The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-04-14
Men, Who Get Side Tracked.

The Boston Herald lately published
a number Of interviews with men who
had become ''side-tracked' in life.
By this is meant men. who. though
willing to work. yet wefe unable to
find anything congenial to do.
They we're men who had somehow
got out of the cifrent of the great
forces in which the world Is moving.
sud were stranded. as it were. Ike
helpless iittlss along the sands of time.
There are more such fficn sud women
in every community than most people
imagine.
Perhaps the most numerous class OF
men who get side-trackSd are those
who start in life in IN occupation for
which they have no natural aptitude'
There are thousands OF farmer boys
VINO never should remain on tho farm
the loud protestations OF the agri.
cultural press TO the contrary notwith-
standing. There are. doubtless. men
who make life business OF string the
so When they ought TO be stirring the
Senate; and there are men who are
trying to STIR the Senate who ought to
be Stirring the soil. Good bus ness
men are frequently spoiit to make poor
preachers; and there ate MANY large
and heavy lawyers who would make
Ideal blacksmiths; and there are soma
slender and unsuccessful blacksm'ths
with the keen logical brain and the
shrewd niasterful mind of the lawyer.
Such men are side-tracked for life.
unless there is SOME great event cross
es the track. such rs crossed the track
of Grant the teamSter. or Cromwell the
country squire. But no doubt there are
many Grants who always team. and
many Cromwells who never leave tho
farm. There are many men who start
out in life. like hunters. on the wrong
trail. They never bring down their
game because the game has gone i'll
another direction. They are like fish,
erman who bob for cod in trout brook.
or start a-whaling on an inland pond.
There are some men who are side
tracked for life at their very birth.
They are born into mesh OF circum-
stances from which there is no extrica-
ton. OF course it Is easy enough to
say that a man, like water. will always
find his level but it is hard for wat.
or to rise plumb with its fountain head
when confined in nm underground pipe.
1t would have been difficult for Shakes
peare to assert his claim to immortal
ity If he had been born in Patagonia.
and we never would have heard OF
Plato If he had first seen the light in
Scythia. To say nothing OF the her.
editary influences that mould the I'M
born man, the environment of the
young humans infancy usually shapes
and directs his destiny. so irrevoca5ly
that only men of the strongest will and
the toughest mental and physical fibre
can ever counterfeit the impetus that Is
given them in childhood. TO be sure
there are a few who
Burst their births invidious bar,
And grasp the skirts Of happy chance,
And breast the blows of circumstance,
And grappe with their evil star,
but men of such heroic breed are al
ways so few that they are perpetually
source of special wonder.
The lesson that Young people should
gain from all this Is the Importance of
studying their own aptitudes. In
choosing n profession do not consult
your egotsm. but your personal fitness;
and If the surroundings of your birth
are unfavorable to YOUR fullest develop
ment, overcome them rs much as pos
sible by the indomitable stubborness
of your own will. To do this learn to
think for yourself at as early an age as
possible. and you VIII soon learn that
q man we'll intrenched within h mself
is able to rise above the repressions
and contracting forces of circum-
stance Above all things do not get
side-tracked at the start Yankee Blade.