The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-05-10
FAILURE IN LIFE.
It Is Due in Most Instances to the Absence
of Application.

It Is Due in Most Instances to the Absence |
of Application.
Well now, the failure of many yonng
men in life is distinctly due to the ab-
sence of application. l could easily
give you not few instances that have
come under my notice here; lads, not
deficient in ability. not addicted to vice.
but SO destitute of the power of appli-
cation, that, no matter what line of
business they enter on. they could not
stick to it. A young fellow enters a
merchants office; good opening; excel
lent prospects; but before a twelve
month is out, he finds he has made a
mistake. He now determines to be
doctor; starts course of medical
study; but in few months gets heartily
wearied of that, and is persuaded that
he is cut out for the law. So he sets
forth on fresh line of rails, only to
discover that professional life will not
suit him at all; his ambition now is to
be on the Stock Exchange. But the
work there soon proves equally dis
tasteful. and he throws it up in disgust;
and unless he marries a rich wife
(Which such man often contrives to
do), he hangs about penniless good
for-nothing to the end of his days. 1t
is an excellent thing for youth.
almost as soon as school-days are over,
to have to depend to a great extent
upon his own exertons. If he is saved
from the efforts of making his own way
in the world, and the necessity Of
establishing position for himself, he
is denied a powerful stimulus to toll
and perseverance. The late President
Garfield. who rose by his own exertions
from the humblest to the highest
station in his own country. once OBJ
served: ''In nine times out of ten, the
best thing that can happen to young
man is to be tossed overheard, and
compelled to sink or swim for himself.
In all my acquaintance, l never knew
aman to drown who was worth saving"
There is now an honored and re-
mons who was once working stone-
mason, and he says: In my opinion.
truthfulness, sobriety, absolute punctu-
ality and self-reliance are indispensable
factors to success. A young man should
never be afraid of work, however hard
| or common it may seem to be. The
men who in my trade or occupation
have risen to the top of the tree, have
generally been men who, to use Presi-
dent Lincoln's favorite expression,
"kept pegging away" and were never
in the habit of shelving their own work
upon other persons. There is proverb
fused to meet with in Turkey. which
advises you never to do to-day what can
be left off till tomorrow. and never to
do yourself what you can get another
to do for you. hope YOU will go as
much Is possible III the teeth of such
degrading counsel. The advice General
Gordon gave is incomparably more
worthy your acceptance. The occasion
l allude to was the first day on which
fire was opened at Sebastopol from the
twenty-one gun battery, and when the
sand-bags forming one of the embra-
sures caught fire. A corporal and q
sapper of the Engineers were told off to
repair the damage. The corpora
ordered his companion to mount the
cmbrasure, undertaking himself tt
hand up the fresh bags to him. Th'
firing was heavy at the time, and th'
sapper demurred to this arrangement
suggesting that the corporal should ge
up, and that he would do the handing
up business. There was bit of wrang
ling over it. General Gordon, hearin,
the dispute, came to the spot. mounte'
the pile of bags himself, and whilst
storm of bullets swept around him cooll.
performed the task. Thereupon h
quietly descended, and looking. sternl
at the corporal. said: ''Never order
man to do a thing you are afraid to d
yourself" -. Thain DaUidson.