The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1891-06-24
TRUE PHILOSOPHY.
Some Plain and Practical Advice for Young
Men of the Day.

Some Plain and Practical Advice for Young
Men of the Day.
Real happiness consists of health,
self-respect, the good will of the COM
munity and sufficient income to graf
ify your reasonable wants. Everything
else is trivial and not worth bothering
about. The man who has steady work,
fair wages, and cosy home, enough to
eat, and the consciousness of personal
integrity, is a mig htily favored fellow,
in possession of more than three-quar-
tiers of the best things that the 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 star" is the merest
buncombe of rhetoric. You will pro-
duce larger practical results if you
hitch your wagon to a well-fed mule.
Lonpfellow's poem, Excelsior" is
an other 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 shout.
ders flag and starts for-well, for no.
where, 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 ''Excelsior!' What for we
can't say. This is a free country, how
ever and he can do as he pleases. Up
he trudges until he gets to the snow
capped summit of the next ascent. I'm
reasonable boy! he seems to be just as
dissatisfied as ever. Evidently he
wants the earth. In spite of chronic
bronchitis and in constant danger of
pneumonia, he waves his bunting, yells
''Excelsior!" once more, and strikes out
for an altitude where the mercury
freezes in the bulb.
He may be going yet, for aught we
know. He has undertaken a tough job,
though, and his flag by this time must
be in tatters.
You want to get rid of a good deal OF
this excelsior" folderol. 1t is mighty
poor investment of talent Stay down
below, and let the glaciers and the
mountain peaks take care of them,
selves
Second-Do your work well, no mat
ter what it is. Study your business.
Make yourself master of it by putting
your head and heart into it. If it is
bookkeeping, then keep books in such
fashion that the angel Gabriel will want
to lend you his own as token OF his
approval. If you are mechanic,o or ar.
tisan, or farmer, be proud of yourself
and the rest of the world will soon come
to be proud of you. Nothing is needed
so much in this generation as man
with skilled fingers. You may have
long pull, but the clock will strike ar
unexpected hour and the opportunity
which comes to everybody in turns, but
which most people miss-will present
itself. Study the bulldog, and wher
you get your teeth into big thing, le
them stay there.
Tllird-Save money. The coward
runs into debt, the brave man has ;
five-dollar surplus in his pocket. Th'
world may laugh at you because 20,
can't have four-in-hand neck-tie. AL
right, let it laugh. You are your owl
world, and the people who sheer ar
simple outside barbarians. When the,
see that five-dollar bill growing bigge
they will all want to shake hands wit
you and send you to parliament Keel
well within your income and you will
save yourself from slsulking round tn
corner like a licked dog when the du
is on your track. The handiest thin
on the planet is the penny laid up for
rainy day.
Now, young sir, get rid of the nor
sense that you are genius, settl
down to the conclusion that 70
are just an average boy and the
start in. Keep yourself alert, loo
after your digestive apparatus, don
smoke cigarettes, go to bed early, b
square toed in all your dealings, an
we will wager a cookie that at sixt
, you will have to look backward #
, those who began the race when 70
. did.-Aukland IN. a. Journal.