The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-09-07
A Word to the Young Men.

The grand mistake that young men
make during the first ten years of their
business and professional cares. is in idly
waiting for their chance. They seem to
forget, or they do not know, that during
those ten years they enjoy the only leis-
ure they will ever have. After ten years
there will be no tiulc for reading, culture
and study. If they do not become thor.
oughly grounded in the principles and
practical details OF their profession dur
ing those years; if they do not store their
mind with useful knowedge; if they do
not pursue habits of reading and obscrva-
ton, and social intercourse, which result
in culture, the question whether they
will ever rise to occupy a place where
there is room enough for them, will be
decided in the negative. The young
physicians and lawyers who sit idly in
their Offices and lounge away the time
waiting for something to turn up" are
by that course fastening themselves for
life to the lower stratum where their
struggle for a bare livelihood is to be
perpetual. The first ten years are golden
years that should be filled with perpetual
reading and observation. Everything
that attends professional excellence,
should be an object of daily pursuit. To
such men the doors of success open CT
themselves, at last. Work seeks the best
hands as naturally as water runs down
hill. Young men don't know much any
way, and the time always comes to those
who become worthy, when they look
back with wonder, upon their good
opinion of their requirements and them
selves.
There is another point that ought not
to be overlooked in the treatment of this
subject. Young men look about them
and see great measure of worldly sue
cess awarded to men without principle.
They see the trickster crowned with pub
lie honors they see the sharp man, the
overreaching man, the liar, the dema-
gogue, the time.server, the scoundrel who
cunningly manages, though constantly
disobeys moral laws and trampling on
social courtesy, so keep himself out of
the legal police, carrying off prizes of
wealth and place. All this is DONOR
alizing puzzle, and fearful temptation
and multitudes of young men are not
able to stand before it. They ought to
understand that in this wicked world
there is great deal of room where there's
integrity. Great trusts may be sought
by scoundrels, but great trusts never seek
them; and perfect integrity is at a pre-
MUM even among scoundrels. There
are some trusts that they will never con-
fer on each other. There are occasions
when they need the services of true men,
and they do not find them in shoals and
in the mud, but alone and in pure wa
ter.
In the realm of eminent requirements
and eminent integrity, there is always
room enough. Let no young man of in
dustry and perfect honesty despair because
his profession is crowded. Let him always
remember that there is room enough at
the top, and that the question whether
he is to reach the top, or rise above the
crowd at the base of the pyramid, will
be decided by the way in which he i'm
proved the first ten years of his active
life in securing to himself thorough
knowledge of his profession, and sound
moral and intellectual culture.