The Elk Mountain pilot., 1901-01-15
THE SELF-MADE MAN.

verance-a born hustler, While
others wait indolently for Fortune
to smile upon them, he forces that
tickle damsel to yield her treas
ures, by ceaseless. industry and
thrift. He recognizes the world as
place of business, with an inn
mense amount of work to be done;
and he does more than his share
and reaps his reward. 1t is quite
Legitimate and the abounding Vi
tality of the man who shoulders
his way along an upward career
should be used to quicken the as
pirations of the young and indo-
lent. Often. too, there are less OBJ
trusive, but even more effective,
qualities in the self-made man,
such as quiet persistence, intelli-
gent adaptability, and, in the best
cases, sympathy, enriched by life's
varied experiences. If the self
made man starts with fine material
in his character, gathers breadth
of views as he advances, and de-
velops his own nature even more
quickly than he develops his ma
terial fortunes; if he sees all the
while that part which so-called
prosperity plays in the world is
strictly limited, and does not rise
to the greatest good; if he realizes
that there is a higher and broader
life than personal ambition can sat
isfy, then the chances are that he
will come nearer to the ideal of
manhood than would be possible to
him had he been born to wealth.
He will have invaluable expert
ence wrought into the very texture
of his character, experience that
never can mean as much to the in
heritors of wealth as it means to
him We grant, then, the unsur-
passed nobility of the self-made
type of character az its best But
how rarely is that best attainedi
As rule the successful man comes
through his struggle with the
world scared and SCARED, and,
though he has trophies of material
success to show to admiring on
lockers, weaknesses have been de-
veloped which it is well that any
one inclined to be an imitator
should avoid.
Let us look at a few of those
weaknesses. His success, as "A rule
makes him confident and self-satis-
fed. His vanity in consequence is
both large and sensitive. and with
it 90 narrowness of view, dogma
tism and Gggressiveness.' He sees
no reason why he should not get
everything he wants as he has got
his money-by bold action and
paying the price and he resents
the discovery that there are many
things in the world which business
like habits. energy, and determina-
ton will not procure-as, for ex-
ample, good taste and personal
bearing that wins esteem and affec-
ton as naturally as bland sunshine
brings smiles to the human face.
Nay, it is unfortunately common
that the very qualities which give
the self-made man force and bust
ness effectiveness involve a blunt
ing of some of the finest feelings,
and in some instances leave devel-
oped in the character sub-strain
of roughness and even vulgarity.
We are not blaming the self
made man for being SO often a
little vulgar, and more than little
loud and offensive. We only point
out the fact. These weaknesses
are the natural defects of good and
useful qualities. Sometimes, too,
the selI-made man is hardened by
his experience. He has no excuse
, for modesty, timidity, weakness, or
frailty. They do not fit in with
his strong, strenuous nature. He
cannot see why other men should
not be as he is self-sufiicient, con-