Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1875-01-28


trance upon active life, with great ambitions
conscious capacities and high :hopes, the pros
psct is, in mnety-nine cases in . hundred, mos
porplexing. They see every avenue to prosperi
ty thronged with their superiors in experience
in social advantages, aud in the possession Of
all the elements and conditions Of success
Every post in occupied, every Office filled, every
path crowded. Whore shall they find room
II is related Of Mr.. Webster that when yount
lawyer suggested TO hun that the profession tS
which he had devoted himself WAS Overcrowded
the great man replied: Young man, there Ii
always room enough at the top" Never was
doubtedy ID always room enough where excel
ience lived. blr Webster wAs not troubled fol
lack OF room. Mr.. Clay and Mr. Calhoun were
never crowded. MIR. Evarts, Mr.. Gushing, and
Mr., O'Conor have plenty Of space around them
Mr.. Beecher, Dr. StorrH, DR.. Hall, Mr.. Phillips
Brooks would mover know, in their personal ex.
perience, that il WAS hard to obtain desirable
| ministerial charge. The profession is not
crowded where they are Or. Brown-Ssquard
Dr. willard Parker, Or: Hammond are moi
laron died IN Paris. he died like Moses on
mountain. When Won Grasfe died in Berlin, he
had no neighbor at his altitude.
1t III well, first, that all young men remember
that nothing will do them 10 much injury ~
quick and easy success, and that nothing will do
them 10 much good As struggle which teaches
them exactly what there il in them, educates
them gradually to its use, instructs them in per-
sonal economy, drills them into 4 patient and
persistent habit Of work, and keeps them At the
foot OF the ladder until they become strong
enough to hold every step they are enabled to
gain. The first years OF every mans business or
professional life are years Of education. They
are intended To be, in the order Of nature and
Providence Doors do not open to a man until
he Ii prepared to enter them The man without
welding gAfm2nt yet in arrr II, al 20
but he immediately goes out with flea in his
ear. We think 1t is the experience Of most sue
cessfu men who have watched the course of
their lives in retrospect, that whenever they have
prepared to go up higher, the door to higher
place has swung back Of itself, and they have
heard tile call to enter. The old die, or volun-
tarily retire for rest The best mon who stand
ready to take their places will succeed to their
position and its honors and omoluments
The young mon will say that only few can
reach the top. That is true, but it is also true
that the further from the bottom one goes, the
more scattering the neighborhood. One can
fancy, Tor illustration, that every profession and
overy calling is pyramidal in its living constit,l-
cncy, aud that while only one man is Ut the top,
there are sew eral tiers Of men below him WHO
have plenty OF elbow room, and that 1t ia only at
tho base that men are 30 thick that they pick the
meat out Of one anothers teeth to keep them
from starving. II man has no power to get
out Of the rabble vt the bottom, then he is self
convicted of having chosen calling or profN-
sion to whose duties he has no adaptation.
The grand mistake that young men make,
during the first ten years Of their business and
prof ,ssOnal life, ia in idly waiting for their
chance. They seem to forget do not know,
that during those ten years they enjoy the only
leisure they will ever have. After ten years; in
the natural course OF things they will be ab-
sorbingly busy. There will be no time for read
ing, culture, and study. II they do not become
thoroughly grounded in the principles and prac-
tical details OF their profession during their pro-
fession during those years. II they do not store
their minds with useful knowledge; il they do
not pursue habits OF reading and observation
and Social intercourse, which result
in culture, the question whether they
will ever rise to occupy place where there is
room enough for them will be decided in the
negative. The young physicians and young law
yers who sit idly i'll their Offices and smoke and
lounge away the time ''wsitng for something to
turn up" are by that course fastening themselves
for life TO the lower stratum, where their strug-
gle for bare livelihood is to be perpetual. The
first ten years are golden years, that should be
filled with systematic reading and observation.
aoah excellsncs should b IN object of daily
pursuit. To such men the doors OF success
open Of themselves at last. Work reeks the
best hands, as naturally water runs down hill
and it never socks the hands OF the trisr, or OF
one whose only recommendation for work is that
he needs it. Young mon do not know very much
any way, and the time always comes to those
who become worthy, when they lock back with
wonder upon their early good opinion Of their
requirements and themselvs.
There is another point that ought not to be
overlooked in the treatment Of this subject.
Young men look about them and zee a great
measure Of worldly success awarded to men
without principle. They see the trickster
crowned with public honors, they see tile swind-
ler rolling in wealth, they nee the sharp man,
the ovorresching man, the unprncpled man,
the liar, the demagogue, the time. server, the
trimmer, the sconndrel who cunningly manages,
though constantly disobeying moral law
and trampling upon social courtesy, to keep
himself out Of the clutches Of the legal
and place. All this is demorslizinV
puzzle and fearful temptation; and multidudes
OF young men are not strong enough to stand
before it. They ought to understand that in
where there is integrity Great trusts may be
sought by scoundrels, but great trusts never
seeks them; and perfect integrity is at premi-
um even among scoundrels There are some
trusts that they will never confer on each other
There are occasions when they need the servi-
COS of true men. and they do not find them in
shoals and in the mud, but alone and i'll pure
water.
In tho realm'of eminent acQuirementa and en-
inent integrity there il always room enough.
Let no young man OF industry and perfect hon
esty despair because his profession or calling is
crowded. Lot him always remember that there
is room enough at the top, and that the ques-
ton whether he is ever to reach the top, Or rise
above the crowd at the base OF the pyramid, will
be decided by the way in which he improves the
first ten years Of his active life in securing to
himself q thorough knowledge Of his profession,
and sound moral and intellectual culture. N-.
J. q. Holland; Scribner for Jan.