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diff --git a/old/53443-0.txt b/old/53443-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index eea68d8..0000000 --- a/old/53443-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1850 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stop!, by Nathan Dean Urner - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Stop! - A Handy Monitor, Pocket Conscience and Portable Guardian - against the World, the Flesh and the Devil - -Author: Nathan Dean Urner - -Release Date: November 3, 2016 [EBook #53443] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STOP! *** - - - - -Produced by Anita Hammond, Wayne Hammond and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -[Transcriber's Note: - -This project uses utf-8 encoded characters. If some characters are not -readable, check your settings of your text reader to ensure you have a -font installed that can display utf-8 characters. - -Italics delimited by underscores.] - - - - - Stop! - - _A Handy Monitor and - Pocket Conscience._ - - THE NEW “COLTON’S LACON.” - - By Author of NEVER and ALWAYS. - - - - - MRS. MARY J. HOLMES’ NOVELS - - Over a MILLION Sold - - THE NEW BOOK - - Queenie Hetherton - - _JUST OUT_. - - For Sale Everywhere - - Price, $1.50. - - - - - STOP! - - _A Handy Monitor, Pocket Conscience - and Portable Guardian - against the World, - the Flesh and the - Devil._ - -“Stop! To pause, knock off, let up, cheese it, switch off, give it a -rest, cut short, stand like a rock, kick against, shut down, bring up -with a round turn, hold hard,” etc.--THESAURUS. - -“What would you, sir? I pray you _stop_, nor yield a hair to vicious -promptings!”--MOLIERE. - - BY MENTOR. - - AUTHOR OF “NEVER” AND “ALWAYS.” - - [Illustration] - - NEW YORK: - - COPYRIGHT, 1884, BY - - _G. W. Carleton & Co., Publishers_. - - LONDON: S. LOW & CO. - - MDCCCLXXXIV. - - Stereotyped by - SAMUEL STODDER, - 42 DEY STREET, N. Y. - -[Illustration] - - - - -_Introduction._ - - -[Illustration] - -_THE pining need of a work of this kind--an instructive sharpener in -book-form, as it were, of the moral faculty--has long been so seriously -felt that the author eagerly hastens to supply it._ - -_In_ “NEVER” _and_ “ALWAYS,” _his appeal was rather -to the externalities of life. In_ “STOP,” _his aim is to -regulate the very springs of impulse, deliberation and resolve. In -other words, there is not a temptation that he would not strip of its -disguise, not an unworthy motive that he would not pulverize as with a -corrective club, not a misleading conceit that he would not skewer to -its squirming source._ - -_Although the pearls of thought and monitory gems herewith presented -are intended mainly for young men just entering upon the great work of -life, there is neither man nor maid, stripling nor patriarch, saphead -nor sage who may not scramble for them with avidity, and glory in their -possession._ - -_Young man, are you hesitating in the choice of a vocation? A reference -to the admonitions under this head in_ “STOP” _may be the -means of your becoming a Millionaire, a Police Magistrate or an -ornament to society. Are you in love, or willing to be? A consultation -of the advice at your command may place you in such hobnobbing, -soul-wedded relations with the rosy god as shall cause you to charm, -to captivate, and finally to wrest the rapt, responsive throb from -Beauty’s battlemented heart. Are you a driveling idiot in money -matters? Imbibe, and be wise. And so on, through all the departments of -existence._ - -_Thus, panoplied, as it were, against the World, the Flesh and the -Devil, you might eventually, in an agony of gratitude and wonderment, -eulogize the author in the significant words of Hamlet, slightly -altered, to the following effect:_ - -_“’Sblood! he plays on me easier than on a pipe! He would seem to know -my_ STOPS; _he would pluck out the heart of my mystery; he -would sound me from my lowest notes to the top of my compass; there is -so much music, excellent voice and incomparable counsel in this little -book!”_ - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -_Contents._ - - -[Illustration] - - In Choosing a Vocation 9 - - In General Deportment 19 - - In Love Affairs 27 - - In Money Matters 39 - - In Guarding Against Bad Habits 48 - - In Judging Others 55 - - In Recreations 64 - - In the Domestic Relations 73 - - In Business Life 84 - - In Thought, Word and Deed 91 - -[Illustration] - - - - -Stop! - - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Choosing a Vocation. - - -Stop, first, and reflect what you are fit for. To rush recklessly into -an occupation of which you are as ignorant as a horse is of music, is -not to be thought of. - -Stop, next, and consider if what you have in view is respectable. Or, -if too much of an ass to distinguish between banking and bunco, for -instance, read up carefully on horse-sense. - -Stop, again, and be sure that your choice is in keeping with your -capacity. To essay one of the learned professions if wholly uneducated, -speculative pursuits if a natural born fool, or hod-carrying if -lily-handed, spindle-propped and wasp-waisted, is hardly a proof of -intellectuality. - -Stop, your career being chosen, to master its rudiments before essaying -its higher walks. Rome was not built in a day, nor is any vocation a -spring-board to waft you into the empyrean at the primary bounce. - -Stop long enough to master the rule of “addition, division and -silence,” if seeking political preferrment, or employment as a -confidential clerk. - -Stop long enough in one vocation to give it a fair trial. -Jacks-of-all-trades--men who are studying law in the morning, -counter-hopping after dinner, peddling soap to-day, starting a bank -to-morrow--are seldom successful. - -Stop, and ponder deeply, before becoming that pitiable object, a -professional office-seeker. Rather sink your independence of thought -and action at once by marrying for money, or toadying upon a rich -relative. - -Stop, if a lawyer’s office-boy, before intruding your legal views upon -your employer’s graver consultations. Think! Should you excite his -professional envy at the outset? - -Stop, if beginning as a dry-goods clerk, before imagining yourself a -silent partner in the concern, with your four dollars a week as its -chief investment. Self-respect is one thing, unmitigated, idiotic -asininity another. - -Stop, if at the tape-and-shoestrings counter, before aspiring to -the glittering generalities of the ribbons and laces, or the grave -responsibilities of the white-goods department. The cares of these high -functions may surpass your conception, and we must creep before we -climb. - -Stop before entering the ministry, if without religious convictions, a -sacrilegious scoffer, and morally depraved. - -Stop on the ragged edge of the fallacy that your place, or any man’s -cannot be filled by another. When men die, as they all must, are their -places not always filled? - -Stop on the brink of blatant, unaccredited, irresponsible quackery -in anything, but especially if desirous of becoming a disciple of -Hippocrates. - -Stop, if contemplating a banking career, and inquire if you have a -mathematical mind and attainments. A vague acquaintance with the rule -of three, together with a mouth-watering desire for colossal wealth, -cannot alone enable you to rival the wizards of finance. - -Stop before setting up on your own account, unless thoroughly in -earnest. Even a peanut-stand may be dignified by business energy and -perseverance. - -Stop short, bring up with a round turn, at any inducement, however -dazzling, that is not strictly honest. You can better afford to be -mediocre than obnoxious. - -Stop, and consider