Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1881-02-10

An Aim in Life.
An Aim in Life.
BY Washington Hasbrouck, PHI d, Princi
n. j. State Normal School Trenton n J.

An Aim in Life.
BY Washington Hasbrouck. PHI. D, Principal
n. D. State Normal School, Trenton, Nj.
Many years ago, during the conval-
escence OF dear friend who had been
very ill, the physicians said a broiled
bird would be good for him now and
then. 1t was in early springtime.
We were visiting at Highland, on the
Hudson. There had been light fall
of snow the night before. The robins
We're on their way north. As usual,
under such circumstances, they were
in large focks, and, as the sun rose
higher, they collected in great num-
bers among the trees.
As the doctor had said that nv
friend needed bird, l did not feel
that it was wrong to shoot one or two
out of so large flock. In tree,
not far from where l was standing,
there were hundreds of robins.
had often been told by old hunters
that if you fired into a tree full OF
birds, and did not take aim at some
one or m 're, you wonld generally
fail to shoot any. So l said to my
self, Il will now try the experiment.
So [ AIMED at the auhole tree and fired.
When 10! amid cloud of feathers,
they all flew away, leaving me fully
impressed with the lesson that ii you
wish to secure your game, you must
take aim before you fire.
Since then, how much of this shoot
ing without aim l have seen among
both the young and old!
For many years l conducted a large
classical and commercial school. The
pupils. who aimed high for good schol-
arship were always those who hit the
mark Let me give you few speci-
mems:
1t is the first day of school after
vacation, when new pupils generally
en,er school.
''Well, John, what do you come
here fOr?"
II wish to prepare for college,"
was glad TO hear this, for here
was boy with purpose. His aim
was to enter college, and l knew,
from long experience, he would be a
good student, for he had an aim in
coming into nv school, and he was
! fully determined to reach it.
Now, James is called to my desk
''Well, sir, what has brought you
here! What do you intend to du
with yourself?"
| II have come to prepare myself
for commercial life, and wish to take
all such studies as will make me s
successful merchant and a usefu
man."
am equally we'll pleased with him
he, too, has an aim and will succeed
| Now father comes with his son.
"Well, sir, what do ycu intend to
/ do with your boy?"
He replies:
~ do not know. I thought h.
ought to have little more learning
he ought to 60 to school year or SC
longer, and 80, as l heard you kept s
pretty good scho i, l thought 1 woult
bring him to you."
Here is q case. What can I d.
with boy who does not know why
he has come into my school? who i,
a boy without an aim! l can ohly
saw to the father:
''From long experience in th'
school room, your sou will make poo
progress unless he studies with som,
noble aim in view"
John c. Calhoun, when in college
was asked by one of his mates:
"John, what do you intend t.
make of yourself?"
He replied:
president of the United States. ,
And, bu, tor his notification prin
ciple, he would have been.
The great obstacle in the way o
|, success among our young men to
day is that they have no aim in life
Let young man carefully conside
his circumstances, and then resolv
that he will attain some noble end b
noble means, and how differently h
will live from the young man VIII
+ drifts along on the stream of life
waiting for something to turn up
and finally floats into some pool {
uselessness and forgetfulness!
f My young friends, it matters it'll
| what your business in lite may be
only let your aim be noble one.
at school, aim to be the best schols
=, in your class. If a clerk in a store
a then aim to lie the best clerk in you
department. Are you learning
, trade? dim to be the best workma
:, in that branch of mechanics.
{ Do not, l beg of you, start out
! life with no aim, now thinking yo
will do this and now that. Remen
her, too, that you have only one hi
to live, and that you have no time
waste in experiments.
4 Ii YOU cannot determine what sha
r. be your f:.-work, seek the advice
r. those capable of assisting you, at
r. having once settled the all-importa
:. question, set your aim high, and s
$ to work persistently and patiently
@ accomplish it. And finally, do n
d fail at the beginning of life's journ'
% TO aim, as the eternal result of yo
- life-work, to attain unto a seat amo,
% those who, having laid aside eve
Il weight, have run with diligence al
,r success the race set before them
d the Gospel, looking unto Jesus.
-, Golden Rule.
" / Cannot Undo t.
10 A little girl sat trying to pick ou
y seam she had sewed together wron
f, Her chubby fingers picked at t
le thread, that would break, leaving
Is end hidden somewhere among I
tn stitches that she had labor. d SO wea
10 ly to make short and close, a
Sc though the thread came ont, yet
;h needie-holes remained, showing j
how the seam had been sewed; q
IN with tears in her eyes she cried.
C, mamma, l cannot undo it,"