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be a transitive verb, controlling
and governing his own appetites,
passions and ambitions. Let him
be in the present tense, always
ready, neither reaching too far into
the future nor yet hanging back
into the past, but seizing the pres
ent moment and making to-day
a live and an ever-living day. Let
him avoid the subjunctive mood,
for it expresses doubt and uncer
tainty. The positive element is
essential to the highest type of
character, is necessary to any com
mendable success. Doubt destroys
moral power and disqualifies for
duty. The word “if,” the very
sign of the subjunctive mood, is
destructive of force.
It paralizes power, neutralizes
strength, and emasculates energy.
It is the evil prophet of defeat and
the fore-runner of failure.
The subjunctive character is
worthless in any crisis, and crisis
are every day occurrences in each
life. Every moment is the pivot
about which great destinies are
turning.
The subjunctive mood of the
general, the doubt of the captain,
caused a panic in the ranks,brought
defeat upon the army, and resulted
in the ruin of a nation Then
‘‘Write the great law in alphabet of flame,
Souqri. its prophecy and psalm abroad,
Doubts awful tempest veil the tents of
shame
And for a sceptre given a broken rod.”
To the high alto of this sad strain
let these words be: self-confidence
is a virtue that wins each God-like
act and plucks success e’en from
the spear-proof crest of rugged
danger.
Then let us remember that suc
cess in every act, whatever may be
our natural talent, is always the re
ward of industry and pains. Let
our present acquirements then, be
but stepping stones to loftier at
tainments. Let us improve the
further opportunities afforded us in
the halls of our Society, by gath
ering up some of the precious
treasures stored up in the books
of our library. Let us dive deep
into the sea of knowledge, for “Er
rors, like straws upon the surface
flow; he who would search for
pearls must dive below.” Now is
the time to enrich our minds with
the accumulation of useful knowl
edge. Let us seize the present
while we can, for in an hour it will
belong to the eternity of the past.
“Now” is the constant syllable tick
ing from the clock of time. “Now”
is the watch-word of the wise.
“Now,” is the banner of the prudent.
Let us cherish our “to-day” and
prize it well; life with all its duties
and hopes—gathers upon us like a
great weight, or like a storm ready
to burst. Let us remember that
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work is the weapon of honor, and
that he who lacks the weapon will
never triumph. Let us consider
nothing which human genius or
human enterprise has yet attained
as beyond our reach, but
‘‘Like the eagle that fixes his gaze on the
sun,
Press upward and on till the might goal is
won ”
Let our motto be, “Excelsior;”
and in after years when honors
cluster thick about our brows, the
Phi Delta Society will gladly claim
us as her alumni, and each laurel
wreath of ours will she proudly add
to the chaplet of her glory.
Mercer University.
Importance of Frequent Composi
tion W riting.
What I shall say in this article,
doubtless will find lodgment in very
few minds, but this only confirms
the necessity of agitating this sub
ject. Boys do not like to compose,
and to urge this question will not
avail much. “A sick man despises
the medicine which will cure him.”
Knowing that few boys, compara
tively, can express themselves de
cently in any way, I am constrained
to say something bearing on this
point This, I venture is true, from
Fresh to —to —yes, to Senior, not
omitting the stupid editors of
Monochord, and including the
writer of these lines.
College boys seem to be specially
addicted to slang, to broken con
struction and bad grammar. Now
there is a sufficiency of this sort of
English outside ofcollege halls; and
colleges are particularly looked to
for a correction of language, and
every college is duty bound to put
forth its utmost endeavors to purify
language. But colleges can only
afford the means for this accom
plishment—can only supply the
remedy for this intellectual disease.
It must depend at last on the stu
dents whether or not they will rise
in language above the vulgar, and
thus maintain the dignity of our
tongue. This will be more diffi
cult for some students than for
others, but all may attain a tolerable
degree of proficiency.
After having learned the rules of
Grammar and Rhetoric, nothing
tends to conform the tongue and
pen, to them more than composing.
