additional attractions and excellent qualities. 

Boys the Hope of the World.--A nation's most valuable property is its 

boys. A nation which has poor, weakly, vicious boys will have still 

weaker, more vicious and untrustworthy men. A country with noble, 

virtuous, vigorous boys, is equally sure of having noble, pious, brave, 

and energetic men. Whatever debases, contaminates, or in any way 

injures the boys of a country, saps and undermines the very foundation 

of the nation's strength and greatness. Save the boys from vice and 

crime, give them good training, physically, mentally, and morally, and 

the prosperity of the nation is assured. 

Man the Masterpiece.--When a skillful artist perfects a work of art, 

a painting, a drawing, a statue, or some other work requiring great 

talent and exceeding all his other efforts, it is called his masterpiece. 

So man is the noblest work of God, the masterpiece of the Almighty. 

Numerous anecdotes are told of the sagacity of dogs, horses, elephants 

and other animals, of their intelligence and ingenious devices in 

overcoming obstacles, avoiding difficulties, etc. Our admiration and 

wonder are often excited by the scarcely less than human wisdom shown 

by these lowly brothers of the human race. We call them noble animals; 

but they are only noble brutes, at best. Compared with man, even in 

his most humble form, as seen in the wild savage that hunts and devours 

his prey like a wild beast, a lion or a tiger, they are immeasurably 

inferior. And in his highest development, man civilized, cultivated, 

Christianized, learned, generous, pious, certainly stands at the head 

of all created things. 

Boys, do you love what is noble, what is pure, what is grand, what is 

good? You may each, if you will, become such yourselves. Let us consider 

for a moment 

How a Noble Character is Ruined.--A noble character is formed by the 

development of the good qualities of an individual. A bad character 

is formed by the development of bad traits, or evil propensities. In 

other words, sin is the cause of the demoralization of character, the 

debasing of the mind, the loss of nobility of which we see so much around 

us in the world. Sin is the transgression of some law. There are two 

kinds of sins: those which are transgressions of the moral law, and 

those which are transgressions of physical laws. Both classes of sins 

are followed by penalties. If a person violates the laws of health, 

he is just as certain to suffer as though he tells a falsehood, steals, 

murders, or commits any other crime. Perfect obedience to all of 

nature's laws, including of course all moral laws, is necessary to 

perfect health and perfect nobleness of character. The nature of these 

laws and the results of transgression will be understood after we have 

taken a hasty glance at 

The Marvelous Human Machine which we call the body. All the inventions 

and devices ever constructed by the human hand or conceived by the human 

mind, no matter how delicate, how intricate and complicated, are simple,