,transcriber's ,note3 ,this project uses utf-#h encoded characters4 ,if some characters are not readable1 check your settings of your text reader to ensure you have a font installed that can display utf-#h characters4 ,italics delimited by underscores4 ,stop6 ,a ,handy ,monitor and ,pocket ,conscience4 ,,the ,,new 8,,colton',s ,,lacon40 ,by ,author of ,,never and ,,always4 ,,mrs4 ,,mary ,j4 ,,holmes' ,,novels ,over a ,,million ,sold ,,the ,,new ,,book ,queenie ,hetherton ,,just ,,out4 ,for ,sale ,everywhere ,price1 #a4ej4 ,,stop6 ,a ,handy ,monitor1 ,pocket ,conscience and ,portable ,guardian against the ,world1 the ,flesh and the ,devil4 8,stop6 ,to pause1 knock off1 let up1 cheese it1 switch off1 give it a rest1 cut short1 stand like a rock1 kick against1 shut down1 bring up with a round turn1 hold hard10 etc4--,,thesaurus4 8,what would you1 sir8 ,i pray you stop1 nor yield a hair to vicious promptings60--,,moliere4 ,,by ,,mentor4 ,,author ,,of 8,,never0 ,,and 8,,always40 ,illustration ,,new ,,york3 ,,copyright1 #ahhd1 ,,by ,g4 ,w4 ,carleton ,co41 ,publishers4 ,,london3 ,s4 ,,low ,,co4 ,,mdccclxxxiv4 ,stereotyped by ,,samuel ,,stodder1 #db ,,dey ,,street1 ,n4 ,y4 ,illustration ,introduction4 ,illustration ,,the pining need of a work of this kind--an instructive sharpener in book-form1 as it were1 of the moral faculty--has long been so seriously felt that the author eagerly hastens to supply it4 ,in 8,,never0 and 8,,always10 his appeal was rather to the externalities of life4 ,in 8,,stop10 his aim is to regulate the very springs of impulse1 deliberation and resolve4 ,in other words1 there is not a temptation that he would not strip of its disguise1 not an unworthy motive that he would not pulverize as with a corrective club1 not a misleading conceit that he would not skewer to its squirming source4 ,although the pearls of thought and monitory gems herewith presented are intended mainly for young men just entering upon the great work of life1 there is neither man nor maid1 stripling nor patriarch1 saphead nor sage who may not scramble for them with avidity1 and glory in their possession4 ,young man1 are you hesitating in the choice of a vocation8 ,a reference to the admonitions under this head in 8,,stop0 may be the means of your becoming a ,millionaire1 a ,police ,magistrate or an ornament to society4 ,are you in love1 or willing to be8 ,a consultation of the advice at your command may place you in such hobnobbing1 soul-wedded relations with the rosy god as shall cause you to charm1 to captivate1 and finally to wrest the rapt1 responsive throb from ,beauty's battlemented heart4 ,are you a driveling idiot in money matters8 ,imbibe1 and be wise4 ,and so on1 through all the departments of existence4 ,thus1 panoplied1 as it were1 against the ,world1 the ,flesh and the ,devil1 you might eventually1 in an agony of gratitude and wonderment1 eulogize the author in the significant words of ,hamlet1 slightly altered1 to the following effect3 8',sblood6 he plays on me easier than on a pipe6 ,he would seem to know my ,,stops2 he would pluck out the heart of my mystery2 he would sound me from my lowest notes to the top of my compass2 there is so much music1 excellent voice and incomparable counsel in this little book60 ,illustration ,illustration ,contents4 ,illustration ,in ,choosing a ,vocation #i ,in ,general ,deportment #ai ,in ,love ,affairs #bg ,in ,money ,matters #ci ,in ,guarding ,against ,bad ,habits #dh ,in ,judging ,others #ee ,in ,recreations #fd ,in the ,domestic ,relations #gc ,in ,business ,life #hd ,in ,thought1 ,word and ,deed #ia ,illustration ,stop6 ,illustration ,in ,choosing a ,vocation4 ,stop1 first1 and reflect what you are fit for4 ,to rush recklessly into an occupation of which you are as ignorant as a horse is of music1 is not to be thought of4 ,stop1 next1 and consider if what you have in view is respectable4 ,or1 if too much of an ass to distinguish between banking and bunco1 for instance1 read up carefully on horse-sense4 ,stop1 again1 and be sure that your choice is in keeping with your capacity4 ,to essay one of the learned professions if wholly uneducated1 speculative pursuits if a natural born fool1 or hod-carrying if lily-handed1 spindle-propped and wasp-waisted1 is hardly a proof of intellectuality4 ,stop1 your career being chosen1 to master its rudiments before essaying its higher walks4 ,rome was not built in a day1 nor is any vocation a spring-board to waft you into the empyrean at the primary bounce4 ,stop long enough to master the rule of 8addition1 division and silence10 if seeking political preferrment1 or employment as a confidential clerk4 ,stop long enough in one vocation to give it a fair trial4 ,jacks-of-all-trades--men who are studying law in the morning1 counter-hopping after dinner1 peddling soap to-day1 starting a bank to-morrow--are seldom successful4 ,stop1 and ponder deeply1 before becoming that pitiable object1 a professional office-seeker4 ,rather sink your independence of thought and action at once by marrying for money1 or toadying upon a rich relative4 ,stop1 if a lawyer's office-boy1 before intruding your legal views upon your employer's graver consultations4 ,think6 ,should you excite his professional envy at the outset8 ,stop1 if beginning as a dry-goods clerk1 before imagining yourself a silent partner in the concern1 with your four dollars a week as its chief investment4 ,self-respect is one thing1 unmitigated1 idiotic asininity another4 ,stop1 if at the tape-and-shoestrings counter1 before aspiring to the glittering generalities of the ribbons and laces1 or the grave responsibilities of the white-goods department4 ,the cares of these high functions may surpass your conception1 and we must creep before we climb4 ,stop before entering the ministry1 if without religious convictions1 a sacrilegious scoffer1 and morally depraved4 ,stop on the ragged edge of the fallacy that your place1 or any man's cannot be filled by another4 ,when men die1 as they all must1 are their places not always filled8 ,stop on the brink of blatant1 unaccredited1 irresponsible quackery in anything1 but especially if desirous of becoming a disciple of ,hippocrates4 ,stop1 if contemplating a banking career1 and inquire if you have a mathematical mind and attainments4 ,a vague acquaintance with the rule of three1 together with a mouth-watering desire for colossal wealth1 cannot alone enable you to rival the wizards of finance4 ,stop before setting up on your own account1 unless thoroughly in earnest4 ,even a peanut-stand may be dignified by business energy and perseverance4 ,stop short1 bring up with a round turn1 at any inducement1 however dazzling1 that is not strictly honest4 ,you can better afford to be mediocre than obnoxious4 ,stop1 and consider well1 before taking up a patent lightning-rod4 ,agents are already numerous1 and farmers' dogs on the alert4 ,stop1 before joining the army of commercial drummers1 and be sure that you possess three qualifications in a superlative degree1 i4e43 cheek1 pertinacity and the gift of gab4 ,stop1 should you become a drummer1 at the nineteenth lie in support of one line of goods4 ,mendacity hath its limits1 and even the credulity of a yokel may be gorged4 ,stop on the giddy verge of over-estimate in any business4 8,hope10 says ,lacon1 8is a prodigal young heir1 and experience is his banker2 but his drafts are seldom honored1 because he draws largely on a small capital1 is not yet in possession1 and