The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-12-05
HINTS FOR BOYS.
REMEMBER you HAVE BUT ONE
CHANCE IN LIFE

CHANCE IN LIFE.
Make the Most OF Your Opportunity-The
Need q Self neutrality-suspicious. Ont
Fvi; Habit, with Those of tho Opposite
Find-Self Control.
What boys need is few hints in the art OF
living Mistakes made carly IN life go on
with us, either to bo fought with through
valuable years or else to wreck our chances
You want, or need TO want, first Of all, to
rec clearly that you have but one chance In
life 70 make the most Of yourself-only once
that you can 90 over the ground and you
must be sure and positive as 70 what you are
doing. Then it will never hurt any boy TO
stop and zee how very few do have fair
sort Of life; and thoa consider why so large
q proportion ot human beings have petty,
low. or even brutal plane 70 live on.
The next thing that | nm quite sure a
young chap needs is 10 get good glimpse OF
himself. This ia not the hardest task in the
world. although some make the accomplish
nent very difficult. A good deal OF SELF
knowledge can be obtained by a quiet con-
s.deration and moderate estimate OF what ve
like to do, TO be, and with whom we like to
associate. And ono who really wishes can
find ont his special dangers, and his special
advantages and powers. He can know II he
is liable 70 hasty outbreaks Of temper, or to
sonsUality; or i5 naturally revenSeful, or
Gckle, or enyious. Can any ono tell us why
a person shall not 60 to work upon himself
o. no would at anything else 70 change aud
modify, and eradicate the evil and increase
the goodf There isSo property more directly
our own than ourselves; and it Is every hour
.eshap,d by our wills. But tho best plan
docs not seem TO be to try to kill out evil in
our dispositions, but 10 give cultivation to
the good The evil will get smothered out.
Farmers have way Of going through
their corn once with a hoe TO cut OF weeds.
But when the corn is well up and strong they
only go through to stir the soil and hill up
the stalks They say the corn itself will Kill
tie weeds Il depends on which gets the
beat start II you give your weeds the best
chance thcy will como out ahead IN the char
Gcter. But IL you give good willing the bet
ter start very shortlyit Will oyershadow evil
and YOU viii have little trouble. | have
known people, young and old, work on the
other plan, spending great deal Of time in
remorso and repentance. All which Is non
sense and time wasted They only grow
weaker willed and punier in character. No
one gets hard job done by regretting that
he has done something else. So take my adj
vice in this matter and simply 60 TO work
and keep 70 work, cultiyating fine things. II
evil habits are formed, don't fight them, hut
smother them with the opposite. To tell you
the truth, what set me to writing this article
was q very doleful letter from reader, who
is mserably eating up his time and his force
on rcmorse. Plan something noble, my boy
Get ct something useful, and always be cheer
full about it, The Greeks had a name for
honorable men. that Is men OF the right sort;
they called them upward lockers" The
finest thing one can be is TO be an upward
locker.
Unless one has self control, or control Of
self, Of course some one else has control Of
him. It is quite a study. and q study well
worth the while, to find out who really is in
control Of us. II is not impossible that, when
you think 1t we'll over, you will SEQ that It is
a very contemplate lout who is ruling you
: boy said to me not long ago: "Ihaye made
up my mind that if / cannot rule myself l
shall never amount to anything" To be
sure, lad, you viii not amount TO anything
unless the one who rules you is q very noble
person, and if he Is that, he will only aim to
teach you 70 control yourself. There is
something very grand about well man
aged body and mind. There is no othei
such property in the world.
think very few boys ever have any idea
how much they are good for. The result is
they aim for something quito too cheap and
small What o world this would be If all the
millions born into the world each year should
do their best The worst Of all ideas is bad
or Insignificant notion Of life-a cheap notion.
II you get a good ideal Of life TO aim at you
have at least right purpose. Does this
sound too much like preachingf II it does,
some preaching is just what we all need.
Like preacher, | now make another point.
II ought TO be very strongly emphasized,
that is, learn TO like good company. II |
were sure you had been brought up just
right, would put 1t this way, Never learn
to like bad company do not at all mean
to seek always % be with pious people-peo-
PIE OF high strung goodness-aDd generally
Of tho goCdy goodness sort. | do not know
more damaging people than those who arc
all the time worried about their neighbors.
There is, however, q law OF nature that We
become Ike those with whom we associate.
IL Is a fixed law, and sometimes seems great
pity, because weak witted persons find it 50
difficult TO set away from strong leaders. |
An quito sure | have seen one boy lead
twenty OF his mates, and almost take control
Of them SO far as / can judge, about one
person in twenty IS born leader the rest
arc naturally followers. II you have an
ambition to lead, aud are high spirited, take
care not to be selfish, but to be generous IL
leading II you are naturally led, then Of
course you must be careful who leads you.
Some people are made up as boys make C
snow mau-each boy puts on q handful Of
snow. So have seen q person made up Of
bits Of everybody about him; a notion from
Tom Jones, prejudice from another, be
lief from another habit from another
and, oil In all, a queer hodge poise-M
Maurice, M D., in Globe-D Democrat.