Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-12-19
Our Cnr,..ma. sermon.

ION THE BoYs.-The following story Is all the bet
ter for being true. Two stood a. the table
IN large factory at Philadelphia, working at the
trade. Having 40 hour Tor uoOuiug every day. each
undertook to use It IL accomplishing definite pur-
pose; each psrsevered Tor about tue number of
months, and each won success a. last. one Of these
two mechanics used his daily leisure nour ID working
out tue invention OF machine tor saving block OF
wood into almost any desired shape. Wneu ms III
Ventou was complete ne sold the patent fortune.
changed nls vorEmans apron Tor q DrOadcloin SUIT,
and moved out OF a tenement house into br3wnst1nt
front. The other maD-What did be- do Vel, be
spent 40 hour each DAY during most Of the wear
very dt1cuit undertaking Of teaching little dog 60
stnnu on his mind feet and dance JIG, while play
I'd the tune. At last accounts ne was working ten
hours day at the same trade and his old wages,
aud hnding ia1lt with the fate that MADE his fellow
workman rich while leaving hin poor. Leisure min
utes may bring golden grain TO MIND q well purse
II one harvest wheat instrad Of chsf.-Fron, YouHg
Folks Md1d=aHc.
We copy this paragraph not 10 mud fault
with It or dispute its truth. or because it is
more or less interesting than hundreds Of sim
liar ones which float through the papers of the
day. We copy it because IL its primary
thought it Is 4 type of so much Of the read
ing and teaching furnished for the young Of
our time. The pith of the little story, express
ed or implied, is that the fellow who spent his
noon hour working out al idea came to wear
Drosdcioth and live il urownstoue house
IN other words, he got rich, and therefore his
life was 3 suocess-whiie the other fellow did
the other thing and didn't &c, rich, and his
life was therefore failure. Suppose the
thoughtful, diiigent young mechanic had new.
er made lucky bit with an invention, but
had worn rough wooden and lived IL tene-
ment house all his life, would his life for that
reason nave been any the less r success
Not at all if he had kept himself pure at
heart and sound in head" through II all
In many case it has happened that the
fellow who taught little dog to stand on
his hind legs, oleverly turning ready sal
10 every wind of fortune, and never troubling
himself too closely about matters OF principle,
has worn the broadoloth and lived in the
oroWnstone house, while the one who stud.
ously and laboriously piodded through whole
lifetime, seeking never-attAined ideal but
holding mis- own manly self-rcspeot superior
TO everything else, has lived and died in pov
erty, A happy day 1t will be for the country
when no boy or girl is left 10 doubt for mo.
msnt which of two such careers is the real
BY successful one or which of them is to be
freely chosen If it comes 10 a choice between
the two
To Us it Is d fact not open TO question thai
the public teaching Of the young Of this gen
Grafton proceeds entirely too much on the as
sumption that success IN life means getting
rich or attaining high position-one or bott
of these-and that without some such out
ward sign of success life is failure. The
chiidren's magazines teach this tine children
books teach It, the press teaches il, the gene
raj drift Of the thought Of the time teAche,
IT, See this man, say these teachers; n,
began poor, he worked hard, be Wa honest
ne resisted temptation, be won the favor Of
his employers, be became rich, ne lives in {
tine house he drives fast horses, his wifi,
wears jewels and satins. his children ar,
young princes Or, See this other man
he, too, was born IN the dregs of poverty
but be studied while other boys played b,
worked while other men slept be became
great lawyer, he became great statesman
be became the president Of his country. h.
became the head Of great corporation il
some place or other he became leader anon
men" But what Of the ten thousand othe
boys who also were born poor, who also work
ed hard, who came up TO bear accomplishing
iy the burden OF their parents poverty, who's
place in the world Was a narrow one, and VIII
all their lives were never more or other thai
dutiful sons, devoted husbands, self-sacrihcinl
fathers, industrious, helpful members Of thei
little communities Were these mems live
failures, and did only those vino attained ranl
OF wealth make theirs a success Away viii