FAITHFULNESS.

FAITHFULNESS is a habit which the young should cultivate. What more desirable qualification can a young man possess, than faithfulness to his employers, in the discharge of all business and interest intrusted to his disposal. Once let a young man obtain the name of being faithful in all the duties and obligations resting upon him, and he secures the confidence of the whole community. But, once let it be known that he is faithless, and all trust in him is destroyed, and his character receives a fatal blow.

Have you business to transact? Do it faithfully, if your own; and especially so, if it is confided to you by others. Have you work to perform? Let it be done faithfully, as near what you contracted to do, and as near what

it appears to be, as possible. Avoid all deception in regard to these things. A mechanic or a merchant very much mistakes his interest who slights his work, or palms off his goods, for what they really are not. Such men gain a few dollars in the outset ; but a just and speedy retribution awaits them. Their deceptions are soon discovered —their dishonesty is laid bare—and an indignant community will withhold all further patronage and encourage

ment.

A Mahratta Prince, in passing through a certain apartment one day, discovered one of his servants with his master's slippers clasped so tightly to his breast, that he was unable to disengage them. Struck with the fact, and concluding at once that a person who was so jealously careful of a trifle, could not fail to be faithful when intrusted with a thing of importance, he appointed him a member of his body-guard. The result proved that the prince was

not mistaken.

Rising in office, step by step, the young man soon became the most distinguished military commander in Mahratta, and his fame ultimately spread throughout India. Thus, faithfulness will ever gain confidence, and is one of the most essential ingredients in securing respect and prosperity. Be faithful, then,—faithful in all you do, even in the most trivial things-and a certain reward awaits you.

PERSEVERANCE.

PERSEVERANCE is another habit which young men should acquire. This habit must be long cultivated before it can be fully obtained, but, when well adhered to, will accomplish the most surprising results. Let your plans be deliberately and maturely formed-see

that they are honest and honorable and then let "Perseverance" be your watch-word, and you will seldom fail of success. "I can't," never accomplished anything. "Colonel Miller,”

said General Ripley, at the battle of Niagara, can you carry that batte"General Ripley, I will try,"

ry ?"

was the laconic reply. At the head of his gallant regiment, he tried, and, by untiring bravery, with perseverance, succeeded in repulsing the foe, and carrying the battery. "I will try," has accomplished wonders in the world. When the habit of perseverance stands by you, as a handmaid, to lend her assistance, you can safely calculate upon a favorable result in all your reasonable operations: but, without this desirable qualification, you may commence a thousand projects and fail in all. When a proper business is fairly undertaken, or a resolution formed, persevere in its pursuit-bend all the energies of your mind to its service, and let

no common inducement swerve you into another track. "A young man, who had wasted his patrimony by profligacy, while standing one day on the brow of a precipice, from which he had determined to throw himself, formed the sudden resolution to regain what he had lost. The purpose thus formed was persevered in; and, though he began by shovelling a load of coal into a cellar, yet he proceeded from one step to another, till he more than recovered his lost possessions, and died worth sixty thousand pounds sterling."

A well-directed perseverance in a laudable undertaking will insure success against many disadvantages. It will overcome obscurity of birth, the want of fortune, and of wealthy and influential friends. A case in point occurred under the observation of the writer. I remember well that antiquated school-house in a small hamlet, at the north-western part of the State of New York. The teacher