Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-10-19
SUCCESS.

By heaven, meJhinks It we're an easy leap
/ To PLUCK bright honor from the pale-faced
moon.
When Shakespeare pat these words
into the mouth of Hotspur he gave ex-
/ precision TO the unspoken feeling OF
thousands WHO, in the heat and ardor
| of youth, lesp lightly, in imagination,
the distance which separates them
from Fame; and regard no feat as i'm
possible, no undertaking too difficult
for their untried powers.
No; it is only tine middle aged Fal-
stalls who sit down and count the cost,
and who reason with themselves that
while honor aud glory may i'll all prob
ability cost them an arm or lsg, or
even Ii e itself, 1t Is pOwerless to mend
the aforesaid damaged members, or to
restore life to a dead body.
1t Is the impetuosity of youth that
makes the world 90 OrouDd, and the
prudence of age that preserves its bal
auce Youth dashes into the waves of
life, as LeRnder sprang nto the Hell
lespont, thinking not of the danger
blt of the JOY on the other side; or
like the young Viking spurs his horse
through the magic ring of fire which
Surrounds Bryuhlld's slluring beauty,
TO gett ng that SIgurd, the successful
one, rode the horse GRAM, and carried
the sword Gram, which he had only
won after long and desperate struggles.
Age, on the other hand, looks along
the road to Fame with
Eyes wide open to all III.
Made wise by experience and many
failures, he knows that nothing that is
worth having can be lightly won, and
tBat be must first stay Hydra, the
seven-headed serpent, if he would
carry of the golden apples from the
garden of the Hesperides.
Success is the very salt of life, and
the purs 1t of 1t is necessary to the
advancement of ell social and intelIec-
tual improvements. 1t is the Ell
Dorado OF all who launch their ships
on the sea of life: the hope of its at
tainmeut raises man from the level of
the lower animals, and the possession
of it places him, for q season, on a
pedestal little lower than that occupied
by the g DIS.
What constitutes success Is OF course
matter of inion. The success of
the poet seems but poor thing to the
man of business. The conqucsts so
dear TO the le.rL of the soldier are re-
garded but as acts of bu'chery by the
sage, whose m,ud Is fixed on the elixir
OF life. The fents of an athlete who
reaches the goal half fsinting, with
wild eyes and strained muscles, seem
bat the antics of a fool to the mau
whose tastes lie in an opposite direc-
ton.
Gain. prai e, and sympathy are the
three principal elements of success,
and without the two latter the first Is
comparatively valueless. Hotspur
would not have cared to "pluck
bright honor from the pale-faced
moon" If there had been no one there
TO see him take the leap and call him
fine fellow. The athlete would not
have submitted to weeks, nay years, OF
severe training. for the mere posses
sion of a silver cup or plated ink
stand, if lie bad not been sure that
some one wonld add the words Of
praise and admiration for which his
sOul longed.
Success wears a different face to
each Of her followers and each follows
the Que lie finds most attractive. The
street arab, VINO with tattered cap or
jacket, pursnes the tiny brown moth or
stray white butterfly through the dusty
streers, is as eager for success, as in
tent upon achieving his object. as Co.
lumbus was to discover Americs-an
far more excited.
Success Is strangely like the street
Arabs butterfly, she fits on and on,
just beyond onr reach, and when at
last We grasp her, We are spent and
wetry and find that our coveted treas
ure, ike the captured butterfly, has
hal much of the dust brushed from its
wings. Ard yet We enjoyed the chase
while it last d; ea9h time our prize
eluded rs we were but more deter
mined not TO be beaten. It IS indeed
the rapture of pursuing" that makes
success appear SO desirable. Once more
we are tempted TO open our hand and
let her go, so that we may have the
pleasure of chasing her again.
The unattalrahle is what mortals are
always longing for; possession robs the
object OF one of its greatest charms,
and satisfies us only Tor brief mo-
ment.
The ambitious man or woman enjoys
the most exquisite pleasure, and en-
dures the keenest pain that it is possi-
BILE for human being to experience, for
the bitterness of failure is needed to
give value to the sweetness of success,
as tie old Roman epicures sharpeneS
their appetItes for the feast with pre-
lmlnary dishes of a somawha tart na-
ture. som Of us NAV never catch our
butterfly, bnt the chase viii do us no
harm, and then there is always the
chance that the next step Will be one of
triumph.
Let Us, tncn, be mp and doing,
With heart for anv fate;
Still achieving still pursuing,