Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1875-08-17
Room at the Top.

OlliOu, COHsClOuS CdpdCItIcs anu hlSh
hopes. the pre- spect is, in ninety-dine
cases in l hundred. most perplexing.-
They see every avenue to prosperity
thronged with their superors in expert
ence, in social advantages. and in the
possession OF all the elements and condi-
tions OF success. EverY post is occupied
every office filed. every path crowded.
Where shall they lind room 1t is re-
lated of Mr.. Webster that when young
lawyer suggested to him that the proles'
sion to which he had devoted himself was
oyercrowed. the great man replied: -
Young man, there is always room
enough at the top" Never was wiser
or more suggestive word said. There is
undoubtedly always room enough where
excellence lives. MIR Webster was not
troubled Tor lack OF room. Mr.. Clay and
Mr.. Calhoun were never crowded. Mr..
Eyarts, Mr.. Cushing and Mr.. O'COnor
have plenty OF space around them. Mr..
Beecher, DR.. Storrs, DR.. Hall, Mr..
Phillips Brooks would never know, in
their personal experience, that it was
hard To obtain desirable ministerial
charge. The profession is not crowded
where they are. DR.. Brown-SeQuard.
DIR. Willard Parker. DR.. Hammond are
not troubled Tor space for their elbows.
When Nelaton died in Paiis, he died like
Moses on mountain. When Won
Graeie died in Berlin. he had no neigh
boz ut his altitude.
1t is well, first. that all young men re-
member that nothing will DO them 20
much injury as quick and easy success,
and that nothing vii! do them 80 much
good as struggle which teaches them
exactly what there IS in them, educates
them gradually TO its use, instructs them
in personal economy. drills them into a
patient and presisten. habit of work, and
keeps them ut the loot OF the ladder until
they become strong enough to hold every
sep they are enabled to gain. The first
years oi every mans business or profess.
ional lie are years OF education. They
are intended 10 be, in the order OF nature
and Providence. Doors do not open TO 3
man until he is prepared TO enter them.
The man without wedding garment may
get in surreptitiously, but he Immediately
goes out with flea in his ear. We think
il is the experience OF most successful
men who have watched the course OF their
lives in retrospect. that whenever they
arrived at point where they were
prepared to go up higher lhe
door to a higher place has swung back OF
itself, and they heard the call TO enter
The old die, or voluntary retire for rest.
The best men who stand ready to take
their places will succeed ~ their posltion
and its honors and emoluments.
The young men will say that only a few
can reach the top That Is trne, but 1t
is also true that the further from the bot
tom one goes, the more scattering the
p.ighborhood. One can fancy, for Illus
tration, that every profession aud every
calling Is pyramidsl In its living consti'
tuency, and that while only one man Is
a. the top, there are several tiers oil men
below him who have plenty OF elbow
room and that Il Is only at the base that
men are 80 thick TINT they pick the meat
out of one another's teeth to keep them
from starving. II man has no power
TO get out OF the rabble at the botIom'
then he Is se!f-convicted oil having chosen
a calling or profession to whose duties ne
has no adaptation.
The grand mistake that young men
make, during the first ten years oil their
business and professional life. is IN idiy
waiting for their chance. They seem 10
forget, or they do not know, that curing
those ten years they enjoy the only ieis-
ure thev will ever have. After ten years
in the natural course OF things. they Will
be absorbingly busy. There will then DO
no time for reading, culture aud study
II ,bev 40 not become thoroughly ground
ed in the principles and practical details
of their profession during those years
if they do not store their minds with Us
tui knowledge; il they do not pursue
habits of reading and observation and
soci.l intercourse, which result in culture
the question whether they will ever rise
to occupy place where there is room
enon Oh Tor them will be decided In the
negative. The young physicians and
voung LAWYERS who sit idly in their
Offices and smoke and lounge away tne
time "waiting tor something to turn up
are nv that course fastening themselves
for life to the lower stratum, where ''e'r
struggle for a bare livelihood is to be
nern.tual. The first ten years are golden
vsars that should be filed with systematic
reading and observation. Everything
that tends to professional and personal
excellence should be an object OF daily
nursuit. To such men The doors OF sue
cess open Of themselves at last. work
seeks the best hands as naturally as water
,uns down hill; and il never seeks Inc