if he were1 would die40 ,stop1 indignantly repel1 all inducements on the part of advertising sharks4 ,their name is legion1 and they seek but to devour4 ,stop1 howsoever tempted1 at the allurements of roguery1 embezzlement1 rascality1 and satanic suggestions of every description4 ,if you must be a cutpurse let it be on the broad highway1 pistol in hand1 dime-novel at heart1 and the gallows in sight4 ,stop1 if contemplating a political career1 and distinctly settle this question in your mind3 ,am ,i to boss the party1 or is the party to boss me8 ,there is nothing like avoiding a confusion of ideas4 ,stop1 next1 and be certain that your ambition is not o'erleaping its aim4 ,pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon1 if possible1 but to make a dead set for the ,presidency and bring up as a police-court janitor1 or coroner's assistant1 is apt to prove discouraging4 ,stop1 even if rich1 before entering upon pleasure as a business4 ,few constitutions can long stand the racket1 ennui is the result1 and premature death its bourne4 ,stop before entering the literary profession1 if devoid of imagination1 a proverbial fool1 and with but a lazy comprehension of orthography1 grammar and syntax4 ,stop1 next1 and ask yourself1 what great author1 dead or living1 shall ,i emulate8 ,then1 be your model ,shakespeare or ,bartley ,campbell1 ,thackeray or ,tupper1 ,byron or the ,burlington ,hawkeye1 stick to your ideal1 revel in ink and starve for glory4 ,stop1 if of a dramatic turn1 before absolutely forcing a manager to produce your play4 ,there are1 unfortunately1 legal safeguards for even this species of credulous1 unsophisticated1 professionals4 ,stop1 and reflect profoundly1 before adopting pugilism as a vocation1 if constitutionally weak in the back1 color-blind1 short-winded1 and timid to pusillanimity4 ,stop before deciding upon a histrionic career1 until satisfied that you are not better fitted for an auction-room or a junk-shop4 ,stop1 in any calling1 long enough to become familiar with the foot of the ladder before clawing ineffectually at the top-round4 ,beginning at the top1 to come down with a rush1 is reserved for millionaires' sons1 holders of winning lottery-tickets and cat's-paws of nominating conventions4 ,illustration ,illustration ,in ,general ,deportment4 ,stop at the assumption of a supercilious1 ducal air1 especially if small of stature1 monkey-brained and impecunious4 ,this is solely the privilege of floor-walkers1 brained midgets and actresses' husbands4 ,stop1 on the other hand1 if tall and commanding1 before cultivating a creeping1 crushed demeanor1 unless you are a colporteur or dog-stealer4 ,stop on the brink of wholly disregarding the prevailing fashions4 ,knee-breeches1 shoe-buckles1 a powdered wig1 and a swallow-tailed coat1 with the waist-buttons between the shoulder-blades1 would stamp you as an eccentric at the present day4 ,stop before despising the requirements of the seasons4 ,a straw-hat in a snow-storm1 for instance1 would excite remark4 ,stop when vanity counsels an excess of ornament4 ,to exhibit a jewel or two with judgment is one thing1 to groan under a clanking avoirdupois of gauds and trinkets another4 ,stop at the claims of both a cadaverous gravity and a causeless facetiousness of demeanor4 ,neither the belfry owl nor the proverbial basket of chips should be your model in this regard4 ,stop on the verge of unnecessary violence in word and deed4 ,resent1 if you must1 without preliminary roaring4 ,the deadly submarine torpedo is terrible in its explosion1 but less noisy than the harmless bursting of an inflated paper-bag4 ,stop before criticising what you do not understand4 ,the bore indulging in this species of idiocy is deserving of an enforced association with numerous mothers-in-law in a whisper-gallery4 ,stop1 indeed1 snap your jaws to like a spring-trap1 at the very suggestion of an oath or low expression4 8,profanity10 says ,lacon1 8never yet dignified wrath nor emphasized a great purpose40 ,stop before indulging in covert sneers4 ,indeed1 8a good1 mouth-filling oath0 is preferable1 because less hypocritical1 but an ungarnished assertion is better than either4 ,stop before meanly insinuating what should be plainly spoken4 ,even if a man owes you money1 which you think he ought to pay1 tell him so1 or ask for an explanation1 instead of conveying your meaning through an allusion to his current expense or new clothes4 ,this is the course of a sneak and a coward4 ,stop1 rather1 and bewail the abolition of imprisonment for debt1 or tell him that he ought to live cheaply and go in rags until he liquidates4 ,stop before assuming a rasping1 file-edged1 whip-in-hand demeanor toward your dependents or inferiors4 ,apart from its villainously bad taste1 the whirligig of time may bring about a transposition of relations1 and then where are you8 ,stop1 on the other hand1 ere adopting a groveling1 sycophantic1 ultra-ingratiating manner with your superiors4 8,the flavor that can only be won by fawning servility is seldom of great worth40 ,stop before persisting in a style of laugh that can betray your motives to your disadvantage4 ,the 8,he1 he1 he60 of hypocrisy is as patent as the 8,haw1 haw1 haw60 of the windbag4 ,stop at an unwarranted ostentation of speech and bearing4 ,the dung-hill bird is distinguished quite as much by his strut as by his vociferousness4 ,stop1 in addressing a woman1 and consider the privilege of her sex1 even if she may have aggrieved you4 ,stop1 on the other hand1 before over-whelming her with an excess of courtesy4 ,over-attentiveness to women always inspires a suspicion as to its motive4 ,stop before retailing a scandal1 even if convinced of its truth4 ,this is the province of the incorrigible gossip and the newspaper reporter1 with neither of whom you can hope to cope4 ,stop on the threshold of a temptation to distort the truth4 ,plausibility in lying is an art in which but few can earn distinction4 ,stop before disputing a fact1 however distasteful1 that can be proved by statistical evidence4 ,figures are not apt to lie1 save on gas-metres4 ,stop before adhering to an error through a mistaken sense of shame4 8,who acknowledgeth his error showeth an increase of wisdom2 who stubbornly adhereth to what hath been disproved confesseth himself a fool40 ,stop short of the conceit that irresistibility with the fair sex depends on good-looks alone4 ,the manners make the man4 ,stop before aping the characteristics of another1 however exalted4 ,the gesticulations of the ,frenchman would be unseemly in the staid ,hidalgo1 and that which would be a pleasing originality in one might be a preposterous parody in the imitator4 ,stop short of the notion that wiseacre looks and frigidity of manner will always be indicative of reserved force and intellectual acumen4 ,the owl is the solemnest and likewise the stupidest of birds4 ,stop1 whenever in moral doubt or distress1 and consult the masterly advice and sage promptings of this jewel of a book4 ,it shall be unto you 8as rivers of water in a dry place1 or the shadow of a great rock in a weary land40 ,illustration ,illustration ,in ,love ,affairs4 ,stop6--,that burning thought--that delirium in thy heart--as to the lovely being whose image is before thee night and day--is it such as her modesty and virtue1 her seraphic guilelessness should inspire8 if not1 away with it--blot it out6 ,stop6 ,was she rather plain than peerless1 and is it the thought of her father's bonds