Now, Bacon applied himself to the teaching of better modes of thinking and reasoning. Instead of bewildering the mind with theories and fancies, he taught the world to study into facts; to gather stores of knowledge; and to make this knowledge the starting-point—the foundation of their philosophy. He taught this great and simple truth, and the result of it has been, that mankind, since his time, have discarded many absurd errors, and gone on making new and wonderful discoveries. Many of the great inventions, and much of the science and knowledge now current among mankind, are the result of Bacon’s wise and useful lessons.
This great man died in 1626; and though he did so much for the world, he can hardly be said to have led a happy life. He was once imprisoned in the Tower of London—a dreary old castle—fined 200,000 dollars, turned out of parliament, and declared unworthy of serving his country! Perhaps he did something wrong, though the general opinion is, that he suffered this on account of unjust accusations. He was liberated from the tower, and the fine was remitted by the king; but from this period, he lived in privacy, devoting himself to the writing of books. They are now held in great estimation, for their stores of wisdom.
Habits which concern Others.
Not only for our own sakes, but on account of all with whom we associate, it is our duty to take great care of our habits. The general principle which should lead us to do this is, that we cannot live for ourselves alone. We must think of others; we must speak and act with them in our minds. And we are bound to form such habits as shall tend to their good—to make us useful in the world. We must, in a word, deny ourselves. If, while we are children, we take pleasure in giving a part of what we enjoy, be it only a bunch of flowers, or an apple, to one of our school-mates, we shall thus prepare ourselves to make others good and happy, when we come to manhood. But a selfish habit will be very hard to change hereafter.
We should form the habit of associating with good persons. A lad may have many pleasant things about him; he may be witty, or bold, or smart; but, if he is coarse in his manners—if he is vulgar, profane, or addicted to falsehood, we should shun his company. We are apt to become like those with whom we freely associate; and although we do not mean to imitate their faults, and do not think there is any danger of it, yet we may soon fall into the same bad habits. To be safe, therefore, we should never trust ourselves unnecessarily with any but good people.
You may think it will be easy to break away from the company and acquaintance of a boy, when you find him to be very bad; but it will not be so. Many have been ruined for life by the friendships they have formed with vicious children, while at school with them. They continued to associate with them, and caught their vices in youth, and even up to manhood. If we wish to do good in the world, we must be good; and we cannot be good, if we are very intimate with bad persons.
It is our duty habitually to speak well of others. We are accustomed to do the opposite of this—to say all the bad things of others which we think the truth will allow. This is wrong. A little boy once said to his mother—“When will these ladies be gone, so that we can talk about them?” And what was to be said about those ladies? Probably the family were in the habit of speaking of the faults of their visiters. If there was anything that could be ridiculed in their dress or their remarks, then was the time to discuss it.
Now, we all know the power of habit; and if we could only learn to think what good things we could say of others, and keep all that was bad to ourselves, what an immense improvement there would be among school-children, and in the whole world! It is our duty to love all men; let us, therefore, try to speak well of every one, and we shall soon love them. If we talk much against them, we cannot love them.
We should practise punctuality, for the sake of others, as well as ourselves. He who is punctual, will accomplish far more in a day, than he who is not so. Washington was remarkable for this virtue. He once rode into Boston without any escort, because the soldiers were not punctual to meet him on the line, at the time they promised. His mother taught him, when a boy, to have certain hours for every employment, and to do everything at the appointed time. This habit helped, in his after life, to make him a good man. He was able to do what, without it, he never could have done.
We injure others by a neglect of punctuality. A girl says to herself—“It is a little too cold, or a little too warm, to go to school to-day;” or—“I feel a slight headache;” and so she remains at home. Now, she thus not only loses all she might that day have learned, but gives her teacher trouble. He must note her absence; and when the time comes for a recitation the next day, she is behind her class, and gives him and them farther trouble. We ought never to say—“It is only once—I will not do so again;” and think thus to excuse ourselves; for, from the force of habit, the oftener we are tardy, or otherwise fail in our duty, the more frequently shall we be likely to do so, and the more injury shall we do others, of course, by this fault. So that, on every account, we should be punctual.