The Republican., 1889-05-11
DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER

There rs a spirit in every healthy
American boy which urges him to
make success in his life. Some boys
have vague idea that to get rich
means having "luck." ''If you are
lucky you will get rich, otherwise you
will remain poor" is the conclusion
of some boys.
This eeems very singular when you
see how clearly every boy recognizes
that if he is to take any position in
school he must work for it. He does
not expect to learn his lessons through
good luck" but work. He does not
expect to win the regard Of his
schoolmates through "goo luck" but
by being truthful, constant. honest.
manly: these are the qualities that
toll for success in school. and tho
world is great big school.
We sometimes make the mistake Of
thinking that we come to certain
places or points in life where we can
break off old habits and begin entirely
new. That is great mistake. Watch
your younger brother and sister. Can
any one tell just when they ceased be-
ing babies. stopped playing with baby
tOysP The change was so gradual that
no one saw it; they passed into the boy
and girl period without those who
loved them best finding it out. Yet
they showed certain traits even then
which were indications OF the kind of
boys and girls they would make. So
the boy or girl in a thousand ways tells
the kind of man or woman that will
develop. There is no ''luck' in it. 1t
is as gradual and as sure as the
growth Of the oak from the acorn.
No ono expects TO soc Il lily-of-
the valley groT from the acorn. or a
thistle, or a ST ak of corn. Every one
knows that tn" acorn will phpduce the
oak. When We see bunch of thistle
down floating off lightly in the air we
know that when it alights and the seeds
settle in the ground u thistle will de-
velop, not an apple tree.
No one expects a quiet, earnest, bus
iuess-like man to develop from a boy
noted for his carelessness, his noise
and forgetfulness. No one expects to
see q rough, lazy, Indifferent, unambi-
tious man develop from u boy who is
gcutlc, thoughtful for others, indus
trious, ambitious to make the most Of
himself. The boy is the bud, the man
is the flower; it is always the same
fo1I oit noly fhictla
If q boy starts out to have a good
time-that is. gives as little time as
possible to work. makes just as many
engagements to fill evenings socially
as he can make, is Indifferent or nearly
indifferent to the kind of friends he
makes so that time is fllled-and then
trusts to duck" to have his salary
raised and grow into more important
position in the field of labor he has
chosen, the probabilities are that he
will fill in old age the position he filled
when he first entered manhood. He
may call this his "luck," but the world
knows it is the result of the life chosen.
Good luck is but another name for
good working powers devoted to good
ends. Work joined to good Judgment,
good thinking powers, makes a man a
respected. successful man. A man may
be rich, but in making that wealth he
may have sacrificed the respect Of
himself and the world. Wealth alone
is never success. Nor is poverty an
assurance of honesty; it may be the
natural result of laziness. bad judg-
ment, ard lack Of knowledge or conf
dence. We build our own futures, and
we begin to build as babies. The mo-
ment the first stone is laid in the foun-
datiou of q house, you speak of it as
part of the house. You do not wait
until it is partly built, but at once rec
ognize it as the beginning of what will
by and by be whole. So the boy-ba-
by in the cradle is the promise of the
man, and every day helps build the
man. A rich man who had begun life
as a poor boy was asked about the
chances of success for q young man,
and answered.:
IL will tell you from my own ex-
perience how any young man in this
country, with nothing but his hands
and good health, may get q 16o-acre
farm, or almost any thing else he
chooses. He has only to go to work,
say at sixteen Or eighteen years OF
age, as farm hand, or in any other
way, begin to save from the first. live
. strictly temperate, honest and truth
full life, and keep entirely clear OF bad
company. Instead of loafing, he must
spend his leisure in reading good books
and getting all the information he can
get about his country's history. Any
young man who starts out in that path
and keeps in it is sure to succeed. He
will soon be known in the place where
he lives, and his good character will
be the best kind of capital for him tc
begin on. Every body will respect
him, and the first thing yor
know he falls in love with some gooG
girl who is worthy of him, and of whom