And he has integrity, for he is a real man. He has wholeness,
completeness, soundness, and roundness. He is an integer and never counts
for less than one in any relation of life. He cannot be a mere cipher, for
he is dynamic. He rings true at every impact of life, is free from dross
and veneer, and is genuine through and through. There was arithmetic, back
along the line somewhere, but it has been absorbed in the big quality
which it helped to generate and develop. And it is better so. For if he
were now solving decimals and square root he would be but a cog and not
the great wheel itself. He has grown beyond his arithmetic as he has grown
beyond his boyhood warts and freckles, for the larger life has absorbed
them. Yet he feels no disdain either for freckles or arithmetic, but
regards them as gracious incidents of youth and growth. He cannot read his
Latin as he once could, but he does not grieve; for he knows it has not
been lost but, in changed form, is enshrined in the heart of integrity.
Again, he has the qualities of thoroughness, concentration, a sense of
responsibility, loyalty, and serenity. He is big enough, and true enough
both to himself and others, to pursue a straight and steady course. To
him, life is a boon, a privilege, an investment, an opportunity, a
responsibility, and, therefore, a gift too precious to be squandered or
frivoled away. To him, hours are of fine gold and should be seized that
they may be fused and fashioned into a statue of beauty.
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