Read Ebook: Short Studies in Ethics: An Elementary Text-Book for Schools by Miller John Ormsby

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UNSELFISHNESS

+Unselfishness is the giving up personal gain or advantage. It is the desire to do the will of another rather than our own. It is making a sacrifice to please some one else.+

Truth, Purity, and Courage are called the heroic virtues; Unselfishness is greater than any of them. It is like the Christian virtue of Charity or Love; it makes people forget their own interests for the sake of others. Unselfishness is the great lesson we learn from studying the life of Jesus; He is the great example to the world of absolute self-forgetfulness. We admire notable examples of this virtue. One of the members of the Light Brigade tells us that in that terrible charge he was wounded in the knee, and also in the shin. He could not possibly get back from the scene of the fight. Another soldier passing by said: "Get on my back, chum." He did so, and then discovered from the flowing blood that his rescuer had been shot through the back of the head. When told of it, he said: "Oh, never mind that; it's not much, I don't think." But he died of that wound a few days later. The brave fellow thought not of his own wound, but only how he might help another, though he belonged to a different squadron and was unknown to him.

Unselfishness is one of the hardest things to learn. A boy may be naturally brave and even generous, but no one is naturally unselfish. We are apt to confuse generosity with unselfishness; really they are quite different. A generous person gives out of his abundance, liberally; an unselfish person of what seems necessary to his happiness. A generous boy shares his weekly purchases with his friends; an unselfish boy, out of pity at some distressful case, gives away all his allowance for that week, and cheerfully goes without. The selfish boy spends his money upon himself alone. It is hard to neglect Self.

Even the selfish make sacrifices occasionally. But there is not much virtue in being unselfish now and then, if, in the meantime, we think of nothing but gratifying our own desires. Real Unselfishness is a habit, and needs to be acquired as does any other habit. We have to begin practising it, and to go on practising it, in the little things of life as well as the great, for a long time before we are finally able to forget self and think of others first. It is perhaps impossible to forget self altogether; but Unselfishness aims to that.

A boy is going down town for some amusement. His sister asks him to take a parcel for her to the house of a friend, who lives considerably out of the way. He says he can't be bothered, or that he will miss some of his fun; he is selfish. Another boy is next at bat, and the "Pro." is going to bowl. A friend asks him to exchange places on the list, as he has to meet his father at the train later on, and he is near the foot of the list. The first boy consents, though he knows he will not get nearly so good a practice; he is unselfish. The unselfish person is constantly trying to lighten the burdens of others.

An old proverb says: "Love thyself, and many will hate thee."

"He that loseth his life shall find it."

HONESTY

+Honesty is Truth practically applied to questions about the property of others. It is the principle of dealing with others as we would desire others to deal with us. The sole guide in fulfilling this obligation is not what the Law may be, but what our Conscience tells us.+

Honesty is a form of Truthfulness. It is that form of it which is concerned with our dealings with others, especially as to their possessions. The opposite of it is called Dishonesty, and the worst form of Dishonesty is Stealing. The thief is hated, and feared, and despised more than any other sort of criminal. Men fear him as they do poisonous snakes; because the thief is a creeping creature, hiding himself and his actions from the light of day. He watches you until you feel secure, and are less careful than usual of your possessions; then he sneaks about, waiting for a favourable moment when no one is near to observe or suspect him before snatching your property. A man may commit a very grievous offence against another in a moment of passion; and, though we acknowledge the justice of his punishment, we do not hate him. But men hate a thief because he is a sneak, and because his offence is done in cold blood, not in the heat of anger; in an underhand way, not openly and above board.

The confirmed thief is one who has yielded his soul to the Devil. He deliberately sacrifices his character; he surrenders himself of his own free will to a life of evil. Stealing inevitably leads to lying, and these two things degrade the character more quickly than any other evils that touch it. Not only does he destroy the purity of his soul; before long he must yield up his body for punishment. Not one thief in a hundred goes long unpunished.

There are other forms of dishonesty not so open as stealing, and, in some cases, not so harmful, but generally degrading and destructive of high character. One of these is Cheating. If a coal dealer is paid for a ton of coal and delivers only nineteen hundred pounds, he is guilty of stealing. If, however, he gives full weight, but sells the coal as first-class, when it contains shale or other impurities, and is really of a cheap grade, then he is cheating. The schoolboy who copies his night-work from another, or gets help, and then presents the exercise as his own, is guilty of cheating. This form of cheating is made worse when it is done in examinations, because the result affects not only the standing of the person who cheats, but deprives others of fairly won advantage.

