He feared betrayal here, a
Judas there. The caution increased his cunning but was impairing his
character. The man to whose fortunes he was attached called him in, in
the midst of a great political battle on which the fortunes of that
man depended, and said to his young lieutenant:
"Success in this fight is important to me, but it is not so important
as the impairing of your character which I see going on. You are
becoming permanently distrustful, suspicious. You think one friend
will fail us here, that that friend is untrue, that the other one may
be influenced improperly. Very soon you will begin to suspect me, then
you will suspect yourself, and then--then, you are utterly lost. Stop
it. I would rather lose the fight than see your character become
negative."
That man was right, and the attitude he took in his advice to the
young man was right. Let the world quit encouraging young men to think
that guile succeeds. Let it encourage the faith that nothing but the
noble and the good really succeed in the end. Let every one point out
to the young man confronting the world that it is not so great a thing
after all to be "smart," not so great a thing after all to be capable
with the little tricks of life, but that it is everything to be good
and trustful and fearless and constructive.
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