. Sir William Jones tells us that he gave five years to
mastering his first language, while six weeks were sufficient for
acquiring his fortieth dialect. Thus, too, in the realm of inventive
skill, each tool becomes the parent of a score of other tools. The
studies preparatory to Edison's first mechanism covered a long period
of years; but, gaining momentum, his inventive skill increased in
geometric ratio, until to-day the famous electrician holds nearly a
thousand patents; but, as nothing succeeds like success, so nothing is
so ruinous as failure. The weaker a man is, the weaker he must become.
When a man who seeks employment is shabby and gaunt and nerveless, his
poverty lessens his chances, but to-morrow he will be weaker and
shabbier, and day by day the rapidity of his declension will increase.

Startled by these considerations, our generation perceives that
success feeding upon its gains will soon drink up all the energies of
the earth, while failure, growing more ruinous, will sweep multitudes
into the abyss. Therefore, society has come to fully recognize the
importance of a mutual love and mutual service. When a man falls we
are less and less ready to kick him. If the poorly born drops behind
in life's race, society is increasingly ready to set him upon some
beast. If some man's brain is spongy, and his mental processes slow,
the stronger minds are belting his faculties to their swifter
energies. If a man's moral springtime is slow, says one of our social
reformers, society fits up for him a little ethical conservatory, with
steam heat and southern exposure, where the buds are given a little
judicious stimulating and pushing.

Society is recognizing the debt of strength to weakness. The man who
has skill in speech is becoming a voice for the dumb. Those who have
skill toward wealth are becoming the almoners of bounty toward art,
education and morals. Men who selfishly get much and give little, who
have become Dead Seas of accumulated treasure, are losing their
standing in society. More and more cities are bestowing their honors
and esteem upon those who serve their fellows. Men are becoming
magazines, sending out kindness everywhither. Men are becoming
gardens, filling all the air with pungent fragrance. Men are becoming
castles, in which the poor find protection. The floods of iniquity
have long covered the earth, but love is the dove bringing the olive
branch of peace. Love sings the dawn of a new day.

Our