The Washington herald., 1916-10-25
The Thing that Counts Most.
BY oRIsoN SWEET MARpEN,

In letter to his mother, shortly before he
met his death in the trenches in France, young
Lieut.. Gladstone, grandson of the great Will
liam Z. Gladstone, said: Really, you will be
wrong if you regret my going, for l am very
glad and proud to have gone to the front. 1t is
not the length of existence that counts, but what
is achieved during that distance, however short"
The thing which animates your thought and
determines your ambition, is the best indicator
of your real character. A young man inspired
by the sentiment expressed by Lieut.. Gladstone
can not fail in life. Nothing on earth can keep
him from standing for something distinctive, for
making his life count.
1t is not the length of existence that counts
but what is achieved during that distance, how
ever short"
The higher success, which is the making of
man, is not thing of chance. 1t is not at the
mercy of fate or dependent on the elements,
on economic financial social conditions. 1t is
absolutely within the control of the individual.
Everything that is really worth while is within
our own reach. The things that the rich have
which denied you not essential for your
success or happiness or we'll being How much
more the richest get out of life than a young
man fired with ambition to make his life
count? No organization can corner or control
Gods pure air and sunlight or the perpetual mir
acle which nature is performing in the SOIL in
the heavens, everywhere in the universe. Nature
makes class distinctions in her distribution of
brains, of ambition, general personal assets.
If you make the most of your personal assets
there is nothing to prevent your attaining any
worthy ambition. You are infinitely better off
than if you were rich in material things. You
will not be hindered as many are, by money.
You will not be burdened by vast fortune which
you cannot use, and which so often makes the
owner mere caretaker of his property.
In an address to the Students President Had
ley, of Yale referred to the peril of the winner
He said that the peril of the loser of the one
who fails to make fortune, to make good in
what he undertakes, is usually emphasized but
that there is a tremendous peril to the winner,
which is often greater than the peril of the
loser
Many young men who are capable of splendid
things start out in life with the low ambition to
acquire fortune They succeed but their So
called success consists in swapping their man
hood for money. They become so infatuated
with the dollar-chasing game that they very soon
lose their finer impulses, their nobler sentiments
They become hard and selfish because they are
all the time exercising and developing their
coarser propensities the lower side of their ma
ture instead of the higher.
Not long ago boasting to me Of
ms wonderful achievement. He was a complete
stranger whom | met while travelling, but he told
me the story of his rise" as he called il He
started as poor boy, and had had terrible
struggle in the beginning but he was happy to
say that he had at last "arrivcd" In confirming
his statement he used oath and other coarse
language which threw a fashlight upon the char
acter of the man. He was very ignorant, his
vocabulary was small and poverty-stricken, and
It hardly necessary to tall, with hin, 70 coo
that he was very coarse and brutal
The man looked pitifully small and insignif
can beside his bloated fortune He was win
ner' so far as dollars concerned, but what of
the man. Was he not colossal failure?
No man succeeds who does not make sue
cess OF his personality of his individuality; who
does not develop manhood during the course of
the years. Whatever else he may do. however
wonderful his material achievement if ;s dis
counted by his failure in man-makng.
tCoTyight. 1861