The habit of courtesy, of consideration for others, the
habit of truth telling and of fair dealing, the habit of self-
control, you can form in yourselves (as soon as you are old
enough to appreciate their importance), no matter how great
your early disadvantages may have been, provided you can
place yourselves for a time under favorable conditions, and
nowhere can you find these conditions so well as in a good
school. In such a school you are thrown into close contact
with a laro-e number of vounsc men and women, under such
regulations that courtesy, consideration and self-control, be-
come matters of course, while the association with cultivated
teachers is of very great personal assistance to yon. All the
circumstances are helpful, for you have not only individual
ambition as a spur, but you have also an ambition to keep
up the reputation of the school, and a desire that neither
those who have graduated before you nor those who are to
come after you, shall have reason to be ashamed of your re-
cord.
You have, in short, as I have already told you, what is
probably the best opportunity you can ever obtain to make
yourself strong for good and against evil, and in order to use
your opportunity wisely you ought to consider what are
your special weaknesses and temptations.
102
ON HABITS AND MANNERS.
Do you ever stop, for example, to think how frequently
idleness ruins men and women, and whether you yourself
are doing your best to form a habit of industry? Are you
conscientious about your work, filling every hour set apart
for labor with useful employment, or do you shirk and evade,
doing only what you are obliged to do and doing that not
very energetically or persistently ? Do you realize that the
command "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, doit with
thy might," is applicable to all your undertakings, because
slip shod, unregulated work is never good or successful, and
you can never do little things well unless you are in earnest
about them.
If you have thought much about this matter of indus-
try you must already have learned that it is not only all-
essential as regards your worldly success, but that it has also
a most important and certain influence upon your character.
If you permit yourself to become careless about your work,
to fall into irregular, unpunctual habits, you will find that
it affects your whole life and injures you seriously in many
wTays, gradually unfitting you for any kind of persistent la-
bor, and making you finally useless, shiftless, and utterly
unsuccessful. Begin, then, in school, where everything is
in your favor, to make yourself conscientiously industrious,
and do it as a matter ot principle, for as the years go on you
will find that there is spiritual as well as material truth in
ON HABITS AND MANNERS. IO3
the proverb, "The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath
nothing, but the substance of a diligent man is precious."
Page 45
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
The habit of courtesy, of consideration for others, the habit of truth telling and of fair dealing, the habit of selfcontrol, you can form in yourselves (as soon as you are old enough to appreciate their importance), no matter how great your early disadvantages may have been, provided you can place yourselves for a time under favorable conditions, and nowhere can you find these conditions so well as in a good school. In such a school you are thrown into close contact with a large number of young men and women, under such regulations that courtesy, consideration and self-control, become matters of course, while the association with cultivated teachers is of very great personal assistance to you. All the circumstances are helpful, for you have not only individual ambition as a spur, but you have also an ambition to keep up the reputation of the school, and a desire that neither those who have graduated before you nor those who are to come after you, shall have reason to be ashamed of your record.
You have, in short, as I have already told you, what is probably the best opportunity you can ever obtain to make yourself strong for good and against evil, and in order to use your opportunity wisely you ought to consider what are your special weaknesses and temptations.
Do you ever stop, for example, to think how frequently idleness ruins men and women, and whether you yourself are doing your best to form a habit of industry? Are you conscientious about your work, filling every hour set apart for labor with useful employment, or do you shirk and evade, doing only what you are obliged to do and doing that not very energetically or persistently ? Do you realize that the command "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might," is applicable to all your undertakings, because sloppy, unregulated work is never good or successful, and you can never do little things well unless you are in earnest about them.
If you have thought much about this matter of industry you must already have learned that it is not only all essential as regards your worldly success, but that it has also a most important and certain influence upon your character. If you permit yourself to become careless about your work, to fall into irregular, unpunctual habits, you will find that it affects your whole life and injures you seriously in many ways, gradually unfitting you for any kind of persistent labor, and making you finally useless, shiftless, and utterly unsuccessful. Begin, then, in school, where everything is in your favor, to make yourself conscientiously industrious, and do it as a matter of principle, for as the years go on you will find that there is spiritual as well as material truth in
the proverb, "The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the substance of a diligent man is precious."