rest in the strength of one's vitality, for, without a stock of health
equal to great emergencies and persistent longevity, even the greatest
ambition is comparatively powerless. And there is nothing that will
sap the life-forces so quickly as dissipation and impure living.

Is there anything truer than that "To be carnally minded is death?" If
the thought is carnal, the body must correspond, must express it in
some physical discord.

Nothing else will destroy the very foundations of vitality quicker than
impurity of thought and animal self-indulgence. The ideals must be
kept bright and the ambition clean-cut.

Purity of thought means that the mental processes are not clouded,
muddy, or clogged by brain ash from a dissipated life, from violation
of the laws of health. Pure thought comes from pure blood, and pure
blood from a clean, sane life. Purity signifies a great deal besides
freedom from sensual taint. It means saneness, purity, and quality.

It has been characteristic of great leaders, men whose greatness has
stood the acid test of time, that they have been virtuous in conduct,
pure in thought.

"I have such a rich story that I want to tell you," said an officer,
who one evening came into the Union camp in a rollicking mood. "There
are no ladies present, are there?"

General Grant, lifting his eyes from the paper which he was reading,
and looking the officer squarely in the eye, said slowly and
deliberately:

"No, but there are gentlemen present."

"A great trait of Grant's character," said George W. Childs, "was his
purity. I never heard him express an impure thought, or make an
indelicate allusion in any way or shape. There is nothing I ever heard
him say that could not be repeated in the presence of women. If a man
was brought up for an appointment, and it was shown that he was an
immoral man, Grant would not appoint him, no matter how great the
pressure brought to bear."

On one occasion, when Grant formed one of a dinner-party of Americans
in a foreign city, conversation drifted into references to questionable
affairs, when he suddenly rose and said, "Gentlemen, please excuse me,
I will retire."

It is the glory of a man to have clean lips and a clean mind. It is
the glory of a woman not to know evil, even in her thoughts.

Isaac Newton's most intimate friend in young manhood was a noted
foreign chemist. They were constant associates until one day the
Italian told an impure story,