the dethronement of reason and intelligent conscience will give to early impressions and habits the control of the mind." This being true, how careful every boy should be, for who wants the bad habits of youth noticeable in age?

AVOID BLASPHEMY.

There are many ways in which language may be improperly used, but none more unbecoming and attended with more serious consequences than blasphemy, or using the name of God or Christ with disrespect. It is a presumptuous sin against which God has declared: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," declaring with emphasis, "for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."

Sometimes, as Jacob Knapp said in his autobiography, "God steps aside from His ordinary course and smites presumptuous sinners dead, that they may stand as beacon lights to warn others to shun the rocks on which they struck." During the Black Hawk war, in Illinois, at the time when God sent the cholera among the people, an officer cursed God for sending the disease into their midst. With an awful oath he opened his mouth, and God smote him down even as the word trembled on his lips. Such cases are rare, yet the words, "will not hold him guiltless," show that He forgets not and that sometime He will hold the blasphemer accountable.

Howard, the philanthropist, on hearing anyone use blasphemous expressions, always buttoned up his coat. Being asked the reason, he replied, "I always do this when I hear men swear, as I think that anyone who can take God's name in vain can also steal." Nothing so chills one's blood as--

"AMEN!"

Many years ago when the Duke of Gordon was spending the day in a Scotch village a company of soldiers was drawn up under the window of the room in which the duke and a party of friends were enjoying themselves. The officer in command was inspecting his men's arms and clothes, and if anything displeased him he berated the soldier with blasphemous oaths. The duke, who abhorred such language, expressed a wish that the inspection might soon be over. "If your Grace desires it," said one of the company, "I will clear the coast of this man of oaths without noise or bloodshed." "Do so, and I'll be obliged to you," said the duke. The gentleman stepped into the street, took his station behind the officer and pulled off his hat. As the officer swore, the gentleman, with the grave solemnity of a parish clerk, said in a loud voice "Amen." "What do you mean?" asked the officer, hastily turning around. "I am joining with you in prayer," answered the gentleman with a grave face. "I thank you, sir," rejoined the officer, "but I have no further need for a clerk. Soldiers! to the right-about, march!" And he and his soldiers departed, much to the amusement and happiness of the duke, after teaching an important lesson to the officer that it is wrong to call upon God to do this or that, or to belittle others by vile epithets which never fail to bring in due time just retribution.

My boy, the only language to use is the pure and refined. By-words, slang phrases, profanity and blasphemy are only uttered by lips whose heart is bad, for "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Let your tongue utter sound sentences, choice words and pleasant expressions, then will they be musical to the ears of the good, sweet to the soul of the pious, educational to those who associate with you, and beneficial to all. From this day put into practice the last words of the eloquent John B. Gough. He was lecturing in the Presbyterian Church, Frankford, Pa., on the night of February 19, 1886. In the course of that lecture he said: "I have seven years in the record of my own life when I was held in the iron grasp of intemperance. I would give the world to blot it out, but alas! I cannot." Then, stepping forward, with an impressive gesture, he added, "Young man, keep your record--" but he was unable to finish the sentence, for he sank insensible into a chair from which he was never able to rise. Evidently he meant to say, "Young man, keep your record clean."

Do not forget that improper words have a reflex influence. A fable is told how a bee took an offering of honey to Jupiter, which so pleased him that he promised to grant the bee whatever it should ask. The bee said, "O glorious Jove, give thy servant a sting, that when anyone approaches my hive to take the honey, I may kill him on the spot." Jupiter answered, "Your prayer shall not be granted in the way you wish, but the sting you ask for, you shall have; and when anyone comes to take away your honey, and you sting him, the wound shall be fatal, not to him, but to you, for your life shall go with the sting." So is it to this day. He that curseth others, curseth himself. Therefore my boy, control your tongue, and keep the door of your lips, remembering:

BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Our natures are like oil; compound us with anything, Yet will we strive to swim to the top.

Writing of the gentleman who introduces this chapter--the Washington of his people in industry, education and religion, Paul Dunbar, the negro poet, says:

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