Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-19
TOLL is THE Law
OF SUCCESSFUL LIFE
When Nature Ordained That Man Must
Achieve His Miracles by Hard Work
She Gave Him the Key of the Worlds
Progress.
Nv IOsEpH n. opELL


Il get up wrote Charles Kingsley, novel;
list, scientist and historian, that you have
something to do that day which must be
done, whether you like It or not. Being forced
TO work, and forced to do your best viii
breed in you temperance, self-controL
strength Of will, content and hundred other
virtues which the Idle never know" The
world owes no man living. Just TO pay
ones debt for the BENEFITS of civilization will
tax every power that the strongest man pos
sesses. To throw oneself upon the charity Of
the community or upon the bounty Of rich
ancestors is the act OF q coward thief
| The difference between the weekly wage
| Garner and the man who inherlts money is
! only difference OF when the wage Is paid;
the lowly worker is paid after his work Is
done; the one who inherits wealth Is paid in
a lump before he begins his task; It Is
! doubly dshonorable for the born-rich to be
| lazy, because he steals his wages ana breaks
! the code of honor TO boot.
Sir Joshua Reynolds the artist said; "1f
you have great talents industry will improve
them IL you have but moderate talents in
dustry will supply their deficiency. Nothing
is denied to weIl-dlrected labor; nothing is
to be obtained without It," Thalberg. the
musician, said that he never played a seec-
tion in public until he had rehearsed II
1900 times. When some was talking
about a certain person as being miracle of
genius. Sydney Smith broke In upon the
speaker saying, Yes, he is miracle of
genius because he is miracle of labor; be-
cause instead OF trusting TO the resources of
his own single mind. he has ransacked
thousand minds: because ne makes use of the
accumulated wisdom of the ages, and takes
as his departure the very last line and boun-
dairy to which science has advanced; because
II has always been the object of his life to
assist every intellectual gift of Nature how
ever muniicent and however splendid, with
every resource that art could suggest and
every attention that diligence could bestow."
The Promise of Youth
Lord Macaulay sometimes wrote for 10
hours at a stretch. "I have made myself
what am by intense labor" he said. John
Ruskn once remarked, when I hear a
young man spoken OF as giving promise of
high genius. the first question I ask about
him is, Does he worlS7'" Byron declared,
THE only genius I know anything about Is
to work is hours day." Speaking of him
self. Alexander Hamilton said: People some
times attribute my success to genius. All the
genius know anything about is hard work"
Daniel Webster testified: Work made me
what am. I never ate a bit of idle bread
in my llfe."
ing by the standards of the ordinary mans
working day, I am much older than look.
The average working day is eight hours long.
For 21 years have averaged 10 hours per
day That makes me SO years old I con-
tlnue TO find my greatest pleasure. and so my
reward, in the work that precedes what the
world calls success"
Nowhere is 1t more true than in business
that the foundation OF all prosperity and sue
cess is hard work The young man who
gives the minimum OF time to his occupation
or profession in order to give the maximum
to pleasure is headed straight for disaster
Between the ages of 20 and 40 1t Is almost
impossible for a man to work too hard; un-
less something has perverted his nature any
man will glory in the amount of work he can
do. All big fortunes rest upon hard labor.
1t took Johns Hopkins seven years of the
most drudging toll TO make his first $500;
Andrew Carnegie spent the first 1s years of
his business life in toillng like a slave to
accumulate $1,000; Cecil Rhodes got hold of
his first mine only after 10 years OF unremlt-
ting effort; Peter Cooper working 1s hours a
day, was earning only 50 a week after 10
years; Adolph Sutro spent nine years Of the
most terrific labor in driving his tunnel to
drain the abandoned "Comstocl'' mine;
Charles Broadway Rouss always rose at
a. m. and worked for II hours without inter-
mission.
Killing Time Is Suicide
These examples are sufficient to prove that
hard, steady and well-directed work is the
key to progress. The easiest way to spoil to-
morrow is 10 waste today Killing time is
the surest way Of committing business sui |
eide.
Nature makes few mistakes. Man was
made for work. Every faculty, every sense,
every nerve and every muscle is planned for
a definite purpose and fitted for specific use.
The physical system Is a set OF skiIhuI and
highly tempered tools, and the will is the
master workman who uses them They may
wear out in course OF time. but they win rust
out much more quickly. Non-use is misuse
and misuse is abuse. "If you want knowI-
edge" said Ruskin, you must toll for Il; II
food you must toll for Il; and II pleasure.
you must toll for 1t; toll Is the law" The
man who shirks slurs his work because It
does not Immediately pay large wages will
end by having neither work nor wages be-
cause he will have become a poor workman
Idleness spells inefficiency. The very worst
result OF the habit of carelessness or indiffer-
enee Is not felt by the employer, hut by the
worker himself, for by not doing everything
to the best Of his ability he soon loses the