The Washington herald., 1917-06-25
DR.. MARDEN'S UPLIFT TALKS.
BY ORISON SWEET MARDEN,
Author Of Pushing TO the Front" Etc.
How to Win Out.
(Copyright. I9I7.j


In an interview with the late Mr..
Joseph II. Choate on the requirements
most needed by youth in the battle
Of life, he was asked: What do you
consider to be the genuine battle OF a
youth todaY?-the struggle to bear
poverty while working TO conquer?
Not at all. was the prompt reply.
Poor clothes and poor food aPd
poor place to dwell in are disagree
able things and must be made to give
place TO better. of course. but one
can be partially Indifferent TO them.
The real struggle is to hang on to
every advantage. and strengthen the
mind at every "tep. There are per-
sons who have learned to endure pow
eTty so well that they do not mind
il any longer. The struggle comes in
maintaining purpose through pow
erty to the end. 1t is Just as difficult
to maintain purpose through riches.
Money is not an end, then, in your
estimation"
Never, and need is only an incen-
tive. ErSkine made his creates, speech
with his hungry children tugging at
his coattail. That intense telling
that something has got TO be done is
the thing that works the doing.
never met a great man who was born
rich.
This last statement is more gen.
orally true OF America than of any
other country in the world. This is
the poor hoy's country. The poor boy
has largely made ii. Take the poor
boy and what he has done out Of
American history, and who would care
to read Il? This Is the land Of the
poor boy. Here in an especial sense
poverty is no bar to a great career.
But here as elsewhere. all the world
over, the TriCe for distinction, for the
achievement Of great purpose. must
be paid.
How much are you willing to invest
In your life aim? How much ability.
how much time, how much effort, how
much determination, how much back
bone, clear grit and sand are you
ready TO put up for the thing you
want?
A gamblers faith in his favorite
horse IS determined by the amount he
is willing to put up on the race. This
is the test of his faith. With what
amount of yourself are you willing TO
back your brain? What sacrifices are
YOU ready to make: what pleasures
and self-indulSences are you ready to
foregO in order to reach the winning
post?
1 never knew an Unsuitable longing
for an easy life to accompany great
ness in any line. The youth, or the
man who is enamored Of the easy
chair. who is welded to his little daily
comforts. who cannot bear to get
away from his regular routine, to miss
his meals or his soft bed. is not the
man who is willing to make sacrifices,
to pay price for the larger success.
He wants something easy, something
cheap. He is cut out for mediocrity,
for job that has noS6dvancement in
it. He belongs to the great army who
are looking for the easiest way"
Now. the easiest way is the danger
Gus way, the way that Is fatal to all
progress. all distinction. The easiest
way is the path of the weak, the in
efficient, the superficial, the indolent,
the lazy. 1t is the nobody's path
which leads nowhere.
The real reason, why you, my COM
planning friend, have not gotten on
better Is not because of your hard
luck. not because you did not have a
chance like other people, but because
you were not willing to pay the price
IN downright hard work, in depriva-
ton. in sacrifice of the things that
conflict with your highest possibilities.
How many OF the multitudes of
youths who envied Abraham Lincoln
in his time would be willing to work
as he did. to Undergo the agony, to
suffer the humiliation, the chagrin,
the shame of denunciation, the cruel
criticism and Caricaturing Of the press
that he endured on his way up to
greatness?
How many youths who, perhaps,
have 1t in them to be inventors would
endure the hardships, the pains, the
humliatiOns of a Bernard PalIssy, of
a Charles Goodyear. of an Elias Howe.
to develop their talent and achieve
today would be willing to plod along
through weary years misunderstood
even by ones own family, ridiculed
by the public as of unsound mind, as