The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-06-12
The Lombard BaCCaIaureate.

special endowments are not chance
happenings, but in some degree the
results of past labors, the recompense
in legitimate succession, of parental
toll and character, and, therefore, in
stances of the harvest following the
sowing; furthermore, that talents
without use are a curse. GA few
years will show whether one thus en-
dowed has been blessed or blighted
by fortunes smile. The law of cause
and effect will bring him to his lev
| ell"
A few words were then devoted to
the question of whatwe call good and
bad luck. The doctor was inclined
| to think that there was such a thing
as luck in human affairs, not from
the cosmic standpoint, but from the
individual standpoint. "In the cur
rent of events matters are brought to
us without our volition and some of
them have intrinsic value above
others. This is luck, so far as it con-
fers upon us favorable opportunity
without our having done anything to
earn it."
Yet, doubtless, very much that the
world calls luck is the fruition of
trained sagacity and tireless patience
planting themselves in the paths of
opportunity and awaiting its ADVENT.
1t is beyond our ken to see in most
cases how far the whole previous
training of life may at last have
compelled crisis which, to the cas-
ual onlooker, seemed mere good luck.
But, after all. luck alone never did
favor to anybody. 1t never created
character nor achieved career. At
the best it is only an opportunity. 1t
is the seed, not the harvest; and the
harvest depends upon more than the
existence of the seed. The careful
sowing of that seed, the GUILTY. alton
of the soil, the ingathering of the
crop-these can never be ascribed to
luck.
And, on the other hand, luck in this
view OF it is something that comes to
every man,-not under the same
aspect, or with show of equal value,
but truly, nevertheless. A shrewd
man is he who recognizes his chance
when he sees it. What heart has not
been saddened by tardy discovery of
what might have been? While we
are waiting for our ship to come in,
how many golden argosies of oppor-
tunity pass UNDECIDED in the night.
We are forever clutching at empty,
glittering bubbles, and despising the
tiny seed which is pregnant with
mighty destinies. The mere luck
counts for little; what does count is
eyesight and the patient heart and
the mind capable of endless drudg-
cry.
Dr.Nash next considered the charge
that the spoilation of the weak by
the strong by force and guile, is in
opposition to the law under consid-
Grafton, and in response used the fol-
lowing eloquent words:
mot everything is Ubiquitous
which seems sad. The failures may
result not from the action of the law,
but from failure to get into line with
it. The remedy is not denunciation,
perhaps, but better use of the fac
tors of prosperity at our disposal. !
Shall weakness be superior to
strength? Shall ignorance be granted
immunity and knowledge shorn of its
power? The parasite succeeds be-
cause the right natural means are not
employed to foil his designs. The
knave reaps theresults of his strategy,
his courage, and his industry, but he
cannot reap happiness, self-respect,
or noble character.
Moreover, we cannot be robbed of
the interior fruits of. life spent in
honorable endeavor. We have no
righttto demand.fruit without plant
ing, nor complain that what is planted
bears fruit. Let us tear ourselves
from the old spell of the fortuitous.
Let us learn to rest in the processes
of law
"Nor will beauty disappearwith the
advent of science. Order has it's
charms. Poetry does not Turk alone
in shadows and uncertainties. When
we have come to appreciate the ex-
actness of the eternal methods and to
realize their significance, nature and
life will have for us not less but more
delight"