The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-05-04
THOSE THAT FAIL.
,rhe True Measure OF Success MOI
I;,isgea fay T'ir,e Bat by
Eternity.

NJ constituency Is htihieio Jus
peonle do not succeed. Few attain the
good which their ambition sets as the
coal. Those who do succeed reach that
end only with more slips than firm ana
forward steps. The waste of life, Ike
ne refuse cs certain factories, is its
most bulky output.
In reading The above l pronounce Ii
miserable pessiInisnl. II is based upon
the false notion that success is to be
measured by cur material getiinss or
by cur visible accomplishments. Lies
significance is in its discipline, as we
Christians believe in attaining
strength and excellence that are gong
to count in longer than earthly eN-
istence. In this world we are only Gods
apprentices, practicing some OF the
lower forms Of the arts that are eter-
nal Present success is Of secondary ac-
count
| A young engineer studying under an
older one is trained in various depart
nents Of his science, but does nothing
! of Importance in any. He practices
drafting until he gets somewhat pro
fcient in the art, but draws no plans
worth keeping Or selling. He estimates
truss-strength and Wall-thrusts. but
builds nothing, except as his work dis
appears in the mass of what the master
is building. But those haif-drawings
and scraps Of estimates and partly
worked problems will prove more to
/. him than any earthly job of engineer
| ing which brought him pay.
infi
'oThat is worth doing" You do not see
| the hundreds of ''studies" which litter
the artists portfolio, or which, having
! no sale value lie has thrown away. Yet
these had more to Go with making hiI1
q great painter than had the piece
which was paid for in the art market
/ So life's worth is in what it works at
rather than in what it works out.
| The bridge builder has worked for
years to span the river; his work is
done. The freshet roars against its
piers. Will it fall? Suppose the river
some day masses it's waters beyond
what men dreamed possible and the
bridge gives way? Or, suppose that
at the fatal moment, when the whirl-
pool swirls beneath the towers and they
are beginning to tremble, the torrent
J eXhausts its volume and the bridge
stands. If it falls the world sneers' at
the builder, though it was the strongest
bridge ever yet put together; If it
| should stand because no freshet ever
struck it, the builders fame is immor
tall Foolish world! Foolish builder,
| If he takes the worlds opinion much to
heart! Is he not the same man with
the same merit, whether his work
stands or falls? Gods apprentice, i'm
agine, perhaps in another world to be
in the Creators engineering depart
ment 10 help swing stars or roof in
globes of fire, making them habitable
| earths.
AnsAmerican scholar spant years over
an abstruse subject; mastered it; pre-
| pared book on it: but before he got to
press a Frenchman came out with a
| treatise on the same subject, and no
publisher would print the American s
book. Was he any less of scholar, or
less deserving because fortune fell
away from him, or fame did not get his
name On the edge of her trumpet? The
fellow died of disappointment, so the
doctors said. It was foolish to do that.
He ought to have quietly buried his
work, not himself.
The world has recently lost one of its
most genial and brilliant writer's, Will
liam Black. In a sketch of his life, writ
ten by himself few years since, he
tells merrily Of dozen failures before
he struck his pace Of prosperity. One
project was the formation of COM
plete collection of British Towering
| plants. which was to make his repute
es botanist. Years after he said:
"The scant herbarium remains to this
day; a poor enough treasure house of
botanical lore, but rich treasure house
Of memories Of innumera BILE and health
FIJI wauderings by hill and moorland
and seashore, through the rain and sun
light. and beautiful coiors of the west
ern highlands" Sensible man! Why
mourn over a herharium that didn t
grow to be a museum, but did furnish
him with health and JOY and the poetry
with which he portrayed highland
scenery. and-I will go further
with keener soul for approaching the
beauties of Heaven?
If I get the right idea of Heaven it is
such an attainment in character that
we will co things without any thought
of pay. just for the joy of doing. What
pay could the world have given Michael
Angelo fer designing ST. Peters and
decorating the ceiling of the Sistine
chapel, or Leonardo for painting the
Last Supper, or st. Francis for found
ing his brotherhood Of help, or Luther
for shifting the devils Of superstition
or livingston for trying to destroy the
slave trade of Africa? Their reward
was in the doing. Wasn't it enough to
have been an angel singing over Beth
lehem without having ones name
dropped on the earth?
What are failures? Didn't Hobson
fail in his main purpose? But who
cares? Are not all martyrs failures
Yet they died gladly. Wasn't Christ a
failure in the worlds estimate? Yet
His meat was to do as He did, and His
drink was to suffer as He did Does
not everybody fail, when, as Job says
death cuts US "of in the midst of our
purpose?" Seeming success must be
only the shuck; life's value is what de,
velops inside.-James NJ. Ludlow, D. D..
in the INDEPENDENT