The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1908-11-12
TOO MANY OPPORTUNITIES ?
The Country Boy Is Greatly Favored In
Surroundings.
RIGHT THINKING BRINGS SUCCESS.
Success Magazine.)

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city life and concentrate ones mine
upon self-improvement.
There is such thing as having to,
many opportunities, too many facil
tiles. AS a rule, boys who are borl
and brought up in the midst of Ii
braries, books, and Schools, becom,
Indifferent to the value of these op
portunities; while in the country
where books are rare and opportun
tiles for education limited, the am
bilious boy is more anxious to make
the most of his time, to seize every
opportunity for self-culture with
avidity, to redeem himself from
mediocrity.
One of the greatest dangers of city
life is that of becoming superficial
Where there are SO many editions OF
the daily papers every day, we get
in the habit of "skimming," which
is very dangerous; we just glance at
paper for few minutes and throw
it aside-just look at the headings
and a few lines of the most impor-
tant paragraphs, then lay the paper
away. This desultory habit is suicid-
al to all deep and lasting culture.
After we acquire this habit, it is al
most impossible to get rid of it.
No great and lasting SUCCESS can
be attained until one has formed a
habit of continuous, persistent think
ing along fundamental lines. A lit
tie dipping into this and that, few
minutes reading with very little
thinking, or contemplation, or re-
viewing of what we read, will result
in most shallow life.
Easy access to many books has been
a stumhling-block in many q career.
1t is natural for us to depreciate
what is common, and easy to obtain.
Perhaps, if Lincoln had been reared
in large city, in the midst of great
libraries and schools, he might not
have been so well educated as he was.
He did not mind walking through
the forest many miles to borrow a
coveted book, and he considered it
the greatest luxury imaginable to
have an opportunity of devouring its
precious pages, lying on the floor of
the log cabin before the old fireplace,
for candles and lamps were luXuries
in which the Lincolns could not in
dulge. He would sit up nearly all
night poring over the precious con-
tents of book as if he never expect
ed to see another. Half a dozen
books constituted his whole library,
but these he knew thoroughly. He
did not skim them over, he devoured
them; he read them over and over
again until he could almost repeat
them by heart. Many of the great
gaints in American history never had
access to Libraries in their youth, but
what few books they could get hold
of, they almost learned by heart.
In cities, books, pictures, schools,
and works of art are SO plentiful,
youth is likely to become so familiar
with them that he does-n not half ap-
preciate their value. A few good
books read and digested and re-read
would do more toward forming
solid foundation for a successful life
than thousands of books skinned
oyer.
Many young people of to-day can
not recite the names even of the
books which they read six months
ago, any more than they can recite
the articles which they merely scan
ned in the daily paper.
This habit of skimming over books
and papers is not only fatal to all
genuine culture, but it helps to form
habits generally. The
mind become demoralized when you
do things in passive way; for there
is nothing which will tend to keep it
from grasping and seizing hold of
ideas. more than the habit Of crowd
ing upon it pictures, half-pictures,