ADVCIE.

TO begin with, I will lay down the rule that there must be some natural facility in adaptation and appropriation besides originality, which is admitted to be a sine qua non. One must have the faculty of selection in its highest development. We ourselves are living illustrations of the law of "The Survival of the Fittest" in its grossest and most palpable application. This law we must apply to the higher and (if I may) more aesthetic province of dress and manners. The theory that manners are the exponents of the feelings, and that the good heart shows itself in good manners, is a delusion of the past. We are beyond such sentimentalism. The materialism of the present age declares that manners are to human feelings as words are to the human intellect.

Bearing in mind these few principles which I have stated thus abstractly, you must proceed to the practical application of them. Take the first principle, - that of appropriation. If you see any thing in dress or manner that strikes your fancy, make it your own; but always cum grano mutationis. Flatter your model by a resemblance; do not offend him by an identity. Let him think that the variation means superior excellence on his side; be satisfied with knowing, yourself, that you have changed only to improve. Enough on this score. Your inborn qualities will either make or mar you here. No education, no counsel - even of the sagest - can help you. You must stand or fall on your own merits. The next grand division of the subject, where care and study are not only useful but even absolutely necessary, is closely connected with the question just discussed, but differs from it in one very important point. Then it was a question of selecting, from what was outside, the best. Now the problem is to eradicate, from what is within, the worst. The results tend in the same direction; the processes are distinct. Any little peculiarities must be carefully guarded against. The more amiable they are, the more dangerous they are. Your motto must be 'upward and onward," even at the cost of every feeling of real kindness, courtesy, and friendship. These are only peculiarities and eccentricities. They must be brushed aside from your path with stern determination. Those who say you have no soul are envious. Do not mind them. Remember that "The lot of the unenvied is not enviable." Last in place, but first in importance, remember that, as the purpose of words is to conceal thought, so the purpose of manners is to conceal feeling. Vulgar people will call this dissimulation; you know that it is only good breeding. I am conscious that this is but an imperfect chart for those who set out on the sea of college life. But the principles are here. The elaboration is for you.

II. HOW TO BE CLEVER.It's not such a very hard thing, you know, to be clever. Not that I mean to say that every one can be. I only mean that you needn't be a genius, or even unusually bright. You must have the average amount of ability, plenty of confidence, and, above all, you must keep trying. If you keep trying all the time you are sure to hit on something that will pass for a witticism, and when you have once got off a good thing you can afford to be silly or stupid for a month - or until the next lucky hit. Remember that "many a jest word's spoke in truth;" or to put it more plainly, many a good thing's said without malice aforethought. Just talk a little vaguely, and people (after you've got up your reputation) will be sure to twist your words into meanings which are equally new and acceptable to you. Above all, keep trying. There's nothing like it. Remember how Jacob wrestled with the angel. Do you in like manner wrestle with bon mots. Affect to read strange and uncommon books. Be unusual in your tastes. Be any thing rather than nothing. You must keep prominently before people's eyes at any cost; for so long as you are notorious there is some hope of your becoming famous. Above all, keep trying. You will sometimes feel like relaxing for a moment, and saying or doing something natural. Don't! It would be ruinous. The chances are ten to one you would say something commonplace, and that's a cardinal sin, you know. Above all, keep trying.

M.