and shekels that now summons the enamored hectic to thy virile cheek8 ,away with it1 likewise1 and for shame6 ,shall blood with boodle blend--emotion cringe at ,mammon's beck--and ,love be unavenged8 ,stop6 ,stay yet again thy headlong plunge6 ,was she yet lovely1 an houri of a dream1 but still beneath thee in family1 station1 fortune1 and didst therefore smile but to deceive8 ,if so1 hold hard1 hug this sweet volume to thy heart of hearts1 and sin no more6 ,stop1 and meditate upon the three foregoing paragraphs1 for in them are embodied the cardinal principles in making love3 ,purity of purpose1 ,disinterestedness and ,truth4 ,stop for some encouragement before rendering your attentions universally conspicuous4 ,a glance of the eye1 a tremor of the lip1 the merest shadow of a blush upon the seashell-tinted cheek1 will suffice4 ,stop1 if such subtle signs are wanting or withheld1 and plan some deep-laid scheme to unveil heart's predilection1 indifference1 or dislike4 ,oysters and ice-cream are still available in their respective seasons4 ,stop before mistaking a passing fancy for a wild1 consuming maddening1 over-mastering1 star-jostling passion4 ,this mistake has evoked more paternal walking-sticks and breach-of-promise suits than would keep a ,french novelist in subject-matter for a twelvemonth4 ,stop1 after falling head over ears in love1 to collect your senses and formulate your plans4 ,an inconsiderate1 maniacal rush into a declaration is often repented at leisure4 ,stop1 if not certain of your ground1 before wholly unmasking your batteries4 ,delicate attentions1 even worshiping1 awe-struck glances from afar1 are time-old preliminaries1 but none the less effective4 ,stop1 however1 on the threshold of feverish demonstration at the outset4 ,furnace-like sighs1 dazed1 dumb-founded looks1 like those of an expiring calf1 and frenzied bodily contortions may be brought to bear in their own good time4 ,stop short of opposing her tastes and convictions4 ,to gently chime with them1 whether you have any of your own or not1 while preserving a vigorous masculinity in favor of quail-gorging1 head-punching and kindred noble sports1 is in the main commendable4 ,stop before vaunting a wild1 atheistical or ,ingersollian contempt for all things sacred1 if she should be of a deeply religious turn4 ,however1 this is not to prescribe a regular biblical course1 a very little of which goes a great way in the wooing o't4 ,stop before disclaiming all love for music1 or suggesting the banjo or bagpipe as your favorite instrument1 should she dote on the opera1 sing divinely and be a piano-pounder of no mean ability in her own person4 ,stop before depreciating anything the dear creature does1 or tries to do4 ,eagerly demand another song1 even if the screech of her first has ruined your tympanum1 call her verses divine1 if they are no better than ,tennyson's latest senility1 swear that her favorite scent is yours1 even if 'tis musk or garlic1 and build1 build as with a wand1 the shining edifice of love6 ,stop right off at the idea that there may be anything hypocritical or insincere advised in the foregoing paragraph4 ,if really in love1 you will religiously believe everything you tell her1 and more too4 ,stop1 first1 however1 and study the character of your enchantress4 ,all women are no more to be wooed alike than are all fish to be tempted with the same kind of bait4 ,stop before addressing a brainy1 well-read penetrative divinity as you would a laughing elf1 a careless1 careless fay1 a butterfly of mirth and joy4 ,an ,hypatia is not a ,hebe1 and reflect6 ,would you tempt an eagle with a moth-light1 or a striped-bass with an eel-bob8 ,stop1 if she be intellectual1 and study up to an equality with her tastes1 should you be her inferior4 ,then scientific discussions1 with poetry as a side-dish1 may gradually lead up to the delicious desideratum of two hearts that beat as one4 ,stop1 however1 at the error of preferring her intellectual to her physical charms4 ,she is a lovely liar if she pretends to a desire for such preference1 and your sin will be unpardonable1 should you take her at her word4 ,stop1 in any case1 before praising another woman's good-looks in the adored one's presence4 ,in fact1 you can afford her no pleasanter flattery than by a systematic depreciation of a prettier woman's charms4 ,stop1 if she be a ,hebe1 we will say1 and plunge recklessly amid her paucity of ideas4 ,flounder in folly1 palpitate with persiflage1 at her giggling beck2 and here is ample opportunity for the silent eloquence of the nosegay1 the oyster1 or the iced refreshment1 not less than for the princely prodigality of the opera1 the midnight coupe and the church fair lottery4 ,stop short of any display of fear in her presence1 even if you are timorous to the core4 ,let her do the shrieking at the onset of a mouse1 but stand you as the rugged rock1 the beaten anvil1 or the rooted oak6 ,you might even trample out a croton-bug occasionally1 with a cold1 feelingless laugh4 ,imperturbability in peril was never yet a masculine fault in gentle woman's eyes4 ,stop before incurring the dislike of the fair one's little brothers or sisters4 ,the malapert maliciousness of l'enfant terrible may occasion mortifications without number4 ,stop before losing your temper with a rival in your charmer's presence4 ,if you must come to blows1 let it be in a retired spot1 but it were far better to sit him out1 beat him on bouquets1 gum drops and theatre-tickets1 or otherwise defeat him in the rosy lists4 ,stop at the one thousandth kiss1 after receiving the coveted 8,yes0 from the adored one's lips4 ,byron1 it is true1 in one of his callow effusions1 counsels a million1 but1 as a conscientious ,mentor1 we prefer to draw the line somewhere even in such an emotional proceeding4 ,stop1 discontinue the siege altogether1 in case of a downright rejection1 howsoever reluctant1 howsoever tearful4 ,don't put up with the sisterly substitute1 either2 but just float out grandly on the ebb-tide of broken hopes1 until brighter eyes a welcome shine to solace and to cheer4 ,stop before imagining1 if accepted1 that your ordeal is now nearly at an end4 ,why1 gentle sir1 it hath just begun4 ,you are now owned4 ,stop short at the idea that even your former devotion is still in order4 ,if it was a bouquet or two per week before1 it is now a cart-load per day2 your male familiars must sigh for you in vain--your off-nights are things of the past2 you are on exhibition1 not only to your fiance's family1 but to the world at large2 you are an engaged man6 ,stop on the verge of suicidal despair as a result of your first lovers' quarrel4 ,this is but the pepper-sauce of passion1 the curry of courtship1 the horse-radish of happiness1 without which that crowning reflection1 the kiss-gilt1 teardrop-rainbowed making-up were banished forever from ,love's golden feast6 ,stop1 in a general way1 before making love for the fun of the thing4 ,there is no meaner1 more reptilian creature in society than the professional male flirt4 ,stop before yielding an iota to the allurements of a notorious coquette4 ,heartlessness is her dower1 emotional misery her delight1 falseness her stock in trade1 and the ashen ,dead ,sea fruit the only reward in her power1 even if she love at last4 ,stop before permitting your admiration of an actress1 or ballet dancer1 to glide into a master passion4 ,disenchantment1 if desired1 is mostly within easy reach1 and you can console