Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-07
LIFE'S PROBLEMS
ARE DISCUSSED
By MRS. WILSON WOODROW

will be settled and safeguarded at
the eventual peace conference; and
from the present upheaval too we
can foresee many social and civic
changes which will tend toward Of
fering a fairer field to ambition and
initiative, no matter where it may
be found.
Yet with all these advantages the
personal, the individual question
shows no very clear sign of being
solved, and l sometimes doubt if it
ever will be. 1t is one thing to
make opportunities equal to all in
dividuals; it is quite another to
make the individual equal to his
opportunities.
You may find examples to indi-
cate what 1 mean in almost every
family, school or business house.
Why under the same environment
md with practically the same adj
Vantages and equipment should one
son or daughter succeed and anoth-
Ner fail, one pupil progress and an
other fall back, one clerk or ap-
prentice advance and another stick
where he started? This answer of
course is opportunity. But in the
cases cited the opportunities to all
intents and purposes are equal -
you can even handicap the winner
in that respect, and 1t will make no
diqerence in results.
1t is in short the personal equa-
ton that decides the matter. One
man sees and grasps the opportunity
when it comes to him; the other is
too blind, or too much occupied
with other things to realize that op-
portunity has brushed him with her
wings. or, maybe too lazy to stretch
out his hand and clutch her.
Pm in conference now" he
sends back word by the office boy.
Tell the lady to call again" Ano
| lighting another cigarette, he goes
back to wishing that he had a mil
lion dollars.
There are those who claim that
opportunity has utterly passed them
! by. 81 never had a chance" they
wall. For them there is only the
short and ugly word, or else they
! belong to the class which having
| eyes see not, and having ears dC
not hear. Once at least to ever!
| man and nation comes the momen
| to decide; and for the most par
! opportunity is as persistent as {
dunning bill collector.
The question that really botheri
most of us, though, is how to recog
rize Opportunity as her actual sci
! when she goes swishing by in met
cor fight, and not by mistake t.
! grab some masquerading counterfeit
! who will only succeed in leading u:
! into the ditch. We can't hesitate
or debate or stop long to consider
we all know that. It's the cave
mans style of wooing, the quick eye
and the ready hand that captures
| Opportunity. But suppose, since sh'
comes in so many battling disguises
that instead of the desired princess
one should find he had been tricke(
into carrying off only a homely serv'
ing maid, as used to happen so Otter
IN the old romances.
The preventive for that is Il
/ make yourself so familiar with th'
| appearance of the. lady, to come Il
know her so well-voice, looks, man
ner and gestures-that no impostel
| could successfully deceive you, any
represent himself as your wife, you
! sister or your mother.
! Habit; that's the solution to the
! difficulty as 1t is to most everything
else in life. Get into the habit o.
| meeting Opportunity study her way.
| and her characteristics, and you viii
run small risk of not choosing the
| the test.
The trouble is that so few of u:
comprehend what opportunity real
ly is. We regard it as a fieetine
and fortuitious conjunction of cir.
cumstances which presents itself to
man or woman only once or twice
in a lifetime, and upon which hinges
some great deed decisive of the des-