Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-03-20
SHOULD LOVE HIS CALLING.



Some of the Elemsnss OF success In Stock
A genuine love for. the work is one of
the foundation elements of success in
stock breeding. says Prof. Samuel john
son in an address before the last con-
vention of Michigan stockmen- No man
can be above his business, nor attempt
to discharge the duties of his calling
with the feeling that he is sacrificing
his dignity and manliness and expect
success. The true stock-breeder, him
to the manner born, does not look upon
his calling as mental or lacking in i'm
portance and dignity. He looks back
over q long line of illustrious names
from Abraham of Bethel to this year OF
grace and finds himself engaged in an
employment which has occupied the at
tention and ability of some of the wisest
and best men of past generations. His
calling need prove no bar to his progress
if he, like those who are his exemplars,
shall prove that he has the qualities of
kingship. My friends, q mans employ
ment or profession does not glorify him.
It is mans supremest dignity to glorify
his employment and transfgure the
plainest of occupations by patient, con-
slant devotion and service.
Those who by patient continuance in
well-doing gain glory and honor reap
the truest success. Success in any call
ing is largely due to the fact that it has
been pursued not from q slavish hunger
after emOluments, but from a genuine
love for it and the satisfaction of dis
charging its duties in an efficient way.
"a plowman, if he IS worth his wages,
likes to see the furrow straight and
smoothly turned; the stone-mason likes
to see his work justified by the plumb
line and spirit-level; and it is not too
much to say that in all the walks of
life almost every man who earns dis
tinction seeks and finds his reward far
more in his work than in his pay.
joaquin Miller has given us this
thought in his verse when he says:
" And have said and say it ever,
AS the years goes on and the world goes over,
'Twere better to be content and clever
In tending OF cattle and tossing OF clover,
In the grazing OF cattle and growing OF grain,
Than strong man striving for fame and gain"
A thorough knowledge of the business
is essential to success in stock breed
ing; such knowledge as comes to those
whose hearts are in their work from
study. observation and, more than all,
from actual experience. The men who
trust to their theories alone invariably
fail The pure theorist in stock breed
ing will write long and 1earnediy, he
usually thinks, on his favorite topic,
but if he be the owner of an unfortu-
nate herd it will give unmistakable evil
dence that his precept and practice are
as wide apart as the night and the day.
In this business, as in all others, one
has greatly the advantage whose child
hood and youth have been passed amid
such surroundings as have developed
and strengthened love for animals and
their care, and whose training has laid
the foundations of success early in life.
The apprenticeship must be served in
every calling sooner or later to achieve
the best results. There is no exception
in this business. The merchant princes
of the land are usually the men who be-
gan in boyhood by sweeping the stores
and have gone up step by step through
all the grades of promotion to their
present proud positions. In stock breed
ing the same law obtains. The practi-
cal details of selection, feeding, man
agement, etc., must all be mastered.
Here as elsewhere the man who evades
the tiresome .drudgery incident to the
laying of sure foundations and by kind
of mental gymnastics endeavors to reach
the summit at a single bound is sure to
fall and be badly crippled by such an
effort There is no royal road to success
in this business.