The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-11-29
IHk PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. N. M. WATERS.
Subject: Choice of a Profession.

kins Avenue Church, the pastor.
the Rev. DR.. IN. NJ. Waters.
preached the first of series of even
Ing sermons TO young men. He laid
down certain principles according to
which a man should choose his life
work. He said, among other things:
In current book a college presi-
dent tells this story:
A traveller in Japan says that one
day as he stood on the quay in Toxic
waiting for steamer he excited the
attention of coolie doing the work
OF stevedore, who knew he was
an American. AS the coolie went by
with his load, in his pigeon English
he said: Come buy cargo?" BY
which he meant: Are you in japan
on business. The man shook his
head. The second time the coolie
passed, he again asked: Come look
and see?" BY which he meant to ask
II the American were a tourist seeing
the country. Receiving a negative re-
ply, the next time he passed he tried
one more question: Spec die soon?"
BY which he meant to ask IL the man
was there for his health.
This the writer used to describe
three different classes of people in
the world. There is the young man
who seems to be in the world for his
health. He wants to be coddled.
There is the young man who seems to
be in the world as traveller. He
wants to be amused. There are the
young men who are in the world for
business. They mean TO do some
thing and be somebody. These are
the young men to whom | want to
speak on How Shall | Choose My
Life Work." The others are not
worth our time.
The first question concerns the
young man himself. What are my
possibilities? You cannot make a
gentleman in single generation. 1t
was Oliver Wendell Holmes who said
that in order to make a gentleman
you needed to begin two hundred
years before he was born. BY which
he meant To state the great law of
life called heredity. This unlocks
mans birthright and shows from
what source his gifts of mind and
body come.
The second great fact is environ
ment. II am a part of all have
met" Born in Africa, you are a saw
age; born in this city, you are cul-
tured. We are children of our sur
roundngs
There is third great fact. There
Is something in you stronger than
heredity or circumstances. I mean
the human will when among the
Romans do as Romans do" is the
saying of a multitude who have
taken their first step toward hell.
Men may control circumstances. You
come from the country-so did Da-
vid. You are poor-so was Paul.
You have no influence or friends
nor did Joseph. You have no one to
send you to college-Garfield had
none, but he went. Robert Burns
had none-he was a plowman, but
he became Scotland's greatest poet.
Listen! In this country any able-bod-
fed boy can go through college IL he
will work, and wait, and even with
out college he can become a scholar
in the school OF his daily toll.
The second question concerns the
vocations OF men. How shall ]
choose? This is the first thing. You
II shall gain you bread and butter.
There are three ways of getting food
and clothes and a roof in this world,
and but three. "A man may steal
them; he may beg for them, or he
may earn them. The first way makes
him a robber, the second makes him
pauper and the third makes him a
worker.
There are always in the world
many men who steal their living.
Some OF them are very low in chac-
acter. and we know them as tramps.
burglars. pirates. These are afraid
of the light and they skulk through
the world, recognized as enemies Of
the social order, and for them there
Is neither rest nor respect
But all who prey on society are
not SO. So great is our regard for
success that many men to-day initiate
their methods. Men there are to-day
who seized upon the strategic crags
and passes in the world Of business
and grew rich by levying toll on the
passing rags. To hold one man up
is highway robbery. To hold up
whole city for ice, for milk, or bread,
simply because one has the power, Is
an act that seems to me to be a crime.
This is the second great law-you
shall require Of your work that II
shall make a man OF you. IL the first
requirement you make Of your work
is that 1t shall give you bread, the
second is that ii shall give you cul-
ture. No man has any right to en-
gage in any occupation that brutal
izes him. No factory or mine should
be allowed TO run that degrades the
/. toilers. The first question a young
man will ask Of his work is "Will IL
ennoble or degrade me?" This is not
too high a requirement. Any honest
work, honestly done. is liberal edu-
cation.
There Is no genuine culture out
side Of work. Oftentimes the hard
est task Is the best teacher. THE
Man With the Hoe" we need not pity
him. Moses was a herdsman, David
was a shepherd. Jesus was a carpen-
ter. Benjamin Franklin knew no col
lege. He was a printers devil. Even
college gives culture only through
work. and there are some things col
1eges never can teach. Latin and
art and history and literature are the
decorations of man. Even reading
and writing and the rule of three are