Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-05-18
REV. FOREMAN ADDRESSES HIGH
SCHOOL GRADUATES ON SUCCESS
OR FAILURE" SUNDAY EVENING

+, questions are not. 50 simple as they
] may seem, for these are terms con~
cerning which there is much confuse
ion. The term success" is often APP
piled to things and people that do nov
deserve it, and denied to things ana
people that do deserve 1t.
| There is a popular phrase which has
been played up, in certain magazines
and which has tickled our ears, and
that is just as deceptive as it is high
! sounding. 1t is that popular sophism,
Nothing succeeds like success / do
not know who invented this phrase,
but / know, the sooner we forget it
the better
| A great aand good man has set over
! against that phrase another which we
all will do well to ponder, and it is,
Nothing fails like success" 1t may
sound like a contradiction of terms;
but it has a truth which every youth
who wants to do anay earnest living
ought to considers much that the
world brands failure is the finest
kind of success, and much that it IL
wont to call success is nothing less
| tnan q nl1SeEdple 1allufe.
| It is evident, therefore, there is more
! than one standard of success; more
than one definition of this<term which
we use so freely in our every day con-
versation.
| If I were to pass to each member of
this class a paper and pencil and ask
! you to write down your definition of
| success, or to put it more concretely,
| who is the successful man and who
| is the onel that has failed? What
| would you write? 1t would be most
interesting to me to look over your
answers. Nothing tests one so surely
as his definition of success. / feel |
could correctly describe your whole
| present viewpoint of life and the type
of life you expect to live and most
likely will live, from these definitions.
| if they truly reflected your honest cons
victions.
| Is it not a common Judgment of So
ciety that they succeed who reach the
end for which they are aiming. The
rich merchant, the popular politician,
| the promoted soldier, the society fa-
vorite, the victorious athlete. These
have succeeded for they have won the
prize for which they were striving.
Whether the prize is worthy of them.
or whether their methods were always
honorable may not enter into the mat
| ter at ALL
What if the merchant wins his
wealth at the expense of his character?
| What if the idol of society holds her
popularity by neglect of higher du~
| ties? What if the athlete cultivates
the physical and ignores the spiritual
side of his being. We are apt to over
| look such considerations. These have
succeeded because they have arrived
at the goal which manifestly they have
set before them.
But wait There is another basis of
| Judgment. What if We judge men not
by the end which they reach, but by
the motive, the purpose, the spirit
which actuate them in all the work
of their lives? What if we shift the
| test of life from primarily that of ex-
ternal results to that or character?
Let me borrow paragraph from a
little book which I have Sin my pos
session: Anything succeeds in so far
as it does what it was designed by it's
maker to do. An axe isssa success If
| it cuts A clock; is q. successful it keeps
time. If the axe is not we'll tempered,
| if it loses its edge with the first stroke
| it fails as an axe. 1t may be good
hammer, or separated from its handle.
| it may serve as paper weight, but it
| is moor axe If the clock cannot be
| regulated, il it is unreliable; if we
! cannot trust it to tell us the hour and
minute, however beautiful it may be
/ as an ornament, it has failed as 2
clock Apply the principle of this
! illustration to human life. What ls
your life for? What was the Divine
| Creators ideal for man when he MADE
him in his own image? ~
Are we here to accumulate large
/ wealth? Or to climb the heights OF the
social and political world? Or TO
/ achieve fame by doing some unique
! piece of work? Then our chances for
success are very scant because com
paratively few distinguish themselves
j in the ordinary callings of life. One
] general in a war is remembered where
a million men are forgotten.
The majority off the wealth of this
/ country is in the hands of per cent
of the population. Even among col
I lege graduates only one in 500 dis
tinguishes himself and among high
school graduates only one in some
/ 5000. But if the real business OF ilft
is to make the most ana best of ones
self and the most through the best-il
it is to grow a character which shal
blossom out in patience, courage, gen
Ierosity, tolerance, self-denial, rever'
ence, friendships, they it is possible
for everyone to be success.
These prizes are in the reach o
everyone who will zealously strive 10
them. Not everyone can shine witt
i the dazzling splendors which wealth
and position may bestow, but every
one can be true and unselfish, faith
full and happy; and what boots tn
former if you have missed the lat
ter?
A year or so ago there died in tn
eouthland of this country a mEn wh
had accumulated fortune reachln'
fe ~ 1.