A WAY OF LIFE

An

Address

to

Tale Students

Sunday evening, April 2oth, 1913

By

WILLIAM OSLER

LONDON
CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD.
1913

What

each day needs that

shalt thou ask,

Each day

will set its proper

task.
Goethe.

PELLOW STUDENTS-

Every man has a philo

sophy

of

life

in

thought,

in

word, or in deed, worked out

in

himself

In

unconsciously.

possession of the very best, he

may

not

know

of

with the very

its

existence

worst

he

pride himself as a paragon.

it

may
As

grows with the growth

5

it

WAY

cannot be taught to the young

What

in formal lectures.

bright

eyes,

red

blood,

have
quick

breath and taut muscles to do

Did not the

with philosophy?

great Stagirite say that young

men were

unfit students of it?

they will hear as though they

heard not, and

to

Why then should

Because

may be

was

should be,

trouble you ?

It is

helpful.

religious,

which

profit.

have a message that

sophical, nor is

or

no

it

not philo

strictly

moral

one or other
told

and yet
6

address

my
in

of

way

it

OF LIFE
It is

the oldest and

the freshest, the

simplest and

is all three.

the most useful, so simple in

some

deed

is it

of you

may

turn

away disappointed as

was

that

Naaman

the Syrian

go wash

in

when

told to

Jordan and be clean.

You know those composite

to be

bought

one handle to

tools,

for 50 cents, with

fit

a score or more

The workman

of instruments.

ship is usually bad, so bad, as

rule,

that

an example

you

will not

find

any good car

penter s shop; but the boy has
in

one, the chauffeur slips one into

7

WAY

A
his box,
kit,

and the

and there

sailor into his

one

is

in the

odds-

and-ends drawer of the pantry

of every well-regulated family.
It is

simply a handy thing about

the house, to help over the

this sort of philosophy

to
to

many

of the day.

little difficulties

Of

wish

make you a

present

a handle

your

tools.

Whether

fit

life

the workmanship

is

Sheffield or

shoddy, this helve will

fit

any

thing from a hatchet to a cork

screw.

My

message is but a word,

a Way, an easy expression of
8

OF LIFE
man

the experience of a plain

whose
ried

life

has never been wor

by any philosophy higher

than that of the shepherd in

As You Like It

wish to point

out a path in which the

way

faring man, though a fool, cannot

err; not a system to be

worked

out

be

painfully

carded,

not

only to

a formal

simply a habit as easy

hard

habit,

to adopt as

good or bad.

dis

scheme,
or as

any other

WAY
I

few

years

Xmas

ago a

card went the rounds, with the

"

legend

Life

thing after

more

habit,"

that

just one denied

another,"

refined

same as

is

lies at

is

language,

saying

"Life

is

the

a succession of actions

become more or

matic.

which, in

less auto

This great truth, which

the basis of

muscular or psychic,

all

is

actions,

the key

stone of the teaching of Aris

totle,

to

of habits

whom
was the
10

the

formation

basis of moral

OF LIFE
excellence.

of

any

"In

kind

a word, habits
the

are

of actions of the

result

same kind

and so what we have to

is

to give

to

these

(Ethics).

particular
Lift

tumble on
at

do,

a certain character

old baby to

same

actions"

a seven months
his

feet

nose.

his

twelve

see him

Do

months

the

he

At two years he runs.

The muscles and the nervous
walks.

system have acquired the habit.

One

trial

after

another,

failure after another,

him power.

has given

Put your
ii

one

finger

WAY

A
in

baby s

sucks away

mouth,
in

and

blissful

he

antici

pation of a response to a

mam

malian habit millions of years

And we can

old.

train parts of our

deliberately

body to per

form complicated actions with

unerring accuracy.

Watch

musician

piece.

playing

that

difficult

Batteries, commutators,

multipliers, switches, wires

in

numerable control those nimble

fingers, the

may

be set

machinery of which
motion as auto

in

matically as in

player

all

a pianola, the

the time chatting as

12

OF LIFE
if

he had nothing to do
the

trolling

in

con
habit

apparatus

the gradual acquisition

again,

of

power by long practice and

at

the expense of

many mis

The same great law

takes.

reaches

through

moral states.

and

mental

"

Character,"

which

partakes of both, in Plutarch s

words,

is

Now
preach

"

long-standing

the

of

way

that

life

It

repetition.

and

living
for

a habit to be acquired

is

gradually by long and

of

habit."

for

the

is

the

the

steady
practice

day

day s work,
13

only,
Life

A
in day-tight
I

WAY
u

compartments.

hear you say,

Ah,"

is

"that

an

easy matter, simple as Elisha s

advice!"

it,

Not as

words which

in

shall
fail

urge

to

press the depth of

my

as to

started

its

value.

in the best of all

in

ex

feelings
life

environments

a parsonage, one of nine

children.

