Milford chronicle., 1903-08-07
WHAT is succEssR
Wrong Standard Raised By sfOries
Of Great business Men.

/ wrong standard Raised By SfOFieR
of Great business Men.
What a noisy gospel Is that Of sue
cess and how many self satisfied
evangelists are enlisted in its service!
Pulpits, books, pamphlets and period
icals overflow with its catchwords, its
aphorisms, its modern instances. In
shops and offices, inspired by the prop
aganda of this glittering lore, the
| young men are broOding. Bank clerks
/ join the American institute, diligently
read the Bulletin and procure instrue-
| ton from the correspondence school in
| quest Of this elusive, precious, capri
ciOus thing-success. The literary
hack ransacks the careers Of conspicu-
Gus personages for the secret and
method Of success. He finds the eXcep-
tiOnal and striking incident extracts
It from the commonplace by which It
is surrounded and sets Il In a dramatic
relief. The successful man is a player
strutting upon a stage. He moves to
a triumphant climax. At a given CON
juEcture he will exhibit a supernatural
power Of decision, Of preternatural
Judgment. of clalrvoyant vision, of IT,
tanic industry, and thencefOrth his ul-
innate triumph becomes inevitable.
In other words, the successful man
as he is portrayed in current literature
is an optical illusion, a chimera of the
literary faddist But all Of us, unless
we are poor trash indeed, have mo-
mcnts Of unusual power, acuteness and
diligence. This is the common lot Yet
only a few of US that share the COM
mon lot are destined to accumulate
great wealth or achieve conspicuous
stations. The number of such stations
and the chances for such accumula-
tions never did correspond, and never
will, to the number Of energetic, am
bilious and capable men who are hope
full of achieving them. This unpalata-
bic truth the literature of success alb
hors.
The normal service Of an able and
faithful man has no place in the litera-
ture Of success. Why? Because such
a service has nothing picturesque about
it-it is too common; is wanting in the
melOdramatic pitch. Besides, It is 80
common, In fact, that we may identify
it With countless individuals whose
achievements, measured by these lime
light standards, are Of no account
whatsoever. The successful man has
never made a mistake, never taken a
drink, never missed cue, never told a
lie. is never weary. plans and plots In
cessantly. and probably never sleeps at
all! AndStabove all things he always
reaches the top and invariably pos
sesses a heavy bank account. The
greater this bank account the more
wonderful the business and profession
al power of this astonishing individual
seems to be. He Is always more faith
full, more vlgilant, more Industrious.
more efficient, than other men. But
this cOnfuses the issue and debases !
the standard of success. Browning
said that the emphasis of success |
should be laid upon endeavOr.
The man who is true to himself. |
faithful to the trust repOsed in him. |
employing his resources to the fullest. !
allowing for human endurance as well !
as weakness, is a successful man. His |
material reward may be modest, but |
he is doing a part Of the indispensable |
work of the world, doing it steadily and |
we'll. Is not this also success and sue |
cess of n high order? To the literary |
perverts who write pithy and snappy |
articles on how success is achieved In |
this duh world such a man is a mere |
cumberer of the ground. Because |
some one stands higher, this man IS
held to be Outclassed and outquallfied. |
He is simply not in the race.-AmeP-
lean Banker.