The record-union., 1896-09-13
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY MEMO.
(Copyrighted)

dHuefStdndlng of lie ana 1IS
aiieo opportunities
Some Of you brawnv voune men have
lollowed for two weeks the .eThoughts''
relative to the new one dollar silver GER
tlncate. Note for our third topic that
the BOY in the picture History In
etructing Youth is surrounded by the
naines OF famous Americans We shall
oonsiuer, therefore, the influence exert
cd over US by those who have battled
anu succeeded. There will be no indul-
gence in high-sounding phrases, though
the topic would tempt one to it; contra
riWlse, every word Will be kept down to
the limits OF advice that is practical and
feasible for ordinary human beings
l. y +
w nat then is the gain to US in think
ing on the great lives recorded in our
history? In the first place they have by
ihelr contributions to its politics, litera-
ture, sciences, religious life, etc, made
our country better to live in. The deeds
they did, just like your deeds, could not
possibly die with them and you and I
inherit; we reap where we have not
sown, just as those who follow us will
reap, must reap, what we have Sown of
good, bad and Indifferent effort. In an
other way they can help us-by the en-
couragement they give us; for so many
of our great ones have come up from
very ordinary and obscure places, often
times almost by unaided effort.
But it occurs to me that If I so into a
disQuisition upon the early careers and
difficulties Of our great men I may par
TALLY defeat my hope of stirring you up
to endeavor and to success. For unin-
tentionally you will think, "Oh, well;
there must have been something out of
the usual about them. I can never have
the chances they had" You will be
wrong, but you will just follow the hu-
man tendency to create heroes and then
ina gine for them an atmosphere and a
world different from our own. SO | re-
fleet for a moment and pick out from
personal acQuaintanceS three young
men whose budding careers ought to en-
courage you.
In Gettysburg is a rising young artist,
who, though brought up on farm, felt
within him the artistic impulse, and
through poverty and self-denial carried
on his studies. Within two years, after
serious effort, all the pictures he sub
mitted, four, became part of the Penn
sylvania Art Exhibit at the World s
Fair at Chicago. He positively refuses
TO exhibit anything that does not come
up to his own severe standard of excel
lence. AS a consequence he is stepping
up and has just received, after six years
Of labor, an appointment as Instructor
in the Philadelphia School of Design. He
has no conceit, and will not rest salts
fed with deeds already done, and |
prophesy for him in twenty years a
name known countrywide in art cir
cles.
Again. There is young man coming
right to the front in New York as an
authority on rare and first editions OF
books. Yet a few years ago he was left
in a New England village with no more
than one term of schooling as an outfit
and the burden on him of keeping a root
over the head of his mother and her
large family of little ones. Did ne
finch? No. Being quicker with his
hands than some of the men in the spin
ming mill where he worked, he ran two
looms instead of one, and though only
II by such means received a man
wages and % per cent. more. In those
times labor laws We're lax and he
would work twelve and fourteen hours a
dav Yet after hours he would walk
eight miles to library town and eight
miles back with the books he had bor-
rowed Later his duties enabled him tc
stick up a school book in niche. Thus
working and studying he forged his re-
sistless way upward, sustaining his
mother and the family, and finally gave
himself two years in Oberlin College,
Ten years ago aluminium was about
IS per pound In those days young
man was putting himself through col
lege on borrowed money. His forte was
rnatallurgy. In secret almost and al
great expense he experimental WITH
this metal, and at last discovered the
process whereby it is now sold, and
proftably. at fifty cents per pound. The
wealth that is rolling in is his appro-
pirate reward; he deserves it.
None of these yet figure on the rolls
Of the illustrious dead. They are still
On the Journey of life you are travelling
They are and have been subjected tc
the very same conditions Of poverty
and humble birth that confronts anc
discourage you. Now look around youl
neirhborhood or your county and you
can find a dozen who have trlumphec
over circumstances of life that seemed
absolute forerunners Of defeat
There are a few deductions that yot
are safe In making from these careers
and those you can think OF in youl
own neighborhood. Humanity speaking
there is nothing impossible to the one
who sets out on his career with
definite purpose and then allows noth
ing to swerve him from 1T. PerseVer'
ance is the guide over mountains o.
diff1culty. Purpose is the strength
e-iven- Faith in ones self brings the
victory.
Furthermore, great purposes tend t(
shut out low aims and starve low
sastes. Water and oil will not mix
Tho oil may be likened to our noble
rental attributes, the weak ana unsta
ia water to our lower natures. In {
normal life the oil will remain aboV'
4ho water. Where the Gil of purpose il
burning fiercely, any attempt to mix
-,,itb the water of weakness VIII pu
ont the fire and defeat the purposefu
soul. Mark that we'll
And as a consequence every srea
<.,raar calls for self denial and self-con
ouest II you will not pay that prlc
,ha goods will not be delivered 1 Tel
Won emphatically the very worst thihi
for a. Young man in the beginning
~ career il to have every circumstanc
la,.orahle The sailor who knows IN
- of smooth water is the one wh'
-. cot his teeth and strained am
,,1,ad IN bring his vessei throusi
,rrt, If Won lust glide along the cur