The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-04-21
From Hearth and Home"

/ FROM Hearth
In nine cases out of ten no mans life
will be a success if he does not bear
burdens in his childhood If the fondness
or the vanity of father or mother have
kept him from hard work il another
always helped him out at the end OF his
row; if, instead of taking his turn at
pitching off, he moved away all the
time-in short, if what was light always
fell to him, and what was heavy about the
same work to some one else If he has
been permitted to shirk till Sinking has
become Il habit-unless miracle Is
wrought, his life will be failure, and
the blame will not be half so much his
as that of weak, foolish parents.
On the other hand, if "a boy has beer
brought up to do his part, never allowed
to shirk any legitimate responsibility,
or to dodge work, whether or not 1t
made his heart ache, or soiled his hands
until bearing heavy burdens become
a matter of pride, the heavy end OF the
wood his from choice-parents, as they
bid him goodbye, may dismiss their
fears. His life will not be n business
failure. The elements of success are
his. and at some time and in some way
TIC Nollu Will IcCOSlllHt Ills capacity
Take another point. Money is the
object of the worlds pursuit. 1t is
legitimate object. 1t gives bread and
clothing and homes and comfort. The
world has not judged wholly unwisely
when it has made the position man
occupies to hinge comparatively more
or less on his ability to earn money, and
somewhat on the amount Of his posses
sions. If he is miserably poor it argues
either some defect in his expenditures,
or lack Of fitness to cope with men III
the battle for gold.
When a country bred boy leaves home
it is generally to enter upon some bust
ness, the end Of which is to acquire
property and he will succeed just in
proportion as he has been made to earn
and save in childhood.
If all the money he has had has come
OF planting little patch in the spring
and selling its produce after weary
months of watching and toll in the fall,
or from killing woodchuclls at six cents
head, or from trapping muskrats and
selling their skins for a shilling setting
snares in the fall for game, and walking
miles TO see them in the morning before
the old folks were up; husking corn for
a neighbour moonlight evenings at two
cents bushel; working out an occa-
sional day that hard work at home has
made possible-he IS good 10 make his
pile in the world.
On the contrary, if the boy never
earned a dollar; if parents and friends
had always kept him in spending
money-pennies to buy candies and
tish-hools, and satisfy his imaginative
wants-and he has grown to manhood
III the expectancy that the world will
generally treat him with similar con.
sideration, he will always be II make
shit and the fault is not SO much his
- That Of 'la3e about him, Who ever
made the boy depend on himselt-did
not make him wait six months to get
money 10 replace lost jacll-knife.
Every one has to rough it at one time
or another. If the roughing comes in
boyhood, it does good; if later when
habits are formed, it is equally tough.
but not being educational, is generally
useless. And the question whether "a
young man will succeed in making
money or not depends not upon where
he goes or what he does, but upon his
willingness to do "his part" and upon
his having earned money, and so gained
knowledge of its worth. Not a little
of his valuable experience and knowl-
edge the country boy gets on the old
farm, under the tutelage Of parents
shrewd enough to see the end from the
beginning. and to make the labor and
grief of children contribute to the sue
cess Of subsequent life