W V-2. 7/ .K33 Ill I llll II 022 204 599 A 4271 ELLOGG*S SCHOOL El ERT> Best School Entertainments FOR SPECIAL DAYS AND ALL DAYS What difficulties teachers have in trying to provide suitable material for school entertainments and how much money they spend without very satisfactory results. Here are forty-three books, made with the needs of the teachers in view, containing exercises of the most attractive kind for every school occasion. They give sufficient material for many years at a cost much less than would otherwise be expended for something that cannot prove as satisfactory. Kellogg's Practical Recitations, New selections from best authors. .25 Kellogg's Practical Dialogs, Short, natural, popular. - - - - .25 Kellogg's tittle Primary Pieces, Gems for little people. - - - .25 Kellogg's Primary Speaker, Simple rhymes for primary grades. - .25 Kellogg's Practical Declamations, About 100 good short speeches. .25 Kellogg's Special Day Exercises, 35 splendid selections. - - - .25 Kellogg's Mature Recitations, Poems about animals, flowers, seasons. .25 Kellogg's YanAmburgh's Menagerie, Simple, humorous play. - .15 Kellogg's His Roval Nibs, Easy dialog for boys and girls. - - - . | 5 Gannett s Who Killed Cock Robin and Marching in the School Room, (Illus.) Gymnastic play and designs for marching. - - .30 LambertonN Timothy Cloverseed, Laughable sketch for three characters. --------------.15 How to Celebrate Arbor Day, Origin of Arbor Day, tree planting .25 How to Celebrate Washington's Birthday 10 exercises, drills, etc. .25 How to Celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. All grades, songs, tableaux, recitations. --------- .25 Spring and Summer School Celebrations, For Easter, May D iy Memorial Day, July 4, Closing Day. --- .35 New Year and Midwinter Exercises, Complete programs on Dickens, Burns, New Year, Winter. -- .25 Fancy Drills aud Marches, Attractive and appropriate for all holidays. .25 Christmas Entertainments, Tableaux, 5 short plays, new songs .25 Authors' Birthdays, No. 1, Longfellow, Bryant, Hawthorne, Holmes, Burns, Dickens, Shakespeare. - .25 Authors' Birthdays, No. £, Whittier, Emerson, Lowell, Irving, Milton Tennyson, Scott. -- '-__. .25 Primary Recitations. New. 100 selections, bright and sparkling. - .25 Patriotic Quotations, Over 300 selections, to inspire love of country. .25 Quotation Book for Grammar Grades, New. 340 short, extracts. .25 Tip Top Dialogs, A brand new collection, delightfully humorous. - .25 Lincoln the Patriot, Speeches, anecdotes, sketch, portrait. - - .15 At the Court of King Winter, For Christmas. "Winter, Winds, Santa Olaus, etc. ------ -------..15 A Visit from Mother Goot«e, Christmas play for primary pupils. .15 An Object Lesson in History. Historic scenes about Boston. - ,15 Banner i>ays of the Republic, Patriotic Songs with pretty cos- tumes. - - - - - - -- - - - - - - . ,15 Mother Nature's Festival, For Spring. Birds, flowers, trees, April, May. .15 Christmas Star, A fancy drill with songs and recitations. 10 girls. - .1^5 Primary Fancy Drills, Fan Fairies for little girls. Ring Drill for 24 child. .15 New Year's Reception. Musical Characters, New Year, Old Year, etc,', 15 Wori* Conquers*, Closing exercises for 11 boys and 8 girls. .15 A Fancy Scarf Drill. Music, and 30 movements. For girls. - - .15 A Noble Spy, A play for boys. Six acts. Historical. - .15 Mother Goose Festival, Musical entertainment. Very attractive. .15 Little Red Riding-Hood, Musical play. Full directions for costumes. .15 A Christmas Meeting, for 25 children. Dryads, Jack Frost, Father Time,. 15 Arbor Day in Primary Room, Recitations and songs for small children. 1 5 A Visit from Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus For 21 or more— all grades. .15 New Arbor Day Exercise^ , A single but complete program. - - .15 Twenty-Four Page Program for Arbor Day, A fresh, new pro- gram ready for use- .10 Askfor free copy Kellogg's School Entertainment Catalog, 700 books described. E. L. KELLOGG & CO., 61 E. 9th St., New York PRACTICAL DECLAMATIONS PIECES TO SPEAK FOR SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENT ARRANGED BY AMOS M. KELLOGG Editor of The School Journal, The Teachers Institute, Author op School Management . ,*> NEW YORK AND CHICAGO E. L. KELLOGG & CO. tf- \ KELLOGG'S LATEST Scbool Entertainment Boofce LATEST ISSUES Kellogg's Practical Recitations - 25c. Kellogg' s Practical Dialogs - - - 25c. Kellogg' s Little Primary Pieces - - - 25c. Kellogg's Primary Speaker - - - 25c. Kellogg's Practical Declamations - - 25c. Kellogg' s Special Day Exercises - - - 25c. Kellogg's Nature Recitations - 25c. Gannett's Who Killed Cock Robin, and Marching in the School-Room (ill us.) 30c. Kellogg's— Van Amburgh's Menagerie - 15c. Kellogg's Months of the Year - - - 15c. Kellogg's New Patriotic Exercises - - 1 5c. Lambarton's Timothy Clover Seed - - 15c. Kellogg's The Wonderful Doctor, and Troubles Everywhere - - - - 15c. Kellogg's His Royal Nibs - - - - 15c. OTHER VALUABLE 'BOOKS IN THE SERIES Kellogg's Spring and Summer School Cele- brations ------ 25c. Kellogg's Authors' Birthdays, No. 1 - - 15c. Kellogg's Authors' Birthdays, No. 2 - - 25c. Kellogg's Primary Recitations - - - 25c. Kellogg? s;Nfesw Year and Midwinter Exercises 25c. Kellogg's; Ti£ Top Dialogs - - - 25c. Keltdggfs'How to Celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas ----- 25c. "Ke^logg'S £ hjistmas Entertainment - - 25c. JCgllogg's y # oAv to Celebrate Washington's Birtrtday - • - - - - 25c. Kellogg's Patriotic Quotations - - - 25c. Kellogg's Quotation Book - - - - 25c. Kellogg's New Fancy Drills and Marches - 25c. Kellogg's Home Coming of Autumn's Queen 25c. KeMogg's Arbor Day in the Primary Room 15c. Kellogg's Lincoln the Patriot - - - 15c. Kellogg's Flag Day in the School-Room - 15c. Kellogg's Primary Fancy Drills - - - 15c. a- Copyright 1903 by E. L. KELLOGG & CO., New York. IX- ? &o A Contents. PAGE Success in Life 5 The Grandeur of Labor 6 Summer 8 The Value of an Enemy 8 What is Your Way ? 9 Your Time Will Come 10 Things to Remember n The Statue of Liberty 12 Eloquence . 13 The Boys Know Something 14 Ossian's Address to the Sun 15 Take Care of No. i 16 A Sermon on Rum 17 Beware of Alcohol 18 Fun 19 Mind Your Business 20 The Giant in the Coal-Bin 21 Real Power 22 Advice to Girls 23 What an Enemy Does for You 24 A Boy's Troubles ^ 25 The Rights of Animals 26 A Modern Dragon : 27 Your Father and Your Mother 28 Be Unselfish 29 South Carolina and Massachusetts 30 The Fame of Washington 31 The Indian to the White Man 32 The Battle of Saratoga 34 What to Expect. 35 Determine Not to Drink 36 Good Habits 37 The True Girl 37 Pride of Ancestry 38 Make Friends 40 Don't Whine 41 Push 42 3 Contents PAGE Advice to Girls 42 Work or Spoil 44 Capital 45 How to Get Him 46 A Sermon 47 Strive for the Best. 48 Valedictory 49 Death of Caesar 51 The Story of Garfield 52 The Mind and Its Creations 57 Night Reflections 60 The Rule of Life 61 What the World Owes Us 62 Peter Cooper 63 Death and Immortality 65 A Great Inheritance 66 Demosthenes to the Athenians 67 The Result of Effort 68 Intemperance 70 A Sermon on Tobacco 70 Liberty and Drunkenness 71 Being a Boy 72 Two Kinds 'of Foolishness 74 Advice to a Young Man 75 Our Homes 76 You Must Work Your Own Way 77 Adam or Liberty 78 Politeness 79 Gaining Success 80 Signs of Hard Times 81 Unsolved Mysteries 82 Advice to Girls 83 Look Up 84 Keep from the Saloon 85 True Success 86 Do It for Yourself 86 You Must Try 88 The Rumseller's Speech 89 Cheek 89 A Valedictory Address 90 Employ Your Intellect 92 A Closing Address 93 Work. 94 {Practical Declamations.) practical Reclamations. Success in Life. What is success? Is it beginning poor and getting large wealth ? It is true that most people take this view of the case, but it is a very narrow one. The example of Stewart, the merchant prince, has been held up before thousands of young men; but did he make a success of his life? He came to this country from Ireland" he began to sell goods in a small way, but at last L - had a large store in the city of New York. He accu mulated an immense fortune, for he had excellent business tact. So far he was successful, but the ancient Greek maxim must be borne in mind, " Count no man happy until he is dead." After he is dead it is easy to measure him up. What did he with his millions — that is the question. He built a grand hotel in Saratoga; it became noted chiefly because it excluded the Jews. He built a home for working women, but made rules so unjust that they would not accept it. A town was laid out ostensibly for workingmen, but workingmen do not find it a place they like. A cathedral was built de- signed as a mausoleum for the merchant's bones, but his bones for a long time could not be found. At 6 practical Exclamation^ last the business that once gave employment to several thousand persons had to be closed up. The name of Stewart has been cited because he rose from poverty to great wealth, but yet was not a type of a successful man. Thousands are most suc- cessful who never attain to great riches. The Grandeur of Labor. The dignity of labor! Consider its achievements! Dismayed by no difficulty, shrinking from no exer- tion, exhausted by no struggle, ever eager for re- newed efforts in its persevering promotion of human happiness, " clamorous labor knocks with its hun- dred hands at the golden gate of the morning," ob- taining each day fresh benefactions for the world! Labor clears the forest and drains the morass and makes "the wilderness rejoice and blossom as the rose." Labor drives the plow, scatters the seeds, reaps the harvest, grinds the corn, and converts it into bread, the staff of life. Labor gathers the gossa- mer web of the caterpillar, the cotton from the field, the fleece from the flock, and weaves it into raiment, soft and warm and beautiful — the purple robe of the prince and the gray gown of the peasant being alike its handiwork. Labor molds the brick, and splits the slate, and quarries the stone, and shapes the column, and rears not only the humble cottage but the gorgeous palace, the tapering spire, and the stately dome. Labor, diving deep into the solid earth, brings up its long-hidden stores of coal to feed ten thousand furnaces, and in millions of habitations to defy the winter's cold. Labor explores the rich veins of deeply buried rocks, extracting the gold and silver, the copper and tin. Labor melts the iron and molds it into a W$z ^ranfieur of 3labor* 7 thousand shapes for use or ornament, from the massive pillar to the tiniest needle, from the ponderous anchor to the wire gauze. Labor hews down the gnarled oak, and shapes the timber, and builds the ship, and guides it over the deep, plunging through the billows and wrestling with the tempest, to bear to our shores the produce of every clime. Labor, laughing at difficulties, spans majestic rivers, carries viaducts over marshy swamps, suspends bridges over deep ravines, pierces the solid mountain with its dark tunnel, blasting rocks and filling hollows, and, while linking together, with its iron but loving grasp, all nations of the earth, verify- ing, in a literal sense, the ancient prophecy, " every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low!" Labor draws forth its delicate iron thread, and stretching it from city to city, from province to prov- ince, through mountains and beneath the sea, realizes more than fancy ever fabled, while it constructs a chariot on which speech may outstrip the wind, for the telegram flies as rapidly as thought itself. Labor, a mighty magician, walks forth into a region uninhabited and waste. He looks earnestly at the scene so quiet in its desolation, then, waving his won- der-working wand, those dreary valleys smile with golden harvests, the furnace blazes, the anvil rings, the busy wheel whirls round, the town appears. The mart of commerce, the hall of science, the temple of religion, rear their lofty fronts. A forest of masts, gay with varied pennons, rises from the harbor; repre- sentatives of far-off regions make it their resort. Science enlists the elements of earth and heaven in the service of labor. Art, awakening, clothes its strength with beauty. Civilization smiles, Liberty is glad, Humanity rejoices, Piety exults, when the voice of Industry is heard in the land. — Newman Hall. 8 practical Declamations Summer. They may tell me all they please that cold weather is bracing, that it destroys the fever and all that, but for all that, I am for the summer. Do you ask me why? I will tell you. In winter I have to split twice as much wood and carry up four times as much coal, and get up five times as early to light five times as many fires, and go on four times as many errands in the bleak wind as I do in summer; and if I come in with snow on my shoes, or leave the door open, I — but I will not speak of it in public it is too, too harrow- ing (weeps)! Oh, give me the summer, the calm golden summer, when I can go swimming eight times a day, and go bull-frogging, and eat green apples. In summer, if I remember, the circus comes around, the band begins to play, and every boy is there to see the man that turns the double somersault over backward and not sprain himself at all. In the golden summer comes the Sunday-school picnic, and then the ice cream and cake taste particularly nice. It is in summer that I eat my strawberry shortcakes and gooseberry pie. Vacation comes in summer, in fact about every thing that is good for boys comes in the summer. Mr. Speaker, sir, I am decidedly for summer. The Value of an Enemy. Always keep an enemy on hand, a brisk, hearty, active enemy. For the having one is proof that you are somebody. Wishy-washy, empty, worthless people never have enemies. Men who never move never run against anything; and when a man is thoroughly dead and utterly buried nothing ever runs against him. WW is ^our WW ? 9 To be run against is proof of existence and position; to run against something is proof of motion. True, an enemy is not partial to you. He will not flatter you. He will not exaggerate your virtues. It is very probable that he will slightly magnify your faults. The benefit of that is twofold; it permits you to know that you have faults, and are, therefore, not an angel, and it makes them of such size as to be visible and manageable. Of course, if you have a fault you desire to know it; when you become aware that you have a fault you desire to correct it. Your enemy does for you this valuable work which your friend cannot perform. — Rev. Dr. Deems. What is Your Way? Some people have queer ways; for instance, Sammie, a little friend of mine, always slams the door after him; he puts his feet down with such force that his approach on the hardwood floors of his mamma's artistic sitting-room is dreaded; he throws his school- books around and makes a commotion generally. "It is only my way," he says sometimes in apology. But it is a very unpleasant w T ay, Master Sammie. His sister has her own way of doing things, too. When asked to amuse the baby for a few moments, she is ready and willing; but she is so impatient with the little thing that in a short time it is crying. She is always in a hurry. Dinner is never soon enough for her; the family is always late in her estimation. Carrie is always wanting to start for school so as to be a half-hour early; and father and mother are kept in a continual state of excitement while the young daughter is around, for she means to be first at school. Their wavs are very unlike. io practical acclamations What is your way of doing things? Have you a pleasant way of speaking? Have you a way of mak- ing those about you happy? Have you a way of looking bright, even in the morning, for your own family? Have you a way of helping others? What kind of a way have you ? Stop and think. Your Time Will Come. The motto of the famous Maurice of Holland was, " Tandem fit sur cuius arbor"; "At length the twig becomes a tree." Your day is to come. It will first have a dawn though, and it may be a dawn strug- gling through clouds. You must confront all obsta- cles with a resolute will. There is great hope for the man who has a "must" in his vocabulary. Crom- well in the old w T ar-days said, "It may be difficult to raise so many men in so short a time, but let me assure you it's necessary and therefore must be done." It is no wonder that the sword of that man reached "from Land's End to John O'Groat's House." Have a will. Still, there may be a long waiting for results. You must be patient and remember that, notwithstanding all opposition, you count one. Philip of Spain used to say, "With time and myself, there are two of us." That was good mathematics. Time and a patient man will work wonders. Do not forget that you have a will, and to that add patience. It will be helpful to will and helpful to patience, and aid to start us and keep us going, if when young we remember how serious and real are the responsi- bilities beckoning us on. It was Garfield who said, "The children of to-day will be the architects of our country's destiny in 1900." From what mountain- top ®tyn%g to ftemember* u of observation could a young man have looked off and seen so grand a prospect opening before him as there is to-day? But youth ought not to forget that its best work will be in the character it makes. Victories for that which is pure, loving, noble, let it win, remembering that God is with them. George Fox said, "I saw that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love which flowed over the ocean of darkness." Faith in God, let us take out. Then we are ready for success or failure in the future. And what if we seemingly fail ? James Russell Low- ell says, "Not failure, but low aim, is crime." To him who sincerely tries, there is no such thing as absolute failure. — E. A. Rand. Things to Remember. A man cannot whip the world. Let him make up his mind to that at the very start, for the world has strength in its arms that no assault can batter down, no industry or perseverance can tire. No energy will bend these arms, no amount of pluck will break them. All a man's best efforts will be worse than thrown away if he undertakes to keep up any fool- ish sparring with this big world. No, no! The right way is to make friends with the world immediately, and tackle something smaller. The world will be glad of your friendship, too, for it wants you and needs you; it has something for you to do. If you will find out what that is and go at it, then your brains and energy will work wonders. If the world wants you for a surgeon and you try to be a farmer, you will fail; if the world wants you to invent machinery and you undertake to be a musi- cian, you will fail; if the world wants you for a teacher i2 practical Exclamations and you ship for a sailor, you will fail; if the world wants you to sing and you persist in making shoes, you will fail, — at the end of all your efforts failure will be written if you try to do what the world doesn't want you to do. The world wants and needs every man to do what he is by nature fitted for and what he can do best; he may have a hard struggle in doing this at first, but he is bound to win if he has pluck, for the world is on his side. But if a man is working contrary to his natural aptitude the whole world is against him; whatever his immediate, apparent success, he will be ultimately — and must be inevitably — a failure. The wise man will not fight against the world; but with it. The world is big and strong and he is little and weak; no matter how much energy and talent he has, no matter how good he is, the world is sure to beat. The Statue of Liberty. Two nations united to dedicate the greatest statue of modern times, " Liberty Enlightening the World," which will stand for ages as a monument, commemora- tive of the greatest fact of modern times, the fact that educated citizens can govern themselves. A hundred years ago only a few believed the fact, but now it remains undisputed wherever the sun shines on Chris- tian civilization. This magnificent statue stands in the harbor of New York and welcomes the emigrant as he lands on our shores. An eminent poet thus addresses it: Warder at ocean's gate, Thy feet on sea and shore, Like one the skies await When time shall be no more! (Eloquence* 13 What splendors crown thy brow ? What bright dread angel thou, Dazzling the waves before Thy station great? O wonderful and bright, Immortal Freedom, hail! Front, in thy fiery might, The midnight and the gale; Undaunted on this base Guard well thy dwelling-place: Till the last sun grow pale Let there be light! — Edmund C. Stedman. Eloquence. True eloquence does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshaled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire after it, they cannot reach it. It comes, if it comes at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, and native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments, and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men when their own lives and the fate of their wives, their children, and their country hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself, then, feels rebuked and subdued as in the presence of higher qualities. Then, patriot- ism, is . eloquent. Then, self-devotion is eloquent. 