CHAPTER XI. Be Dutiful

BE DUTIFUL

In this second portion of our subject, we find that relationship broadens. Instead of dealing only with ourselves, we deal with others. Man is a social being, but is only worthy of that name as he seeks to make society happier and better by his presence. Each day every boy is compelled to choose between two courses of conduct, duty and disobedience. The one, however great the cost, is accompanied by a sense of right; the other, which demands no effort, by anguish and peril. No boy need hesitate to be dutiful. Conscience dictates, reason approves, and though the triumphs of genius might be more dazzling, the chances of good fortune more exciting, yet he who heeds the counsel will profit thereby, daring nobly, willing strongly and succeeding admirably.

TRUE TO THE LAST.

In the Museo Brobonico, at Naples, are seen the helmet, lance and breastplate which were used by a pagan sentinel at Pompeii. It is thought that the soldier who used them was on duty when Mount Vesuvius began to rain burning lava upon the city. While others fled, he stood by his post. Of Wellington it was said: “He never boasted of a higher motive and perhaps never thought of one, than duty.” Admiral Nelson while standing on the deck of his vessel received a mortal wound, and on being afterward assured that the conquest was theirs, exclaimed: “Thank God, I have done my duty,” and died. When Frederick the Great was about to engage in the great battle of Lutzen he ordered all his officers to a conference at which he said: “To-morrow I intend giving the enemy battle, and the battle shall decide who are hereafter to be masters of Silesia. I expect every one to do his duty. Now, if any of you are cowards, step forward before you make others cowardly, and you shall immediately receive your discharge without ceremony or reproach.” As none stepped forward he said: “I see there is none among you who does not possess true heroism, and who will not display it in defence of the king, the country and himself. I will be in the front and rear, and will fly from wing to wing; no company of my soldiers shall escape my notice, and whomsoever I find doing his duty, upon him will I heap honor and favor.”

WHAT DUTY IMPLIES.

“Duty” may be defined as the thing that can be done, because it is the thing that ought to be done. To be dutiful implies a respect and reverence for others who are placed in authority in whatever capacity, parental, official or governmental. “It is,” said Gladstone, “coextensive with the action of our intelligence. It is the shadow which cleaves to us, go where we will, and which only leaves us when we leave the light of life.” Fortunate the boy who is not an orphan, and blessed is he who knows how to appreciate his parents. If God has been kind to spare father and mother, every boy should be good enough to respect them. Nothing is more unbecoming than forward or contemptuous conduct toward them. The great proverb writer, thousands of years ago, said: “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the raven of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” That is, he shall come to an untimely end. The boy who heeds parental counsel shall be included in the promise of the first commandment: “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

WHY A BOY SHOULD OBEY HIS PARENTS.

A boy should obey his parents because God commands it. It is a law written in our natures as well as in the Bible. General Hancock once hastily rose from his table and exclaimed, “I left my boy on London Bridge, and told him to wait there till I came back.” He hastened to the spot, and there the brave boy was, and had been for several hours! Such obedience was the groundwork of a noble character.

Obedience to parents is an evidence of Christian piety. It ought to be prompt, cheerful and without protest. Such gives great pleasure to them, and no less to the boy. When Epamimondas, one of the greatest generals of Greece, conquered Sparta and delivered his own country he was greatly applauded. “My joy,” said he, “arises from my sense of that which the news of my victory will give my father and mother.” Disobedience produces the keenest suffering in them, which sooner or later reacts on the boy. “A wise son heareth his father’s instruction; but a scorner heareth not rebuke.” “A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to his mother.” Samuel Johnson was a disobedient lad. His parents were poor and he had difficulties sometimes which seemed almost insurmountable, till he passed his fifteenth year. His father was a bookseller in Litchfield, England. On market-days he used to carry a package of books to the village of Uttoxeter, and sell them from a stall in the market-place. One day he was sick and Samuel was asked to go in his place. From a silly pride he refused to comply. Fifty years after this boy became the celebrated author and compiler of the English Dictionary, and one of the most distinguished scholars in England, but he never forgot his unkindness to his hard-toiling father. When he visited Uttoxeter he determined to show his sorrow and repentance. Going into the market-place at the time of business, he uncovered his head and stood there for an hour in a pouring rain, on the very spot where the book-stall used to stand. “This,” said he, “was an act of contrition for my disobedience to my kind father.”

A boy should obey his parents because God’s law contains a reason: “That thy days may be long upon the land.” Obedience is here shown to be conducive to long life and prosperity. By it the boy learns self-control, and a prompt submission as a principle of action. “Such a boy in all probability will soon become a man of like character. He will obey the laws of health. Entering business, he will obey the laws of success, industry, perseverance, economy and enterprise. His powers under full control, he also will be a law-abiding citizen in society. Such character tends to long life and the enjoyment of the gift of God.”

OBEDIENT SONS.

When Washington was a young man he wanted to be a sailor, and his mother gave a reluctant consent. All things were ready. The ship lay off in the river. His trunk was in the boat which waited to take him to it. Going to bid his mother good-bye he found her in tears. At once he ordered his trunk returned and sent word to the ship that he would not go. “I will not break my mother’s heart to gratify myself,” he said, and his mother replied, “George, God has promised to bless those who honor their parents and He will surely bless you.” Did He not do it? He lived to be nearly seventy years of age and became not only a prosperous man, but the first President of his country. “I was sure,” said his mother, “that George would be a great man, because he was a good boy.”

