tween true learning and pedantry there is a deep gulf fixed. The one has a purpose with reference to the life of man, and is transmutable into acts; the other is an end to itself, is selfish, and takes hold on death.

The supreme end of life is not found in knowing or in being, but in putting knowledge and being into action. Personality is the active form of being. Herein lies the contrast between Christianity and the great Hindoo religions. Christianity looks to the development of personalities,-personalities that live and act the beneficent life of God, and so become the sons of God. The Hindoo religions look to the annulment of personality. Life is all sorrow. Desire, effort, action, is the great sin. Release from personality and absorption into the world-all is the true salvation. The one is the religion of optimism and action, the other of pessimism and quietism.

How natural it is to convince one's self that this is a perverse and hopeless world, and to shrink back into quiet with one's self, and let things drift. The dubious man is seldom a man of action. He will criticise the action of other people freely, but he will not take the responsibility of action upon himself. In council he will evolve a dozen reasons against a proposed plan, but will not formulate a substitute. His work all goes into the breeching and not into the traces. It is preeminently the men of hope, of outlook,-the optimists,-who act. Action is creative, and the motive power of creation is faith.

Distrust, then, is the first ground of inaction, and the second is like unto it, cowardice. How we stand shivering and dawdling before the bath, afraid to take the plunge. Action involves responsibility. Assuming responsibility is bravery. The heroes, the great leaders of men, are, the men who take upon themselves the responsibility of action. The world is always waiting for men to lead it, men who have the courage of their convictions, are willing to select a course of action, take the risk, and start upon it. The men who forever stand counting the cost and estimating the disgrace of failure, they cannot be leaders. They are cowards.

Cowardice is the second ground of inaction, and the third is akin to it, moral laziness. The will is weak. The fuse goes out before it reaches the charge. The case was clear, the opportunity apparent, but the will would not act. Knowledge would not transmute itself into action. "A little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep." Half the sloth is moral sloth. More men fail through debility of will than through intellectual or physical debility. Force and energy are largely matters of the will.

Another ground of inaction is confusion of purpose. Men do not think the matter through. They do not grasp the essentials of the situation. They wallow in its details. They fail tc gather all the conditions within a single field of vision, so that perspective is possible. Various possibilities of action stand in confused conflict. The mind is a jumble. Now one course, now another, seems good. It is a great thing for a man to know what he wants. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Conflicting and unsteady purposes throttle action.

Elaborate theorizing often proves in practical life a check upon action. Theorizing becomes an end to itself. It affords in itself a distinct satisfaction, especially when the theorizer is not troubled with any responsibility for their enactment, or with any relation to the actual vulgar state of things in life. Some minds are natural generators of schemes and theories. There is steam enough in the boiler, but it never goes to the cylinder. It never makes the wheels go round. So it becomes merely a question of explosion and ruin or of the safetyvalve and waste. Generally it is the latter.

Thought that is to go into action must know life. Theologies that are constructed in seclusion from life are not likely to touch life. They can be rehearsed and defended and subscribed to, but men do not usually live by them or die by them.

The best test of a theory or an idea is to put it into practice. If you are convinced that political conditions are not what they should be, and have an ideal of a better way in mind, do not think you are justified in hiding your ideal in a napkin and

yourself in a monastery. Do something. Attend the caucuses. Go there with a plan of action. Organize support for your idea. Push for nomination and election men who represent your idea. Secure a place on a political committee. Propose a definite plan. Do not spend yourself in criticism of what other people are doing. Do something. One chief reason why politics are what they are is that the people who have the higher ideals prefer to put them into laments rather than into action, and people who have low ideals put them into action rather than into laments.

Put your ideas into practice. It is better for the ideas. That is what they were intended for. Exercise is their hygiene.

Importance of Being Punctual.

HON. CYRUS G. LUCE, Ex-Governor of Michigan.

HERE is no teacher so wise as the Creator of the universe.

TH

There is no model so perfect. There is no other example that can be so safely and profitably followed. In every movement of the entire universe, the importance of punctuality is taught. He who knows all things, and controls all things, is so observant of its necessity that the sun, moon, stars, as well as the earth, move on, each in its own orbit, for thousands of years, without once being behind time for a single moment. So punctual and accurate is nature's machinery, so prompt is the engineer, that astronomers can determine the rising and setting of the sun and moon, and the eclipses that will occur, for centuries to come. But none can calculate the consequences of a failure on the part of any of the heavenly bodies to be on time.

Reliability and punctuality furnish the foundation upon which the whole structure of creation rests. So far as the plans of the Creator relate to the world in which we live, they are centered in the population that have in the past, do now, and shall in the future inhabit the earth. In order to accomplish the highest purposes of life, rules must be adopted for the guidance of conduct, and when good rules are once adopted they must be adhered to with religious fidelity.

While the duties that fall to the lot of any one individual are so small when compared to those which affect the whole creation that they are scarcely discernible by the naked eye, yet every one, no matter how humble, has functions to perform that affect not only one's self, but one's associates. Punctuality on the

part of a boy or girl when first attending school adds materially to the comfort and profit of all who attend in the same room. The laggard who enters the schoolroom late not only suffers a personal loss, but inflicts a wrong upon the teacher and entire school. This is just as true as it would be if some little star should be tardy in its movements, thus throwing the entire universe at least into temporary confusion. Very early in life we form habits good or bad which go with us to the end. The habit of being behind time in entering the schoolroom, unless broken off by a determined purpose and firm will, will affect life's work all along the years. There is no line of life work where punctuality is not a necessity. However lofty may be the aims and aspirations of individuals, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred they cannot be realized without this cardinal virtue. The men whose names adorn and honor the pages of history have been renowned for the possession of this one trait of character as much as or more than for any other. On time, on time, has been their motto from the beginning to the end of their career. But we need not look alone to the lives of the distinguished. Perhaps it is wiser not to do so, for but very few live the lives of the distinguished, and even these few need no prompting; they understand the importance of punctuality. In everyday life it is just as essential. The clerk in the store, bank, or commission office will never rise or become a necessity to his employers unless he is in season and out of season.

On time! on time! This must become a part of his very life. Unless he does this, upon him neither his employers nor their customers can rely. And the rule that applies to the employee must be well learned and practiced by the employer. The bank whose doors do not open promptly at the accustomed hour is heralded as a broken bank. A minute late casts suspicions; five minutes late and a bank failure is announced, and all of its attendant evils afflict the community.

The same rule, to a greater or less extent, though not so forcibly illustrated, applies to all the callings in which men are engaged. The farmer sometimes acts as if he thought that his