The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1898-07-29
OUTING NO. s.

nKamp Dewey" Just Why the camp
is called by this name, I am unable TO
say. am quite cure the Rear-Admira'
and hero Of Manila Bay has no namesase
ouartered in it. At any rate. In taking
and evening walks past the
camp have neither seen nor heard any
prospective little rear-admirai. There
NAV however, be one but. as heard a
graduate cay, II don't hardly
think there is." Itake 1t that the camp
ors .ra .dmirers OF Manila |
Bay.
There are, doubtless, in the camp, In
Sodaville, IN Albany and elsewhere IN
Oregon many boys who would like to De.
come Deweys, sampsons. Sehleys and
Hobsons; but few oil them. II any, realize
how difficult it Is to become such. be-
roic and victorious colonies. commodores
and rear admirals are not the produe-
ton of single hattie; and not every one
.has the stuff In him" from which such
men are made. AS another has put 1t:
"You cant make flute out OF pigs
tail" Neither can Hobsons, Deweys
and their compeers be made OF sticks.
That is the material from which "Dut.
field the duffer" seems 20 have been
made; and it is'not likely that he will
have many namesakes outside OF hisown
family. Out os what. then. are made
victorious commanders of armies and
navies, great statesmen and fnanciers,
leading men in all professions and en-
terprises OF the Sorld'a advancement?
How do these emerge from the obscurity
of some home in the country or city in
to worldly wide iamef ls it luck that
makes them,the admired OF all admirers!
Some may call is that; but there 10 no
such thing as luck in the government oil
the Sovereign of the universe, who
does according 10 his viii in the army OF
heaven and among the Inhabitants OF the
earth" All the order and harmony
which reign throughout the universe
are the result OF q predetermined pur.
pose of the Divine architect. And 80 1t
Is with man He 10 the architect OF his
own greatness, in whstsver sphere, Is
the Predetermined purpose to do seme-
thing in the world, which will be for its
betterment. Without such purpose he
/ will be a failure. A man With out an
aim in life never proves to be succs %
in any thing. He may be the most bril-
liant of the brilliant, bot his briiliancy
alone will not make O success in the
world. If he has no well defined pur-
pose in life, which he persistently fol.
lows, he will not be numbered among
the great and noted men OF the age in
which he lives. am we'll aware tLai
there are many young men. who think
that their intellectual endowments vii
'slead them to fame and to fortune .
But they are mistaken. if Patrick Henry's
rule is worth any thing. and NC Judge
of the future by the past" Il Was moi
merely because Commodore Dewey val
endowed by his Creator with an intel
lect of an high order that he won hl
great victory at Manila bis 6rst victor,
was in his own soul, when he found the
!: purpose to be something in the world
and his subsequent life was Q sueeessio,
or series OF victories which cuiminstes
in the destruction of the Spanish fleet il
Manila Bay. Without the first victor!
the Last one would never have been NO
and his name, like that OF many of hi
schoolmates. would have been buried il
oblivion. And 90 it always is. A maj
without q purpose or aim in lite is lik
ship at sea withouta rudder, carzieS
by the wind and waves, no one know
whittier. nyou ask the captain ofsucl
q ship at what port he expects to cas-
anchor, he will tell you that he doe
not know whittier be will be carried
perhaps to thipwreck and death. An,
yet thisis exactly the condition OF hun
dreds and Thousand of men. Their frai
bark is out on llfe's stormy sea withou
rudder. They set ont on life's voyage
in their boyhood without . fixed pur.
pose, and have been drifting, drifting
they know not whittier. And hsvin
no high and noble aim in life, they bsv,
accomplished nothing, not because thel
were incapable Of any noble act and wer,
incapable of any noble acts and wers
doomed to be failures, but because they
were not under the influence of . noble
purpose and were drifting whittier boy.
ish fancy and disposition to indolsnce
led them. They would rather roam OF
lounge on the streets than work. They
had no noble aim in life. and today they
are not only, not Dewey's, with q world
wide fame, but they are unknown be-
yond the limits of the community In
which they live, where their notoriety is
not the moat enviable. This is not q
visionary speculation of theroist, for
which there is no corresponding reality.
1t is an awful truth Of which careful OBJ
servers see practical demonstrations in
every Town and community in Oregon
and every state IN this great country of
ours.
The question of QUESTION:, therefore,
Tor every young man to ask himself is,
what is the purpose of my life and 10
it. noble one?" cay noble, for it 10
possible for him to have a purpose and
persus it steadiy, the nobienete Of which
may be questionable or not of the high.
est order. II his aim in life 10 the &C.
cumuiation Of wealth without any regard
to the manners in which be acquires it,
the nobleness of his purpose 10 very ques.
tlonable. II his aim is to be ome q sec.
ond Ole Bull and he devotes his time and
his energies to his fiddle he will gain mo-
toriety perhaps; bat just where the mo-
bleness OF life spent on a fiddle comes j
in, am unable to see. Even if he be. |
comes second Ole Bull his life seems to |
me 70 be very 6ddieing one. 1t has al.
ways seemed to me that fddleing life
s the -'fiddleingest" life that an
i've. And yet there are many boys whose
,ouls are in their iddles, and tney fiddle,
md they fiddle. While their fathers are
working in the garden and eisew here and
heir mothers are wearing out their lives
ooking for boardefs, the fiddleing sons
re fiddleinE Their only apparent aim
4 life is to become good fiddle. 9, ,aud they