A man who

has

filled

Chairs in four universities, has

written a successful book, and

has been asked to lecture at

supposed popularly to
have brains of a special quality.

Yale,

is

few of

my

intimate friends
14

OF LIFE
know the truth about
me, as I know it!
Mine, in

really

good faith I say it, are of the

most mediocre character. But

what

about

life,

way

an outcome of the day s

work, the

which

professor

Just habit, a

ships, etc.?

of

those

vital

importance

of

wish to impress upon

you with

all

the force

at

my

command.
Dr.

the

Johnson remarked upon

trifling

which men s
"not

circumstances

by

lives are influenced,

by an ascendant planet, a

predominating humour, but by

15

WAY

book which they read,

some early conversation which

the

first

they have heard, or some acci

dent which excited ardour and
enthusiasm."

case

in

two

This

was

my

particulars.

was

diverted to the Trinity College

School,
tario,

On

then at Weston,

by a paragraph

in

the

circular stating that the senior

boys would go into the drawing-

room
to

in the evenings,

sing and dance

and learn
vocal and

pedal accomplishments for which

I

was never designed

Saul seeking his asses,

16

but like
I

found

OF LIFE
something

more

man

White

of the

who knew
who knew how
in

happened

in

1871,

when

Montreal

Much

it.

of Selborne

to

get

The

boys
other

summer

the

of

was attending the

General

Hospital.

worried as to the future,

partly about the final

tion, partly

as to what

do afterwards,

volume of
page
1

and

nature,

type,

interested

valuable,

The

Carlyle,

W.

should

and on the

was the

A. Johnson, the founder

of the school.

picked up

opened there

Rev.

examina

17

sentence

familiar
business

WAY

is

dimly

at a

what

lies

"

Our

main

not to see what

distance,
clearly

at

lies

to

do

hand."

but

commonplace sentiment enough,

but it hit and stuck and helped,
and was the starting-point of a
habit that has enabled
utilize

to

the

full

the

me

to

single

talent entrusted to me.

II

The workers

in Christ s vine

yard were hired by the day;

only for this day are
18

we

to

ask

OF LIFE
for

we

are

take

no

our daily bread, and

expressly bidden

thought

to

To the
commands

morrow.

for the

modern world these

have an Oriental savour, coun

sels of perfection akin to certain

of

the

stimuli

Beatitudes,

aspiration, not to action.

prepared

on

urge the

literal

the

Ecclesiastes
that say

we

will

go

into

to

acceptance of

Go

to-day

am

contrary

the advice, not in the

"

to

to

or

mood

of

now, ye

to-morrow

such a

city,

and

continue there a year, and buy

and

sell

and get gain

19

whereas

A
know

ye
the

not what shall be on

not

morrow";

"jug

but

in the

way

of

and

of wine

his

modernist

life,

enchantment,

the

in

Omar

spirit of

Epicurean

WAY

with

Thou,"

spirit,

as

a habit, a strong

once against

at

the mysticism of the East and

pessimism that too easily

the

besets

us.

saying

"Sufficient

is

Change

the evil

goodness

hard

unto the day

thereof"

thereof,"

chief worries of

that

life

into

since

"the

the

arise from

the foolish habit of looking be

fore

and

after.

20

As a

patient

OF LIFE
from some

with double vision

transient unequal action of the

muscles of the eye finds magical

relief
so,

from well-adjusted glasses,

returning to the clear bin

ocular vision of to-day, the over

anxious

student

when he looks
ward

finds

peace

neither

back

to the past

nor forward

to the future.
I

stood on the bridge of one of

the great liners, ploughing the

ocean at 25 knots.

my

alive,"

said

every

plate;

with

brain

"She

companion,

is
"in

huge monster
and nerves, an
a

21

WAY

immense stomach, a wonderful

heart and lungs, and a splendid
system of

moment a

that

and

signal sounded,

over the ship the water

all

tight

compartments were
chief

"Our

Titanic,"

replied,

Now
more

"in

of

factor

said the Captain.

the

"In

said.

each one of you

marvellous

liner,

that you

safety,"

spite of

he

is

Titanic."

much

organization

on a longer voyage.
is

closed.

