Williams news., 1905-03-18
MAKE YOUR OWN
 OPPORTUNITIES

in the town where was born-make good for myself and the folks; and I did"
 In these few, simple words, John A. Johnson, the new governor of Minnesota, condenses the simple story of his life, as told in a recent magazine article. This young man born in poverty, cradled in want, hemmed in on every hand by seem ingly insurmountab ble obstacles, and without friends or opportunity for education or advancement of any sort, has added one more name to the glorious roll of American boys with "no chance" who have con quered diversity and risen to dis tinction. He has proven again that the world stands for a determined soul, and that success is in the man, not in the chance. He pushed ahead and "tried to make good" No responsibility frightened him. A chance was all he wanted. He did not wait for it; he made it.
 People who are made of the right kind of material do not make ex- cuses; they work. They do not whine, they keep forging ahead. They do not wait for somebody to help them; they help themselves. They do not wait for an opportuni- ty; they make it. Those who com plain of no chance confess their own weakness their lack of efici- ency. They show that they are not equal 10 the occasion-that they are not greater than the obstacle that confronts them.
 ''No chance" has ever been the excuse of those who fail Interview the great army of failures; most of them will tell you that they never had an opportunity like others, that there was no one to help them, and that no one would give them a boost. They will tell you that the good places were all filed, that every occupation or profession was crowded, that there was no chance for them, and that all the good op- portunities were gone.
 After one of Alexander's cam paigns he was asked if he intended to take the next city if he had an opportunity. "Opportunityp he thundered, "Why, I make opportu- nities." It is men that make op- portunities that are wanted every where. It is dangerous thing to wait for opportunities until it be- comes a habit. Energy and incli- nation for hard work ooze out in the waiting. Opportunity becomes invisible to those who are doing nothing, or looking somewhere else for it. It is the great worker, the man who is alert for chances that sees them.
 Some people become so opportu- nifty blind that they can not see chances anywhere-they would pass through gold mine without noticing anything precious-while others will find opportunities in the most barren. t-of theway places. Bunyan found opportunity in Bed ford jail to write the greatest ale gory in the world on the untwisted paper that had been used to cork his bottles of milk. A Theodore Parker or Lucy Stone sees an op- portunity to go to college in a chance to pick berries. One boy sees an opening to his ambition in a chance to chop wood, wait on table, or run errands, where another sees no chance at all. One sees an opportunity to get an education in the odds and ends of time, evenings and half-holidays, which another throws away.
 While you are saying, "There is no chance for me-" and "I can't" thousands of boys and girls in this country with nothing like your op- portunities are tearing the words impossible" and "I can't" out of their dictionaries. While you are