yourself with the reflection that there is far more beauty off the stage than on it4 ,stop short of making love at all1 if you are not of an affectionate disposition2 or1 when too late--that is1 when married1 love will be likely to stop short of you4 ,illustration ,in ,money ,matters4 ,stop1 first1 and understand the value of money--the importance of never being without some money1 even if a very little4 ,stop1 next1 and understand that money is nothing in itself alone1 but valuable and powerful only in what it will purchase and can purchase4 ,a pure love of it for itself1 and not for what it represents1 develops a loathsome disease--the disease of miserliness4 ,stop short of envying the rich1 even if penniless yourself4 ,a philosophical reflection as to the causes of your bad fortune1 together with a resolve to mend it by a more enlightened course1 is your only remedy4 ,stop1 however1 yet shorter of the vulgar1 pigheaded notion that money1 even by the ton-weight1 can be everything without moral or intellectual backing4 ,if this were so1 wealth would be more glorious than wisdom1 which happily1 it is not4 ,stop before parting with money1 even to an insignificant amount1 without some sort of equivalent4 ,this rule need not render you either parsimonious or uncharitable1 since even alms-giving brings a return in the consciousness of having yielded to a kindly impulse4 ,stop before cultivating a hoarding spirit1 and remember that1 logically1 as between the miser and the spendthrift1 the latter has the best of the bargain4 ,for1 while the spendthrift has the selfish satisfaction of squandering his fortune in his own person1 the miser is the dupe of his own self-denial1 for the benefit of others who come after him4 ,stop1 however1 before emulating the spendthrift any more than the miser4 ,if there is never any love for the scheming parsimony of the one1 neither is there ever any gratitude for the thoughtless largesse of the other4 ,stop1 and reflect well1 before borrowing money under any circumstances4 ,to an honest man1 indebtedness is ever a double torture--self-torture in the haunting possibility of not being able to keep his word1 and the torture of imagining what1 in that case1 will be thought of him4 ,stop1 dead1 before borrowing money that you are not sure of being able to repay4 ,as for the man who borrows without the intention to repay1 he is even worse than a professional thief1 and as fully deserving of social ostracism4 ,stop before becoming that unmitigated bore1 a chronic borrower4 ,he is at best a pitiful creature1 shunned even when commiserated1 and the strongest ties of friendship cannot long withstand the wrench of his proximity4 ,stop1 even before lending money to a friend1 and reflect that non-liquidation must cost you your money1 and may cost you--your friend4 ,stop1 however1 if you mean to grant a request for a loan1 and grant it freely4 ,to produce it as if extracting a wisdom-tooth1 or accompany it with a stereotyped moral lecture on the hardness of the times1 etc41 is much like placing his request on a level with mendicancy4 ,stop short--indeed1 as abruptly as you please--of lending money to a known profligate or spendthrift4 ,the proverbial blood from a turnip may be sooner expected than genuine thankfulness for an accommodation from such a source1 and the probability is that he will secretly laugh at you for a fool4 ,stop1 however1 and reflect well before adopting a general and irrevocable rule of never lending money under any circumstances4 ,many eminent men1 the reverse of hard-hearted1 have conscientiously adopted this rule1 but whether it is the best1 as the world goes1 is a question4 ,stop before compromising with such a rule by offering as a gift that which is entreated as a loan4 ,this is the course usually pursued by the eminent men alluded to above2 but such a proffer is always humiliating1 and often insulting4 ,stop before running in debt1 even for groceries or beer1 for that for which you can pay on the spot4 ,it is a pernicious habit that must steadily engender looser and looser notions about money matters4 ,stop before adopting honesty as your standard merely on the immorally aphoristic grounds of its being the best policy4 ,true integrity should stand on its merits1 win or lose2 whereas any shrewd rascal would be honest on occasion1 if satisfied that he would make by it4 ,stop1 rather1 and fortify your uprightness on the broad grounds1 8that honesty is not only the deepest policy1 but the highest wisdom2 since however difficult it may be for integrity to get on1 it is a thousand times more difficult for knavery to get off40 ,stop before cultivating an inordinate desire to get rich in haste4 ,in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it will develop into a species of frenzy that must over-reach and defeat its aims4 ,stop1 rather1 and understand that in speculation1 the prizes of the few are only rendered possible by the ruin of the many4 ,stop before setting up financial comets--that is suddenly-rich men--as your exemplars4 ,the exceptional boldness1 or unscrupulousness which constituted their open sesame to dazzling fortune1 may but fling wide1 for the mediocre imitator1 the doors of poverty or of the state prison4 ,stop when you have achieved a comfortable competence1 and devote yourself to the rational enjoyment thereof4 ,to be stacking up dollars and securities to the last gasp is worse than making a hell on earth2 since it is a perversity so obtuse as to imagine that as heaven which is in truth a hell4 ,stop1 and remember1 that the accumulation of wealth1 as a sole pursuit1 is a diseased passion1 just as much as is the craving for strong drink1 or for the excitement of gambling4 ,stop1 therefore1 in the headlong race for money1 and so intersperse that pursuit with knowledge and unselfish deeds1 with moral and intellectual recreations1 as shall render it the chief means1 rather than the chief end1 of a useful existence4 ,illustration ,illustration ,in ,guarding ,against ,bad ,habits4 ,stop before cultivating an inordinate self-conceit1 and remember that real worth is mostly modest1 while those persons are the vainest who have the least to be vain of4 ,stop before contracting a habit of exaggeration4 ,this is the stock-in-trade of the cheap penny-a-liner1 while the strength of the true historian lies in conscientious statement4 ,stop short of fancying that such exaggeration can impress others with your imaginative powers4 ,were this true1 the grimaces of a baboon might be ascribed to emotional fine frenzy4 ,stop before contracting the habit of lying1 even in a harmless way4 ,but this fault is as naturally the outgrowth of extravagance or looseness of statement1 as is the noxious weed of the miscellaneous muck that stimulates it into useless being4 ,stop short of listlessness in word1 look and deed4 ,a perfunctory person is never in demand1 and ,rip ,van ,winkle only indemnified society in sleeping out his twenty years4 ,stop1 and do nothing1 rather than procrastinate indefinitely4 ,untrustworthiness is the final result of procrastination1 and a reputation for that is tantamount to elimination from the world's employment4 ,stop far short of any indulgence that can affect your general reputation4 8,the two most precious things this side the grave10 says ,lacon1 8are our reputation and our life2 the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one1 the weakest weapon of the other40 ,stop the use of tobacco1 