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forward to no life but that of growth, to no pleasure but the discharge of duty, and value every thing as it subserves these ends." With a great deal of approbativeness he was, while in the school, exceedingly sensitive to criticism, but he always received it in an admirable spirit. No matter how severe, unjust, or personally offensive it was, he turned it over in his mind and asked himself: how much of this is true? How can this profit me? He found it easier to forgive his enemies, than it was sometimes to forgive his friends their ill-considered praise. But if the desire to sur

culture, the desire to Again and again we

pass himself was the tap-root of his surpass others was his besetting sin. find him speaking of it with great sadness of heart. But those who knew him best at this time, are very certain that ambition and rivalry did not play so large a part in his motives as he imagined. The desire to help others was undoubtedly the ruling motive of his life. But let him speak for himself a little:

"September 24th, 1851.—This is the season I love. There is a pleasant melancholy about it that sympathizes with the vein of sadness and gloom which runs through my nature. believe this; but it is true, and I love to cherish it.

am sad, I am happy."

Few would

When I

"September 25th.-Have struck a dividend and find our board to be sixty-five cents a week, which is much cheaper than we expected. Met James Freeman Clarke; was much surprised to find him bearded like a Turk."

This meeting with James Freeman Clarke, at that time. preaching in Meadville, was a great event for him. This good man seems to have a remarkable faculty for breaking up the great deeps of conservatism. Many a young man dates from some word of his the beginning of a progress

which can not be abruptly terminated. His influence upon Staples was very great not only in theology but in religion; sending him home to the solitude of his own breast, and making him feel that fidelity to self is the corner-stone of all true life. There was about him a preeminent healthfulness which rebuked Staples's morbid fancies with a silent eloquence that was more effectual than any spoken word. There came a time when the pupil, who was at first shocked by the radicalisms of his teacher, went far beyond him. But he never bated one jot of his reverence and affection, and to the very last emphasized many a lesson of liberality and love and courage with his name.

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September 29th.-The weather somewhat stormy, the sky cloudy, but storm and clouds can not make a day gloomy in which I receive a letter of eight pages from such a friend as Dr. Metcalf."

"October 6th.

Have lived more as I desire to live to-day

than on any previous day of my life."

"October 19th.-Completed the first volume of Channing's Memoirs. One of his most beautiful traits is his love for his mother. There is nothing in the history of any man's life that so wins my admiration as attachment to his mother. I hope to have the power, some day, of bringing religion in all its importance and beauty to bear upon the family circle."

"October 28th.—I sometimes think I am enjoying too much for a person to enjoy upon earth, and fear lest my Heavenly Father shall find it necessary to deprive me of prosperity, to give me the stern discipline of misfortune. May my only reason for desiring life be that I may be useful! May I have that patience, that long-suffering which can hear my most cherished doctrines spoken against calmly."

"November 1st.-Mr. A- borrowed Mr. M -'s violin for me this morning, which was quite a luxury. I feel it to be

wrong that Christians, that any body can not enjoy music with impunity. Called on Poor fellow, I feel sorry for him on account of his irritable temper. I think it causes him much sorrow. May I learn from him, as well as from my own sad experience, to guard well my passions.

"November 2d.-Felt how much happiness Christians sacrifice in remaining so nearly passive. There is more enjoyment in a single act than in a multitude of prayers without the act. This afternoon I have not improved the time as I ought; the shameful truth is, I ate too much dinner."

"I believe the true desire of my heart is to do good; and strange as it may seem, and contrary to many professions, I have never felt this desire before, truly. Mr. A.told me he had been into the jail formerly, and given papers to the prisoners. This seemed to open a new field, and I am rejoiced at the thought of having so precious an opportunity for doing good. Here I trust I may labor unknown to any one but Him who is the prisoner's friend. I pray God to grant me some success in gaining the confidence of these poor souls.