"Yes,"

spite of the

than the great

urge

Just at

locomotion."

and bound

What

so learn to

control the machinery as to livt

22

OF LIFE
with
as

compartments"

"day-tight

most

the

ensure

safety

to

way

certain

on the voyage.

Get on the bridge, and see that

at least the great

bulkheads are

Touch a
working order.
button and hear, at every level of
in

your

life,

the iron doors shutting

out the Past

days.

the dead yester

Touch another and shut

off,

with a metal curtain, the Future

the unborn to-morrows.
are safe,

Then you

safe for to-day

Read

the old story in the Chambered

Nautilus, so beautifully

Oliver

Wendell
23

sung by

Holmes,

only

WAY

A
change one

"

line to

Day

after

Shut

day beheld the

silent

off the past

Let the dead past

bury

its

So easy to say,
realize!
The truth

dead.

so hard to
is,

toil."

the past haunts us like a

shadow.

To

disregard

it is

not

easy. Those blue eyes of your

grandmother, that weak chin of

your grandfather, have mental

and moral counterparts

make-up.
cestors,

vidence,

and Fate

Generations

brooding

in

of

over

Foreknowledge,

Fixed

foreknowledge,

an

"Pro

Will

fate, free will,

absolute,"

24

your

may

OF LIFE
have

conscience,
to heal

New

England

morbidly

sensitive,

bred

which some of you had

rather sing the 5ist

follow

Christ

into

Psalm than
the

slums.

Shut out the yesterdays, which

have lighted fools the way to
dusty death, and have no concern
for

you

personally,

consciously.

They

that

is,

are there

all

working daily in us, but so

are our livers and our stomachs.
right,

And

the past, in

its

unconscious

action on our lives, should bother

us as

little

as they do.

The

petty annoyances, the real and

25

A
fancied

WAY
the

slights,

mistakes, the

trivial

disappointments,

the sins, the sorrows, even the

bury them

joys

oblivion of each night.

it is

just then that to so

the

in

deep

Ah

but

many

of

us the ghosts of the past,

Night-riding Incubi

Troubling the fantasy,

come

in troops,

eyelids,

and pry open the

each one presenting a sin,

a sorrow, a regret.

Bad enough

and seasoned, in the

young these demons of past sins
may be a terrible affliction, and
in the old

in bitterness of

26

heart

many a

OF LIFE
one
11

with

cries

Oh God

Eugene Aram,

Could

mind, and clasp

As a

so close

with a

it

vaccine against

poisons

left in

all

a way of

George
soul

at

clasp."

morbid

the system by the

infections of yesterday,
"

my

life."

offer

"Undress,"

Herbert
night,"

says,

not

as

"your

self-

by

examination, but by shedding, as

you do your garments, the daily

sins

whether of omission or of

commission, and you

a free man, with a
look

back,

will

new

except

To

life.

on

occasions for stock-taking,

27

wake
rare
is

to

the

risk

Many

WAY

fate

of

man

his course

is

Lot s

wife.

handicapped

in

by a cursed combina

tion of retro-

and

intro-spection,

the mistakes of yesterday para

lysing the efforts of to-day, the

worries of the past hugged to

his destruction,

and the worm

Regret allowed to canker the

very heart of his
daily,

after the

life.

manner

To

die

of St.

Paul, ensures the resurrection

of a

new man, who makes each

day the epitome of a

life.

OF LIFE

III

The
to

load of to-morrow, added

of

that

to-day

makes

falter.

Shut

the

visions,

no castles

strongest

off the

tightly as the past.

no

carried

yesterday,

No

no delicious
in the air,

future as

dreams,

fantasies,

with which,

as the old song so truly says,

"hearts

are broken, heads are

turned."

To

belongs

the

wretched

youth,

we

future,

to-morrow

plagues some

of

29

us

are told,

but

the

that

so

has

no

except

certainty,

day.

may

Who

can

carry

is

its

what a day

tell

Though

a proverb, a

its

man

secret in the hollow

of his hand.
to

through to

bring forth?

uncertainty

may

WAY

Make

a pilgrimage

Hades with Ulysses, draw the

magic circle, perform the rites,

and then ask Tiresias the ques
I
have had the answer
tion.
from his own
is

to-day,

The day
now

the

lips.

