ake a good living, to enjoy
yourself." This is only the swing of the pendulum away from the old
thought. The ideal of the present day is material advantage. The
chief end of man is to make money. If once he was the slave of an
unjust order, he now is the slave of an unworthy appetite.

Living only for wealth or for wages is not living at all. Who knows
less of life than the slave of modern commercialism, the man who lifts
his eyes no higher than the pay roll, or the ticker tape? It is better
to be the victim of a delusion that gives some happiness, that gives
some fortitude, and to live the simple life of the poor than to be the
slave bound to the wheel of modern social greed and money madness.

Life itself is the object of living; the chief end of man is to become
glorious as his ideal of God is glorious, to realize the highest that
comes to him in the song of poet, the vision of seer, the hope of his
own heart. The money, the acres, the resources are the tools for the
development of life. This world is a workshop; it has failed utterly
if it produces nothing but an array of machines and a heap of shavings;
it must turn out the finished product of men.

Are you living thus for life, or are you living to do no more than make
a living? We need to educate our children to set honour, truth,
justice, a high life, before all things, to prize noble attainments so
that they shall not be content with the lesser prizes of prosperity in
things, so that whether we win or lose in the markets of the world we
shall stand rich and glorious in manhood, finding the ends of life in
the achievement of high character and finding in commerce but the
servant of character.

THE PRICE OF PERFECTION

Gold may depreciate, stocks rise or fall, and business values change so
as to leave the market in panic, but every man on the street or in the
store knows that one value forever remains permanent, unvarying, and
that is character. Every other asset may be swept away and success
still achieved if this remain; every other aid may be at its best and
failure only await him who lacks the wealth of character.

Character is that of which reputation is but the echo, often mistaken
and misleading. Character is the last, the ultimate, value of life.
It is the trend of the whole being towards the best. It is the passion
and power that holds one true despite all persuasion.

It is the one thing worth having, because upon it all other val