XL.
LIFE A BATTLE.
Boys and girls, I want to repeat to you now some words which were delivered long ago by the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, a man who was once the vice-president of the United States. These words are wholesome, and should be read and considered by parents and school teachers and by children themselves all over our land:
“Above all things, teach children what their life is. It is not breathing, moving, playing, sleeping, simply. Life is a battle. All thoughtful people see it so. A battle between good and evil from childhood. Good influences, drawing us up toward the divine; bad influences, drawing us down to the brute. Midway we stand, between the divine and the brute. How to cultivate the good side of the nature is the greatest lesson of life to teach. Teach children that they lead these two lives: the life without and the life within; and that the inside must be pure in the sight of God as well as the outside in the sight of men.
“There are five means of learning. These are: Observation, reading, conversation, memory, reflection.
“Educators sometimes, in their anxiety to secure a wide range of studies, do not sufficiently impress upon their scholars the value of memory. Now, our memory is one of the most valuable gifts God has bestowed upon us, and one of the most mysterious. Take a tumbler and pour water into it; by-and-by you can pour no more: it is full. It is not so with the mind. You cannot fill it full of knowledge in a whole lifetime. Pour in all you please, and it still thirsts for more.
“Remember this:
“Knowledge is not what you learn, but what you remember.
“It is not what you eat, but what you digest, that makes you grow.
“It is not the money you handle, but that you keep, that makes you rich.
“It is not what you study, but what you remember and reflect upon, that makes you learned.
“One more suggestion:
“Above all things else, strive to fit the children in your charge to be useful men and women; men and women you may be proud of in after-life. While they are young teach them that far above physical courage, which will lead them to face the cannon’s mouth; above wealth, which would give them farms and houses and bank stocks and gold; is moral courage—that courage by which they will stand fearlessly, frankly, firmly for the right. Every man or woman who dares to stand for the right when evil has its legions, is the true moral victor in this life and in the land beyond the stars.”
These brave and true words were spoken by Mr. Colfax long years ago. They were true then; they are no less true now. Every boy in America should treasure them in his heart. Every girl in America should commit them to memory and make them the rule of her life. Mothers and fathers, school teachers and preachers, and all who have the care of the young in any way would do well to study these wise counsels and reflect upon them and strive to impress upon those for whom they are laboring.
If you would win the victory in the battle of life, my young friends, you must watch the little things. It is said that there is a barn upon the Alleghany Mountains so built that the rain which falls upon it separates in such a manner that that which falls upon one side of the roof runs into a little stream that flows into the Susquehanna and thence into Chesapeake Bay and on into the Atlantic Ocean; that which falls upon the other side is carried into the Alleghany River, thence into the Ohio, and onward to the Gulf of Mexico. The point where the waters divide is very small, but how different the course of these waters! So it is with people, young or old. A very little thing changes the channel of their lives. Much will depend upon the kinds of tempers you have, boys and girls. If you are sour and cross and crabbed, no one will love you. If you are kind and cheerful, you will have friends wherever you go. Much will depend upon the way in which you improve your school days; upon the kind of companions you have; and upon the kind of habits you form. If you would win a great victory in fighting the battle of life you must look well to the little things.