No, children, it is no idle dream, no fancy story that I tell when I say that the humblest member of the human family, as well as the highest, is exercising daily, whether he is conscious of it or not, some influence for good or evil upon the world. Viewed in this light who can measure the possibilities--the divine possibilities--that are wrapped up in little boys and girls? Viewed in this light, how the slightest action, the smallest of our little duties, takes on new importance! It was with this thought in mind that James A. Garfield said: “I feel a profounder reverence for a boy than a man. I never meet a ragged boy on the street without feeling that I owe him a salute, for I know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under his shabby coat.” Yes, boys and girls, by every brave and cheerful effort that we put forth we are reforming, uplifting, renewing, inspiring, hearts and souls we never heard of, never knew, the whole world becoming stronger for every bit of moral courage we create, sweeter for every kindly look we give, and holier for every good deed we do. And, of course, the contrary is true. When we fail, when we come short, when we sin, the consequences are not ours alone--they extend to all humanity. We are all, white and black, rich and poor, old and young, male and female, children of one family. Just as the quivering circles from a pebble thrown into a lake stretch on and on from shore to shore, so the silent impulse of a single life thrills from heart to heart until the very edges of humanity are touched. There is another reason still why we should be true, trustworthy, brave. That reason is that somebody else takes us as his ideal--his standard. Poor as we are, weak as we are, as unworthy as we are, somebody else is looking up to us--especially those of us who have been favored with educational advantages and opportunities. And you know that the failure of one who is invested in another’s mind with ideal qualities is a failure beyond the actual. That is one reason why people say that, as a rule, a preacher’s children are the worst children in the world. As a matter of fact, they are not the worst children in the world; but, being the children of preachers, everybody expects more of them than of others,--they are taken as ideals, as standards--that’s all. And what might be excused in others will not be excused in one who is taken as an ideal. Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America’s greatest writers, in speaking of this truth says in his story called “The Marble Faun:”