Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-12
by BEATRICE FAIRFAX


woman writes me-"Wil you be
kind enough to recommend a good
fortune-teller?" And another: DO
you know the address of a reliable
fortune-teller? But the prize of
the whole collection is: Dear Miss
Fairfax, l am looking for a conscien-
tious fortune-t teller"
No, l do not know the address of
"a conscientious fortune teller" nor
the tree where a white blackbird
whistles. nor the pond where a swim
ming hen disports herself gleefully
and Furthermore, l don't believe
anyone else does, either.
If you enjoy running over deck
of cards. reading the lines of a
friends palm, or employing similar
methods of divination, all we'll and
good, they are harmless indoor
sports. And they may be depended
on, too. to pick up pennies in a
church fair or a charity bazaar. but
to pin your faith on such things for
better or worse, perish the thought!
The only good, reliable, conscien
tious fortune-teller-as far as your
destiny is concerned-is yourself
You make or mar your own fortune.
There is really no such thing as
luck, but there is such a thing as
being at homo when opportunity
knocks. Or. as Tennyson puts it
knowing, when to take occasion
by the hand
And while you are out telling a
hard luck tale to some long suffer-
ing friend, maybe the moment that
fate elects to knock at your door
and finds nobody home.
It's a good thing on the whole to
cut out the hard luck tale, and put
the amount of effort it takes to tell
it into something more practical.
Something like preparing yourself to
be ready to meet opportunity when
it knocks.
We Write Our own Price Tags
In the long run. we write our
own price tags, or the necessary
number of ciphers after our names
that send us to the scrap heap.
know this isn't pleasant medicine
to swallow, we all prefer an agree
able syrupy anodine that will make
US dream dreams and see visions of
our high, noble. splendid selves. pur-
sued by a malignant fate from the
cradle.
We all like to think if we had
been less honest, less faithful. less
conscientious, we should have sue
ceeded better and that we have failed
solely because of our virtues-but
we haven't.
We fail when we are too stub
born or rigid to adapt ourselves to
new conditions we fail because we
are too indolent to bear the heat
and burden of the day-and cut work
for play. We fail when we permit
our private concerns to intrude on
our business hours. We fail when
everyones' else. And we fail, when
we are untrue to our overwhelming
intuitiVe convictions.
Take the case of Woolworth,
founder of that endless chain of
Five and Ten Cent Stores, who died
a few days ago, leaving one of the
substantial fortunes of the country.
He took advantage of that strong
desire in everyone to get something
cheap, he was the clerk in village
store, and he saw the speed with
which the bargain counter was
emptied every time it was piled with
cheap merchandise.
Nine clerks out of ten would rot
have had the vision to see in this
constant sweeping clean of the
bargain counter, the germ from
which a huge fortune could be de-
NtlOPCu. lohl w hOOl" VI I'll uiu-dtiU
made himself multi-millionaire
He saw that shop composed ex-
clusively of bargains would attract
women-the bargain hunting sex
No One Else saw the Idea
He confided his idea to innumer-
able people, small capitalists who
boasted the couple of hundred
dollars that would make a try-out
possible. but none of them saw it,
They all belonged to the safe-and-
sane family of ultra conservatives