The True Citizen: How to Become OneMarkwick, William Fisher
Philosophy
The True Citizen: How to Become One
Markwick, William Fisher
Citizenship -- Problems, exercises, etc.; Conduct of life -- Problems, exercises, etc.; Readers -- Citizenship
In "Tom Brown's Schooldays," that charming book, so dear to all
wide-awake boys, there is a scene in which little Arthur is introduced
in the act of kneeling beside his bed, on his first night at school, for
the purpose of saying his prayers according to the custom he had always
observed at his home. We are not so much concerned with the fact that he
was ridiculed and persecuted by the older boys, as with the further
factthat this boy Arthur is said to bear a remarkable resemblance to
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, whose name is everywhere known as the late Dean
of Westminster Abbey, the most famous church in England, if not of the
world at large. Arthur Stanley was one of the first boys to go to Rugby
after the great Dr. Arnold took charge of the school, and an early
illustration of his candor and open-mindedness is shown in his immediate
and public appreciation of the splendid qualities of his master, at a
time when Dr. Arnold was so generally abused, and even branded as an
infidel. Dr. Arnold was indeed a noble teacher, and the very man to
develop the best faculties in young Arthur Stanley; for one of the
doctor's own strongest traits was this same open-mindedness.
The frankness and candor, the directness and fearlessness with which
Stanley ever gave expression to his views; the purity and "whiteness" of
his mind, and the sweetness and tenderness of his disposition,--all
these had a part in the building of his fame. But it was chiefly in his
power to free himself from prejudice and to look fairly at all sides of
the complex questions with which both he and the church to which he
belonged were so frequently brought face to face, that gave him his
great popular influence, and made him so great a champion of religious
liberty. Truth, simplicity and innocence are three jewels which many men
barter for worldly honor and success; but Stanley held to these as with
a grip of steel; and, through their influence, he succeeded where a
score of the great men of his day had already failed.
To tell of all that candor and frankness have done for humanity would be
to trace the beginnings of the overthrow of almost every wrong. Other
qualities are of course essential to all noble reformers--courage and
faith and enthusiasm; but open-mindedness, which grows out of candor and
frankness, is the one pioneer that recognizes the opportunity of the
hour and is willing to walk in the new light. Candor is the sign of a
noble mind. It is the pride of the true man, the charm of the noble
woman, the defeat and mockery of the hypocrite, and the rarest virtue of
society.
[Footnote: An admirable sketch of the career of Dean Stanley will be
found in Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia, Vol. VII., p. 697. See also
"Life of Dean Stanley," by R. E. Prothero (London and New York, 1894).]
V.
AFFECTION.
MEMORY GEMS.
Gratitude is the music of the heart.--Robert South.
The best way of recognizing a benefit is never to forget it.
--J. J. Barthelmey
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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