The

future

there is no to-morrow
of a
life

man s

salvation

is

of the present, of

to-day, lived earnestly, intently,

without

forward - looking
30

OF LIFE
thought,

is

the only insurance

for the future.

Let the

limit of

your horizon be a twenty-four

hour circle. On the title page
of one of the great

books of

science, the Discours de la Methode

of Descartes (1637)

is

a vignette

showing a man digging in a

garden with his face towards the
earth, on

which rays of

streaming

from

beneath

the legend

is

the

light are

heavens;
"Fac

et

Tis a good attitude and

a good motto.
Look heaven
"

Spera.

ward,

if

you wish, but never to

the horizon

that

way danger

A
Truth

lies.

ness

is

WAY

is

not there, happi

not there, certainty

is

not

but the falsehoods, the

there,

frauds, the quackeries, the ignes

fatui

which have deceived each

generation

all

beckon from the

and lure the men not

horizon,

content to look for the truth

and happiness that tumble out

at

their

feet.

Once while

at

College climb a mountain -top,

and get a general outlook of the

land, and make it the occasion
perhaps of that careful examina
tion of yourself, that inquisition

which

Descartes
32

urges

every

OF LIFE
man

to hold once in a lifetime,

not oftener.

Waste
tress,

of energy, mental dis

nervous worries dog the

steps of a

man who

anxious

is

Shut

about the future.

then, the great fore

and

aft

close,

bulk

heads, and prepare to cultivate

the habit of a

life

Compartments.
couraged,

of Day-Tight

Do

like

not be dis

every

other

habit, the acquisition takes time,

and the way

one you must

is

find for yourselves.

give

can only

directions

general

encouragement,
c

33

in

the

and
hope

WAY

that while the green years are

on your heads, you may have

the courage to persist.

IV

Now,
first ?

for the

day

Be your own daysman

and sigh not with Job

mysterious

for

any

intermediary,

but

own

firm

prepare to lay your

hand upon the helm.

touch with the
in full

What

itself!

finite,

Get into

and grasp

enjoyment that sense of

capacity in a machine working

smoothly.

Join the whole crea34

OF LIFE
tion of animate things in a deep,
heartfelt joy that

you are

alive,

that you see the sun, that you

are in this glorious earth which

made

nature has

and which
and to

yours to conquer

is

Realise,

in the

Browning,

that

enjoy.

words

so beautiful,

of

a world of capability

"There

for joy

spread round about us,

meant

What
tions ?

Some

for

us,

inviting

us."

are the morning sensa

for

of

they control the day.

us

are

congenitally

unhappy during the early hours

but the young

man who
35

feels

on

WAY

awakening that

life is

or a bore has been

his machine, driving

a burden

neglecting
it

too hard,

stoking the engines too much,

or not cleaning out the ashes

and
too

Or he has been

clinkers.

much

with

the

Lady

Nicotine, or fooling with Bac

chus, or, worst of

all,

with the

all "messen

younger Aphrodite

gers of strong prevailment in

unhardened

sweet outlook on

clear-cut,

features,

you must
As I look on

alert,

and the
36

life

have a clean body.

the

To have

youth."

lithe,

earnest
active

OF LIFE
forms

of

our college

men,

sometimes wonder whether or

not Socrates and Plato would
find

the race improved.

am

sure they would love to look on

such a gathering as

this.

Make

their ideal yours

the fair mind

in the fair body.

The one can

not be sweet and clean without

the other, and you

must

realise,

with Rabbi Ben Ezra, the great

truth

that

flesh

and soul are

The morning
outlook which really makes the
mutually helpful.

day
clean

is

largely a question of a

machine
37

of

physical

WAY

morality in the wide sense of

the term.
les

"C

heureux,"

est

estomac qui fait

as Voltaire says;

no dyspeptic can have a sane

outlook on life and a man
;

whose bodily functions are im

paired has a lowered moral resist

To keep

ance.

help in

the body

fit

is

keeping the mind pure,

and the sensations of the

first

few hours of the day are the

best

test

The

clean

head,

of its normal

state.

the

clear

tongue,

and the bright eye are

birth-rights of each day.

as

the

late

Professor
38

Just

Marsh

OF LIFE
would

unknown

an

diagnose

animal from a single bone, so

can the day be predicted from the

is

The

waking hour.

first

start

everything, as you well know,

and

make a good

to

must

feel

fit.

