The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-04-16

hobodies, or what is worse, all'the
balance of life. IS
Without intending to dispute the
spirit ofthe poets words:
"Virtue though chained to earth, will stiI1
And hell itself must yield to industry.'
/ will assert that in the nature of
things it is not possible for all men,
or any considerable portion of them
to be Caesars and this is well; for
the world would doubtless not be
SO happy if such were in the major
ity, as now, with the masses hewers
of wood and drawers Of water, any
more than a watch would be well
made, if all mainspring, or a thresh
ing machine all master-wheel and
no cylinder. -
1t is not difficult to convince a
youth of ordinary intelligence, that
the smallest, and at at first sight,
apparently most insignificant pivot
or pinion Of any complicated ma
chine, is quite as important and in
dispensible to the utility and har-
mony of the whole instrument, as
its largest and most snowy part.
But it seems more difficult to prac-
tically teach him that all the useful
and necessary occupation of the
day -laborer which help to keep the
world moving in harmony, are quite
as important, and equally as honor
able as those Of the most glittering
statesman, and that there are none
of these useful, but now too gener-
ally despised occupations, but what
have been, and must still be, the
stepping stones to what are com
monty recognized as the highest
goals of human ambition. It is
true nevertheless.
Esop made his start from the
position of a lowly drudging slave !;
yet now his fame is world wide, and
growing brighter every day, though
lie has been dead two thousand five
hundred years, while the very name
of his rich and apparently favored
master, was wrapped in oblivion
within a single century after his
death.
If asked what should be the chief
aim of every young man and wo-
man, 1 would answer, to acquire the
largest amount of goodness and
knowledge for which God has given
them capacity and opportunity
And how is this to be done? Is an
ignorant, inexperienced and per
haps graceless youth to accomplish
it by simply resolving to be a saint
and Solomon, and then attempting
nothing but the work of a full grown
saint or Solomon from the start p
| by standing at the foot Of the noun
tain and resolving to be upon its
top, and then sitting down in idle
ness until such resolve is fulfilled
l answer no. Even Ksop's frog
which tried to swell himself to the
dimensions of an OK, was more sen
sible. If then, rewarded ambition
be thy coveted goal, I repeat the
inquiry, how is it to be obtained
I answer by asking what have gen
orally been the means by which the
great and the good have achieved
their emlnence in the world? His
tory answers that in all time past
it has been by doing their duty
wherever they have found it, an6
this without reference to the when
or where, OF what by pulling of
their coats and working with a will
at whatever their hands found to dc
which their conscience told them
should be done. It is plain that ir
Che future this must ever be as ir
the past. Inventive genius can nev.
er devise Improvement here.
have yet to learn Of an individ
ual who has achieved goodness OIL
greatness by simply fixing his eyes
upon, and resolving to initiate any
dazzling genius or luminary. Ane
it is truer now than it would have
been in the days. Of miracles, tha
unless one comes down from above
he must climb before he can stant
upon the top Of a mountain ano
look down upon the beauties below
and, climbing, he must toll ovel
every step of the ascent, soiling hi:
| feet in the sloughs, and tearing hi:
skin with the briers and bramble'
along the lower wayside.
Those who have achieved th'
highest fame in the world, who hav'
done most good to their fellow-mel
and most to glorify God, have gen
orally been those least solicitiou
for, and least conscious of fame; 81
much so, that the consideration o
the worlds opinion concerning then
or their works, has seldom entered
their thoughts. -. *''
When John Milton was toiling il
his blindness upon his. immorta
Paradise Lost, upon which he placed
so low an estimate, that when com
pleted, he was willing to sell thi
manuscript and copyright for. th'
paltry pittance Of five pounds ster
ling, it is scarcely probable that h
thought he was doing anything ia
NOUS. When Shakespeare, said b,
some to have been butchers boy
was in the habit Of performing th
office of lackey, of holding th
horses Of gentlemen while the,
were attending theatres during th'
long cold evenings Of winter, t.
earn bread for himself, wife AM
little ones, was he. conscious tha
: he was aiming at the sun? No, bu
he was simply exercising that won
derful good sense which finall,
made him SO great, in cheerful.
doing the best thing which present
, ed itself to, his employment, dis
! tasteful though it may have. been
) rather than remain idle for the tim
being, waiting for something NOR
, genteel, as most ambitious me!
: would have done. =