Mutual correction in conversation,
•is invaluable in its sphere, but it
rarely extends beyond the correc
tion of pronunciation and agree
ment of subject and verb. So if
one wishes to become able to ex
press himself in well moulded sen
tences in conversation and with his
pen, (we miist talk and write in
some style,) he must write. This
is the only way of correcting ones
self to any extent, and of securing
facility in elegant expression. Some
one may say that to read good
authors will suffice. This will
help, but becomes most effective,
when combined with pains-taking
efforts in composition. If used
otherwise the student is apt to ac
quire only a ragged form of ex
pression, or to destroy all individ
uality of style.
Not only does careful composing
conduce to elegance, but to accu
racy of expression, and the latter
is perhaps of the greater impor
tance. To say exactly what is
meant, is very hard to do. Stu
dents very often experience
this in reciting, i. e., they
say one thing and mean another.
In composing, one has the chance
of choosing and weighing his words
and, by this means, he can acquire
for constant use, a vocabulary of
clear and well defined words.
Thus, also, he can secure the habit
of a more just arrangement of
modifiers. How often it happens
that we have to explain a sentence
just used. This is mainly due to
neglect of language culture. Too
much stress can hardly be laid on
the importance of accurate expres
sion, and hardly can too much
time be spent in attaining it.
Another, and I believe the most
potent reason for frequent effort
in composition is that it stands al
most pre-eminent in training the
mind to think in logical order.
“Language and thought are insep
arable,” and each re-acts upon and
stimulates the other. When we
try to express our thoughts, we
grasp after language, and language
demands and suggests a just con
secutiveness of thought, and by
this means the mind is prepared
to pursue long trains of thought, to
correct conclusions. Thus, that
power of bringing conviction to the
doubting or disbelieving mind, of
bringing about improvements, and
of surveying unexplored fields of
knowledge, is developed. Os course
there are other things which con
duce to this end, but the practice
of composing, is indispensable.
This being the case, unless we are
subsiding into Chinese indifference,
how can we afford to neglect the
proper efforts in composition.
The best way of accumulating
and retaining knowledge is by sub
jects. If a man has a number cf
houses to build, and, if he goes at
it by starting one and then anoth
er, doing a little on this one and
a little on that one, he will certain
ly lose a great deal. He will lose
time, lose much of concentration
on the thing to be done, and, each
house standing so long in an un
finished condition will be injured
by the weather. So it is in develop-
ing the mind and storing it with
knowledge. If a person jumps
from one subject to another, not
mastering any, he will acquire no
concentration of mind, and what
knowledge he does obtain will be
hustled together so that it cannot
be effectively wielded. Now the
conditions of honest efforts in com
posing, require systematic and
concentrated attention to, and
thorough investigation of the sub
ject in hand; and, of course, the
more frequent, the more profitable
are such efforts. Hence, the prac
tice in question saves time and
hastens the labor of accumulating
knowledge. Furthermore, the mind
is like a coarse sieve; if things are
thrown in it, all end up and other
wise, much will slip through and
be lost; and, continuing the figure,
the more room is occupied to no
advantage. Hence, we see that
the retention as well as the accu
mulation of knowledge, is depend
ent on systematically acquiring
and storing it, and this want is met
by the practice I am advocating.
Now if every boy in college would
study and write on the great ques
tions of the day, such as “tariff,”
“civil service reform,” etc., they
would gather an amount of knowl
edge which would be profitable as
long as they live.
Alt alorig 1 have spoken of con-'
stant effort in composing, but I
wish to emphasize this point by a
separate paragraph. It is a general
rule that no improvement of worth
is quickly made. The high degree
of freedom which we enjoy, was
brought about only by the changes
of centuries. The great improve
ments in the arts and sciences,
which we behold, are the results
of the accumulated efforts of thous
ands of minds, which were pre
pared for this work only, by days,
months and years of tedious labor.
And who can say that such models
of oratory, as those of Demos
thenes, Webster, Clay and Ben
Hill, or such Poetry as that of
Homer, Horace, Milton and Shakes
peare, were wrought except by
long and unabating labor? Ge
nius they doubtless had, but if
they had not fostered and nourished
it by the fruits of labor, they would
have been known to us, never. So
if we wish to make even a ripple in
the sea of literature, or to express
ourselves decently in the relations
of life, we must handle words con
stantly and with care. This is the
only way to become familiar with
them and to become able to wield
them skillfully and effectively.
Doubtless the college is doing as
much for us in this particular as it
can, but we are not doing for our
selves, what we owe to ourselves
and country. Let us compose
