men were to form themselves into a little association, each member
of which should be pledged to lose no opportunity of crying up the
other five members in conversation, through the press, and in--every
other possible way, this would materially further their success in
life and the estimation in which they would be held wherever known.
The world would take them at the value so constantly dinned into
its ear. When you read on a silver coin the legend one shilling,
you readily take it for a shilling; and if a man walks about with
great genius painted upon him in large red letters, many people
will aecept the truth of the inscription. Every one has seen how
a knot of able young men hanging together at college and in after
life can help one another even in a material sense, and not less
valuably by keeping up one another's heart. All this is quite fair,
and so is even the mutual praise when it is hearty and sincere.
For several months past I have been possessed of an idea which has
been gradually growing into shape. I have thought of getting up an
association, whose members should always hold by one another, be
true to one another, and cry one another up. A friend to whom I
mentioned my plan highly approved it, and suggested the happy name
of the MUTUAL EXALTATION SOCIETY. The association would be limited
in number: not more than fifty members could be admitted. It would
include educated men in all walks of life; more particularly men
whose success in life depends in any measure upon the estimation
in which they are commonly held, as barristers, preachers, authors,
and the like. Its purposes and operations have already been indicated
with as much fulness as would be judicious at the present juncture.
Mr. Barnum and Messrs. Moses and Son would be consulted on the
details. Sir John Ellesmere, ex-solicitor-general and author of the
Essay on the Arts of Self-Advancement, would be the first president,
and the general guide, philosopher, and friend of the Mutual