In

start

you

the young,

sensations of morning slackness

come most
control

often from lack of

of the

two primal

stinctsbiologic habits

in

the one

concerned with the preservation

of the individual, the other with

the continuance of the species.

Yale students should

time

be

models
39

of

by this
dietetic

WAY

but youth does not

propriety,

always reck
teacher;
here,

the

and

as

rede

of

the

dare say that

elsewhere,

careless

habits of eating are responsible

much mental disability. My

own rule of life has been to cut
for

out unsparingly any article of

diet that

had the bad taste to

disagree with me, or to indicate

in

any way that

it

had abused

the temporary hospitality of the

lodging which

To

drink,

had provided.

nowadays, but few

students become addicted, but in

every large body of men a few are

40

OF LIFE
to be found

whose incapacity

for

the day results from the morning

clogging of nocturnally-flushed
tissues.

As moderation

hard to reach, and as

it

is

very

has been

abundantly shown that the best

and physical work

of mental

may be done without

alcohol in

any form, the safest rule for the

young man is that which I am
sure most of you follow
ence.

bitter

enemy

abstin

the

to

bright eye and the clear brain of

the early

morning

when smoked

now by a

is

tobacco

to excess, as

large

it is

majority

of

A
students.
if

need

WAY

Watch

test

it,

control

be,

it,

and

That

it.

befogged, woolly sensation reach

ing from the forehead to the

haziness

that

occiput,

memory, that cold

that

furred

week s

of

fish-like eye,

and

last

mouth

too

tongue,

taste in the

many of you know them I

know them they often come
from too much tobacco. The
other

primal

instinct

heavy burden of the

Nature puts on
ensure a
species.

all

flesh

of

drive Plato s

42

which

of us

continuation

To

the

is

to

the

team

OF LIFE
taxes the energies of the best of
us.

One

of the horses

untamed

ing,

a rag

is

who can

devil,

only be brought into subjection

by

hard

training.

know

and

This much

severe

you

as men: once the

between
steed

fighting

his

teeth

Passion

white horse

will

the

all

bit is

black

take

the

Reason with you

and the chariot

rattling over the

rocks to perdition.

With a

fresh,

sweet body you

can start aright without those

feelings of inertia that so often,

as

Goethe

says,

43

make

the

WAY

A
morning s lazy

leisure usher in

a useless day.

Control of the

mind as a working machine, the

adaptation in
its

action

automatic

it

of habit, so that

becomes almost as
as

walking,

end of education
rarely reached

It

is

the

and yet how

can be accom

plished with deliberation and re

pose, never with hurry and worry.

Realise

how much time

how long the day is.

there

is,

Realise that

you have sixteen waking hours,

three or four of which at least
should be devoted to making a
silent

conquest of your mental

44

OF LIFE

which

power

gradually the

grown

is

wrestle

to

with any subject,

successful

however

successfully

the secret of

is

No mind

study.
dull

can

that

brightness

old saying,

"Youth

"

the

escape

comes

from

There

steady application.

for haste

by

Concentration,

machinery.

is

an

enjoy eth not,

but worse than

this,

the failure to cultivate the power

of peaceful concentration

is

the

greatest single cause of mental

breakdown.

Plato

pities

young man who started

the

at such

a pace that he never reached the

45

A
goal.
life

of

One

WAY

of

the saddest

s tragedies is the

the

career

by

collegian

of

wreckage

the

hurry,

bustle and tension

of

the

young
hustle,

human

machine driven day and night,

as no sensible fellow would use
Listen to the words

his motor.

of a master in Israel, William

James:

"Neither

the

nature

nor the amount of our work

accountable

for

the

is

frequency

and severity of our breakdowns,

but their cause

lies

rather in

those absurd feelings of hurry

and having no
46

time,

in

that

OF LIFE
breathlessness and tension, that

anxiety

of

and

feature

that

solicitude of results, that lack

harmony and ease, in

short, by which the work with
us is apt to be accompanied, and

of inner

European who
would do the same work would,
from which

nine out of ten times, be

free."

