Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-04-08

President Roosevelt said once, The
great prizes of life come by accident.
and no human being knows this bet
ter than one who has drawn one Of
them. Had few events over which
no one had any control been other
than they were, IL is possible that |
might never have held the high office
i now occupy"
People may say what they will about
there not being any such thing as
luck" or chance" but we must all
admit that there is such thing. There
is no use denying the fact that. as
Shakespeare says, Fortune brings In
some boats that are not steer'd." We
must all admit that things over which
a man has no control. unforeseen hap
penings, or events with which he had
nothing to do and on which he had
not calculated, often change the whole
course of his career. Good positions
do not always come by merit, or as the
result OF ones own direct efforts. 1t
is now poor laboring man or washer
woman who falls heir to fortune by
the death of some relative; or, again
il is poor girl who is suddenly raised
to wealth and what the world calls
high position by marrying man of
rank or fortune.
Every schoolboy knows that there
is great advantage in being in the right
place in just the nick of time, and
that being there is often a matter of
chance.
Men are constantly being moved up
into positions which they did not get
wholly by merit. Their elevation is
due, perhaps, to railroad accident, a
stroke of paralysis, or the death Of
men in high places. We. had "A strik-
ing instance of this recently, in the
death OF two presidents Of the Long
Island Railroad within few months
which led TO unexpected promotions
Everyone knows that men are con-
stantly being put at the head OF large
concerns because OF kinship with the
owners of the business when, perhaps
a score of those who are working in
the establishments, at the time, are
much better fitted to fiji the positions.
But, after all. who will be foolish
enough TO say that man is the toy of
chance, or that true success is the re-
suit of accident or fate?
No; luck is not Gods price for sue
cess. nor does He dicker with men.
When we consider what the few who
owe fortune or position to accident or
luck" have, in comparison with the
masses who have to fight every inch
of the way to their own loaves, what
are they, in reality, but the exceptions
to the rule that character merit
not fate, or luck, or any other bogy
of the imagination,-con the des-
TIMES of men? The only luck that
plays any great part in a mans life
is that which inheres in a stout heart,
a willing hand, and an alert brain.
What has chance ever done in the
world? Has il invented a telegraph or
Has it laid an ocean
cable? Has it built steamships or
established universities. asylums, or
hospitals? Has ii tunneled mountains,
built bridges. or brought miracles out |
Of the soil?
What did luck" have to do with |
making the career of Washington, of
of Daniel Webster, OF Henry !
Clay, of Grant, Of Garfield, or of Eli
hu Root? Did it help Edison or Mar |
conf with their inventions? Did IL |
have anything to, do with the making |
Of the fortunes OF our great merchant |
princes? Do such men as John Wanna
maker, Robert ogden, or Marshall !
Field owe their success to luck?
Many a man has tried to Justify his |
failure on the ground that he was |
doomed by the cards which fate dealt /
him. that he must pick them up and /
play the game and that no effort, how
ever great, on his part, could material !
~ change the result. But, my young
friend, the Fate that deals your cards
is in the main your own resolution. /