The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1879-12-27

sured what profession it is right sho..ss
adopty Am / merely to be guided X ~
conviction that am adapted by uaturs ~
training to ill usefully and creditabIy n 49,,
ticular oney
the Christian Union says:
In general the well balanced man :
one who finds it most difficult to ascers
tain where he belongs, because he j.
like a marble, he will roll east. ve.s
north or south equally well. Whers
this is the case, and the man has no prp.
ponderating wish or taste, but . yacns
state of mind to which all profession
are alike attractive or alike Indifferent
he must either adopt the advice q
others or take the first opening thes
presents itself. The misfittiD9 Of mec
to their vocations is among the most
mournful incidents of human life. HIM
dreds and thousands of men 90 throueh
life doing respectfully well that which
gives them a livelihood without findInv
in it once in their whole life opportunisS
to develop that for which God reelly
sent them into this world. Thar 4
many a man preaching respectfully poor
sermons whom God sent into the wor]d
to be an inventor and mechanician. He
has abandoned that for which be vas
built, and is as absurd in that which he
has taken up as q duck waddling along
the ground-being made to swim-or q
locomotive off the track. There are 4
great many men engaged in farm
ing who are fit. to be Judges.
and who are indeed the natural
Judges of the men among
whom they live, and accepted by them
as such. A great many who are born
for fine art and taste suffer desolating
hunger and thirst all their lives long
while steadily, if not resignedly, per.
forming some mechanical drudgery for
which they are i'll fitted, or not SO we'll
as an ordinary immigrant would be.
Notwithstanding this, man ought tobe
sufficiently versatile to follow and bend
to the law of necessity. We once foQn1
the son of the Superintendent Of Ednca-
ton in Prussia breaking stone on Tie
road back Of Cincinnati. Itwas an hon
orable thing of him to d0--insteod Of
begging to go out an earn his dollar Or
dollar and half by onc-breaking. We
once met with hostler and garaener
studying geography of such N -
struse type Of instruction that we could
not follow it, though we had college
diploma, and on questioning him found
he both read and spoke Latin and Rad
Greek, though he could not speak It.
He was adapted to something hiGhor
than the work in which he was engaged;
but it was infinitely more creditsbIe b
him to take it up and do it well than 70
go about the street soliciting charity.
All through society we find men har-
messed to things for which they are IN
fit, and often under the guidance Of mis-
judgments of devout friends. A y0ufh
who is the pet of his family, WHOSE
health is little feeble, whose passieus
are weak and who lacks impetus, hs
mother thinks is apostolic, and st 10 be
a st. John of the present time, and mus
be a minister. He is good boy"
and he is cosseted and goes through
school under her sheltering wing, and
goes through college with no great pow
er but with no ill-repute, and is very
pious, emerging sweet, lovely, feeble
man. He slides into pulpit, 4 the
Lord does not take him home by con-
sumption, and in few years he Rvadu-
ally settles down into feeble preacher
of traditional beliefs or mild m0ratifiee.
1t would seem from his moral qualities
that he ought to be a preacher; but .
preacher requires something else than
moral qualities. Spirituality Is excel-
lent powder, but il you have not strong
cannon in which its energies can b
and weighty ball to .
by them, what good Is touch
ing eff the powder?
Practically there are only three direc-
tons to be given to young man, or g
any man, asking this most perplcxing0
questions: What shall doP
/. Consult your own tastes and iuciiIl-
atoms, if you have any. Go where
your instincts and nature take you; out
no not mistake the incidental rewards
of profession for its real work ana
suppose yourself called to journalism
because you like to see yourself in print,
or to the ministry because you IKE 70
declaim before an audience.
II. Consult parents, guardians, teach
ers, anyone who knows you, who knows
life, and in whose practical judgment
the adaptation Of men 70
work you can trust. In other worus.
first use your own common sense ana
then supplement it by the common sens
Of others.
III. In the absence II clear guidsnce