The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-04-23
SUCCESS OR FAILURE.
LECTURE or REV. n. =. DICKINSON
ar WAKE FOREST.
Every Man Has Mission and Should fino
Ous what IL is-Neccssity OF
Backbone.

CONGREGATION. composed of the faculty ana
students OF Wake Forest College, N c.,
ane the general public. He chose as MS
subject. Success or Failure In Life"
among the things, he said. are the fol-
LOWING:
There is one great fact about which
there is. alas, no room for doubt; name
ly. that in all the callings OF life there
are many failures-many complete and
unmitigated FAILURES. None can question
this. Take the legal profession. TO which
some of you are doubtless looking as the
calling in which you hope for wealth and
fame. For every busy. prosperous law
yer. how many there are hanging around
with nothing 10 do-waiting for cases that
never come, until their own case becomes
Ian entable in the extreme. And the
preachers how many OF them are walking
about Zion" looking for places and calls.
but looking in vain. And thus, too, II Is
with many who devote themselves to the
healing art. They grow sick and die while
waiting for others to call for their SER
vices. How is 1t that many men who have
had the advantages OF collegiate educa-
ton fail, while so many without any
such aids succeed, and succeed grandly?
When we leave the learned professions
and come 10 those who make their bread
BY the sweat of their brow, we find that
those who are blessed with any corsid-
cradle measure of success are in very
small minority. Many Of the farmers
of the country are not slow to emphasize
the fact that they are not doing wen.
and yet, even among them, as among
other classes. you will find, here and
there, those who are conspicuous and In
.x.l.., IL
blities are within the reach Of all who
make the best of their opportunities.
Why should one farmer rise to the high
est success. while a dozen around him,
equally well equipped, and with opportu-
mites as favorable, and with natural en-
dowments as good. fail? 1t is not the
result of mere chance. II one acre or
land groans under its golden harvest.
and another acre adjoining 1t is naked
and bare, no one attributes that diner
ence to chance. 1t is sufficiently ex-
planned by the fact that the one has been
fortified and cultivated, while the other
has not.
one singular thing about many who are
conspicuous. chiefly because of their
failures is that IL never dawns upon
them that the fault is their own. They
will seek TO explain the fact by some
cause outside of themselves. even II
they have to go to the ends OF the eartn
to find it. 1t may be manifest to every
one that the fault lies within themselves,
but they will always look beyond them-
selves for It. Sometimes you may have
heard one explaining why he has failed
TO meet the expectations Of those with
whom he was associated in early man
hood, but you have rarely, II ever. heard
him say frankly that the fault was MS
own. The fault he will put at the door
of others.
You will find II no easy thing to make
the average farmer admit that, TO some
extent at least, his lack OF prosperity is
due largely to his not adapting himself
10 the changed conditions which have
come with these later years. 1t Is easier
IN Law the blame upon others-to charge
that Injustice is done by all other call
ings to this most honorable calling to
which all others must look for the means
Of existence. You would find II difficult
TO convince him that he would have less
reason to complain, II he were to get out
of the old ruts and adopt improved
methods. And yet. possibly, the com
plete demonstration Of this fact is be-
fore his very eyes, in the neighbor whose
land adjoins his own, who has adapted
himself to the exigencies or the times,
and is actually giving an object lesson or
can be. Such a man no longer puts all
his eggs into one basket. Instead Of re-
living wholly upon a few staples, he Is
constantly adding to his list Of indus
tries. II he fails with one he succeeds
with another, and when he strikes the
balance at the close of the year. there is
more to make him glad than sad. He not
only raises diversified products, but ne
seeks to make them equal to anything the
market affords, and thus he commands
the best prices. 1t is one thing TO pro-
duce little butter, which CROSSROADS
merchant will buy, for few cents
pound, to be paid for In goods, upon
which he puts his own price, and quite
another thing to make 1t or such standard
quality that it will sell as readily ana
for as much as the best article which
hears the brand Of Goshen" The farm
err who thus falls In with the new order
of things will always have his share
of the good things of this world. but you
will find II no easy thing to make many
of the noble men who till the SOIL De-
Meve that such Is the case.
There is a fascination about laying our
troubles upon others which is not con-
fined to any one class or CONDITION, Out Is
found among all callings In life. l have
a friend who has a dozen times attempt
ed to run newspaper. and every ume
he has run II into the ground, ana yet
to-day land to his last day. he will insist
That but for the fault Of others these
sundry vanishing ventures would each
have been a shining success
II would not be difficult to cite other
instances In which men have failed as
signally. who never once dreamed that the
fault was theirs. 1t Is human nature 10
take the good to ourselves. and give the
bad to our neighbors.
Every rational being Is sent into the
world on a special mission-to do some
one thing which he can do better than
he can do anything else. The gifts and
graces Of no two are exactly alike. Each
has his own peculiar bent or bias, and
this is to him the voice Of God which.
rightly interpreted and needed. leads into
the best possible pathway. 1t may call
US TO an humble service, but 1t will be the
highest and noblest service within the
sphere Of our capabilities
Many man who might have been an
inspiring success had he given himself
70 the mission for which nature de-
signed him, by turning to something
else becomes the most miserable OF
blunderers. BE what nature intended
you for. and you will succeed; be any
thing else and you will be ten thousand |
times worse than nothing"
Before deciding upon a profession every |
young man should give solemn and ear |
nest and prayerful thought to this mat |
ter. Let him take time to study the |
indications Of providence, and thus as |
certain what Is his CALL We are accus- |
toned to think Of the divine call as COM |
Ing to apostles, prophets and evangelists: |
We do well to consider whether every |
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