art, in literature, who, whether they were blest with the schools or without them, fed the brain by knowledge culled in their moments of leisure, and scattered it abroad to elevate and ennoble mankind.

Get but one new thought or idea a day, and you will be rich in fifteen thousand of them in forty years, and be a learned man. Give but an hour a day to careful, thoughtful reading for forty years, and you will have read seven hundred and thirty volumes large duodecimo. How proficient in many a branch of learning you may become with but an hour a day! Robert Bloomfield, a poor boy deprived of schooling, shut up to caring for hogs and sheep, and then to the shoemaker's bench, became, by diligently improving the few leisure moments he could get while at work, one of the most learned Biblical scholars of his or any other age, and ranked among the best educated men of his time in other branches as well. Elihu Burritt, a poor fatherless boy apprenticed to a blacksmith and toiling twelve hours a day at the forge, studied mathematics, Latin, and Greek at the anvil, and after the day's work was done studied while other boys played or slept, and so became in thirty years, the marvel of his time, and is known in many a country as "the learned blacksmith." Gideon Lee was so poor in his boyhood that he was compelled to go barefoot, even in winter, but, working hard and improving his leisure moments in storing his mind with useful knowledge, he became at length a rich merchant and mayor of New York city. Literally, thousands of men whose names blaze on the world's roll of honor have done the same, and have risen by saving the time which others flung away. If you will, you can do likewise and become rich in stores of wisdom.

False Standards.

HENRY H. BOWMAN, President Springfield National Bank, Springfield, Mass.

OME one has said, "Show me the companions, the habits of life, the present tendencies of a young man, and I will foretell his destiny." The task is not difficult, “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he." There is abundance of sound truth in the language of the old darky, who, to the objection of his grandson that hell could possess no reality because the supply of brimstone would be insufficient, replied, Why, bress you, honey, dey takes deir brimstone wid 'em."

A noble or an ignoble character are alike results, and the forecast of the end of a present course in human life is not impossible, nor strange, nor difficult. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" No, never! Yet many young men are careless in the discharge of the duties of their positions, loose in their choice of companions, unwise in their habits, and wonder why they do not get on, why promotion does not come to positions of greater trust, and they comment harshly upon their "hard luck." There is no "luck" about it; it is a result, the cause lies in themselves, and is entirely within their control.

Some years ago a boy entered a store in Chicago as the youngest clerk; he was told to be on hand at eight o'clock each morning, and immediately inquired if there would be objection to his coming at seven, that he might have more time to see that everything was in order. He was ambitious not to discover how little he could do and retain his place, but how much he could do, and he labored early and late to make himself necessary to his employer. He succeeded. Such service is

bound to win success; no other fruit grows in that soil. That boy, now a man in middle life, is a leading manufacturer in . New England city. There is no mystery about it. "Whatsoever a man soweth that (that only) shall he also reap."

Success! What is this thing all desire, few comprehend, and less are willing to pay for? Many young men think, or seem to think, the coveted prize will fall to them without effort, but it will not. If it were something external to the man, it might be so. Possibly men might then wander aimlessly, drifting with the tide, shifting with every changing breeze, and gather success as a sort of side issue while lounging along the highway of life. But it cannot be so acquired; it is not for sale upon those terms; it is no accident, but a result; it does not come by chance, but as a reward of long and patient effort.

Success in its highest expression is making the best of one's self; it is doing with steadfast, unremitting fidelity the homely duties of everyday life; it follows closely upon an unwavering recognition of the fact that the surest guarantee of advancement is the faithful discharge of the duties of the lower place, the filling the subordinate position so full of honest service that in the nature of things promotion must ensue. It was the man faithful over a few things who was made a ruler over many. In a word, success is character. Young man, make the best of your talents, your opportunities, yourself. Beware of false standards in your conduct and methods of life. Imitate not him whose moral life has the slightest taint either by associations or personal conduct. Follow not the example of anyone whose methods of business are at all questionable. Keep your life and character free from blemish or stain. Aim high. Low motives, inferior aspirations, any attainment less than the best you are capable of, are all unworthy of you. The world was not called into being for your exclusive benefit, others have rights as well as you. Believe, and let the belief have expression in your life, that when the Saviour of men said, "I am among you as one that serveth," he was an abiding example to all who should come after him. That is a miserably false

standard in life, a low and utterly unworthy view of its possi bilities and its importance, that, moved by no high purpose, walks blindly and with ill-considered steps along the King's highway. That life alone fulfills its obligations that is earnest and helpful, strong and true.

Rare Use of Common Sense.

REV. JAMES W. COLE, B.D.

HE fish in the waters of the Mammoth cave have places for

THE

eyes but no eyes, their eyes having been lost through disuse, due to the absence of light. Nature gave them eyes, but they found themselves in conditions where the eyes could not be used, and so perished by inactivity. Use would have saved to them the faculty of sight. Three-fourths of the days of the average civilized man must be spent in work for the support of himself and society. Work is as necessary to his welfare as morality. Yet many men take work as they take bitter medicine, under protest or with a grimace. But it is work that develops manhood, and the perfected state of man will appear when each individual of the race does his appropriate work. There is more work done in the world to-day than ever before; more work of brain and more of muscle. Just as fast as men become Christianized they must work; for to a Christian, work is as much a duty and a privilege as is worship. By means of work and worship, God is developing the perfect man. Laziness and sainthood never dwell together.

All our faculties are given us to be used. Use strengthens and develops them. Misuse and neglect will weaken and ultimately destroy them. The absence of light will destroy your eyes. You must use them if you would keep them. So as to this faculty of "common sense," you must use it if you would keep it. Many persons seem to think that the business of all others can be and ought to be carried on according to the dictates of common sense, but successfully to manage affairs like their own requires extraordinary sense, and so, by neglecting to use