Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-05-18
Your Eortune Is In YourseIt.

1T is not what a man gets" says Henry
Ward Beecher, but what a man is, that
he should think Of" 1t does not matter
how well you are buttressed by the ac-
cident of birth, or wealth, or pull" or
social infuence,-or all of these,-you
will never succeed to any great extent if
you have not in yourself that which
makes you independent of props and
crutches.
There is no open door to the temple Of
success. Every man VINO enters FORCES
his own key. He can not effect an
entrance for any one else. Not even his
own children can pass where he passes
~he key that will unlock your great op-
portunity to you must be forged by your
self. No outside power-no help from
influential friends or relations,-can
fashion it,
"oh. I'll study and get ready, and
then. maybe, the chance VIII come"
said young Lincoln, when the good Mrs.
Crawford laughed at his joking sIg
eestion that he might some day be presi
dent. Would any power on EARTH think
you, have opened the door to the White
House to the poor awkward baclIwoods
boy, If he had not drilled his powers. and
developed to the utmost those qualities
which make men leaders?
AS a rule. the youth who unlocks the
door of opportunity and makes his mark
In the world fights his way up to his own
leaf What others do for him does not
amount to much in comparison with what
he does for himself. The pampered
youth, who is brought up in luxury and not
Obliged to work, whose strength is never
called upon, rarely discovers what there is
in him 1t is the boys who are bound out,
crowded out, and even kicked out, that
often turn OUT" while those who are
rampered fail to come out
You can not keep a determined. gritty
blocks in his way and he takes them
for stepping stones. Take away his
money, and he will make spurs Of his
poverty. Put him in a log cabin in the
wilderness, and we may still find him
in the White House.
If YOU are made OF the stuff that wins,
lit does not matter whether You were
born in howell or in a mansion,-you
Will ind your opportunity,-or make 1t.
You will not wait around for chance or
luck to aid you. You will not think that
you must have a complete outfit of the
finest tools before you can attempt to do
anything The men who accomplished great
things in the past did not wait for para
pnernaliG or fine tools. Men who are
doing great things today did not wait
for somebody or something to smooth the
way and remove all difficulties before
they began their work. No; they simply
did the thing they set out to do with
What If young Faraday, when he was
working in an apothecary's shop and
dreaming of scientific experiments should
have said to himself, 'If 1 only had a
well-equippel laboratory, what wonderful
things l could dor But no, he did not
waste his time in idly wishing. He went
instead, into the attic above the drug
store and experimental with a glass vial,
an old pan. and a few other simple
articles. With his crude apparatus he
performed such marvellous experiments
and made such Roadway that he attract
ed the attention Of Sir Humphrey. II the
| apothecary's apprentice had waited for
a lot of paraphernalia, think you that
DaVy, when asked what he regarded as
| his greatest scientific discovery, would
have been able to reply, Michael Fara-
| day?"
There was yet another Michael-the
great Angelo-who found opportunity to
make his wonderful statue OF David out
Of piece of marble which other artists
had discarded as useless.
The poor blacksmith boy, Elihu Burritt'
did not wait until he could go abroad,
or until he could engage teachers at
home, to study foreign languages. BY
utilizing every spare moment and using
the tools he found at hand, he became
master of many tongues.
No, 1t is not fine tools or splendid op-
portunities or influential friends or great
riches that make great men. The
greatness is in the man or nowhere. The
golden opportunity you are seeking is
in yourself. 1t is not in your environ
ment. 1t is not in luck, or chance OF
the help of others. It is in yourself alone
If it is there, no one can keep you down
If 1t is not, nobody can help you much,
1t Is there, however, for the Creator mas
put the opportunity in every normal
human being. But one must find for hom-
self the key that opens it's portal.