The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1847-11-25
From Chambers Journal.
IT'S USELESS TRYING,


"You will never succeed-'tis useless try
ing was the answer we received one day
when talking OF something quite unimport-
ant to you, dear reader, but very near our
own heart. The voice was one we always
listen to, and not seldom follow; but this
time its discouraging arguments We unheed-
ed We did try, and we did succeed.
The fact set us moralising on the good or
evil tendency of these three words-'tis use
less trying And the conclusion we came
to was this, that for one vain idea dispelled,
one wild project overturned by their prudent
influence, these chilling words have rung the
knell of hundred brilliant and life sustain
ing hopes, and paralyzed into apathy thous-
and active and ardent minds, who might other
wise have elevated themselves, and helped the
world on its progress. What would America
have been if that strong hearted Columbus
had beer discouraged Ivy sneers and argu-
ments about the uselessness of his attempt to
discover new worlds Or where would have
been Newton's stupendous theory, if, at the
commencement of his researches, some med
ding friend at his ear had whispered, "Don t
try; you will be sure to fail p In aid of the
Never try" doctrine comes vanity, with its
potent arguments that no attempt at all is bet
ter than failure. We deny the fact in toto.
Shonld man fail in project too high for
him, he at least becomes acquainted with the
extent OF his own powers he loses that in
hated self-exaltation which is the greatest
bane to real merit. and in finding his own
level, he may do well. And better, far better,
that all the pretenders in the world should
sink back into deserved obscuiity, than that
one spark of real talent should be extin-
guished by the cold-hearted check. Ills
useless trying! Now, having prosed enough,
let us enlighten our arguments by story.
Between ten and twenty years ago-a pre-
else date is immaterial- there was in the city
| of New York, BARRIERS apprentice, young
boy named Reuben Vandrest His Dutch
lineage was shown by his surname, which, in
course of years AMI generations, had been
corrupted from Van der BEST to Vandrest,
while for his Scriptural Christian name he
was indebted to worthy Quaker his mater
nal grandfather, who had come over with
viii am Penn. These names We're in truth,
all the boy owed to his rrosenitors, as from
his cradle he had been an orphan, cast on the
charity of the wide world. But the excellent
sect to which Reuben's mother belonged, is
one of the few who never cast the lambs
from their bosom and the orphan child was
and when he was able to earn livelihood
one of their number received him as an ap-
prentice. Such was the short and simple
story of the barber's boy.
Without entering on metaphysics, every
human being has some inner life which the
world outside knows nothing of. Thus from
his earliest childhood the passion of Vandres,
had been music. He would follow the timer
ant ministries of the city through one street
after another, often thus losing his meals, his
rest, everything except his schooling, which
precious thing he was too wise to throw away
even for music. He made friendship with
blind pipers, Italian hurdy gurdyists, and
above all, with wandering fddlers; for, with
an intuitive perception, the violin-the prince
of stringed instruments-was his chief IA
vorite. From all and each of these wander
ing musicians Reuben was intent on gaining
something: they were won by his childish
manners and his earnest admiration-tor love
of praise is the same in blind fiddler as in
an -singer-and by degrees Reuben not
only listened but learned to play. No in.
strument came amiss to him but his sole
private property was an old fife and with
with this simplest of all orchestral varieties
the poor barber's boy used to creep to his gar
ret, and there strive, with his acute ear and
retentive memory, to make out the tunes he
had heard in the street, or invent others.
But the grand era in the boys life was
coming. One day he stood as wistfully look
ing at a violin which he held in his arms
fondly and lingeringly, prior to returning 1t
to its right owner, poor street musician, the
idea of Reconstruction first entered Reuben S
mind He had been accustomed to regard
a violin as mysterious thing-a self-creat-
ing, sound-rroducing being; and never once
had he considered of what it was made, or
how. Now he began to peer into its mystic