Birmingham state herald., 1896-07-12
OUR SOCIAL WORLD


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 Hon. William b. Gladstone has just written a very powerful essay, which he aptly calls Man Making and Verse Max ing This paper of the great English statesman has been extensively copied and commented upon by the leading Journals of this country and it's philoso- phy indorsed in brilliantly written edito- rlalS which indicate the far-reaching in- huence of this wonderful old man, whose S6 years are worn like a crown of glory. Among other matters Mir Glad stone discusses a question which has re- ceived it's share Of public consideration, and yet is not as fully impressed upon the minds of Americans, and especially southerners, as it should be. MT. Glad stone states the matter thus: The sec ond proposition is this: That eacn one of us is born to his own special work in the world, to which he is adapted more than any other. It is the high duty of parent, of instructor and of the youth himself watchfully to search for what it is and eventually to discover it. It is a duty to be carefully performed, but not eagerly nor too soon. It is duty in which man should follow, not to lead; to observe and encourage indications, not to presume or to imagine or to force them. In some of us these manifesto tions are early, in others they are late; in some they are sharply or firmly pro- y, delicately traceable. Let us not attempt to lay down hard propositions. It IS an age of wealth, of excitement and of ambition, an age, too, in which an un- usually considerable proportion of the young have, or seem to themselves to have, some considerable latitude allow ed them in the choice of profession, still more in the regulation of their daily em4 plOyment etc.
 Southerners have had especially to contend against predelictions for certain professions in selecting and considering the life work of their sons. Coming, as. a certain class of our people do, from planters and lawyers and other profess Sional men, we have an inStinctive and inherited fancy in favor of these lines of labor, forgetting that In this newer age has come a demand for other things which mean much for the welfare of our people. And also that with this newer and different time has come to our chil- dren tendencies in other business direc- tionS. Every parent has a right-eyen more than this, it is his and her duty-to influence their children up to a certain point in the selection of a profession or business, but one cannot claim the priv ilege of forcing upon our sons that bus mess or profession congenial to our own tastes, but for which they may have no especial talent when perhaps, they may possess a genius for some other business
  No man can succeed in any line of work unless he has an aptitude for that work. He will become a plodder, who daily performs his tasks, but life will always be to him hopeless treadmill. Every man can do some one thing better than another, provided he has any intelli- gence, and that parent is wisest who dis covers the bent of his sons mind and then gives him the best possible advant- ages in cultivating and advancing that business or professional inclination. In many an ordinary, commonplace, pro- feSsional man the world has lost a me chanical genius, while the whirr of ma chinery and the noise of hammer and pick have forever hushed within some human hearts songs and sermons that humanity longs to hear. Many of us thwart our own ambitions by an insist ence for our children of those things which we prefer and for which we may be fitted. We naturally cling to the tra- ditions and tendencies of our race, and fail to remember sometimes that if our sons are worthy representatives of those traditions they must possess certain in dlvidual, personal traits and qualifica- tions which entitle them to certain priv ileges and considerations when the se- lection of a business for life is to be de- cided.
 It is true that that form of mental en- 6 cause of no better term, ofttimes rises above the limitations of circumstance and that the majority of the very sue cessful men of the world have fought their way to success against fearful odds. But there are very few geniuses com paratively speaking, and the men who have electrified humanity by their achievements can easily be counted. The great mass of men find their lives made or destroyed by their environment.
 
 Take as an example of this fact the effect produced upon the lives of many southern men by their experiences upon the fields of battle. While we are brave, impetuous, high-strung people We south erners are far removed from being a mili- tary race. Only a few were educated at the military schools of the country, and yet the four years of war with our army largely composed of men fresh from the best universities of the world, from law offices, from counting rooms, from medi- cal colleges and from old plantation homes, some of the most remarkable sol dierS of modern times were developed. Many a man who previous to 1860 pur- sued the even tenor of his way in what ever business or profession he had chosen rose to elevated military rank because, not only of great bravery, but owing to a talent for the control, direction and manipulation of men, which up to that time had lain dormant and unsuspected in his nature. AS tnlS was III the mlll- tary history of our people, so it is in other lines of endeavor.
 In thinking of ungratified tastes. of unencouraged gifts, I often remember touching incident of years ago. Once in our employ there was a young, faithful. honest negro coachman, fairly intelli- gent, with no apparent aspirations save to perform his daily duties satisfactorily, and yet in driving he never saw beauti- ful landscape, never caught glimpse of the glorious pictures painted by natures God against the background of the skies, that he did not humbly turn to some member of the family and quaintly say: That's mighty pretty picture; some body ought to paint it." In the soul of this negro was a love of the beautiful, which he was incapacitated to express. and in his untutored mind was an over whelming desire to give to humanity the artistic impression as it-came to him.
 Referring again to Hon. William E. Gladstone there is nothing connected with his remarkable career that will be of greater service to humanity than the lesson he teaches, that old age need not T. 4