St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-29
ODDS AND ENDS.

A month and more had passed since
she stepped forward in response TO the
call of her name from among her fellow
students to receive the diploma which
certified to The world that she had
proved herself all efficient scholar in
the course of studies she had pursued in
the high school, and was commended to
the world she was about TO enter as
qualified for the work it might give her
to do. There was serious look in her
eyes. with shade of apprehension in
it. that had taken the place of The
CLEAN of modest pride Of the first days
after the graduation. as she came into
my den one morning. and, dropping
into the one easy chair, said:
Il am having such queer feelings these
days now that the exhilaration of gradu-
alton is over. 1 have been in school
twelve years. Every day had its pre-
arranged work chosen for me by my
teacher. have been told and compre-
hended in vague sort OF way that all
the studies OF these years were only TO
prepare me for the other work with
which L was to fill out my life. Now
that the excitement of graduation is
over. and l look this great world in the
face and see its millions of people busy
at their tasks, feel lost. There seems
no place for me. know nothing about
the work any of them are doing. L Won
der in what way wliatI have learned fits
me for any of these vocations. How am
l going TO get a footing among these
Nf %
know what place | will take if l can
force my way in among them? How can
l tell what work | am fitted foT? You
have gone through this. and | want you
to tell me how it is done. for it is all a
maze to me-" and she gave a deep sigh
and let her hands drop despondingly
into her lap.
And the man of, we'll. say fifty, who
had been all through it, and had been
for years trying to open the oyster
shell with Indifferent success, dropped
his trivial work OF telling congress
what il should do with the tariff and
the currency and silver and the rail-
roads and trusts and those other little
matters which foolish people permit
to worry them, and faced the serious
problem which confronted this young
girl as it cOnfronts thousands Of other
boys and girls today, and as it has pre-
scented itself to myriads before them.
There is a delicate fattery in being
thus appealed to; it is such an unusual
Acknowledgements of superior wisdom
in one whose esteemed contemporaries
are always referring TO with a dispar-
agement ranging from mild to fierce,
that the appeal is irresistible.
And SO L said to the maiden, as I
would say to the boys, too: "My dear,
depend on it. if you get place among
all those workers you will have TO fight
for it, and if you hold it, it will be by
continuous fort. Under all the seEti-
mentality of this world there is good,
if seemingly harsh law operating which
allows only the survival or the fittest.
The world may be very sorry for you
if you fail, but whether yOn win or fail
will depend on yourself alone. What
place you will get out there will depend
on the capacity for doing something the
world wants done which came to you
from somewhere at your birth. aided by
the development your studies may have
given it,and the pluck and perseverance
you may give to it.
Nv hat [ mean is this. No one is born
into this world. except idiots. 10 whom
is not given some faculty enabling him
or her to do something better than any
other thing, and all success in life CON.
sists in discovering this faculty and de-
veloping it to the furthermost limit.
How will you find what it is? 1t will be
that to do which you feel strong I'M
pulse within you. and in doing which
you have no sense of working; doing
which IS a pleasure, delight 10 you.
When the impulse comes you cannot
resist it; you feel as if you must do it,
and you yield to the impulse gladly. and
there is no WEAKNESS, only qualification
in it.
mo matter what the impulse to activ-
ity is, no matter to what of the many
avocations OF life it directs you, obey il.
Develop it with thought and study and
constant practice. Become a master
workman in it. Make everything sub
servient to it; put the world under trib-
ute to it; be ant-like in your industry in
gathering material for it. Lose your
seIl III IL. Dc pdtlellt lh peFStVefihS.
Trust in yourself; don't get dishearI-
ened. Be sure the world has drUnes
and ineffjcients enough and is ever OH
the lookout for the master OF his craft,
no matter what it is. and brings its
tribute to him. No one can help you i'll
this; there is no divining rod in any
hand but your own to tell what this
one greater faculty, this leading attire
butte is"