I could live my life over again, there are some things I would not do." "And what are they?" inquired a friend. "I would not use intoxicating drinks; I would not smoke, chew, swear, lie, or gamble; I would not visit billiard halls and bar rooms; and I would not keep bad company." Young Smith went away saying, "That man knows; he speaks from experience; I will avoid these things!" and he did.

Young Dodge did the same, and prospered. He was getting ready to meet kings. Wealth began to accumulate; his business grew; friends multiplied. Though his time was now his own he had none to waste. Even his recreation was found in philanthropic and benevolent deeds. Down into the slums of the city he went and rescued many a boy. He was a pillar in his church. He became an animating spirit in home, foreign, and other missionary societies. "City Missions,""Freedmen's Aid Societies," "Jerry McAuley's Mission," the "Female College at Beyroot," and a score of other organizations to bless the world, shared his counsels, labors, and munificent benefactions. Some years he gave away one thousand dollars a day. That was getting pretty near a throne. He never lost the prayers of the poor."

66

He became a wise counselor, sought after by leading men in great enterprises, banks, insurance companies, temperance and anti-slavery societies, railroad corporations, colleges, theological seminaries, and other institutions watched over by the wise and learned of the age. His counsel was sought at Washington in the dark hour of his country's peril. There he stood before kings," the greatest and best statesman of the land. His name and fame crossed the Atlantic, and the high and low in the mother country desired to see him and hear him speak. He went thither. He was invited to address many public bodies where learned professors and renowned statesmen gave him the warmest welcome. He dined with Gladstone, Lord Shaftesbury, and other representatives of England's noble queen. There he stood literally "before kings." The divine promise was fulfilled, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men."

Dr. Franklin said in his autobiography, that his father gave him line upon line in regard to the virtue of industry in his boyhood, enforcing his lessons by repeating the text,

"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men." In his last days, Dr. Franklin honored the wisdom of his father by saying, "I have stood before five kings and dined with two."

66

The story of genius even, so far as it can be told at all, is the story of persistent industry in the face of obstacles, and some of the standard geniuses give us their word for it that genius is little more than industry. A woman like "George Eliot" laughs at the idea of writing her novels by inspiration. "Genius," President Dwight used to tell the boys at Yale, "is the power of making efforts."

Begging is after all harder than working, and, taking it altogether, does not pay so well. Every man, however, should stand upon his own feet. "A ploughman on his feet,' says Franklin, "is higher than a gentleman on his knees."

Milton was not merely a man of genius, but of indomitable industry. He thus describes his own habits: "In winter, often ere the sound of any bell wakes man to labor or devotion; in summer, as oft with the bird that first rouses, or not much tardier, to read good authors, or to cause them to be read till the attention be ready, or memory have its full freight; then, with clear and generous labor, preserving the body's health and hardiness, to render lightsome, clear, and not lumpish obedience to the mind, to the cause of religion, and our country's liberty."

Do not look on your work as a dull duty. If you choose you can make it interesting. Throw your heart into it, master its meaning, trace out the causes and previous history, consider it in all its bearings, think how many, even the humblest, labor may benefit, and there is scarcely one of your duties which you may not look to with enthusiasm. You will get to love your work, and if you do it with delight you will do it with ease. Even if you find this at first impossible, if for a time it seems mere drudgery, this may be just what you require; it may be good, like mountain air, to brace up your character. Our Scandinavian ancestors worshiped Thor, wielding his hammer; and in the old Norse myth Voland is said to have sold his soul to the devil, in order to be the best smith in the world; which, however, is going too far.

It is a great question how much time should be given to sleep. Nature must decide. Some people require much more

than others. I do not think it possible to diminish the amount which Nature demands. Nor can time spent in real sleep be said to be wasted. It is a wonderful restorer of nervous energy, of which those who live in cities never have enough. Sir E. Cooke's division of the day was

"Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six,

Four spent in prayer — the rest on Nature fix."

Sir W. Jones amended this into

"Six hours to law, to soothing slumbers seven,

Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven."

We

Neither six nor seven hours would be enough for me. must sleep till we are so far refreshed as to wake up, and not down.