well, before taking up a patent lightning-rod. -Agents are already numerous, and farmers’ dogs on the alert. - -Stop, before joining the army of commercial drummers, and be sure that -you possess three qualifications in a superlative degree, _i.e._: cheek, -pertinacity and the gift of gab. - -Stop, should you become a drummer, at the nineteenth lie in support of -one line of goods. Mendacity hath its limits, and even the credulity of -a yokel may be gorged. - -Stop on the giddy verge of over-estimate in any business. “Hope,” says -_Lacon_, “is a prodigal young heir, and experience is his banker; but -his drafts are seldom honored, because he draws largely on a small -capital, is not yet in possession, and if he were, would _die_.” - -Stop, indignantly repel, all inducements on the part of advertising -sharks. Their name is legion, and they seek but to devour. - -Stop, howsoever tempted, at the allurements of roguery, embezzlement, -rascality, and satanic suggestions of every description. If you must be -a cutpurse let it be on the broad highway, pistol in hand, dime-novel -at heart, and the gallows in sight. - -Stop, if contemplating a political career, and distinctly settle this -question in your mind: Am I to boss the party, or is the party to boss -me? There is nothing like avoiding a confusion of ideas. - -Stop, next, and be certain that your ambition is not o’erleaping its -aim. Pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon, if possible, but -to make a dead set for the Presidency and bring up as a police-court -janitor, or coroner’s assistant, is apt to prove discouraging. - -Stop, even if rich, before entering upon pleasure as a business. Few -constitutions can long stand the racket, _ennui_ is the result, and -premature death its bourne. - -Stop before entering the literary profession, if devoid of imagination, -a proverbial fool, and with but a lazy comprehension of orthography, -grammar and syntax. - -Stop, next, and ask yourself, what great author, dead or living, shall -I emulate? Then, be your model Shakespeare or Bartley Campbell, -Thackeray or Tupper, Byron or the _Burlington Hawkeye_, stick to your -ideal, revel in ink and starve for glory. - -Stop, if of a dramatic turn, before absolutely forcing a manager to -produce your play. There are, unfortunately, legal safeguards for even -this species of credulous, unsophisticated, professionals. - -Stop, and reflect profoundly, before adopting pugilism as a vocation, -if constitutionally weak in the back, color-blind, short-winded, and -timid to pusillanimity. - -Stop before deciding upon a histrionic career, until satisfied that you -are not better fitted for an auction-room or a junk-shop. - -Stop, in any calling, long enough to become familiar with the foot of -the ladder before clawing ineffectually at the top-round. Beginning -at the top, to come down with a rush, is reserved for millionaires’ -sons, holders of winning lottery-tickets and cat’s-paws of nominating -conventions. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -In General Deportment. - - -Stop at the assumption of a supercilious, ducal air, especially if -small of stature, monkey-brained and impecunious. This is solely the -privilege of floor-walkers, brained midgets and actresses’ husbands. - -Stop, on the other hand, if tall and commanding, before cultivating a -creeping, crushed demeanor, unless you are a colporteur or dog-stealer. - -Stop on the brink of wholly disregarding the prevailing fashions. -Knee-breeches, shoe-buckles, a powdered wig, and a swallow-tailed coat, -with the waist-buttons between the shoulder-blades, would stamp you as -an eccentric at the present day. - -Stop before despising the requirements of the seasons. A straw-hat in a -snow-storm, for instance, would excite remark. - -Stop when vanity counsels an excess of ornament. To exhibit a jewel or -two with judgment is one thing, to groan under a clanking avoirdupois -of gauds and trinkets another. - -Stop at the claims of both a cadaverous gravity and a causeless -facetiousness of demeanor. Neither the belfry owl nor the proverbial -basket of chips should be your model in this regard. - -Stop on the verge of unnecessary violence in word and deed. Resent, if -you must, without preliminary roaring. The deadly submarine torpedo is -terrible in its explosion, but less noisy than the harmless bursting of -an inflated paper-bag. - -Stop before criticising what you do not understand. The bore indulging -in this species of idiocy is deserving of an enforced association with -numerous mothers-in-law in a whisper-gallery. - -Stop, indeed, snap your jaws to like a spring-trap, at the very -suggestion of an oath or low expression. “Profanity,” says _Lacon_, -“never yet dignified wrath nor emphasized a great purpose.” - -Stop before indulging in covert sneers. Indeed, “a good, mouth-filling -oath” is preferable, because less hypocritical, but an ungarnished -assertion is better than either. - -Stop before meanly insinuating what should be plainly spoken. Even if -a man owes you money, which you think he ought to pay, tell him so, or -ask for an explanation, instead of conveying your meaning through an -allusion to his current expense or new clothes. This is the course of a -sneak and a coward. - -Stop, rather, and bewail the abolition of imprisonment for debt, -or tell him that he ought to live cheaply and go in rags until he -liquidates. - -Stop before assuming a rasping, file-edged, whip-in-hand demeanor -toward your dependents or inferiors. Apart from its villainously -bad taste, the whirligig of time may bring about a transposition of -relations, and then where are you? - -Stop, on the other hand, ere adopting a groveling, sycophantic, -ultra-ingratiating manner with your superiors. “The flavor that can -only be won by fawning servility is seldom of great worth.” - -Stop before persisting in a style of laugh that can betray your motives -to your disadvantage. The “He, he, he!” of hypocrisy is as patent as -the “Haw, haw, haw!” of the windbag. - -Stop at an unwarranted ostentation of speech and bearing. The -dung-hill bird is distinguished quite as much by his strut as by his -vociferousness. - -Stop, in addressing a woman, and consider the privilege of her sex, -even if she may have aggrieved you. - -Stop, on the other hand, before over-whelming her with an excess of -courtesy. Over-attentiveness to women always inspires a suspicion as -to its motive. - -Stop before retailing a scandal, even if convinced of its truth. This -is the province of the incorrigible gossip and the newspaper reporter, -with neither of whom you can hope to cope. - -Stop on the threshold of a temptation to distort the truth. -Plausibility in lying is an art in which but few can earn distinction. - -Stop before disputing a fact, however distasteful, that can be proved -by statistical evidence. Figures are not apt to lie, save on gas-metres. - -Stop before adhering to an error through a mistaken sense of shame. -“Who acknowledgeth his error showeth an increase of wisdom; who -stubbornly adhereth to what hath been disproved confesseth himself a -fool.” - -Stop short of the conceit that irresistibility with the fair sex -depends on good-looks alone. The manners make the man. - -Stop before aping the characteristics of another, however exalted. -The gesticulations of the Frenchman would be unseemly in the staid -Hidalgo, and that which would be a pleasing originality in one might be -a preposterous parody in the imitator. - -Stop short of the notion that wiseacre looks and frigidity of manner -will always be indicative of reserved force and intellectual acumen. -The owl is the solemnest and likewise the stupidest of birds. - -Stop, whenever in moral doubt or distress, and consult the masterly -advice and sage promptings of this jewel of a book. It shall be unto -you “as rivers of water in a dry place, or the shadow of a great rock -in a weary land.” - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Love Affairs. - - -Stop!