14 practical SDeclamattou^ The clear conception, outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man on- ward, right onward to his object — this, this is elo- quence; or, rather, it is something greater and higher than eloquence. It is action — noble, sublime, and godlike action. — Daniel Webster. The Boys Know Something. Beloved " grown-up folks": Don't imagine that you know it all, for you don't; the boys know something; give them a chance, and see if their ideas are not worth something. And, boys, let us set our wits to work, and prove how much we know. Show our elders that a fellow needn't be fifty years old before he knows anything. When you see an engine, or a contrivance of any sort, that is doing new work, look at it with your mind as well as your eyes, and see if you can't add something to it to make it do better. Some of the most important inventions have been the work of boys. The invention of the valve-motion to the steam-engine was made by one for Newcome's engine. There was no way to open or close the valves except by means of levers operated by the hand. New- come set up a large engine at one of the mines, and a boy, Humphrey Potter, was hired to work these valve- levers; although this was not hard work, yet it required his constant attention. He procured a strong cord, and made one end fast to the part of the engine that moves, and the other end to the valve-lever; and then had the satisfaction of seeing the engine move with perfect regularity of motion. A short time after the foreman came around, and saw the boy playing marbles at the door, Looking at the engine, he saw the in- ®#*ian 9 * &mxte* to tlje %>wn. 15 . genuity of the boy, and also the advantage of so great an invention. The idea suggested by the boy's in- ventive genius was put in a practical form, and made the steam engine an automatic- working machine. The power-loom is the invention of a farmer's boy who had never seen or heard of such a thing. He whittled one out with his jack-knife, and after he had got it all done, he, with great enthusiasm, showed it to his father, who at once kicked it to pieces, saying that he would have no boy about him who would spend his time on such foolish things. The boy was sent to a blacksmith to learn a trade, and his master took a lively interest in him. He made a loom of what was left of the one his father had broken up, and showed it to his master. The blacksmith saw that he had no common boy as an apprentice, and that the invention was a valuable one. He had a loom constructed under the supervision of the boy. It worked to their perfect satisfaction, and the blacksmith furnished the means to manufacture the looms, and the boy received half the profits. In about a year the blacksmith wrote to the boy's father that he should bring with him a wealthy gentleman who was the inventor of the celebrated power-loom. Judge of the astonishment at the old home, when his son was presented to him as the inventor, who told him that the loom was the same as the model that he had kicked to pieces but a year before. Ossian's Address to the Sun. O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! whence are thy beams, O Sun? thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty; the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But 1 6 practical 2T>eciamation& thou thyself movest alone: who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains them- selves decay with years, the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in the heavens; but thou art forever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course. When the world is dark with tempests, when thun- ders roll and lightnings fly, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more, whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art, perhaps, like me, for a season; thy years will have an end. Thou wilt sleep in thy clouds, careless of the voice of the morning. Exult, then, O Sun, in the strength of thy youth — age is dark and unlovely; it is like the glimmering light of the moon when it shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills, the blast of the north is on the plains, and the traveler shrinks in the midst of his journey. Take Care of No. i. I like that expression; I believe in taking care of No. i. But then No. 2 should have a chance. I can tell you there is considerable work to be done in taking care of No. 1. He needs so much looking after. If you do not watch him sharp he will eat and drink things that he ought not to. He will ruin his digestion by eating too much and too fast. He will poison himself with tobacco, because he sees some other foolish people do so. He will pour into himself a fluid that weakens his muscles, shatters his nerves, sets his brain on fire, and soon makes a wreck of him 3 Sermon on Hum* 17 generally, because some one asks him to. But he would not burn his house down if some one asked him — not he. Again No. i will neglect to bathe him- self for a whole week; he seems to have an antipathy to water until he gets used to it. Then he likes it. When you get him in the habit of taking good care of his body you will not have so much difficulty in getting him to take care of his mind, but he needs watching in that direction. One of the first things he needs to be told is not to read trashy books. He will need considerable spurring sometimes before he is ready to attack a difficult lesson. You will catch him using profane or vulgar expres- sions that he heard while in the company of bad boys. You will catch him deceiving people sometimes. Yes, he will even try to deceive you and make you think he means all right when he doesn't. I tell you you must keep your eye on No. i. Pin him down to the truth every time. You will find him some- times trying to take advantage of other people. He is terribly inclined to be selfish. He will tell you that he is looking out for himself, but he isn't, only for the lowest and meanest part of himself. Look out for No. 1, I say. A Sermon on Rum. Brethren: My text is one word — R U M, Rum. My first question is, are you empty-headed? If so, there is no use talking; but if you have sense, you must know that R stands for Rags, Ruin, and Rascality. U stands for you — the fellow that is listening, and nobody else. I want to ask what you are going to do about it. Are you going to do what a lot of other fellows want you to do, or will you do as you want to do ? Who tells you what to do ? Who is your boss ? 1 8 ^practical acclamations Is it the crowd, the gang, "all the other fellows," or is it YOU? What does M stand for? That depends on what you stand for; it depends on whether you stand at all, on your own legs or have to be propped up on some- body else's crutches. Yes, it all depends on you whether M will stand for Mumbling, Misery, Mendi- cancy, and Madness, or for Muscle, Money, and Manhood. Beware of Alcohol. There is a just prejudice against any man engaged in the manufacture of alcohol. I do not believe that anybody can contemplate the subject without preju- dice. All we have to do is to think of the wrecks on either side of the stream of death, of the suicides, of the insanity, of the poverty, of the destruction, of the little children asking weak and despairing wives for bread, of men of genius it has wrecked, the men struggling with imaginary serpents produced by this devilish thing; and when you think of the jails, of the almshouses, of the asylums, of the prisons, and of the scaffolds on either hand, I do not wonder that every thoughtful man is prejudiced against this vile stuff called alcohol. Intemperance cuts down youth in its vigor, man- hood in its strength, and age in its weakness. It breaks the father's heart, bereaves the loving mother, extinguishes natural affection, and brings premature age in sorrow to the grave. It produces weakness, sickness, death. It makes wives widows, children orphans, fathers fiends, and all paupers. It feeds rheumatism, nurses gout, welcomes epidemics, invites cholera, pestilence, and consumption. It covers the land with misery, idleness, and crime. jfun* 19 It engenders controversies, fosters quarrels, and cherishes riots. It crowds the penitentiaries and furnishes victims to the scaffold. It incites the father to butcher his helpless offspring, and the child to grind the parricidal axe. It burns up men, consumes women, bribes voters, corrupts elections, pollutes our institutions, and endangers the government. It de- grades the citizen and dishonors the statesman. It brings shame, terror, despair, and misery. It kills peace, ruins morals, wipes out national honor, then curses the world and laughs at its ruin. It does that and more — it murders the soul. It can cause all villanies, all crimes. It is the DeviPs best friend, and God's worst enemy. Beware of it. Fun. Boys were made to have fun. What is a boy good if he has no fun in him ? Everybody likes fun — or if they don't they ought to. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." That is as true as a jack-knife! I said boys were made for fun. Of course they are! Did you ever see a boy that wasn't full of it? — from the pegs of his boots to the top of his hat, winning over with it? Of course you didn't! A boy is as full of fun as a boiler of steam. Do you suppose you can keep it all shut in ? I tell you, No ! I tell you it must come out! If ever a poor bug, or fly, or anything else was to be pitied, so is a boy when the fun is shut in. To keep it in is like trying to hold in a steam-engine. Many a poor boy has tried it and couldn't do it! If you think he could — if you think we can — if you think boys can hold in the fun, all I have to say is, I wish you were a boy, and then — you'd "know how it is yourself !" 2o practical 2Deciamation& Mind Your Business. Nine-tenths of all that goes wrong in this world is because some one doesn't mind his business. When a terrible accident occurs, the first cry is that the means of prevention were not sufficient. Everybody declares we must have a new patent fire-escape, an automatic engine-switch, or a high-proof non-combustible sort of lamp-oil. But a little investigation will usually show that all the contrivances were on hand, and in good order; the real trouble was that somebody didn't mind his business; he didn't obey orders; he thought he knew a better way than the way he was told; he said, "Just this once I'll take the risk," and in doing so, he made other people take the risk, too; and the risk was too great. At Toronto, Canada, not long ago, a conductor, against orders, ran his train on a certain siding, which resulted in the death of thirty or forty people. The engineer of a mill at Rochester, N. Y., thought the engine would stand a higher pressure than the safety-valve indicated, so he tied a few bricks to the valve to hold it down; result: four workmen killed, a number wounded, and mill blown to pieces. The City of Columbus, an iron vessel fitted out with all the means of preservation and escape in use on shipboard, was wrecked on the best-known portion of the Atlantic coast, on a moonlit night, at the cost of one hundred lives, because the officer in command took it into his head to save a few ship-lengths in distance by hugging the shore, in direct disobedience of the captain's parting orders. The best-ventilated mine in Colorado was turned into a death-trap for half a hundred miners, because one of the number entered with a lighted lamp the gallery he had been warned against, Wqt &imt in tlje CoaUllBin* 21 Nobody survives to explain the explosion of the dynamite cartridge factory in Pennsylvania, but as that type of disaster is almost always due to heedlessness, it is probable that this instance is not an exception to the rule. What is most wanted in this world is people that will mind their business; all the devices, inventions, contrivances, you can shake a stick at won't insure safety; the real need is, automatic obedience, patent honesty, non- combustible brains, high-proof character. Men that can furnish these are in demand. Be sure, whatever your disadvantages, however humble your present position, your services will not long go a-beg- ging if you have that one faculty of minding your busi- ness. — WOLSTAN DlXEY. The Giant in the Coal-Bin. There is one there. Mr. Thomas A. Edison says there is. But nobody can find the key that will unlock his prison door. Wise men are searching for it every day, for it would be a great blessing to have such a stout giant about. I mean electricity. That would propel all our cars and boats, swiftly and silently, and would turn the wheels of all the machinery in our great factories. There would be no steam-engines to hiss, and roar, and scream; to fill the air with smoke, and gas, and cinders; to explode, and crush, and scald people. There would be no enormous gas-bills to pay; the giant could make all the light needed. There would be no fires to be built in the morning, no coal scuttles for boys to lug, no ashes for girls to sweep up; the giant would furnish all the heat needed to warm our houses and cook our food. Instead of 22 practical Declamation^ calling Bridget to put on more coal we would simply turn on a little more electricity. Car-fares would be reduced, and so would the whole cost of living. There would be no danger of our coal-mines giving out some day and our supply of fuel being cut off. Who will let the giant out? Perhaps the boy that is going to do it is now poring over his philosophy lesson. Study hard, boys, especially the chapter on electricity, and perhaps you will find the key that will open the giant's prison-door. — E. L. Benedict. Real Power. Wealth is power; talent is power, and knowledge is power. But there is a mightier force in the world than any of these — a power which wealth is not rich enough to purchase, nor talent strong enough to overcome, nor knowledge wise enough to overreach; all these tremble in its presence. It is truth — the most potent element in our social and individual life. Though tossed upon the billows of popular commo- tion, or cast into the seven-fold furnace of persecu- tion, or trampled into the dust by the iron heel of power, truth is the one indestructible thing in this world that loses in no conflict, suffers from no mis- usage and abuse, and maintains its vitality and com- pleteness after every result. All kinds of conspiracies have been exhausted to crush it, and all kinds of plans laid to vitiate and poison it; but none has suc- ceeded, and none ever will. We can be confident of nothing else in this world, but the safety and imperisha- bility of truth — for it is part of the Divine nature, and invested with the character of its author. It may often seem to be in danger; it is as much set upon #DtotC£ tO tittle 23 and assaulted now as ever; but history and experience ought to reassure our faith. It has never yet failed, and it never will. It has always accomplished its end, and always will. We may rest serenely upon it, and feel no alarm; we may anticipate its success, and enjoy its triumphs in advance. In this struggling life, what encouragement and comfort is there in this thought — that the man of truth and the course of truth have the certainty of success; they cannot fail. " Truth crushed to earth will rise again." It cannot be put down. Advice to Girls. Do not give up your studies as soon as you have finished school. Do not imagine that the climax is reached, and that your store of knowledge is suffi- cient to carry you through the world; that because you have graduated you have accomplished all you can do. You have really only made a beginning, and it is now that you are able to make improve- ment. I would impress upon the minds of every one that an hour passed each day in some useful study or reading — with the attention riveted upon the matter in hand — will do wonders toward keeping your mind from stagnation. Perhaps you are pretty, and such a favorite in society that you think there is no need of cultivating yourself further. Do not be flattered into believing this. Let me tell you something. Beauty fades. The body yields to disease and decay; but a beautiful mind will bring you love, sympathy, and respect. Do not, then, as soon as your school-days are over, throw aside your books with joy, thinking how happy you are "to be done with them"; but rather add to your books and your store of knowl- edge. 24 practical 2Deciamatton& The languages, the sciences, literature, the arts, all invite. If your school work has been well done, you must have developed a taste for something. Spend therefore a little time each day in vigorous mental discipline and your friends will have reason to admire you. What an Enemy Does for You. An enemy will keep you wide awake. He does not let you sleep at your post. There are two that always keep watch, namely, the lover and the hater. Your lover watches that you may sleep. Your hater watches that you may not sleep. He stirs you up when you are napping. He keeps your faculties on the alert. Even when he does nothing he will have put you in such a state of mind that you cannot tell what he will do next, and this mental qui vive is worth everything to you. An enemy will watch your friends. You need to know who your friends are, and who are not. When your enemy goes to one who is neither your friend nor your enemy, and assails you, the indifferent one will have nothing to say, or chime in, not because he is your enemy, but because it is so much easier to assent than to oppose, and especially than to refute. But your friend will take up cudgels for you on the instant. He will deny everything, and insist on proof, and proving is very hard work. There is not a truthful man in the world that could afford to under- take to prove one-tenth of all his assertions. Your friend will call your enemy to the proof, and if the indifferent person, through carelessness, repeats the assertions of your enemy, he is soon made to feel the inconvenience thereof by the zeal your friend mani- fests. Follow your enemy around and you will find & Wops troubles* 25 your friends, for he will have developed them so that they cannot be mistaken. The next best thing to having a hundred real friends is to have one open enemy. — Rev. Dr. Deems. A Boy's Troubles. What troubles the boy has! Poor fellow! He is born to evil and needs a multitude of corrections. He is spanked in the cradle, flogged at school, and licked by every bigger boy. He can appeal to no board of pardons. No tender-hearted governor, figuring for re-election, overlooks his misdeeds. The adminis- tration has no need of him or his influence. He is told: "Do not be out late and do not eat indigestible things.' ' But he does and suffers from dyspepsia. "Take care of your teeth " is one of the regulations. But if nobody looks the foolish boy lets his teeth take care of themselves. So he is sentenced to lose half of them and fined many dollars, to be paid over to the nearest dentist. "Do not bite on that broken tooth," he is told. But the boy tries it just to see what will happen, and instantly he gets such a pain in his jaw that makes him think he has been hit by a thunderbolt. " Do not run through that wet grass in your slippers/ ' is shouted to him from the upstairs window. But when the w T indow is closed he skips across the lawn, thinking no one can see him, and for this he is doubled up with rheumatism for years, and tortured all the rest of his life. He plays lawn-tennis until he steams from every pore. Then he hastens to refresh himself with a glass of clear cold ice- water. "Do not drink that ice-water; it will kill you." He will not believe that, and drinks 26 practical acclamation^ it. Often the sentence is immediately carried into execution. Sometimes the execution is preceded by hours or days of fearful agony, to teach him that these commands are not to be trifled with. He is told that going to school is essential; but he doesn't fancy it and plays " hookey," and then gets a third-rate position in life. He is told to leave the Indian literature alone, but he disobeys and goes around with a pumpkin on his shoulders instead of a sound head. In short, he needs line upon line, and good advice by the barrelful. The Rights of Animals. If there be any oppressed class that ought to have a convention and pass resolutions asserting their share in the general forward movement going on in this world, it is the animals — that class that can neither speak, read nor write. How many men are there who do not consider that they have a right to chase, hunt, and terrify wild animals in their native forests, simply for the excitement of mind and exercise it gives? The agony of terror excited by the chase, the victim's turnings and wind- ings and frantic doublings upon its track, are all part of the interest and excitement of the sport. Is this a Christian or heathen state of mind ? I ask you. Supposing that man, being the nobler creature, has a right to prolong his existence by taking the life of animals, does it follow that he should make an amusement of shooting or trapping them in circum- stances when he does not want them for food, and where the sole motive is the excitement? The English lion-hunter goes to South Africa to shoot every animal he meets, no matter what — lion, tiger, ostrich, giraffe or rhinoceros. He is thought £ potent SDragoit* 27 clever when his shot changes a splendid, joyous specimen of animal life into a festering mass of putres- cence! But though it manifest cleverness it shows inhumanity. Every man ought to ask himself on what is my right to this piece of my Creator's handiwork founded ? And, if not a sparrow falleth to the ground without His notice, is it not likely that He may have some feeling about animals that are worth many sparrows? Is it generous for a man to seize a horse, to use and appropriate his whole youth and strength, and then, in old age, tarde him off for some petty sum, and never inquire what becomes of him? Is it a noble act to steal upon the hardworking beaver and destroy him? Is it a worthy act to follow the harmless deer with dogs and finally put an end to his beautiful life ? No; let us curb this desire to destroy animal life that enjoys the world so much; let us put ourselves in their places; let us treat them as we would like to be treated. — H. B. Stowe. A Modern Dragon. In olden times when a flood or an earthquake, or any other great disaster destroyed human life and property, it was charged to be the work of a great dragon. Many stories are told about heroes who went out and killed those dragons, and thus saved the lives of their country- men; in fact, great books have been written about such men. Now, there is actually a dragon in the world to-day that is destroying thousands of human lives and millions of dollars worth of property every year. He seizes bright, handsome boys and changes them into the sallow, shrunken loafers that lounge about the streets and saloons with their mouths full of tobacco juice and vile oaths. He changes the prosper- 28 practical 2Deciamatton& ous young man into the ragged, filthy drunkard; the kind husband and father into the biute who beats his wife and chlidren to death. He takes away from men their hard-earned money, and leaves their wives and children to starve. He causes them to commit all manner of crimes. There is no end to the terrible deeds of this Dragon. All over the world people are praying to be delivered from him. The man who could succeed in killing him would receive the grati- tude of the whole world. Quite an army of people have enlisted to fight this Dragon, but have not got the best of him yet; there is not enough of them to kill him yet. Who will enlist to fight this Dragon? — the Dragon of Strong Drink. Your Father and Your Mother. Young America has some very queer ways, one is the names he gives to certain of his relations, such as "the governor," "the old man," "the old woman," "her highness." Who are these people that he speaks of in such a would-be-funny way ? Why, they are the ones who have worked hard for years, that he might have an easy time, who have worn blue jean and eaten johnny cake, that he might wear broadcloth and dine expensively. They are, of all people in the world, the ones whom he ought to delight to honor. They are his father and mother. What do you sup- pose is the reason he doesn't call them so? Perhaps it is because he is ashamed of them. Perhaps their grammar is a little crooked, but it sounds better than his slang. Their manners may be a little stiff and old-fashioned, but does his rowdyism make him ap- pear any better ? Ah ! Master Young America, I fear you have some foolish notions in your head. I fear those notions are in the place where your common JBt tlUnselfistK 29 sense ought to be. I don't ask you to take any advice from me; but I must tell you that you should be proud of that trembling mother who has spent her strength in caring for you. If you do not cherish them in their declining years you are not worthy of the loving parents who tenderly cared for you in your helpless infancy. Be Unselfish. We all have noticed people of whom we would never think of asking a favor. They appear pleasant, and friendly, and sometimes make presents to their friends; but let them be called upon to make some sacrifice, ask them to do something that gives them a little trouble, and we will find that they are not as unselfish as they seemed. If they comply at all, it is with such a very bad grace that we never ask them again. We thus find that their own ease is of more importance to them than others' comfort, their own enjoyment than others' pleasure. Such always remind one of Scrooge. You remember Scrooge, that " squeez- ing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner." I think the worst thing Dickens said of him was that "no children asked him what o'clock it was; no man or woman once in all his fife inquired the way to such and such a place of Scrooge." You remember it was the cold within that froze his features. It is the lack of kindness within that makes the unhappy appearance without. When there is sun- shine in the heart it will stream out — there is no keeping it in. Look at the unselfish boy. If grandma leaves her specs upstairs, he runs to get them before he is asked. When father wants the paper, he knows just who is ready to go for it. Mother does not have tQ hire him to do her errands ; no one asks of him but 30 practical acclamations once for anything that is in his power to do. Do you ask, what is his reward? Well he doesn't ask any — he is satisfied with the pleasure it gives him to help people. It is worth something to us to know that people are glad to have us come, sorry to have us go, and remem- ber us in love and gratitude when we are away. It is unselfishness, (thinking of and helping others) that makes the world worth living in; the heroes of the world are those that thought of others. South Carolina and Massachusetts. When I shall be found, sir, here in my place in the Senate, or elsewhere, to sneer at public merit, because it happened to spring up beyond the little limits of my own State or neighborhood; when I refuse, for any such cause, or for any cause, the homage due to Ameri- can talent, to elevated patriotism, to sincere devotion to liberty and the country; or, if I see an uncommon endowment of Heaven, — if I see extraordinary capacity and virtue in any son of the South, — and if, moved by local prejudice, or gangrened by State jealousy, I get up here to abate the tithe of a hair from his just char- acter and just fame, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth! Sir, let me remind you that, in early times, no States cherished greater harmony, both of principle and feeling than Massachusetts and South Carolina. Shoulder to shoulder they went through the Revolution; hand in hand they stood round the administration of Washington, and felt his own great arm lean on them for support. Unkind feeling, if it exist, alienation, and distrust, — are the growth, un- natural to such soils, of false principles since sown. They are weeds, the seeds of which that same great arm never scattered. — Daniel Webster, Wqt if ante of ^asfymgton* 3 1 The Fame of Washington. We have been told many times that Washington was not a genius, but a person of excellent common sense, of admirable judgment, of rare virtues. Genius we have been led to suppose to be the peculiar and shining attribute of some orator whose tongue can spout patriotic speeches, or some versifier whose muse can write "Hail Columbia," but not of the man who sup- ported the States on his arm, and carried America in his brain. The brilliant Charles Townsend, the motion of whose pyrotechnic mind was like the whiz of a hundred rockets, was a man of genius; but George Washington, raised above the level of even eminent statesman, and with a nature moving with the still and orderly celerity of a planet round the sun, dwindles in comparison into a kind of angelic dunce. By what definition do we award the name to the author of an epic, and deny it to the creator of a country? By what principle is it to be lavished upon him who sculptures in perishing marble the image of possible excellence, and withheld from him who built up in himself a transcendent character, indestructible as the obligations of duty and beautiful as her rewards? He belongs to that rare class of men who are broad enough to include all the facts of a people's practical life, and deep enough to discern the spiritual laws which animate and govern those facts. Caesar was merciful, Scipio was a master of self, Hannibal was patient; but it was reserved for Wash- ington to blend them all in one, and, like the lovely masterpiece of the Grecian artist, to exhibit, in one glow of associated beauty, the pride of every model and the perfection of every master. A conqueror, he was untainted with the crime of blood; a revolution- ist, he was free from any stain of treason; for aggres- 32 practical Exclamations* sion commenced the contest, and his country called him to the command. Liberty unsheathed his sword, necessity stained, victory returned it. If he had paused there, history might have doubted what station to assign him; whether at the head of her citizens, or her soldiers, her heroes, or her patriots. But the last glorious act crowns his career and banishes all hesitation. Who, like Washington, after having emancipated a hemisphere, resigned its crown and pre- ferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration of a land he might be almost said to have created? Just honor to Washington can only be rendered by observing his precepts and imitating his example. He has built his own monument. We and those who came after us, in successive generations, are its ap- pointed, its privileged guardians. The widespread republic is the future monument to Washington. Maintain its independence. Uphold its constitution. Preserve its union. Defend its liberty. Let it stand before the world in all its original strength and beauty, securing peace, order, equality, and freedom, to all within its boundaries, and shedding light and hope and joy upon the pathway of human liberty throughout the world — and Washington needs no other monu- ment. Other structures may fully testify our venera- tion for him; this, this alone can adequately illustrate his services to mankind. The Indian to the White Man. "White man, there is eternal war between me and thee! I quit not the land of my fathers, but with my life. In those woods, where I bent my youthful bow, I will still hunt the deer; over yonder waters I will still glide, unrestrained, in my bark canoe. By those dashing waterfalls I will still lay up my winter store W$z 3Inaian to ttje Wtytz span* 33 of food; on the fertile meadows I will still plant my corn. " Stranger, the land is mine! I understand not these paper rights. I gave not my consent, when, as thou sayest, these broad regions were purchased, for a few baubles, of my fathers. They could sell what was theirs ; they could sell no more. How could my father sell that which the Great Spirit sent me into the world to live upon ? They knew not what they did. "The stranger came, a timid suppliant, — few and feeble, and asked to lie down on the red man's bear- skin, and warm himself at the red man's fire, and have a little piece of land to raise corn for his women and children; and now he is become strong, and mighty, and bold, and spreads out his parchment over the whole and says, 'It is mine.' "Stranger, there is not room for us both. The Great Spirit has not made us to live together. There is poison in the white man's cup; the white man's dog barks at the red man's heels. If I should leave the land of my fathers whither shall I fly ? Shall I go to the south and dwell among the graves of the Pequots ? Shall I wander to the west ? There the fierce Mohawk, the man-eater, is my foe. Shall I fly to the east? The great water is before me. No, stranger; here I have lived, and here will I die; and here if thou abidest, there will be eternal war between us. "Thou hast taught me thy arts of destruction; for that alone I thank thee. And now take heed to thy steps; the red man is thy foe. When thou goest forth by day, my bullet shall whistle past thee; when thou liest down by night, my knife is at thy throat. The noonday sun shall not discover thy enemy, and the darkness of midnight shall not protect thy rest. Thou shalt plant in terror, and will reap in blood; thou shalt sow the earth with corn, and I w T ill strew it with ashes; thou shalt go forth with the sickle, and I will follow 34 practical acclamations after with the scalping-knife; thou shalt build, and I will burn, — till the white man or the Indian perish from the land. Go thy way for this time in safety, — but remember, stranger, there is eternal war between thee and me" — Edward Everett. The Battle of Saratoga* Often do the spirits Of great events stride on before the events, And in to-day already walks to-morrow. — Coleridge. "How much depended upon the courage and skill of that perilous hour! How wide and far-reaching are the results. That army which left the shores of Eng- land with so much prestige and pride, and supercilious vaunting, was here discomfited upon the 7th of Octo- ber, and upon the 17th it capitulated in humiliation. "The centuries come and go, but such great events live forever. They live because they are mementoes of noble effort. The grand idea behind Saratoga was Independence. The Americans fought not for liberty. They never lost their liberties. They fought because their liberties, their English and colonial privileges, their rights (won by dearly waged contests), and their natural and just demands were disregarded and out- raged by a despicable tyrant. "Saratoga was the wand that \ smote the rock of the national resources.' It was the magic that revived the 'dead corpse of public credit.' "It was this battle that led to an alliance with the French. It made possible, a hundred years afterward, through French art and genius, that lofty effigy for New York Harbor, of Liberty lifting up her torch beckoning and illuminating all mankind by its radiancy. W\)M to (BxpttU 35 "The surrender at Saratoga was not merely the sur- render of Burgoyne and his army; it was the surrender of a haughty prince and an obsequious and corrupt parliament to thirteen weak and remote colonies. It was the most conspicuous step in that grand march of events — events so extraordinary and unexpected, that the English historian, Stedman, says they bade ' de- fiance to all human foresight.' It was a beginning which found its consummation at Yorktown. It was the flower of that tree which gave us our matchless Constitution as its final fruit.'' What to Expect. The person who lives in this world must not expect too much, or he will be disappointed. Don't expect that every man will agree with you on the weather, or that he will vote for your candidate for constable or congress; perhaps he won't agree to like your kind of religion; don't expect him to. If you lend a man a shovel, don't expect him to lend you his wheelbarrow. Every man that you help must not be expected to help you in return. Don't think every man who wears an old coat is a thief; don't think every man who talks well will do as he says. You must expect to meet mean men; you must expect there will be as many frauds this year as last, perhaps more; you must expect to meet idiots; you must expect to have corns on your feet if you will wear shoes two sizes too small for them; you must expect some one to tread on those corns if you go into a crowd. If you raise watermelons you must expect some will be stolen — plant enough to cover that loss, is my advice. You must expect to see respectable men block up the sidewalk if two dogs get to fighting. And if a 36 practical SDeciamattontf* man has a spavined horse, that's the one he will trade off to you, and not his best one. You must expect to see children that have good fathers and mothers turn out big rascals, and also that some who have lived in the gutter will shine like jewels. You will find that men you expect little from some- times do better than they look. Expect to find some- thing good and you will very likely be disappointed; expect to find something bad and you may be disap- pointed, too. That rough-looking fellow is a good deal better than he appears; that nice, smooth-spoken man may be dreadfully cross to his wife. Expect to have the malaria, and to take pills and cas- tor-oil, and quinine; expect to have a man who owes you money refuse to pay it; and, finally, don't expect a man who speaks on the stage to do it as well as you could yourself. Determine Not to Drink. The true way is never to begin the use of strong drink. You think you are strong, but you do not know how weak you are. If you begin you may never be able to stop. The very fact that you do not refuse now shows that you are weak. Every time you yield to temptation you grow weaker; just as your appetite grows stronger you will grow weaker and become less able to stop. It will never again be so easy to stop as now. If you are invited in company to drink give a polite, but a decided refusal. Every one present will respect you for it, no matter what they say. You will be stronger yourself, and some one may be influenced by you. Have the courage to say "I do not drink." Let your clear eye and honest expression show that you mean just what you say. If any one taunt you with your cowardice, tell him that he is afraid to be d5oofc ^abtt& 37 independent, while you are not, and that you do not choose to join the ranks of those who go down into drunkards' graves 60,000 strong in this country every year. Good Habits. Habits of temperance, economy, truthfulness, hon- esty, generosity, once thoroughly engrafted upon the life of an individual, will assist him to accomplish what years of seeking and effort without them would fail to produce. They will open wide for him the gates of success, of honor, of respect, of affection, through which so many seek in vain to enter. After constant and intelligent culture, they work spontane- ously and almost unconsciously; they form a founda- tion on which to build, without fear of overthrow; all the finest traits of excellence come from good habits; they prepare the way for virtue and for goodness. They last till the day of death. They go with one and are an aid to him on all occasions. They beautify the plain, they adorn even the unattractive. Good habits are a fortune to him that has them and worthy of all the labor they cost. The True Girl. Listen to me, young men all. The true girl has to be sought for. She does not parade herself as show- goods. She is not fashionable. Generally, she is not rich. But oh, what a heart she has when you find her! So large and pure and womanly. When you see it you wonder if those other showy things are really women. If you gain her love, your two thou- sand will become millions. She'll not ask you for a 38 practical H>*damation& carriage or a first-class house. She'll wear simple dresses, and turn them when necessary with no painful feelings