pless,
dependent race will never prove a relief or blessing until we have
strong, safe leaders who, losing sight of self and a few
self-constituted leaders, will see the whole people. The race will never
come into its own until we have such a condition.

A young man starts out in life with the determination to fight his way
by physical force to the front ranks. Bruised, disfigured, or killed, he
is forced back even beyond the lines again. A religiously inclined youth
asked his pastor, "Do you think it would be wrong for me to learn the
noble art of self-defense?" "Certainly not," replied the pastor, "I
learned it in youth myself, and I have found it of great value in my
life." "Indeed, sir, did you learn the Old English system or the
Sullivan system?" "Neither; I learned Solomon's system!" replied the
minister. "Yes, you will find it laid down in the first verse of the
fifteenth chapter of Proverbs, 'A soft answer turneth away wrath'; it
is the best system of self-defense I know."

Too many of us starting out on life's journey have a warped ambition.
This ambition is a love of self in the desire that self might gain the
ascendency over our fellows, not that we might be of benefit to
humanity, but that we aim to derive personal gain only. We follow the
standard of this or that man, not because we believe in him or his
policies, but because he is on the successful top round of the ladder
now, so away with principles, away with conscience, away with right,--I
must follow the man who will give most! A sad awakening comes, the idol
tumbles or else turns against you, and you are left like a stranded ship
on some vast ocean, alone, amidst the lashing of the billows and the
roaring of the waves. Remember Cardinal Wolsey's experience. You may
recall these lines,

"Would that I had served my God
With half the zeal I served my king,
He would not in mine old age
Have left me naked to my enemies."

Was the game worth the candle?

Another young man starts life with a wrong idea regarding city and
country life. Born in the country he is free, his thoughts and ambitions
can feed on a pure atmosphere, but he thinks his conditions and his
surroundings are circumscribed, he longs for the city, with its bigness,
its turmoil, and its conflicts. He leaves the old homestead, the quiet
village, the country people, and hies himself to the city. He forgets to
a large extent the good boy he used to be, in the desire to keep