Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-10-01

Nobody has confidence In the man who
half-does things. He cannot get credit,
however honest, because he lets his
notes go to protest; he is late with his
deposits; he misses his engagements.
Results of Shiftless Work.
What a misfortune for a youth 10
grow TO manhood and find his whole
future compromised or endangered by
the habit of h%alf-doing things In his
boyhood. or course, he did not know
that careless, Indifferent work makes
careless, Indifferent character. That
an engineer does not know the bridge
is down does not prevent his train
from being wrecked. The youth can
not learn too soon what the later on
sequences of his thoughtless acts may
be.
II a general, invading a hostile coun-
try, would leave here and there a fort
untaken because Of the great difficulty
of capturing 1t and should push on
with his army along the line OF leas.
resistance, he would soon find himself
in serious trouble. IL We do not con-
quer our enemies as we go along, Il
we do not clear up the country as We
march. If we do not do every task to
a finish, We shall find endless trouble
and modification later on.
What a perpetual humiliation to be
conscious that we possess native abil-
ity to fill positions of honor and trust,
and yet are incapacitated for doing so
adequately, because Of defective appli-
cation, because of the skipped points
and neglected tasks away back in
youth. We know of a young man who
missed a splendid position in an in
stitution Of learning simply through n
misspelled word In a letter. A great
many men and women are obliged to
halt just at the threshold of the goal
because of neglected training. or
sighted work in early life, and have
been Inundated In inferior positions
all their lives because they could not
entirely overcome the handicap of
early neglect.
Many a young man is being kept
down by what probably seems a small
thing to him-lack of accuracy. He
never quite finishes anything; he can
not be depended upon to do anything
quite right; his work always needs
looking over" by some one else. Hun
dreds of b%ookkeepers are getting small
salaries in poor positions to-day be-
cause they have never learned to do
things absolutely right.
Plodded to Cabinet Honors.
1t is not alone the careless boys who
are heard from. The thorough boys
are heard from too, and from posts far
higher up. One such boy is Elihu
Root, now secretary of war, and one
of the most powerful members of the
government. When he was a boy in
the grammar school at Clinton, N. Y,
he made up his mind that anything
he had to study he would keep at un-
til he mastered it. Although not con-
sidered one of the bright" boys of the
school, his teachers soon. found that
when Elihu professed to know any
thing he knew 1t through and through.
He was fn-1 of hard problems requir-
ing Application and patience. Some
times the other boys called him a
plodder, but Elihu would only smile
pleasantly, for he knew what he was
about. On winter evenings while the
other boys were out skating Elihu fire.
quently remained in his room with his
arithmetic or algebra. In recent years
Mr.. Root has said that If his close ap.
plication to problems In his boyhood
taught him nothing else, it made him
careful about jumping at conclusions.
There was only one answer, and pa
tience was the price to he paid for it.
Carrying the principle Of doing every
thing to a finish" into the law, he be-
came one of the most noted members
of the New York bar, intrusted with
vast interests, and then a cabinet
member, whose every is Of i'm
p~ortance to the nation.
When | was quite a lad" said a
wealthy and distinguished merchant
to n asking the secret Of success in
his life, Il went to pay a visit to my
grandfather, a venerable man, whose
velvet cap, blue coat and huge silver
knee buckles filled me with awe. On
my bidding him good-by he drew me
gently to him, and, placing his hand
on my head, said: MY little grandson.
| have n thing to say to you; will
you try to remember It? looked
into his face and nodded, for | was
afraid to promise aloud. Il want to
give you a piece of advice he con-
tinued, which, II you follow It., will
prove a sure passport to success. 1t
is this: In whatever you undertake
always do your best"
The merchant told how he acted on
this principle in his school and college
days, and then said: THE habit had
formed of faithfully doing my best
in whatever | had to do proved very
valuable, and, although l did not pos
sess unusual talents, l found difficult
ties vanish before me, I gained the
confidence of those with whom | had
dealings, and, in short, prosperity has,
with the blessings of Goo, crowned my
efforts. My only secret of success has
been my grandfather's legacy-always
do your best"
Your "Best" Must Be Right.
However, you must likewise be sure
that your best" is good enough to sat
isfy the strictest requirements. A GER
tain employe met a criticism with the
plea: Il tried to do my best"
Look here" said the department
chief, what we want is not that you
will try to do your best, but that you
will dc the work given you to do; do
1t thoroughly and completely. If all
we wanted was a man trying to do his
best, we could bring in a street labor
er or hod carrier and would be sure
that he would try to do his best. Besl
or no best, the work must be done, and
done properly, and the man who can
not do it is the man we do not want"
After that there was no more try
ing" to do the best; the work was done
satisfactorily, for it was a case of
fish, cut bait or get ashore"
Employers soon lose confidence in
sllpshod workers, for botched work is
associated with botched mentality. We
are all of a piece, and are judged By