The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-11-24

How many men follow the business
4 their own choosing? How many
are prepared for one pursuit. and by o
sudden blast or q sort Of undeIt0w Of
events are bore off 10 another alto
gether different When you look at
,hem in one way, most men 3 entrance
nto life are bewIlderlng. They seem
know as little of what 10 actually
going on as when they came waIliDg
,taring. kicking into tne world for tine
first time. 1t is not the course Of
1ature TO dszs and bewilder US 81
preparation for active useful
aess. But 1t is very plainly wise
hat we should learn early of a superln-
lending providence, and that the WAYS
IF man are not IN himself; that 1t is not
N man that walketh to direct his steps:
hat the st beginning If to be humbled
md proved to feel the worst at the start
b. bathed like Achilles In the Siyx, ana
so hardened and inyig0rated for eudur-
nce aud courageous effort and taught
Of "A higher power.
"The lnmentable change is from the best,
The worst returns TO laughter
LISA great deal better for us to
know at the start what fools we are,
than to find it out after opportunities
and life are all past aud wasted.
When 4 man makes a bold dash, a
mighty rush, for profession or call
Jog that the ambition of his parents or
himself has selected for him, and III
the least possible time. fluids out the
calling itself was not what II was rep
resented to him, but in re rera. a fraud:
aud that it was not after his mind, nor
himself adopted TO its best show, how
can he help being stunned? Aud yet
that's the experience Of most Of US.
When the beautiful dreams and ideals |
OF life yield to ugly, coarse. common
place realities. many man becomes |
more or less desperate. Even the veiy /
best set the whole bu-iness down |
is fraud, aud life not worth living.
Ire end of II better than the beginning. -
Some take the shortest way out OF it
Some Weld to the strongest passion. and
look for reality in immediate and III
tense qualification. Some yield TO ab.
solute disgust and general hate. Others.
still holding TO somethingof reason and
h pc. dash into trade or politics, after
the igniS fotuls of a fortune or name.
How many such follow their ca,lIpgs
with an energy that measures their des-
peralion-merely to forget or keep their
minds off the tombs of hopes and
ideals that all died in infancyY SO it
IS that in trades. in professional life. in
literature the Work Of desperation is
seen in mere sharp. hard traders, mere !
mere intellectual con. a
ec,ioneTs or man milliners. and learn a
d beasts of burden. all with hardly a
lavor Of manhood or the least sug- /
eStion of an honest love Of truth or C
irtue--an earnest interest in life. r
There is no explanation of this sub :
nnary sphere. but as a nursery. by sill n
IS schools and methods and discipline v
( the highest possible manhood. Lost
. any calling on purely selfish priDci-
les, in spite of all his mocklng sue '
ssses and magnificent shows. man =
wretched, desperate failure. q
, forgetfu ness Of himself, in sincere il
svotion to all that is good and true q
I'd honorable, the dearest ideals Of ear -
life grow to he divine beings along II
$ path; the seeds Of kind words ard m
st and good deeds sown all along his W
ay yield eyer-enItrging returns IN n n
nd; and truth gathered and stored 10 b,
. soul casts its brightness quite over al