if addicted to it1 but especially in the form of chewing1 the vileness of this practice is in no wise mitigated by its prevalence4 ,stop smoking1 also1 at its first threatened inroad upon the general health4 ,to persist in it thereafter is a confession of both moral and mental weakness4 ,stop on the threshold of gambling of every description1 and1 if already in the toils1 shut down on the practice with all the ponderosity at your command4 ,stop1 moreover1 and understand that gambling--the worship of chance--is death to the soul1 to faith in human nature1 to man's nobler attributes4 ,in this regard1 it is more literally demoralizing than alcoholic drunkenness2 and there is yet to be found the veteran professional gambler who is not a materialistic atheist4 ,stop1 once more1 and remember that every man who will play cards for money1 will in time1 cheat4 ,he may set out honestly enough1 but it is only a question of time before he will take an unfair advantage in self-defense4 ,what1 then1 can be thought of a practice that almost necessitates dishonesty8 ,stop--hold6 ,that 8,d--n60 upon thy lips6 ,would not 8,confound it60 8,the deuce take it60 or simply 8,bless me60 emphasize resentment or annoyance equally well8 ,or1 still better1 is there any need for emphasis at all8 ,stop1 above all1 before falling into the profane habit1 upon no provocation4 ,a passionless1 half-conscious interlarding of speech with oaths and epithets is as idiotic as it is disgusting4 ,stop on the verge of becoming anecdotal to excess4 ,second only to the confirmed scandal-bearer is the friend whose encounter one must dodge for fear of being made the repository of some long-winded anecdote1 or pointless pun4 ,stop short of narrating indecent stories4 ,unfortunately1 nearly all stories of much point that are interchanged among men are of this description2 ergo1 eschew the retailing of them1 on your own part1 altogether4 ,stop before becoming the slave of any depraved appetite4 ,to take the appetite for strong drink as an illustration1 it is a terrible enchantress--siren1 bacchante1 or task-mistress1 at will4 ,one can seldom coquette with but he marries her at last2 when1 like the ,lamia of the legend1 she turns to a serpent in the embrace1 and her dalliance is despair and death4 ,stop before contracting a habit of belittling or sneering at what you do not understand4 ,this is but the pasteboard buckler with which the fool would shield his self-love4 ,stop before habitually ascribing mean or sordid motives to others upon mere conjecture4 ,stop short of any habit that can fruitlessly waste one's time or substance1 since the one is more than money1 because1 once dissipated1 it can never be replaced1 and the other is the very means of life4 ,illustration ,illustration ,in ,judging ,others4 ,stop before gauging a person's capacity solely by his physiognomy4 ,lafayette's forehead suggested idiocy1 ,keats1 the poet1 had the jaws of a prize-fighter1 and warriors of the ,salvation ,army have been mistaken 7before opening their mouths7 for men of intelligence4 ,stop1 however1 before judging people altogether on antithetic grounds4 ,to invariably accept a monkey-jawed1 rat-eyed1 ear-shadowed countenance as a criterion for mental profundity1 for instance1 or crime-sodden1 sin-exhaling bulldog traits as suggestive of ethical culture or religious zeal1 is hardly to be recommended4 ,stop before judging others1 especially men1 wholly by their dress and manners4 ,a millionaire may be 8shabby-genteel0 and retiring to excess1 whereas professional scoundrels are often notorious for a fashionable exterior and distinction of bearing 8as to the manner born40 ,stop on the verge of taking dress and ornament as a sure indication of a woman's character or station4 ,you might regret mistaking a quietly-attired unadorned heiress for a shirt-maker in distress2 or a fourth-class pawnbroker's wife1 beringed and bediamonded from bang to belt1 for a sorceress of fashion4 ,stop before judging people disparagingly by their eccentricities4 ,a poet1 for instance1 may indulge in long hair1 without necessarily being an sthete or a cowboy2 the habit of talking to one's-self is no proof of a guilty conscience2 and absent-mindedness in many forms has accompanied the possession of exceptional capacity4 ,stop1 however1 before accepting such betrayals as positive indications of either genius1 talent or brains4 ,to do this would be to libel the ordinarily well-behaved people who have some respect for the amenities of existence4 ,stop1 for instance1 ere ascribing pure benevolence to the absent-mindedness that mistakes your silk umbrella for a mislaid gingham one1 shaky in the ribs1 feruled with long service1 and filtery at the seams4 ,stop and draw a line likewise1 at the abstraction that finds its hand in your pocket1 or creeps in at your bedroom window1 or is blandly oblivious as to whether it owes you money1 or vice versa4 ,stop1 and turn the question over in your mind3 ,true enough1 there is a chance of such eccentricities being the concomitants of a certain sort of talent1 but is it exactly the sort that ought to be encouraged8 ,stop1 if naturally dishonest or vicious yourself1 and inquire if you can fairly judge others according to your own corrupt standard4 ,this may prevent your giving yourself away1 besides leavening your collective baseness with a grain or two of charity4 ,stop1 however1 if honest and well-meaning--and1 indeed1 it is mainly for such that this symposium of golden precepts is prepared--and remember1 as a stimulant to careful discrimination in these things1 that your own superficialities may be constantly and cruelly misjudged4 ,stop short of supposing that you have no superficialities1 or but few1 to be judged by4 ,the visibility of existence is largely made up of them2 it is1 perhaps even well that the heart is not often worn upon the sleeve2 and equally well that our externals are but deceptive indices of the springs of action1 the blots and foibles they disguise1 else were the wisest of us each other's sport4 ,stop before taking mildness and retirement of manner for a want of resolution or courage4 ,true greatness in anything is seldom self-celebrating1 and it is as true as proverbial that 8still waters run deep40 ,stop1 on the other hand1 before setting down a strutting self-importance as invariably betokening a wind-bag or a nincompoop4 ,modesty is1 unfortunately1 not always the hand-maid of merit4 ,stop before mistaking ostentation for generosity1 or calm acceptance for ingratitude4 8,as the mean have a calculating avarice that sometimes inclines them to give1 so the magnanimous have a condescending generosity that sometimes inclines them to receive40 ,stop before despising in another the demonstrativeness that you would despise in yourself4 ,the babble of the brook is as natural as the stillness of the pool and temperamental differences are always to be considered4 ,stop before regarding extreme particularity in dress as an invariable evidence of intellectual insignificance4 ,it often is so1 but nine-tenths of the shabbily-attired men of brains would dress better if they could afford to4 ,stop on the dizzy verge of mistaking an excessive and painstaking courtesy for a genuine and heartfelt interest4 ,it should rather put you on your guard4 ,stop short of the old-time cynicism of regarding every man as a rascal until he shall have afforded proofs to the contrary4 ,such a wholesale distrust of human nature