Prune excrescences in the shape of loose statements; if you err in telling a wonderful story, let it be in cutting down rather than in magnifying.

A couple of ciphers less are better than one too many.

It is to be feared that for many of us this would be a hard, although a wholesome task.

The trail of the serpent is over us all.

We yield heedlessly to the temptation to break promises, and to the habit of giving false reasons to our children, little thinking that their grave, innocent eyes may read our souls more clearly than those of older persons who are not so easily deceived by our tongues.