The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-11-20
Country Boy and His Touqhening Drudgery

success to any single line. Men are poor
their lives long who are conspicuously
successful in their chosen careers. A man
may be Immensely rich, and at the same
time be perfect picture OF Old scrouge.
OF what use is fortune II its owner
is misery and mean? A man who Is rich
and nothing more is piufu figure not
withStanding his array Of dividends. The
man who stands in the pulpit and sways
a great congregation. or sits In an edi-
torial chair and influences a wide COM
munity, or presides over q great unlver-
sity and stamps his personality on young
men. seldom gets beyond q modest salary.
Most OF this he spends on the education
OF his children or gives away In charity
His real estate may not be much more
when de dies than six feet of earth In
has been splendidly successful. He has
served his generation, and LET. his mark
on his period. The men who have ex-
erted commanding influence on their
times have often started life in rural sec
lions Of this land.
They have been born on the farm OF
Woodworking fathers who TILED the field
and Woodworking mothers who managed
their own Kitchen. Or else, they have
come from tho small country village. have
attended the district school and the
academy, and have been graduted per-
haps from ono OF the smaller colleges.
This last is only detail; it matters very
little from what alma mater a boy re-
caves his diploma II the boy has had
pluck and brains, and has earned his hon
ors. These boys have worn patched trou-
sers and coarse boots. and sometimes their
mothers have cut their hair. Can home
economy drop lower than this lovel?
OF country boy who has been the
Governor Of one OF our great States and
a member OF presidential Cabinet. 1t
ts recorded In the household annals, that
his mother onco cut his hair and made
OF It q ather unfortunate joo. lie 10y
withdrew to his little room under the
caves. and stayed there sulking and pro-
testing against his modification. finally
his mother climbed the stairs and said:
Never mind. John, perhaps the bur.
Der can shlngle 1t and your hair won't
look so badly after all" John had pass
ed his eighth birthday
Mother" he said, "please 20 away. I
wish neither your presence nor your SYM
pathy."
l heard the other day OF bright little
fellow in Nlassa chusetts} who Is half way
through the high school, \ order to at
tend school he tramps three and one-llalf
miles there, and the same distance hack
every day, and through all the snow and
cold OF last winter he did not miss u sim
gle session. The boy who cares enough
for school to walk seven miles n day tl.Dt
he may pursue his studies Will amount to
something worth while later III. ] knew
a lad In the mountains Of the South to
day an eminent physician who walked 100
miles from his home to the college town
where he matricuated, ana where largely
he paid his own way by his Own efforts,
a Western boy from a country parsonage
came some years ago to " Columbia uni
versity, maintained q high place In his
classes, lived sparingly, workfd hard in
vacation and by efforts that Ito tho on
locker seemed little short Of miraculous
succeeds IN gaining HIS degree and the
,dpeatipn he sought That boy is now !.
professor Of oriental Mterature aud a sue,
oessfu author My point Is that the
carly training Of a country boy is Il great
advantage; that he learns, to endure hard
ness, not to mind sef-den!al and sarri-
flee and to be Indifferent to luxury. TOO
much coddling eneryates and ruins u hoy
Who must sooner or Later engage Nv 2