descended. Some
seem to have come through the wolf; some have the fox's cunning; some
have the lion's cruelty, and some are as combative as bull-dogs. Now,
it is not easy to maintain one's dignity when a little cur nips your
heels behind, and a mastiff threatens you before. And some men seem to
unite both elements; they run behind you and nip, they go before to
bark and threaten. Under such circumstances it is not easy to live
smoothly and charitably. It is easy to tame lions, but to tame men is
not easy. It is easy to breast the current of rivers, but to stand
against the full force of public opinion is hard. But midst all life's
conflicts and clashings this task is upon us. We are to maintain
peace, love our enemies, and ultimately master the art of right living
with our fellows.

To all persons interested in the betterment of society comes the
reflection that getting on with men is life's abiding aim and end.
Schools can teach no other knowledge comparable to this. It is
important to train the child in music, to drill him in public speech,
to teach him how to handle the horse and dog, how to swim and ride,
the use of tools and engines, the nature and production of wealth; but
it is of far greater importance that youth should be given a knowledge
of men, and become a skillful student of human nature; to learn how to
read the face as an open book. If the jurist studies men and their
motives to find out the truth; if the physician studies men for
reasons of diagnosis; if the merchant studies thinking of his profit,
and the politician thinking of preferment, the citizen must understand
his fellows in the interest of securing their happiness and highest
welfare. Incidentally, it is important that a man should be well
groomed and well kept; should be educated and refined, just as it is
proper that the pipes of an organ should be decorated on the outside.

Nevertheless, the test of an organ is the melody and harmony within.
And the test of manhood is not outer polish, but inner skill in
carrying his faculties. Man is only a rudimentary man when in those
stages he blunders in all his meetings with his fellows, and cannot
buy nor sell, vote nor converse, without harming, marring, depressing,
discouraging his fellow men. In our age many books have been written
similar to Lyman Abbott's volume called "The Study of Human Nature,"
and the time has fully come when each child should be made ready for
life's battle beforehand, an