The Topeka state journal., 1908-06-20
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

Situation" Gen. SO: Lis; Al: 3S-44
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
The problem of the unemployed is
acute today; it in turn complicates the
annual problem of how the great COM
pany of young people who have peen
graduated from schools and colleges are
to make their entrance into the untried
world of paid workers. The getting and
keeping of a situation now looms on the
horizon OF many young h1e as more
important matter than any Of the MS
tory making events about which the
student has been concerned. Every nIe
is microcosm, and this finding Work
means more to the Individual than
Caesars crossing the Rubicon meant
to history.
The world owes every man liv-
Ing" only when that man has first CIV
en- to the world the life which he owes
it.
Whose works for works sake will
never want for wages.
The other day l ran across sad
case. young man, of excellent heaitn
and of ordinary ability, the son OF
superior father and mother, has SEEM
ingly decided not to burden himself
with a mans work in the world. His
father left him money enou gh to live
upon in ease, SO he does nothing. He
has no especial vices, except this big
one of having shirked a mans primary
obligation. His friends talk of hfm as
pityingly as If he were afflicted with
some dread disease; albeit there is a
touch of contempt in their tones. The
man has broken no laws, except the
law written deepest in mans nature.
He has become a drone in life's hive.
So he brands himself a failure at the
very outset of what might be an hon
orable career. Infinitely worse than
the inability to secure work is the un-
willingness to do work.
All the flowers of happiness bloom in
the field of industry.
The basis of business Is character;
the next layer is efficiency. A life
founded upon sterling character, un-
pretending and incorruptible, and rein
forced by skill, can be prevented from
attaining success only by sloth or cow
ardice. The true man, who does well
what he undertakes, cannot be Kept
down by anybody except himself
All the books upon "success'-of
which there have been so many in late
days that they have begotten a sort of
ingrowing egotism among other wise
normal young persons, lay stress upon
various rules, and they magnify the
tudes of successful men; who verv
rarely and for reasons best known to
themselves talk about the real secret
of their success. Much of this advice
is admirable, and to be followed; but
always IT is to be borne in mind that
greatness is individual and peculiar. A
conventional success may be obtained
along conventional lines; a man may
have all the minor virtues and still be
a minor man. 1t is the expression of
personality. of initiative, Of force, OF
originality that wins life'S big prizes
and does largest service to mankind.
So it may be accepted as basic truth
that whoever attains a success WORTH
while must pioneer his own way, blaze
his own path, express his own life, fol-
low his own star.
The world has far greater need for
good carpenters and machinists than 1t
has for second-rate poets and authors.
Beecher once said that CALI to
preach is simply ability to preach. This
is the first rule to follow in choosing
life work. One should do what one can
do. If one is SO fortunate as to have
a natural inclination for some calling,
then, despite everything, he should fol-
low that inclination. Everybody knows
tragic life-stories of persons who, for
one reason or another, failed to do the
congenial thing. Here is a born nat
uralist and geologist, who let himself
be persuaded to study for the ministry;
too late to enter the profession for which
he was fitted, he discovered that he
was not called to be preacher; so
ne is now a workingman, and failure
at that. The great counsel in life is to
follow what Tennyson calls ones
"gleam."
Everybody owes his world, not only
his present powers, but also all that
he may make Of those powers.
A knowledge of human nature. which
Is both an intuitive insight and the re-
suit of experience is more useful in
life than a knowledge of Latin and
Greek. This is the indescribable quail
ity called common sense" which binds
together and makes marketable all
other qualifications.
Whose great goal is the common
good will not lack for sustenance; or,
lacking it, will consider self-sac-
rifce a trif1ing incident of a great pur-
suit.
Look out for the man who is for
ever looking out for number one.
''There is plenty of room at the
top" but up to the present no a1rship
route thither has been invented. Only
steady climbers, who can keep the
power of vision, get there.
After all has been said, success. in
life is entirely a matter of definition.
Character is success. Happiness is
success. Duty-doing is success. And
the achievement of eternal life is the
highest and final success
SEVEN SENTENCE SERMONS.
Pleasure soon exhausts us and itself
also; but endeavor never does
Richter.
If you wish your neighbors to see
what God is like, let them see what