unselfishness, kindness, justness, and generosity. A person possessed of these qualities will be found gentle and polite. Good manners should be essential factors in our education, and cannot be too strongly emphasized when we realize that they are but the outward expression of inward virtues, and like the hands of a watch indicate that the machinery within is perfect and true. A noble and winning daily bearing is the outgrowth of goodness, sincerity, and refinement, and is the fruit of a practical application of the golden rule, the crowning perfection of a noble character.

Among the qualities which contribute to worldly success, true politeness takes first rank. It is said of A. T. Stewart, the merchant prince of New York, that he owed his success largely to his genial bearing and graceful manners.

History is crowded with examples illustrating that in literature it is the delicate, indefinable charm of style, more than thought, that immortalizes the work. So in the business world it is the bearing of a man towards his fellow men, that often, more than any other circumstance, promotes or obstructs his advancement and success in life.

The address and manner of a man generally determine his success or failure. How often we are compelled to do business with a person whose very presence is repulsive; he appears to be utterly void of noble, manly qualities, while, on the other hand, we come into contact with those whose personality is like the pleasant rays of a June sun, warming and gentle.

The friendship of a man of genial character is courted and sought, while the one who is cold and gruff is shunned or his presence endured no longer than is absolutely necessary. We are all creatures of conditions and circumstances, and dependent more or less upon each other in all the walks of life.

In this day and age, under the brisk competition for patronage in every department of human activity, the expression of the nobler qualities of mind and heart counts much for capital in trade.

The person whose heart and life are right will exhibit those

manly, winning qualities so universally admired, and will secure the cordial approbation, the general good will, and hearty support of friend and stranger. There is no field of labor where good manners are out of place, no condition of even a depraved nature which is not influenced more or less by the exercise of a kind heart and genial air. Even the brute recognizes and shows an appreciation of kindness. These qualities of mind and heart, cultivated and woven into the fabric from daily life, will yield a harvest of rich fruitage.

Pleasing manners constitute one of the golden keys which turn the bolts of the door leading to success and happiness.

The great motive power of our conduct is the heart; it is the fountain head of all action. This truth is illustrated by the calm words of Sir Walter Raleigh, as he was led to the block and the executioner was trying to adjust his head to a comfortable position: ""Tis more important that my heart be right than my head." The heart is the great reservoir from whence flow the issues of life. When the heart is right the life will be right, and success in all of its completeness will be the fruit.

The Worth of Modesty.

N

REV. G. R. HEWITT, B.D.

OTHING is more worthy of cultivation than simple and unpretending manners. Hardly anything else is so attractive. Modest behavior wins friends, while pompos

ity and pretension drive them off. Modesty is not a weakness, though many young men seem to think so. On the contrary, it is perfectly compatible with strength, and as a matter of fact is generally found in men of uncommon ability and force of character.

Modesty is not self-disparagement, but rather the appraising ourselves at our true value. The derivation of the word is instructive. It comes to us from the Latin, and is derived from modus, a measure, and so comes to mean the measuring faculty. Modesty, therefore, means not underestimating ourselves, but correctly estimating ourselves. It avoids self-disparagement on the one hand, and on the other it prevents us from thinking "more highly of ourselves than we ought to think."

Modesty is not to be confounded with diffidence or bashful

Diffidence is self-distrust. The diffident man is either ignorant of his powers, or distrustful of them, and so shrinks from undertaking what he may be perfectly competent to perform. The modest man is neither ignorant nor distrustful of his powers, but he does not vaunt himself because of them, and is not puffed up. Sir Isaac Newton solved one or two problems that no other human intellect could solve, but, as Ruskin says, he did not on that account expect all men to fall down and worship him. He was modest withal and likened himself to a boy

.who had picked up a few pebbles on the beach, while the great ocean of truth lay undiscovered before him.

Genuine merit is always modest. The truly great man is ever the most humble. He is aware that for everything he can do there are a hundred things he cannot do; that for everything he knows there are a thousand he does not know; and that if he is possessed of some good qualities, there are others he lacks. Ignorance alone is vain and boastful. It is the empty ear of grain that proudly holds up its head; when filled, it bends modestly downward.

The great charm of all power is modesty. The pomposity of many people is an attempt to impose upon the world by passing for more than they are worth. It is due to fear that they will receive no more attention than their scanty merits deserve. Cheek is not an "infirmity of noble minds," but afflicts only persons of inferior powers. It deserves to fail as it usually does. Brag, at the best, can be but a very brief substitute for ability. Brass makes a bigger noise than gold, but it is gold men are after, and they commonly know it when they see it. In the long run, every man passes at his true worth. To try to pass for a person of greater importance or ability than you really are, is not only absurd, but also dishonest. It implies deceit, as well as conceit, and is therefore a fatal defect in any character. True merit cannot be hid, and needs not to sound a trumpet before it. If there is anything in you, depend upon it somebody is going to find it out. If there is nothing in you, you cannot by swagger and bluster cheat the world into believing that there is.

Avoid brag; it will bring you down in the eyes of those whose good opinion you most desire. Cultivate simplicity in action and in conversation. Promise little, perform much. Neither talk loud nor dress loud. Modesty is beauty's crown, admirable alike in old and young. It adds a grace to every virtue, and furnishes the finest setting in which ability of any kind may shine.

True Nobility.

REV. HENRY A. BUTTZ, D.D., LL.D.,

President of Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, New York.

HE highest eulogy which can be paid to anyone is to say that he is noble. It is comprehensive of all the virtues and

of all the graces. There is no one word representing character and esteem which is so all-embracing. There are some words for which no adequate definition seems possible. The feeling of their meaning is deeper than any impression which language is able to convey. Such a word is nobility. If one were to attempt the substitution of some other word for it, such as goodness, benevolence, justice, he will find that neither separately nor collectively do they fully express its meaning. It can only be stated by circumlocution, and even then inadequately.

It is first of all a feeling. The appeal which is made to a noble person is answered almost before it is presented, because his consciousness of the needs of others is so acute that the meaning is comprehended intuitively. Nobility is the expression, not of the intellect so much as of the soul, not merely of the mind but of the heart. It is often, indeed generally, expressed in the face, for a really noble person, however much he may strive to do so, cannot conceal from others the benevolence which controls his life.

The nobility of feeling involves sympathy with all that is true and good. It is the condition of a person who looks with dissatisfaction upon everything low and degrading and is conscious of entire harmony with that which is elevated and pure. Such feelings have animated all those who have been recognized among the choice characters of the world.