--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 virtue, her seraphic guilelessness should inspire? if -not, away with it--blot it out! - -Stop! Was she rather plain than peerless, and is it the thought of her -father’s bonds and shekels that now summons the enamored hectic to thy -virile cheek? Away with it, likewise, and for shame! Shall blood with -boodle blend--emotion cringe at Mammon’s beck--and Love be unavenged? - -Stop! Stay yet again thy headlong plunge! Was she yet lovely, an houri -of a dream, but still beneath thee in family, station, fortune, and -didst therefore smile but to deceive? If so, hold hard, hug this sweet -volume to thy heart of hearts, and sin no more! - -Stop, and meditate upon the three foregoing paragraphs, for in them are -embodied the cardinal principles in making love: Purity of purpose, -Disinterestedness and Truth. - -Stop for some encouragement before rendering your attentions -universally conspicuous. A glance of the eye, a tremor of the lip, the -merest shadow of a blush upon the seashell-tinted cheek, will suffice. - -Stop, if such subtle signs are wanting or withheld, and plan some -deep-laid scheme to unveil heart’s predilection, indifference, or -dislike. Oysters and ice-cream are still available in their respective -seasons. - -Stop before mistaking a passing fancy for a wild, consuming maddening, -over-mastering, star-jostling passion. This mistake has evoked more -paternal walking-sticks and breach-of-promise suits than would keep a -French novelist in subject-matter for a twelvemonth. - -Stop, after falling head over ears in love, to collect your senses -and formulate your plans. An inconsiderate, maniacal rush into a -declaration is often repented at leisure. - -Stop, if not certain of your ground, before wholly unmasking your -batteries. Delicate attentions, even worshiping, awe-struck glances -from afar, are time-old preliminaries, but none the less effective. - -Stop, however, on the threshold of feverish demonstration at the -outset. Furnace-like sighs, dazed, dumb-founded looks, like those of an -expiring calf, and frenzied bodily contortions may be brought to bear -in their own good time. - -Stop short of opposing her tastes and convictions. To gently chime -with them, whether you have any of your own or not, while preserving -a vigorous masculinity in favor of quail-gorging, head-punching and -kindred noble sports, is in the main commendable. - -Stop before vaunting a wild, atheistical or Ingersollian contempt -for all things sacred, if she should be of a deeply religious turn. -However, this is not to prescribe a regular biblical course, a very -little of which goes a great way in the wooing o’t. - -Stop before disclaiming all love for music, or suggesting the banjo or -bagpipe as your favorite instrument, should she dote on the opera, sing -divinely and be a piano-pounder of no mean ability in her own person. - -Stop before depreciating anything the dear creature does, or tries to -do. Eagerly demand another song, even if the screech of her first has -ruined your tympanum, call her verses divine, if they are no better -than Tennyson’s latest senility, swear that her favorite scent is -yours, even if ’tis musk or garlic, and build, build as with a wand, -the shining edifice of love! - -Stop right off at the idea that there may be anything hypocritical or -insincere advised in the foregoing paragraph. If really in love, you -will religiously believe everything you tell her, and more too. - -Stop, first, however, and study the character of your enchantress. All -women are no more to be wooed alike than are all fish to be tempted -with the same kind of bait. - -Stop before addressing a brainy, well-read penetrative divinity as you -would a laughing elf, a careless, careless fay, a butterfly of mirth -and joy. An Hypatia is not a Hebe, and reflect! Would you tempt an -eagle with a moth-light, or a striped-bass with an eel-bob? - -Stop, if she be intellectual, and study up to an equality with her -tastes, should you be her inferior. Then scientific discussions, -with poetry as a side-dish, may gradually lead up to the delicious -desideratum of two hearts that beat as one. - -Stop, however, at the error of preferring her intellectual to her -physical charms. She is a lovely liar if she pretends to a desire for -such preference, and your sin will be unpardonable, should you take her -at her word. - -Stop, in any case, before praising another woman’s good-looks in the -adored one’s presence. In fact, you can afford her no pleasanter -flattery than by a systematic depreciation of a prettier woman’s -charms. - -Stop, if she be a Hebe, we will say, and plunge recklessly amid her -paucity of ideas. Flounder in folly, palpitate with persiflage, at her -giggling beck; and here is ample opportunity for the silent eloquence -of the nosegay, the oyster, or the iced refreshment, not less than -for the princely prodigality of the opera, the midnight coupe and the -church fair lottery. - -Stop short of any display of fear in her presence, even if you are -timorous to the core. Let her do the shrieking at the onset of a mouse, -but stand you as the rugged rock, the beaten anvil, or the rooted oak! -You might even trample out a croton-bug occasionally, with a cold, -feelingless laugh. Imperturbability in peril was never yet a masculine -fault in gentle woman’s eyes. - -Stop before incurring the dislike of the fair one’s little brothers or -sisters. The malapert maliciousness of _l’enfant terrible_ may occasion -mortifications without number. - -Stop before losing your temper with a rival in your charmer’s presence. -If you must come to blows, let it be in a retired spot, but it were -far better to sit him out, beat him on bouquets, gum drops and -theatre-tickets, or otherwise defeat him in the rosy lists. - -Stop at the one thousandth kiss, after receiving the coveted “Yes” -from the adored one’s lips. Byron, it is true, in one of his callow -effusions, counsels a million, but, as a conscientious Mentor, we -prefer to draw the line somewhere even in such an emotional proceeding. - -Stop, discontinue the siege altogether, in case of a downright -rejection, howsoever reluctant, howsoever tearful. Don’t put up with -the sisterly substitute, either; but just float out grandly on the -ebb-tide of broken hopes, until brighter eyes a welcome shine to solace -and to cheer. - -Stop before imagining, if accepted, that your ordeal is now nearly at -an end. Why, gentle sir, it hath just begun. You are now owned. - -Stop short at the idea that even your former devotion is still in -order. If it was a bouquet or two per week before, it is now a -cart-load per day; your male familiars must sigh for you in vain--your -off-nights are things of the past; you are on exhibition, not only to -your _fiancée’s_ family, but to the world at large; you are an engaged -man! - -Stop on the verge of suicidal despair as a result of your first -lovers’ quarrel. This is but the pepper-sauce of passion, the curry of -courtship, the horse-radish of happiness, without which that crowning -reflection, the kiss-gilt, teardrop-rainbowed making-up were banished -forever from Love’s golden feast! - -Stop, in a general way, before making love for the fun of the thing. -There is no meaner, more reptilian creature in society than the -professional male flirt. - -Stop before yielding an iota to the allurements of a notorious -coquette. Heartlessness is her dower, emotional misery her delight, -falseness her stock in trade, and the ashen Dead Sea fruit the only -reward in her power, even if she love at last. - -Stop before permitting your admiration of an actress, or ballet dancer, -to glide into a master passion. Disenchantment, if desired, is mostly -within easy reach, and you can console yourself with the reflection -that there is far more beauty off the stage than on it. - -Stop short of making love at all, if you are not of an affectionate -disposition; or, when too late--that is, when married, love will be -likely to stop short of you. - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Money Matters. - - -Stop, first, and understand the value of money--the importance of never -being without _some_ money, even if a very little. - -Stop, next, and understand that money is nothing in itself alone, but -valuable and powerful only in what it will purchase and _can_ purchase. -A pure love of it for itself, and not for what it represents, develops -a loathsome disease--the disease of miserliness. - -Stop short of envying the rich, even if penniless yourself. A -philosophical reflection as to the causes of your bad fortune, -together with a resolve to mend it by a more enlightened course, is -your only remedy. - -Stop, however, yet shorter of the vulgar, pigheaded notion that money, -even by the ton-weight, can be everything without moral or intellectual -backing. If this were so, wealth would be more glorious than wisdom, -which happily, it is not. - -Stop before parting with money, even to an insignificant amount, -without some sort of equivalent. This rule need not render you either -parsimonious or uncharitable, since even alms-giving brings a return in -the consciousness of having yielded to a kindly impulse. - -Stop before cultivating a hoarding spirit, and remember that, -logically, as between the miser and the spendthrift, the latter has -the best of the bargain. For, while the spendthrift has the selfish -satisfaction of squandering his fortune in his own person, the miser -is the dupe of his own self-denial, for the benefit of others who come -after him. - -Stop, however, before emulating the spendthrift any more than the -miser. If there is never any love for the scheming parsimony of the -one, neither is there ever any gratitude for the thoughtless largesse -of the other. - -Stop, and reflect well, before borrowing money under any circumstances. -To an honest man, indebtedness is ever a double torture--self-torture -in the haunting possibility of not being able to keep his word, and the -torture of imagining what, in that case, will be thought of him. - -Stop, dead, before borrowing money that you are not sure of being able -to repay. As for the man who borrows without the _intention_ to repay, -he is even worse than a professional thief, and as fully deserving of -social ostracism. - -Stop before becoming that unmitigated bore, a chronic borrower. He is -at best a pitiful creature, shunned even when commiserated, and the -strongest ties of friendship cannot long withstand the wrench of his -proximity. - -Stop, even before lending money to a friend, and reflect that -non-liquidation must cost you your money, and _may_ cost you--your -friend. - -Stop, however, if you mean to grant a request for a loan, and grant it -freely. To produce it as if extracting a wisdom-tooth, or accompany it -with a stereotyped moral lecture on the hardness of the times, etc., is -much like placing his request on a level with mendicancy. - -Stop short--indeed, as abruptly as you please--of lending money to a -known profligate or spendthrift. The proverbial blood from a turnip may -be sooner expected than genuine thankfulness for an accommodation from -such a source, and the probability is that he will secretly laugh at -you for a fool. - -Stop, however, and reflect well before adopting a general and -irrevocable rule of never lending money under any circumstances. Many -eminent men, the reverse of hard-hearted, have conscientiously adopted -this rule, but whether it is the best, as the world goes, is a question. - -Stop before compromising with such a rule by offering as a gift that -which is entreated as a loan. This is the course usually pursued by the -eminent men alluded to above; but such a proffer is always humiliating, -and often insulting. - -Stop before running in debt, even for groceries or beer, for that for -which you can pay on the spot. It is a pernicious habit that must -steadily engender looser and looser notions about money matters. - -Stop before adopting honesty as your standard merely on the immorally -aphoristic grounds of its being the best policy. True integrity should -stand on its merits, win or lose; whereas any shrewd rascal would be -honest on occasion, if satisfied that he would _make_ by it. - -Stop, rather, and fortify your uprightness on the broad grounds, “that -_honesty is not only the deepest policy, but the highest wisdom_; since -however difficult it may be for integrity to get on, it is a thousand -times more difficult for knavery to _get off_.” - -Stop before cultivating an inordinate desire to get rich in haste. In -ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it will develop into a species of -frenzy that must over-reach and defeat its aims. - -Stop, rather, and understand that in speculation, the prizes of the few -are only rendered possible by the ruin of the many. - -Stop before setting up financial comets--that is suddenly-rich men--as -your exemplars. The exceptional boldness, or unscrupulousness which -constituted their _open sesame_ to dazzling fortune, may but fling -wide, for the mediocre imitator, the doors of poverty or of the state -prison. - -Stop when you have achieved a comfortable competence, and devote -yourself to the rational enjoyment thereof. To be stacking up dollars -and securities to the last gasp is worse than making a hell on earth; -since it is a perversity so obtuse as to imagine that as heaven which -is in truth a hell. - -Stop, and remember, that the accumulation of wealth, as a sole pursuit, -is a diseased passion, just as much as is the craving for strong -drink, or for the excitement of gambling. - -Stop, therefore, in the headlong race for money, and so intersperse -that pursuit with knowledge and unselfish deeds, with moral and -intellectual recreations, as shall render it the chief means, rather -than the chief end, of a useful existence. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Guarding Against Bad Habits. - - -Stop before cultivating an inordinate self-conceit, and remember that -real worth is mostly modest, while those persons are the vainest who -have the least to be vain of. - -Stop before contracting a habit of exaggeration. This is the -stock-in-trade of the cheap penny-a-liner, while the strength of the -true historian lies in conscientious statement. - -Stop short of fancying that such exaggeration can impress others with -your imaginative powers. Were this true, the grimaces of a baboon -might be ascribed to emotional fine frenzy. - -Stop before contracting the habit of lying, even in a harmless way. But -this fault is as naturally the outgrowth of extravagance or looseness -of statement, as is the noxious weed of the miscellaneous muck that -stimulates it into useless being. - -Stop short of listlessness in word, look and deed. A perfunctory person -is never in demand, and Rip Van Winkle only indemnified society in -sleeping out his twenty years. - -Stop, and do nothing, rather than procrastinate indefinitely. -Untrustworthiness is the final result of procrastination, and a -reputation for that is tantamount to elimination from the world’s -employment. - -Stop far short of any indulgence that can affect your general -reputation. “The two most precious things this side the grave,” says -_Lacon_, “are our reputation and our life; the most contemptible -whisper may deprive us of the one, the weakest weapon of the other.” - -Stop the use of tobacco, if addicted to it, but especially in the form -of chewing, the vileness of this practice is in no wise mitigated by -its prevalence. - -Stop smoking, also, at its first threatened inroad upon the general -health. To persist in it thereafter is a confession of both moral and -mental weakness. - -Stop on the threshold of gambling of every description, and, if already -in the toils, shut down on the practice with all the ponderosity at -your command. - -Stop, moreover, and understand that gambling--the worship of -chance--is death to the soul, to faith in human nature, to man’s -nobler attributes. In this regard, it is more literally demoralizing -than alcoholic drunkenness; and there is yet to be found the veteran -professional gambler who is not a materialistic atheist. - -Stop, once more, and remember that every man who will play cards for -money, will in time, cheat. He may set out honestly enough, but it is -only a question of time before he will take an unfair advantage in -_self-defense_. What, then, can be thought of a practice that almost -necessitates dishonesty? - -Stop--hold! That “D--n!” upon thy lips! Would not “Confound it!” “The -deuce take it!” or simply “Bless me!” emphasize resentment or annoyance -equally well? Or, still better, is there any need for emphasis at all? - -Stop, above all, before falling into the profane habit, upon no -provocation. A passionless, half-conscious interlarding of speech with -oaths and epithets is as idiotic as it is disgusting. - -Stop on the verge of becoming anecdotal to excess. 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 anecdote, or -pointless pun. - -Stop short of narrating indecent stories. Unfortunately, nearly all -stories of much point that are interchanged among men are of this -description; _ergo_, eschew the retailing of them, on your own part, -altogether. - -Stop before becoming the slave of any depraved appetite. To take -the appetite for strong drink as an illustration, it is a terrible -enchantress--siren, bacchante, or task-mistress, at will. One can -seldom coquette with but he marries her at last; when, like the Lamia -of the legend, she turns to a serpent in the embrace, and her dalliance -is despair and death. - -Stop before contracting a habit of belittling or sneering at what you -do not understand. This is but the pasteboard buckler with which the -fool would shield his self-love. - -Stop before habitually ascribing mean or sordid motives to others upon -mere conjecture. - -Stop short of any habit that can fruitlessly waste one’s time or -substance, since the one is more than money, because, once dissipated, -it can never be replaced, and the other is the very means of life. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Judging Others. - - -Stop before gauging a person’s capacity solely by his physiognomy. -Lafayette’s forehead suggested idiocy, Keats, the poet, had the jaws of -a prize-fighter, and warriors of the Salvation Army have been mistaken -(before opening their mouths) for men of intelligence. - -Stop, however, before judging people altogether on antithetic grounds. -To invariably accept a monkey-jawed, rat-eyed, ear-shadowed countenance -as a criterion for mental profundity, for instance, or crime-sodden, -sin-exhaling bulldog traits as suggestive of ethical culture or -religious zeal, is hardly to be recommended. - -Stop before judging others, especially men, wholly by their dress and -manners. A millionaire may be “shabby-genteel” and retiring to excess, -whereas professional scoundrels are often notorious for a fashionable -exterior and distinction of bearing “as to the manner born.” - -Stop on the verge of taking dress and ornament as a sure indication -of a woman’s character or station. You might regret mistaking a -quietly-attired unadorned heiress for a shirt-maker in distress; or a -fourth-class pawnbroker’s wife, beringed and bediamonded from bang to -belt, for a sorceress of fashion. - -Stop before judging people disparagingly by their eccentricities. A -poet, for instance, may indulge in long hair, without necessarily being -an _æsthete_ or a cowboy; the habit of talking to one’s-self is no -proof of a guilty conscience; and absent-mindedness in many forms has -accompanied the possession of exceptional capacity. - -Stop, however, before accepting such betrayals as positive indications -of either genius, talent or brains. To do this would be to libel the -ordinarily well-behaved people who have some respect for the amenities -of existence. - -Stop, for instance, ere ascribing pure benevolence to the -absent-mindedness that mistakes your silk umbrella for a mislaid -gingham one, shaky in the ribs, feruled with long service, and filtery -at the seams. - -Stop and draw a line likewise, at the abstraction that finds its hand -in your pocket, or creeps in at your bedroom window, or is blandly -oblivious as to whether it owes you money, or _vice versa_. - -Stop, and turn the question over in your mind: True enough, there is a -chance of such eccentricities being the concomitants of a certain sort -of talent, but is it exactly the sort that ought to be encouraged? - -Stop, if naturally dishonest or vicious yourself, and inquire if -you can fairly judge others according to your own corrupt standard. -This may prevent your giving yourself away, besides leavening your -collective baseness with a grain or two of charity. - -Stop, however, if honest and well-meaning--and, indeed, it is mainly -for such that this symposium of golden precepts is prepared--and -remember, as a stimulant to careful discrimination in these things, -that your own superficialities may be constantly and cruelly misjudged. - -Stop short of supposing that you have no superficialities, or but few, -to be judged by. The visibility of existence is largely made up of -them; it is, perhaps even well that the heart is not often worn upon -the sleeve; and equally well that our externals are but deceptive -indices of the springs of action, the blots and foibles they disguise, -else were the wisest of us each other’s sport. - -Stop before taking mildness and retirement of manner for a want -of resolution or courage. True greatness in anything is seldom -self-celebrating, and it is as true as proverbial that “still waters -run deep.” - -Stop, on the other hand, before setting down a strutting -self-importance as invariably betokening a wind-bag or a nincompoop. -Modesty is, unfortunately, not always the hand-maid of merit. - -Stop before mistaking ostentation for generosity, or calm acceptance -for ingratitude. “As the mean have a calculating avarice that sometimes -inclines them to give, so the magnanimous have a condescending -generosity that sometimes inclines them to receive.” - -Stop before despising in another the demonstrativeness that you would -despise in yourself. The babble of the brook is as natural as the -stillness of the pool and temperamental differences are always to be -considered. - -Stop before regarding extreme particularity in dress as an invariable -evidence of intellectual insignificance. It often is so, but -nine-tenths of the shabbily-attired men of brains would dress better if -they could afford to. - -Stop on the dizzy verge of mistaking an excessive and painstaking -courtesy for a genuine and heartfelt interest. It should rather put you -on your guard. - -Stop short of the old-time cynicism of regarding every man as a