Self-conceit, presumption, and obstinacy, blast the prospect of many a youth.  He is alternately supported by his father, his uncle, and his elder brother.  The man of virtue and honor, will be trusted, relied upon, and esteemed.  Conscious guilt renders one mean-spirited, timorous, and base.  An upright mind will never be at a loss to discern what is just and true, lovely, honest, and of good report.  Habits of reading, writing, and thinking, are the indispensable qualifications of a good student.  The great business of life is, to be employed in doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God.  To live soberly, righteously, and piously, comprehends the whole of our duty.

In our health, life, possessions, connexions, pleasures, there are causes of decay imperceptibly working.  Deliberate slowly, execute promptly.  An idle, trifling society, is near akin to such as is corrupting.  This unhappy person had been seriously, affectionately admonished, but in vain.

RULE 7.  How much better it is to get wisdom than gold.  The friendships of the world can exist no longer than interest cements them.  Eat what is set before you.  They who excite envy, will easily incur censure.  A man who is of a detracting spirit, will misconstrue the most innocent words that can be put together.  Many of the evils which occasion our complaints of the world, are wholly imaginary.

The gentle mind is like the smooth stream, which reflects every object in its just proportion, and in its fairest colors.  In that unaffected civility which springs from a gentle mind, there is an incomparable charm.  The Lord, whom I serve, is eternal.  This, is the man we saw yesterday.

RULE 8.  Idleness brings forward and nourishes many bad passions.  True friendship will, at all times, avoid a rough or careless behavior.  Health and peace, a moderate fortune, and a few friends, sum up all the undoubted articles of temporal felicity.  Truth is fair and artless, simple and sincere, uniform and consistent.  Intemperance destroys the strength of our bodies and the vigor of our minds.

RULE 9.  As a companion, he was severe and satirical; as a friend, captious and dangerous.  If the spring put forth no blossoms, in summer there will be no beauty, and in autumn, no fruit.  So, if youth be trifled away without improvement, manhood will be contemptible, and old age, miserable.

RULE 10.  They believed he was dead.  He did not know that I was the man.  I knew she was still alive.  The greatest misery is, to be condemned by our own hearts.  The greatest misery that we can endure, is, to be condemned by our own hearts.

SEMICOLON.

RULE 1.  The path of truth is a plain and safe path; that of falsehood is a perplexing maze.  Heaven is the region of gentleness and friendship; hell, of fierceness and animosity.  As there is a worldly happiness, which God perceives to be no other than disguised misery; as there are worldly honors, which, in his estimation, are a reproach; so, there is a worldly wisdom, which, in his sight, is foolishness.