The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-02-04
Room at the Top.

10 the young men annually making their
entrance upon active life, with great ambi
tlons, conscious capacities and high hopes.
the prospect is, in ninety-ninc cases in a
hundred, most perpleSing, Thev see every
avenue to prosperity thronged with their
superiors in experience, in social advan
tagcs, and in the possession of al! the eIc-
mcnts and conditions of success, Every
post is occupied, every Office filled, every
path crowded, Where shall they find
room? 1t is related of Mr.. Webster that
when young lawyer suggested to him that
the profession TO which he had devoted HIM
self was overcrowdcd, the great man re-
Piled Young man, there is always room
enough at the top" Never was wiser or
more suggestive word said. There un-
doubtediy is always room enough where
excellence lives. Mr.. Webster was not
troubled for lack of room. Mr.. Clay and
Mr.. Calhoun were never crowded Mr..
Evarts, Mr.. Cushing and Mr. O'Conor have
plenty of space around them Sir. Beecher,
Dr. Storrs, DR.. Hall, Mr.. Phillips, Brooks,
would never know, in their personal ex-
perIence, that it was hard to obain de-
sirable ministerial charge. The profession
IS not crowded where they gre Dir. Brown
Sequard, DR.. Willard Parker, DR.. Ham
mond, are not troubled for space for their
elbows. When Nclaton died in Paris, he
died ike Moses on q mountain. When
Won Graefe died in Berlin, he had no
nei@hbor at his altitude
1t is well, first, that al young men re-
member that nothing will do them 50 much
injury as quick and easy success, and that
nothing will do them SO much good as a
struggle which teaches them exactly what
there is in them, cducates them gradually
to its use, instructs them in personal econo-
my, drills them into patient and persist
ent 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 arc intended to be, In
the order of nature and Providence. Doors
do not open to man until he is prepared
to enter them. The man without wed
ding garment may get in surreptitiously,
bat he Immediately goes out with a fiei in
his ear We think it is the experience of
most successful men who have watched the
course OF their lives IN retrospect, that
whenever they have arrived at point
where they We're thoroughly prepared TO
90 up higher, the door to higher place
has swung buck Of itself, and they have
heIrd the call to enter The old die, or
voluntarily retire for rest The best man
who stand ready to take their places will
succeed to their position and It's honors
and emoluments.
The young men viii say that only a 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 noighbor
hood. One can fancy, for Illustration, that
every profession and every calling is. py-
ramidal in its constituency, and while only
one man is at the top, there are several
tiers Of men below him who have plenty Of
elbow room, and that it is only at the base
that men are so thick that they pick the
meat out of one another's teeth to keep
them from starving, IF man has no power
to get out of the rabble at the bottom, then
he is selfcouvicted of having chosen a call
ing or profession to whose duties he has
no adaptation. The grand mistake that
young men make, during the first ten years
Of their business and professional life, is III
idly waiting for their chance. They seem
to forget, or they do not know, that dur
ing those ten years they enjoy the only
leisure they will ever have. After ten
years, in the natural course of things, they
will be absorbingnly busy. There will then
CTR Hv
If they do not become Thoroughly grounded
in the principles and practical details of
their profession during those years if they
do not store their minds with useful know
ledge if they do not pursue habits ofread-
ing and OF servatiou, and social intercourse,
which result IN culture, the question whe-
ther they viii ever rise to occupy place
where there is room enough for them will
be decided in the negative. The young
physicians and young lawyers who SIT Idly
in their Offices, and smoke and lounge away
the time waiting for something to turn
up" are by that course fastening the;;-
selves for life to the lower stratum, where !
their struggle for bare livelihood is to be |
perpetual The first ten years are goledn |
years that should be filed with systematic |
reading and observation Everything that |
tends to professional and personal excellence |
should be an object Of daily pursuit. 10
such men the doors Of success open Of them
selves at Last. Work seeks the best hands, |
as naturally as water runs down hill and |
it never seeks the hands of trifer, or of
one whose only recommendation for work |
is that he needs it. Young men do not /
know very much any way, and the time al |
WAYS comes to those who become worthy, |
when they look back with wonder upon
their early good opinion of their acquire
mcnts and themselves.
There is another point that ought not to
be overlooked in the treatment of his sub
lect. Young men look about them and see
a great measure of worldly success award |
4 ..,,,. ,,-;,bo,t ,,rinci,,la Thav saa the |