Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-06-07
NO. 1873.
Earnest Thoughts.

Young man, what are YOU living for! Have
you an object dear to you rs life, aud without
the attainment of which you feel that your
life will have been a wide. shoreless waste OF
shadow peopled by the specters Of dead am
bitions? Is it your consuming ambition to
paddle quietly but firmly up the stream ot
time with manly strokes against the current
of public opinion, OF to linger along the
ductive banks, going in swimming, or. care
less of the future. gathering shells and tad
poles along the shoreg Have you q distinct
idea Of certain position in life which you
wish 20 attain. Have you decided whether
YOU will be a great man, and die in the poor.
house. and have a nice, comfortable monu-
ment after YOU are dead for your destitute
family to look at, or will YOU content your.
self TO plug along through life as bank
/ President?
| These, young man, are questions of mo-
ment. They are questions of two moments.
They come home TO our hearts to-day with
| terrible earnestness. You can take your
choice in the great battle of life, whether you
will bristle up and win deathless name and
owe almost everybody, or be satisfied with
scabs and medocrity. Why do you linger
| and fritter away the heyday of life when you
might skirmish around and win some laurels?
Many of those who now stand at the head of
the nation as statesmen and logicisns were
once unknown. unhonored and unsung. Now
| they saw the air in the Halls of Congress. and
| their names are plastered on the temple of
| fame. They wee not born great Some ot
them only weighed six pounds to start with
But they have rustled They have peeled
their coats and made Rome howl. You can
10 the same. You can win some laurels, too,
| II you brace up and pluck ttem when they arc
| ripe. Daniel Webster and President Gar
/ a ~
all. at one time. poor boys. They had to
start at the foot Of the ladder and toll up
ward They struggled against poverty and
pnhlic opinion bravely on till they won a
name in the annals of history, and secured to
| their loved ones palatial homes with light
| ming rods and mortgages on them. So may
vou, if you will make the effort All these
| hings are within your reach. Live temper
stev on 50 per month. That's the way we
got our start. Burn the midnight oil IL nee
cssarv. Get some true, noble minded young
lady Of your acquaintance to assist you. Tell
her your troubles. and she will tell you what
to do. She will gladly advise you. Then
YOU can marry her, and she will advise You
some more. After that she will lay aside her
work anv time to advise YOU. You needn't
he out of advice at all unless YOU went to-
She. too. will tell YOU when you have made
| a mistake. She will come to you frankly and
acknowledge that you have made jackass OF
yourself. As she gets more acquainted with
YOU she will he more candid with you, and.
in her nnstudied girlisii way. she will pon,
out your errors, and gradually convince YOU,
with an old chair leg and other arguments.
that YOU were wrong and after she has choked
YOU little while your past life will come up
before you like a panorama. and you will tell
her SO, and she will let you up again. Life Is
| inJnod r,;uttv stv Il. hue
We can't all be editors. and lounge around
all the time. and wear good clothes. and have
our names in the papers, and draw princely
| salary. Some one must do the work and
drudgerv Of life or it won't be done Bal
| Nue.