Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1871-09-09


minds, but, like Coleridge, debate with
themselves the whole journey which
side of the road thoy will take, and
meanwhile keep winding from one to
the other. Many business man has
made his fortune by promptly deciding
at some nice juncture to expose himself
to a considerable risk There is no.
body, said a Roman Cardinal whom
fortune does not visit once in his life
but when she fluids that he is not ready
to receive her. she goes in at the door
and out through the window" Op or
tunity is coy. There are two moments,
says Browning, in divers life land
the same applies to every mans career):
One when beggar he prepares to plunge;
One when Prince he rises with his pearl.
mans life when the Rubicon must be
passed-when the Wellington of the
mart or forum must not wait for Blu.
cher to come up, but must himself
arise and charge. The battle of life
IS constantly presenting new phases,
and he only can expect to be victorious
who is ready tn show a new front as
often as the situation shows new peril.
4 sword that breaks iu the very crisis
of duel-a horse killed by flash of
lightning in the moment of collision
with the enemy-a bridge carried
away by a freshet at the instant of a
commencing retreat-are events which
are parallelcd in every mans business
career, and call for istant decision
They confound and paralyze the feeble
mind but rouse terrific reaction of
haughty sel-ass ,rtlon in that order OF
spirits which matches and measures
itself against difficulty and danger 1t
is told of Pellissier, the hero of the
Crimea, that, getting angry one morn
ing with IA sub-office OF cavalry regi-
ment, he cut him across the face WI h Il
whip. The man drew a pistol and
attempted to explode it in the face q
his chief, but il missed fire Uiterln4
fearful oath, but otheraise calm
= Fellow :" said the grim chief Of the
Zouaves. Z" | order you three day.
arrest for not having your arms in bet
Ter condition"
1t it the lack of this promptness 50
characteristic of the gladiatorial iutrl-
| ect-Of this readiness 10 meet ever,
attack of i'll fortune with counter re
| sources Of evasou-which causes 50
many defeats in life. There is race
Of narrow wits that never get rich for
want Of courage Their understanding
| is of that hating, balancing kind which
gives a man just enough light to SCI
difficulties and start donhts, bur not
enough to surmount the one or remove
the other They do not know what
force Of character means They com
and 20 like shadows; speak Ike women;
| sandwich their sentences with apollo
gics; are ovcrtaken by events while
still irrcsolutc, and let the tide ebh
before they freely push off Always
broodins over 'hclr plans, but never
executing them, they remind ne OF
Noltalre's sarcasm upon La lIarpc,
whom he called an oven that was
always heating up, but which never
cooked anything, They never get
ahead an inch, because tLcy are always
| hugging some cowardly maxim, which
they can only Interpret literally.
Never change a certainty for an nn,
certainty" A bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush" are their
favorite saws and very good ones they
are, too, but not to be followed too Law
ishly. Of what use is it to be saving
about a set OF maxims to which there
is a complete set of anta2onistic max
inns 7" Proverbs, it has been well said
should be sold in pairs, a single one
being but half truth.
Not only is decision necessary, but
promptness also, without which decision
loses half its value. as Philip at
Paris 7" asked Charles ", after his
son, the King Of Spain, had gained the
decisive victory over the French at
Quentin. He estimated Philips tenn
per by his own. When Ledyard was
asked by the African Association when
he would be ready to start for Africa,
he replied, =" Tomorrow morning." A
similar answer was made by Sir Colin
Campbell, when asked when he would
set out to lead the British army to
India. 1t was the promptness of Blu
cher that won for him the cognomen of
" Marshall Forward" throughout the
Prussian army. Again, besides prompt
ness, tenacily OF decision is indispcnsi-
BILE to him who would make his mark
in the world, or achieve any rare sue.
cess. All the men whose names have
been blazoned on the scrolI of fame
have been distinguished by their firm
adherence to their parpose--by the
nescit von missG reverti-whieh has
made their spoken word like an oath
When certain commissary general
com planned to the Duke of wellington