The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-08-18
lJ( 4 FACTOR IN LIFE.
Chance Plays a Mighty Important
Part In Determining Success
or Failure.
Some Notable Instances OF Mon
Come to Greatness Through
Luck.
Sterling Qualities Often Fail tn Push q
Man Into Prominence, Except Rs
Chance Aids.

luck mean much. The great race, it seems
to me, is but a creature Of conditions. Now
and then we hear individuals spoken Of as:
HE is q man OF programme. He fixes a
course anil adheres to it," And that re-
mark is generally made concerning some
one who has achieved success, either rs n
money getter or holder, or as a factor on
some elevated plane Of life, but when you
come to think Of it the beggnr" in the street
may be quito as determined in his pro-
gramme, and possibly it Is his very pro-
gramme that keeps him where he is.
Burglars, highwaymen and rascals gen
orally are quite as likely to be men of pro-
gramme, to which they adhere with a de-
termination that may well be called o],sti-
nate, rs any others. My own theory ia that
mankind Is made what 1t is by circum-
stances. Very few of us with deliberate in
tent surveyed h country of opportunity.
Very few of us with AK in hand cleared
away a path through what appeared I'M i'm
p%enetrable forest, which being followed.
led to q partial clearing, where a persistent
labor with the AK and the grub furnished
us a fallow field in which to plant the seed
of today that we might reap the harvest of
tomorrow. l am very sure l didn't.
And as | look around me / am quite con-
~ tAitpo OiAS WAY Ail6S VI lAy
fellow citize ms did no such a thing. What
makes this man a preacher, this a writer,
this a doctor, this a %soapmaker, this a sales
man, this a banker? In some instances it
is natural fitness unquestionably, but in a
very great majority Of cases it is simply
the outcome of all controlling circum-
stances and conditions.
Take the case of Henry Ward Beecher.
Being q clergyman's son., he, like all his
fathers children, studied for the ministry.
/ forget how many sons the old gentleman
had, but six, at all events, every one of
whom became a clergyman. One of them
was no more fit to he a preacher than l. One
would have made a most admirable teacher,
professor, but he is no preacher. In fact, Of
them all the two who succeeded in life
were Henry Ward and Thomas K, but
they were SONS of Lyman Beecher, and it
was as natural for them to yield to the all
controlling circumstances and conditions OF
their fathers family and fall into the min
isterial line as it is for the son of a butcher
to follow his fathers calling.
But to return to Beecher. When he was
in the west, nothing but an accident pre-
vented his becoming a railroad man. You
didn't know that, did you? He was pastor
Of a church in Indianapolis. A new rail.
| road was projected, and a superintendent
was to be chosen. A bank president who
was one of the chief directors had been
greatly impressed with the go ahead man
ner and zeal Of the young parson, and con
Guiding that he was possessed of the quail.
tiles that would make him a first rate rail.
road official proposed his name. The con.
test was close. Beecher lost by one vote
Now suppose for a moment that he had
been successful. He would have gone ahead
in his calling, and the fire and energy and
vital industry which were prominent among
his qualities would rapidly ,unquestionably,
nave forced him to the front.
And then, growing as the west grew
nothing under heaven could nave kept him
out of politics, and the large probabilities
are that he would have become a foremost
figure In national councils, with a seat ir
the senat and possibly a home in the
White House. 1t was a little thing that
switched him. One vote settled the mat
ter. AS it was with Beecher, so unques
tionably it Is with multitudes of men Less
conspicuous.
Not many years ago a humble Irish
American worker was sticking type in the
composing room of a neighboring city. TIL
newspaper was not very successful then
" AAOS AN0AAS ia NV
seemed quite up to the mark, and the pro
prietor, a nervous, fidgety man, allowed
things to drift. The reporters printed what
they pleased. Several paragraphs pertinent
timely, evincing thought, were written by
a compositor and handed to the proprietor
who published them. They attracted at
%tcntion. He asked him to write more. II
a little while Thomas Kinsella became thu
editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, which ere HI
died was of the five chief newspaper prop
critics in the country. If the editor of tina
paper had continued his work, Kinsell;
would have remained in the COMPOSING
room, instead of which he left his case, en-
tered the sanctum, formed political an'
financial alliances, went to congress ant
died a comparatively wealthy and a yer,
generally esteemed citizen of tina grea
town.
1t was the purest incident Of an accideu
chat secured for him a commanding posi-
ton and a wide felt influence in affairs
What nonsense it would be to say that Gar
field when he was driving horses on a tow
pnth had any idea, any plan, any pro
2ramme, the end of which was the prcsi
dency of the United Statesl 1t was chance
accident, which gave him opportunity aft
or opportunity, and it was III industrious
honest utilization of the chance and of tn,
opportunity which advanced him step b,
step, but even there see how he was favore,
by circumstances
The story is familiar to you all. Invent,
thousand people were packed in the grea
assemblage hall in Chicago. Ten THOUSAND
Of them cheered themselves hoarse over til
name of Grant, while the other 10000 en-
deavored to drown the noise made by hun
rnbirr pnA cIpprjpr and chonrinr In