A merchant required an additional clerk and advertised for a boy. The first boy that answered was ushered into a vacant room, and told to sit in a particular chair and wait. Looking around, he saw upon the floor, just by the chair, a one-dollar bill, folded closely, as tho it had been inadvertently dropt. He picked up the bill, and satisfying his conscience that "finding is having," even tho on another's premises, he put it into his pocket. Almost immediately the merchant came in, and after a few questions, dismissed the boy as not satisfactory. The next boy was seated in the same chair, and he also saw a one-dollar bill lying in the same manner beside him; but he picked it up and laid it on the table. The merchant entered, and after some questions, pointed to the bill and asked where it came from. The boy said he saw it on the floor and put it where it would be safe. The merchant said, "As it did not appear to belong to any one, why did you not keep it?" The boy replied, "Because it did not belong to me." "My boy," said the merchant, "you have chosen the road that inevitably leads to business success. The boy before you chose the wrong one. But how did you learn that this was the right path?" The boy answered, "My mother made me promise never, under any circumstances, to take what did not belong to me; and I promised." Later in life this boy became Secretary of the Treasury.—James T. White, "Character Lessons."
(1432)
Honesty, Simulated—See Pretense of Virtue. HONOR When Regulus was sent by the Carthaginians, whose prisoner he was, to Rome, with a convoy of ambassadors to sue for peace, it was on condition that he should return to his prison if peace was not effected. He took an oath to do so. When he appeared at Rome he urged the senators to persevere in the war and not to agree to the exchange of prisoners. That advice involved his return to captivity. The senators, and even the chief priest, held that as his oath was wrested from him by force, he was not bound to go. "Have you resolved to dishonor me?" asked Regulus. "I am not ignorant that tortures and death are preparing for me; but what are these to the shame of an infamous action, or the wounds of a guilty mind? Slave as I am to Carthage, I have still the spirit of a Roman. I have sworn to return. It is my duty to go. Let the gods take care of the rest." Regulus accordingly returned to Carthage and was tortured to death.
(1433)
If one is possest of a delicate sense of honor it is not necessary to bind him with promises to keep personal matters confidential: A New England school-teacher maintained an intimate friendship and spent much time with the poet Tennyson during his later years. One evening, when the two were thus together, Tennyson said that he would depart from his custom and narrate a personal experience; but he had suffered a good deal from repetitions of his tales by those to whom he had told them, and he would be obliged to ask his friend never to repeat what he was about to hear. The American smoked on for a few seconds while Tennyson waited for the promise, and then he said, "My lord, in my country a gentleman would never make that request of another gentleman." "H-h-m!" said the poet, and looked out of eyes that wondered if the quiet smoker opposite knew how much he'd said. Then he told the story.—Harper's Weekly.
(1434)
See Money no Temptation.
HONOR AMONG BOYS
Two boys, John and William, both about
the age of twelve, had a dispute over a game
of ball, when John said that such action was
mean and dishonest, upon which William
immediately called him a liar, and they began
to fight. They were not quarrelsome
boys; they were serious and studious, but
were boys of spirit and held high ideas
of honor and uprightness. The teacher,
who was a man of strong character, and a
sturdy disciplinarian, came promptly upon
the scene and separated the combatants, and
sent both boys to their seats. The breach of
school discipline had been flagrant, and all
expected that severe punishment would be
meted out to the boys. But nothing was said
until just before school was dissmissed, when
the teacher called the boys before him and
said, "Do you think you did right in engaging
in this fight?" To which both boys
said they did, and that they would fight one
another again upon the first opportunity.
After some reflection, the teacher turned to
John and said, "John, will you agree never
