I.

PURPOSE.

"I long hae thought, my youthfu' friend,

A something to have sent you,
Tho' it should serve nae ither end

Then just a kind memento;
But how the subject theme may gang,

Let time and chance determine;
Perhaps, it may turn out a sang,

Perhaps, turn out a sermon."

BURNS.

"Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny."

ANON.

"So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. " - PSALM XC.

66

"Youth is the only time

To think and to decide on a great course;

Manhood with action follows; but 't is dreary

To have to alter our whole life in age

The time past, the strength gone."

BROWNING.

The secret of success is constancy to purpose."

BEACONSFIELD.

I.

PURPOSE.

IN entering upon this series of essays, or talks with young men, I wish to have it understood at the outset that I do not undertake to cover or even touch the whole truth of the subject in hand. The philosophical basis and the religious application will not be much regarded; hence, to some they may seem to lack profound thought, and to others moral earnestness; but I shall not mind if I can lead my readers to think seriously of what I do say. If I speak the truth, it will have enough philosophy in it; if it is carefully heeded, it will of itself grow into the moral and religious.

I begin with Purpose, because it naturally underlies the themes that are to follow, and also because it is a matter of special importance. I say special, because I think that just now many young men are entering life without any very definite purpose; as some