once calls up
the proverb which declares that "wilful waste leads to woful want";
but did not the "waster" know this well-worn saying from his early
years _downwards_? What good, then, did it do him? Again, how many
have been benefited by the saying of the ancient Greek poet, that
"evil communications corrupt good manners"?--albeit they had it
frequently before them in their school "copy-books." Are the maxims
of morality useless, then, because they are so much disregarded?

When a man has reached middle-age he generally feels with tenfold
force the truth of those "sayings of the wise" which he learned in
his early years, and has cause to regret, as well as wonder, that he
had not all along followed their wholesome teaching. For it is to
the young, who are about to cross the threshold of active life, that
such terse convincing sentences are more especially addressed, and,
spite of the proverbial heedlessness of youth, there will be found
many who are not deaf to this kind of instruction, if their moral
environment be favourable. But, even after the spring-time of youth
is past, there are occasions when the mind is peculiarly susceptible
to the force of a pithy maxim, which may tend to the reforming of
one's way of life. There is commonly more practical wisdom in a
striking aphorism than in a round dozen of "goody" books--that is to
say, books which are not good in the highest sense, because their
themes are overlaid with commonplace and wearisome reflections.

May we not find the "whole duty of man" condensed into a few brief
sentences, which have been expressed by thoughtful men in all ages
and in countries far apart?--such as: "Love thy neighbour as
thyself," "Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you."
The chief themes of all teachers of morality are: benevolence and
beneficence; tolerance of the opinions of others; self-control; the
acquisition of knowledge--that jewel beyond price; the true uses of
wealth; the advantages of resolute, manly exertion; the dignity of
labour; the futility of worldly pleasures; the fugacity of time;
man's individual insignificance. They are never weary of inculcating
taciturnity in preference to loquacity, and the virtues of patience
and resignation. They iterate and reiterate the fact that true
happiness is to be found only in contentment; and they administer
consolation and infuse hope by reminding us that as dark days are
followed by bright days, so times of bitter ad