The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-07-28
The yalne Of sticking.

The shortest letter on record Is that
of Senator Sumner to Secretary Stan
Ton when President johnson was trying
10 Gust the latter from his Cabinet II
was stick" That one word contains
whole philosophy of life for those who
are wise enough TO read it Alright
Stick and hang, young man." says
Josh Billings in some of his aphorisms
Don't forget that it is the last six
inches that win the race But that is
whot the young man almost always does
forget. He wants to show well in the
front when the race has only begun,
and il he can not succeed in doing this
he is likely TO conclude that he is on the
wrong track, and can run better on
another. He changes, still he is out
stripped at the first, and again h. pulls
up. He keeps on changing all his life,
and retires without hopors Others
with less speed but more bottom"
keep right on in the race, and if they do
not win they generally come in ga
good second.
great many young men are Just
1auncnel ont from the various colleges
to make their first ventures in real life.
They start with bright hopes and vast
auticipatiOns. Others have failed, to be
sure, but failure is not possible to them.
Well, let us hope so. But success or
failure will depend, next to a
heart right towards God and man,
on this quality of sticking to
whatever they undertake. On gener-
Gus computation, there may be one
genius among all the young men gradu-
ated this year; if so. the world will hear
from him in good time. But it will be
safer for every graduate to assume that
he is not this one, that he is in fact quite
an ordinary fellow. that am success he
wins must he got by the hardest and
most persistent kind of work. 1t will
be safe also for him to assume that he
has no such heaven-born fitness for
particular calling that he can not posi-
bly, succeed until by frequent trials he
has found the right one. Let him rather
take it for granted that his abilities are
of the average kind, and with industry
and pluck he can make his way to any
thing he puts his hand to. Then hav-
ing settled these preliminaries, let him
select the calling toward which inclina-
ton and Providence seem to direct him,
and having once chosen it, turn to and
do mans work. He will be appre-
ciated for just what he proves capable
of doing, and If it should turn out that
he is above the average man in native
ability and power of work, he will find
the world quick to appreciate the fact
and reward him accordingly. The
world has not SO many good workers
that il can afford to slight one of them.
And then the young man must not
forget for moment that any success
that is worth achieving is the fruit of
time, rs well as of hard work. Wealth.
learning, influence with men, social po-
sition, do not come to man in dny
or a year; he must ''learn to labor and
to ecd1. " The young man is prone to
forget the latter part of Longfelow's
eXhortation, but there is deep wisdom
In it. Does some other fellow who is
not your superior in anything seem to
be going ahead faster than you? You
are naturally impatient at the fact, but
never mind. Hold on. Stick. In
twenty years time the positions are
quite likely to be reversed. The result
may come in less time, for nothing is
3 more disastrous to young man, as a
rule, than a brilliant success at the out
set of his career. There is nothing like
little hardship and short-commons to
develop the grit and sinew that bring
success in the end.
The men who are foremost in every
calling among us to-day were no bright
er than many of their fellows in boy
hood, and in school they did not all
stand at the head of their classes. But
they had the ability to ''stick and hang"
and they have won the race. They re-
membered that last six inches, and
were not discouraged because at first
some more brilliant contemporary out
ran them. That's why they won.-M
T. Examiner.
A 30.