imitation, and, by a necessary influence, our tempers and habits
are very much formed on the model of those with whom we familiarly
associate. Better be alone than in bad company. Evil communications
corrupt good manners. Ill qualities are catching as well as diseases;
and the mind is at least as much, if not a great deal more, liable to
infection, than the body. Go with mean people, and you think life is
mean.

3. GOOD EXAMPLE.--How natural is it for a child to look up to those
around him for an example of imitation, and how readily does he copy
all that he sees done, good or bad. The importance of a good example
on which the young may exercise this powerful and active element of
their nature, is a matter of the utmost moment.

4. A TRUE MAXIM.--It is a trite, but true maxim, that "a man is known
by the company he keeps." He naturally assimilates by the force
of imitation, to the habits and manners of those by whom he is
surrounded. We know persons who walk much with the lame, who have
learned to walk with a hitch or limp like their lame friends. Vice
stalks in the streets unabashed, and children copy it.

5. LIVE WITH THE CULPABLE.--Live with the culpable, and you will
be very likely to die with the criminal. Bad company is like a nail
driven into a post, which after the first or second blow, may be drawn
out with little difficulty; but being once driven in up to the head,
the pinchers cannot take hold to draw it out, which can only be done
by the destruction of the wood. You may be ever so pure, you cannot
associate with bad companions without falling into bad odor.

6. SOCIETY OF THE VULGAR.--Do you love the society of the vulgar? Then
you are already debased in your sentiments. Do you seek to be with
the profane? In your heart you are like them. Are jesters and buffoons
your choice friends? He who loves to laugh at folly is himself a fool.
Do you love and seek the society of the wise and good? Is this your
habit? Had you rather take the lowest seat among these than the
highest seat among others? Then you have already learned to be good.
You may not make very much progress, but even a good beginning is not
to be despised.

7. SINKS OF POLLUTION.--Strive for mental excellence, and strict
integrity, and you never will be found in the sinks of pollution, and
on the benches of retailers and gamblers. Once habituate yourself to a
virtuous course, once secure a love of good society, and no punishment
would be greater than by accident to be obliged for half a day to
associate with the low and vulgar. Try to frequent the company of your
betters.

8. PROCURE NO FRIEND IN HASTE.--Nor, if once secured, in haste abandon
them. Be slow in choosing an associate, and slower to change him;
slight no man for poverty, nor esteem any one for his wealth. Good
friends should not be easily forgotten, nor used as suits of apparel,
which, when we have worn them threadbare, we cast them off, and call
for new. When once you profess yourself a friend, endeaver to be
always such. He can never have any true friends that will be often
changing them.

9. HAVE THE COURAGE TO CUT THE MOST AGREEABLE ACQUAINTANCE.--Do this
when you are convinced that he lacks principle; a friend should bear
with a friend's infirmities, but not with his vices. He that does a
base thing in zeal for his friend, burns the golden thread that ties
their hearts together.


       *       *       *       *       *

SELF-CONTROL.


"Honor and profit do not always lie in the same sack."--GEORGE
HERBERT.

"The government of one's self is the only true freedom for the
individual."--FREDERICK PERTHES.

"It is length of patience, and endurance, and forbearance that so much
of what is called good in mankind and womankind is shown."--ARTHUR
HELPS.


1. ESSENCE OF CHARACTER.--Self-control is only courage under another
form. It may also be regarded as the primary essence of character. It
is in virtue of this quality that Shakespeare defines man as a being
"looking before and after." It forms the chief distinction between man
and the mere animal; and, indeed, there can be no true manhood
without it.

[Illustration: RESULT OF BAD COMPANY.]

2. ROOT OF ALL THE VIRTUES.--Self-control is at the root of all the
virtues. Let a man give the reins to his impulses and passions, and
from that moment he yields up his moral freedom. He is carried along
the current of life, and becomes the slave of his strongest desire for
the time being.

3. RESIST INSTINCTIVE IMPULSE.--To be morally free--to be more than an
animal--man must be able to resist instinctive impulse, and this can
only be done by exercise of self-control. Thus it is this power which
constitutes the real distinction between a physical and a moral life,
and that forms the primary basis of individual character.