Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-11-24
CHOOSING A PROFESSION.


Those Things That should Help Boy o
Girl in Deciding What TO DO.
There are three things which shoult
influence the choice of profession: tn
first is aptitude; the second, heredity
the third, opportunity.
Aptitude is the most important. 1t i
natures index finger, pointing out thu
road which we are best fitted to pursue
in life. Almost every young person
has strong liking for some par.
ticular kind of work, and marked fla
cility and skill in its performance. One
will take TO mechanics, another t.
trade, another 10 some form Of art, an
other to science, another to books and
reading, and so on. Aptitudes are very
various, and it is well that they are so,
for this would be very one-sided kind
of world if we were all engaged in the
same, or nearly the same, pursuit Ma.
ture has so arranged it by giving us
these various and marked aptitudes,
that proper balance and proportion
shall be preserved among the different
kinds of work in the world, and that
each kind shall be performed by those
who have an enthusiasm for it and a
natural facility in doing it.
In the choice of a profession, then,
the first important question which a
boy or girl should ask is this: "Tn what
direction does my aptitude lie?n For in
that direction the greatest amount and
most effective kind of work can be
done with the expenditure of a given
amount of energy. In the great ma
iority of cases aptitudes are not hard
to determine; indeed, the difficult thing
would be to overlook and disregard
them. Boys and girls turn to what in
terests them as naturally as the leaf OF
plant turns toward the sunlight. You
may be sure that the boy who will make
a good artist is going to be interested in
all kinds of beautiful forms and celors
while he is young. He will notice these
things when others are blind 10 them,
and at an early age he will begin TO try
to reproduce them.
So, likewise, girl who has genuine
aptitude for music viii be quick to a p
preciate the language of music. She
will learn to play or sing as if by
magic, and the exercise of her gift
will always be a source of keen delight
to her.
Aptitudes frequently crop out very
early in the games and amusements of
children. The born merchant viii have
a passion for playing stores" the in
ventor or machinist win be always try
ing to make things" the embryo
teacher win be perfectly contented only
in the midst of her mimic school.
knew a boy-now a successful minister
who was never so happy as when,
mounted upon a chair or table, he could
repeat scraps of Sunday-school wisdom
to an admiring circle of brothers and
sisters.
Aptitudes will out. There is very
little danger of mistake in determining
the kind of work which nature intends
we should do. But there is another
factor which should be considered in
choosing profession, and it is often a
very helpful factor when, as may hap
pen, there seems to be no particular
aptitude for any kind of work This
second factory is heredity. 1t is
the latent, transmitted. stored-up
power of doing well what ones |
ancestors have habitually done well.
The children of musicians generally |
have a gift for music. The children OF |
mechanics have an aptitude for tools |
and machinery The sons of ministers
especially if they come from long
line of preachers-ar apt to have gift |
for public speaking. If, then, boy |
displays no particular aptitude, there |
is the strongest probability that success |
in life for him will be found in his ia |
theirs profession. If he displays lix- |
ing for more than one kind of work, let |
the consideration of heredity have its |
due weight with him when one of those
preferences is for his fathers profes. |
sion. The chances are that boy will |
succeed best in that for which he has
an inherited fitness. Asa rule. boys do |
''step into their fathers shoes" and a |
wise arrangement it is, for thus there |
is cultivated from generation to genera
ton a faculty and skill for doing GER
tain kinds of work, which must pro-
duce, by the principle of natural selec-
ton, those who are progressively better
and better fitted for performing these
tasks.
The third and least important consid-
GRAFTON in choosing profession is OPP
portunity. Sometimes all doors seem
to stand wide open TO a certain line of
work. while to all other lines they ara
tightly closed. There certainly are
cases when such apparently ''provi-
aentiaf' openings should not be disre-
garded. especially if the opportunity
which offers is of a nature to enforce
hereditary fitness. Suppose, for in
stance, that a boy has a chance to 90
into a machine shop as assistant to his
father. If he has no strong desire and
aptitude for another kind of work. and
IS ready to enter upon the active duties
Of lire, here is certainly an opportunity
which he ought not to ignore. The
opening is one which, if he avails him.
self of 1t. may result in successful serv-