LECTURE TO GIRLS. 193 



A SOURCE OF HAPPINESS OR UN HAPPINESS. 



Many otherwise happy families have been broken up through the 

 wife's thoughtless extravagance in the matter of dress. In thousands 

 of families, comparatively poor, the husband buys few clothes, in fact 

 goes shabby, and buys only cheap garments ; partly because his wife 

 insists upon wearing showy gowns and bonnets beyond the family 

 resources, sensibly utilized. It is sense to dress well as well as your 

 purse can afford, but it is nonsense and folly to go beyond that, just 

 because some neighbor can afford a little more. 



LECTURE TO GIRLS. 



BT PROF. L. A. STANDISH, OP NEW YORK. 

 REWARDS OF VIRTUE. 



jf children were always born under perfect conditions and with a 

 proper inheritance on both sides of the family for many generations 

 back, and further, if the early environments were always what they 

 ssould be, children when they grow up would be inclined to do only what 

 is right and proper. But we all know there is not one in ten thousand 

 that is so marvelously fortunate. Neither the parents nor the children 

 have any control over the influence of heredity, nor have they control 

 over the early environments. Therefore it is that children as they grow 

 up are so often inclined to yield to temptation and depart from the 

 paths along which, and only along which, real happiness can be found 



There is no more awful hell of suffering on earth than the pangs of 

 remorse from which you can never escape for one instant, while on the 

 other hand, there is no joy so constant and so exhilarating as is the 

 sense of satisfaction of pleasure that comes from a clear conscience. 

 Besides, all who have had experience, no matter what their age, will 

 unite and do unite in declaring that a great amount of misery always 

 follows a small amount of pleasure secured through forbidden paths. 



The old saying that " virtue is its own reward" would be more nearly 

 true if changed to " virtue brings its own reward." What, after all, is 

 the greatest boon that can come to any one ? Wealth ? No. Fame ? 

 No. Pleasure ? No. It is none of these. It is the good opinion of 

 our fellows. The love of those with whom we associate. If we have 

 that it gives us more pleasure, more real happiness than all else put 

 together. Then is it not the part of wisdom to seek, to desire, to so 

 order our lives, to so conduct ourselves, as to gain this good opinion of 

 others this love of our immediate companions ? 



And believe me, girls and boys, too, for that matter, there never yet 

 in all the world's history, has been found one single instance where 

 this-thing-so-much-to-be-desired was obtained through a departure 

 from the ways of virtue and rectitude. You yourself cannot, if you 

 try, love for any great length of time a companion who is mean or who 

 cheats or who sells any part of his or her character for temporary pleas. 