and no frown in the ceremony. Shell keep everything neat and nice in your kitchen and parlor, and give you such a welcome when you come home that your house will look lovelier than ever. She'll make you love home unless you're a brute, and teach you how to pity, while you scorn, that so-called "fash- ionable society" that may know it is rich, but vainly tries to think itself happy. Throw away that cigar, burn that switch cane, seek a wife in a sensible way; seek one that is sensible; remember, there are many who lack common sense and live for show; these you will avoid ; select a true woman and your days will be happy. Pride of Ancestry. If you want to be somebody in the world, you must begin to be somebody. If you have a family-tree that reaches to the stars, draw your pen through every name on the record until you have come to your own, and stand squarely on that. A grand old ancestry is a splendid thing to have, and a grandfather is something to be proud of. But your own ancestors won't make you great. Queen Victoria traces her blood back to William the Conqueror; she can't help it. She isn't to blame for it, nor does she deserve any particular credit for it. Such a woman as Victoria reflects honor upon her ancestors — her pure womanhood would honor them though she never were a monarch — but her ancestors never did her any great honor. You can only trace your ancestry back to your father; but your father is a better man, a better Christian, wears better clothes, lives in a better house, has more luxu- prtDe of &nce$tr^ 39 ries and conveniences in life than did William the Conqueror. If you assert yourself, that is all the world asks of you. If the world has work for you to do, if it wants you and needs you, it isn't going to hunt up your family-tree. Who asked about Lincoln's ancestors? Who stopped to ascertain if Grant's family came over in the Mayflower? What great-grandfather invented the telephone? Your neighbor will question more closely the pedigree of a blooded horse, or the milk cow you want to sell him than he will your own. When I hear a man talking much about his ancestors, I begin to think he needs them very much. And I always feel sorry for a man who lives only in the deeds and words of his great-grandfather. I have known some men who were very proud of their ancestors, whose ancestors would have been most dismally ashamed of them. Pride of ancestry! It is dust under your feet com- pared with pride of posterity. Don't waste your pride on your ancestors. Save it for your posterity. They will be in better circumstances and live in better times. While your ancestors came over in the Mayflower, a leaky old tub of a sailing vessel, that landed the pil- grims and then went straight away for a cargo of slaves to land in the West Indies, your child wall go across in a Cunarder, first cabin, faring sumptuously, and only ten days out. It is enough for you, my friend, to know that your ancestors were good, brave, honest, hardworking Christian men and women. For the rest of it, try to live your own life and live it so that you will honor them and add new luster to their good names. Let no one try to " boost" himself up in the world on what his ancestors did long before he was born. Do some- thing yourself. — R. J. Burdette. 4o jpraxtttai Exclamations Make Friends. Make all the friends you can. Do not play the demagogue, but make friends. Do not have an enemy in the world if you can honestly avoid it. Any friend is a good thing to have, even if it is a friendly neighbor's dog. Do not fawn, or bend your self-respect, or sacri- fice a principle, but act on the rule that it is your duty — a God-required duty — to produce all the happiness in the world of which you are capable. What will the result be? First, that you will be happier and better yourself. A man who is all the time trying to do good very rapidly grows to be a very good man. Secondly, it will give you business success and promotion. A young man who has cultivated the friend-making spirit and manner is a treasure to any business-house ; and if in business for himself it gives him a great advantage over competitors. There is a class of young men who are so fortunately situated in life that they do not feel the necessity for personal popularity, and yet it is as highly important and desira- ble to them as to any others. It is important as vastly increasing their influence for good. It is desirable because in a country of free institu- tions, like ours, the choicest minds are not content with success in business and the accumulation of wealth. There are honors and pleasures of the most exquisite quality which wealth can no more purchase than it can purchase heaven. Let a man win such a place in the confidence and affection of the public that his fellow- citizens will, in emergencies, turn to him as to a tower of strength, and ask the use of his name for a position of honor and trust. Though such a man may be unwilling to accept political office, he may find it not only his duty to do, but he will have plucked the brightest and sweetest flower of earthly happiness. 2Don't WUnt. 41 Make friends for your own better nature's sake; make friends for your friends' sake; make friends for the extension of your influence for good; make friends for the good of your fellow-citizens and your country. It cannot be done in a day. A man must make a good friend to others before he can make good friends 0} others. Don't Whine. Don't be whining about not having a fair chance. The more you have to begin with, the less you will have in the end. Money you earn for yourself is much brighter than any you get out of dead men's bags. A scant breakfast in the morning of life will give you an appetite for a feast later in the day. He who has tasted a sour apple will have the more relish for a sweet one. Your present want will make future prosperity all the sweeter. Eighteen : pence has set up many a pedlar in business, and he has turned it over until he has kept his carriage. As for the place you are cast in, don't find fault with that; you need not be a horse because you were born in a stable. A hardworking young man with his wits about him will make money while others will do nothing but lose it. Who loves his work and knows how to spare, May live and flourish anywhere. As to a little trouble, who expects to find cherries without stones, or roses without thorns? Who would win must learn to bear? The dog in the kennel barks at fleas, the hunting-dog does not even know that they are there. Laziness waits till the river is dry, and never gets to market. "Try" swims it, arid makes all the trade. "CanH do it" would not eat the bread cut for him, but "Try" made meat out of mushrooms. . 42 practical acclamations. Push. We frequently see at the entrance of a building the word "Push" on the door. It means that if you want to enter you must push the door open; you are not to ring a bell and wait till some one comes to let you in. You must push your way in. That is the word that is on the door of the house of Success. If you would have success in anything you must push your way to it. Look at the successful business man. We all admire him. He is of importance in the world. He has some- thing to do and he does it. If things get in his way, he pushes them out. If the market is dull and his business comes to a standstill, he pushes it along. He doesn't wait for Luck to come along and give him a lift. She doesn't usually give lifts to those who stand back wait- ing for her; she helps those who help themselves. Boys if you have a hard lesson to learn, don't sit back and wait for some one to come along and help you, if you do, you'll find the next one just as hard, but push your way through it. Every push you give makes you stronger to push again. If you want to occupy an honorable place in the world you must push your way to it — then you can look back over your life with a feel- ing of satisfaction. Advice to Girls. You have listened to the senseless prattle of addle- headed young men who have complimented you on your good looks until the best impulses of your nature are stifled; and unless these are revived by the applica- tion of common sense, they will become extinct. What purpose in life do you think you are serving? You spend half your time in attempts to improve your per- #Dbtce to «0trl& 43 sonal appearance. You wish to attract the attention and admiration of people who lack brains, and are unable to appreciate the good and the useful. Some young men may admire you, but that is because they don't know any better. You distort your body into an unnatural shape. You sleep by day in a darkened room when you should be out getting fresh air and sunshine. You spend the nights at parties with your tight harness on, breathing polluted air and overtaxing your physical system. You feed that body of yours on cake and pastry. You feed your mind on stories abounding in mawkish sentimen- tality, and the consequence of all this is that both body and mind have no solid development. What are you living for ? What return are you mak- ing for the labor that must put food in your mouth and clothes on your back. You are striving by all the arts in your power to entangle some young man in the meshes of your charms, and to blind his good sense and better judgment so that he will take you for his wife. He marries you expecting that he has obtained a help- meet and he finds that you are only a help-eat. Suppose that you cost him more than you produce for him, or can save for him, six hundred dollars per year. This sum represents the interest at six per cent, per annum on ten thousand dollars, therefore it is plain that when he married you, he virtually incurred a debt of ten thousand dollars. The expense of maintaining your useless existence will make your husband lose his manhood and all the higher principles of his nature in the mad effort to win money, which is the only thing that can satisfy your wants. He may become a sharp scoundrel and escape the penitentiary, and he may meet the fate of thousands of others, by dying in middle age, finding in death the rest and peace he failed to find while living. Young lady of the period, there is yet a chance for 44 practical acclamations you to reform. Be not ashamed to admit that you can broil a steak as well as pound out a difficult piece of music on the piano. Be prepared to work in the field of life. Make yourself a true woman in the highest sense. Then will your days be long in the land and joy and happiness be your portion. Work or Spoil. When this round world was completed, it was very wisely left so that those who were to live upon it. must work or spoil. For a while, at first, many chose to live easily and idly, but soon began to spoil so that the parents spoiled the children, who, as they grew up spoiled each other, until they all became men of moral corruption and were swept away by the flood. After that they undertook to build a town of safety in case of another flood, with its base on the earth and its top in the sky; but confusion spoiled their speech, and scattered them all over the earth to study the new lan- guages and in every possible way, work with body and mind to benefit one another and honor the Creator; doing this rightly, humanity rises, the world advances in what is good, and becomes better and happier as time rolls on. Education is a process to fit us for the work of life, and the better our education is the better fitted we shall be; there is much to be done, and we must learn the best way of doing it. Brain work begins early in life as the eyes open to see what is in sight, and hand- work follows as the muscles grow. Here within us are mental and moral powers to be developed by study and exercise. The best of books and teachers cannot make us intelligent or wise without our personal appli- cation, but after a while, this very work of spirit-cul- Capital* 45 ture and control becomes a pleasure too inviting to be easily given up. To be able to read is at first a victory gained that taxed the little one, but delights the young learner as the key that unlocks the doors of the past : the acquired ability to solve problems that at first could not be understood, stimulates to another step in advance of what could be done before, and so, on and upward the scholar loves to go in gaining ability to walk in the fields of thought, and accomplish victory in the world of mind, instead of leaving the mind to be sluggish and dull, and the moral powers to drift downward to ruin and death. Here is the work to be done by all who think or speak. On every farm and in every house or shop, there is work to be done that calls for skill and contrivance, by educated minds, with the advantage of science, so as to chime in harmony with natural ideas. While there are continents to cultivate, mountains to level, great valleys to build up, with streams to bridge, and with places to reform into gardens of civilization, let no one say there is " nothing to do." There is work everywhere to be done — work for all! Parents must train their children for the better work that they may be capable of doing in a worthy life; children must do what they can to educate themselves for the trials and labors of life; so that this life shall be a blessing, pleasant to review at its close, and a good preparation for the life to come. Capital. A man must have capital before he can start in any business, if it is nothing more than keeping a peanut- stand. The capital need not always be money; it may be brains, a sound education, a trade or profession, or 46 practical 2Deciamatton& it may be nothing but a stock of energy for any kind of honest labor. Either of these are good capitals. The world wants young men who know how to do some- thing, and can do it well. There is always a demand for good lawyers, good physicians, teachers, butchers, bakers, or candlestick-makers; but there is none for the lazy young man who only knows how to part his hair in the middle or dance the latest waltz step, whose stock of information extends only to the latest style in tailor- ing, or the latest race or prize-fight. These are the young men that are always complaining of the world, who find nothing in life worth living for. They are dis- satisfied with everything and everybody, themselves in- cluded, and it is no wonder. They have nothing to be satisfied with; they are bankrupt young men; they have no capital. How to Get Him. The first thing is to catch your lover. When you have him, hold him. Don't let go of him to catch every new one that comes along. Try to get pretty well acquainted with him before you take him for life. Unless you intend to support him, find out whether he earns enough to support you. Don't make up your mind that he is an angel. Don't palm yourself off on him as one either. Don't let him spend his money on you buying presents. Let him keep his money till after marriage; he will need it. If you have conscientious scruples against marrying a man with a mother, say so in time, that he may get rid of her to oblige you, or get rid of you to oblige her, as he thinks best. If you object to sceret societies and tobacco, it is better to come out with your objections now than to reserve them for curtain lectures hereafter. Be very sure it is the man you are in love with and not the clothes he & £>ermon* 47 wears. Fortune and fashion are both so fickle it is foolish to take a stylish suit of clothes for the better or the worse. If you have a love letter to write don't copy it out of a " Letter Writer.'' If your young man ever happened to consult the same book he would know your sentiments were borrowed. Don't marry a man to oblige any third person in existence. It is your right to suit yourself in the matter. But remember at the same time that love is blind, and a little friendly advice from one whose advice is worth having may insure you a lifetime of happiness or prevent one of misery. Ii love affairs always keep your eyes wide open, so that when the right man comes along you may see him. When you do see him you will recognize him, and the recognition will be mutual. If you have no fault to find with him personally, financially, conscientiously, socially, morally, politically, religiously, or any other way, he is probably perfect enough to suit you, and you can afford to — Believe in him; Hope in him; Love him; and Marry him! A Sermon. My text on this occasion is as follows: Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard, To get her poor dog a bone: But when she got there, the cupboard was bare And so the poor dog got none. "Mother Hubbard, you see, was old, yet did she despair? Did she sit down and weep, or read a novel, or wring her hands? No? she went to the cupboard. And why did she go to the cupboard ? Was it to bring forth golden goblets, or glittering precious stones or costly apparel, or any other attributes of wealth? It 48 practical acclamations was to get her poor dog a bone. Not only was the widow poor, but her dog, the sole prop of her age, was poor, too. We can imagine the scene. The poor dog, crouching in the corner, looking wistfully at the solitary cupboard, and the widow going to that cupboard — in hope, and in expectation. "And how was the noble effort rewarded? " ' The cupboard was bare!' Yes, it was bare! There w T ere to be found neither oranges, cheesecakes, nor penny buns, nor gingerbread, nor crackers, nor nuts, nor lucifer matches. The cupboard was bare! Had there been a leg of mutton, a loin of lamb, a fillet of veal, the case would have been different. "Many of you will probably say, that 'the widow should have gone out and bought her dog a biscuit.' Others would doubtless suggest other eatables. Suffice it for us to glean from this beautiful story its many lessons, one of which I will bring before you; it is this: We must avoid keeping dogs unless we have bones to give them." Strive for the Best. Thirty years ago a boy was struggling through the snow of Chenango Valley, trying to hire himself to a blacksmith. He succeeded, and learned his trade; but did more. He took it in his head that he could make a better hammer than any other man had made. He devoted himself to the task for more than a quarter of a century. He studied the chemistry of metals, the strength of materials, the philosophy of form. He studied failures. Each broken hammer taught him a lesson. There was no part of the progress that he did not master. He taxed his wits to invent machines to perfect and cheapen his processes. No improve- ment in working steel and iron escaped his notice. ©aieDittorE* 49 What may not twenty-five years of effort accomplish when concentrated on a single object? He earned success; and now his name is stamped on a steel hammer, it is his note, his bond, his integrity em- bodied in steel. The spirit of the man is in each hammer, and the work, like the workman, is unrivaled. While I was there, looking through his shop, with all its admirable arrangement of tools and machinery, there came to him a large order from China. The merchants of the Celestial Kingdom had sent down to the little town, where the persistent blacksmith now lives in affluence, to get the best that Anglo-Saxon skill had accomplished in the hammer business. It is no small achievement to do one thing better than any other man in the world has done it. — James A. Garfield. Valedictory. Our yesterdays are mighty. The world to-day prides itself on what it is, not stopping to think that it owes what it is to what it has been. The civiliza- tion of Egypt, Greece, and Rome is the basis of our civilization and the source of our knowledge. On the ruins of the past Blooms the perfect flower at last. He who despises the attainments of yesterday little realizes that it is from them we learn lessons of w T isdom for the future. From all the ages the great departed are warning us to avoid the errors which marked the mighty kingdom of the past. Yesterday is irreparable but not lost. We live and we die; but the good or the evil that we do lives after us, and is not buried with our bones. The yesterday of existence is mirrored in the to-day of life. 50 practical HE>eciamatton& As we now review the scenes of bygone years how old familiar faces rise up and haunt our vision with their well- remembered features, companions of our earlier years endeared to us by many a tie. Friendship above all ties doth bind the heart; And faith in friendship is the noblest part. At times