A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.

  A fig for your bill of fare. 
  Show me your bill of company.

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.

No evil can befall a good man, either in life or death.

It is well to think well; it is divine to act well.

They are never alone who are accompanied with noble, true thoughts.

We find in life exactly what we put into it.

Too much rest is rust.

Order is heaven’s first law.

The difference between one boy and another is not so much in talent as in energy.

LESSON XXVII

BUSINESS QUALIFICATIONS

Attention, application, accuracy, method, punctuality and dispatch are the principal qualities required for the efficient conduct of business of any sort.  It is the precept of every day’s experience that steady attention to matters of detail lies at the root of human progress, and that diligence, above all, is the mother of what is erroneously called “good luck.”

A French statesman, being asked how he contrived to accomplish so much work, and at the same time attend to his social duties, replied, “I do it simply by never postponing till to-morrow what should be done to-day.”  It was said of an unsuccessful public man that he used to reverse this process, his maxim being, “never to transact to-day what could be postponed till to-morrow.”

But bear in mind this:  there may be success in life without success in business.  The merchant who failed, but who afterward recovered his fortune, and then spent it in paying his creditors their demands in full, principal and interest, thus leaving himself a poor man, had a glorious success:  while he who failed, paid his creditors ten cents only on a dollar, and afterward rode in his carriage and occupied a magnificent mansion, was sorrowfully looked on by angels and by honest men as lamentably unsuccessful.

True success in life is success in building up a pure, honest, energetic character—­in so shaping our habits, our thoughts, and our aspirations as to best qualify us for a higher life.

LESSON XXVIII

  ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES OF STATES

Ala.       Alabama,               Mont.      Montana,
Alaska.    Alaska,                Nebr.      Nebraska,
Ariz.      Arizona,               Nev.       Nevada,
Ark.       Arkansas (sa),         N. H.     New Hampshire,
Cal.       California,            N. J.     New Jersey,
Colo.      Colorado,              N. Mex.    New Mexico,
Conn.      Connecticut,           N. Y.     New York,
Del.       Delaware,              N. C.     North Carolina,
Fla.       Florida,               N. Dak.    North Dakota,
Ga.        Georgia,               O.        Ohio,
Idaho.     Idaho,                 Okla.      Oklahoma,