Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-12-28
Good ReBding to End an Old Yenr and
Begin "a New One with.


EVERY BOY HAS HIS DAY.
1t has always struck me that the greatest
lessons Of life are the simplest, the most in
telligible, and the most universal The
whole Of life might be reduced to the sim
Pile rule that two and two make four That
rule is every bit as applicable to life as to
arithmetic. Half the errors and msfor
tunes of men arise from the mistake of
| supposing that one and two make four and
| two and two make five. Now it is lust as
certain as that two and two make four that
neglect aud idleness mean failure, and that
diligence and opportunity mean success.
You sometimes hear somebody say, II nev-
er had chance in my life" Do not be
lieye him. Everybody has had one chance
at least in life. Everybody, - the old PROV
erb says, has his day = and so every hu-
man being has at least one opportunity.
Fortune comes and knocks once in our lives
at the door Of every one of US. will knock
at the door Of every one Of YOU only.
when she does knock, take care that she
finds you at home because, If not. she has
an awkward habit of going away and not
coming back
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
! Which, taken at the flood leads ON to fortune &c
And the same thought is expressed by
contemporary poet when he said. There
is deep nick in times restless wheel for
each mans foot For every one of Won
boys there will be a time when the tide is
at the flood. and nick in times restless
wheel, in which you have only to put your
foot, to be uplifted as it rises neglected
| opportunity is always like an enemy left in
the rear. You have all read the old legend
of Tarquin and the sibyl. The sbyl Of op-
portunity comes to you with her nine books
She comes in boyhood, and off rs those
books at a very moderate price. If you re
| fuse them, she goes away and burns three
Then she comes in your later youth. and Of
; fers the remaining six at the same price
If you refuse, she goes and burns three
more and comes aud offers the remaining
ones. If you refuse again in manhood. she
| goes away and burns the last three, and
that blessed sibyl of opportunity will visit
| you again no more. When Napoleon visit
ed his old school at Brienne, he made an ex-
ceedingly short speech. All that he said
was Boys, remember that every hour
wasted now'-he did not mean spent in
necessary play or athletics is chance of
misfortune in future life And. depend
upon it. it is. You may make up for the
loss of money and other things but you
cannot possibly, under any circumstances,
make up for the loss of time If you use
/ your time now, and husband your opportu.
mites, you may be quite sure that there is
not the least ground for any anxiety or
misgiving about the future Every one of
/ YOU will have as great chance of happy
| life as is given to any human being.
THREE STRANDS
There are three strands TO 20 into the
/ thread Of every life,-labor, sorrow and
/ JOY but, if you do your best now, with
| high objects and purposes, although you
will not escape sorrow, yet you will Ger
tainly gain the highest possible ends of life.
| But would also impress you that you must
have diligence and thoroughness You
cannot possibly get on unless, when the op-
| portunity comes, you use it in a thorough
and vigorous way. Nature gives YOU abso-
| lutely nothing for nothing When was at
that school ON the other side of the valley,
in which labored fifteen years, | used very
/ often to hear from the boys, "So-and so is
an awfully clever fellow,-always at the
/ top, and he never opens book - but never
/ in one single instance have found case
/ in which such boys ever did any real good
afterward. That kind of cleverness is like
| grass on the house tops, that withereth be
| fore it is grown up All the great men of the
/ world gained their position by thoroughness
and diligence. Look at one of the most
/ splendid and accomplished men that Eng
land ever produced Sir Walter Raleigh. 1t
was said of him by an opponent, Il know
that he can toll terribly Look at Sir
| Isaac Newton He said the only single
| point in which he was superior to others
was this that he had power of concen-
/ trating his attention Take the greatest
scholar Of the pre- Reformation period,
/ Erasmus. Even as boy, he used 10 read
/ by moonlight, because he could not afford
/ penny to buy a torch. Look at John Mil
/ ton Even as a youth, he could write Latin
/ like Roman at quite an early age, he had
mastered Hebrew, Greek, Svriac, Italian,
aud French he was fine fencer, AN ac
complished swordsman, aud one of the
grandest and finest students Of Cambridge.
What was the secret of those immense ac
complishments Why, even when young
hoy at St Paul's school, his ardor for
knowledge was so great that he rarely
went TO bed before twelve o'clock. All
these great men have achieved greatness
10y exceeding diligence We have been
grieving very recently over the death of
the grand old Emperor of Germany, vii
liam l., the father of united Germany and
the founder of the present empire He
was not 10y any means a gifted man, but,
although he climbed TO the very giddiest
height of glory, he remained to the last the
same simple, faithful hard working man
and a friend says of him, when | passed
the palace at Berlin night after night, how
ever late, | always saw that grand impe-
rial figure standing up beside the green
lamp and | used to say 10 myself, That is
how the imperial crown of Germany was
won y" Three thousand years ago solomon
said, in the first place, "Whatsoever thy
hand fndeth to do, do it with all thy might !"
and he said, also, "Seest thou a man dill
gent in his business, he shall stand before
kings he shall not stand before mean men.
JUMP HIGH AND WIDE.
In mentioning opportunity and thorough
ness, | have mentioned the two levers of
the intellectual and physical world But.
besides those, ! would add that you must
have your diligence inspired and your op.
portunity put TO use by a certain heroic as
piration and resolution If you want to be
great men, useful men, successful men,
truly good men, you must aspire aud you
must resolve. A few years ago one of the
foremost of modern Englishmen, Mr.. Glad
stone, came over TO Mill Hill and gave
away the prizes TO you. He is very fond
of doing that service. He also gave the
prizes a short time ago at a school at Vim
bledon and he asked the boys this ques
ton; "If you were told 10 jump, what
would you do = and the boys answered,
I'VE would jump as high as ever we could
give you very strongly that advice Jump
as high as you can, and as wide as you can,
in life, The great Nimrod Mr.. Assheton
Smith, was once asked how it was that he
took leaps which nobody else ever thought
Of taking in the hunting field, and yet
scarcely ever had a fall His answer was,
Whenever | come to big leap, | always
fling my heart over first aud then my body
must follow" Now, | give you that ad-
vice in life, whenever you come to a big
leap, throw your heart over, If any one