discouragements have assailed us, but as a good cause makes a stout heart we have pushed on, and in future we will hold in grateful remembrance the yesterdays of our school-years. Gentlemen of the Board of Education — To you we would tender our thanks for the many encouragements received, procuring for us kind and efficient instructors and pleasant surroundings. Although men and women have risen to great distinction under the most adverse circumstances, progress is more sure and rapid when surrounded by comfort and plenty. To our Instructor, who has so faithfully labored with us, we would say, that although we may never again be placed in the relation of instructor and pupil, distance and time will fail to erase you from our memories, for in you we found a friend and counselor. To you we feel indebted for much that we are or may be. As we go out into our new field of action, we tender our best wishes and hopes for your future success. Fellow Classmates: To-night our school fellow- ship is broken; we must part. To our Successors we say, if storms of difficulties whistle around you, whistle as bravely yourself; the two whistles may make melody. Make your mark high and aim for it. Those who labor under the in- spiration of such a resolve will soar above those who do not. You may toil in darkness, but your day will surely come. And, although you may never with your own lips pronounce the victory complete, others will discover in you the traces of a noble purpose and SDeatlj of Caesar* 51 a thinking mind. Instructors and fellow school- mates, as we part with you we wish you all an affection- ate farewell. Death of Caesar. The Ides of March arrived; omens of dire import had cast their shadows over the household of the great Roman. Caesar's wife was disturbed by a ghastly dream during the previous night, and at her request, contrary to his usual habit, Caesar had given way to depression, and decided that he would not attend the Senate that day. The house was full; the conspirators in their places with their daggers ready. It was an- nounced that Caesar was not coming. Delay might be fatal, and his familiar friend was employed to betray him. Decimus Brutus, whom he could not distrust, went to entreat his attendance. It was now eleven in the forenoon, and Caesar shook off his uneasiness and rose to go. As he crossed the hall, his statue fell, and was shivered on the stones. Some servant who had heard whispers, wished to warn him, but in vain. Antony, who was in attendance, was detained, as had been arranged by Trebonius. Caesar entered and took his seat. His presence awed men in spite of themselves, and the conspirators had determined to act at once, lest they should lose courage to act at all; they gathered around him; he knew them all. There was not one from whom he had not a right to expect some sort of gratitude, and the movement suggested no suspicion. Tullius Cimber, whom he had just made Governor of Bithynia, came close to him with some request which he was unwilling to grant; catching at his gown, as if in entreaty, he dragged it from his shoulders. Cassius, who was stand- ing behind him, stabbed him in the throat. 52 practical Exclamations He started up with a cry, and caught Cassius' arm; another poniard entered his breast, giving him a mortal wound. He looked around, and seeing not one friendly face, but only a ring of daggers pointing at him, he drew his gown over his head, gathered the folds about him that he might fall decently, and sank down without uttering another word. The Senate rose with shrieks and confusion, and rushed into the forum. The crowd outside caught the words that Caesar was dead, and scattered to their homes. The murderers, some of them bleeding from wounds which they had given one another in their eagerness, followed, crying that the tyrant was dead, and that Rome was free; and the body of the great Caesar was left alone where a few weeks before Cicero had told him that he was so necessary to his country that every Senator would die before harm should reach him. — Froude. The Story of Garfield. James A. Garfield, the twentieth President of the United States, was born in Orange township, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, Nov. 19, 1831. He was the youngest of four children, and his early life was passed in the deepest poverty. His parents were among the pioneers in the wilderness emigrating from New England. His father by hard work had succeeded in clearing about twenty acres of land out of a deep forest; had fenced these acres, planted an orchard, built a log- cabin and a barn, when he was taken suddenly ill, and his sickness proved to be mortal. Calling his wife to him, he said: " Eliza, I have planted four saplings in these woods; I must now leave them to your care." Then giving a last, long look upon his little farm as it stretched beyond the window towards tfrtje £>tor£ of Garfield ♦ 53 the east, he called his oxen by their names and ex- pired. The poor widow was stunned by the suddenness of her great loss, and bowing her head she wept bitterly. "Do not cry, mother; I will take care of you," said Thomas, her eldest son, a lad of ten years, who stood by her side scarce knowing what he said. "God bless you, my son; I will try to be brave for your sakes," she replied. Her two little girls could understand that their father was dead. But James, the youngest child, not two years old, looked wonderingly out of his great blue eyes at his father's face, and lisped, "Papa sleep?" What darkness rested on the home of the Garfields ! Mrs. Garfield, with a small unpaid-for farm, stand- ing in a forest, only partially broken by clearings, surrounded by neighbors almost as poor as she, became the "head of the family." She declared the home should not be broken up, that the farm should be kept, that the children should be cared for until they could go out into the world for themselves. She rose early and retired late. She often worked in the fields with the boys, helped to plant and hoe the corn, gather the hay crop, and clear and fence the land. She spun the yarn, wx>ve the cloth for the children's clothes, sewed for the neighbors, knit stockings, and cooked the meals for the household. In winter the children went to school, the mother helping them even- ings with their lessons. James was taught to read by her, and had no better opportunity for study through his boyhood than was afforded at the district school. Besides their education, this brave woman instilled into the minds of her children the religious and moral maxims of her New England ancestry. She often read to them from the Bible, selecting those parts which their young minds could comprehend. Among the books which young James found in his 54 practical acclamations home were "The Life of Marion" and "The Life of Napoleon." As he read the wonderful deeds of these remarkable men, he would exclaim, "Mother, when I get to be a man, I am going to be a soldier." Books of adventure and tales of daring seemed to fascinate him; when he lay down at night, he dreamed of the sea and a life of adventure. At the age of ten James felt in him the determination to do for himself. He engaged to cut a hundred cords of wood in a distant town for $25. He went bravely to work, but found out he had undertaken a very diffi- cult task, but his pride forbade him to give up. He had said he would do it, and do it he would let it cost what labor and effort it might. The wood was chopped and neatly piled and he received his hard-earned $25. He told his mother of his desire to be a sailor, but she objected, and James set about work on the farm again. When autumn came, he again told her of his desire to go to sea and that she must permit him to go. He packed a few clothes in a bundle and started on foot for Cleveland. Amid prayers and forebodings, his mother bade him good-bye; her blessing was his only fortune. But he was not destined for this career. On arriving at Cleveland, there was but one ship in port, and dis- appointed in getting a situation on this vessel, he hired out as a driver on a boat on the Ohio Canal. Before long a malarial fever prostrated him for a long time and dashed his plans for roving to the ground. He came to think more soberly of life. He resolved to go home, get an education, and become a useful man. He arrived late at night at the log cabin and through the window saw his mother kneeling before the Bible which lay open on a chair; for the first time he compre- hended that his departure had nearly broken that mother's heart. Wfyt £>toty of 6arfielD* 55 A great change was now observed in James; he had turned into the path of his mother's choice, and see where it led him. He entered Geauga Seminary, hiring a room, furnishing his own provisions, paying his expenses by working nights, mornings, and Saturdays with carpenter's tools. At the end of the second term he sought for a school to teach, but was discouraged and humiliated by the rebuffs he had met with, for he looked young and uncultivated. He, however, obtained the " Ledge School," and at the end of the term had the name of being the best " school-master ever em- ployed there." When the school was closed, he entered Hiram Institute for further education. To earn the needed funds he became the janitor. One of the teachers of the Institute being ill, young Garfield was called upon to take his place. In this way, by teaching and going to school, he fitted himself for Williams College. Here his intellectual force and his powers of study were soon recognized. His Western, easy-going man- ners, ready wit, and broad sympathy soon made him a favorite among his classmates. Dr. Hopkins said of him, "The course of James A. Garfield has been one which the young men of the country may well emulate. He was prompt, frank, manly, social in his tendencies, combining active exercise with habits of study, and thus did for himself, what is the object of a college to enable every man to do — he made himself a man." Garfield went back to his Ohio home, and entered Hiram College as teacher of ancient languages and literature. The next year he became president of the institution; the next he was chosen to the State Senate, where he at once took high rank. When the war broke out he was among the first to volunteer. He made a brilliant record in the army, receiving a commission of Major-General for bravery and ability in the battle 56 ^practical 2i>eclamattott0* of Chickamauga. Next he was sent to Congress and was a member of the House of Representatives fifteen years. In 1880 he was elected to the Senate, and in November of the same year was elected President of the United States, and inaugurated March 4th, 1881. But this brilliant life came to an abrupt and sudden end. On the 2d of July, as he was leaving the depot at Washington to visit his old college, he was shot by an assassin. After eighty days of intense suffering, borne with marvelous fortitude and courage, he died Sept. 19th, 1 88 1, mourned by the whole civilized world. But let us not consider Garfield as dead in the ordinary sense of the word. He has gone from the ranks of the mortals and entered mto the glorious company of the immortals. This representative American has been lifted aloft for an ensign to the people of every nation of the world. As the years go by the true proportions of this great man will stand out in grand relief. His virtues will be recalled, his eloquent words will be declaimed by millions of school-boys, his portrait will hang in the rooms of aspiring young men, his great example will be copied by the rising statesman, his Christian faith and fortitude will be mentioned in the village- church. Let us not forget that such men are only shaped amid the common toils, opportunities, and trials of our com- mon life; that they became what they were just by doing the wisest and best thing they knew every day in the year, with all their might, in constant faith and trust in a loving God. When we see men crazed with madness for money, we may point to him, who, without fortune, became famous; who, with solid work, high principles, unflinching courage, and persistence in the right, made that log-cabin in the wilderness more famed than the grandest palace built to display the wealth of the proudest millionaire. — A. D. Mayo. tftlje Spirit* ant) 3|t$ Creations 57 The Mind and Its Creations. Valedictory. The human mind is worthy of all the pains and cul- ture that can be bestowed upon it. In whatever depart- ment we look we cannot but admire its productions. If we take, for example, the works of the ancient poets, if we examine the lines written nearly 3,000 years ago, we everywhere find elegance and force. The adven- tures of the Greeks in their efforts to take possession of Troy, and the wanderings of Achilles are told in lan- guage that, when understood, compels not only our attention but our admiration and our tears. Kingdoms may rise and fall, but those matchless poems live on. Like the soul itself they seem immortal. Not less is it true of the works of genius of the past and present century. To name the name of Shakes- peare, or Milton, or Dante, oj Schiller, is to name undy- ing things whose fame goes down the centuries. The lines they wrote give the same pleasure to us that they did to our ancestors who are mouldered in the dust; being thus a perennial spring of delight, they are passed on from father to son, and thus obtain their power of perpetuity. The verse which I cite from the poet Byron you will agree worthy of the praise bestowed upon it; it will be repeated a thousand years from now: "All heaven and earth are still, though not in sleep, But breathless as we grow when feeling most; And silent as we stand in thoughts too deep ; All heaven and earth are still; from the high host Of stars to the lulled lake and mountain coast. All is concentrated in a life intense Where not a beam, nor leaf is lost, But hath a part of being and a sense Of that which is of all Creator and Defence." 58 practical H>eciamatton& But the human irind creates in varied forms and with perpetual activity; poetry is but one of its products. The common objects around us have been constructed to render* life delightful; our articles of furniture, our household contrivances, so numerous, are all manifesta- tions of this spirit. The ancients carried the art of painting and sculpture to a high pitch. No one at the present day can produce a piece of work equal to the Apollo Belvidere — " Lord of the silver bow." And it may well be believed that their paintings far sur- passed anything that can now be originated. Yet the celebrated Turner painted a number of the most re- markable pictures, and beside rendering his name immortal they give delight to every beholder; for the " Slave Ship" $25,000 was paid, yet it is not a yard square. In whatever condition man is placed he attempts to ameliorate it. Seizing the forces of nature he com- bines and employs them so as to work newer and more satisfactory conditions. We are never satisfied; each new discovery is used as a step to something else beyond, to something else that gives us more power, influence, and happiness. The higher stage thus indicated demands more intelligence and more education. The more man invents and discovers, the more need there is for schools and seminaries of learning. Education is therefore a necessity; it is a condition of the develop- ing times. We have now closed an arduous year of labor. Under the care of excellent teachers we have made good progress in all our studies. We rejoice over the opportunities we have had to increase our knowl- edge and to train our minds. This will ever be remem- bered by us in after years, for we have spent here many W$t spinD anti 3|t0 Creations 59 happy hours. Each recitation has made us stronger and better, and each new study in turn has developed our mental powers more harmoniously. In looking back, we have only to regret that the past cannot return. Kind friends, you have listened to our exercises with an earnest and sympathetic attention, and we beg you to accept our thanks. We are sure of your approval of these efforts of ours for an education. Standing on the threshold of life we desire your good wishes and your cordial benedictions. The deserves the earnest support of every one on account of the good work it is doing in behalf of education in M ; such a school demands a hearty and constant recognition, and we, its pupils, commend it to you, because it has proved beneficial to us. Dear Teachers, the hour is at hand when the tender relations we have sustained must be suspended. We must part after a year of study under your competent ^direction. As the memory goes back over this time, we recall many instances of special kindness and for- bearance and perpetual indications of your interest in our progress. We, as your affectionate pupils, beg you to remember us yet ; we would not be forgotten. When the school assembles after vacation some of us will be absent from this happy group. Remember us then. As you assemble at the morning hour for worship of the great Creator remember us who have enjoyed those occasions with you. We ask you to accept our grateful thanks for giving us the means of entering upon a happy and useful life. May your lives be spared and your labors long continued. May He w T ho is the author of all good grant you his choicest blessing. Dear Schoolmates: It is my lot to bid you in the name of the school an adieu. We have had many happy hours together, and we shall not forget them — noi 6o practical SDeclantattonsu each other. We are soon to separate, but we shall ever bear tender recollections of our attendance at . Wherever we go we shall have an abiding interest in the welfare of each. May we have the Divine guidance and blessing, and obtain an entrance into the "city not made with hands eternal in the Heavens.' ' Night Reflections. I wonder sometimes what a mean man thinks about when he goes to bed; when he turns out the light and lies down; when the darkness closes in about him, and he is alone, and compelled to be honest with him- self; when not a bright thought, not a generous im- pulse, not a manly act, not a word of blessing, not a grateful look can be recalled. Not a penny dropped into the outstretched palm of poverty, nor the balm of a loving word dropped into an aching heart; no sun- beam of encouragement cast upon a struggling life; no strong right hand of fellowship reached out to help some fallen man to his feet — when none of these things come to him as the "God bless you" of the departed day, how he must hate himself! How he must try to roll away from himself and sleep on the other side of the bed. When the only victory he can think of is some mean victory in which he has wronged a neighbor. No wonder such a man exhibits a sneer when he tries to put on a smile. How pure and fair and good all the rest of the world must look to him, and how cheerless and dusty and dreary must his own path appear. Why even one lone, isolated act of meanness is enough to scatter cracker-crumbs in the bed of. the average, ordinary man, and what must be the feelings of a man whose whole life is given up to mean acts? When there is so much suffering and W$t ftuie of ILift. 