In page 118, 2d line from top, for "showed," read shaved.

66

121, 14th line from top, for "wife," read rifle.

WHEN a young man puts his foot on the threshold of active life, he finds it expedient to settle in his own mind several questions, which, if wise, he will consider and answer to the best of his ability before he takes another step.

There he stands-the world spread out before him, the uproar of its busy millions sounding in his ear; throngs are hurrying past him; he is erect and eager for the start. He feels within him, we will suppose, the natural impulses of uncorrupted youth. Honest, generous, ardent, he prefers right to wrong, truth to falsehood, honor to shame, action to sloth. Distrustful, perhaps, of his own abilities, he still ventures to believe that if there had not been room for him in the world, he would not have been sent into it, and he has reason, on the whole, to expect that if he is not to occupy a respectable position in society, the blame will belong less to evil stars than to his own misconduct. Feeling and thinking thus; knowing, too, that the reins of his destiny are now, as it were, placed in his own hands; he is naturally anxious to shape his course right in the beginning. Therefore it is that he pauses; therefore he stands, gazing around and before him, thoughtful of that Present, which is the germ of his Future, and of that Future which is to be leaf, and flower, and fruit of his Present. To such an one, at such a period of life, particularly in this country, and in these days, it is an important inquiry how far his personal interests require him to engage in the strife of politics.

That he should keep himself entirely aloof from it, is not to be expected or wished. For he is a citizen, and may not shrink from the performance of his duties as a member of the commonwealth. The State is free; political distinction is therefore a lawful prize of virtuous ambition. But while it is incumbent upon him to form as sound opinions as he can on political affairs, and on suitable occasions and in a suitable manner to express them; while the road to political eminence is wisely left open to him as to all; his country makes no unreasonable