Coming home from the hay-field, a tired and hungry youth was met by his father at the gate and requested to go on an errand to the town, two miles away. His first impulse was to refuse. A better thought came into his mind, and he consented cheerfully. “Thank you,” said the father; “you have always been good to me. I was going myself, but somehow I don’t feel very strong.” Again the father thanked his son and turned to the house. The son hurried away, and soon returned. As he neared the house he saw that something unusual had occurred. The farm hands instead of being at the barn as usual at that time of the day were standing about the door of the house. As the son approached, one of the men turned to him with tearful eyes and said, “Your father is dead. He fell just as he reached the door. The words he spoke to you were the last he uttered.” Years passed, and that son relating this incident said, “I have thanked God over and over again for the last words of my father on earth, ‘You have always been good to me.’”

A boy should obey his parents because of the happiness and influence that come through it. A disobedient boy can in no wise be happy, while he who loves his parents and seeks their pleasure will have no reason to the contrary.

In St. Stephen’s Church, Philadelphia, one Sunday a tramp was numbered among the worshippers. His face was seamed by the lines caused by dissipation. His shabby clothes were in striking contrast with the handsome attire of those in the audience. When Dr. Wood, the blind organist, touched the keys of his instrument, and began to play a soft, sweet melody, the man’s eyes filled with tears and he buried his face in his hands. During the singing of the Litany he sobbed aloud, but when Dr. McConnell in reading the commandments came to “Honor thy father and thy mother,” the man, unable to restrain himself longer, cried, “Would to God I had done so, I would not be where I am.”

When Charles Lamb was a lad his father sent him to the school of Christ’s Hospital. He was very unfitted to make his way among the boys, for he was small and delicate. There was a great dislike throughout the school against certain articles of food; Charles was seen to gather up the morsels left after dinner and carry them away. Persevering in this practice two of his school fellows determined to follow him and find out the mystery. Charles entered a large old building in Chancery Lane, went upstairs and knocked at one of the doors at which an old man and woman presented themselves. The boys went back and triumphantly told the steward what they had discovered. He, being a just man, investigated the matter and found that the old people were Charles’ parents, who had been reduced to great need. The news went from one to another. His fellow pupils immediately fell in love with him, the governor heard of it, and gave relief to the parents, and presented the boy with a silver medal.

DID WHAT NAPOLEON COULD NOT DO.

In this connection a few words are not amiss regarding one’s duty to those in authority. Honor is becoming those who are set over us at school or work. The spirit of obedience is not so much in words as deeds. Deeds show what we are, words what we claim to be.

On one occasion an English farmer saw a party of horsemen riding over his farm. He had a field he was particularly anxious they should not enter as the crop was in condition to be greatly injured by the tramp of horses. He therefore dispatched one of the young farm hands, a lad of about thirteen years of age, to shut the gate and on no account permit anyone to open it. The boy went as bidden, but was scarcely at his post when the hunters came up and ordered the gate opened. This the boy declined to do, stating the orders he had received and his determination to obey them. Neither threats nor bribes would move him. After a while one of lofty dignity advanced and said in commanding tones, “My boy, do you not know me? I am the Duke of Wellington. I am not accustomed to be disobeyed, and I command you to open the gate that my friends and I may pass through.” The boy lifted his cap and stood uncovered before the man whom all England delighted to honor, and in firm tone said, “I am sure the Duke of Wellington would not wish me to disobey the orders of my master, who has told me to keep this gate shut, and not suffer anyone to pass.”

Greatly surprised and pleased at this reply, the sturdy old warrior lifted his own hat and said, “I honor the man or boy who is faithful to his duty, and who can neither be bribed or frightened into doing wrong. With an army of soldiers as trustworthy as that, I could conquer not only the French but the world.” Then handing him a glittering sovereign, the old Duke put spurs to his horse and galloped away with his companions, while the boy ran off to his master shouting at the top of his voice: “Hurrah! hurrah! I’ve done what Napoleon could not do. I’ve kept back the Duke of Wellington!”

DUTIFUL TO ALL.

Society can only exist under certain regulations which pure-minded and noble legislators have enacted, and which everyone pronounces right. It therefore devolves upon every boy to do his part in sustaining these laws and to have a care for those who may have no tie binding them to us except the common tie of humanity. His motto should be, “Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you,” desiring in life and asking in death no epitaph greater than that of the Earl of Shaftesbury, who, being presented with a donkey by the coster-mongers of London said, “I ask nothing beyond this, that with patience as great and a resignation as unmurmuring as that of this donkey I may do my duty.”

What a phrase! “My duty.” Not my brother’s duty, or my chum’s, but my duty. My duty to God, to parents, to others and to myself. When once the son of the Czar of Russia was visiting America some years ago as a subordinate officer of the ships of the Russian fleet, a citizen of Philadelphia, who was entertaining the admiral in command, asked him as to the position of the Grand Duke on board. “How is he addressed?” was asked. “Always as ‘Lieutenant,’” was the reply. “Does he do regular duty as an officer, on watch in his turn?” “Certainly. There is only one difference between him and the other officers. He is always more faithful to duty than anyone else.”

What a tribute! What was said of this royal son, may be said of every boy. “Let us be found doing our duty, if this be the day of judgment,” said Colonel Davenport in the legislative council of 1780 at Hartford. An eclipse of the sun so darkened the room and surrounding country that many thought it was the day of God’s wrath. Live such a life that no matter when the judgment comes, you may be found doing your duty, thus meriting the eulogy conferred upon Colonel Hutchinson: “He never professed the thing he intended not, nor promised that he believed out of his power, nor failed in the performance of anything that was in his power to fulfill.” In all circumstances of life and dealings with others

“Do noble things, not dream them all day long, And so make life, death, and that vast forever, One grand sweet song.”