12. WORTHY OF CULTIVATION.--While, therefore, grace of manner, politeness of behavior, elegance of demeanor, and all the arts that contribute to make life pleasant and beautiful, are worthy of cultivation, it must not be at the expense of the more solid and enduring qualities of honesty, sincerity, and truthfulness. The fountain of beauty must be in the heart more than in the eye, and if it does not tend to produce beautiful life and noble practice, it will prove of comparatively little avail. Politeness of manner is not worth much, unless it is accompanied by polite actions. [Illustration] {73} Influence of Good Character. "Unless above himself he can Erect himself, how poor a thing is man!"--DANIEL. "Character is moral order seen through the medium of an individual nature--Men of character are the conscience of the society to which they belong."--EMERSON. The purest treasure mortal times afford, Is--spotless reputation; that away, Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay. A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest Is--a bold Spirit in a loyal breast.--SHAKSPEARE. 1. REPUTATION.--The two most precious things this side the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other. A wise man, therefore, will be more anxious to deserve a fair name than to possess it, and this will teach him so to live, as not to be afraid to die. 2. CHARACTER.--Character is one of the greatest motive powers in the world. In its noblest embodiments, it exemplifies human nature in its highest forms, for it exhibits man at his best. 3. THE HEART THAT RULES IN LIFE.--Although genius always commands admiration, character most secures respect. The former is more the product of brain power, the latter of heart power; and in the long run it is the heart that rules in life. Men of genius stand to society in the relation of its intellect as men of character of its conscience: and while the former are admired, the latter are followed. 4. THE HIGHEST IDEAL OF LIFE AND CHARACTER.--Commonplace though it may appear, this doing of one's duty embodies the highest ideal of life and character. There may be nothing heroic about it; but the common lot of men is not heroic. And though the abiding sense of duty upholds man in his highest attitudes, it also equally sustains him in the transaction of the ordinary affairs of every-day existence. Man's life is "centered in the sphere of common duties." The most influential of all the virtues are those which are the most in request for daily use. They wear the best, and last the longest. 5. WEALTH.--Wealth in the hands of men of weak purpose, or deficient self-control, or of ill regulated passions, is {74} only a temptation and a snare--the source, it may be, of infinite mischief to themselves, and often to others.