Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-08-13
FORTUNE FROM LITTLE.

| WdSIou u1Ilo, AoSA0Seoo oPPol
tunities, misapplied talent.
How many sands, beat
en-, bafled, and cast upon the
! shore, pass their declining
years in unavailing regrets for
their earelessness in not ap-
preciating the chances that Pro-
violence had offered them, or
the lavish spendthriftness with
which they flung away the gol-
den hours ofyouth upon frivol-
Gus pursuits and questionable
indulgences. M
In this troubled period, more
| than ever before, do we need to
recall the attention of our young
men to the uncertainties of ex-
istence, and the necessity, to
use a common phrase, of max
ing hay while the sun shines.
The great social questions that
press upon modern communi,
ties with daily increasing force;
| the growing and sharpening
competition in every pursuit;
the prevalence Of corrupt max
inns and evil example, and the
apparently resistless tendency
to mere show and luxury, at
the expense of every sound
consideration of. health and
morality, admonish us that
it is time, high time, for a re-
turn to steady principle, If we
would spare our age the most
terrible disasters.
DAY unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto bring
eth knowledge here such
ruthless expenditure as to I'M
dernlino the honor of individ-
uals, and une cloa.4on or growth
of families; there, an ever
swelling tide of pauperism, fol-
lowed by that desperation which
leads to frightful crime; to-day
the revel and the show, to-mor-
row, the instruction of hun
ger, to be trodden out by the
heel of armed despotism, the
last fearful resort of society
against utter anarchy.
But the vast mass of men,
.. faartInnIanlH- the yoiIE=gt5 see
none of these things. The pre-
sent is all in all to them. The
Intoxicating breath of fashion,
the applause of Others as
thoughtless as themselves, and
that sanguine spirit which sees
no morrow, or counts it all the
same, drown reflection or hurry
them onward, to awaken only
ON the inhospitable shore
of that desert island in the
voyage OF life-'Too Late
Another class are not una
ware of the circumstances we
have sketched, but they demand
for the success of their under
takings broad foundations and
ample help. If they cannot
obtain these, they will either
relinquish effort and go with
the tide, or they will satisfy
their consciences for the COM
mission of any and every kind
of chicanery, with a shrug of
the shoulders, a lift of the eye
brows, and the cynical words,
well, it's the only way to get
along
Let us narrate a little anec-
dote, which will be more i'm
partially for the benefit of this
class Of persons, that it is TAX
en- from an Oriental tongue,
having been originally written
by Sri Somadeva Bhotta, a
novelist Of distant Cashmere,
quite as we'll known in his own
day and among his own people
as Dickens or Thackeray in
America or England.
Some Hindoo merchants
were chatting about trade and
it's chan ces, when one remarked
that there was nothing remar-
kable in amasing wealth when
one started with sufficient cap
ital, and then went on to say
that he had done pretty we'll,
although he had set out with
very little.
My father said he, died
before my birth, and erelong
designing relatives had des-
poiled my mother Of all that
she possessed. She sought
shelter with q female friend
nearly as poor as herself. 1t
was in her house that l was
born. We lived, for d long
Alma nv, +Ln olhor;+v ~ 4t,.