No. 5.
TnE nooT op manneus.
371
tal work. And I am of the opinion that
six hours spent in close application
to study and recitation is enough for a
day's work. If one attempts to do more
than this lie will in time become tired out
and must from necessity take a vacation
to recruit lost strength. One can for a few
days he unsparing of menial strength,
just as lie can of physical, hut it is im
possible to overwork for a whole term of
twelve or fourteen weeks without having
exhausted unature cry so loudly for rest
that its imperative demand must at length
he yielded to. Men who do a vast amount
of mental labor are not, as a rule, those
who spend the most time in work. Our
most eminent writers do not labor ten or
fifteen hours a day, but spend only a few
hours in close, intense mental application.
In this way time and strength are econo
mized, good work is done, and the mind
is kept clear and active. Not so much
work is dono in a few days, but at the end
of months a far greater amount is accom
plished. If students would habituate themselves
to spend only a few hours of close mental
application upon their studies, aim to do
excellent work so far as they might go,
and spend more time in recreation, or in
some business foreign to their studies,
thoy would in the long run accomplish
more. Our beststudents pursue this meth
od. Thoy have not lime to lounge when it
is their hour for work, but they have time
to recreate, time to write, time to spend in
preparation for any literary work they
may he required to do, and lime to spend in
social chat and in cultivating their social
powers. Set that person down as an infe
rior scholar, who has time for nothing
else than his books. From overwork,
his mental faculties become clouded, his
powers of conception become dulled, and
more than all, he becomes unfitted to min
gle with men, and to deal with the prac
tical things of life. Uiuei-.
THE ROOT OF MANNERS.
"Thou shall love thy neighbor as thy.
self" is the first law of good manners,
and success depends more upon good
manners than upon good sense. A man
may have the finest intellect and the
strongest will, yet without good manners
will comparatively fail. There may be a
few persons capable of seeing beyond a
gruir exterior and harsh manner into the
true worth and goodness of a person; but
the number is not large enough to war
rant us in assuming such a manner.
It may be complained that it is not
right for us to have so much regard for
trilles as manners require. Hut the way
in which these trilles are observed shows
the condition of the heart. A person may
guard his actions in regard to momen.
tons questions, but the overy.day actions
which go to make up manners are invol
untary, and urc prompted by no diploma
cy or shrewdness.
Special attention should be paid to
manners particularly in business relations.
Many men owe their success in this di
rection almost entirely to their suavity of
manner. It has heen said of Lundlay
Footo that "his 'thank jou, my dear,
please call again,' made him a million,
aire." A man of a gruff and harsh bear
ing is less likely to succeed in business
than in anything else. For a person of
intellect may, by the exercise of will
power, carve success in the face of 'lie
opposition and dislike caused by his man
ners; but it is iit the expense of power,
and no one can deny thai his accomplish
ments would have been all the more brll
limit had he not created this opposition
and dislike.
The manlier of doing a thing, il has
been truly said, is "Unit which marks the
degree and force of our internal impres
sions; it emanates most directly from our
immediate or habitual feelings; il is that
which stamps its life and character on
any action." And as the manner in which
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