and the blessings which
come to us from our relations as citizens to our country. If we have had
concrete cases brought to our experience, as, for example, our property
saved from destruction at the hands of a mob or our lives saved from a
hostile foreign foe, the patriotic sentiment will be all the stronger.

So we may carry the illustration into all the sentiments. Our religious
sentiments of adoration, love, and faith have their origin in our belief
in the care, love, and support from a higher Being typified to us as
children by the care, love, and support of our parents. Pride arises
from the appreciation or over-appreciation of oneself, his attainments,
or his belongings. Selfishness has its genesis in the many instances in
which pleasure results from ministering to self. In all these cases it
is seen that our sentiments develop out of our experiences: they are the
permanent but ever-growing results which we have to show for experiences
which are somewhat long continued, and in which a certain feeling
quality is a strong accompaniment of the cognitive part of the
experience.

THE INFLUENCE OF SENTIMENT.--Our sentiments, like our dispositions, are
not only a natural growth from the experiences upon which they are fed,
but they in turn have large influence in determining the direction of
our further development. Our sentiments furnish the soil which is either
favorable or hostile to the growth of new experiences. One in whom the
sentiment of true patriotism is deep-rooted will find it much harder to
respond to a suggestion to betray his country's honor on battlefield, in
legislative hall, or in private life, than one lacking in this
sentiment. The boy who has a strong sentiment of love for his mother
will find this a restraining influence in the face of temptation to
commit deeds which would wound her feelings. A deep and abiding faith in
God is fatal to the growth of pessimism, distrust, and a self-centered
life. One's sentiments are a safe gauge of his character. Let us know a
man's attitude or sentiments on religion, morality, friendship, honesty,
and the other great questions of life, and little remains to be known.
If he is right on these, he may well be trusted in other things; if he
is wrong on these, there is little to build upon.

Literature has drawn its best inspiration and choicest themes from the
field of our sentiments. The sentiment of friendship has given us our
David and Jonathan, our Damon and Py