Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1906-12-14
SUCCESS NOT ALWAYS
THE RESULT OF VIRTUE
By WILBUR [. hoNNEY

hledhine Is conveyed UY the Term
success" In one article a man who
after fifteen years Of struggle has es-
tablished himself In the grocery bpsi-
ness Is given as an example of Sue
cess; in another paper a man who has
worked up from a messenger boy at
So per week to foreman at S25 per
week is set forth as an example OF
what may be achieved in still 9TH
ers it is implied, II not actually ex-
pressed, that nothing short of bank
president, railroad official or million
aire can be really considered success
full. This is confusing to the young
man who wishes to know what the
world expects of him, and to what he
must aspire in order to hope to enter
the golden circle of the successful"
In the advice and interviews kindly
lavished by the men who have been
successful. with a capital S, it ap-
pears that they always claim, ex-
plicitly or by Implication, that the
success is due to their virtues. Now,
it is morally certain that many OF
them owe their success to their i'm
moral qualities. to the fact that they
have overreaehed. browbeaten or
ruined competitors. neighbors and
even friends.
They set themselves upon pedes-
tai, however, and invite the public
TO believe that It is their virtues that
have been rewarded by an apprecia-
tive fate with the crown Of wealth or
position. These things confuse the
uninitiated and discourage those who
know that they themselves deserve
some measure of success IL virtue is
to be the criterion
The fact Is. the successful, in the
ordinary aceeptanee OF the term. us
relating their experience. Some for
tunate accident, some happy connec-
tion, or, perhaps, some act of indirec-
tion or unconsidered speculation, was
the key, and that point they do not
reveal: they would rather have it
believed that they did it all by delib-
crate purpose. and by the exercise OF
respectable virtue and superior
shrewdness.
II you will dig into the biography
of almost all wealthy men you will
find some such crisis at which they
passed from the ranks OF wage earn
ers to the class of those to whom sue
cess opens wide its portals. In other
words, there was SOME definite trans
action which lifted them out Of the
ranks and made them eligible to
higher honors.
One instance of this kind happened
In this way: A poor and idle. bur
fairly Intelligent. young man Nas
making q precarious living on the
outskirts Of the real estate business
in Minneapolis. His virtues were not
conspicuous and il success were cast
ing about for some one upon whom
to work her magic spell she would
probably have had to seek this young
man at the races or the ball game.
lie learned through his real estate
connection that large semi-publie
corporation desired to purchase a
forty acre tract near the city and was
about to open negotiations with the
owner.
The young man went to the rec
ords, found that the owner OF the
land was a widow living in a small
Iowa town, who had not seen her
land for over fifteen years. He
boarded the train, went to the widow,
informed her that he wished to en-
large his farm and would consider
taking her forty-acre tract il she
would sell cheap. She finally signed
a contract agreeing to deed the land
to him for $4,000 The semi-public
corporation two months afterward
paid him $4,000 for the tract, and
the man is now pointed out as one
who has earned success as the result
of certain virtues which he indeef
never possessed. This land transac-
tion he always omits when he fur
nishes interviewers with a short
sketch of his path to success.
The matter of chance is also neg
lected in the average talk upon this
subject In the game of life. where
there are so many players, it must
happen by the law OF chance that a
few are favored out of all proportion
to the rest. The law Of chance must
favor some without regard to person
ality. If piece Of land passes
through the hands OF twenty owners,
some one Of them will own It when
city is located thereon; the other
,lineteen will be considered lacking
sn foresight, while to the lucky owner
will be aseribed all the virtues which
cluster about the wealthy; whereas
he may have taken the and on bad
debt, or in a hor5e trade, without
foresight and without deliberatioD.
II by success one means a compe-
tence secured at the age OF sixty, It
is no doubt within the reach OF all
healthy, intelligent young men. and
the old-fashioned virtues of frugality.
honesty, PATIENCE and calculating
judgment are the only sire means OF
reaching It.
Even in this modest aspiration the
man with all these virtues in his
FAVOR may fail by ore false step, but
his experience in the school OF self
control will do much to prevent such
a step. and after many days Of suca
strenuous and unromantic plodding,
life will not open TO him and show
him that virtue is not in vain, that
the wise and conservative precepis
of the ages are true. indeed. to LIN
who masters himself and aims 1T
only what is possible by honest
means and patient. contentsd study
of the laws by which permanent re-
suits are gainet
Brilliant exceptions do not form
: a basis for reasoning. 1t is not safe
to draw conclusions from exceptional
cases. a few examples OF quick and
phenomenal success do not form any
basis for reasoning about the chances
of the average man. It is poor logic
to argue from exceptions instead Of
from the rule, and IT is not the ruia