The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1889-05-09
DEVELOPMENT or CHARACTER

No such Thing as "Luck"-NTan the Nat
urai Result OF What lie Was When y
Hoy.
There is a spirit in every healthy
American boy which urges him to
make success in lis 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 seems 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. lie 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 d luck, " but
by being truthful, constant. honest.
manly; these arc the qualities that
tell for success i'll school, and the
world is Il great bi g 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 Il great mistake. Watch
your younger brother and sister. Can
any one tell just when they ceased be-
ing babies, stopped playing with baby
toys? The change was SO gradual that
no one saw it; they passed into the boy
ard 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 one expects to see a lily-Of-
the valley grow from the acorn, or a
thistle, or stalk of corn. Every one
knows that the acorn will produce the
| oak. When we see Il bunch OF thistle
down floating off lightly in the air we
know that when it alights and the seeds
settle in the ground a thistle will de-
velOp, not an apple tree.
No one expects n quiet, earnest, bus
! iness-like man to develop from u boy
noted for his carelessness, his noise
and forgetfulness. No one expects to
see Il rough, lazy, Indifferent, unambi-
tioas man develop from boy who is
gentle, thoughtful for others, indus
trious, ambitious to make the most Of
himself. The boy is the bud. the man
is the flower; il is always the same
stalk, either an oak or II thistle.
II boy starts out to have good
| .ime--that is, gives rs little time as
possible to work. makes just rs 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 illed-and then
trusts to s'luck" TO have his salary
.aised 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
| tllJy Cstll IIl1S Hls ltShs DuL WI
knows it is the result OF the life chosen,
Good luck is but another name f0l
good working powers devoted TO good
ends. Work joined to good Judgment
good thinking powers, makes ii man /;
respected, successful man. A man ma,
be rich, but in making that wealth ht
may have sacrificed the respect O
himself and the world. Wealth alone
is never success. Nor is poverty IN
assurance of honesty; it may be tht
natural result OF laziness, bad judg
ment, and lack or knowledge or conf
lence. We build our own futures, ant
, we begin TO build as babies. The mo
J ment the first stone is laid in the foun
, dation of Il house, you speak OF it ~
part of the house. You do not wal
. until it is partly built, but at once rec
ognize it rs the beginning OF what vii
, ~ and by be Il whole. So the boy-ba
oy in the cradle is the promise Of TIL
, nan, and every day helps build TIL
I nan. A rich man who had begun lif,
: is Il poor boy was asked about til,
chances OF success for II young man
and answered.:
: Il will tell you from my own ex
1 periencc how amy young man in thi
) country, with nothing but his hand
| and good health, may get a l6O-acr
]. farm, or almost any thing else h
1 chooses. He has only TO GO TO work
j say ut sixteen or eighteen years Q
: age, as IA farm hand, or in any olhe
: way. begin TO save from the first. liv
l strictly temperate, honest and truth
, iul life. and keep entirely clear OF ba'
. company. Instead Of loating, he mus
I spend his leisure in reading good book
! and getting all the information he ca
) get about his eountry's history. An
) Young man who starts out in that pat
s and keeps in ii is sure to succeed. Ii
4 will soon be known in the place wher
G he lives, and his good character wi
. be the best kind OF capital for him
!, begin on. Every body will respet
I him, and the first thing yo
Y know he falls in love with some goo
4 girl who is worthy Of him,and Of whol
a he is worthy, aud little while afte