In times of sorrow, occupation, which diverts our thoughts, is often a great comfort. Indeed, many of us torment ourselves in hours of leisure with idle fears and unnecessary anxieties. Keep yourselves always occupied.

"So shalt thou find in work and thought

The peace that sorrow cannot give."

"Every place," says old Lilly, "is a country to a wise man, and all parts a palace to a quiet mind."

Work, moreover, with, and not against Nature. Do not row against the stream if you can help it; but if you must, you must. Do not then shrink from it; but Nature will generally work for us if we will only let her.

"For as in that which is above Nature, so in Nature itself: he that breaks one physical law is guilty of all. The whole universe, as it were, takes up arms against him, and all Nature, with her numberless and unseen powers, is ready to avenge herself upon him, and on his children after him, he knows not when nor where. He, on the other hand, who obeys the law of Nature with his whole heart and mind, will find all things working together to him for good. He is at peace with the physical universe. He is helped and befriended alike by the sun above his head and the dust beneath his feet because he is obeying the will and mind of Him who made sun, and dust, and all things; and who has given them a law that cannot be broken."

OF 1860

ISTER ΤΟ RUSSIA

POSTMASTER-GENERAL

ELOQUENT PUBLIC SPEAKER TO WHAT HE ATTRIBUTES
CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION.

BECOMES EDITOR OF THE ALBANY EXPRESS MEETING WITH HORACE GREELEY EDITOR OF THE PHILADELPHIA PRESS --MADE MINCAMPAIGNS WITH MCKINLEY-HIS APPOINTMENT AS FORCEFUL AND HIS SUCCESS.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS - A

Among the personal elements of success I would give special prominence to the qualities of concentration, perse

verance, and practical knack. Decide what
you will do, stick to it, and be tactful in
doing it. Don't scatter, don't waver, and
don't bungle. Many men of ability fritter
away their strength by undertaking too
many things. Choose the work for which
you seem adapted, put your force in it and
do it faithfully and thoroughly.
It goes
without saying, that, other things being
equal, the more the ability the greater the

success, but ability alone will achieve little without well-directed, persistent, and judicious application. Large successes are attained by the union of opportunity and capacity. What is estimated as great success is sometimes accidental. But generally success comes because of tenacious effort directed by a clear head, and the clearer the head and the stronger the effort, the larger the success.

Ah Bury Thith

N several particulars the lives of Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster-general, and of Charles Emory Smith, the late head of our great postal service, singularly coincide. Franklin, though born in Massachusetts, went in early manhood to Philadelphia, and there the active, useful years of his life were spent ; Charles Emory Smith, though born in Connecticut, spent his youth and early manhood in Albany, New York, but at the age of thirty-eight became a resident of Philadelphia, and there has lived the years of his prime. Franklin was a true patriot during the momentous epoch which witnessed the war for independence, and aided by wise counsel and forceful pen in the achievement of that end; Charles Emory Smith, during the still more stupendous struggle to preserve the Union which Franklin helped to form, rendered loyal and effective service under the leadership of Lincoln. The task of Franklin as postmaster-general was a hard one, involving the extension of a postal system to portions of our land almost unexplored; that of Charles Emory Smith has been more difficult, involving not only the perfecting of our vast domestic postal system, but also the establishing of similar facilities in islands thousands of miles from our shores. Franklin, great in many fields, was a student, a thinker, an editor, a diplomat; it is perhaps not too much to say that the career of Charles Emory Smith has run on something of the same lines, and he has, besides, been a member of the Cabinet, and the valued adviser of a president.

Upon a closer examination, therefore, the career of Charles Emory Smith, if only because of its similarity to that of another great American, should prove an interesting and instructive one to the young men of to-day. He was born on a farm near Mansfield, Connecticut, on February 18, 1842, his parents being Emory Boutelle and Arvilla Royce Smith. Seven years afterward his parents removed to Albany, New York, where his grandfather was engaged in manufacturing. The schooling, which had been interrupted by the removal, was at once resumed, and it was not long before young Charles was placed in the Albany Academy. Almost from the time that he began to read and to think of his future, he had made up his mind that he would be either a journalist or a lawyer, and achieve the right to have his name numbered