Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-01-07
Stick to yonr Business.

There is no hing which should he more ire
ouenty impressed upon the minds OF young
men than the Importance of steadily pursuing
one business The frequent changing from one
employment to another is one OF the most com
mon errors committed, and to it may be traced
more than half the failures of men in business.
and much of the discomfort and disappointment
that renders life uncomfortable. 1t is very
common thing for man to be dissatisfied with
his business, and to desire to change it for some
other. and what seems to him will prove more
lucrative employment; but in nine cases out OF
ten it is a mistake. Look round you, and you
will find among your acquaintances abundant
verifcation of our assertion Here is a young
man who commenced life as mechanic, but from
some cause imagined that he ought to have
been doctor; and after q hasty and shallow
preparation, has taken up the saddle-bags only
to find that work is still work, and that his
patients are no more profitable than his work
bench, and the occupation not whit more g.
greeable.
Here are two young men, clerks; one OF them
is content when his first term of service is over
to continue a clerk until he shall have saved e.
noush to commence business on his own account !;
the other cannot wait but starts without capi-
tai, and with limited experience, and brings up,
after few years, in q court of insolvency, while
his former comrade, by patient perseverance,
comes out at last with fortune. That young
lawyer who became disheartened because briefs
and cases did not crowd upon him while he
was vet redolent of calfboun volumes and had
small use for red tape, who concluded he had
mistaken his calling. and so plunged into poll
tics, finally settling down into the character OF
meddling pettitogger, scramblng for his daily
bread.
There is an honest farmer who has toiled q
few years, ct his farm paid for but does not
grow rich very rapidly as much for lack OF con-
tentment mingled with his industry as anything
though he is not aware of it-he hears the wor-
derful story nf California, and how fortunes
may be had for the trouble of picking them up;
mortgages his farm to raise money, goes away
to the land of gold, and after many months of
hard toll comes home to commence again at the
bottom of the hill for more weary and less
successful climbing up again.
Mark the men in every community who are
notorious for ability, and equally notorious for
never getting ahead and you will usually find
them to be those who will never stick to any
one business long, but are always forsaking their
occupations Just when it begins to be profitable.
Young man, stick to your business. 1t may
be you have mistaken your calling. lfso, lind
it out as quick as possible, and change it, but
don't let any uneasy desire to get along fast, or
dislike of your honest calling lead you to
bandon it. Have some honest calling, and then
stick to it; if you are sticking type stick away
at them; if you are selling oysters, keep on sell
ing Them if you are at law, hold fast to that
profession; pursue the business yon have chosen
persistently, industriously, and hopefully, and it
there is anything of you it will appear and turn
to account in that as we'll or better than any
other calling; only ifyou are loafer, forsake
that line of life as quickly as possible, for the
longer you stick to it the worse it will stick
to you.-Hunt's Merchants Magazine.