Norwich bulletin., 1910-10-08
look Ahead-To Foresee is 70 Succeed

LOVA hhLdU-k Nv
written Specially for The Bulletin
One Of the distinctions between sue
ccssful and unsuccessful men is that
the successful man is forest ghted-he
sees ahead long ways ahead. Now,
no man can see ahead If he is looking
up into the air or down on the ground
or sideways over his next-dOOr neigh
boris backyard. or behind him at day
before yesterday. Or any other way
except looking forward-keeping his
eyes on the future and the beyond.
Hitch your wagon to a star" coun-
selled Emerson. He wasn't thinking of
n literal star, far withdrawn in the in
finite depths of blue night; he used the
word figuTatively to suggest something
ahead OF us and above us, a little out
Of our reach, perhaps. but something
which would certainly hold our eyes
and our attention to the front and
keep us moving in that direction.
All the successful statesmen of the
world have aimed high and far ahead
at the very start Napoleon, when he
was actually only a LITTLE Corporal"
was dreaming ofrthe Grand Army and
the mastery of Europe. Disraeli failed
almost pitifully in his first attempt at
a speech in the house 'of commons.
The time win come when you will
hear me" he said. smiling. People re
membered that when as premier of
England, parliament hung breathless
on his words. All the successful
money getters of the world have aimed
high and looked far ahead at the very
start. Aston was seeing half a century
into the future when he invested all
the money he could lay his hands on
in pasture lands and swamps outside
the then limits of Little Old New York
Looking ahead, he foresaW the time
when his cheap land would be worth
hundreds and thousands of dollars a
square foot instead of fifty dollars an
acre. Rockefeller. Morgan, Carnegie
these giant gobblers of our own day
saw ahead of them and reckoned on
the future but enormous profits to be
had from oil monopoly or railroad
manipulation or steel making combina-
ton. All the great molders and max
ers Of civilization, the poets and the
authors and the prophets. have begun
by seeing the gracious vision of the
Ear off future and by setting their
steps in that direction. Tennyson
isn't the only one who "dipt into the
future far as human eyes can see"
Life is short, to be sure, reckoning it
I'm terms of geologic aeons or astro-
nomical eternities. But it is long, reck-
oning it in seconds and minutes. The
average young man who has reached
perhaps 1900 days of life, over $50, 900
hours. Assuming that he spends one
third of his hours in sleep. he still has
moro than 100000 to reckon with.
When he's reached IS it's high time
that he shall have made up his mind
whether he is going to live those 300,-
200 hours each one for itself and with
LITTLE thought of the future, or whether
he is 'going to treat them as a bunch
and start on some sort of plan to make
them dovetail together into the frame
work for success.
Once, a many, many years ago, the
erizzled old friend who had lived near
" 70 years Of life and had seen and
felt its gains and it's losses. abruptly
asked me: How old are you?" I was
then under 30. and told him so. "Ah"
he murmured. IF I were only your
2 se-and knew all I know now" His
eyes were on his own past. not on me-
As he spoke. A moment later he ac-
tualfy blushed over his own words as
came back into his WIN, and he
thought how it might sound to me and
how ] might take it. He began to
apologize. Dear friend" said /. don't
change word. / understand. God
knows / wish that with my 80 years ]
had your 20 years experience and
knowledge. If l could give you the
years back again and you could give
me the experience we two could make
one town sit up and take notice ell 90
Silently he reached over and shook my
hand. He saw I understood.
Now, the point I'm driving at is that
there isn't any business or avocatiOn
on earth which more insistently calls
for or will more adequately reward
foresight and look-ahead- itiveness
than our business of farming. Don't
assume that ] mean none which will
pay more money. I'm not thinking
chiefly of money, but Of manhood
which is worth more. both to the world
and TO its pOssessOr. Money is just
like hash and hasty pudding, some
thing we use to live with But it's not
life. nor the object of life. any more
any young follow of IL or 20 has the
idea that money is the only or the
largest object Of life he isn't fit to be
p farmer and live among Gods nobler
pumpkins and cabbage heads!
Farming is life business. 1t is one
10 learn slowly and very carefully. 1t
Is one where we must build as we go
aIong and where we must be sure to
lay good undations-foundation to
stand the racket of years-even before
We begin to put up the frame. The
very nature of the business makes us
( CURE ahead for a considerable time
1915 truck patch. AS the crops de-
y oloped and ripened TO profitable ma
turitv or sickened to comparative fail
ero. I've been forecastiug the next sea-
eon. we mustn't put peas here again;
6omething wrong with the soil; they
c@n' do we'll and can't be made to-
WHAT'S the best bit of Country Cen
tleman corn we've ever raised: give it |
the same ground and the same treat |