that this course, though not perhaps of the quickest, was the surest. Integrity is power. It creates friends, it wins confidence, and united with common sense and diligence, will eventually secure wealth, honor, and happiness. Franklin said in speaking of his known honesty, that it was because of his integrity, chiefly, that he had so much weight with his fellow-men. He said that he was a poor speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in the choice of words, hardly correct in his language, and yet that he usually carried his point. A HAPPY, SUCCESSFUL LIFE The End of the Play By WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY [William Makepeace Thackeray was born at Calcutta, India, July 18, 1811. Being an indifferent scholar he left Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1830, determined to finish his education by travel. He went to Germany and spent some time in Weimar, where he was introduced to Goethe. In 1835 he drifted into journalism and literature, writing for "Fraser's Magazine." In 1844 he visited Athens, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Cairo, and contributed to “Fraser's" "The Luck of Barry Lyndon." Though a contributor to "Punch" since its establishment in 1841, it was not until 1846, when he published the sketches now known as "The Book of Snobs," that he obtained general recognition and popularity. In January 1847 "Vanity Fair" began to appear in monthly numbers after the fashion set by Dickens. In 1851 he gave his first lectures, entitled "English Humorists." "Henry Esmond" was published in 1852. In the same year he made his first tour of America, lecturing on the "English Humorists," In 1857 he stood for a seat in Parliament for the town of Oxford, but was not elected. In the same year he produced "The Virginians." The 'Cornhill Magazine" started in 1860 with Thackeray as editor, but he relinquished the post in 1862. In its pages appeared the “Roundabout Papers, "Lovel, the Widower," "The Adventures of Philip," and 'Denis Duval" so far as it had progressed at the time of his death, which took place in London on December 24, 1863.] One word, ere yet the evening ends, Let's close it with a parting rhyme, That Fate ere long shall bid you play; Good night! I'd say, the griefs, the joys, I'd say, your woes were not less keen, Your hopes more vain than those of men Your pangs or pleasures of fifteen At forty-five played o'er again. I'd say, we suffer and we strive, Not less nor more as men than boys; With grizzled beards at forty-five, And if, in time of sacred youth, We learned at home to love and pray, Pray Heaven that early Love and Truth May never wholly pass away. And in the world, as in the school, I'd say, how fate may change and shift; The prize be sometimes with the fool, The race not always to the swift. The strong may yield, the good may fall, The great man be a vulgar clown, The knave be lifted over all, The kind cast pitilessly down. Who knows the inscrutable design? Blessed be He who took and gave! Why should your mother, Charles, not mine, This crowns his feast with wine and wit: Or hunger hopeless at the gate. So each shall mourn, in life's advance, Pray God the heart may kindly glow, Come wealth or want, come good or ill, And bear it with an honest heart, Be each, pray God, a gentleman. A gentleman, or old or young! (Bear kindly with my humble lays); My song, save this, is little worth; I lay the weary pen aside, And wish you health, and love, and mirth As fits the solemn Christmas-tide. As fits the holy Christmas birth, Be this, good friends, our carol stillBe peace on earth, be peace on earth, To men of gentle will. A HAPPY, SUCCESSFUL LIFE A Word for the "Unsuccessful" By OLIVER H. G. LEIGH HE proper enthusiasm of youth need not and should not prevent thoughtful recognition of the fact that ambition may choose other paths than those leading to wealth or glory. To aim at power, or fame, or dazzling supremacy, is perfectly consistent with the higher desire to be good and do good, for its own sake. But the tendency of the times is, unfortunately, to magnify mere money-getting as a grander type of success than that attainable by living the quiet life which gains and gives a sweeter happiness than gold can make sure of buying. Old-fashioned notions are having rather a hard time of it in these glittering days of surface display. Yet we gather once a week the world round to do honor to the makers of the inspiration that has made us a great Christian people, although in our secular temples those men would to-day be classed among the "unsuccessful." True success is too often won at the cost of years or lifetimes of bitter struggle, with the funeral wreath crowning the struggler and the victor's laurel snatched for another brow. We see men rise in the world by using the fallen as pedestals. As we let ourselves be swept along in the maddening rush of competition for the world's tempting prizes, we owe it to our nobler instincts to give frequent thought to our mates and neighbors who, our equals in mind, ambition, and character, have been handicapped in the race by the chances which may befall any of us, any day. Brilliant and lovable souls, stricken with broken health, weighted with family afflictions, impover |