Another form of dishonesty is that by which one person takes advantage of another in a bargain, through his ignorance or helplessness, even though nothing is actually misrepresented. For example, A. asks B. to lend him ten cents for a month. B. knows that A. is in a tight place, and must have the money; and so he offers it on condition that A. will pay him twenty cents at the end of the month. B. is dishonest, because he takes unlawful advantage of A.'s necessity.

There is a kind of cheating not referred to above--that is cheating in games. Apart from the effect of this kind of cheating upon the character, the game itself is spoiled. There is a tendency, nowadays, to play games for the sake of the victory alone, and to take no interest in games that one cannot win. We should play the game for its own sake, and frown down all attempts to win it by going just a little outside of what we know to be the rules. He who allows himself to cheat at games is forming a habit which will lead him to cheat later on in serious business.

Another form of dishonesty is that relating to property lost and found. A boy finds a sum of money in a room, or hall, or playground, or even on the street. Money is a thing not easily identified, and there is, therefore, a temptation to pocket it and say nothing about it. This is dishonest. The duty in such a case is plain, to try to find the owner, and, if that cannot be done, then to put the money to some useful or charitable purpose, and not into one's own pocket.

Still another form of dishonesty is that in which one person takes to himself the praise belonging to another; or allows another to bear blame belonging to himself. We often see boys letting others suffer, in one way or another, for what they have done. Nothing can be meaner or more contemptible. It is not uncommon to see people eager to take the credit, or praise, or even rewards, which properly belong to others, who have been thrust aside, or forgotten, for the moment. It is a form of dishonesty.

Honesty has another side also. When practised according to the voice of Conscience, without regard to what the law may be, it is the sign of a noble character. A young man's father fails in business, and dies suddenly, leaving many debts behind him unpaid. The young man makes a solemn resolution that he will save and save, and work his hardest, to pay off those debts, though he did not make them; that is the Honesty of the truly noble character. A very striking example of this sort of Honesty is that of Sir Walter Scott, who applied himself, though nearly sixty years of age, to the enormous task of paying off, by the sale of his stories, a debt of 0,000, which he did not actually incur, and from which he could have got free, according to the letter of the law. But his inflexible Honesty forced him into making an effort which doubtless shortened his life.

FAITHFULNESS

+Faithfulness is being true to our word, and to our friends, fulfilling our obligations, and doing what we see is our duty, at all costs.+

Of the honest man we say: "His word is as good as his bond." Of the faithful man we say: "He was never known to desert a friend or neglect an important duty." Faithfulness is one of the strongest evidences of fine character. The boy who is sent on an errand by his mother, and resists the temptations of some playmates he meets on the way, to stop and have a game, is Faithful. Two boys going for a walk in the country decide to cross a field of ripe grain, and run the risk of being seen by the farmer in the next field. They are seen and chased. One can run much faster than the other; in fact, he can escape if he likes to leave the other. But he doesn't; and both are caught, and have their ears cuffed. That is an example of the Faithfulness of a friend. As the gentleman's psalm puts it,

"He sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not";

or, as it is otherwise translated,

"He sweareth to his friend, and changeth not."

In the history of Napoleon we are told that, after his burial at St. Helena, his household sadly embarked for Europe. One of their number, however, Sergeant Hubert, refused to abandon even the grave of the Emperor. For nineteen years he continued at St. Helena, daily guarding the solitary tomb, and when the remains were at length removed to France the faithful old servant followed them home. How often we see people professing the utmost friendship and loyalty to one who has wealth and influence; but as soon as his money is gone, his faithless friends depart also. Is not that the case sometimes, even with schoolboys?

We should be faithful in performing obligations. It is said of Thomas Brassey, who has been called a great captain of industry, and who was one of the first to undertake great railway contracts, that the reason of his success lay in the fact that he was faithful in all obligations, and trusted his men as they trusted him. On one occasion, when he was building a railway in Spain, a man who had agreed to make a cutting through a hill found that it turned out to be a rock cutting, though the price was to be for a sand cutting. If there had not been perfect trust between the two men, the work would have stopped, and Mr. Brassey would have lost a large sum through delay. The sub-contractor went steadily on with the work, and had it almost finished, when Mr. Brassey arrived from England to inspect the works. When he came to the hill, the sub-contractor told him what he had done. Some men would have taken advantage of the sub-contractor; but Mr. Brassey allowed him double the price agreed upon, and kept a faithful servant by practising Faithfulness himself.

