Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-08
IN SPITE OF ENVIRONMENT

You may be sure that people who are always complaining of their en- vironment-of the conditions which surround them-for the evident pur- pose of excusing their inaction, Inedi- ocre work, or failure, are not recog- nized for success. They lack some thing, and that something, as rule, is an inclination to do downright per sistent hard work. They are better at finding excuses for their failure than at anything else.
 The man who expects to get on in the world cannot do it with q faint heart, but must grasp his opportunity with vigor, and fling himself with all his might into his vocation. No young man can hirt with the Goddess of Sue cess and succeed. If he does not mean business, he will quickly be tilted.
 In this electrical age of sharp com petition, no young man can hope to get on who does not throw his whole soul into what he is doing Great achievement is won by doing, doing, doing, and doing over again; by re beating, repeating, repeating, and re- beating over again; by finding one's bent and sticking to that line of work early and late, year in and year out, consistently and determinedly.
 There is no halfway about it. No ono can succeed by taking hold of his occupation with his finger-tips. He must grasp the situation with all the yigor of his being, with all the energy he can muster, and stick and hang and dig and save; this is the cost of any worthy achievement, and there is no lower price. There are no bargains on the success-counter. There is but one price-take 1t or leave it. You simply waste your time if you banter.
 What a .pitiable sight it is to see a strong, vigorous, well-educated young man, in this age of opportunity such as the world never saw before, sitting around wasting his precious years, throwing away golden opportunities, simply because he does not happen to be placed just where he thinks the great chances are, or does not see an opportunity which is big enough to match his ambition or his ability! It is a cruel. wicked sight to see our wealthy young men squandering the heard earned fortunes of their fathers in vicious living, but what shall we say of a vigorous youth with giant ener- l gies and good education, who folds his arms and refuses to seize the golden opportunities all about him?
 1 Bishop Spaulding, in recent ad- dress, said: Success lies in never tir | ing of doing, in repeating, and never 1 teasing to repeat; in toiling, in wait 1 ing, in bearing, and in observing; in watching and experimenting, in fall 1 ing back on oneself by reflection, turn l ing the thought over and over, round and about the mind and vision, acting again and again upon it-this is the law of growth. The secret is to do, to do now; not to look away at all.
 "That is the great illusion and de- lusion-that we look away to what life will be to us in ten years or in twenty years; we look to other surroundings. The surrounding is nothing, the en- vironment is nothing; or in other words, it is not possible to work except l in the actual environment. If you do not work where you are, where will
 you work? If you do not work now, ! when will you work? There is nothing ] for us but here and now.-O. $. Mar den, in April Success