The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-02-04
ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE
STARTING IN BUSINESS LIFE.
Don't Aim too High, Study Your Busi-
ness, Save Money and Lay it up for
a Rainy Day.

The N Y. Herald thus replies to the
following letter:
1 am country boy. ! came from farm in
making name and fortune Either the
fame or the fortune would satisfy me, but
prefer both II they M are I within thin reach, @ arvo ont
for myself a successful career?
The results of our experience and
observation are entirely at your service,
young man.
Suppose we begin our conversation
by defining terms. What do you mean
by "a successful careerP"
If, as you say. you are ambitious to
become millionaire two or three |
times over your chance is one in a
thousand.
Possibly you may be that one. 1t |
depends on your natural gifts and your |
opportunities. But how about the |
other nine hundred and ninety-nineP |
Are their lives to be failure because |
they can't acquire an immense bulk of
capitalP
In other words, is a surplus of cash
the prime factor in the problem of
happiness, and is a citizens usefulness
to be measured by his bank account
solelyP
You may also get the fame you wish.
1t depends on your education, on the
quantity and quality of your brains
and on your native genius. With these
everything is possiblei without them,
you will everlastingly hunger for the
unattainable, and in the end draw the
coverlid of a wasted life over your head
and die disappointed man.
The number of those who achieve
L. 81. kL4 hill
monuments to their memory is very
few, but if your name happens to be in
that list the Herald will gladly subscribe
for the purpose.
Don't make any mistakes in this mat
ter. If you wish to get out of life all
| there is in it-for you-there is a way
to do it.
Real happiness consists of health,
self-respect, the good will of the COM
| munity and a sufficient income to
| crafty your reasonable wants. Every
thing else is trivial and not worth both
erlng about. The man who has steady
work, fair wages, a cosey home, enough
1 to eat, thick overcoat. and the con-
sciousness of personal integrity, is a
nightly favored fellow, in possession
| of more than three-quarters of the best
| things which this world affords.
Now, YOU can have all this if you
| make certain rules the basis of your
| conduct.
FIrst-Don't aim too high, but aim
straight. Emerson's advice to "hitch
your wagon to a star" is the merest
buncombe of rhetoric You will pro-
duce larger practical results if you
hitch your wagon to well fed mule.
'Longfellow's poem. Excelsior" is
another bit of exquisite trash. OF
course it is beautiful ''and all like that,
you know" but it is not adapted to a
rough and tumble fight with circum-
stances.
The young man in that poem
shoulders flag and starts for-well,
for nowhere, so far as we can discover,
He is one of the climbers-an explorer
of the celestial Alps. When he gets to
the top of hill he turns back and
screams out s.Excelsior!" What for
we can't say. This is a free country,
however, and he can do as he pleases.
Up he trudges until he gets to the
snow-capped summit of the next ascent
Unreasonable boy! he seems to be JUS
as dissatisfied as ever. Evidently he
wants the earth. In spite of chronic
bronchitis and in constant danger o.
pneumonia he waves his bunting, yells
s.Excelsior!' once more and strikes ou
for an altitude where the mercury
freezes in the bulb.
He may be going yet, for aught we
know. He has undertaken tough job
though, and his flag by this time mus
be in tatters.
You want to get rid of a good deal
of this excelsior" folderol. 1t is q
mighty poor Investment of talent
Stay down below, and let the glacier.
and the mountain peaks take care ot
themselves.
Second-Do your work well, no mat
z ter what it is. Study your business
Make yourself master of it by putting
your head and heart into it. If i
is bookkeeping, then keep books il
such fashion that the Angel Gabrie
will want to lend you his crown as
token of approval. If you are ;
mechanic, or artisan, or farmer, b.
. proud of yourself, and the rest of the
world will soon come to be proud o
you. Nothing is needed so much il
this generation as man with skilled
fingers. You may have long pull
but the clock will strike an unexpected
: hour and the opportunity-which come
to everybody in turn, but which mos
people miss-will present itself Study
the bulldog, and when you get you
teeth into a big thing, let them sta.
there.
Il Ibird-Save money. The cowar'
runs in debt, the brave man has fv,
= dollar surplus in his pocket. Th
. world may laugh at you because yo1
can't have four-in-hand necktie. AL
right, let it laugh. You are your owl
world, and the people who sneer ar
simply outside barbarians. When the
see that five dollar bill growing bigge
they all want to shake hands with yol
and send you to Congress. Keep wei
within your income and you will saw
yourself from skulking round tn
corner like kicked dog when the du
is on your track. The handiest thing
on the planet is the penny laid up TO
a rainy day.
Now. young sir. get rid of the nor
r sense that you are a genius, settl
Z down to the conclusion that you ar
just an average North American bo
and start in. Keep yourself alert, loo
after your digestive apparatus, don
smoke cigarettes, get to bed early, b
square toed in all your dealings, an
we will wager cookie that at sixt
you will have to look backward fo