Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1882-08-15
THE BOYS.

There are two ways in which boys
begin life and business. There is a ma
jority Of the boys, who as soon as they
leave school and are able to work and
earn a living think only of the amount
Of money wages they can earn. The
first question with them is ''how much
will you pay: and how easy is the
work - Tha, is the question with boys
who are destined to be laborers or in the
lowest grade Of mechanical trades. The
boy who begins with the end stays at the
beginning ,hroughh his whole life. There is
another and a smaller class which takes
broader view either by their own wisdom,
or that of their friends. The youth who
aims to reach the highest position does not
look to immediate profit. The boy who
proposes to become great merchant is
satisfied with position like that of a
servant, where he receives so scanty pay
that it will not furnish him board and
clothes. He runs errands sweeps out,
opens the doors and makes himself gen.
erally useful, and looks for reward in
the distant future. When he is promot-
ed to a subordinate position where the
salary is sufficient to board and clothe
him, he feels that he is on the high road
TO fortune and he would not exchange
places with boy who is earning four
times as much and has no prospect OF
anything ahead The youth who would
fit himself for the highest professions, is
obliged to work and drudge, and pay out
money for years, instead of receiving 1t,
in the hope of a reward in the future.
1, is the reason why professional services
command higher price than unskilled
labor. The professional man paid toE
his education besides working withou,
wages to obtain it. The excellence
which commands high pay, is only at
tained by a sacrifice in the beginning
When boy in any pursuit makes hi;
first inquiry, "How much will you give
me day." in. ad of show much thai
will be useful to me in the future can
learn with YOU" it is p city certain thai
he will be of the class mentioned in the
Scriptures as hewers of wood and draw
ers OF water from the beginning to The
end of life. He will be always com
planning that he does not receive wage:
enough, as the man who has laid up
capital of skill AMI knowledge when HI
was young dictates to the public wha
it shall pay him, and they are forced t'
accept his terms. The merchant wh'
knows the commerce Of the world, learn
ed what he knows at sacrifice Of tim,
and work, which apparently paid moth
ing, but which gives him the com
mand of the sources Of wealth, and h
: has no occasion to ask for an increase
for he can make it. 1t is the same wit
} all the paths to success, whether in max
ing money, fame, or influence, the ma
who gains the highest positions mus
E make the greatest sacrifices in the begin
ming, The good old John Bunyan, i
t his immortal allegory of the Pilgrim
4 Progress, shows the whole thing in tn
e characters of Patience and Passion q
e the Interpreters house. The latte
r would have all his good things first, an
e the former was willing to labor and
wait, and had the most excellent thing
= in the end. 1t was lesson which ha
been learned there, and was as old g
n history, but it has to be taught by
hard experience even now, when dot
- trines prevail that the thriftless and i'm
e prudent should have the good things
the universe, in equal proportion wit
e the proyident and industrious. The be
|. begins wrong who looks more at Il
,r wages he will earn for the day or II
ie wear, than at what he will learn, as
E, greater capital than money in the futur
d -NewbmypOrt Herald.