The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1905-10-27
BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.

right and desirable thing, but we can
not get it. We have tried faithfully to
the best of our ability. But we are dis
appointed. We feel very much as we
would If we saw somebody else climb
ing, without the least trouble, to the
top of mountain, while we kept slid
ing back to the bottom.
Everybody cannot be equally sue
cessful, and friend or classmate
often seems to gain without much ef-
fort whatever she wants, while we
lose. 1t is 50 in many departments OF
life outside of the schoolroom. 1t is
not only that another girl wins the
gold medal for proficiency, while we
have not even a mention on the honor
list; that another always has reports
enriched with a double A, while we
have only B or c, but there are
other failures that try our hearts quite
as much
Another girl makes a friendship
where we have only a slight acquaint-
ance, or goes off on splendid trip to
Europe, while we stay at home with
out change of scene. The fact is, If we
choose to disturb ourselves about them.
the small disappointments of life are
endless. The great ones, too, occur
now and then. 1t is test of charac-
ter to meet disbursements bravely,
and to refuse to be downcast and blue,
when we fail in an attempt through no
fault Of our own.
AS l write l am thinking OF girl
friend who has had an experience
which will show her mettle and dis
she is. Elizabeth is a quick and clever
girl, who learns without taking much
trouble, and who has a reputation in
her family circle for extraordinary
genius. She has always been expected
to carry off all the prizes in sight. Her
father amuses his friends by the I'M
conscious vanity which prompts him tc
boast of Elizabeth's sprightliness, and
he is continually repeating her witty
speeches and telling any listener whom
he can buttonhole the story of her lat
est triumphs. Her mother has less to
say, and is more tactful. but in her
quiet, unobtrusive fashion, she is just
as proud of her daughter and just as
convinced of her superior talents as
her good husband is. Both these 'peo-
pie, without meaning it, have pulled
up Elizabeth from her cradle, with the
result that she has come to depend
entirely too much on her >quickness
and has omitted the hard study which
at certain points is indispen sable You
may imagine the family CONSERVATION
and chagrin when Elizabeth failed to
pass her senior examinations and was
told that she would have to take her
last year over if she is finally to be
graduated.
y A year does not look very long to
your father and mother, because as
people grow older the years seem fair
ly to rush along like waves in a mill
race, but it seems a tremendous thing
to girl of II. 1t looks to her like a
long level stretch of eternity If we
fail in anything when we are young we
are tempted to fancy that we never can
make up our loss. That is one reason
why young people are blue when they
ought to see everything in rose-color
Once We allow ourselves to be discour-
aged, we are. Handicapped. We are very
apt in such moods to discourage 9TH
ers. If a girl in Elizabeths position
happens to be preparing to teach. or
has in mind determination to be an
artist, or journalist, she says to her.
self, II may as we'll give it up. There
Is no use in keeping on. l shall never
attain what wish
''Never' Is word one hears on the
lips of schoolgirls much oftener than
one ought.
-
Looking over a closet one day in
which a middle-aged woman had
packed away many treasures Of her
girlhood, l came upon a lot of old
school books. In one Of them l found
writer in very black letters, under
scored, too. on the margin of several
pages the word Despair" Have you
any idea," said to the owner of the
books, why or when you wrote this
word on these pages?"
'Oh," she said, with a laugh, 'sWhef
I was IA had moods. l often used to
think that had almost reached the
1umping-off place of the world, and If
/ failed in lesson / felt as II the dis
grace were inscribed upon me in let
tiers so large that everybody could see
them. l suppose scrubbed that one
day when l was blue
A woman who has been widely
known as successful writer told me
that her first work during the first
year of her struggle to enter the pro-
fession was invariably returned. .Stor-
les. poems, essays" she said, ~"all came
hurrying back, declined with thanks.
and she added, II used literally manv
time to wet my pillow with tears. Yet
:ee oftener failed the more deter
mined l became not to fail. would
just pull myself together and work
harder next time
In the case of student who, either
through illness or lack of painstaking
Or inability to do her work, misses 4
rear. the delay may be a blessing in