Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1889-01-19
CONCERNING AMBITION.
Why Man should strive to the Utmost T.
Attain Excellence.

Attain Excellence.
No condition of mind has been more
soundly rated than ambition; all the
bad adjectives in the dictionary have
been flung at it. But the man who is
without ambition will soon be elbowed !
and jostled aside in the race for life. |
1t may be that he will be content to be |
outstrippcd and il his contentment
proceed from philosophy and not from
Incidence he is scarcely to be pitied.
"Discontent." says Walter Besant,
'hurts no young man, unless it is ac-
companied by laziness, when it is the
DEVIL
Ambition. OF course, stimulates to
more strenuous and persistent effort;
but it by no means follows that the
result OF the effort is in itself bene-
fetal to mankind Take the ambitious
politician, whose thin mask OF patriot
ism covers but does not conceal his
longing for the power and patronage
which Office carries with it, of what
| possible advantage can his patient
watching and waiting. his obsequious
fetching and carrying, his alternate
trucking and clustering, be to the
commonwealth Nay, what incalcu-
liable injury does it not work, as we'll
to the State as to the individualp On
the other hand, II worthy ambition,
legitimately pursued. may indirectly
confer the greatest benefits both on
the community and on the aspirant
himself. q.
should define healthy ambition MS
being an eager desire for such pro-
fessional or social advancement rs Is
reasonably and fairly to be hoped for
in the scope Of IA mans ordinary avo
cation, having due regard to the range
of his capacities. Alteri, the creates
Of modern Italian poets, had thu
strange ambition OF being the bes
runner in Italy. One of the drolles
OF our English comedians is known t.
cherish an ardent desire to play
, Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth. Thes'
| should call diseased ambitions.
| My notion is that man should striv,
to the utmost to attain excellence an,
4 good repute in his occupation, what
) ever it be. and that not until that !
achieved should he allow himself t
0 turn aside to other pursuits. For In
y stance, say that you are shoemaker
= you feel that you have II soul abov
r leather; but you do not give up you
: shoemaking until you have earned tn
=: name of being IA trst-rate shoemaker
r BY that time you will probably hav
i found that even shoemaking has il
n charms; but if you are then still di'
IS contented shoemaker, you will hav
won the right to seek for fame an
n reputation in some other pursuit.
do not say, let not the shoemaker 9
beyond his last, but let him at any RAJ
n stick to his last until he is the king
1t cobblers.
III To sum up, | advocate health
p generous ambition-tha is to say, u
I'd desire and the will to reach, by ia
I'd and honest means, the highest pos
tion that is attainable in ones occup
r, tion. Nor. if you find your sphere u
Is cramped. would dissuade you fro
or beginning the world anew in son
$, more promising and congenial pu
vo suit. But unhealthy ambition, pa
as sion for success in one line simply /
1T cause from lack of energy you ha
failed in another, | distinctly depl
cate; and immoral ambition, whi
en- either justifies the means by the Ell
ne or Processes u cynical Indifference
an to whether the means are just or I
lst just, is Of course to be unreserved
to condemned for Boys.