The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-08-29
A Lesson In Self Rel lance

you throw your efforts and your mental attitude in NEU-
TRIAL, you'd better call for the undertaken.
fled with YOURSELF-AND TAXI YOURSELF FOR BET
TER OR FOR WORSE; YOU'D BETTER PREPARE YOUR
SELF PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY AND MORALLY FOR
You can only do this by associating with people from
whom you can learn something-not with people you have to
tell things to. You've got to take care of yourself, PITY
SlCALLY, as we'll as MENTALLY; and you won't be PLY
SICALLY FIT if you have %hobnobbed with a lot Of going-to-
bes and paraded down Main Street all evening in search of a
skirt. Then when you get out the next morning, if you do get
out, you can't expect to convince a man who takes care Of
alone; they'll bring you down to their level. If you never
see them again, that will be soon enough!
All these things came to me with a steel-like thrust in my
brain, and cut deep into my heart; but better still, l seemed to
see and realize that they were also etched in the Granite of
Time and lived in the common heart Of Things Worth While
rented my soul to a better mana New Mainland thanked
God that the new tenant had arrived.
had put myself in that position-and it was up to me to
pay the price. The distance was Thirty Miles. l turned my
eyes to the East, the Rising Sun, and began the long and dusty
something seemed to tell me that WAS and that l had a
CHANCE. And as trod along through the long country road,
the hours flew swiftly by, for was going Onward.
But the end was not yet. l didn't realize until I was In
HAVE 4 CENT, NO CREDIT AT THE HoTEI-ANDc COULD
HAD NO FRIENDs-rD SIMPLY. HAVE 10 "MooCH"
T WAs s To ETH SGr To R1G EAT rH HhAT AS MY G Ely Ru eRA ANp
SELL S~OMEBODY-AND COLLECT A CASH PAYMENT!
can't tell you how l felt when the cold bitterness of my
situation came upon me. | couldn't cry. Disaster had fol-
lowed disaster. l smiled sickly at my plight. l felt the awful
suffering a man feels who can't cry. Tears burned my lids
like gravelgrits. | fought myself madly in and out of bed
for two hours-I had to and l knew it. The Great Unknown
who molds our destines had placed a handicap great OBJ
stacle in my way-to test my mettle. Finally, l did get out
and all day l worked like a slave without result-until four
o'clock in the afternoon, then l sold FOUR ORDERS in rapid
succession-collecting FORTY DOLLARS in REAL MONEY!
True, | fell from exhaustion as the last man signed his
order, and they carried me to a hospital; but l HAD LEARN
ED MY FIRST REAL LESSON IN SELF RELIANCE.
We are told that no personal narrative is complete until
il brings the writer down to the present date. AS to this, l
have but to say that | had many more TESTS-and expect
many more-that | am merely a Man in the Making; and,
confessing my infancy, | ask you to remember: THAT OTHER
MEN SUCCESSES PROVE THAT Things ARE MIGHTY
NEARLY RIGHT, AND THAT IF YOU ARE NOT MAKING
A SUCCESS-IT is YOU THAT ARE WRONG. And this:
TO FIGHT THE BATTLE TO A FINISH, CONVINCE MEN.
MEET COMPETITION. CHANGE MINDS, OPEN POCKET
BOOKS AND WIN-THE FIRST FIGHT TO WIN is SELF
MASTERY; N THE REST WILL COME AS A MATTER
OF COURSE, 1T WILL COME!