The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1906-06-13
Conquering Difficulties.

Every youth would like to attain sue
cess, honor and influence. But nearly
every n fails. Why? Because there
are difficulties in the way. What are
these difficulties? The things that pre-
vent achievement-the hard things.
What is the customary way of treating
them? To dodge them or slur them.
Why should that be the common way?
Because it is the easy way, of course.
Put down in a little book the hard
things that you dodge or slur in twenty
four hours, and study them a little.
You are in school and the first thing
that strikes you in the morning is a
difficult problem in mathematics, sci
ence, or translation. There are a dozen
different ways of getting around it, all
easier than to conquer it. You are in
an Office and a knotty question in ac-
counts comes up. 1t will take an hour
to master it, but only a minute to get
an older head to help out. You are at
home, and suddenly some trfe initiates
the temper. Every one knows it is
easier to indulge it than to control it.
A sudden temptation comes among a
group of good fellows. To yield is
easy; to resist is hard. So it follows
that surrender to obstacles is the rule;
successful resistance, the exception.
But here and there a young mar does
overcome. He triumphs, and we recog-
nize a master. He acquires the con
quering habit, and presently we find
from repeated and easy victories. AT
ter that his course through the world,
in whatever vocation he engages, is
natural conquest, and the fellows who
weakly yielded when difficulties arose
are the material he builds on.
There seem to be two ways only of
dealing with hard things, First, is to
succumb. Yield to the tired feeling.
Give up mathematics because it is
tough, Drop history because it's dull.
Give up the fight for the top in bust
ness because it takes so much effort.
Follow this line of surrender two or
three years, then examine your back
bone. Test your mind, your moral
strength, your conscience. See how
your whole capacity for achievement
has been weakened until you are incap-
able, perhaps forever, like most of the
weaklings around you.
But try first the other thing. Grapple
the first difficulty that comes up.
Wrestle till you down it, if it takes till
break of day. Get on top of it with
both feet. First the bear, then the
lion, then Goliath. David worked up
by degrees to the giant.) Master the
problem in mathematics, and know the
JOY of victory; the hard things in other
studies, and see what tonic to the mind;
the hardest thing in your days work at
Office or shop, and see how strong you
will be for the next day; the tempta-
ton that assails you, and feel the JOY
of deliverance.
Do all this faithfully until it becomes
a habit. Then see how strong your
mind has become, how secure your con
science, how you jump ahead in your
work, how you grow to be a master of
men. The world yields to such a spirit
as that.
Commence tomorrow morning the OBJ
stacle %conquering habit. If it fails you
in a year or two of honest effort, go
back to the habit of surrender before
difficulties, and take your place with the
great mass of men who YEARLY hold
aloft the banner of defeat. Top or
Bottom, Which3-The Skvlipht.