2.

Analyze the process of learning to write; to dance; to play the piano.

3. Find examples of the law of habit in the following fields: The use of the voice; the choice of words, and the use of language in general; manners, such as table manners, etc.; the mental processes of attention, memory, and reasoning; beliefs; likes and dislikes; emotions, as fear, anger, joy, sorrow, love, hate; volitions, as the decision to write a letter, or to start out to go skating, to pay a debt, etc.

4. Are habits easier to acquire at one time of life than another? What time of life is most favorable for acquiring them? Why? What are we to think of the adage: "It is never too late to be what you might have been"?

5. What are the advantages of habits?

6. Are there any disadvantages in becoming a slave even to useful habits? How shall the dangers of such a situation be met?

7. In view of the facts of habit, what is to be said about the advisability of "sowing wild oats"?

8. Do the same facts help us in deciding the question whether we shall pay our fare on the street-car when overlooked by the conductor?

The members of the class will do well to apply the doctrine of habit to themselves. Examine your own habits, in each of the possible fields, in order to discover whether you lack desirable ones or possess undesirable ones.

CHAPTER III--CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL

MORAL QUALITIES

SELF-CONTROL

1. Make a list of the desires and impulses that may require the exercise of control on our part, if we are not to injure ourselves or trample on the rights of others. The impulse of anger and the appetite for stimulants, mentioned below, are examples of what is meant.

2. (a) Does self-control require the destruction of the various impulses of our nature, as the impulse of anger, etc.? (b) Does it necessarily involve struggle? (c) Is self-control the same thing as right-doing? (d) Define self-control. (e) Is it always required for right-doing?

3. Is there any person who does not have some impulses in his nature which can only be controlled by a struggle? Do the occasions for the exercise of self-control increase or decrease as we pass from the life of the animal to that of man? From the life of the savage to that of civilized man?

4. What is the value of self-control, or what are the reasons for wishing to possess it? Illustrate.

5. (a) How would you go about to get control of a bad temper? For example, suppose you had made resolution after resolution, and when the time came to put them into effect you always failed. Make the situation real by thinking of actions on the part of other people likely to arouse your anger. Note that the problem is not merely that of finding out what you ought to do at the moment when the provocation arises, but also what you should do to uproot the undesirable trait of character in the intervals of freedom from temptation. (b) Apply the principles thus brought out to the problem of obtaining control of that state of settled anger which we call resentment or hatred. Suppose,

e. g., that you discovered that one whom you had believed to be your friend had been systematically lying about you in order to get some advantage over you, such as the attainment of some school honor.

6. In what ways may a drunkard gain control over his appetite for liquor?

7. On the basis of the preceding answers describe as many methods as you can discover for the acquisition and maintenance of self-control in general.

8. Point out the principles used in answering questions 5 to 7 which are derived from the materials of the preceding chapters.

VERACITY

1. (a) Is it possible to lie by other means than the use of words, e. g., by actions? (b) Can a person lie by keeping silent? (c) By making no statement not in itself literally true and yet omitting certain other facts in the case? (d) Did the young man lie who came in at three o'clock in the morning, and told his father, when he next saw him, that he had come in at a quarter of twelve (three being a quarter of twelve)? (e) What, then, is a lie?

2. May a statement made on insufficient evidence be a lie?

3. When we talk, we do so, normally, not to exhibit ourselves as persons of virtuous characters, but to communicate facts. Is something required of us, accordingly, in addition to the intention to say exactly what we believe?

4. What are the consequences to the agent of a detected lie?

5. Do we, by lying, increase-if detected - the chances that others will lie to us?

6. If the lie has passed undetected, are there no consequences to the agent similar in kind to those discovered under 4?

7. What are the effects of a lie, even if undetected, upon the character of the person who lies?

8. Does the habit of lying tend to make us unreliable in our statements even when we intend to speak the truth?

9. What are the effects of lying upon our confidence in others?

10. What are the effects of exaggerated statements, known to be exaggerated? (For instance, a person overwhelms you with expressions of his gratitude at some trivial favor.)

11. Does even a justifiable lie (assuming that there is such a thing) have any of the bad consequences already discovered?

12. If a physician lies to his patients, what are likely to be the final results? What facts ought the physician to have in mind when deciding whether or not he will adhere rigidly to the truth in his practice?

13. Is it wise to avoid the appearance of deceit even when we are not being guilty of any deception? Make some suggestions as to ways in which we can do this.

14. What are the most common temptations to lie? 15.

How can we avoid or conquer these temptations, and thus build up a truthful character.