Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-04-05
Men Who Get Side Tracked.

The Boston Herald lately published
q number of interviews with men who
had become "side-tracked' in life.
BY this is meant men, who. though
willing to work, yet were unable to
find anything congenial to do.
They were men who had somehow
got out of the current of the great
forces in which the world is moving.
and were stranded as it were. like
helpless hulks along the sands of time.
There are more such men and women
in every community than most people
imagine.
Perhaps the most numerous class of
men who get side-tracked are those
who start in life in an occupation for
which they have no natural aptitude.
There are thousands of farmer bows
who never should remain on tho farm
the loud protestatons of the agri-
cultural press to the contrary notwith-
standing. There are, doubtless. men
who make II life business of string the
soil when they ought to be stirring the
Senate; and there are men who are
trying to str the Senate who ought to
be stirring the soil. Good bus ness
men are frequently spoit 10 make poor
preachers; and there are manv large
and heavy lawyers who would make
ideal blacksmiths; and there arc some
slender and unsuccessful blacksmiths
with the keen logical brain and tho
shrewd masterful mind of the lawyer
Cnn1, ciIa- frnnt.o1 Co.. 20
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 the
farm. There are many men who starr
out in life. like hunters. on the wrong
trail, They never bring down their
game because the game has gone in Il
another direction They are like fish
erlnan who bob for cod in n trout brook,
or start a-whaling on an inland pond.
There are some men who arc side
tracked for life mt their very birth.
They are born into n mesh of circum-
stances from which there is no extrica-
ton. OF course it is EASY enough to
say that man, like water. will always
find his level; but it is hard for wat
er to rise plumb with its fountain head
when confined N 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
Scvthia. To say nothing of the her.
editary influences that mould the UNI
born man, the environment of the
Young humans infancy usually shapes
and directs his destiny. so irrevocabIy
that only men of the strongest will and
the toughest mental and physical fibre
can ever counterfeit the impetus that is
given them i'm childhood. To be sure
there are a few who
Burst their births invidious bar
And grasp the skirts Of happy chance,
And breast the blow. of circumstance
And grapplc with their evil star,
but men of such heroic breed are al
WAYS so few that they are perpetually q
source of special wonder.
The lesson that Dung people should
gain from all tbs is the Importance of
studying their own apttudes. In
choosing profession do not consult
your egotism. 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 mdomtable stubborness
Of your own will. To do this learn to
think for yourself ut MS early an age rs
possible. and YOU VIII soon learn that
man we'll intrenched within himself
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.