Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1884-04-18
miscellaneous.
NONE GREAT BY CHANCE.

at is said that mere accident placed
Whitelaw Reid at the head of the New
York Tribune A mere accident may
have placed him there, but no accident
could have kept him there y Exchange
The above is no truer of persons in
the newspaper profession than it is in
the thousands of other professions and
business occupations of the world. A
young man may be suddenly elevated to
prominent position by, as it would
seem, mere chance, but unless be
evinces energy, activity, ability and in
dustry, he will not hold the position
by mere chance, or through any other
medium of favor, but will be summarily
bounced
1t matters not whether it be the boy
who, "by chance" secured employment
in grocery store, where his duties are
to wrestle with sugar and moasses bar
rcls, sort out and deliver potatoes, or
weigh Goldfish, or the boy who suddenly
drops into seat in u lawyers Office,
where he can, between running errands
and sweeping out the Office, pack away
in bis memory's store-house, chunks of
Blackstone" and intricate masses of
legal problems, the boy in both in
stances must show up n reasonable
amount of intelligence, courtesy and in
dustry, or some kind of an accident will
as suddenly GUST him as the "chance"
placed him in the position.
In the case mentioned above, Mr..
Reid was young man when he Crap
pied with tho duties aud responsibilities
of his position, not as young, perhaps,
as the boy who steps into workshp to
learn trade, but young enough 80 that
he could, had he not kept his eyes wide
open, and his brain and hands busy,
made mistakes which would not have
passed as accidents, but which would
slid him into obscurity so unccrcmoni-
ously as to surprise him.
The boy who steps behind grocery
store counter, or into the workshop, and
obtains position, as the boys of the town
wenld say, "by accident" can, il he sits
around with his hands in his pockets, for
hours at u time, or idles away minutes
and hours of his employers tune, lose
the position by greater accident than
the Que that secured for him tho place
This country is full of young men
who have been favored Mt tunes by
"chance," or what looks very much like
it, luck, some call it, but none of the
great, thinking, industrious, ''self-madc'
men arc great by accident.
Every town and city on earth, to-day,
possesses one or more young men who
have suddenly dropped into fine, fat
situations, but unless they have the re-
quisite ability to perform the duties Of
the situations, something more serious
than an accident deprives them of the
chance of their lives, and unless they
reform, they will soon be found with
the oilers Of the town, sitting on the
fence chewing a stick throughout the
liveloDg day.
Occasionally one meets young man
who is loafng about the corner grocery
or the saloon, who can tell of time IN
his life when be accidentally" got into
a fine paying position, and he tells you
of the circumstance, he invariably leaves
out the fact regarding how he came to
lose the place, and attributes that to an
accident also, when, ten chances 10 one.
the facts were that he had strata Of
laziness in his composition, or did not
possess the ability and industry to hold
the place.
II does not take the business men Of
the present day, or the companies who
employ help, long TO ascertain how many
of their hired hands fell into positions
by accident, and whether they are com
petent to Gil the position or not, and it
is seldom if ever, that a young man
holds a position in these days unless he
is competent to gil the place assigned
him. The chance or accident business
among the practical men Of the world, is
played out, and whether il be the case
Of Mr.. Reid, or the boy wedding onion
beds for some farmer at twenty-five cents
a day, both hold their respective posi-
tons in life through attention 10 bust
ness aud ability 10 perform the labor set