The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1878-12-05
Fossils.

Don't be fossils; old logs lying by the
wayside for moss and fungus to grow
upon; for worms to honeycOmb and
spiders to weave nests around. Be a
man among men, with a purpose and
strength to accomplish. Don't be afraid
of resistanCe-the more the better.
Friction cleans the bark and rubs down
the knots. Don't be afraid of failure.
You will be certain to find it, if everlast-
inglv seeking. If it must come, let the
day find you and not you the day. No
man can succeed in all his undertakings,
and it would not be well for him to do
so. Things easily acquired go easily.
II is by the struggle it costs to obtain
that we learn to rightly estimate the
value.
Don't be fossils. They are content to
rot out; to let matters take their course,
and the sooner they are out Of the way
| the better. They simply occupy the
room needed by better men; by men
who are vigorous, thriving sprouts Of the
great human tree; men who will take
and keep a place IN the world; who
make business and attend to it; who
amount to something; do some good to
! their race; men Of bone, slneW and
nerve; men of thought and action, with
! the will to do and the heart to dare
men who would be missed and regretted
not old, mOuldy, worthless trunks by
/ the side of the stream, tossed up high
and dry by one freshet to remain motion
less until the coming and swelling OF
another.
Don't be fossils of as little use to man.
kind as century buried logs. In the
great world there is a place for everyone
and he should be found in it. Fossils
never are. They are simply drOnes IL
the busy hives, and slOths in the field
living upon the toll of others, or lazily
clingIng to one branch until driven by
starvation to another Morning sees
them idle and night finds no generous
deed. no kindly act, no noble though
accomplished. They are mere hanger
ON in the business mart, and make NJ
sacrifices within the temple. For all /
is known they might as well be name
less; for all the good they do, neve
have been born. 1t is not life witt
them; nothing but a mere drawing OF
breath-an existence. Cumbering tn
earth they are regarded not except witt
Il scOrn, and dying would not be mOurnet
or remembered. Earth they indeed ar
and that is all. There is nothing Ot
the spiritual, and it may be questioned
without irreverence, ifthey have any SOU
Don't be fossils. Better die in tn
struggle than rust out uselessly. Wan
of success with effort is better than NJ
striving for the prize. There is more o.
honor even in failure than to never hav
endeavored. He who perishes bravel.
in the combat receives the reward o
praise, though he fails to grasp tn
crown. There is pleasure in effort, il
excitement, in the trying though tn
end is but a dream. Life is made up oi
trial and no wise man shrinks from 0
seeks to avoid it. Strike for the Trutl
and the Right, and if the glory of tn
} Victor is denied, you can at least gail
that of the Martyr.
Don't be human fOssils-miseTabl
nothingsI Be up and doing. Glory wait
the seeking, and wealth the toiling fOl
, and neither will come without tn
earnest seeking. Do something. If tn
great slips through your grasp, mol
firmly on to the less. Be anything,
honest, rather than a human nOnentitl