Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-08
CHRONIC LEANERs.

1 A large proportion of the failures ia life are found in the ranks of the l chronic leaners.
 Everywhere we go we meet earnest,
 conscientious workers, who are amazed 1 that they do not get on faster. They wax eloquent over their efancied
 wrongs, the injustice that confines l them to inferior grades, while persons 1 with no more education, ability or per-
 severance than they possess are ad- vanced over their heads.
 To the casual observer they seem 10 have cause for grievance, but, when 1 we analyze these people, we find what l the trouble really is. They are inca pablo Of Independent action. They dare not make the slightest move with | out assistance from some outside source, the advice or opinion of some one on whose Judgment they are wont | to rely. They have no confidence in | themselves-do not trust their own powers. They have never learned to stand squarely on their feet, to think their own thoughts, and make their
 own decisions. They have leaned upon l somebody from childhood, all through the formative period of character building, until habit of leaning is l chronic.
 Any faculty which is unusued for long time loses it's power. It is q law of nature that we must use or lose. If a man ceases to exercise his muscles they soon become weak and | fiabby The same inexorable law gov erns mans mental powers. So, the men and women who have never learned the fundamental lesson of self | reliance, who have never used their l god-given faculties in reasoning with l themselves, making their own decis- l ions, and in being their own final court | of appeal. grow up weddings, para l sites. God intended them to stand l alone, to draw upon his inexhaustible 1 power without stint. He means them l to be oaks, but they have become vines. Not realizing that all growth l is from within, they have reversed this 1 fundamental truth and endeavored to draw their strength from the outside. But the price we pay for this shift | ing of responsibility is very heavy
 one-the loss of our Kingdom. We vol untarily abdicate the throne of person ] ality, resign the priceless privilege 1 conferred upon every human being in
 this civilized land-the right to think, l and speak, and act for himself.
 It Is useless to try to help person | who'd leans. who cannot stand alone
 Andrew Carnegie says that if you help l a young man to climb ladder who has not sufficient self-reliance to main-
 tain his position after he has been l boosted he will fall back the moment | you let go and he finds he is alone
 ''For every self-made man." says the
 author of a recent book, ''there are ten | self-ruined men, Of the ten self ruined, it is safe to say that five or
 more belong to the numerous family of l 'sleaners." The ranks of mediocrity,
 too, of the half-successful, are crowded
 with people of fine natural ability. l They never got beyond inferior posi-
 tions, simply because they never acted
 independently. They were afraid to
 take the initiative in anything, to rely
 upon their own Judgment, and they let l opportunity after opportunity pass
 advice from some one as to what
 course they would better pursue. l If you would be man and not a | parasite, stand erect, look up, grow up- l ward. Do not look hesitatingly to the
 right or the left for some support, some l prop to lean upon. You have within
 you all the elements of manhood, of
 womanhood, of success. Cultivate I your strength. Increase your reason
 ing power, your will power, your pow
 CT of initiative by use, Do not, like the senseless lobster, remain high and dry on the sand or among the rocks.
 waiting for some one to carry you to the sea, or for the sea to come to you, | when, by your own native energy, you can plunge in and ride on the l waves triumphantly.