Motive And Method

Suecessin aiiy undertaking dependí quite as imicli upan correct method as upon right motive. And yet tliere are many very worthy people wtio confuso the two, and think if their motives aro riglit tliey ouslit to sucoeed without regard to methoda. lint tinless wise method supplement good motive, results are of slight valué. As between man and man, correctuess of inctliod is the vital tliing. People with very liad motives may have very excellent method-;, and people with tlie best of motives may liave the most execrable methods and eontinually dcfeat their own plans and hopes. a Meddlesome peoplp, niiwhief-makerp.stirrere up of sediuoo and strife, areofteu ktsons of spotless purity of motive, and ulicn trouble results from their metho.ls of tryin;' lo sel tbjiiga riijht, take refute in the intfffrity oí tlieir motives, and are uttcrly of and insensible to all arKnmenta refleeting apon their mcthnds. There i DOt a politioal assassin tliat does not justify his method, hewever disastrous it may prove, by his motive, and when lie tinds public opinión does not sustain hún, he becomes straightway a martyr to his principie. Away with all such martyrs! Correct method wiü often do much to make up íor deliclencies in motive power. Kor instance, the teacher who teaches not so much from pure love of the work u that )- muy make a liviug by it, if his mechada be good, may enjoy Urger succes in his teaching than he who loves the work but 8 not trained to it. 8o witli physieians and clerjrymen, with hótfgekeepera and arti.sans. We are alten placed in positions with little regard to our fitness or liking for them, und the total success we win in filling them creditably must depend upon the methods we aUopt. Il' these are unwise, wron. inadequate, failure will surely be our portion, no matter liow pure aud high our motives may be. The applicatioa of plain common sense to the ordlnary affain of life is much needed. 'l'here are ten thousand things with which couscience and pure motives have nothing whatever to do. They come 8imply under the title of common sense, propriety, the fitness of things, what i txpedlent, what is advisable. Of course we take t tor granted that the underlying motive shall be just and right and truc, that the intention shall be honest and pure, but that is not enough. We are endowed with reason no less than with conscience, and faitli. and hope. A Kreat many excellent people have an idea (fcat to apply the ordinary, carnal, every-day principies of good business management to matters of duty and high principie is something of a profanatiou. Hut the most efficiënt church in any eommunity' is the one that is conducted on the soundest business principies, one whose pastor and whose ottlcers possess tirst, sound common sense, aud stc u], ardent picty. Tboae who have lcft a lasting and beneflcient record of good deeds have been men and women of pure motives and of wlse methods. They have made their inve.-tments of time, of labor, of euthusiasm, of money, with skill and forethought and de llberation. They have tested their methods at the bar of common iense well as at the bar of conscience, and have adoptad Midi as the experience of the world has proven wise and efficiënt. As the academie year now opens this is a good time for studente to decide upon anti adopt the best methods in conducting their studies so as to divide their time, their labor, their rest, that they may realize the largett pmdbla result therefrom, to settle opon such adjustments of their tasks to their abilily to perfora) thcin as shall not overtiisk their physical resources, and reader them liable to future bankruptcy. And for the rest of us, the time is ahvavs rijie tor improvement in our methods whilu we keen the motive power at its hichest and