"November 16th.—Mr. Clarke informed me there was an excellent opportunity for some energetic young man to build up a society in Milwaukee; spoke of the flourishing condition of those new societies which our students are forming. I love to hear this, and am impatient to be in the work. I see by the papers that at the Autumnal Conference in New England, they have noticed the decline or neglect of private family worship, and the want of some sort of a creed. These are just the points upon which I have often spoken, and which I think it to be the duty of every lover of Unitarianism to lend his voice and example to remedy. I think it to be the result of a reaction produced by the restraint imposed by the stern Trinitarianism which required its believers to read a chapter in the book of Chronicles with as much relish and reverence as they would the fourteenth chapter of John.

"November 27th, Thanksgiving.-.. Have heard an excellent discourse from J. F. Clarke. . . This evening Mr. W.- bor

rowed a violin, and we had dancing, and have had a hearty dinner, fine exercise, and good laughs, for all of which I feel thankful. If I have done any thing wrong, may God forgive me ; but I feel that, in dancing, we have really done good to ourselves, and have, we hope, to others. But where will another Thanksgiving find me: how far advanced in virtue, how many faults overcome, how many faculties cultivated..

.

"December 3d. . . Found upon visiting the jail that all but two of those I had seen before had left-one boy of thirteen to the house of correction for four years. How mysterious these things are to me-how shall we draw the line that divides voluntary crime from that which is the effect of education.

"December 4th. ... Purchased a small tin tea-pot for eighteen cents, and a quarter of a pound of tea for twenty-five cents. Am now prepared to make a cup of tea; the reason for doing this is that I may keep awake nights. I can accomplish much more, and I really need the time as much as any body can. It is now twenty minutes past eleven, and I am not sleepy at all.

"December 5th. . . . I desire to love some being that has been made generously strong by nature. My own nature, having never been turned in the right channel, has feasted upon self as supplying the absence of other objects, and here lies the work of a lifetime, which, had I commenced when a child, might have been spent in building up instead of pulling down. It would be a great privilege to be enabled to love God with all the fervor of which I am capable, to hate sin with the hatred of which I am capable. I would have a dread of insincerity which would always compel me to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. I would have convictions of duty so strong as to give me the zeal which I am capable of showing when self is the great I Am.

“December 9th.—. . . I have received my theme from Prof. F- -I certainly desire a clear view of the claims of things and actions in the way of reforms. I would like to know just what' position to takę, and how to act. I do not wish to live in the very same track which others have trod before me. I wish to have a way of my own first, and then if I learn that my way and

opinions are those of others, be rejoiced, and not change them because others embrace them, thinking thereby to show a great individuality or independence of thought."

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Thursday, December 11th.-Have not performed as much to-day as I ought; it will not really do for me to waste any time. It seems as if I must do everything at once. . . . I want a strong desire for truth; this is the spring of knowledge; it is the philosopher's stone. A man may talk for the sake of talking, read for the sake of being informed, think deeply and patiently for the purpose of being invincible. A man may do each and all of these things, and yet be a narrow-minded man; but put as the corner-stone of all knowledge the love of truth, and the superstructure will be comely in all its parts."

"December 14th.-Am conscious, I think, of being honest, when I say I am ready to be convinced of the truth wherever it may be found; that my dearest preconceived opinions shall not disturb the independence of my thought."

"December 16th.-Carlton objected to my sitting up so late at night. I am really sorry for it, but I enjoy it so much, and can really accomplish so much work."

"December 21st.-Not one aspiration unselfish and pure! Fitting for the ministry without feeling a single joy of which I wish to speak to others. I have never felt what it was to be forgiven."

"December 23d.—I sit down and quietly think over my prospects for time and eternity. Certainly I am as worthless a person as need be to help make up a world."

These last two entries, read in the light of Carlton's good advice immediately preceding, and the new tea-pot of a fortnight earlier, will be credited to a weary body rather than to a wicked soul. There is something very pathetic in that burst of enthusiasm over his tea-pot and his tea. For the time was short enough ere it was not something to keep him awake that he wanted, but something to put him

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