Es

bi/det ein Talent sich in der Stifle,

but

it

need not be

for all day.

few hours out of the sixteen

will

suffice,

only

let

them be

hours of daily dedication

routine, in order

and

and day by day you

47

in

in

system,

will

gain in

WAY

power over the mental mechan

ism, just as the child does over

the spinal
the

marrow

musician

centres.

in

walking, or

Aristotle

nerve

the

over

somewhere

says that the student

who wins

out in the fight must be slow in

movements, with voice deep,

and slow speech, and he will not

his

be worried over

make

trifles

speak

people

which

in

shrill

tones and use rapid movements.

Shut close

in

hour-tight

com

partments, with the mind direct

ed intensely upon the subject in

hand,

you

will

48

acquire

the

OF LIFE
more and more,
get into training; and

capacity to do
will

you

once the mental habit

you are safe

lished,

Concentration

for

is

little

the mind

is

life.

an

slow acquisition, but

estab

is

art

of

little

by

accustomed to

habits of slow eating and care

ful

digestion,

by which

you escape the

pepsy"

dys-

so graphically described

by Lowell

Do

"mental

alone

in the Fable for Critics.

not worry your brains about

that bugbear Efficiency, which,

sought

consciously
is

effort,

one

just

49

and

with

of

those

A
elusive

to

college

never to be gauged

is

at sight;

the

apt

The man s

all

thumb and
plumb

very

qualities

be missed.
output

WAY

his

the world s coarse

may

finger

most

effective

the

of

casting
of

machinery

fail

to

work,

mental

self-education,

the true preparation for a

field

larger than the college campus.

Four or
not

five

much

must

tell

to

hours daily

ask

is

but one day

another,

certify another,

it

one

week

one month bear

witness to another of the same

story,

and you
50

will

acquire

OF LIFE
habit by which

the one-talent

man

will

earn a high interest,

and

by

which

man may

the
least

at

ten-talent

save

his

capital.

work

Steady
gives

on

the

man

of

No
the

to

sort

sane outlook

world.

so valuable

this

corrective

weariness,

the fever and the fret that are

so apt to wring the heart of

the young.

This

is

the

talis

man, as George Herbert says,

The famous

stone

That turneth

and with which,

all

to gold,

to the eternally

WAY

What is Life?

recurring question,

you answer,
act

do not think

the only philosophy that

it;

brings you in contact with

its

and enables you to

hidden meaning. Over

real values

grasp

its

the

Slough of Despond, past

Doubting Castle and Giant
Despair, with this talisman you

may

reach

Mountains,

the

and

Delectable

those

Shep

herds of the Mind

Knowledge,
Watchful
and

Experience,
Sincere.

think

this

Epicurean

Some
to

of

you

may

be a miserable

doctrine

52

no

better

OF LIFE
than that so sweetly sung by

Horace

Happy the man

He who
He who

can

and Happy he

alone,

to-day his own,

secure within can say,
call

To-morrow, do thy worst

for I

have

lived to-day.

I
I

do not care what you think,

am

simply giving you a philo

sophy of
helpful in

life

my

that

have found

work, useful

in

my

Walt Whitman, whose

play.
physician I was for some years,
never spoke to

me much

of his

poems, though occasionally he

would make a quotation but I

remember late one summer
;

53

WAY

A
afternoon

we

as

sat

in

the

window

of his

Camden

there passed a group

little

house

in

workmen whom he greeted in

his usual friendly way.
And
of

then he said

"

Ah, the glory of

the day s work,

whether with

hand or brain

have tried

To

To exalt the present and the real,

teach the average man the glory of
his daily

work

or

trade."

In this
of

way of
you may learn

life

each one

to drive the

straight furrow and so

come

the true measure of a man.

54

to

OF LIFE

V
With body and mind
ing,

in train

what remains ?

Do you remember
touching
Christ s

of

that most

incidents

all

when

ministry,

in

the

anxious ruler Nicodemus came

lest the

by night, worried

things

that pertained to his everlasting

peace were not a part of his

busy and successful

message

to

to the world

him

is

life ?

Christ s

His message

never more needed

than at present

"

55

Ye must be

WAY

You wish to
be with the leaders as Yale men
it is your birthright
know the
great souls that make up the
born of the

spirit."

moral radium of the world. You

must be born
initiated

of their

into

their

spirit,

fraternity,

whether of the spiritually-minded

followers

of that

of the

Nazarene or

company, elect

larger

from every nation, seen by

St.

