Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-08-14
CHANCE is A FACTOR.
MONIES LIFE LUCK PLAYS A MIGHTY
IMPORTANT PART.

Prominence Except rs Chance Lends Its
Aid-somo Noted Examples
Chance Is everything. Opportunity and
luck mean much. The great race. It seems
TO me, Is but creature OF conditions Now
and then we hear individuals spoken OF as:
He is a man of programme. He fixes
course and adhercs to Il" And that NJ,
marx is generally made concerning some
one who has achieved success, either as a
money getter or holder, or as u factor on
some elevated plane OF life, but when you
come to think OF it the beggar in the street
may be quite as determined In his pro.
gramme, and possibly it is his very pro
grsnnme that keeps him where he Is
Burglars, highwaymen and rascals gen
orally are quite as likely 20 be men Of pro
sraninie, TO which they adhere with a de-
termination that may well be called olsti-
nate, as any others. My own theoryis that
mankind ia made what 1t is by circum-
stances Very few OF Us with deliberate In.
tent surveyed the country of opportunity.
Very few OF us with AK in hand cleared
AWAY q path through what Appeared IN inn
penetrable forest, which being followed,
led TO partial clearing, where a Persistent
labor with the nN and the grub furnished
US fallow field in which TO plant the seed
OF today that we might reap the harvest OF
tomorrow. / am very sure didn't
Aud us look around mo | am quite con
WINGED that the very large majority Of my
fellow citizens did no such thing. What
makes this man preacher, this a writer,
this a doctor, this u soapmaker, this sales
man, this n hankor9 In some instances IL
Is natural fitness unquestionably but In
~ IL 4 eff.t,Its
the outcome OF all controlling clrcunl-
stances and conditions.
Take tho case OF Henry Ward Beccher.
Being clorgyman'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 be u preacher than |. One
would have mnde 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 X, but
they were sons OF Lyman Beccher, and it
was as natural for them TO yield TO the all
controlling circumstances aud conditions Of
their fathers family and fall into the min
isterlal line rs II is for the son Of q butcher
to follow his fathers calling,
But to return to Beccher. When he was
in the west, nothing but nm accident pre-
vented his becoming n railroad man, You
didn't know that, did your He was pastor
OF n church in indianapolis. a new rail
road was projected, and u superintendent
was to be chosen. a bank president who
WIS one Of the chief directors bad been
greatly impressed with the 20 ahead man
ncr and zeal OF the young parson, and con-
GLIDING that he was possessed OF the quail
tiles that would make him first rate rail-
road official proposed his name The con
test was close. Beccher lost by one vote,
Now suppose for moment that be had
been successful. He would have gone Rhend
In his calling, and the fire aud energy and
vital industry which were prominent among
his qualities would rapidly ,unqucstionably,
have forced him to the front.
And then, growing as the west grew,
nothing under heaven could have kept him
out OF politics, and the large probabilities
are that he would have become n foremost
figure in national councils, with seat In
the senate and possibly home in the
White House, 1t was little thing that
switched him. One vote settled the mat
ter. As IL was with Becchcr, 80 unquos.
tionably Il Is with multitudes OF men less
conspicuous.
Not many years ago humble Irish
American worker was sticking type In the
composing room Of nelghboring city. The
newspaper was not very successful then.
Its editor died None OF the reporters
seemed quite up to the mark, and the pro-
pric.or, nervous fdgety mnn, allowed
things to drift. The reporters printed what
they pleased. Several paragraphs pertinent.
timely, evincing thought, were written by
compositor and handed 20 the proprietor,
who published them. They attracted at
tcntion He asked him to write more. In
n little while Thomas KinsellH became the
editor OF the Brooklyn Eagle, which ere he
died was Of the i've chief newspaper prop
critics In the country II tho editor OF that
paper had continued his work, ltinselln
would have remained In the composing
room, instead Of which he left his case, en-
tered the sanctum formed political aud
| financial alliances, went to congress and
died comparatively wealthy and n very
| generally esteemed citizen OF that great
| town.
IL was the purest incident OF nn Incident
that secured for him commanding posi-
ton and wide felt influence In affairs.
What nonsense II would be 10 say that Gar
field when he was driving horses on u tow
path had any idea, any plan, any pro
gramme, the end Of which was the presi-
dency OF the United StAtes II was chance.
accident, which gave him opportunity aft
er opportunity, and Il was nm industrious,
honest utilization Of the chance and OF the
opportunity which advanced him step by
step, but even there see how he was favored
| by circumstances,
The story Is familiar to you all. Twenty
thousand people were packed In the great
Rssemblnge hall in Chicago. Ten thousand
of them cheercd themselves hoarse over tho
name Of Grant, while the other 1000 en-.
denyored to drown the noise made by hur-
raining and clapping and cheering for
Blaine. Now. II Grants friends had been
the stronger in the convention, there would
have been no Garfield. or II Blaine's friends
had had sufficient strength TO carry tho
day Garfield would have been nowhere,
The happy accident was that there was u
divided convention, 30 far MS those names
were concerned, and the compromise was
Gar1eid's opportunity,
That's nv point. It Is not that Garfield
was not competent, not that ne "asn tsub
sequently elected, not that he couldn't MI
tho bill, but that whatever might have
been his desire, ambitious hopes, II was
nothing but the bitter, relentless fight be
tween the friends Of Blaine and Grant that
gave him the opportunity We are apt,
when arguing matters, to utilize illustra'
lions drawn from conspicuous realms,
but this opportunity. this chance, this nc
cidezt, obtains just ms absolutely In youi
life and mine as Ia the experiences Of oandi
| dates far the nresidency, as in the ongoingi