A merchant fails in business. He agrees with his creditors to pay them fifty cents in the dollar, and they then discharge him from his liabilities, and he begins business again. In a few years he makes a good deal of money. He determines to pay back to his old creditors the other fifty cents in the dollar, from payment of which they had released. That is a case of Faithfulness to one's obligations. The moral obligations to pay back everything remained, though his creditors had let him off. There are such men in the business world, and all honour to them! Horace says: "Fidelity is the sister of Justice."

We should be especially careful to be faithful in the performance of our promises. A promise is a sacred thing. It is an obligation undertaken of our own free will, and for which we have pledged our honour. That is what the sacred poet means in saying: "He sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." Nothing can turn him from his promise, even though he is sure to suffer by it. There is a proverb which says: "Promises may get friends, but it is performance that must keep them."

Faithfulness is most difficult in the daily round and common task of life. Yet it is precisely there that Character is formed and built up. A reputation for Faithfulness cannot be made by being strictly faithful a few times, or in a few important things. We have to practise at it, and grow into the character of a faithful man after years of effort. A boy is given ten words to parse for next day. He does five carefully; and then, longing to get out to play, he does the others anyhow, just to be able to show the exercise, and escape detention; he is unfaithful. Or, he is given four stanzas of poetry to learn. He learns three, and takes his chance of being asked one of the three, and not the fourth; he is unfaithful. He is expected by his parents to watch over his younger brother who goes with him to school, but he lets the little fellow fight his own way; he is unfaithful. He listens without protest, or without moving away, to bad, or, perhaps, obscene, language. He is unfaithful to God, and to his father and mother.

The highest examples of faithfulness are to be found in the history of the Christian martyrs, who gave up their lives joyfully, rather than be found unfaithful. In the terrible persecution of the early Christians in A.D. 303, a young Roman noble, named Andronicus, was brought before the governor of the province. He was very bold in professing his faith in God. The judge said: "Youth makes you insolent; I have my torments ready." Andronicus replied: "I am prepared for whatever may happen." He was tortured upon the rack, scraped with broken tiles, and salt rubbed into his wounds, but remained immovable. Three times the torture was repeated. But with seared and scarred flesh, members cut off, teeth smashed in, and tongue cut out, he maintained his fidelity to the end. At last he was thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre of Anazarbus.

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

PROFANITY

+Profanity is using the name of God, or of anything sacred, in a disrespectful or light and careless way.+

There is no vice which has so little excuse for existence as the vice of Profanity, commonly called swearing or cursing. Every other vice we can think of has some appearance of reason in it. Thieving is done because of the temptation to gratify some desire. In the case of the young thief, who is just learning the evil practice, this desire completely overcomes him. The enjoyment which he thinks he will get from the coveted thing forms an overwhelming temptation. Lying is generally resorted to by the young in order to get them out of scrapes, or to avoid immediate punishment; and we might thus enumerate other vices, and the reasons for their existence. But Profanity can plead no excuse whatever. It is merely a vicious habit acquired without sense or reason. Boys learn it from each other, and in many cases from men, who are doubly guilty in allowing the young to overhear evil words. Boys think it manly to swear because they hear their elders doing it. But there is nothing manly about swearing. The things that are truly manly are such things as Fearlessness, Moral Courage, Endurance, Steadfastness, Loyalty, Honour, Faithfulness. Profanity cannot rank with any of these. Placed beside them, it is at once seen to be low and vicious.

The worst form of Profanity is that which is made use of when any one uses God's name in a disrespectful way. We see this when one person curses another in the name of God. This worst form of Profanity generally arises from giving way to ungovernable passion.

A less evil form of it arises from allowing one's self to form the habit of swearing; not from a bad motive, but because of the tendency in most of us to imitate others, or from carelessness in watching the words we use. Boys should be as careful of their words as young ladies are of their steps. It is easy to acquire a habit; it is exceedingly difficult to get rid of it.

To scoff at religious things is Profanity. If a boy so behaves in church as to show that he has no respect for the reading of the Bible, or for the singing of sacred songs, or for the act of prayer, he is guilty of Profanity. If one person wilfully interferes with another when engaged in any sacred exercise, meaning to bring the person or the act into disrepute, he is guilty of Profanity. We see, then, that Profanity covers a much wider field than the mere disrespectful use of God's name, with an evil purpose in the mind.