rascal -until he shall have afforded proofs to the contrary. Such a wholesale -distrust of human nature is creditable to neither the head nor the -heart. - -Stop before sweepingly condemning a discreditable action the -temptations to which are outside your own experience. Even to “put -yourself in his place” is not always available for the formation of -intelligent criticism in such cases. - -Stop before lightly assigning reasons for another’s domestic troubles. -The closet-skeleton is a strictly local spectre that is not the less -terrible by reason of the narrowness of its haunting powers. - -Stop short of disparaging the charity that methodizes and calculates -its smallest alms. There is an enlightened self-interest that relieves -more real distress than all the off-handed gratuities that are bestowed. - -Stop before impugning self-seeking motives to a good deed that redounds -to the doer’s advantage. Even if partly premeditated to this end, the -result, if humanitarian in its general influence, is not the less -useful and noble. - -Stop before judging a man solely by his errors or misfortunes. The -former may have been circumstantially unavoidable, as the latter may -have been undeserved. - -Stop before adopting the stereotyped, canting -“I-might-have-told-you-so” criticism in the case of a friend who has -fallen. The helping hand is then in order, if ever at all; and he is -doubtless aware of the cause of his disgrace, without your telling him. - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Recreation. - - -Stop before making a regular business of any form of diversion, which -then ceases to be either recreative or relaxing, and but adds to the -tissue-waste that should be restored. - -Stop, next, and consider that recreation, in its literal and best -sense, is something more than relaxation. More than to merely loosen, -slacken and remit, to recreate is to revive, reanimate, recuperate and -build up afresh. - -Stop, therefore, before playing billiards or pool every night for five -or six hours at a stretch, under the mistaken notion that you are -combining recreation with amusement. - -Stop, rather, and consider if the nervous tension produced by an -unremitting desire to win, and thus saddle your adversary with the cost -of the game, may not be greater than the wear and tear of the routine -business from which you are seeking relief. - -Stop short of the error that billiards in public is a wholly innocent -diversion, when candid reflection must convince you to the contrary. -The associations are mostly the reverse of refined, the gambling -principle is necessarily involved, and say what you will, non-success -is ever attended by a sense of exasperation. - -Stop wondering why you don’t feel freshened up for business after a -ten hours’ siege of whisky-poker, uninterrupted cigars, and consequent -loss of sleep. - -Stop before fancying chess-playing as any sort of relaxation whatever -from mental exertion. The game, being a constant mental exercise, -in itself should form a diversion from physical, rather than from -intellectual, over-work. - -Stop short of daily conviviality after business hours. The idea that -regular rum or beer-guzzling, even with the merriest of companions, can -be sooner or latter anything but injurious is either hypocritical or -ridiculous. - -Stop, likewise, short of spreeing as a relief from business cares. -Indeed, as between the hebdomadal hurrah and the diurnal hoist, the -distinction is so thoroughly relative to the confessedly evil effects -in both cases as not to be worthy of consideration. - -Stop before seeking recreation in low resorts. Give them all a wide -berth--concert-saloons, dives, dens, hells, houses of ill-repute, -bucket-shops, slums, cribs, joints--all! and remember that what is -essentially debasing can never reanimate exhaustion or repair fatigue. - -Stop before patronizing a low performance of any description. -Dog-fights, rat-baitings, cocking-mains, _et al._, are happily -surreptitious now, but there are equally immoral exhibitions still in -vogue to tempt the thoughtless and unwary. - -Stop before seeking recreation in sensuous performances or spectacles. -True, the ballet is often fascinating, but--Well, let the line be -drawn sharply just after the ballet, at all events. - -Stop before attempting either skating, bicycling, or horse-back -exercise in public, as a gentle and graceful relaxation, when wholly -inexperienced, if you would both corruscate and career. - -Stop before making a specialty of any kind of recreation that is beyond -your means. Otherwise, you may not infrequently exclaim, with _Hamlet_, -“For O, for O, the hobby-horse is forgot!” - -Stop at the yawning abyss of resorting to opium, or any similar drug, -as a relief from care. As the alcoholic habit has been likened to an -enchantress, a circean witch, so the opium habit is a dream-woman, the -sorceress of a phantom realm, elysian at first, but changing at last -into a horror-haunted sphere that appals the spirit while it tortures -and consumes the frame. - -Stop before applying yourself to excessive gymnastics as a relaxation, -if a horse-car conductor or a letter-carrier. Variety is the spice of -life. - -Stop, if engaged in wholly intellectual pursuits, before reading dry -and statistical books, such as Patent Reports, as a pleasing and -hilarious change. - -Stop before joining a club with whose objects you are unfamiliar. To -find yourself unawares, for instance, in the bosom of a hoodlum coterie -when in search of Christian refinement, or unexpectedly affiliated -with a Bible society when thirsting for roaring and convivial -companionship, would be alike uncongenial. - -Stop before seeking recreation in travel, if without money. True, -commercial drummers and tramps have attained some success in this -field, but neither the talents of the one class nor the methods of the -other are to be cordially recommended. - -Stop before indulging in the rougher athletic sports for which you are -physically unqualified. Study your capacities well--take in the entire -athletic range, from jackstraws to Indian clubs, from the bean-bag to -foot-ball--and discriminate for all you are worth. - -Stop before instituting any home-amusement that shall bind you to the -house of evenings forever thereafter. You might really want to go -out and “see a man,” but the excuse would avail you little with the -charming home-game awaiting your patronage. - -Stop before frequenting any lounging place, be it beer-saloon or -cigar-shop, so much as to become a figure-head of the premises. Not to -loaf at all is an excellent general rule. - -Stop before attempting recreation “on the road” in an ultra-economical -way. A livery-stable plug, hobbling ambitiously before a battered -sleigh or antediluvian buggy, in the midst of swell turn-outs and -speeding teams, would doubtless cause something of a sensation, but -would it be of the most enviable kind? - -Stop short of seeking mental repose by attending “excursions” in which -bibulous feats and glee-club improvisations bid fair to make up the -chief fund of amusement. - -Stop short of practical jokes as a relief for the work-oppressed brain. -As between jok_er_ and jok_ee_, the entertainment is mostly altogether -with the former, and one-sided or top-heavy diversions are both selfish -and untimely. - -Stop, and be sure that you have a work-oppressed brain, before rushing -wildly into any recreation whatever. The former is often imaginary, -or a hypocritical excuse for demanding a pastime, which is then, as a -consequence, apt to prove much harder work than play. - -[Illustration] - - - - -In The Domestic Relations. - - -Stop short of thinking that marriage and