61 heartache and misery in the world, anyhow, why should one add a single ounce of wickedness or sadness to the general burdens? Don't let us be mean. Let us suffer injustice a thousand times rather than commit it once; so shall our sleep be sweet at night. The Rule of Life. I have witnessed and taken a deep interest in every step of the marvelous development and progress which have characterized this century beyond all the centuries which have gone before. Measured by the achieve- ments of the years I have seen, I am one of the oldest men who have ever lived; but I do not feel old, and I propose to give the receipt by which I have preserved my youth. I have always given a friendly welcome to new ideas, and I have endeavored not to feel too old to learn; and thus, though I stand here with the snows of so many winters upon my head, my faith in human nature, my belief in the progress of man to a better social condition, and especially my trust in the ability of men to establish and maintain self-government, are as fresh and as young as when I began to travel the path of life. While I have always recognized that the object of business is to make money in an honorable manner, I have endeavored to remember that the object of life is to do good. Hence I have been ready to engage in all new enterprises, and, without incurring debt, to risk the means which I had incurred in their promotion, provided they seemed to me calculated to advance the general good. This will account for my early attempt to perfect the steam-engine, for my early attempt to construct the first American locomotive, for my connec- tion with the telegraph in a course of efforts to unite our country with the European world, and for my recent 62 practical Exclamations* efforts to solve the problem of economical steam navi- gation on the canals. It happens to but few men to be able to change the current of human progress, as did Watt, Fulton, Stephenson, and Morse; but all men may welcome laborers to new fields of usefulness and clear the road for their progress. This I have tried to do, as well in the perfecting and execution of their ideas as in making such provision as my means have permitted for the proper education of the young mechanics and citizens of my native city. I have desired to fit them for the reception of new ideas — social, mechanical, and scien- tific — hoping thus to economize and expand the intel- lectual as well as the physical forces, and provide a larger fund for distribution among the various classes which necessarily make up the total of society. I feel that nature has provided beautifully for the wants of all men and that we need only knowledge — scientific, political, and religious — and self-control, in order to eradicate the evils under which society has suffered in all ages. Let me say, that my experience of life has not dimmed my hopes for humanity; that my sun is not setting in clouds and darkness, but is going down cheerfully in a clear firmament lighted up by the glory of God, who should always be venerated and loved as the infinite Source and Fountain of all light, life, power, wisdom, and goodness. — Peter Cooper. What the World Owes Us. "The world owes me a living," says Cinnamon Carter, and he adds that he means to have it. To accomplish this he borrows money of every man that will lend him any, and never does a day's work when he can help it. He lets his wife take in washing while ptttt Cooper* 63 he sits in the barroom and smokes and drinks. He gets up in the morning and swears like a trooper if there is no bread in the pantry. He tells the man who is next to him, when he is smoking a pipe, that it is hard times, but that the world owes him a living and he's a going to have it. The world only owes a man what he earns. What has Cinnamon Carter done for the world? He has walked up and down, and consumed food and drink, and made one more in a crowd when a horse tumbles down in the street, or at a dog-fight. He has made no discoveries, brought out no inventions, written no poetry, nor made any one richer or happier; not a single man is under obligations to him. He gets what others produce, he wears out the clothes that others make. Cinnamon Carter holds down drygoods boxes in front of grocery stores in the summer time. In the winter time he gets near the grocery man's fire until he puts him out. If they can, such men sit down on a barrel of dried apples while their wives are breaking their backs over the wash tub. The world does not owe him a cent; he owes the world a great deal more than it will ever get out of him. He is not a producer, he is a consumer; he does not build, he destroys. It is not such men that make the world richer; if they go to California and do not return no one mourns for them. Peter Cooper. Among the grand names that adorn the gallery of human achievements must ever stand the name of Peter Cooper. Starting in life as a poor boy, he raised himself to that position of prominence which he held for half a century in the eyes of his fellow men. 64 practical SPeclamatton^ Other men have been more dashing and dazzling; but who has exhibited a nobler character and done more for his kind? The noblest charity is that which enables a man to help himself. And who has suc- ceeded more effectually in accomplishing this truly laudable purpose than this grand old man who has been committed to his kindred dust. Some men sink into oblivion, but the name of Peter Cooper will increase in brightness, as his real character becomes more and more appreciated. There was an internal power in his nature that pro- pounded to him a problem, the solution of which en- gaged all his energies; that problem was: How can I benefit my race ? Such a man is appreciated ; and so while the sun rises and sets, while the hum of activity and enterprise continues, so long will the name of Cooper be remembered by grateful thousands. There are some who can recall his genial face and pleasant smile; they were the emanation of a kindly heart. He is gone but he is not dead; in fact a good man never dies. " The sweet remembrance of the just, Shall flourish when they sleep in dust." The good they do shall live after them; and as the noble father is perpetuated in the noble son, so the good deeds of the good man — his children — shall live after and be admired by successive generations. God be praised for all the good who have lived on the earth — for all the toilers and workers for our com- mon humanity, for all who have made life glorious, for all who have lifted up their fellow men, for all teachers and educators, who have done their best to bring out what was in man and put him on the high road of human progress. And the noblest encomium that any one of us can claim here is that we have assisted some one of our fellow men to rise — to rise in the scale of SDeatl) anD ^Immortaiic^* 65 moral and intellectual being to fit himself for greater usefulness here and greater glory in the world to come. The life of Peter Cooper may encourage us all to act well our parts. We all may learn a lesson from his career of the true use of wealth — we may all like- wise learn from it the value of true wisdom and learn- ing. And, as Cooper Institute, that grand monument to his memory, is seen, may the desire to do as nobly as he fill the beholder's heart. Death and Immortality. Death is the great antagonist of life, and the thought of the tomb is the skeleton of all feasts. We do not w T ant to go through the dark valley, although its passage may lead to paradise ; and, with Charles Lamb, we do not want to lie down in the grave, even with kings and princes for our bed-fellows. But the fiat of nature is inexorable. There is no appeal or relief from the great law which dooms us to dust. We flourish and we fade as the leaves of the forest, and the flower that blossoms and withers in a day has not a frailer hold upon life than the mightiest monarch that ever shook the earth with his footsteps. Generations of men appear and vanish like the grass, and the countless multitudes that throng the world to-day will to-morrow disappear as the wave leaves the shore. But we do not die; we disappear from this scene to reappear elsewhere. This the wonderful Galileo dis- closed to mankind, seeming to wonder that it could ever have been doubted. The thoughtful in all ages have seen that this must be so. In the drama of Ion, the beloved Clemanthe asks: " Shall we meet again ?" He replies: "I have asked that question of the hills that look eternal — of the clear streams that flow forever — of the stars, among whose fields of azure my ele- 66 practical Exclamations* vated spirit had walked in glory. All were dumb. But while I gazed upon thy living face I feel that there is something in you that cannot wholly perish. We shall meet again, Clemanthe." This great thought sustains us as we gaze upon the dead. The words of Jesus are, "Thy brother shall live again." A Great Inheritance. Let all students bear in mind that this great world, with all its wealth and woe, with all its mines and mountains, its oceans, seas, and rivers, with all its shipping, its steamboats, railroads, and magnetic tele- graphs, with all its millions of men, and all the science and progress of ages, will soon be given over to them — to those now assembled in school-rooms, or playing without them, on both sides of the Atlantic. Yes, they are the ones who will soon control them all! Let them look abroad upon the inheritance, and get ready to enter upon its possession. The kings, presidents, governors, statesmen, philosophers, ministers, teachers of the future, all are boys now at school. Let us then be making ready to act well our part. Let us become good scholars; read only what is in- structive; spend no time with trashy novels; study science and government, and the history of the world; study agriculture and mechanism; become as nearly as possible perfect in the occupation we may choose. Let us learn prudence and self-control; have great decision of character; take the Bible for our guide; become familiar with its teachings, and observe them; seek wisdom and prosperity from our heavenly Father. As we grow in stature, in bodily strength, and in years, let us grow in piety, in intelligence, in caution, in activ- ity, in firmness, and in charity. Let us aspire to be l£>tmo$t\)mt& to t\)t #ti)enian& 67 men of the noblest character; cherish the feeling that we were born to receive good and to do good; be manly in spirit and in action. Demosthenes to the Athenians. In the first place, Athenians, admit the incontest- able fact that Philip has violated his treaties and de- clared war against you. On that point let us have no further crimination or recrimination. And then admit the fact that he is the mortal enemy of Athens, of its very soil, of all within its walls — ay, of those even who most flatter themselves that they are high in his good graces. What Philip most fears and abhors is our liberty, our free democratic system. For the destruction of that all his snares are laid, all his proj- ects are shaped. Is he not consistent in this? Truly, he is well aware that though he should subjugate all the rest of Greece, his conquest would be insecure so long as your democracy should stand. Well does he know that should he experience one of those reverses to which the lot of humanity is so liable, it would be into your arms that all of those nations now forcibly held under his yoke would rush. Is there a tyrant to drive back? Athens is in the field! Is there a people to be enfranchised? Lo! Athens is prompt to aid! What wonder, then, that Philip should be impatient so long as Athenian liberty is a spy upon his evil days ? Be sure, O my countrymen, that Philip is your irrecon- cilable foe ; that it is against Athens he musters all his armaments; against Athens all his schemes are laid. What, then, as wise men convinced of these truths, ought you to do? What but to shake off your fatal lethargy, contribute according to your means, summon your allies to contribute and take measures to maintain 68 practical Exclamations the troops already under arms, so that if Philip has an army prepared to attack and subjugate all the Greeks you may have an army ready to succor them and to save? Tell me not of the trouble and expense which this will involve. I grant it all. But consider the dangers that beset you, and how much you will be the gainers by engaging heartily at once in the general cause. But if my sentiments are yours, if you foresee, as I do, that the more we leave Philip to extend his con- quests, the more we are fortifying an enemy whom, sooner or later, we must cope with, why do you hesi- tate? what wait you? When will you put forth your strength? Wait you the constraint of necessity? What necessity ? Can there be a more pressing one for freemen than the prospect of dishonor? Do you wait for that ? It is here already; it presses, it weighs on us even now. Now, did I say ? Long since was it before us, face to face. Truly, there is still another necessity in reserve — the necessity of slaves — subjugation, blows, and stripes. Wait you for them? The gods forbid! The very words are in this place an indignity! The Result of Effort. Of all the pretty little songs I have ever heard, that is one of the best which winds up — "If at first you don't succeed, Try, try, try again. " I recommend this to grown-up people who are down in the mouth, and fancy that the best thing they can do is to give up. Nobody knows what he can do till he tries. " We shall get through it if we keep on," said Jack to Harry, as they worked at the pudding; and why not of other things? Everything new is hard X&ty Hmilt of effort* 69 work, but a little of the TRY ointment rubbed on the hand and worked into the heart makes all things easy. CanH do it sticks in the mud, but Try soon drags the wagon out of the rut. The fox said Try, and he got away from the hounds when they almost snapped at him. The bees said Try, and turned flowers into honey. The squirrel said Try, and up he went to the top of the beech-tree. The snowdrop said Try, and bloomed in the cold snows of winter. The sun said Try, and the spring soon threw Jack Frost out of sight. The young lark said Try, and he found his new wings took him over hedges and ditches, and up where his father was singing. The ox said Try, and ploughed the field from end to end. No hill too steep for Try to climb, no clay too stiff for Try to plough, no field too wet for Try to drain, no hole too big for Try to mend. . "By little strokes Men fell great oaks." By a spadeful at a time men dig out the cuttings, cut a big hole through the hill, and heap up the embank- ment, and the railroad cars spin along. " The stone is hard, and the drop is small, But a hole is made by the constant fall." What man has done man can do, and what has never been may be. Ploughmen have got to be gentle- men, cobblers have turned their lapstones into gold, and tailors have become members of Parliament. Tuck up your shirt-sleeves young Hopeful, and go at it. Where there's a will there's a way. The sun shines for all the world. Believe in God, and stick to hard work, and see if the mountains are not removed. Faint heart never won fair lady. Cheer, boys, cheer; God helps them that help themselves. Never mind luck, that's what the fool had when he killed himself with eating suet pudding; the best luck in all the world is made of elbow-grease. — Spurgeon. jo practical acclamations Intemperance. No evil causes more misery and shame to enter up the life record of our American citizens than comes from the excessive use of intoxicating liquors. It blasts even those who do not touch it. The wife and children of the drunkard are involved in ruin. It incites the father to butcher his innocent children, it helps the husband to kill his wife, it produces weakness, sickness, and death, it blasts this life and blasts out a hope in Heaven hereafter, it covers the land with idleness and poverty, fills our jails, supplies our almshouses, and furnishes victims for the scaffold. Could intoxicating liquors be put away, it would make many people of our country more industrious, more trustworthy, richer, and happier. Think of the money which is yearly expended for liquor. I may safely assert that thousands of poor families would be well supplied with bread were the money they earned used for that purpose. Suppose the millions spent on whiskey were used for educational purposes; how much better and wiser would our people be if a public library could be started in every village, instead of a saloon; knowledge like a fountain would refresh the minds of all. Let us then use our influence to prevent the use of intoxicating liquors. A Sermon on Tobacco. My brethren, I will take for my text this verse: "Thy sons should not smoke, nor thy daughters snuff of ithe pestiferous tobacco." Many years ago Satan took a tobacco seed and cast it into the ground. It grew and became a great plant, and spread its leaves rank and broad. And ft Sermon on tobacco* 71 it came to pass, in the course of time, that the sons of men looked upon it, and some of them thought it beautiful to look upon, and much to be desired to make lads look big and manly, so they put forth their hands and did gather and chew thereof; and some it made sick and others to expectorate most filthily. And it also came to pass that those who chewed it became weak and unmanly, and they found that they were enslaved. And Satan laughed. And in the course of time it came also to pass that old ladies snuffed it, and they were suddenly taken with fits, in consequence thereof, and they did sneeze and sneeze, insomuch that their eyes w r ere filled with tears, and they did look exceedingly funny. And yet others fool- ishly wrought the leaves thereof into rolls, and did set fire to one end thereof, and did try to look very grave and wise while the smoke ascended. And Satan laughed. And the cultivation thereof became a great and mighty business in the earth. Merchantmen waxed rich by the commerce thereof. The poor, that could not buy shoes, nor bread, nor books for their little ones, spent their money for it. And Satan laughed. Now, my brethren, cease from this evil thing that you do. Be slaves no more. Liberty and Drunkenness. "All men are born free and equal,' ' says the Declara- tion of Independence. "They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Now, what does Liberty mean? In an organized society it cannot mean that any one can be allowed to do what is detrimental to the well-being of others. There must be Justice to all. Justice forbids all enterprises dangerous to public 72 {practical acclamations health and morals. It forbids crime and gambling- dens; it forbids the carrying of concealed weapons, shooting within city limits, the erection of wooden buildings within fire limits; it forbids contagious diseases, slaughter-houses, etc. Now how does this ffect the liquor traffic and its relations to public safety ? The liquor traffic is the cause of the increase of the drinking habit and its unavoidable result — drunken- ness. It puts in continual danger the lives of great numbers of women and children and sober men, by turning loose upon them the degraded and crazed slaves of strong drink. From 60,000 to 100,000 lives perish annually on account of it. Numberless crimes are the result of it. Judge Noah Davis tells us that nine-tenths of all murders which are brought before the courts are the result of strong drink. The report of the Com- missioner of Internal Revenue says that the people drink up more money than twelve times the cost of schools and churches. Thousands of families become paupers through it. It thus appears that our lives, our liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is stopped by the liquor traffic; our inalienable rights are interfered with; the gifts of the Creator to man are taken from him. The great obstacle to human progress is human wickedness, and there is no agency that causes so much wickedness as the liquor traffic. Being a Boy- One of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no experience, though it needs some practice to be a good one. The disadvantage of the position is that he does not last long enough. It is soon over. Just as you get used to being a boy, you have to be 515emg a 115ots 73 something else, with a good deal more work to do and not half so much fun. And yet every boy is anxious to be a man, and is very uneasy with the re- strictions that are put upon him as a boy. There are so many bright spots in the life of a farm- boy that I sometimes think I should like to live the life over again. I should almost be willing to be a girl if it were not for the chores. There is a great comfort to a boy in the amount of work he can get rid of doing. It is sometimes astonishing how slow he can go on an errand. Perhaps he couldn't explain, himself, why, when he is sent to the neighbor's after yeast, he stops to stone the frogs. He is not exactly cruel, but he wants to see if he can hit 'em. It is a curious fact about boys that two will be a great deal slower in doing anything than one. Boys have a great power of helping each other do nothing. But say what you will about the general usefulness of boys, a farm without a boy would very soon come to grief. He is always in demand. In the first place, he is to do all the errands, go to the store, the post- office, and to carry all sorts of messages. He would like to have as many legs as a wheel has spokes, and rotate about in the same way. This he sometimes tries to do, and people who have seen him " turning cart wheels" along the side of the road have supposed he was amusing himself and idling his time. He was only