The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-12-21
Advice to a Young Man.

DO believe in luck. my sonP Indeed
/ do, in bad luck. l think there is nc
such thing as good luck. / do not be-
lieve that a lazy, ne'er-do-weel sort ofs
man ever stumbles into fortune or
climbs into fame by mere good luck. OF
if he does he doesn hold his good fort
une any longer than he is getting it.
No man is born lucky. But L believe
some men are born unlucky, and will
tell you why, my son. l have often OBJ
served:
If a young man spends more money
on neckties than he does on books he is
pretty apt to be unlucky in his literary
ventures.
II a young man attempts to make
living by sucking the head of his cane
and playing billiards, he is liable to be
unlucky in his business ventures
If young man habitually breakfasts
at ten o'clock, he is usually unlucky in
his efforts to obtain the position Of
cashier in the new bank.
If a man takes half a minute to his
prayers and an hour and a half to dress,
he is unlucky in spiritual life.
If man goes to his father every
time he wants dollar. he develops into;
an unlucky merchant. with more as
signees than statesmen.
If young man on the road plays
billiards all night and swings cocktails
all morning. he is unlucky when he
tries to sell goods in the afternoon.
If a man buys his clothes on credit
and has little bill at every furnishing
| store and restaurant and livery stable
in town, he is very unlucky man Oh
the first of January.
If a young man studies art exclusive
" at the variety theater, he is very I'M
lucky artist.
If he drinks Tom and Jerry all New
Years Day to ''swear off, on, he is 8
very unlucky reformer.
If he goes to college with three Greek
books and five ponies, he is very I'M
lucky student.
If he scoots out of town because g
note is falling due; if he will not sow
cause the sun is not; if he fishes on al
the fair days. and sits on a cracker-box
at the corner grocery and smokes on al
the rainy ones; if he complains because
the world Sights him nd puts his hands
in his pockets and waits for quail Oh
toast to drop into his mouth; if he
spends more money for street-car fare
than for walking-shoes; ifhe works while
he eats and rests while he works; if he
is the last man at the store or Office In
the morning and the first to leave it in
the evening; if he rigidly insists on
every one of his holidays and kicks
against every minute of overwork; il
his bows do all the chores and his wife
builds the fires; if he is lazy and selfish
and shiftless-then, my boy, he is an
unlucky man. Bet every cent you can
raise, and offer big odds, that Bad Luck
with big B will haunt that unlucky
man all the days of his life.
But;
If a man ariseth up in the morning
with the ..passel tree and harp" if he
spends more time in the bath-tub than
he does on green and yellow neck-tie;
if he can talk at the breakfast-table'
about what he has already seen in the
morning paper; If he gets to the office
the first man after the porter; if he
isn't afraid to dust his own desk; if he
weareth coat with glossy elbows until
he can buy a new one; if he knoweth
more about the petition he is drawing
up or the goods he is selling than he
does about trotting horse; if he can
sweep out the store as well as the por-
ter, or run up column of figures as
fast as tine book-keeper; if he knows
every lawyer and merchant in town,
and never saw Sullivan or Tug Wilson
in all his life; if he knows what he
wants to be, and bends every energy OF
mind and body to attain his point. and
works more than he sleeps and reads
more than he plays billiards that man,
my boy. is born to Good Luck, as the
sparks to fly upward. And now 60 to-
work, my son, and work as though YOU
believed in luck, and had got into the
secret of the stars and knew how to
shape the destiny OF at least one lucky
man in the world.-Burdette. IN Bur
Hngton Hawkeye.