upported--its talents, virtue, and usefulness, the surest
basis of an honorable reputation.

The relatives and kindred of a young man, by a natural process,
communicate his amiable and opening character to a wider circle than
that of home. His associates and friends extend the circle, and thus it
widens till its circumference embraces a portion more or less of
society, and his character places him in the class of respectable men.
With good principles and conduct, neither envy nor malice can intercept
the result of this progressive series; without good principles and
conduct, no art or dissimulation can realize the noblest aim of a social
being--a well-founded reputation.

A person commits an error, and he has sufficient address to conceal it,
or sufficient ingenuity to palliate it, but he does neither; instead of
availing himself of concealment and palliation, with the candor of a
great mind, he confesses his error, and makes all the apology or
atonement which the occasion requires. None has a title to true honor
but he who can say with moral elevation, when truth demands the
acknowledgment, I have done wrong.

The events of life are not fortunate or calamitous so much in
themselves, as they are in their effect on our feelings. An event which
is met by one with equanimity or indifference, will fret another with
vexation, or overwhelm him with sorrow. Misfortunes encountered with a
composed and firm resolution, almost cease to be evils; it is,
therefore, less our wisdom to endeavor to control external events, than
to regulate the habitual temper of our minds to endurance and
resignation.

The emotions of the mind are displayed in the movements of the body, the
expression of the features and the tones of the voice. It is more
difficult to disguise the tones of the voice, than any other external
manifestation of internal feeling. The changing accents of the voice of
those with whom we have long lived in intimate intercourse, in the
communication of sentiment, are less equivocal and more impressive than
even language itself.

The vocal sounds of speech, expressive of thought and feeling, are too
much neglected by us in our individual and personal education. Could we
analyze the opinion which we form of people on a first acquaintance, we
should certainly find that it is greatly influenced by the tones of the
voice. Study, then, agreeable sounds of speech, but seek not rules to
guide you from etiquette--from artificial