The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-03-28
Always Begin Right.

We once knew an old Friend who had
but one piece of advice to young begin
ners it was, If theell only begin right
all will go we'll" We have often thought
that there was more III the recommen-
dation than even the good Quaker saw,
for there is scarcely anything to be done
in life to which the adage, begin right"
will not apply. Success is but a syno-
nym for beginning right.
Who, for example, is the healthicst,
the early-riser on the sluggard! 1t is
the man who begins the day right, by
leaving his bed with the sun, and inhal-
ing the fresh air of morning, not the one
who remains till eight or nine o'clock in
close chamber, sleeping dull, stupe-
flying sleep. Who gets through his days
work the earliest? The early riser. The
man of business who is at his store SOON
est, is always best prepared for the Gus
toners of the day, and often, indeed, has
sold many a bill before his laggard
noighbors were about. Sir Walter Scott
used to have half his days writing fin
ished before breakfast. 4 shrewd OBJ
server has said that "A late-riser consumes
the day in trying to recover the hours he
lost in the morning. Mind and body
are both freshest early i'll the day. The
lawyer should think, the minister study,
the author write, the valetudinarian
walk or ride, and the mechanic or far
mer be at work as early as possible.
Nor is this all. The great bulk of en-
terprises that fail owe their ruin to not
having been begun right. A business is
undertaken without sufficient capital,
connection, or knowledge. 1t ends un-
favorably. Why: Because it was not
begun right. A young professional man,
whose probationary period OF study has
been spent in pleasure rather than in
hard reading, complains that he cannot
succeed. Why, again Because he has
not begun right either. A stock compa-
ny blows up. Still why: Ten to one,
the means employed are not adequate to
the end, or else it was started with inef-
ficient officers, and in either case it was
not begun right. Two young house
keepers break up their gay establish
ment, the lady going home, perhaps, to
her fathers, taking her husband with
her. Why: They did not begin right,
for they commenced on too large scale,
forgetting that the expenses of family
increase every year, and that, in no event
is it safe for man to live up to his in
come. An inventor starts manufac-
tory, in which his improvements in ma
chinery are brought into play; but after
a while he finds himself insolvent his
factory Is sold; another reaps where he
has sown. Why? Alas! like too many
others, he has undertaken more than he
has means to carry through; he did not
begin right, and his ruin was the conse-
quence.
But, above all things, life should be
begun right. Young men rarely know
how much their conduct, during their
first few years, affects their success. 1t
it not only that older persons in the
same business form their opinions of
them at this time, but that every begin
ner acquires, during these years, habits
for good or i'll which color his whole fu-
turc career. We have seen some of the
ablest young men, with every advantage
of fortune and friends, sow the seeds of
ruin and early death by indulging too
freely in the first years of manhood. We
hace seen others, with far less capacity,
and without any backing but industry
and energy, rise gradually to fortune
and influence. Franklin is Il familiar IL
lustration of what Il man can do who be-
gins right. If he had been too proud to
eat rolls in the street when he was a poor
boy, he would never have been Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Court of France.
Always begin right. Survey the
whole ground before you commence any
undertaking, and you will then be pre-
pared to go forward successfully. Neg
lect this, however, and you are almost
sure to fail In other words, begin right.
A good commencement is half the bat
tie. A false first step is almost certain
defeat. Begin right.