204 REPUTATION.
whom they come in contact, on this point. Can you' bank' on him, can you count on him every time, do you always know where to 'find' him? -- are questions of the sort actually or tacitly asked about every man at one time or another; and the answer to these questions about himself is in a man's own hands. Moreover, there come times in every man's life when the right answer to such questions  is going to mean a great deal for even his temporal future and success. Let him see to this stepping-stone in the series, as he values his reputation and usefulness."
 	A good reputation is desirable, even if it is better than a man deserves, for it puts him on his mettle and spurs him up to his best exertions. When England expects every man to do his duty, every man is very sure to do it. When the people of Chicago  expected young Harrison to follow in the steps of his father, Mayor Carter Harrison, the path was already open to him. It seemed easy and natural that John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Harrison should become presidents of the United States, because their fathers were. A Breckinridge or a Bayard does not usually find it difficult to secure public office. It was natural and proper that Prof. Hadley of Yale, son of the great teacher of Greek, should be made president of his Alma Mater; that Mr. George Gould should step into his father's shoes as president of the Missouri- Pacific railroad. That the Vanderbilts should become railroad magnates was inevitable, if they were at all true to the reputations of their ancestors; that Fred Grant and Fitzhugh Lee should  become generals in the army; during the war with Spain, was a foregone conclusion.
 	By dishonesty, by indifference to obligations, by pretense to wealth or culture or learning which he does not possess, by  discourtesy, one may throw away his reputation, never to win it again. 
	One should desire a good reputation, not as an end in itself, but as a means to the higher ends for which he lives. It helps him to be what he aims to be; in fact, it helps him to "-- see what he ought to be; it secures the aid of others in his efforts; it gives him an opportunity to serve others by heartening them and guiding them. Be careful to have a good name, for, as Solomon wisely says, it is rather to be desired than great riches.