settlement in life can acquit -you of the tenderness and reverence due your parents, even if they -are well-to-do. It is a moral obligation which, contracted at your -birth, should cease not even with their death, but live on and on, an -evergreen of the memory, an amaranth of the heart. - -Stop before reserving for the bosom of your own family the fits of -ill-temper that you would be ashamed of if public. This is putting your -own household on a level with a private bear-garden, whose limited -spectators cannot be over-grateful for the privilege accorded. - -Stop short of supposing that your wife is anything less than an equal -partner in the hymeneal firm. Even if she came to you penniless, the -idea that she is thenceforth indebted to you for home, position or -freedom from care, is a barbarism fortunately obsolete in this country. - -Stop, likewise, short of the imported notion, also obsolete, that -she _belongs_ to you other than by the free heart-gift that inspired -her marriage vows, or that she is in any sense your property. The -cherishing of such a sentiment is degrading alike to husband and wife. - -Stop before denying to your wife the right to have little secrets of -her own, if you claim the same privilege for yourself. A loving and -trusted wife will have no important secrets apart from her husband. - -Stop short of altogether distrusting her in money matters. Even if -she have but little common sense in such things, her wifehood is a -responsibility for which you are responsible, and which cannot be -wholly nullified without humiliating her. - -Stop short of denying her the possession of some pocket-money of her -own, if but very little. “During my married life,” said a prominent -lecturer on woman’s rights, “I never had a cent of pocket-money that I -was not forced to _steal_ from my husband.” And this statement will -evoke more reflection than censure in the thoughtful mind. - -Stop before grumblingly supplying the household demands. This practice -of growling over a domestic expenditure, which is but a tithe of what -your next “good time with the boys” will cost you, is more prevalent -than sensible. - -Stop before placing any one over your wife’s head in her own house. Be -it mother-in-law, sister-in-law, or any one else, the course is alike -risky and unwise. - -Stop before cultivating a dislike or niggardliness for your wife’s -passion for dress, if it is accompanied by a refined taste and an -earnest desire to be within what you can afford. Fine feathers may not -always make fine birds, but a naturally attractive woman is undeniably -more lovable and attractive when tastefully attired than otherwise. - -Stop long before relinquishing, after marriage, the delicate little -attentions and sacrifices that were so acceptable during your -courtship. A lover-husband will make a sweetheart-wife, and for such -the honey-moon need have no wane. - -Stop, however, dead short of uxoriousness to a degree that shall excite -a smile or comment. The former is apt to be exasperating, and the -latter of a nature the reverse of soothing to your _amour propre_. - -Stop before developing a womanish desire to interfere with domestic -arrangements outside of your province. In other words, never be what -your wife might call a “cock-biddy,” and your cook “an intermiddling -mon.” - -Stop before developing a fault-finding disposition with the cooking -or other accommodations, or first be sure that you are not more -responsible for the faults than your wife. - -Stop short of concealing the fact from your wife, if she is falling -unconsciously into slovenly and unkempt personal habits when only in -your presence. Let her but comprehend that this is a wifely neglect -that has driven many a husband into neater but unscrupulous feminine -society, and speedy amendment must follow. - -Stop before holding your wife accountable for every little smile or -frankness accorded to her antenuptial admirers. ’Tis the watched fire -that languishes; and, should she meditate treason, she would not hint -it by so much as a rush-light. - -Stop before letting her know it, if you find out that your marriage -has been a mistake. Doubtless this will make itself felt, despite your -utmost precautions, and her sufferings in making the sad discovery will -then challenge your compunction, your pity and your redoubled devotion, -if you are a true man. - -Stop before laughing at piety in your wife, even if an infidel -yourself. “Wise men like to have pious wives,” says Emerson, “and it is -well for all concerned that it should be so.” - -Stop before betraying your weaknesses to your children. Even a -hypocritical assumption of a morality that you do not always practice -is preferable to self-exposure in this regard. - -Stop before correcting them in the presence of outsiders. The -self-respect of a little child, once wounded to the quick, is long in -healing; and some consideration is due, moreover, to the outsiders. - -Stop before punishing a child when influenced by anger. The punishment -then ceases to be corrective, and is only resentful; whereas the -helplessness of the child should of itself evoke but magnanimity. - -Stop, when thus impelled by anger, and reflect if you would as readily -seek to gratify it, were no such disparity existent--that is, where -the child as big and powerful as yourself. - -Stop before threatening a chastisement that you don’t intend to -inflict. Or, if you must persist in this course, don’t ascribe the -continued disobedience, which is its inevitable outgrowth, to anything -but your own weakness. - -Stop short of deception or untruth in your dealings with your children, -if you would impress them with the opposite sentiments. - -Stop, in this regard, and reflect that, if the childish mind is wax -to early impressions, it is of a kind that hardens with the imprint, -and that from the hardening process spring the imitation and the -_emulation_, which must gradually corrupt or ennoble, as the case may -be. - -Stop before assuming a bullying tone or attitude toward your family or -your domestics. Vaporings of this description are always in wretched -taste, and a home-circle that must needs be terrorized is little to be -envied. - -Stop before living beyond, or even quite up to your means, and be not -ambitious to make an outside show at the expense of internal comfort. - -Stop short of lessening the significance of old-time festivities, such -as Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, New Year’s and birth-day observances, -simply because you have yourself outgrown their zest. - -Stop before repressing any innocent propensity to _gush_ on the part -of your wife or children. It is a chill home-fountain that will not -occasionally overflow. - -Stop, if possible, before ever disturbing your family peace with even -so much as an unkind or hasty word. The pretty lines, - - “We have greeting words for the stranger, - And smiles for the sometime guest, - But oft for Our Own the bitter tone. - Though we love Our Own the best,” - -should never be pertinent in a wise man’s household. - -Stop before assuming an oracular or infallible attitude--in other -words, setting yourself up as a small god--before your own family. Ten -to one, it is an assumption that you cannot maintain with any degree -of consistency, and one which may entail a humiliating back-down when -least expected. - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Business Life. - - -Stop short of attempting a business enterprise wholly beyond -your mental and financial equipment. To attempt the _rôle_ of a -railroad magnate, for instance, when you have the soul of a licensed -fish-vender, or the manipulation of a government loan with hardly -enough