is creditable to neither the head nor the heart4 ,stop before sweepingly condemning a discreditable action the temptations to which are outside your own experience4 ,even to 8put yourself in his place0 is not always available for the formation of intelligent criticism in such cases4 ,stop before lightly assigning reasons for another's domestic troubles4 ,the closet-skeleton is a strictly local spectre that is not the less terrible by reason of the narrowness of its haunting powers4 ,stop short of disparaging the charity that methodizes and calculates its smallest alms4 ,there is an enlightened self-interest that relieves more real distress than all the off-handed gratuities that are bestowed4 ,stop before impugning self-seeking motives to a good deed that redounds to the doer's advantage4 ,even if partly premeditated to this end1 the result1 if humanitarian in its general influence1 is not the less useful and noble4 ,stop before judging a man solely by his errors or misfortunes4 ,the former may have been circumstantially unavoidable1 as the latter may have been undeserved4 ,stop before adopting the stereotyped1 canting 8,i-might-have-told-you-so0 criticism in the case of a friend who has fallen4 ,the helping hand is then in order1 if ever at all2 and he is doubtless aware of the cause of his disgrace1 without your telling him4 ,illustration ,in ,recreation4 ,stop before making a regular business of any form of diversion1 which then ceases to be either recreative or relaxing1 and but adds to the tissue-waste that should be restored4 ,stop1 next1 and consider that recreation1 in its literal and best sense1 is something more than relaxation4 ,more than to merely loosen1 slacken and remit1 to recreate is to revive1 reanimate1 recuperate and build up afresh4 ,stop1 therefore1 before playing billiards or pool every night for five or six hours at a stretch1 under the mistaken notion that you are combining recreation with amusement4 ,stop1 rather1 and consider if the nervous tension produced by an unremitting desire to win1 and thus saddle your adversary with the cost of the game1 may not be greater than the wear and tear of the routine business from which you are seeking relief4 ,stop short of the error that billiards in public is a wholly innocent diversion1 when candid reflection must convince you to the contrary4 ,the associations are mostly the reverse of refined1 the gambling principle is necessarily involved1 and say what you will1 non-success is ever attended by a sense of exasperation4 ,stop wondering why you don't feel freshened up for business after a ten hours' siege of whisky-poker1 uninterrupted cigars1 and consequent loss of sleep4 ,stop before fancying chess-playing as any sort of relaxation whatever from mental exertion4 ,the game1 being a constant mental exercise1 in itself should form a diversion from physical1 rather than from intellectual1 over-work4 ,stop short of daily conviviality after business hours4 ,the idea that regular rum or beer-guzzling1 even with the merriest of companions1 can be sooner or latter anything but injurious is either hypocritical or ridiculous4 ,stop1 likewise1 short of spreeing as a relief from business cares4 ,indeed1 as between the hebdomadal hurrah and the diurnal hoist1 the distinction is so thoroughly relative to the confessedly evil effects in both cases as not to be worthy of consideration4 ,stop before seeking recreation in low resorts4 ,give them all a wide berth--concert-saloons1 dives1 dens1 hells1 houses of ill-repute1 bucket-shops1 slums1 cribs1 joints--all6 and remember that what is essentially debasing can never reanimate exhaustion or repair fatigue4 ,stop before patronizing a low performance of any description4 ,dog-fights1 rat-baitings1 cocking-mains1 et al41 are happily surreptitious now1 but there are equally immoral exhibitions still in vogue to tempt the thoughtless and unwary4 ,stop before seeking recreation in sensuous performances or spectacles4 ,true1 the ballet is often fascinating1 but--,well1 let the line be drawn sharply just after the ballet1 at all events4 ,stop before attempting either skating1 bicycling1 or horse-back exercise in public1 as a gentle and graceful relaxation1 when wholly inexperienced1 if you would both corruscate and career4 ,stop before making a specialty of any kind of recreation that is beyond your means4 ,otherwise1 you may not infrequently exclaim1 with ,hamlet1 8,for ,o1 for ,o1 the hobby-horse is forgot60 ,stop at the yawning abyss of resorting to opium1 or any similar drug1 as a relief from care4 ,as the alcoholic habit has been likened to an enchantress1 a circean witch1 so the opium habit is a dream-woman1 the sorceress of a phantom realm1 elysian at first1 but changing at last into a horror-haunted sphere that appals the spirit while it tortures and consumes the frame4 ,stop before applying yourself to excessive gymnastics as a relaxation1 if a horse-car conductor or a letter-carrier4 ,variety is the spice of life4 ,stop1 if engaged in wholly intellectual pursuits1 before reading dry and statistical books1 such as ,patent ,reports1 as a pleasing and hilarious change4 ,stop before joining a club with whose objects you are unfamiliar4 ,to find yourself unawares1 for instance1 in the bosom of a hoodlum coterie when in search of ,christian refinement1 or unexpectedly affiliated with a ,bible society when thirsting for roaring and convivial companionship1 would be alike uncongenial4 ,stop before seeking recreation in travel1 if without money4 ,true1 commercial drummers and tramps have attained some success in this field1 but neither the talents of the one class nor the methods of the other are to be cordially recommended4 ,stop before indulging in the rougher athletic sports for which you are physically unqualified4 ,study your capacities well--take in the entire athletic range1 from jackstraws to ,indian clubs1 from the bean-bag to foot-ball--and discriminate for all you are worth4 ,stop before instituting any home-amusement that shall bind you to the house of evenings forever thereafter4 ,you might really want to go out and 8see a man10 but the excuse would avail you little with the charming home-game awaiting your patronage4 ,stop before frequenting any lounging place1 be it beer-saloon or cigar-shop1 so much as to become a figure-head of the premises4 ,not to loaf at all is an excellent general rule4 ,stop before attempting recreation 8on the road0 in an ultra-economical way4 ,a livery-stable plug1 hobbling ambitiously before a battered sleigh or antediluvian buggy1 in the midst of swell turn-outs and speeding teams1 would doubtless cause something of a sensation1 but would it be of the most enviable kind8 ,stop short of seeking mental repose by attending 8excursions0 in which bibulous feats and glee-club improvisations bid fair to make up the chief fund of amusement4 ,stop short of practical jokes as a relief for the work-oppressed brain4 ,as between joker and jokee1 the entertainment is mostly altogether with the former1 and one-sided or top-heavy diversions are both selfish and untimely4 ,stop1 and be sure that you have a work-oppressed brain1 before rushing wildly into any recreation whatever4 ,the former is often imaginary1 or a hypocritical excuse for demanding a pastime1 which is then1 as a consequence1 apt to prove much harder work than play4 ,illustration ,in ,the ,domestic ,relations4 ,stop short of thinking that marriage and settlement in life can