The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-10-31
Success and Failure.


measuring the difference between success
and failure. To some these words are
looked upon as the emdnatiOn of a wander
ing mind. castle in the air. statement:
while others consider them as forming the
only sentence verging on the impossible
that this great author ever penned. Some
others. however. though never attempting
it. believe in its realization: while few.
believing in its realiZaton. make it the
laughing stock of the undecided by failing
tOrealiZe it. through lack of perseverance.
1t is not because a man fails once to accom-
pliSh the end he has in ew that he is to be
designated as having failed; it is in the lack
of determination to attack it again that lies
the failure. You all have heard, presume.
OF the tale of King Bruce. of Scotland. and
the Spider. Bruce had hurled his armies
against the enemies of his beloved Scotland
tine and time again only to suffer defeat
at every blow. AS he lay on his couch
p0ndering over his many rtver,eS. Il spider
fell from its nest on the ceiling and hung by
the slender thread which it had spun for it.
self. Using it to reach the spot from which
it had fallen it crept higher and higher un-
til it had almost reached its destination.
when it missed its hold and fell as far from
its home as ever. Without hesitation it
again began the ascent. This time the eyes
Of'the baffied king were drawn to the battle
between success and failure that was heing
enacted on the battlefield of the spiders
slender thread. He scanned the efforts of
81 Il;
crow loudly over the proStrate form of the
poor spider; but the seventh ''call to arms"
found it mounting the thread w tn as much
determination as in the beginning. The
kings interest increased: up. up. went the
spider higher and higher. nearer and nearer.
until at last with one determined effort. it
reached the goal for which it had so well
and SO successfully contended.
Bravo! Bravo! the king cried out, all honor to
those who try;
The sp der up there defed despair, it
quered, and why cannot l?
He went again unto h Work, and history tells
the tale.
He tried once more, twas at Bannockburn, and
that time he did not fail
How many young men are there IN this
and similar institutions throughout the
country. who. in Their lonely cells ponder
ing over their unhappy past, will brand
their lives as failures: whereas. if they
would but look at the matter in the proper
light they would see in their present sad
circumstances the spiders slender thread
bv which they can, if they only will. as
cend once more to freedom and fame.
Now it is not my intention to occupy
space in picturng to you the evils of intem
perance. | am not of that class | believe
there is not 4 man who has been driven
here headlong by whisky but could preach
just as good a sermon upon that subject As
ever he could read or hear from any one
else: particularly those Similarly situated to
myself. | am not an admirer of those who.
when they find themselves in such place
as this. at once ensconce themselves upon
the platform of reform and hurl Hell. Bed
lam and Newgate at the heads of all rum
Sellers rum drinkers whisky tramps. eIc.
Such individuals are not, in my opinion. to
be trusted. A certain amount of hypocrisy
surrounds them that would stencil at the
nOStrlS of any honest minded man. When
you meet them on the outside always keep
firm grip on your pOcketbOOk if there is
anything in 1t. Watch them when again
the glorious sun of freedom casts it's loving
rays around them. and in ninety nine cases
out of hundred you will find them stink
ing into the nearest saloon to satisfy their
insatiate desire for whisky.
when the devil sick, the devil saint
would be-
When the devil got WELL the devil saint
he"
But it is not to this class l address my
self. | cannot shut my eyes to the fact
that there are a ,algt number OF young
men in this inSttul on VINO do not deserve
to be here; men whose past career has been