The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-10-03
The Man Who Failed.
(Judge Goodwin in Gnndmin,s NJ


(Iudge Goodwin in Goodwin's Weekly1
We read and hear every day of the men who
succeed; who tells of the man who falls Yet bn
lew succeed; those who fail are many. They arr,
everywhere they belong to all ranks of life. And
all the virtues do not belong to the successful ono,
though one might think they did from what is said
One of those who fail died here not long ago TTo
began to fail early in life, for his mother died
lew days after he born, and there is no other
such calamity to fall upon a child His second
failure was that he had step-mother who did not
understand children, and thus this last state was
worse than the first However, he grew and INF.
discipline was mostly made up of hard knocks.
But his brain was clever He picked UP moro
learning than any other youth of his Acquaintance
and age. Indeed, his books were we'll nigh his ONLY
company, and they were enough, for. as he read tho
bitterness of his life and the squalor of hi, -rr
roundings seemed to melt away. and gatbcrir,.
near and around him. there seemed to come ccIos
hal forms and III his ear the rhythm of mcI7-
dies sweeter than the music of this world III. on
tered young manhood with well defined plans cv-
cept that, as all good comes from labor, all good
and all progress, it both his duty and his priv,
lege to work. He capable, in every sphere
where he was tried he acquitted himself with honor
and men said he the right path the ono
that leads to honest wealth and honest fame Tho,
young girl crossed his path There were othc,
prettler, brighter, better girls, but he could not SEQ
1t. To him she was the only one. and she encorr
aged him. Every day she bent all the incautatio,s
at her command to lure him until the enchautr,,,
absorbed his whole nature. Then she suddenly for
sock hlm and married one who would not have to-
strive for fortune. The shock was awful to him.
the ptiable because he uttered no plaint o7v,
no outward sign how deeply he was wounded bo,c
the earth seemed dissolved under his feet and nver
star had melted from the sky He was like a mourr-
er whose grief is too deep to find relief in tears.
But he lived because he felt it his duty TO live
and to work and to do what he could. And he was
gentler kindlier, more patient and considerable of
others than ever for sorrow to the unseish brings
out a pity for the sorrows and weaknesses of
others. He entered upon business life; when he
seemed on the and swift way to success a
flood came and swept away all that he had. He
tried again, beginning at the lowest round and
his next enemy fire, that not only swept away
all that he had, but left him III debt. BY his toll
he paid the last cent of his Indebtedness and kept
on working. for he not only had conscience but
he had faith in himself and hope that never failed
him. In leisure hours he read and studied and to
engage him in conversation was as good to at
tend learned mans lecture. In the meantime he
had been pushd across the continent, the mile
stones of his journey being the mlsfortunes that
had marked the way; one to mark where his JOY
died. another where his hopes received almost
death-wound. another where in the night while he
slept his youth died. and so absorbed was he that
next morning when he took again to the trail he
did not miss what had ceased to cheer him and
give buoyancy to his steps.
In the west when he reached it, the ruling In
dustry was mining, so he freshened up all his
of geology, took lessons from the
of those around him upon ore-forma-
tions and started forth to find mine. He found
and worked for years holding his loca-
tions and trying to get them in form to attract
the attention and help of capital. But one oc-
cason, by a fall from a treacherous ladder. he
shattered an arm and a leg, and when, after long
months of suffering. he once more got about he
found that his mines had been appropriated BY
others. and he too feeble to fight, too poor to
contest the spurious claims set up to GUST him.
And now old age had come upon him and the Wis
ions that had kept earth and sky radiant around
and above him began to grow dim; his sleep was
troubles, his morning awakenings were no longer
filed with the peace which comes with mans abid-
ng faith in himself But there were no complain
ngs He met his friends In his old cheerful gentle
way He uttered no reproaches against hard for
une: he still chung to his old belief that if
loes not succeed it is his fault, and so ne
passed down the last slope and one morning 1t was
old that he was dead. The few friends that still
emained gathered around him and tenderly gave
lis remains back to his mother earth, she folding
lin within her arms and shading his eyes fro1
he light Then those friends had carried and
placed upon his grave great rough stone,
moothed one side little and ON the Smoothed
ide they had these words embossed:
Here sleeps a man who failed"