The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-09-04
TALKS WITH THE BOYS.
Some coed advics to the Hising Gen.
Grafton.

lf you have arrived at the age Q
- or l6 it is time you looked mat
ters square in the face and have
some idea Of the future. II yor
were to answer at once you would
say you take a profession in prefer
ence to a trade. A profession
means several years of hard study
quite large cash outlay and ther
trials and rebuffs to get q start in
business. 1t is one thing to gradu-
ate as a lawyer or a doctor, and
quite another to pick up clients and
patients. If you have fully decided
on profession be careful of your
first move. If you have a large
head your grandmother has doubt
less many times exclaimed: "What
great lawyer this boy would
make" Don't try to make me one
on the size of my head. We've got
any number of that class in the
country now, and they can't pay
their grocers' bills. If you can pull
silver out of your finger without
winking it may be a sign that you
would make good surgeon. 1t
may also be a sign that you are
born to be butcher. How will you
know what to pursue? Your feel
ings are the safest guide. If left to
your parents and to circumstances
you may be forced into trade you
can never make a success. When
you come to realize that you must
make your own way in life your
forte will be apt to reveal itself. One
of the best lawyers in Detroit was
intended for the ministery; another
served as ajournalist, but all the time
feeling he was out of his element;
another was forced by his father to
learn the trade of harness maker. /
know a machinest who first studied
medicine; of a watch maker who
tried to become lawyer; of car
penter who threw away three years
of his life trying to become a den
tist.
After you have selected your pro-
fession or trade, what then? Strive
TO master it in its details and to ex-
eel. II you become a carpenter,
don't be satisfied when you can saw
and plane and match. Don't be
satisfied with 50 per day. Make
yourself worth So Master details,
and push yourself from carpenter to
builder. Don't. imagine that a man
in search of a lawyer walks down
the street and drops in at the first
sign hanging out. 1t is the lawyer
who has climbed above his fellows
that he seeks out. If our friends
are i'll we want the best doctor.
We want the man who has made
himself the best by study and ener-
gy. The blacksmith who is content
to mend old wagons will never iron
a new one The machinist who
stands at the lathe to do about so
much work in ten hours does not
hope to bebetter of. 1t is the men
who put their heart in what they
10 who succeed.
l can name you twenty instance
in Detroit where skilled workmen |
have been taken as partners in large |
The clerk who is
capable, honest and persevering is
bound to win a higher position.
The joiner who does his work toIa asst
for years instead of months is never
put of work. There are house
painters who are satisfied to stand
0n q ladder or scaffold at 50 so per
lay. There are other house paint
ers whose energy and enthusiasm
nave II ade them sign writer's and
decorators, and raised their wages
20 $40 dollars per week. 1t is not
80 much what you do, but how you
10 it, that brings prosperity.
NJ. QUAD.