The Dickinson press., 1888-07-07
LUCK OR PLUCK?
TEMPERAMENT GOES FAR TOWARD
DECIDING ONES FATE.

Perseverance, - The Environments of
Birth-A Man of Many Accidents-The
Reason Why.
Without plunging very deeply into the
metaphysics of this subject, we will have a
few moments talk about fate and luck. We
speak of n lucky fellow, meaning by that a
man who is fortunate, INT yet luck may be
good or i'll, the one quite as frequently as the
other. If we mean by luck, however, an oft
recurrence along the line of help or him
drance, without special effort, work, thought,
cxcrtion on the part of him to whom the
luck. good or evil, comes, why not believe in
it: Some people go through life bathed in
sunshine peipetually, others walk forever i'll
a vale of tears, and the shadow of the high
mountain, impossible, ungetoverable.
Some men, sunny natured, easy tempered,
lazy, good for nothing fellows, to whom a
thought would be a novelty, and an exercise
a curiosity, find every door open ut their ap-
proach, and %banquets spread with every
imaginable IL conceivable delicacy, with
nothing to interfere with the ongoing of their
pleasure from the rising of the sun to the
going down thereof, while other men, care
scicntiously along first this road, then the
other, meet II continuity of disappointment
and disaster, which absolutely enshrouds
them in a gloom that is never penetrated by
Il ray of hope: confronted ever by %disappoint-
mcnt until the closing scene wipes them
from the face of the earth into the blackness
of darkness impenetrabla
1t will not 10 gravely argued that birth
has nothing to do with mans chances in life.
l remember, when l began to work in 1850,
thinking that of all the men in the world
whose chances l envied, there were but two
whose opportunities were seriously any better
than mine They were Albert Edward,
Prince of Wales, whose progress through the
provinces and the states l was then chron-
icing for TIL New York Times, and young
Jim Bennett, whose father was then editor
and proprietor of the great journal with
which his name was synonymous. Do you
mean to tell me that young Bennett didn't
have a better opportunity for professional
renown than any other young man about to
embrace that noblest profession, journalism!
Did the Prince Of Wales nave no ampler
scope than the other young men born in the
British doninions OF course, birth and social
posi-. ion and pecuniary status have much to
do with mans opportunities, but when we
discuss broad questions We must look with
wide vision; we must not conf1ne our illus
trations to extremes, but must take the aver
age.
The average man is poor, the great major
ity very poor. II it be a fact, and it unulles-
tionably is, that of every 100 young men
who go into mercantile life ninety-five fail
before they are 80 years of age, and of the
other five, three get on fairly well, one makes
a profound impression in his sphere and one
alone becomes phenomenal, standing head
and shoulders above his fellows in all the
world, where comes in the matter of luck.
Where is the exception! Isn't it q fact that
the great multitude toll md suffer through
the blasts of winter and in the torridities of
summer for barely enough to keep themselves
from starving and to cover their nakedness
from the jibcs and sneerings of the world.
l tell You temperament decides almost
everything. What would seem Ia one
luck, of the most grewsome nature, appears
to another OIL Il similar plane of life simply
an unhappy incident, temporary in its
nature, not lasting in its effect. Some men,
worth 100000, groan over the luck of their
ncighbor who is worth sl,UOO,0UO, while an
other man who can honestly say 81 am
worth today 100000" is 50 overwhelmed
with recognition Of his Independence, of the
power in his hand to do good among the
suffering and the sick and the tired and the
weary Of earth, that he can find no words
sufficiently rotund with which to express his
satisfaction, his content, his delight.
Some people say, ''Whatcver is to be will
he. If l nm fated to be rich l will have
money, and if l am fatcd to be poor | won't
have any. A man who was horn to he
hanged will never be drowned, SO whatever
comes | take it because have got to. | didn't
ask to come here Now that's sillv. In the
first place | don't know whether you asked to
come here or not. Neither do you.
That two and two added together are fatcl
to make four, yes, hut are You fated. Is
there any compulsion that forces you to put
one two under another two! If You stub
your toe you fall. But why stub your toe.
If you hack your finger with II knife, blood
will flow, but why hack your finger? You
may assume that you are fated to be rich.
What difference does your assumption makei
In order to be rich you must be Industrious.
saving, self-sacrificing, methodical, indus
trious. Those factors enter largely into the
problem of success in life, and if those factors
arc properly grouped in your case you will
be rich. 1t is a very rare combination, this
honesty of purpose, this continuity of ill.,
lustry, this intelligent direction, hut if you
have them tn" result is certain, and if you
have them and do not use them the result
then is equally certain. You annot raise
figs on Il thistle tree or thistles on Il fig tree,
and you cannot bring disgrace upon honor,
nor can you crown dishonesty with integrity.
| know IL man who has lost an eye, who has
broken al arm twice, who was shot through
his right lung, and whenever anything hap
pens to him, he says: sit is Just my luck"
My friend of the many accidents is a pecul-
iarly constituted individual. Had he looked
he wouldn't nave fallen down the hatchway.
That he was shot through the right lung was
| due to his presence upon the field of battle.
That he lost his eye is attributable to the fact
that when he flashed his little pile of powder
he didn't shield his face, and yet he says, as
accident after accident occurs, SIT is just my
luck"
1t is just his stupidity.
And when you say that it is Jay Gould's
luck, or it is Vanderbilts luck, or it is the
luck of this, that and the other, you at
tribute to some unseen potentiality results
which might much better be attributed to
the natural forcings of perfectly well UNDER
derstood, but rarely possessed, elements in
human nature.-Joe Howard in Boston
| Globe.
A Desperate Case.
Physician-Want treatment for yourselfl
You look hearty enough Pm sure.
Caller-This fatness which you notice is
not natural, doctor. 1t came very rapidly.
"Your flesh looks al right. Don't worry
over a little plumpness. Avoidrich food and
highly seasoned dishes of all kings and'-
81 board"
"Great Galena! Dropsy."-Omaha World.