trying to invent a new mode of locomotion, so that he could economize his legs, and do his errands with greater dispatch. Leap-frog is only one of his methods of getting over the ground quickly. He has a natural genius for combining pleasure with business. There have been many efforts by parents and teachers to get work out of a boy under the guise of play, but these have been failures; but a boy will do more hard work in some plays, like baseball, than could be got out of him in the hay-field, even though he was paid a 74 practical H>eciamatton& dollar a day. Nobody but a boy would think of calling baseball play. — C. D. Warner. Two Kinds of Foolishness. It is said that John Martin, a Jesuit, used to regard his body as a rebellious slave that, while it dwelt within his house, ate at his table, and slept in his bed, was con- tinually laying snares for his destruction. He, there- fore, hated it with the greatest hatred imaginable. He flogged it every day with scourges of whip-cord, leather and wire. He wore upon his arms, legs, and around his body rough hair-cloth lined with sharp points of wire and metal perforated like a nutmeg -grater. When he made long journeys he put pebbles and grains of corn in his shoes. His only food was bread and water. Do you say he was a fool ? Perhaps he was, but there are thousands of greater ones within a few hundred miles of this place. We can scarcely walk a block in a city or village without meeting a fool. He is the man who goes clothed in rags when he might be dressed comfortably and respectably. The man who has sore eyes and a bloated face when he might have good eyes and a manly instead of a beastly countenance; he has totter- ing limbs and shaking hands when he might have sound ones; he has a foul breath and a foul mind when both might be pure; he is tormented by an intense thirst that will never be satisfied; by agony of body and anguish of mind when he might be well and happy; he wanders about cold and hungry, homeless and friendless, when he might be sitting by his own bright fireside surrounded by wife, children, and friends; he is tormented during his rational moments with forebodings of an eternity of misery, when he might have bright hopes of everlasting happiness. #Dbtce to a Noting $am 75 Who could be more foolish than this man? John Martin only inflicted misery upon his body, by denying it the comforts it craved. This man not only inflicts misery upon his body, by pouring into it a poison that it loathes, until the unnatural appetite for it has been created, but he inflicts misery upon his soul by loading it with remorse. Ah! I would rather live, as did John Martin, upon bread and water till the day of my death, than to fare sumptuously every day, if with such fare I must learn to use the stuff that turns man from the image of his Maker into the image of the beast. Advice to a Young Man. Don't be mean; don't do mean things and say mean things. Cultivate a feeling of kindness, a spirit of charity broad and pure for men and things. Believe the best of everybody, have faith in humanity, and as you think better of other people, you will be better yourself. You can, with some accuracy, measure a man's character by the esteem in which he holds other men. When we hear a man repeatedly declare that all other men are knaves, be sure to get a strong endorse- ment on that man's paper before you lend him money. When a man assures me that all the temperance men in his town take their drinks on the sly, I wouldn't leave that man and my demijohn — if I had one — together in a room five minutes. When a man tells me that he doesn't know one preacher who isn't a hypocrite, I have all the evidence I want that that man is a liar. Nine times in ten, and frequently oftener, you will find that men endeavor to disfigure all other men with their own weakness, failings, and vices. So let us think well and charitably of all people, or the world is full of good people. And above all et us strive to be one of that set ourselves. j6 practical Exclamations Our Homes. About the fireside where love and kindness dwell, are reared the men and women that make life a benison. From every well-regulated home spring wholesome influences that we carry with us to the grave. Who of us that have known good homes in childhood can look back at the old fireside, radiant with sweet faces and merriment, without a thrill of pleasure? At home we act out our natural selves. Affectation is there laid aside, and we stand revealed — amiable, or irritable, kindly and affectionate, or the reverse. After a selfish man has crossed his threshold the littleness and pettish- ness of his nature, studiously concealed from the world at large, come to the surface. In order to know a person intimately one must study his home-life and see him often at the fireside. Home comforts and joys are made up of so many apparently little things that it is difficult to picture them in a way that does them justice. Our homes may be models of beauty; we may have fine paintings and rich furniture and carpets; we may entertain our friends sumptuously, yet there is something lacking that makes all this seem vain and empty — the warmth and light such as only love can lend to vivify a home. The heart requires more than elegance to make it happy. If mother is absorbed in dress and society, and father gives all his time to business and the accu- mulation of money, the children must look elsewhere for the little attention and kindnesses such as a child longs for from its parents. Few of us see the beauties or grasp the benefits of the present. In reaching out and struggling for some future prize, we trample under foot many a present blessing, and overlook many an opportunity of infusing sunshine into our homes and the lives about us. He « |£ou $$u&t SQtorfe ^our ©ton ^ap* 77 who habitually brings home with him at night a smiling face and cheerful greeting is more of a benefactor than he imagines. Cheerfulness left out, home is the dullest place in the world. Our home-life shapes our character. No other in- fluence leaves such indelible impressions. As the home is good or bad, so are we. Seldom, indeed, does a wretched, cheerless home produce a noble man or woman; seldom does a Christian home produce a thief or murderer: Ever active, profound, far-reaching, the influences of our early home are about us, shaping our career. Boys and girls should love their home, and no effort should be spared to make home worthy their love. On the purity of the home-life hangs the destiny of our government. The parents who to-day are rearing corner-loafers, idlers, worthless and uneducated boys and girls, are guilty of a crime against society, and no words can condemn them too strongly. You Must Work Your Own Way. Be somebody on your own account, and don't try to get along on the reputation of your ancestors. Nobody knows and nobody cares who Adam's grand- father was, and there is not a man living who can tell the name of Brigham Young's mother-in-law. Keep up with the procession, and do not pull back in the harness. Hard work never was known to kill men; it was the fun that men had in the intervals that killed them. The fact is, most people have yet to learn what fun really is. A man may go to Europe and spend a thousand dollars, and then recall the fact that he had a great deal more fun at a picnic twenty years ago that cost him just sixty-five cents. The theory that the world owes every man a living is false. 78 practical acclamations The world owes a man nothing. There is a living in the world for every man, however, providing the man is willing to work for it. If he does not work for it, somebody else will earn it and the lazy man "will get left." There are greater opportunities for workers out West than in the Eastern cities, but men who go out West to grow up with the country must do their own growing. There is no browsing allowed in the vigor- ous West. An energetic man may go out into the far West, and in two or three years possess himself of a bigger house, a bigger yard, a bigger barn, and a bigger mortgage than he could obtain by ten years' work in the East. No smart young man ought to envy an old rich man. A man should do well whatever he is given to do, and not despise drudgery. The world wants good shovelers, teamsters, and laborers, but it does not want poor law- yers, poor preachers, or poor editors. — Burdette. Adam or Liberty. What do we care for a statue of Liberty when we've got the thing itself in its wildest sublimity? What you want of a monument is to keep you in mind of something you haven't got — something you've lost. Very well; we haven't lost Liberty — we've lost Adam. "Another thing: What has Liberty done for us? Nothing particular that I know of. What have we done for her ? Everything. We've given her a home — good home, too ; and if she knows anything she knows it's the first time she ever struck that novelty. She knows that when we took her in she had been a mere tramp for 6,000 years. Yes, we not only ended her troubles and made things soft for her permanently, but we made her respectable — and that she hadn't ever been before. And now, after we've poured out these Atlan- politeness 79 tics of benefits upon this aged outcast ; lo ! and behold you, we are asked to come forward and set up a monu- ment to her! Go to. Let her set up a monument to us, if she wants to do the right thing. "But here, on the other hand, look at Adam. What have we done for Adam ? Nothing. What has Adam done for us? Everything. He gave us life, he gave us death, he gave us heaven, he gave us hell. These are inestimable privileges — and remember, not one of them should we have had without Adam. Well, then, he ought to have a monument — for evolution is steadily and surely abolishing him, and we must get up a monu- ment and be quick about it, or our children's children will grow up ignorant that there ever was an Adam. My friends, the father of Life, Death, and the Taxes has been neglected long enough. Shall this infamy be allowed to go on, or shall it stop right here." Politeness. Did you ever see a boy come lounging into a room with his hat on, interrupting the conversation of his elders ? Did you ever see a man rush to be first at the table, or to get a seat in a crowded car, when ladies were standing, or push his way in front of people to get a look at something. Perhaps you have heard one drum and whistle in company. Such are impolite people. If you should advise them to be more polite, they would probably say, "What's the use of being polite?" That is just what I want to show: 1 st. It adds to the comfort of other people; no one likes to be elbowed around or have his corns trod on, tobacco smoke blown in his face, or a great din made in his ears. 2nd. It adds to the happiness of other people; you can make a poor old woman happy all day by helping 80 practical Declamations* her over a crossing or giving her a lift on her basket when she needs it. 3rd. It makes people respect you and that is con- siderable; it makes one respect himself more — feel more like a man — to have the respect of others. 4th. It brings him friends; people won't care to culti- vate your acquaintance if you take no pains to make yourself agreeable. 5th. It brings success in business; every merchant knows how important it is to show courtesy to his customers, and he wants polite clerks, and polite sales- men. Politeness is a better recommendation for a young man than a dozen letters. Politeness pays in every way. It is a good thing to invest in. Gaining Success. Success is assured if one has the elements that com- mand it — health, enterprise, industry, ambition, and principle. Enterprise leads one to place himself in the best possible relations with mankind for serving them with what they need — whether it be horseshoes, statu- ary, strawberries, or sermons, it matters not, so long as' his enterprise keeps him in advance of the ordinary. The enterprising fruit-grower is the first to adopt im- proved methods, the first to plant improved fruits; he is posted on markets, men, and things in general. Industry is scarcely second in consideration, for everything is possible to the man who is willing to work for it. If you see a man occupying a position of honor, do not say he is lucky — say he was industrious, for that is the reason. Men are not usually lifted into position by others, they raise themselves by industry, physical and mental. One must have ambition and self-esteem, or your &>i$n& of J?arD f&imts. 81 chance of success will be small. All successful men are ambitious; are dissatisfied with their present position and seek for one higher. We often hear contentment preached. If all were contented the world would drag along like an over- loaded stage-coach that needs greasing and is drawn by half-starved mules. Principle is mentioned last as the farmer tops off his wall with the best stone. There are many men who have ability, industry, ambition, but who lack princi- ple, and are a failure. They are treacherous and cun- ning, but they do not succeed. People are afraid of them; their best capital, their honesty, is impeached. No man ever profited by a dishonorable deed. Be sure therefore to have principle. Signs of Hard Times. There are some signs of hard times that are never known to fail: When the man who owes you declares that his family has the measles and you must call next week; When the man that you owe insists that he can't wait another day; When your shoes are way down at the heel and your shoemaker informs you that leather costs money; When your hair has grown so long that you have to tuck it in your collar, and your barber says he does a cash business only; When all your friends are " Sorry, my boy, but I can't spare it just now;" When your best girl asks you what has become of your watch, and why you never take her out to concerts now; When you pass the soda-water stand on a hot day; 82 practical Exclamations When you wear your collars just as long as you can without taking them to the laundry; When you stop buying tobacco for want of money; When you black your own boots instead of giving an Italian the job; When you think your last year's suit must answer for this year also; When you limit yourself to one course in the restau- rant instead of three; When — but you all know how it is, when you haven't the money to meet your usual expenses — then times are hard. Unsolved Mysteries. There are some unsolved mysteries in the problem of life that give me cause for reflection and anxiety. If I were rich I believe I would build me a lonely cell with a storeroom like a wholesale grocery, where I might have plenty of help in studying the problems of life. For often and often I wonder and wonder: Why you always put teaspoons into the vase upside down? Why is it so wrong to eat pie with a knife? What Washington said to General Lee at the battle of Monmouth. Why a man who "has gone out of politics" never misses a convention. What the State would do for penitentiaries if all the rascals should suddenly step up and confess? Why a woman falls like a flash not two inches from the banana skin she steps on, while a man falls like a cyclone half way round the block, howling like a demon at every plunge. Why "pure bear's oil" is always cheaper when pork is away down in price. #abtee to tfrtrte* 83 Why a man frequently tries to make himself neces- sary when he would serve humanity much better by making himself scarce? Why Tom Thumb was always billed as "23 years old" until the day he died, when the papers said he was 61. What has become of the " blue-glass" remedy? I don't believe in philosophy wasting its time on trifles. If the wise men want something useful and practical to ponder over, here are the problems. — R. J. BURDETTE. % % % ~" Advice to Girls. A good deal of advice is wasted on boys. Girls don't get their share. Of course they don't need as much. There is no occasion to advise girls not to drink liquor, smoke, or chew tobacco; they are too sensible ajid too clean to do such foolish, filthy things. I have heard of girls using tobacco ; but as Mr. Moody said when he was asked if a Christian would use to- bacco, "Yes, a nasty Christian." I would say a nasty girl might use tobacco, but there are few such. But it must be admitted that girls need a little advice; they are not always as sweet-tempered as they ought to be. It is hard, I know, for them not to be vexed when another girl, that isn't half so sensible, is invited to play with the governor's daughter, just because she has a pretty face or dresses nicely, but do not be cross to her for it. She isn't to blame, and our turn may come next. And it is terribly aggravating to have people talk sense to boys, and nothing but nonsense to girls, as if that were all they could understand; but tiny do not know any better. We should chatter and smile as we are expected to do, but by-and-by we will show them how much we understand. Let us keep good-natured and we shall be happy yet. 84 practical 2Deciamatton& Then we do need some advice about our reading. We don't care much about Indian stories, and people don't write very many stories for girls, so we take such as we can get, and some of them are pretty tough. They don't make us want to run away and shoot some- body, but they make us terribly silly. Let us be care- ful what we read. On another matter we need advice. Some people try to make us believe that because we are girls we 1 ust never run, or jump, or play horse, or do any- thing that isn't ladylike. Now it will be perfectly proper for us to be ladylike when we get to be ladies, but as we are only girls, let us take all the exercise we need. We need not be rude about it either; we can be kind and polite, help our mothers, and learn our lessons, but we have a right to have a good time if we are girls. Look Up. The elements of true manhood and true womanhood will be found in those people who always look up. Whether you are old or young, rich or poor, let it be your motto to look up and not down. No matter if the sea has swallowed your property, or the fires have consumed your dwellings, look up — take fresh courage. Is your name a byword or a reproach? Look up to the purity of the skies, and let its image be reflected in your heart. Detraction then will rebound from your bosom. Are you trod upon by the strong? Look up — push up — and you will stand as strong as he. Are you crowded out of the society of the rich? Look up, and soon your society will be coveted. What- ever may be your circumstances or condition in life, always make it a point to look up— to rise higher and higher — and you will attain your fondest expectations.. feeep from tlje £>aloott 85 Success may be slow, but sure. It will come. Heaven is on the side of those who look up. Keep from the Saloon. Many a young man thinks he can walk in and out of the gin-mill and not be harmed. But he is sure to fall sooner or later; the true plan is for him to sign the pledge and keep away from them. Vice allures and finally destroys; the moth hovers around the candle admiring its brilliancy, but lo! it soon drops scorched and dead. So it is with rum. A saloon-keeper in New York City became weary of the ruin that he created and gave up his business. He addressed a temperance society saying: — "I sold liquor for eleven years — long enough for me to see the beginning and end of its effect. I have seen a man take his first glass of liquor in my place, and afterward plunge into the grave of a suicide. I have seen man after man, wealthy and educated, come into my saloon, who cannot now buy his dinner. I can recall twenty customers worth from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand dollars, who are now without money, place, or friends. "I have seen many a young fellow, member of a tem- perance society, come in with a friend and wait while he took a drink. 