Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1882-09-07
YOUTHFUL SUCCESS AND MATURE
FAILURE.
indianapolis Sunday Journal. :,

AS rule tnere Is 10 luck IN lie. "A
man usually does what he aims and tries
to do, and nothing else. His aims may
rise as he goes on, and in the end he may
achieve more than he dreamed of at the
outset, but not more than he definitely
intended while he was about it, or pre-
pairing for it.
Precious few have greatness thrust
upon them" The world recognizes this
truth In the countless maxims and ad-
ages that reiterate the lesson of success
dependent less on intellect than charac-
ter. Perseverance conquers everything
eulogizes trait of character, and not
the intellect. -"Industry is the way to
wealth )" "take care of the cents and the
dollars will take care of themselves"
stake time by the forelock," and scores
like these, are all condensed expressions
of the worlds experience that success
comes of character, not of brains.
Nowhere in the proverbial or popular
philosophy of any land is there an adsge
affirming the indispensability of intel-
lectual qualities to success in ordinary
affairs, and any others are beyond hu-
man provision and preparation. This is
consoling to conscious mediocrity. But
the world and its enjoyments were made
for everybody, so it would never do to
make success dependent entirely upon
intellect The qualities that everybody
has, in greater or less measure, are fit
tingly made by divine ordinance the
means of doing all that man may, in the
main, desire to do. !
But with all literature and legend full
Of inculcations that brains are not the
chief element of success, the world in
lists on wondering that SO many boys
who were dull at school succeed wonder
fully well in manhood, and SO many
brilliant collegians turn out ordinary
citizens. School or college life makes
larger demands on memory, readiness OF
perception, power of abstraction, or in
tentness rather than persistence of appli-
cation, than upon industry, energy, per-
severance and qualities of character, and
active brains will beat strong character
all the time, or nearly. But in the strug-
gle of life the rule Is reversed. Char
acter, force of will, resolution, energy,
steady application, fixed purpose, come
to the front then, and do the heavy firing
of the battle of.life, and the intellectual
skirmishers and light troops fall back.
That is the secret Of what is only mys
terry to shallow reflection.
We do not mean that force of charac-
ter can wholly replace force of intellect,
but it will come very much nearer than
force of intellect to replacing force of
character. The advantage of the aver
age is on the side of character. Napole-
on was not at all brilliant student in
his Corsican school, nor at the military
school of Brienne, though he excclled in
mathematics. Newton was a dull boy
at school till ,ne of his playmates gave
him thrashing which made him seek a
better style of superiority to obtain re-
venge. Michael Angelo was paor pu-
pill, and so was Sir Walter Scott. Crom-
well gave no sign of great power till he
vas over forty, and though member of
Parliament, with some chance to make a
figure, he did not till the war broke out.
Hardly any eminent American has
been distinguished for brilliant attain
ments at school or college In fact, not
many, until these latter days, have had
a chance to get collegiate education,
and these have been by no means the
most efficient or eminent of our states.
men, though they have been of our liter
ary men. o.
Energy and determination in life he.
yond boyhood have made most Of the
distinguished men of this country. They
had brains, of course, but character and
strong moral qualities were necessary to
make the brain available.
The lesson of these facts IL a Wholesome
one for smart" boys, and an encourag-
ing one for those who distrust their abii.
tiles. 1t can't be too thoroughly ponder
ed over. Still, it would be conveying a
distorted truth to leave no exceptions TO
the rule that the success Of early, or
school life is no indication of the success
of later life.
Pascal, the author of the witty and un.
answerable provincial Letters" was q
marvel of precocity. William Pitt wa,
a matured man in brains and atsainments ID
at eighteen. Robert Peel was brilliant
Harrow boy, and Gladstone firstrrate
university man, as was Macsulay. Thack.
cray made his mark "a writer at the
university, if he didn't as scholar.
Dickens was only little over aye when
he first became famous. Cowley and
Pope both wrote good verses as ten OF
twelve, and William Cullen Bryant
wrote the best thing he ever wrote a,
nineteen. -F5 E- .'.-
In music, it is a rule that success h
| very early indicated. All great must.
clans and composers have been precocious
Something Of the same peculiarly ap
pears in the fine arts The taste and tai.
ent for drawing and painting show them
selves early always. So does constructive
or inventive disposition. In fact, al
pursuits mainly or largely dependent on
one or two intellectual qualities are SURE
| to be indicated in the disposition very
early. a<t - yrag !.
| But il is not 70 at all with those thai
require fair balance Of faculties and il
the main do the worlds work, fight il
battles, develop its science, control and
| direct its .gpvernments and .difuse ant
| improve its literature. To these, essen
tiai a. a respectable share Of brains may
be, force Of character u more essential
and where success, not dazzling or phe
nominal, like that of Byron or Dickens
but the average success Of this world, il
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