The trouble with most young men is that they do not learn anything thoroughly, and are apt to do the work committed to them in a careless manner. The business world is full of such young men, content in simply putting in their time somehow and drawing their salaries, making no effort whatever to increase their efficiency and thereby enhance their own as well as their employers' interests.
—Unknown.
1330
The Clemency of a Queen.—It is related that during the first few days of the reign of Queen Victoria, then a girl between nineteen and twenty years of age, some sentences of a court-martial were presented for her signature. One was death for desertion. She read it, paused, and looked up to the officer who laid it before her, and said:—"Have you nothing to say in behalf of this man?" "Nothing; he has deserted three times," answered the officer. "Think again, Your Grace," was the reply. "And," said the gallant veteran, as he related the circumstance to his friends—(for he was none other than the Duke of Wellington)—"seeing her majesty so earnest about it, I said—'He is certainly a bad soldier, but there was somebody who spoke as to his good character, and he may be a good man for aught I know to the contrary.'" "Oh, I thank you a thousand times!" exclaimed the youthful queen, and hastily writing 'Pardoned' in large letters on the fatal page, she sent it across the table with a hand trembling with eagerness and beautiful emotion.
—Hodgins.
1331
Mercy's door should open to those who knock.
1332
When there is doubt, lean to the side of mercy.