demand. "Well, sir," said Mr. Girard, "if you can not do as I wish, we can separate." "I know that, sir," said the hero; "I also know that I have a widowed mother to care for, but I can not work on Sunday." "Very well, sir," said the proprietor, "go to the cashier's desk, and he will settle with you." For three weeks the young man tramped the streets of Philadelphia, looking for work. One day a bank president asked Mr. Girard to name a suitable person for cashier for a new bank about to be started. After reflection, Mr. Girard named this young man. "But I thought you discharged him?" "I did," was the answer, "because he would not work on Sunday, and the man who will lose his situation from principle is the man to whom you can intrust your money." (Text.)
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See Feeling and Principle.
PRINCIPLES, MASTERING
Learning must be transformed into life.
One would not expect to find the yeast if
he made a cross-section of a loaf of bread.
A cow eats grass all day, but we do not expect
the cow to give grass. She is expected
to give milk. A boy may study arithmetic
and learn to do a few examples correctly.
He can tell if each shoe is to have five nails,
how many it will take to shoe a horse. But
suppose the horse's shoes needed six nails?
He is baffled because he has found a case
which was not met by his example; but when
he masters the principle of which his sum
is but an illustration, he can address himself
to the problems of life as they come.—Everett
D. Burr, "Proceedings of the Religious
Education Association," 1905.
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PRISON LIFE, EASY
French prisons, it is said, are such pleasant
places of confinement that at the approach of
every winter they are besieged by requests
from vagrants for shelter.
Fresnes is notorious for its "hospitality," and so agreeable is a sojourn there that many criminals, at the approach of winter, regularly arrange to get locked up until it is time to come out into the balmy air of springtime and the genial sunshine.
A short time since, the story goes, a new prison in France was opened to receive its first prisoner, sentenced to six months' detention. The new establishment had cost nearly $20,000 to build and equip, but unfortunately the prison budget made no allowance for the warders and their "guests."
The governor finally solved the dilemma by deciding that a policeman, who was married, should take up his quarters in the prison and serve the prisoner with his meals. But after a few days the policeman got tired of this. The profit made on the arrangement was very small, and in a confidential tone he confided to the prisoner that, if he cared to take "French leave," he would see that every facility was given him to do so. But his charge quickly reassured him on the point.
"I'm all right here," he said. "Your wife is an excellent cook. You are all very kind to me. This is a nice, new prison. I haven't been so well off for a long time. You don't catch me running away. What's more, if you discharge me, I'll jolly soon be back."
Then the chief warder tried to persuade the prisoner that he would be well advised to make himself scarce. But he might as well have saved himself the trouble, for he met with no more success than the policeman. All the doors and windows of the prison were left wide open. He was given permission, he was even asked to go for a walk, in the hope that he would disappear for good. He thanked his jailers, and several times went for a stroll around the neighborhood.
But he always returned again in time for his meals. One night recently, however, he met an old friend when he was out, and after a glass or two of wine they found so many things to talk about that it was three o'clock in the morning when the "prisoner" returned to his lodgings. But altho he hung on to the bell and rung for all he was worth, no one came to the prison gate. At last the policeman opened a window and shouted angrily:
"If you don't begone, I'll fire on you."
The lodger took the hint, but at six o'clock he was back again, and his guardian had to comply with his request to be admitted to his cell. How the affair will end no one knows, but it is said that the Sous-Préfet is seriously thinking of offering the "prisoner" a louis to go elsewhere for his food and lodging.—Baltimore Sun.
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PRISON LITERATURE
Dumas is of all authors the favorite at
Sing Sing, and 1,413 volumes of his work
were read by convicts in the course of the
year. This shows good literary taste. Other
authors, as represented by the number of
their books read, ranked as follows: Charles
Reade, 720; Collins, 649; Corelli, 596; Doyle,
