Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-08-01
Madison, July %

Ject was Success in Life and his lee
ture dwelt with those characteristics
which are necessities in the man who
succeeds. His talk was vigorous and
forcible and was literally sprinkled
with stories and anecdotes. Glowing
tributes were paid to woman, home
and the United States.
In starting his address the speaker
stepped to the front of the platform
and said:
Good afternoon How do YOU ali
do? l am very well, thank you am
glad to be speaking at this assembly,
the first of the twentienth century, q
century when all wrongs will be
righted and all people evangelical.
Perhaps the millennium has already be-
gun.
Il am to speak to you today on Sue
cess in Life. We all want it. If we
can't have it ourselves we want our
friends to get it. But we should all
have it, for everyone starte life with
a capital of 100000. How's that?
asks some one. Well, it's this way.
For how much would you have your
right hand amputated? Not less than
| $4,000 surely. And not less than
| $4,000 for you left hand. No, nor for
your right foot, your left foot, your
right eye, your left eye, your right
lung, your left lung. You wouldn't take
$4,000 for your brain and intelligence.
| am not good at figures, but 1 know
all these things are worth at least
100000 to you.
why do so many fail in life. Is
it because they lack their senses? No.
1t is because they do not understand
the very laws of success.
First Of all you must have gump-
ton and grit. What is gumption? We
see who have it and who have it not;
but though definitions are given us
| they are not satisfying. In other
words, it can not be defined
Crit is another word which has no
synonym. When Wendell Philips was
addressing the mob in the music hall
at Boston and was howled at and
jeered until he could no longer be
heard he turned to the reporters and
through them spoke to the country.
That was grit. 1t is grit with which a
| man conquers himself, and the man
who can conquer himself can conquer
anybody. What brought John Ruskin
to the top? Grit.
when gumption goes in partner
ship with grit success is sure to fol-
low. A young man with gumption and
grit, five cents in his pocket and faith
in God Almighty can do anything
worth doing.
And if you would succeed keep in
good humOr. A man can write or say
enough in two minutes if thoroughly
| mad to ruin him for life. Oh, we want
good humor There is no country IN
| the world where a man should be in
| better humor. Why? Because this is
| the best country in the world.
81 think the time will come when the
beautiful United States will offer it's
hand in marriage to Neighbor Canada.
That country will then look across the
water and say: Ask mother
BE careful in the selection of your
amusements. Tell me the amuse-
ments of man and | will tell you his
| character and his chances both in this
world and the next. But believe in
| good, clean amusement. Neither you
nor | could exist today without some
| diversions, Next to having a good
| time myself, | like to see other people
i,11T T
can say that l would sooner see other
people enjoy themselves than have a
| good time myself.
All work and no play makes Jack
a duly boy is as true as preaching
and truer than some. Recreation is
recreation. But the same time too
much recreation is dangerous Many
a business has had it's brains kicked
out by fast horses. Many a business
house has been burned in the smoke
of fine Havanas. You can catch more
than fish with a pole and line.
Those amusements are all right
which do not interfere with home
pleasures. But woe to the man who
despoils his home. Better he had
| Il
home amusement. Form the right
kind of domestic relations, for when a
man marries he chooses heaven or
hell. Like the woman said, if you are
married to bad woman you must do
as it says in the twelfth verse of the
fourteenth chapter of Nicodemus-
grin and bear it, Solomon said: A
good wife is gift from the Lord, but
he lets us take it for granted where a.
bad one comes from.
| You can't tell the size of mans
| happiness by the size of his house. A
thirty-room mansion may be perdition
and a two-room log cabin heaven. My
idea of lady is one who can accomo-
date herself to any conditions. Such
persons are as expert in the kitchen as
they are dainty in the parlor.
Cultivate the spirit of enthusiasm
and progress. In these times man
walks faster, runs faster, drives faster,
lies faster and swears faster than in
/ the past. You must have, then, en-
| thuslasm and spirit of progress to
| keep up. In the old days when boy
| couldn't learn the schoolmaster took
| him over his knee and-well, the boy
got his learning from both sides. But
today things are different: advance
I ment in 999 out of the 1000 indus
| tries may be seen. What is man
! without enthusiasm, without the spur
] of progress, going to do in such day
| as this?
'In concluding let me ask that it be