The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-07-05
ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS.
ASSIvERsARF ADDRESS DELIVERED BT P h
LOWRY BEFORE TIE ERoALETREAx sooiERr
OF HIWAssEE COLLEGE, TENNESSEE NAY .,
1852
Ladies, Msmbsrs Of fks Faculty and


There Is no subject Of more practical impor-
tanee, TO my mind, than the one present for
your consideration this morning. The value
OF every life and the merit Of every enterprise
IS measured by its success. Success is the
sigaet Of the worlds approval and is the
strongest evidence 0fintrinsie merit. Success,
there IS magic in the sound success stamps
the visionary scheme Of an idle dreamer as
bold originality, and exalts the vain braggart,
10 place next to Deity. Success puts an end
70 discussion from ii there is no appeal-it
IS the judgment Of the court Of last resort.
lie - a grand sOlGior-he fought the battle
successfully; he is IN ipYenuve genius-he
- - - liss world tlle efectffFg telegraph. he
IS bold navigator-he crossed the mighty
waters, and gave to mankind the western
hemisphere. The world looks for q consumma-
tiOn. IL only sees Narius as be sits amidst the
ruins of Carthage, and Wellington as he
emergcs from the dust of defeat and disaster
as the proud an1 triumphant victor Of Water
loo.
Now the question arises what are the ele-
ments-the prereq quisites-the conditions pre-
| cldent to the attainment of success. What
shall a young man do, what course shall he
pursue, to make success.
lie shall have IN end, an obiect-a coneen-
tratlOn OF purpose. river, uncOnfned,
disiPates itself over wide expanse of terrific
~, and carries death, and pestilence and woe
to those it is calculated to benefit. Powder
exploles harmlessly in the open air confine
| il in hollow tube and tease il " ith the minu-
test spark and it carrys death TO a distant life
Aim at something or you viii hit, if anything,
what you have no desire to strike. Let thy
| purposes be high.
"Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy eoun-
try's,
Thy God and truths, and then ifthou fallest
o Cromwell
Thou fallest a blessed martyr"
Such was the advice, exemplided by the life
Of Wolsley, "that once trod the ways Of glory
and sounded all the depths and shoals of
honor" Truth is immortal and never dies.
Combinations and conspiracies, however pow
erful, cannot repress it.
Truth crushed to earth shall rise again,
The eternal years Of God are hers"
Young-men should understand this at the
very outset OF their career. The indissoluble
connection spoken Of as existing between
virtue and happiness, vice and misery, exists
also between a purpose and the attainment of
that purpose. good purpose may succeed,
a wicked one cannot. When the man of evil
designs thinks full surely his greatness is
ripening,' the rec0mes frost, a killing frost
and the base purposes so skilfully wrought
fall forever.
Your purpose being fixed, hew to the line
work, work increasingly, for there is no excel
lence without great Ia Dor. Il was not accident
that untoldcd to Newton the mysteries of the
universe and enabled him to trace the paths of
the stars and follow the course of the planets;
II was not accident that revealed to MauFy the
| secrets Of the sea, and enabled him to trace
to their hidden source the currents of the
vastly deep; it was not accident that crowned
Rachael mistress of passion and Gerster
queen Of song"
Genius has been aptly described as capacity
for labor. All great men are great workers.
II has been said that the real secret Of the late
President Garfeld's success was courageous,
| persevering labor. An intimate friend saws
u pIf wifi nd fixrn
mind, robust physical constitution, a candid,
atfecti9nGte disposition, and q reasonable
amount Of ambition. Hard work did the rest.
| He was the most indefatigable worker | ever
knew. He was never satisfied with the amount
of study needed TO gain the knowledge he
wanted for use in any given directions; he
went TO the bottom of every subject he took
hold Of, and having got to the bottom of it,
reached out on all sides for all the facts and
| opinions. he could gather relating to it.
| President Garfield without the adTentitious
aid of wealth or family influence, built up for
| himself by earnest, sincere labor, name
which the proudest potentate on earth might
well envy. But he has gone from Us, and
| gone forever, his appointed work is done, his
labor is o re, and he sleeps to o-day by the vast
sea, where the chirping of the wild bird, and
murmuring of the restless waves shall sing
his eternal lullaby" But his work shall live
after him. The footprints he has left in.the
sands Of time, many
"a forlorn, shipwrecked brother
Seeing, shall take heart again.