John.

Begin the day with Christ and

His prayer you need no other.
Creedless, with
ligion;

it

you have re

creed-stuffed,

56

it

will

OF LIFE
leaven any theological dough in

which you

As the

stick.

dyed by the thoughts,

let

soul

is

no day

pass without contact with the

best

of

literature

Learn

know

to

though

not

fathers

did.

the

world.

your

Bible,

perhaps

as your

In forming char

acter and in shaping conduct,

touch has

still its

Of the kindred

of

ancient power.

Ram

of Elihu, you should

beauties and

its

its

and sons

know

strength.

its

Fif

teen or twenty minutes day by

day

will give

you fellowship with

the great minds of the race, and

57

A
little

by

WAY
as the years pass

little

you extend your friendship with

immortal dead.

the

give you faith in your

They

will

own

day.

Listen while they speak to you

But each age has

and ideas, just as it

of the fathers.
its

own spirit

has

its

sures.

own manners and plea

You are right to believe

that yours

is

the best University,

at its best period.

Why

should

you look back to be shocked at

the frowsiness and dullness of
the students of the seventies or

even of the nineties?

And

cast

no thought forward,

lest

you

58

OF LIFE
when you and

reach a period

yours

will present to

same dowdiness

cessors the
clothes and

change

is

of

But while

times.

the law, certain great

fresh

flow

ideas

your suc

through the

ages, and control us effectually

as in the days of Pericles.

kind,

it

has been said,

man

advancing,

same.
faith

The
that

is

is

Man
always

always the

love, hope, fear

and

make humanity, and

the elemental

passions

of the

human heart, remain unchanged,

and the secret of inspiration
any

in

literature is the capacity to

59

WAY

touch the cord that vibrates

in

sympathy that knows nor time

nor place.

The quiet
partments

life in

day-tight

will help

you

com

to bear

your own and others burdens

with a light heart. Pay no heed
to the Batrachians

who sit croak

ing idly by the stream.

Life is

a straight, plain business, and

the

way

is clear,

blazed for you

by generations of strong men,

whose labours you enter

and whose ideals must be your
In my mind s eye
inspiration.

into

can see you twenty years hence

60

OF LIFE
resolute -eyed, broad - headed,

men who are in the

make a success of life

smooth-faced

world to

but to whichever of the two great

types you belong, whether con
trolled

you

by emotion or by reason,

will

spirit,

need the leaven of their

the

enough

leaven

only

potent

to avert that only too

common Nemesis
Psalmist refers

"

to

which the

He gave them

their heart s desire, but sent lean

ness withal into their

I

souls."

quoted Dr. Johnson s remark

about the

trivial

fluence.

Perhaps
61

things that in
this

slight

word

WAY OF

of

mine may help some of

LIFE

you so to number your days that

you may apply your hearts unto
wisdom.

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD.

PRINTERS,

PLYMOUTH

AEQUANIMITAS AND

OTHER ESSAYS
H. K. LEWIS, London, and
KENNITH BLAKISTON, Philadelphia.

AN ALABAMA
STUDENT AND
OTHER ESSAYS
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS,

New

Oxford and

COUNSELS

fcf

York.

IDEALS

FROM THE WRITINGS

OF WILLIAM OSLER
Selected by

OXFORD

DR. CARMAC.
PRESS, Oxford and

New

York.

TEXT BOOK
OF MEDICINE
Eighth Edition, 1912.
Co., London and New York.

APPLETON &*

MODERN MEDICINEA SYSTEM

Second Edition, in

5 vols.

(With DR. McCRAE).

LEA

<&

FKBIGER, Philadelphia.

BY

WILLIAM OSLER
M.D., F.R.S., Regius Professor

oj

Medicine at

Oxford.

SCIENCE AND

IMMORTALITY
"

We

for

Its

can recommend the volume not only

literary charm , but for the thought

ful and suggestive discussion of the com

forting conception of immortality from the
standpoint of the scientific physician rather
than from that of the philosopher or
theologian.

Professor Osier* s

worthy of him

as

little

book

is

a disciple of Sir Thomas

can only hope that this,

Browne, and we
a modern Religio Medici, will be widely
read and thoughtfully studied by both lay
readers and medical readers"

THE LANCET.
EY THE SAME AUTHOR

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OF MAN
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