acter and masterly eloquence, which saved him from political
annihilation. To a man who boasted that his ancestors came over with
the Conquerors, he replied, "I never heard that they did anything
else." A Tory lordling said, when Bright was ill, that Providence had
inflicted upon Bright, for the measure of his talents, disease of the
brain. When Bright went back into the Commons he replied: "This may be
so, but it will be some consolation to the friends and family of the
noble lord to know that that disease is one which even Providence
cannot inflict upon him."

"When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the World,
and takes him boldly by the beard," says Holmes, "he is often surprised
to find it come off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare
away timid adventurers."

It takes courage for a young man to stand firmly erect while others are
bowing and fawning for praise and power. It takes courage to wear
threadbare clothes while your comrades dress in broadcloth. It takes
courage to remain in honest poverty when others grow rich by fraud. It
takes courage to say "No" squarely when those around you say "Yes." It
takes courage to do your duty in silence and obscurity while others
prosper and grow famous although neglecting sacred obligations. It
takes courage to unmask your true self, to show your blemishes to a
condemning world, and to pass for what you really are.

It takes courage and pluck to be outvoted, beaten, laughed at, scoffed,
ridiculed, derided, misunderstood, misjudged, to stand alone with all
the world against you, but

"They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three."

"There is never wanting a dog to bark at you."

"An honest man is not the worse because a dog barks at him."

"Let any man show the world that he feels
Afraid of its bark, and 'twill fly at his heels.
Let him fearlessly face it, 't will leave him alone,
And 't will fawn at his feet if he fling it a bone."

We live ridiculously for fear of being thought ridiculous.

"'Tis he is the coward who proves false to his vows,
To his manhood, his honor, for a laugh or a sneer:
'Tis he is the hero who stands firm, though alone,
For the truth and the right without flinching or fear."

The youth who starts out by being afraid to speak what he thinks will
usually end by being afraid to think what he wishes.

How we shrink from an act of our own. We live as others l