rge, I exhort, I beseech you, my dear boys, to think not
of yourselves. Let your kingdom be within. Lead them as they ought to
be led, taking no thought to your own glory.

"If you heed my voice you shall become true patriots. If you disregard
it, you will become time-serving demagogues, playing upon the passions
of the people for the sake of short-lived notoriety. Such men would
corral all the tigers in the forest and organize them into marauding
regiments simply for the honor of being in the lead. Be ye none of
these, my boys. May your Alma Mater never feel called upon to cry to
God in anguish to paralyze the hand that she herself has trained.

"Be not a burrowing parasite, feasting off of the world's raw blood.
Let the world draw life from you. Use not the misfortunes of your
people as stones of a monument erected to your name. If you do, the
iron fist of time will knock it over on your grave to crumble your
decaying bones to further dust.

"Always serve the world as the voice of good conscience, instructed by
a righteous God, may direct. Do this and thou shalt live; live in the
sweetened memory of your countrymen; live in the heart of your Alma
Mater; live when the earth is floating dust, when the stars are dead,
when the sun is a charred and blackened ruin; live on the bosom of
your Savior, by the throne of his God, in the eternal Heavens."

The teacher's soul was truly in his discourse and his thoughts sank
deep into the hearts of his hearers. None listened more attentively
than Belton. None were more deeply impressed than he. None more
readily incorporated the principles enumerated as a part of their
living lives.

When the preacher sat down he bowed his head in his hands. His frame
shook. His white locks fluttered in the gentle spring breeze. In
silence he prayed. He earnestly implored God to not allow his work
and words to be in vain. The same fervent prayer was on Belton's lips,
rising from the center of his soul. Somewhere, these prayers met,
locked arms and went before God together. In due time the answer came.

This sermon had much to do with Belton's subsequent career. But an
incident apparently trivial in itself was the occasion of a private
discourse that had even greater influence over him. It occurred
on Thursday following the night of the delivery of the sermon just
reported. It was on this wise:

Belton had, in everything, excelled his entire class, and was,
according to the custom, made vale