Jiesorrc Potccr. testa of lifo, we see men, alas! how often, who fail for laok of reserve power, who fall short of success from early exhaus tion, from the lack of thai accumulated power which alone can tit them to meet any unexpected draft upon their abilities. In the composition of an army, one of the first essentials to effective action is a well constituted reserve force. It must In com posed of picked men, well trained vet erans, with a cool, sagacious leader who can at any moment be throw" into the thick of the tight to sustain a faltering legion or to overpower a momentarily victorious enemy. Such a force, its numbers, and the per fection of its discipline often determines whether a battle shall bo pained or lost shall end in victory or in defeat. Who, acquainted with the campaigns ot Napol eon docs not know how often conquering legions were turned back and faltering battalions cheered and strengthened by the timely assistance of the resistless I in perial Guard and that his defeat at the battle of Waterloo was owing to a groat extent to the diminished and enfeebled condition of thai brave band. Life is a warfare, and in this warfare are many de cisive moments, when success or failure, victory or defeat must hinge upon our re serve power. In the senate, in the pulpit, at the bar, in cverv sphere of activity, he only can be successful behind whose van and corps of of battle is heard the steady tramp of the army of the reserve. )o we realize this tiuth? Is it one which young America emphasizes and ac's upon? Do we, in laying our plans for the campaign of life, stationing our pickets and our guards, make provision for the reserve corps, or do we, marking out one line of procedure, throw all our powers into the fighting line of battle, with the vain hbpc that nothing will interfere to thwart our plan, and that therefore we shall succeed in life? Do we lay in abundant stores of knowledge, with which to begin professional life and by constant effort add daily to the sum, or do we intel lectually speaking, live from hand to mouth? Do not many of us, even in our school life, cram for each special occasion like a fat turkey slutled for Thanksgiving and starved for the remainder of the year? Do we not invest our physical mental and moral capital in our business, rather than reserve a part in the hank to fall back upon in case of an emergency? I fear we do. Hut when I assert that the reserve power is the great essential to make life successful, I am prepared to give good reasons for so concluding. For instance: it is the easiest and most economical way of carrying on life's cam paign. To serve a long and weary ap. prenticcship to any calling, to spend years in training one's self for duty, we know costs effort and self-denial. But is it not the cheapest in the end? Is it not easier in the long run, to be. than to scorn? Does not every lazy schoolboy and every shift less student spend more time and energy in trying to avoid showing his ignorance, than would be nucessaiy to master his les sons. Does not a int":hanic, who slights his work, really Udco more pains to con ceal this slight than he would need to take to do his work well? Is it not. (he case in all pursuits of life that the half informed man, the man who has no reserve ptver, must do infinitely more la bor to conceal his ignorance than he would do to acquire the general knowl edge, whiuh he lacks? Add to this the constant fear of having one's ignorance detected and is it not far easier to prepare the reserve power with which to with stand dangers? Conscious of its posses sion, we can brave them without fear We need not run from them. But in the age of "fast men" is this the popular doctrine? Is it the belie! of American youths, generally, that it is bet Ur to toil painfull' and slowly up the hill of science, gleaning a fact here and a fact there, and accumulating besides the little stream of ideas in our line of busi ness, a vast reservoir of knowledge upou if- ' . " W . m- rrsT f"ss . .'. :, -' .,., -:-j '7&B&S&& Bfarl: - V-