tale has held a place in literature because it stands for men of
evil all compact, whose presence has consumed integrities and exhaled
iniquities. Happily the forces that bless are always more numerous and
more potent than those that blight. Cast a bushel of chaff and one
grain of wheat into the soil and nature will destroy all the chaff but
cause the one grain of wheat to usher in rich harvests.

As a force-producer, man's primary influence is voluntary in nature.
This is the capacity of purposely bringing all the soul's powers to
bear upon society. It is the foundation of all instruction. The
parent influences the child this way or that. The artist-master plies
his pupil. The brave general or discoverer inspires and stimulates his
men by multiform motives. The charioteer holds the reins, guides his
steeds, restrains or lifts the scourge. Similarly man holds the reins
of influence over man, and is himself in turn guided. So friend shapes
and molds friend. This is what gives its meaning to conversation,
oratory, journalism, reforms. Each man stands at the center of a great
network of voluntary influence for good. Through words, bearing and
gesture, he sends out his energies. Oftentimes a single speech has
effected great reforms. Oft one man's act has deflected the stream of
the centuries. Full oft a single word has been like a switch that
turns a train from the route running toward the frozen North, to a
track leading into the tropic South.

Not seldom has a youth been turned from the way of integrity by the
influence of a single friend. Endowed as man is, the weight of his
being effects the most astonishing results. Witness Stratton's
conversation with the drunken bookbinder whom we know as John B. Gough,
the apostle of temperance. Witness Moffat's words that changed David
Livingstone, the weaver, into David Livingstone, the savior of Africa.
Witness Garibaldi's words fashioning the Italian mob into the
conquering army. Witness Garrison and Beecher and Phillips and John
Bright. Rivers, winds, forces of fire and steam are impotent compared
to those energies of mind and heart, that make men equal to
transforming whole communities and even nations. Who can estimate the
soul's conscious power? Who can measure the light and heat of last
summer? Who can gather up the rays of the stars? Who can bring
together the odors of last year's orchards? There are no mathematics
for computing the influence of