If you seek not, how shall you find; if you
| do not knock how shall the door be opened
unto you. The little coral insect patiently
/ robbing each 9lobule Of water Of its burden of
material builds in the desolate waste, an is
land against which the wild waves dash and
break in vain, and by which the benighted
mariner marks his course. SO you by dill
| gence and by devOting each moment to its
| appropriate work, can leave a name against
which time will make 10 encroachments-a
record that viii guide and steer and encour-
| age the belated traveller on lifes main. All ]
what delightful prospect what.2n inspiring
| thought, that you are working 1at you are
| lab0ring not for this age and this people only
| but for posterity and time to come that the
marks you are making here are not for your
self but for humanity. Young gentleman, let
me impress it upon you that labor accom-
plishes all things and that without it there is
naught. With labor many q Milton, now
mute and ingloriOus would have "waked to
ectasy the living lyre;" with labor many a
name that flashed across the frmanent with
| the briliancy of a meteor, would now blaze
with the steadiness and splendor of the fixed
stars.
Patience which is the "masterly inactivity
| of Mckenzie is also essential to the attain
ment Of success. Virtue goes not often unre-
warded merit scarcely ever fails Of recog-
milton. The fallen bard wrote nothing truer
than that
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet
they grind exceeding small
Though with patience he stands waiting, with
exaetness grinds He ALL
Aaron Burr was a man Of splendid parts.
In the field and on the forum in the gay
! salon and in the stately Senate Chamber he
was alike distine euished above his fellows, but
in his haste he ''plueked the fruit before twas
ripe and the ambition he had cherished as the
apple Of his eye was defeated forever, and he
feel like Lucifer, never to rise sgain- But
when the supreme moment comes, when judge
ment, cool, sober iudg g.nent that sits aloft in
the watehtower, gives the signal for sction,
BE not like dumb. driven cattle
Be q hero in the strife
Shaksphere, next to the Bible, the book o.
all books and If not the source, then the COM
pendium.of all wisdom, aPtly expresses it
beware Of entrance to a quarrel but being in
Beart that the opposed may beware Of thee
Had this principle obtained in one engage
ment At least Of the late war Jefferson DAVIS
| would not have written the Rise and Fall Of
! the ConfederacyH Disasters had come no
: sinrly 10 the arms of Sidney Johnson Will
q great extent Of territory to defend, with ;
small troop and these poorly equipped h'
found himself opposed By a stubborn fighter IL
: cemmand Of the pick and flower Of the Feders
: forces. But at last he had an advantageous
: position, and say where be could strike onl
/ blow that would relieve his beloved country
Of the foreign foe that trod with hesile hee
upon her aowery bosom. He advanced stead
iiy, quietly from Corinth upon the plains 0
the now wOrld-renowned Shiloh. The mus
kerry ratified, the artillery rolled, the cavslrl
3 charged and every position Of the enemy SAVE
one WAS carried. At this hour, in the ver,
sight Of victory, Sidney Johnston fell-mortall
q wounded. Had his successor pursued the ad
yanfsge be had gained; had he realized tka
, / the supreme moment had come whea be Nigh
! strike afnal and eGsctixs blow in behalf of th
q cause Of humanity. kad he used the eEar
: poor, bleeding Johnston Eas unahke to max
, -another sight that morn had seen, anothe
: leaf from faFe's dark history been torn"
Instead Of the baffied and defeated army Q
! the next, sadly retreating with mufaed druz
/, and dropping pinions, y0u would have seen
q victory inspired host rushing. with banner
, full high advanced onward and over the rud
4 iavsder, alas alasi
Il There is . tide Ia The Affairs Of men Whie
= takun ct the hsod, leads on to fortune;
4 Omitted, al the voyage of this life
Is bound in shadows ard II miseries
= Young xentleman, nou conclude and trs
y van will not attribute whatI have said to sci
!. sufieiency, but 70 an honest desire 70 poiI
:, ont II cannot lead the way
y The Augusta fea.l city limits VII 81
3, take in the new factories. Harrisburg. L
= Siblex, King. and Curry settlements, Hiek
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