u benefit yourself more than
you help him. If you were aiming at mere worldly advancement only, I
should still say that good will was the very best investment you could
make in business.

12. By cheating a customer, you gain only a temporary and unreal
advantage. By serving him with right good will,--doing by him as you
would be done by,--you not only secure his confidence but also his good
will in return. But this is a sordid consideration compared with the
inward satisfaction, the glow and expansion of soul which attend a good
action done for itself alone. If I were to sum up all I have to say to you
in one last word of love and counsel, that one word should be--Good will.

DEFINITIONS.--3. Char'ac-ter, the sum of qualities which distin-guish one
person from another. 4. Purpose, intention, aim. 7. Prin'ci-ples, fixed
rules. 9. Ca-pac'i-ty, ability, the power of re-ceiving ideas. 12.
Sor'did, base, meanly avaricious.

EXERCISES.--What is meant by the phrase "to apply himself," in the fourth
paragraph? What is meant by "a generous manhood," tenth paragraph? By
"expansion of soul," twelfth paragraph? Tell what is meant by "good will,"
as taught by this lesson. How did Tom and James differ in character?

LVIII. A CHINESE STORY. (156)

By Christopher Pearse Cranch, who was born at Alexandria, Va. (then D.
C.), in 1813. He has written some well-known children's stories, besides
numerous poems; but his greatest literary work is "The AEneid of Vergil,
translated into English blank verse." He died in Cambridge Mass., 1892.

1. Two young, near-sighted fellows, Chang and Ching,
Over their chopsticks idly chattering,
Fell to disputing which could see the best;
At last, they agreed to put it to the test.
Said Chang, "A marble tablet, so I hear,
Is placed upon the Bo-hee temple near,
With an inscription on it. Let us go
And read it (since you boast your optics so),
Standing together at a certain place
In front, where we the letters just may trace;
Then he who quickest reads the inscription there,
The palm for keenest eyes henceforth shall bear."
"Agreed," said Ching, "but let us try it soon:
Suppose we say to-morrow afternoon."

2. "Nay, not so soon," said Chang; "I'm bound to go
To-morrow a day's ride from Hoang-Ho,
And sha'n't be ready till the following day:
At ten A. M., on Thursday, let us say."

3. So 'twas arranged; but Ching was wide-awake:
Time by the