hinking. Steamers
which have the longest routes seek deepest waters. Let me also counsel
you to do what must be done sometime as soon as possible. Thus you
avoid worry. You save yourself needless trouble and waste. You also
have the satisfaction of having the thing done which is a very blessed
satisfaction. I would have you spring to your work in the mood and the
way in which J. C. Shairp, in his poem on the "Balliol Scholars,"
spoke of Temple:--
"With strength for labor, 'as the strength of ten'
To ceaseless toil he girt him night and day:
A native King and ruler among men,
Ploughman or Premier, born to bear true sway:
Small or great duty never known to shirk,
He bounded joyously to sternest work--
Lest buoyant others turn to sport and play."
Therefore, do not be a slave. Go at your job with enthusiasm. To get
enthusiasm in work, work. Work creates enthusiasm for work in a
healthy mind. The dyer's hand is not subdued to its materials; it is
strengthened through materials for service.
VIII
You will soon learn, my son, that college men are, as a rule, sound in
body, sane in mind, in heart pure, in will vigorous, keen in
conscience, and filled with noble aspirations. Such men usually
interpret life, both academic and general, in sanity and in justice.
Yet, despite these happy conditions, there does prevail a danger of
college men making certain misconceptions of college life.
A misconception which is more or less common among students you will
soon have occasion to see relates to the failure to distinguish, on
the one side, knowledge from efficiency, and on the other, knowledge
from cultivation. In the former time, the worth of knowledge, as
knowledge, was emphasized in the college. The man who knew was
regarded as the great man. To make each student an encyclopedia of
information was a not uncommon aim. It is certainly well to know.
Scholarship is seldom in peril of receiving too high encomium. Yet,
knowledge is not power. Sometimes knowledge prevents the creation, or
retention, or use, of power. The intellect may be so clogged with
knowledge that the will becomes sluggish or irregular in its action.
Knowledge, however, is always to be so gathered that it shall create
power and minister to efficiency. The accumulation of information is
to be made with such orderliness, accuracy, thoroughness and
comprehensiveness, that these qualities shall represent the chief and
lasting res
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