'No, no, he would say, I never touch it; thanks, all the same.' But presently rather than seem too stiff he would take a glass of cider or lemon- ade. When he had done that I knew how it would end. So that the only safety for any one, no matter how strong his resolution is, is outside of the door of the saloon." This is strong testimony indeed and should be heeded. The true plan is to keep away from temptation. You lose nothing in health, wealth, or reputation by keeping 86 practical acclamations* away from the saloon; thousands have lost their all by entering them. True Success. As we pass onward in life we shall find many men are rich; perhaps we shall envy them, for money is very convenient. But stop a while and think. Would we be rich through fraud? Those who become rich through fraud do not continue successful through life and leave a fortune behind them. Many men seem to become rich as if by magic, and people admire them and court them. A little thing, a fraud, and they fall into ruin. Those who make haste to be rich regardless of the means fall into temptation and commit crimes. We, who are gathered here to-day, will soon be men and begin to mingle with those who make money. Let us not be in a hurry to be rich; let us be honest at all events. Money made by fraud escapes; the success of a man is not measured by his money, and though people run after the rich, they do not respect them unless they are honest. True success comes from living earnestly, energetically and righteously. Do It for Yourself. Don't sit down and wait for helpers. Try those two old friends, your strong arms. Self's the man. If the fox wants poultry for her cubs she must carry the chickens herself; none of her friends will help her; she must run with her own legs, or the greyhounds will have her. Every man must carry his own sack to the mill. You must put your own shoulder to the wheel and keep it there, for there's plenty of ruts in the road. If you wait till all the ways are paved, sr>o 31t for yourself* 87 you will nave light shining between your ribs. If you sit still till great men take you on their backs, you will sit there forever. Your own legs are better than stilts ; don't look to others, but trust in God and keep your powder dry. Don't be whining about not having a fair start. Throw a sensible man out of the w r indow, he'll fall on his legs and ask the nearest w T ay to his w^ork. The more you have to begin with the less you will have at the end. Money you earn for yourself is much brighter and sweeter than any you get out of dead men's bags. A scant breakfast in the morning of life whets the appetite for a feast later in the day. He who has tasted a sour apple will have more relish for a sweet one; your present want will make future prosperity all the sweeter. Eighteenpence has set up many a pedlar in business, and he has turned it over till he has kept his carriage. As for the place you are cast in, don't find fault with that. You need not be a horse because you were born in a stable. A hard-working young man, with his wits about him, will make money while others do nothing but lose it. Who loves his work and knows to spare, May live and flourish anywhere. As to a little trouble, who expects to find cherries without stones, or roses without thorns? Who would win must learn to bear. Idleness lies in bed sick with the mulligrubs where industry finds health and wealth. The dog in the kennel barks at the fleas ; the hunting- dog does not even know they are there. Laziness waits till the river is dry and never gets to market; Try swims it and makes all the trade. CanH do it couldn't eat the bread and butter which was cut for him, but Try made meat out of mushrooms. — Spurgeon. 88 practical acclamations You Must Try. Good workmen are always wanted. No barber ever shaves so close but another barber will find something left. Nothing is so good but what it might be better; and he who sells the best wins the trade. "We are all going to the poorhouse because of the invention of machines" some say; but instead of that, all these threshing, and reaping, and hay-making machines have helped to make those men better off who had sense enough to work them. " Times are bad," they say; yes, and if you go gaping about and let your wits go wool-gathering, times always will be bad. Many don't get on because they have not the pluck to begin in right earnest. The first dollar laid by is the difficulty. The first blow is half the battle. Away with that beer- jug, up with the "Try" flag, and then to your work, and away to the savings-bank with your savings, and you will be a man yet. Poor men will always be poor if they think they must be. But there's a way up out of the lowest poverty if a man looks after it early, before he has a wife and a half a dozen children; after that he carries too much weight for racing, and most commonly he must be content if he finds bread for the hungry mouths and clothes for the little backs. Yet, some hens scratch all the better for having a great swarm of chicks. To young men the road up the hill may be hard, but at any rate it is open, and they who set stout heart against a stiff hill shall climb it yet. What was hard to bear will be sweet to remember. If young men would deny themselves, work hard, five hard, and save in their early days, they need not keep their noses to the grindstone all their lives, as many do. Let them be teetotalers for economy's sake; water is the strongest drink, it drives mills. It's the drink of lions and horses, and Samson never drank anything else. The beer-money would soon build a house. — Spurgeon. The Rumseller's Speech. "I am going to start a shop for the purpose of mak- ing drunkards, paupers, and beggars for the sober, industrious, and respectable part of the community to support. I shall sell stuff that will excite men to deeds of riot, robbery, and blood. I shall diminish the comforts, augment the expenses, and endanger the welfare of the community. I shall prepare victims for the asylum, the poorhouse, the prison, and the gallows. I shall keep for sale the cause of accidents, diseases, failures, and deaths. What I deal in will deprive men of reason, property, peace, home, respect, life, and heaven. It will turn fathers into fiends, wives to widows, children to orphans, and all to mendi- cants. I shall obstruct the progress of Christianity. I shall defile the purity of the church. I shall tempt, deceive, and ruin souls and spread abroad temporal, spiritual, and eternal death. But what of that. I shall make money, lots of money. For the American people forgive any man his sins if he only has money. And so I shall be esteemed. The politicians will come to me for my influence; with my fine house I shall forget how I got my cash. So I will go into this business and be esteemed." Cheek. No, my boy, cheek is not better than wisdom; it is not better than modesty; it is not better than anything. Don't listen to the siren who tells you to blow your own 9<3 practical acclamations horn, or it will never be tooted upon. The world is not to be deceived by cheek, and it does search for merit, and when it finds it, merit is rewarded. Cheek never deceives the world, my boy. It appears to do so to the cheeky man, but he is the one who is deceived. Do you know one cheeky man, among all your acquaint- ances, who is not reviled for his cheek the moment his back is turned? Is the world continually drawing distinctions between cheek and merit? Almost every- body hates a cheeky man, my son. Society tires of the brassy glare of his face, his noisy assumption, and forwardness. The triumphs of cheek are only appar- ent. He bores his way along through the world, and frequently better people give way to him. But so do they give way, my boy, for a man with a paint-pot in each hand. Not because they respect the man with the paint-pot particularly, but because they want to take care of their clothes. You can sell goods without it, and your customers won't run and hide in the cellar when they see you coming. — Hawk Eye. A Valedictory Address. Kind Teacher: This is an occasion that we have looked forward to with joy, but now it has arrived we feel regret. We rejoice that the time has arrived when you shall adjudge us competent to graduate; we regret that the associations of the school- room must cease to exist except in the fond recollections of the past. We rejoice that we are to be accounted worthy to go into the world and aid its progress; we regret that we can no longer enjoy the benefits of your labors. We are unable to render compensation to you for your zeal and faithfulness. But as you have been faithful to us, so will we be faithful to others; as you have kindled the fires of enthusiastic zeal for & ©aieDictorp #ti&re$s* 91 knowledge upon the altar of our hearts, so shall it be our pleasure and duty to perpetuate their glowing beauty and radiate their influence in all places possi- ble. As we pass from your watchfulness and care and go forth upon the great plain of life to battle for the advancement of human intelligence, culture, and refinement, your example shall be our guiding star. We doubt not but that you will esteem these a more noble recompense, a grander reward than silver or gold. With a deep sense of our obligations to you, and of gratitude for the ability, zeal, and care which you have ever exercised in our behalf, we one and all bid you a kind farewell. My Classmates : As we linger for a moment around this altar of friendship to enjoy the pleasant recollec- tions of the past, we hardly realize that our school-days are ended. But however reluctant w T e may be to sever our connection with the school we have learned to love, yet we are admonished that our accounts are already made up, and the last seal is now being affixed to the record that contains the history of our school-lives. Outside of these walls, which kind parents have thrown around us, are engaged a band of workers, earnestly striving to promote the welfare and happiness of the human race. The voice of duty calls us from these retreats to assist these workers. Let us see to it that the class of ' — furnishes no drones in the great hive of human industry; with that noble purpose which is born of true genuineness of character, and that in- flexible determination which knows no failure, let us pass out the gate that now opens and enter into the field of life's active duties. Let us resolve to discharge fully the obligations we owe to parents, and not dis- appoint their expectations. Let us help the world by earnestly striving to better its condition. Let us help ourselves by a continuous endeavor to build ourselves up to a higher and more noble style of 92 practical H>eciamattort& manhood and womanhood. As we extend to each other the last farewell greetings of school-life, let us remember that the bright prospects which now spread out before us will fade away unless the theories which we have here received become practical realities. The elements of knowledge which we have here received we must incorporate in the realities of life, and the principles of moral rectitude which have been im- parted to us must be our guide in all our walks in life. In the language of the immortal Bryant: " Let us so live that when our summons comes To join the innumerable caravan That moves through the pale realms of shade, We may be like one who wraps The drapery of his couch about him, And lies down to pleasant dreams.' ' Employ Your Intellect. The first law of success to-day is concentration. You must bend all your energies to one point, looking neither to the right nor to the left. Life is so short, and the range of human knowledge has increased so enormously, that no brain can know all things. The man who would know one thing well must have the courage to be ignorant of a thousand things, how- ever attractive or inviting. As with knowledge, so with work. The man who would get along must single out his specialty, and into that must pour the whole stream of his activity — all the energies of his hand, eye, tongue, heart, and brain. It is the men of single and intense purpose, who steel their souls against all things else, who accomplish the hard work of the world, and who are everywhere in demand when hard work is to be done. Those who would succeed must know their own & Closing #DDre*& 93 work perfectly; they must deny themselves general culture; they must be content if they can succeed in knowing one thing well. A Closing Address. SALUTATORY. In behalf of my teachers and classmates, I heartily welcome you here to-night to witness the last rites of our school-days. Bright, golden days they have been, around which the fondest memories will ever cling, and of which we can only think with a tear of regret that they have passed away so soon, for as we venture on the untried ocean we realize that "our lives have henceforth separate ends, and never can be one again." The joys and cares of our school-days over, we turn to you with a warm welcome on our lips and in our hearts. While we endeavor to entertain you to the best of our ability, we ask you to hear us patiently and to criticize us charitably, for our only wish is that you may be amply repaid for your attendance and attention. VALEDICTORY. To you, dear teacher, we are exceedingly grateful. During our sojourn with you, you have not only pa- tiently tried to impart to us knowledge, but also to teach us how to cultivate our minds. Feel assured that you will always be preserved in our memories, and when you think of us remember only our virtues. We give you our sincere thanks, and bid you good-by. Gentlemen of the Board of Education, we are espe- cially indebted to you for your hearty encouragement and support. You have labored most earnestly for the benefit of our dearly loved school, and we wish to acknowledge our gratitude and thanks. And now, my classmates, comes the sad duty of 94 practical acclamations* reminding you that separation must take place. In surveying the experiences of our life thus far, we can but observe that we have had very few duties that cost great toil, or that had any woeful results. All our difficulties in the school-room, all our trials in home-life, all our pleasures have been shared with kind teachers, and loving parents, and buoyant school- mates. But now we are to be ushered into the strug- gling scenes of life, and find that all our sweet relations as class-mates must be severed, and the pleasing intercourse that existed between us and our teachers must be broken. Who can look back at those days without one long, long sigh? Who can help but wish them o'er again? These are the last exercises that mark the dividing line between school-life and the unknown future. In going forth, my dear classmates, to struggle in life's contests, let perseverance mark our efforts and morality our conduct. Let righteous- ness be our watchword, and let us act our part as men and women, that when we have finished the journey of life we may receive the crown of glory and happiness in immortal bliss. Work. There are people who despise work, who look with scorn upon an honest workman. The world could get along without such people far better than it could without the workman. What would the world do without the workman? What if bakers stopped bak- ing, the farmer stopped ploughing, the gardener gave up gardening, the tailor stopped sewing, the sailor refused to go to sea, because all of these things are hard work? A pretty pass we should come to. Some- body must work; if there were no workmen — only dandies — what a world it would be ! Work. 95 We were made to work, and we are well paid for it, too. No matter what a man makes up his mind to have, by working for it he can get it. . Abraham Lincoln was once asked how he acquired his remarka- ble faculty of putting things together. "You are quite right," he said, "I did acquire it, I worked for it. When I was a youth, nothing made me so mad as to have a man say a thing I couldn't understand. I went to my room, shut myself in, and stayed till, by walking back and forth, I had picked to pieces what I heard, and then recast it in perfectly simple language.'' The world has only a smile of ridicule for idlers; it bestows its highest honors upon men who have worked hard for noble purposes. It is labor that drives the plow, scatters the seeds, reaps the harvest, grinds the corn, and converts it into bread. It is work that hews down the tree, shapes the timber, builds the ship, and guides it over the billows. Work is the mighty magi- cian that turns the desert into a garden and makes the waste smile with a harvest. *W 16 1903 "HOW TO TEACH" SERIES A Library of the Best Modern Methods 'MINETEEN numbers now ready, each devoted to a compact, concise discussion of the principles and methods of a particular bracch. They are written from the school-room standpoint and coDtaiD just the help the teacher most needs. Attractively printed on good paper, uni- formly bound in flexible cloth covers. 25 cents each. NO. AUTHOE 1. How to Manage Busy Work - - - Kellogg 2. How to Teach Botany - " 3. How to Teach Paper Folding - - Latter 4. How to Teach Reading - - Kellogg 5. How to Make School-Room Charts 6. How to Teach Minerals - - - Payne 7. How to Teach Birds - 8. How to Teach Bugs and Beetles - 9. How to Teach Fractions - - - Kellogg 10. How to Teach Clay Modeling - 11. How to Teach Primary Arithmetic - Seeley 12. How to Teach Butterflies and Bees - Payne 13. How to Teach History- - - - Elson 14. How to Teach Composition Writing - Kellogg 15. How to Teach Constructive Work - Codd 16. How to Teach About Aquatic Life - Payne 17. How to Teach About Trees - 18. How to Be a Successful Teacher - - Kellogg 19. How to Decorate the School-Room - Coburn IN PEEPABATION; 19. How to Teach Geography - 20. How to Teach Physiology 21. How to Teach Penmanship - 22. How to Teach Spelling Write ns for special terms on the set. An agent wanted in every town. Every teacher needs a set of these interesting, practical books. E. L. KELLOGG & CO., 61 East 9th St., New York LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 022 204 599 Five Leading Educational Periodicals THE. TEACHERS' INSTITUTE. The Teachers' Magazine. 3Ionthly, $1 a Year. Gives wonderful value for one dollar a year. Each number has 54 large pages? 9 x 13 inches. It contains the methods of the most successful schools told by teachers who have used them. Everything written expressly for it. All depart- ments of school work covered. The School Entertainment pagesare famous. The [nstittjte has nearly 40,000 regular subscribers, leading all other educa- tional papers, a sure indication of its splendid value. THE SCHOOL JOURNAL Weekly, at $2.O0 a Year. The Eirst Educational Weekly. Established 1870* Eifty numbers a year, making a volume of about 1600 large pages, 9 x 13 inches, equal to 30 books, usually sold at $1.50 each. Many special issues are published during the year. Among these are : Twelve "School Board" Numbers, 40 to 54 pp. each; Ten "Method" Numbers; Ten "Educational Review" Numbers; A Superb,, Annual Summer" Number, 100 pp.; A "Christmas" Number of 72 pp.; A "Private School" Number of §6 pp. THE PRIMARY SCHOOL Monthly, $1.00 a Year. Crowded with the best primary methods. The oldest, the most help-giving, the most carefully edited and beautifully illustrated primary paper. Tells what to do and how to do it. Nature Study, Reading, Language, Seat Work, Busy Work, Numbers, Hand Work— all subiects — the best methods in each. The ** Hints and Helps" page is famous. The "Pieces to Speak "are very bright. The illustrations are very numerous and add greatly to its value and good looks. Every phase of the first four years' work receives help thru its columns. Each issue contains 52 large pages with colored cover and useful supplement. EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS *' Monthly, $1.50 a Year is a monthly magazine of Pedagogy furnishing a home course of reading for teachers. Its leading departments are: History of Education, School Manage- ment, Theory of Teaching, and the N. Y. State Examination Questions, with Answers complete. Each department is conducted by a specialist in his subject. This furnishes the best possible course for teachers' meetings, reading circles, and for indi- vidual study. Hundreds of teachers' clubs meet weekly during the school year to read it together. OUR TIMES Fifty Cents a Year. The pioneer monthly news-magazine of the important events, discoveries, etc., for school room and home. The plan of this paper is to give: 1. A clear, condensed, and impartial account of the Leading Events of the Month. 2. The Important Inventions and Discoveries. 3. Interesting Geographical Material. 4. Answers to Questions of General Interest, relating to these and other kindred matters. Each number contains 32 pages, in magazine form, nicely illustrated with portraits, maps, and pictures of leading inventions. E. LKellogg&Co., **&%£ %£%%&&„ 6IE.NinthSt.,N.Y Conservation Resources Lig-Free® Type I Ph 8.5, Buffered LIBRARY OF CONGRES 022 204 599 t