The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-08-05

of thousands of men who work a great
deal harder to please the devil than they
would have to work to pleasee God"
-
This is an epoch Of elevators. We
do not climb to our rooms IN the hote
we ride. We do not reach the upper
stories of Stewart's by slow and patiert
steps; we are lifted there The Simplon
is crossed by railroad aud steam has
usurped the place of the Alpen-stock on,
the Rhigi. The climb which used to
give us health on Mount Holyoke, and
a beautiful prospect, with the reward Of
rest, is now purchased for twenty-five
cents of a stationary engine. ;.
If our efforts to get our bodies into
the air by machinery were not COM
plemented by our efforts to get our lives
up in the same way, we might not find
much fault with them; but, in truth,
the tendency everywhere is to get up in
the world without climbing. Y earnings
after the Infinite are in the fashion.
Aspiration for eminence-even ambitions
for usefulness-are altogether in advance
Of the willingness for the necessary pre-
liminary discipline and work. .,....
The amount of vaporing among young
men and women, who desire to do some-
thing which somebody else is doing:
something far in advance of their pres
ent powers is fearful and most lament
able. They are not willing to climb the
stairway; they must go up in an elevator
They are not willing to scale the rocks
in a walk of weary hours, under boilA
ing sun; they would go up in car with.
an umbrella over their heads. They are
unable, or unwilling, to recognize the
4 = TO do that very beau
tiful thing which some other man Is do,
ing, they must go slowly through the
discipline, through the maturing process
es Of time, through the patient work.
which have made him what he is, and
fitted him for his sphere of life and
labor. In short, they are not willing to
do their next duty, and take what comes
of it.
No man now standing on an eminence
of influence and power, and doing great
work, has arrived at his position by go.
ing up in an elevator. He took. the
stairway, step by step. He climbed the
rocks, often with bleeding hands. He
prepared himself by the work of climb
ing for the work be is doing. He never
accomplished an inch of his elevation
by standing at the foot of the stairs
with his mouth open and longing.
There is no '.royal road'' to anything
good-not even to wealth. Money that
has not been paid for in life is not wealth.
1t goes as it comes. There is no ele-
mcnt Of permanence in it.
The man who reaches his money In an
elevator does not know how to enjoy it;
so it is not wealth to him. To get
high position without climbing to it, to
win wealth without earning it, to do
fine work without the discipline neces-
sary to its performance, to be famous, or
ornamental without preliminary cost,
seems to be the universal desire Of the
young The children would begin where
the fathers leave off
What exactly is the secret of true
success in life? 1t is to do, without
finching, and with utter faithfulness,
the duty that stands next to one.
When a man has mastered the duties
around him, he is ready for those of a
higher grade, and he takes naturally one
step upward. W hen he has mastered
the duties at the new grade, he goes on
climbing, a.
There are no surprises to the man who
arrives at emincnce legitimately. 1t is
entirely natural that he should be there.
and as little elated, as when he was
working patiently at the foot of the
stairs. There are heights above him,
and he remains humble and simple.
Preachments are of little avail, per-
haps; but when one comes into contact
with so many men and women who put
aspiration in the place of perspiration,
and yearning for earning, and longing