Show STUDENT LIFE matter from the point of view of the individual since we cannot deny the fact that a desire to secure his own advantage is the primary and controlling motive in all the acts of men Selfishness is generas ally classed and deplored by moralists a vice which tends to weaken character and impair usefulness This may be true where the trait is so exaggerated as to dominate the individual in his intercourse with his fellows to the extent of causing him to do positive wrong to others Perhaps the term may be properly restricted in application to only such cases However this may be we must admit that a regard for self is a human attribute which supplies the strongest motive for action In the business of life struggle and strife are necessary to accomplish results and a powerful motive is the force which drives men to do things A man s own life and welfare the happiness and preservation of his family and the prosperto him ity of his own business are more than the lives and prosperity of others Therefore he will work and sacrifice for the one object when he would otherwise make little or no effort Whatever is really good for the individual is also good for others and generally what is beneficial for society is to the advantage of the individual And this is in accord with nature’s inexorable and universal law of compensation By it all rule of chance is excluded It is unchanging and unchangeable declaring no exceptions in favor of a race a nation a community or an individual It is exemplified in the forces which control and regulate the movements of the heavenly bodies it is disclosed in the wonderful problems presented by the action of solar heat upon the air and water as well as movements of earth g bv the and water upon the surface of the globe never-endin- 155 with the attendant changes of the center of gravity Everywhere upon the land and in the sea in the atmosphere and in infinite space a constant change is taking place! Something is continually being yielded something continually taken but always are the movements reciprocal and thus compensation is made And so it is in the lives of men Every act aye every thought by this universal law must be followed by the necessary consequences to the individual which is compensation We may not doubt thi nor challenge the expediency or justice of the law It could not be otherwise Every act and every thought must be followed by consequences in kind and as wise action and right thinking must i esult in good so will foolish conduct and evil thoughts produce commensurate results And as we cannot avoid the consebequences neither can we leave them hind us It is but too true that “Our acts our angels are — for good or ill ’ Our fatal shadows that walk by us still Tt is in strict accord with this great natural law that every act and every inthought will leave its impress with the dividual an impress which can never be erased Anr this also is compensation Many years ago I read a little book written by an author who must be nameThe story however is so less here beautifully illustrative of the present thought that I venture to reproduce it It was that of a young man yet in his teens endowed with physical health and beauty and with more than ordinary Posmental and moral attainments sessed of a reasonable fortune he entered upon life in a large city and soon became the center of an admiring group of friends In all the innocence of youth the boy faced the future with a resolve of |