The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1858-07-08
NO. TX
BE Something.
The present momsnt II our own.
The next We never saw.p

wrote Burns, and the maxim is in vslusbis ,xh.,
we come to consider that tho proper y.lus or an
Meeting possession is the bsne fe,.l ues 4.
which u can he applied. The spplicstion a.
moreover, duty Of the highest character. s.i
'he mode OF procedure a study tha, requires ths
concentration OF the mind upon the deyelop.
nen' OF a. cherished and distinctly marked out
oo)eet' Ihe man that would succeed in snv
undertaking must submit to the wholesome "a.
sFaints imposed by the conduct necessary To
oe observed IN the working out of the peculiar
views he had formed He must in shost ,y..
tematise himself by the mos, rigid discipline'-.
AS The lawyers say ii he wishes to be something.
ne must not travel out of the record. Take a
'am''iar anu well.authenticated instance, One
OF our richest city merchants was very moor
when he was a boy, aud when asked how he had
obtained his wealth, he delivered this characters.
iStic reply
81 resolved very early to be somethinr and
KNOWING that must proceed by rule [ nut in
practice lesson bad received at time when
! was 100 Young to sec the great use IL would Be-
to me. My father taught me never to play till
my WORK Tor The day was finished. and never
spend my money till had earned it, If had
out halt an hours work to do in day, must
40 that tie first thing, and in half an hour
hiter thls was done was allowed to pIay. and
! could then play with much more pleasure than
IL had had the thought Of an unfinised tssh
before my mind. early formed the habit OF
dong everything in its time, and il soon became
perfectly easy to do. II is to this habi, that I
owe my present prosperity f
But the means here indicated would have beam
nothing without the original impulse, the strong
VIII. anu solemn promise 10 :" be something"
rms is the text that we would set in letters Of
6o'n before every young person, because Il is the
sacred duty OF every one to perform some dis
t'nGt character on the stage Of life. Some seem
10 thlnk that man was made to rust out his life.
instead OF having his share of work TO perform.
lhis Is an evil OF very aggravated description,
and can only be eradicated by tho intense aor.
v'chon that we arc not placed here TO grow up,
pass through the various stages Of life AID then
| uie without having done anything for tho benefis
of the human race
Nothing can be palmer than that q man wss
never intended to be brought up in idleDs,S--
What would the world be If men were To live
upon The Fccumulations of their ancestorsf Why
barren waste, bowling desert, q very Pande-
monium. in whose ffful CLEANS the forms OF
demons. not men, would be revealed. But the
obligation to labor, to be something more than
an automaton, IL so manifest, that the man who
does nothing is mere cypher--he ia cut off from
all fellowship with his kind-aud when he dies
he is considered as no better than q discharged
incumbrance, ahuman item which has not iui.
filed the obligations for which II was ssnk iuto
the world, The man who has done something
never dies unregretted The man who does
nothing-whoi is destitu ute Of aims--ts he as rich
as Cresus, is no better than cyphsr-- he can.
not possess the proper feelings OF ci,izsn--and
must therefore take his ignominious place among
the drones.
Be something is, then, an eloquent com.
mand emanating from the very source Of alt
things; for even he afluent ought to remember
that riches have wings that hopes may be-
blighted. and i'll moment double-faced fortune
present her frowning, chillside to the most ia
vored OF The children of ignobls ease.