The use of profane words is the mark of a coarse and vulgar mind. Many a man has been weaned of the habit which he learnt as a boy solely on account of its coarseness and vulgarity. That is not a very high ground on which to give up a vice; yet it is sufficient to show us that Profanity tends to degrade him who practises it. The man who prides himself on being a gentleman, and yet uses bad language, is by no means altogether a gentleman. The use of coarse language destroys the fine and delicate texture of the mind, and blunts the finer perceptions. He who would keep his very highest faculties uninjured cannot afford to indulge in any habit which tends to coarseness.

Washington once asked a number of his officers to dine with him. In one of the pauses of conversation, he heard one of them at the far end of the table utter an oath in a voice loud enough to be heard by everyone. The General looked quietly at his guests, and then said: "I really thought I had invited none but gentlemen to dine with me."

Plutarch said: "If any man think it a small matter to bridle his tongue, he is much mistaken."

St. James said: "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."

JUSTICE

+Justice is the principle of awarding to all men, including ourselves, what we believe to be their just rights. We are morally bound to be just even to our enemies, not only in our actions, but also in our words and thoughts.+

Justice is said to be truth in action, that is, truth carried into practical operation. Two brothers at school have a hamper sent them from home. It is directed to the elder, but the letter says it is for both. The elder takes charge of it, and, while enjoying its contents freely with his friends, has the power to allow his brother to partake of the good things very sparingly, and only occasionally. But he allows his brother free access to the basket, that both may share alike. That is a simple case of Justice.

A boy going out to steal apples from an orchard forced a younger and smaller boy to accompany him for the purpose of keeping a lookout. While the bigger boy was in the middle of the orchard the younger lad was caught, and taken back to school to be punished. The real thief, having escaped, returned in time to see the little boy punished for the offence. Instead of bravely coming forward to take the place of his companion, who was really his victim, he laughed it off, and promised him some candy at the end of the week. That is a case of gross injustice. The converse of this form of injustice is also common; when one person takes the praise, or reward, that is really due to another. We see injustice of that kind in business, and, indeed, in every walk of life. It has happened over and over again that the maker of some great invention has been obliged to sell it for bread, while the man who bought it has taken advantage of his fellow-man's distress and made a fortune, and the other was left in poverty. "Render, therefore, to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour."

"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all."

Though man's justice fail, God's justice can never fail in the end.

Grievous injustice is often done by the exaggerations of enemies, or careless busybodies. Two friends fall out, and one, feeling bitter against the other, repeats something which the other has confessed in confidence, taking care to add a little--just enough to save the story from absolute misrepresentation, but enough to do his former friend an injury which, perhaps, can never be undone. Gossip about the failings of others almost always ends in injustice.

"Let every man be swift to hear; slow to speak; slow to wrath," if he wish to become a just man. One of the most harmful of the smaller sins, and most difficult to get rid of, is the sin of exaggeration. It is fatal to the growth of Justice in the character. If we would be just to others, it is well to practise the rule of silence unless we have something favourable to say. The love of Justice should lead us, whenever we hear anything to a man's discredit about which there is no absolute certainty, to give him the benefit of the doubt. When a prisoner is being tried for an offence, the judge always tells the jury that if there be any reasonable doubt about the evidence the prisoner must have the benefit of it. It is better that the guilty go free than that the innocent should suffer.

We can be unjust in our thoughts of others, as well as in our actions and in what we say. We are constantly warned by the best and wisest men about the folly of rash judgments. These words, from the Sermon on the Mount, are an example of many similar warnings: "Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." It is possible to be guilty of the gravest injustice to others, by forming harsh opinions of them in our own minds for which we have not sufficient ground. It is not necessary to utter our judgment in order to be unjust; we can harm people merely by thinking evil of them, because a harsh judgment in the mind affects all our dealings with them, and may thus injure them in the opinion of others.

In seeking to be just men, our grand guide should be the Golden Rule: "As ye would that men should do to you, do to them likewise." If, when about to do, or say, or think, anything unjust of any one, we could get into the way of asking ourselves how we should look upon the matter if the positions of the persons were reversed, there would be far less injustice in the world. Justice is one of the great virtues, and it is worth striving after. It is a virtue that we can only possess in a marked degree by constant practice in doing just acts, in speaking just words, and in thinking just thoughts.

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