Keep Still

Keep still. When trouble is brewing, keep still. When slander is getting on its legs, keep still.

When your feelings are hurt, keep still-till you recover from your excitement, at any rate. Things look different through an unagitated eye. In a commotion, once, I wrote a letter and sent it, and wished I had not. In my later years I had another commotion, and wrote a long letter; but life rubbed a little sense into me and I kept that letter in my pocket against the day when I could look it over without agitation and without tears. I was glad I did. Less and less it seemed necessary to send it. I was not sure it would do any hurt, but in my doubtfulness, I learned to reticence and eventually it was destroyed. Time works wonders. Wait till you can speak calmly, and then you will not need to speak maybe. Silence is the most massive thing conceivable, sometimes. It is strength in very grandeur.-Dr. Burton.

American Progress

The great nations of antiquity, of the middle ages, and of modern times were and are great in each several case, not only because of the collective achievements of each people as a whole, but because of the sum of the achievements of the men of special eminence; and thus whether they excel in war craft or state craft, as road makers or cathedral builders, as men of letters, men of art or men of science. The field of effort is almost limitless, and pre-eminent success in any part of it should be especially prized by the nation to which the man achieving the success belongs.-Business Philosopher.

Preparation for Life Work

In view of the undoubted fact that not one boy in a hundred has so much as a hundred dollars saved up at the age of twenty-one, it is not out of place for any young man to ask himself, "What will I have, as evidence that I have spent my time well, when I reach that age?"

If you are convinced that you ought to save money are you in a line of work that will enable you to do it, and are you doing it now?

If not, there is but one sensible course for you to pursue, namely, to employ your time learning the thing that will make you a useful, well-rounded man in the future.

Unless you have definitely decided to follow a business for the sake of money alone, and unless you are at the present moment furthering your ambitions in that line, your only way to obtain any one of the prizes of the world, even in a financial way, is to devote your time, either inside or outside of school, to the cultivation of the mind.

"It is usually a sign of true worth," says a writer in Progress Magazine, "when a Republican President chooses a cabinet officer from the South. And it is also a mark of distinction to be the man thus chosen. For this reason it is not surprising that the appointment of Jacob MacGavock Dickinson to be secretary of war in President Taft's cabinet elicited comment. Neither is it surprising that Mr. Dickinson should have had focused upon him the bright spot in the political limelight.

"Mr. Dickinson is another of the lawyers with which President Taft has built his fortress for the coming legal battle against the "trusts"-and he seems to be an especially important factor at that. Secretary Dickinson is a big man. Big physically as well as mentally. He stands 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 270 pounds. As a boy he was a soldier in the Confederate army and saw service in many of the campaigns of that war. Then he took up the practice of law and made a reputation so great that the South was found too small to hold him. He came to Illinois and assumed one of the highest legal positions within the state-being made general solicitor for the Illinois Central Railroad. And here again he sent out his name-involuntarily-throughout the land as one of the great lawyers of the day. His very bigness seemed to carry all before it. But behind his legal ability there always stood his wonderful business capacity and constructive ingenuity, which made him at once a man to be desired. so it is not surprising that President Taft should have hit upon Mr. Dickinson as the man of men best suited to represent, in his cabinet, the great South.

And

on

Mr. Dickinson was born at Columbus, Miss., January 30, 1851. His early education was reIceived in the southern free schools, after which he matriculated in the University of Nashville. From this institution Mr. Dickinson graduated in 1871 with the degree of A. M. Then he went to Columbia College in New York and took up the study of law, graduating from this university with high honors. But Mr. Dickinson desired to be thorough, if nothing else, and so still dissatisfied-he sailed for Europe. where he continued his legal studies at the University of Leipzig and in Paris. Then followed an extensive European trin, in which Mr. Dickinson applied himself studiously to every question that came under his observation. In 1874 he returned to America and was admitted to the bar. He was at once a success and gained an enviable reputation throughout the South. Several times his legal ability Several times his legal ability was acknowledged by the state itself when Mr. Dick

inson was appointed to serve, by special commission on the Supreme Bench of Tennessee. In this capacity he served until 1895, when he was appointed assistant attorney-general for the United States. In Washington Mr. Dickinson became greatly liked, and his ability was soon recognized as of unusual caliber. But when the change of administration came that took Mr. McKinley into the White House, Dickinson resigned and returned to Nashville to resume the practice of law. His ability, however, was quickly appreciated by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and he was then appointed attorney-general for that corporation. corporation. In this position Mr. Dickinson earned wide fame and was mentioned on several occasions as an available candidate for governor. But-aside from serving once as a presidential elector-Mr. Dickinson preferred to remain clear of politics.

As a result he was soon offered one of the highest legal positions in America-that of general solicitor of the Illinois Central Railroad. This position he accepted in 1899, removing to Chicago, and entering at once into the civic life of the western metropol's. But it was not until 1903 that Mr. Dickinson earned his greatest right to fame. At this time he was appointed as counsel for the United States before the Alaskan Boundary Commission in London. And the occasion proved a rare tribute to his powers. A famous English jurist, sitting as one of the tribunal, heard Mr. Dickinson's arguments, and then, descending from the bench, shook him warmly by the hand and said it was the ablest presentation he had ever heard. The Canadian representatives before the tribunal were furious and charged that this indicated a member of the court inclined toward the American side. The United States won, and Mr. Dickinson has always been given credit by those who knew the facts. But, however that may have been. Mr. Dick. inson then and there won his spurs and upon his return to America discovered with what a feeling of admiration be was held In 1907-08 Mr. Dickinson was elected to and served as president of the American Bar Association, having just retired from that position when the cabinet portfolio was tendered him by President Taft. His private practice is said to have given him an income of $75,000 a year prior to his acceptance of the secretaryship of war. Already Mr. Dickinson has made many improvements in the department of which he is the head, and his trip to Panama and his thorough mastery of all the details of his branch of the nation's military service seems to warrant the assertion that Mr. Dickinson will make good if he has not already done so.