TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

“Take care of yourself” is a principle which, in some respects, is not neglected by mankind in general, but it is not often carried out in the way it ought to be. Take care of yourself; for be assured, from the very outset that if you do not take good care of yourself, there are none to be found who will perform this office for you. In taking care of yourself, - your health, your reputation, your interests, your happiness, are to be considered, and whatever else combines with them to make up the individual recognised as yourself. A contrary course, in some instances, may secure you a temporary popularity, but nothing more. People may call you a clever fellow, and all that; but heed them not; for the day may come, unless there be a prudent change in your tactics, when the very same people will pass you with a smile of contemptuous pity, as the man who did not know how to take care of himself; and this you will find but a poor reward for sacrificing to the good of others. Your individual self, remember, is a sacred trust confided to your keeping; and as that trust is discharged, so will be your happiness here as well as hereafter.

It is a great fault to neglect your own advancement in life; see to it always, by every means of a fair and honourable character. It is folly to stand aside while others pant and struggle for a prize, which might as well be yours as theirs. Assert your own claims, your own dignity; and heed not the sneers that may assail your coming forward. It is ever so. If you are successful, those sneers will be changed at last into applause.

What are great men, successful men, self-made men – all men whom the world admires? What but men who have taken care of themselves? It is not, perhaps, that all of them are endowed with lofty qualities; this was not necessary to the end; but it is evident that they have been firm and inflexible in taking care of themselves. Those nearest to them have doubtless often thought that they were cold, selfish, and wanting in generous sympathies; perhaps even considered them monomaniacs. But let it be remembered, that if you would take good care of yourself, it is essential that you devote yourself to a purpose, always fixing your energies upon the end you have in view, and labouring steadily until that end has been attained. All else must be secondary and insignificant. It you pause to chase butterflies, and play among the roses more than is necessary to nourish strength, some one else, who better understands how to take care of himself, steps fleetly beyond your place of enervating repose, and you will never recover the lost ground. Up then, and be doing!

“Waste not, want not,” was well written on the walls of the industrious man’s kitchen; but “Take care of yourself” should be placed in letters of gold before the eyes of the young, that it may never, even for a moment, be forgotten. Pay no regard to unreasonable sneers about taking care of Number One. It is your special business on earth to take care of that number, and to have a sharp eye for Number One’s welfare. Who else but you is there to take care of that number? Will Tom do it? Or will Dick? No, nor Harry either.

If you acknowledge the correctness of this maxim, awake at once from your dreams of disinterestedness, and look at the fate of those who were careless of Number One. See them in middle life, observe them in old age. Alas! What sorrow, what suffering, what remorse! Be wise, therefore, while it is morning; for in paying due attention to yourself you will be able to assist those who stand in need of your assistance; and there is no greater happiness than this.

ANON.

CHARACTER.

– Were I to make trial of a person’s qualification for a union of so much delicacy as friendship or marriage, there is no part of his conduct I would sooner single out than to observe him in his resentments. And this, not upon the maxim frequently advanced, that “the best friends make the bitterest enemies;” but on the contrary, because I am persuaded that he who is capable of being a bitter enemy can never posses the necessary virtues which constitute a true friend. –

FITZOSBORNE.