capital for a fruit-stand, would be more ambitious than wise. - -Stop before adopting rigorous and unbending methods that, under a -change of fortune, can be quoted against you to your disadvantage. -Thus, to never lend money, on principle, when prosperous, but be -perfectly willing to borrow it when broke, might subject you to -unpleasant comment. - -Stop before assuming a domineering, Jovian tone toward those with less -money than you, even if you have a corner on the market. Men are often -like rats in this, that they fight when they are cornered. - -Stop when already so deep into a hopeless speculation that you can’t -beg or borrow another cent, when certain ruin stares you in the face, -and even your pawn-tickets are at a discount. Forlorn hopes are only -practicable in serial stories and war. - -Stop, even at the height of prosperity, and make sure of the future by -settling upon your family a competence that shall thenceforth forever -be secured to them, come what may. This prudent course, feasible and -honorable during prosperity, would be just the reverse if deferred -until after business disaster may have come. - -Stop short of imagining that there is any more _luck_ in a legitimate -business than in games of chance--in other words, that there is any at -all. Or, if there is any, it consists of superior energy, foresight, -shrewdness and application, wherein, of course, the stronger wins while -the weaker goes to the wall. - -Stop, and reflect well, before venturing outside of a legitimate, -fairly-paying business upon the sea of speculation, which is in reality -but gambling under another name. - -Stop before cultivating a reputation for either over-credulity or -relentless hard bargaining in business life. The one will be abused, -while the other will foster enmities through the abuse it practices. - -Stop short of uncompromising martinetism toward your employees. -Our clerks, for instance, can no longer be treated as apprentices; -many of them are rich men in embryo; 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-boys! - -Stop before choosing business quarters of a magnitude and pretension -wholly out of keeping with your trade and custom. There is a laughable -case in point, in the upper part of New York, where a diminutive, -tumble-down junk-shop displays a flaring sign with the preposterous -legend: “Great American Mammoth Junk Emporium.” - -Stop before advertising your commodities for something better than they -really are. This is to cheat yourself in the long run, for the average -of public buyers rarely allow themselves to be deliberately swindled -twice by the same liar. - -Stop short of supposing that the hackneyed phrase, “Business is -business,” can ever excuse a downright dishonest transaction in the -opinion of _all_ your business acquaintances. - -Stop, therefore, before setting the majority of them down as secretly -unprincipled, and vaunting their uprightness as a mask. Money-loving as -they are, the majority of those whose good opinion is worth having are -personally honest at the core. - -Stop short of being dazzled by mere business success, irrespective of -questionable or dangerous methods by which it may have been achieved. -Unless the means shall have justified the result, there can be no -praiseworthy success. - -Stop short of supposing that spasmodic cleverness can ever take the -place of solid method, organized effort and settled application in any -respectable calling. - -Stop, and go easy before provoking a powerful business hostility, -if possible, but never to the sacrifice of a true principle; -and, war being fully declared (_i.e._, competition, ruthless and -uncompromising), let it be to the knife, to the bitter end, till the -last pecuniary sinew snaps! - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -In Thought, Word and Deed. - - -Stop before even thinking unworthily. Not to entertain in the mind what -you would blush to speak or put in writing is an excellent general rule -of ethics. - -Stop before nourishing a pride of nationality. This is even more -unreasonable than the pride of ancestry, for the greatness of the -latter may be in some degree inherited, 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 abstract. - -Stop, also, before cherishing even a pride of race. This is wholly -distinct from the virtue of Patriotism, in its best sense; is opposed -to the enlightened spirit of the age; and is one of the narrowest of -prejudices. - -Stop short of despising public spirit in others, or eliminating it from -your own calculations. The most insignificant pot-house politician -is of more worldly use than the most gifted misanthrope. No amount -of selfish seclusion or isolation can absolve one from his duty of -fellowship. - -Stop before making butts of others, especially by reason of personal -peculiarities for which they are in no wise responsible. The old -aphorism about stone-throwing in relation to glass domiciles is always -in order; and even a natural-born fool is more to be pitied than -ridiculed. - -Stop putting in words that which you would not do, or putting in -writing that which you would not sign. - -Stop, and remember that an ill-considered angry word may, on the breath -of hearsay, become a winged seed, from which shall spring a poisonous -upas growth, whose deadly influence could not have been dreamed of at -its inception. - -Stop before falling into apathy, before becoming a do-nothing, through -discouragements. “A great mind,” says _Lacon_, “may change its objects, -but it cannot relinquish them; it must have something to pursue. -Variety is its relaxation, and amusement its repose.” - -Stop short of being painstaking to excess in what you would pass off -as improvised. Over-elaboration in this regard may be likened to -the dishabille in which a coquette would wish you to think you have -surprised her, after spending hours at her toilet. - -Stop short of supposing that rascality can be as uniformly logical -as honesty. Villains are usually the worst casuists, and rush into -_greater_ crimes to avoid _less_. - -Stop, in combating the World, and reflect that by resisting its -temptations you master the secret of ultimately possessing its noblest -prizes, the respect of your fellows, and the proudest self-respect in -having successfully withstood not in order to achieve, but from a sense -of moral duty. - -Stop, in resisting the allurements of the Flesh, and consider that -by subjecting them to the yoke of reason, your capacity for rational -fleshly enjoyment is both intensified and prolonged. - -Stop, in fighting the Devil (_i.e._, moral perverseness,) and remember -that your victory will be evidence of moral balance on your own part, -rather than of faint-heartedness on His Inky Majesty’s. And you may -likewise recall with complacency Emerson’s indictment, where he says, -“It stands to reason that the Devil is an ass.” - -Stop, after having fairly floored the Machiavellian triumvirate, the -World, the Flesh and the Devil, and candidly confess that you might -have fared worse but for the precepts and injunctions laid down in this -little book. - - -THE END. - - - - - A GREAT HIT. - - A NAUGHTY GIRL’S DIARY - - ---BY--- - - AUTHOR OF - - “A Bad Boy’s Diary.” - - _FULL OF FUN._ - - Price 50 cents. - - -[Transcriber’s Note: - -Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stop!, by Nathan Dean Urner - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STOP! *** - -***** This file should be named 53443-0.txt or 53443-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/4/4/53443/ - -Produced by Anita Hammond, Wayne Hammond and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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