The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-12-09
THE POOR BOYS CHANCE.


THE POOR BOYS CHANCE.
1t is an easy thing, and perhaps
natural thing, to consider the Golden
in the future. The haze of distance
obscures the unattractive features of
bygone days and we are wont to be-
believe that men were nobler and
conditions tairer, and opportunities
greater in the days of our fathers
than they are in our own time.
We seek to delude ourselves with the
idea that IN these days of trusts
and combinations a boy does not have
[ the same chance to succeed that he
had in an earlier generation. We
deceive ourselves if we hold such
opinions. The world never needed
men of capacity and ability more than
today and the opportunities and the
rewards for young people possessed
of brains, energy and character never
were so great as at the present time.
AS the business of America grows
and her agricultural resources devel-
op, as the Government calls more
and more urgently for trained and
faithful workers, the field of oppor-
tunity broadens for the ambitious
youth. Since Abraham Lincoln rose
from the poorest of the poor in that
miserable Kentucky hovel, to a place
with the immortals of the worlds
history no child in this land has a
right to say: Il have no chance" The
world is waiting for men and women
who can do things and who can be
trusted with important tasks.
The last recent illustration of this
idea of modern opportunities is the
Gov. Charles E. Hughes, of New
York, at a memorial service for the
late Gov. John A. Johnson, of Min
nesota, who rose from a poverty al
most as deep as that of Lincoln's to
be leader in American public life,
and for whom still higher honors
might have been in store had his life
been spared. Governor Hughes said
in part:
THE revelation of his progress from
lowliness and obscurity to place of
high public distinction is a benedic-
ton to the entire country Once more
we realize that our resources, our
true resources of strength and of
greatness. are not to be sought for in
mine or field, but reside in man. When
we take account of these resources
We find once more impresSing upon
us that we are not to look exclusively
to the favored home of exceptional OPP
portunity; to sheltered childhood, to
youth blessed with extraordinary adj
vantages; to those upon whom for
tune has smiled and who are led
along the paths of life, with constant
counsel and ready inspiration. But
we must take all America within our
view-the homes of the poor, the I'M
fortunate, those who seem thrust aside
from the fair avenues of opportunity,
those upon whom it would seem a
blight had rested at the very begin
| ming OF tnelr career.
Probably today in some lowly home,
where there is the hardest work to
achieve even a decent support, where
some little lad is looking out on life
apparently without chance, is the
future leader of the great people of
this Nation. And because we recog-
nize this is land of opportunity, and
rejoice that once more there has been
f,.f. tphn cd oh fNln nttan q Df
American opportunity, we find i'm
pressed upon us with special force the
lesson of Governor Johnson's life
Let all know that lesson and life
are given a better meaning, and every
man can let his hand go out in genu-
inc sympathy to his human brother,
and to every boy and girl in every
home, because with them, as well as
with the favored ones, lies the future
of our free land. But it is not SIM
ply that we admire his career. We
think today of the inspiration that
it gives. Every poor mother today is
helped, as she seeks to care for her
boy, in the thought of what Governor
Johnson did. Every young man who
thinks that the odds are somewhat
against him is encouraged when he
thinks of what Governor Johnson be-
came"
Governor Hughes himself is a shin
ing example Of the just renown and
the splendid opportunity for public
service that await ambitious lads in
humble homes. 1t has been said oft
en- that Vermont raises no better
} crop than her men. There is no rea-
son why this should not continue to
be true and ideals of noble and useful
manhood and womanhood always
should be an inspiration to the youth
in every Vermont school.
CIVIC REkUTTY