210 
THE BENEVOLENT FUND. 
Happy is the youth whose lot has been cast among associates of good moral 
conduct and studious habits, and who is placed under the guidance of those who 
are willing and able to assist him in the pursuit of knowledge. He is entering 
upon the serious occupations and duties of life. He begins to feel the respon¬ 
sibilities of liis position, to speculate on the prospects of his future advancement 
in the world. This is a critical period in a man’s career, for “ The boy is truly 
father to the man.” The foundations have now to be laid on which the future 
edifice must stand, or from which, if badly laid, it must fall. How often has a 
trifling incident in the experience of youth determined the future career of the 
man ! The rudiments of knowledge have been acquired at school, but the full 
development of what has been so commenced must be the work of more mature 
age. It is when the young man begins to feel the insufficiency of his mental 
stores to enable him to hold his fitting place among those into whose society he 
is cast, that the strong incentive to study comes. A spirited youth will not 
long submit to the mortification of being silenced in conversation through his 
ignorance of subjects upon which his associates are able to converse freely. It 
is thus when he begins to mix with the world, and to feel his deficiencies, that 
those strong resolutions are made which enable him to overcome difficulties in 
the attainment of knowledge, which, under other circumstances, would appear 
to be insurmountable. With or without the advantages of early closing, that 
knowledge must be acquired which his associates possess, and the deficiency of 
which causes him to lose caste among his fellows. How important in this way 
is the influence of association ! In an establishment where there are several 
young men, if one or two excel the others in knowledge, and take a higher posi¬ 
tion than the rest in regard to their talents and general qualifications, their 
example becomes the standard at which the others must aim ; they are appealed 
to as authorities, and their opinions exercise a marked influence upon those by 
whom they are surrounded. But they may not be allowed to hold this position 
unchallenged. A spirit of emulation springs up in the camp, sharp contests for 
pre-eminence occur, and he alone may take the lead who can justify his claim to 
superiority. If, in such a community, the leaders lead rightly, they may ac¬ 
complish in their little circle, that which will tend to their own advantage and 
that of their associates. Moreover, what may be thus effected in a single esta¬ 
blishment of sufficient extent, may also be accomplished by concerted action 
among the assistants and apprentices of several smaller houses. Aided by the 
early closing movement, evening meetings on one or two days in the week, for 
the purpose of reading together and extending knowledge by conversation and 
interchange of thought, may be made the means of effecting an immense amount 
of good. “ As steel sharpens steel, so does the intellect of man that of his 
fellow.” We know of many instances in which those who have attained to 
wealth and to eminence in their profession have ascribed these results to the in¬ 
fluence of associations such as we have alluded to. 
THE BENEVOLENT FUND. 
^ The increasing usefulness of the Benevolent Fund of the Pharmaceutical 
Society must be a welcome fact to ail its supporters, and the announcement 
in our present Journal of the election of two more annuitants—one a Phar¬ 
maceutical Chemist entirely incapacitated by affliction, the other the widow 
of a member reduced to destitution by one of those mischances to w hich all 
are liable—will be received as certain evidence of the extension of its benefits. 
The timely aid afforded by occasional grants of temporary assistance is by no 
•means insignificant, but the assuring a moderate competence for the declining 
