I am not much given to preaching, but if I ever took it up as a vocation, I would preach cleanliness first and most. The boy who wishes to get to the front in athletics must adopt a program of mental and bodily cleanliness. Perhaps the greatest foe to athletic success, among young college men is _strong drink_. Personally I have never tasted liquor of any sort. It was my mother’s influence that was responsible for that, as I promised her when I was eight years old that I would never drink. I might state, parenthetically and without violating a confidence, that my family tree had several decorations consisting of ambitious men who had sought valiantly, if futilely, to decrease the visible supply of liquor. I do not wish to take a great amount of credit for my abstention. Really, more credit is due to a person who has fallen under its influence and fought his way out; but I know that the keeping of my promise to my mother has had a powerful effect on my life and my career. [Illustration] CHAPTER XIV THINGS THAT MONEY WON’T BUY Everything depends on something else. There is no such thing as absolute independence, and those who think differently are simply asleep at the switch. Of all things sought for in this world happiness stands first, and to be sure of this estatic state of being the common mistake is made in selecting the path supposed to lead most directly thereto. Wealth--choice No. 1. _The common error_ of the human family. Wealth is the great destroyer of happiness, for it breeds _discontent and worry_. In the first place comes the worry of accumulating wealth and once possessed of it comes the worry of hanging on to it. It is but a step from worry to discontent. But take away the doubt, for the sake of argument, and analyze wealth from the standpoint of possession. Now that we have wealth let’s go ahead and enjoy it. Let us make of our lives an elysian dream. All right, here goes. But first, just what is an _elysian dream_? Answer--an elysian dream is most quickly defined by the word _naught_. It is a figure of speech and only useful in poetic flights--no transfers issued. The iridescent dream is the nearest high-sounding vagary that can be bought for cash and that has a rainbow finish. It soon fades and is lost from view. [Illustration: Alone with the Grand Canyon] So we come quickly back to the proposition that wealth, while useful to the stomach and the back, has no purchasing power with the soul. Happiness is a _soul quality_--how to reach it is a quandary. Of things earthly we only require a certain amount; an overplus takes away zest. The sport of the hunt is no more, when the quarry is tied up by the heels. Anticipations are happier far than realizations. When we aspired we looked forward, and up. When we indulged to the full our eyes fell to the ground.