Year: 1877

Essay yten0 by AFtnlr Aiutttlrdh


AT the Beech Hill Exhibition


Subject: Earnest Labor with


an Object In View.


The secret of much Of the discon-
tent and want Of success in life, is a
lack Of earnest labor, and u well de-
fined purpose in view. To a person
who has no object for which to live
and strive, fife can have but little to
commend it, To suffer ourselves to
have noaim above the mere act OF
self-existence, is debasingman's lofty
nature to the level withth brute.-
To the active, earnest soul, every day,
hour and moment, is conscious life
and every exercised energy is q de-
yelopment and strengthening OF the
powers of mind and will.


No examples are needed to illus
trate this principle; though the pa
ges Of the past are full Of instances
Of hefoism and ydishonots sapdg such
conditions grow, to d great degree,
out of a want of earnestness and
firmness. The latter float lazily up
on the surface of times times tide
Ellortless and aimless, they are cen
sors of all Gods providence, and in
CRATES of his mercy. They lounge
in every alley and street, in every
town and village. They are among
our acquaintances. We find them
wherever we 60.


do not believe it is natural for
man to be lazy, but he acquires the
habit very readily. All men who
have no definite aim are not lazy
There are those in every communi-
ty, honest, Industrious, and worthy
men, who toll faithfully and hard,
yet accomplish but little in better
ing their condition, or Of adding to
the general stock of wealth, conve-
nicnce or information of society
Indifference to future circumstances
may be u comfortable state of mind,
yet it is not 10 be desired, since it
saps from the brain and heart all
their vital force.


God never intended that we should
be so well contented in whatever vo-
cation we are placed, as to cease to
use the active energies He bestowed
upon us, and for which he will. ac-
quire an account.


The fact that we possess that rest.
less yearning for something more and
higher, than falls to our lot, is con-
elusive evidence to my mind that we
should reach out after new truths,
higher aims, and grandcr results
And should we fall short of our aspi-
rations, will approximate them as
nearly as possible.


Every vocation has its avenues to
eminence. In some they are shorter
and more direct, than in others; but,
in all, patience with perseverance,
and with the eyes fixed upon the de-
sired end, is snecessalysw sUcces; for
history and biography furnishes us
with undeniable testimony of the
fact that those men who stood head
and shoulders above their cotempor-
aries as leaders among men, in socie'
ty, in political life, or in war, were
not those to whom the world looked
for mighty deeds.


A fixed purpose and unbending
will caused them to overcome diff
culties, which appeared insurmount-
able to others. Our own country
furnishes lis with examples sufficient
for our emulation. Then, let US not
forget that the same range of posi-
bility extends to us.


We know not the limits of our be-
ing. The human mind is capable Of
indefinite improvements, and the
boundary line of mans invention
has not been defined This is truly,
an age of progress, and if we stand
still, the world will get the better Of
us and we will be left far behind
The person who lives only to hoard
up wealth for his family, rather than
to do some good in the. world other
wise, does not astonish the world if
he leaves family of spendthrifts,
and even worse than that.


1t is 50 much nobler to refine and
elevate the human character to
teach the youth of our country that
virtue and truth, honesty and up
rightness, is better than gold. That
a good name is rather to be chosen
than great riches. And that true
greatness consists in being and living
in such manner as to make the
world purcr and better for having
lived in it.


But a person who has soul above
the desire for wealth, ut the expense
of honor, must have enemies. II is
utterly impossible for tho best person
to please the whole world, and the
sooner this is understood and n posi-
tion taken, the BETTER but we should
do right, though enemies gather ar
ound us as thick as the locusts of
Egypt, and though their conspira-
cies and plottings to our disadvant-
age, be equal to the famous gunpow-
der plot Of England But if we suf-
fer wrong, which we sometimes do
from such, it is better to forgive, than
TO debase our natures by so low and