acquit you of the tenderness and reverence due your parents1 even if they are well-to-do4 ,it is a moral obligation which1 contracted at your birth1 should cease not even with their death1 but live on and on1 an evergreen of the memory1 an amaranth of the heart4 ,stop before reserving for the bosom of your own family the fits of ill-temper that you would be ashamed of if public4 ,this is putting your own household on a level with a private bear-garden1 whose limited spectators cannot be over-grateful for the privilege accorded4 ,stop short of supposing that your wife is anything less than an equal partner in the hymeneal firm4 ,even if she came to you penniless1 the idea that she is thenceforth indebted to you for home1 position or freedom from care1 is a barbarism fortunately obsolete in this country4 ,stop1 likewise1 short of the imported notion1 also obsolete1 that she belongs to you other than by the free heart-gift that inspired her marriage vows1 or that she is in any sense your property4 ,the cherishing of such a sentiment is degrading alike to husband and wife4 ,stop before denying to your wife the right to have little secrets of her own1 if you claim the same privilege for yourself4 ,a loving and trusted wife will have no important secrets apart from her husband4 ,stop short of altogether distrusting her in money matters4 ,even if she have but little common sense in such things1 her wifehood is a responsibility for which you are responsible1 and which cannot be wholly nullified without humiliating her4 ,stop short of denying her the possession of some pocket-money of her own1 if but very little4 8,during my married life10 said a prominent lecturer on woman's rights1 8,i never had a cent of pocket-money that ,i was not forced to steal from my husband40 ,and this statement will evoke more reflection than censure in the thoughtful mind4 ,stop before grumblingly supplying the household demands4 ,this practice of growling over a domestic expenditure1 which is but a tithe of what your next 8good time with the boys0 will cost you1 is more prevalent than sensible4 ,stop before placing any one over your wife's head in her own house4 ,be it mother-in-law1 sister-in-law1 or any one else1 the course is alike risky and unwise4 ,stop before cultivating a dislike or niggardliness for your wife's passion for dress1 if it is accompanied by a refined taste and an earnest desire to be within what you can afford4 ,fine feathers may not always make fine birds1 but a naturally attractive woman is undeniably more lovable and attractive when tastefully attired than otherwise4 ,stop long before relinquishing1 after marriage1 the delicate little attentions and sacrifices that were so acceptable during your courtship4 ,a lover-husband will make a sweetheart-wife1 and for such the honey-moon need have no wane4 ,stop1 however1 dead short of uxoriousness to a degree that shall excite a smile or comment4 ,the former is apt to be exasperating1 and the latter of a nature the reverse of soothing to your amour propre4 ,stop before developing a womanish desire to interfere with domestic arrangements outside of your province4 ,in other words1 never be what your wife might call a 8cock-biddy10 and your cook 8an intermiddling mon40 ,stop before developing a fault-finding disposition with the cooking or other accommodations1 or first be sure that you are not more responsible for the faults than your wife4 ,stop short of concealing the fact from your wife1 if she is falling unconsciously into slovenly and unkempt personal habits when only in your presence4 ,let her but comprehend that this is a wifely neglect that has driven many a husband into neater but unscrupulous feminine society1 and speedy amendment must follow4 ,stop before holding your wife accountable for every little smile or frankness accorded to her antenuptial admirers4 ',tis the watched fire that languishes2 and1 should she meditate treason1 she would not hint it by so much as a rush-light4 ,stop before letting her know it1 if you find out that your marriage has been a mistake4 ,doubtless this will make itself felt1 despite your utmost precautions1 and her sufferings in making the sad discovery will then challenge your compunction1 your pity and your redoubled devotion1 if you are a true man4 ,stop before laughing at piety in your wife1 even if an infidel yourself4 8,wise men like to have pious wives10 says ,emerson1 8and it is well for all concerned that it should be so40 ,stop before betraying your weaknesses to your children4 ,even a hypocritical assumption of a morality that you do not always practice is preferable to self-exposure in this regard4 ,stop before correcting them in the presence of outsiders4 ,the self-respect of a little child1 once wounded to the quick1 is long in healing2 and some consideration is due1 moreover1 to the outsiders4 ,stop before punishing a child when influenced by anger4 ,the punishment then ceases to be corrective1 and is only resentful2 whereas the helplessness of the child should of itself evoke but magnanimity4 ,stop1 when thus impelled by anger1 and reflect if you would as readily seek to gratify it1 were no such disparity existent--that is1 where the child as big and powerful as yourself4 ,stop before threatening a chastisement that you don't intend to inflict4 ,or1 if you must persist in this course1 don't ascribe the continued disobedience1 which is its inevitable outgrowth1 to anything but your own weakness4 ,stop short of deception or untruth in your dealings with your children1 if you would impress them with the opposite sentiments4 ,stop1 in this regard1 and reflect that1 if the childish mind is wax to early impressions1 it is of a kind that hardens with the imprint1 and that from the hardening process spring the imitation and the emulation1 which must gradually corrupt or ennoble1 as the case may be4 ,stop before assuming a bullying tone or attitude toward your family or your domestics4 ,vaporings of this description are always in wretched taste1 and a home-circle that must needs be terrorized is little to be envied4 ,stop before living beyond1 or even quite up to your means1 and be not ambitious to make an outside show at the expense of internal comfort4 ,stop short of lessening the significance of old-time festivities1 such as ,thanksgiving ,day1 ,christmas1 ,new ,year's and birth-day observances1 simply because you have yourself outgrown their zest4 ,stop before repressing any innocent propensity to gush on the part of your wife or children4 ,it is a chill home-fountain that will not occasionally overflow4 ,stop1 if possible1 before ever disturbing your family peace with even so much as an unkind or hasty word4 ,the pretty lines1 8,we have greeting words for the stranger1 ,and smiles for the sometime guest1 ,but oft for ,our ,own the bitter tone4 ,though we love ,our ,own the best10 should never be pertinent in a wise man's household4 ,stop before assuming an oracular or infallible attitude--in other words1 setting yourself up as a small god--before your own family4 ,ten to one1 it is an assumption that you cannot maintain with any degree of consistency1 and one which may entail a humiliating back-down when least expected4 ,illustration ,in ,business ,life4 ,stop short of attempting a business enterprise wholly beyond your mental and financial equipment4 ,to attempt the rle of a railroad magnate1 for instance1 when you have the soul of a licensed fish-vender1 or the manipulation