goods in the show window. Many a young person, with great facility 
in speech, appears to have merits that some shrinking, modest 
one does not have; but the talker often talks himself out, while the 
more diffident comes, in course of time, to exhibit the rarest treasures 
of the soul. In the social circles many a young lady outshone 
the demure Miss Mary Johnston, but the author of "To Have and To Hold" 
and "Audrey" is now a center of a national appreciation. Many 
a man passes for learned, who merely looks wise and says nothing, 
when there may be very little in his head save shrewdness and conceit. 

"There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle make a standIng pond,
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dressed in an opinion 
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,
As who should say, ' I am Sir 0racle,
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark.'" 

	We usually regard the man who can confuse us with a few 
high-sounding technical words as very learned; but he may not know anything 
else -- may be a parrot, an echo; on the other hand, 
thousands of modest young men who have a natural deference and 
reverence for others are selling far below their real value.


	While it is not always possible to have reputatIon and character exactly coincide, it is possible to have a good reputation.

	Character is the more important, to be sure, yet reputation is unspeakably important. As Shakespeare says :
"Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something -- nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed. "

	It is the capital with which he is furnished for his life's business:
	"A man is already of consequence in the world when it is known that he
	can be implicitly relied on."