The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-05-21


if there were fine schools in the past all
children were not able to go to them
Perhaps you were like my grandfather.
PIE was the Oldest of a large family of
children. He had to stay at home and
help work the farm that the younger
members of the family might have
enough bread to eat and enough clothing
to wear Thus the only education you re-
ceived outside of the three RS was out
of the University of Hard Knocks"
But in spite of this handicap, my friend,
you have a good mind. a good body, and
you have had good many OF the essen
tial capabilities of success. Now. why
have you been such failure? Why is
your life in its uselessness to be likened
unto that half built tower which Plate,
the governor erected and toward which
Christ pointed wherf he spoke the words
of my text? I will tell the reason You
went to work and worked hard. You de-
veloped yourself along one line. You laid
your foundations; you partly completed
your walls. but just when YOU were about
to complete your work and win success
you deserted the line of work you were
following and went to dig in some other
field to build another kind of tower.
Did Not Stick to It,
Is not this emphatically true with you
in business? What are you doing today?
business. Some of my friends and myself
have a dozen claims up in the new gold
fields. l am bound soon to be rich There
is no doubt about 1t. We are within a
quarter of mile of one r-ine where they
have taken out 81. 100000 in one year. We
are on the same vein or line or ore. We
are bound to get rich Will you take
some stock in our mine? You can get
rich too" No, thank you. In the first
ra1a / hax N ffatra tn. = h.
second. if l had l would not invest 1t in
your mine. You are almost certain to
make failure out of 1t. If there Is no
gold there, then, of course, you cannot
get blood out of turnip." If there is
any gold there you will let go of it be-
fore you develop that mine properly.
Some one else will get the profits. How
do l know? Why that has been your
record for twenty-five years. In the last
quarter of a century you have dabbled in
at least ten different businesses, at any
one of which you could have made a
success if you had only stuck to it. For
five years you worked a ranch or farm.
After those five years you said: There
Is no need of me bury my talents here.
must get out into some other business
where l lean make some money" You
got out. How is 1t with the man who
bought your place? He has made a sue
cess ON your farm because he put his
brains into 1t and developed it and ran
it along the lines 1t could pay After you
left the farm you went into the real estate
business. Then what was the matter?
"Oh," you say, "there was no money in
the real estate business 1 got out of
that very soon"
Yes, you speak the truth. There was
no money in the real estate business
for you. You are sure of making a !
failure at everything. But there was
money and there Is money in the real |
estate business for the man who took
your Offices He had no more capital |
to start with than you had. but he hung |
on until at last the financial tide turned |
his way Today he is one of the wealthy |
men of this city. Then you failed as a |
life insurance agent. Next you failed as |
a book publisher. Then you failed as a |
commercial traveller. You have failed a |
everything you touched. Yet men no |
brainier than you who followed you have |
made successes In every one of these |
lines. You dug your foundations; you |
erected one-fourth, one-half, two-thirds |
three-fourths of your walls Then you |
said: LET the unfinished towers stand |
am too discouraged to climb and higher. |
l will go and dig elsewhere"
But I would not halt here. The COM |
pleted towers of life are due to grip and |
grit. They are due to more than that. |
Their foundation stones, their excava- |
lions, their walls, are builded by charac- |
ter as well. Many a man has had all |
the proper mental preparation for life and |
perseverance enough in his makeup to |
tear down stone wall with his bare fin |
gers. If it were possible for him so to do |
But. on the other hand. many man has |
lost all simply because his character could |
not stand the test of truth and justice |
No matter how strong and stanch a ship |
may be, If 1t has no rudder that ship be- |
4Iaxr 1T, <,fax \
menace to all ships sailing the seas. No |
matter how swift a locomotive, IL 1t has |
no Indicator to its boiler that engine Is |
momentariy In danger of blowing up. |
No matter how high the walls of a tower |
lift themselves. if those walls are not |
erected on a solid base and in a straight |
line they are in danger of topping over !
What a rudder is to a ship. the indica-
tor to the engine. the plumb line to the |
mason building the wall character is to |
man. 1t is his ballast, his sheet anchor |
his safety valve, his protector, his all
A Sad Example.
Let me illustrate my thought by the |
sad and yet brilliant life of one of the |
greatest statesmen England ever pro-
duced. Charles James Fox was one of |
the greatest geniuses who ever stood in /
the British house of commons. At q I
years of age he was ranked among the |
ablest debaters and at 30 had no superiorN
or equal in all Europe. But, though at |
times he was the most applauded man In |
Europe yet he never could win the con- |
fdenoe of the people. They admired his |
intellect, but they could not trust his |
heart. His daily custom was to rise just |
in time to stroll down to the parliament |
house. There nightly" as a contem-
porary wrote, 'he would build up chain |
of arguments for bill he was attacking |
greater and more powerful than any of |
4 4 ".
would tear these arguments to pieces as /
though they were cotton threads" Read |
his speeches on the impeachment of War
rem Hastings. Read his masterpiece on |
the Rejection of Napoleon's Overtures"