of a government loan with hardly enough capital for a fruit-stand1 would be more ambitious than wise4 ,stop before adopting rigorous and unbending methods that1 under a change of fortune1 can be quoted against you to your disadvantage4 ,thus1 to never lend money1 on principle1 when prosperous1 but be perfectly willing to borrow it when broke1 might subject you to unpleasant comment4 ,stop before assuming a domineering1 ,jovian tone toward those with less money than you1 even if you have a corner on the market4 ,men are often like rats in this1 that they fight when they are cornered4 ,stop when already so deep into a hopeless speculation that you can't beg or borrow another cent1 when certain ruin stares you in the face1 and even your pawn-tickets are at a discount4 ,forlorn hopes are only practicable in serial stories and war4 ,stop1 even at the height of prosperity1 and make sure of the future by settling upon your family a competence that shall thenceforth forever be secured to them1 come what may4 ,this prudent course1 feasible and honorable during prosperity1 would be just the reverse if deferred until after business disaster may have come4 ,stop short of imagining that there is any more luck in a legitimate business than in games of chance--in other words1 that there is any at all4 ,or1 if there is any1 it consists of superior energy1 foresight1 shrewdness and application1 wherein1 of course1 the stronger wins while the weaker goes to the wall4 ,stop1 and reflect well1 before venturing outside of a legitimate1 fairly-paying business upon the sea of speculation1 which is in reality but gambling under another name4 ,stop before cultivating a reputation for either over-credulity or relentless hard bargaining in business life4 ,the one will be abused1 while the other will foster enmities through the abuse it practices4 ,stop short of uncompromising martinetism toward your employees4 ,our clerks1 for instance1 can no longer be treated as apprentices2 many of them are rich men in embryo2 and with what satisfaction and gratitude do powerful millionaires often recall slight kindnesses and encouragements received from their employers when they were nothing but obscure clerks or office-boys6 ,stop before choosing business quarters of a magnitude and pretension wholly out of keeping with your trade and custom4 ,there is a laughable case in point1 in the upper part of ,new ,york1 where a diminutive1 tumble-down junk-shop displays a flaring sign with the preposterous legend3 8,great ,american ,mammoth ,junk ,emporium40 ,stop before advertising your commodities for something better than they really are4 ,this is to cheat yourself in the long run1 for the average of public buyers rarely allow themselves to be deliberately swindled twice by the same liar4 ,stop short of supposing that the hackneyed phrase1 8,business is business10 can ever excuse a downright dishonest transaction in the opinion of all your business acquaintances4 ,stop1 therefore1 before setting the majority of them down as secretly unprincipled1 and vaunting their uprightness as a mask4 ,money-loving as they are1 the majority of those whose good opinion is worth having are personally honest at the core4 ,stop short of being dazzled by mere business success1 irrespective of questionable or dangerous methods by which it may have been achieved4 ,unless the means shall have justified the result1 there can be no praiseworthy success4 ,stop short of supposing that spasmodic cleverness can ever take the place of solid method1 organized effort and settled application in any respectable calling4 ,stop1 and go easy before provoking a powerful business hostility1 if possible1 but never to the sacrifice of a true principle2 and1 war being fully declared 7i4e41 competition1 ruthless and uncompromising71 let it be to the knife1 to the bitter end1 till the last pecuniary sinew snaps6 ,illustration ,illustration ,in ,thought1 ,word and ,deed4 ,stop before even thinking unworthily4 ,not to entertain in the mind what you would blush to speak or put in writing is an excellent general rule of ethics4 ,stop before nourishing a pride of nationality4 ,this is even more unreasonable than the pride of ancestry1 for the greatness of the latter may be in some degree inherited1 while for the mere accident of birth-place a man is as irresponsible as he is unentitled to plume himself upon historical greatness in the abstract4 ,stop1 also1 before cherishing even a pride of race4 ,this is wholly distinct from the virtue of ,patriotism1 in its best sense2 is opposed to the enlightened spirit of the age2 and is one of the narrowest of prejudices4 ,stop short of despising public spirit in others1 or eliminating it from your own calculations4 ,the most insignificant pot-house politician is of more worldly use than the most gifted misanthrope4 ,no amount of selfish seclusion or isolation can absolve one from his duty of fellowship4 ,stop before making butts of others1 especially by reason of personal peculiarities for which they are in no wise responsible4 ,the old aphorism about stone-throwing in relation to glass domiciles is always in order2 and even a natural-born fool is more to be pitied than ridiculed4 ,stop putting in words that which you would not do1 or putting in writing that which you would not sign4 ,stop1 and remember that an ill-considered angry word may1 on the breath of hearsay1 become a winged seed1 from which shall spring a poisonous upas growth1 whose deadly influence could not have been dreamed of at its inception4 ,stop before falling into apathy1 before becoming a do-nothing1 through discouragements4 8,a great mind10 says ,lacon1 8may change its objects1 but it cannot relinquish them2 it must have something to pursue4 ,variety is its relaxation1 and amusement its repose40 ,stop short of being painstaking to excess in what you would pass off as improvised4 ,over-elaboration in this regard may be likened to the dishabille in which a coquette would wish you to think you have surprised her1 after spending hours at her toilet4 ,stop short of supposing that rascality can be as uniformly logical as honesty4 ,villains are usually the worst casuists1 and rush into greater crimes to avoid less4 ,stop1 in combating the ,world1 and reflect that by resisting its temptations you master the secret of ultimately possessing its noblest prizes1 the respect of your fellows1 and the proudest self-respect in having successfully withstood not in order to achieve1 but from a sense of moral duty4 ,stop1 in resisting the allurements of the ,flesh1 and consider that by subjecting them to the yoke of reason1 your capacity for rational fleshly enjoyment is both intensified and prolonged4 ,stop1 in fighting the ,devil 7i4e41 moral perverseness17 and remember that your victory will be evidence of moral balance on your own part1 rather than of faint-heartedness on ,his ,inky ,majesty's4 ,and you may likewise recall with complacency ,emerson's indictment1 where he says1 8,it stands to reason that the ,devil is an ass40 ,stop1 after having fairly floored the ,machiavellian triumvirate1 the ,world1 the ,flesh and the ,devil1 and candidly confess that you might have fared worse but for the precepts and injunctions laid down in this little book4 ,,the ,,end4 ,a ,,great ,,hit4 ,a ,,naughty ,,girl',s ,,diary ---,,by--- ,,author ,,of 8,a ,bad ,boy's ,diary40 ,,full ,,of ,,fun4 ,price #ej cents4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original4