To take or attempt to take the law into your own hands
on such occasions, is almost always worse than useless, for
you are not in a position of authority, and usually have nei-
ther the experience nor the judgment necessary to enable
you to deal justly and wisely with the offender. The only
honest and courageous course for a student who becomes
aware of a serious misdemeanor on the part of a fellow stu-
dent, is to report at once, without exaggeration or reserva-
tion, to the proper authorities, and to be guided as to his
own action entirely by their decision.
By this, and by a conscientious obedience to the laws of
the school, you can vastly strengthen the hands of your
teachers, and you can do your share in the honorable and
lasting work of building up a Christian college for your peo-
ple, a work of which your own experience must already have
taught you the inestimable importance.
Throughout all your school life you. should remember
that the time which you spend in study is entirely and sim-
IOO ON HABITS AND MANNERS.
ply a time of preparation. The great work of life opens before
you when the school doors close behind you, and from that
day forward you will in all probability have little time or op-
portunity for merely personal cultivation. You have spent
months, possibly years, in sharpening your weapons, and
when the day comes for using them they should be keen and
true, or your chance in the crowded field will be small. Re-
member, then, that your school hours are precious, that the
knowledge which you acquire in them is the foundation of
all that you will get in after life, and that the habits which
you then form will remain always at the base of your char-
acter. In your school, under the guiding and protecting
influence ot your teachers, you have an opportunity to form
and strengthen both your moral and intellectual nature, and
you cannot too strongly feel the importance of making the
best use of your advantages. I believe that most of you un-
derstand the value of the education which you get from
books, and that upon that point I need say little to you.
You know that tvithout suoh education you can do little or
nothing ; that with it, the world of art, of science, of busi-
ness is open to you, and ou are aw are that in order to ob-
tain it you must pay the price of persistent hard work, but
in regard to the habits of life which you are forming day by
day, I fear your convictions are not so clear.
In respect to these habits, then, I have something to
say to you before we part, and although it may seem to you
ON HABITS AND* MANNERS. IOI
to be to some extent a reiteration of what has been said be-
fore, yet I hope to be able to put the facts before you in a
new and clearer light.
Page 44
Presented as published in 1888. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
To take or attempt to take the law into your own hands on such occasions, is almost always worse than useless, for you are not in a position of authority, and usually have neither the experience nor the judgment necessary to enable you to deal justly and wisely with the offender. The only honest and courageous course for a student who becomes aware of a serious misdemeanor on the part of a fellow student, is to report at once, without exaggeration or reservation, to the proper authorities, and to be guided as to his own action entirely by their decision.
By this, and by a conscientious obedience to the laws of the school, you can vastly strengthen the hands of your teachers, and you can do your share in the honorable and lasting work of building up a Christian college for your people, a work of which your own experience must already have taught you the inestimable importance.
Throughout all your school life you. should remember that the time which you spend in study is entirely and sim-
ply a time of preparation. The great work of life opens before you when the school doors close behind you, and from that day forward you will in all probability have little time or opportunity for merely personal cultivation. You have spent months, possibly years, in sharpening your weapons, and when the day comes for using them they should be keen and true, or your chance in the crowded field will be small. Remember, then, that your school hours are precious, that the knowledge which you acquire in them is the foundation of all that you will get in after life, and that the habits which you then form will remain always at the base of your character. In your school, under the guiding and protecting influence ot your teachers, you have an opportunity to form and strengthen both your moral and intellectual nature, and you cannot too strongly feel the importance of making the best use of your advantages. I believe that most of you understand the value of the education which you get from books, and that upon that point I need say little to you. You know that without such education you can do little or nothing ; that with it, the world of art, of science, of business is open to you, and ou are aw are that in order to obtain it you must pay the price of persistent hard work, but in regard to the habits of life which you are forming day by day, I fear your convictions are not so clear.
In respect to these habits, then, I have something to say to you before we part, and although it may seem to you
to be to some extent a reiteration of what has been said before, yet I hope to be able to put the facts before you in a new and clearer light.