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2 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 TZ32E 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