The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1889-01-11
CONCERNING AMBITION.
why Man should strive 10 the utmost

why Man should strive 10 the utmost to
Attain Exee1lence.
No condition OF mind has been more
soundly rated than ambition; all the
bad adiectives in the dictionary have
been lung 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 70 be
outstripped. and If his contentment
proceed from philosophy and not from
Incidence he Is scarcely to be pitied.
.sDiscontent,n says Walter Besant,
..hurts no young man, unless it is ac-
eompanied by laziness, when 1t is the
DEVIL
Ambition, of course, stimulates to
more strenuous ana 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 II; of what
possible advantage can his patient
watching and waiting, his obsequious
fetching and carrying, his alternate
trucking and clustering, be to the
commemorative Nay. what incalcu-
liable injury does it not work, as we'll
to the State as to the individualP On
the other hand. worthy ambition.
legitimately pursued, may Indirectly
confer the greatest benefits both on
the community and on the aspirant
himself.
/ should define healthy ambition rs
being an eager desire for such pro-
fessional or social advancement as Is
reasonably and fairly to be hoped for
In the scope OF mans ordinary avu-
cation, having due regard to the range
of his capacities. Alferi, the greatest
of modern italian poets, had the
strange ambition of being the best
runner in Italy. One of the drollesl
of our English comedians is known to
cherish an ardent desire to play
Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth These
I should call diseased ambitions.
My notion is that man should strive
10 the utmost to attain excellence and
good repute in his occupation, what
ever it be, and that not until that il
| achieved should he allow himself tc
turn aside to other pursuits. For in.
stance, say that you are shoemaker
| you feel that you have soul above
leather; but you do not give up youi
shoemaking until you have earned the
name of being first-rate shoemaker
BY that time you will probably have
found that even shoemaking has iti
charms; but if you are then still dis
contented shoemaker, you will have
won the right to seek for fame ant
reputation in some other pursuit
| do not say, let not the shoemaker g
beyond his last, but let him at any rat,
| stick to his last until he is the king o
cobblers.
To sum up, l advocate healthy
generous ambition-that is to say, tn,
desire and the will TO reach, by fai
| and honest means, the highest posi-
tion that is attainable in ones occupa
ton. Nor, if you find your sphere to,
cramped, would / dissuade you iron
beginning the world anew in som
more promising and congenial pur
suit. But unhealthy ambition, pas
sion for success in one line simply be
cause from lack of energy you hav
failed in another, l distinctly depre
cate; and immoral ambition, whicl
either justifies the means by the end
or processes a cynical Indifference a
10 whether the means are just or ur
| just. is of course to be unreservedl
condemned.-Notesf for Boys.