Year: 1875

II is well that young men remember
that nothing will do them so much injury
as quick and easy success. and that no
thing will do them so much good as
struggle which teaches them exactly what
there is in them, educates them gradually
10 its use, instructs them in personal
economy, drills them into Q patient and
persistent habit of work. and keeps them
At the foot of the ladder until they become
strong enough to hold every step they are
enabled to gain. The first years of every
mans business or professional life are years
'uf education. They sse intended to be, in
the order of nature and Pr ~idence. Doors
do not open 10 y snan unit he Is prepared
to enter them. We think 4 is the experi-
ence of most successful raen, who have
watched the Course Of their lives in re-
Prospect, that whenever they have arrived
at point where they are thoroughly pre-
paTca - ~ ! = --saor e. :
higher place has swung baceof itself. and
they have heard the call to enter. The old
die, or voluntarily retire tor rest. The
best men who stand ready TO take their
places. will s"ccced to their position and
its hpnors and emolumeuts.


The young men will say that only a few



also true that the further from the top one
gets, the more scattered the neighborhood.
One can fancy, for illustration. that every
profession and every calling Is pyramidai
in its living constituency, and that while
only one man is at the top. there are several
tiers of men below him who have plenty
of elbow room, and that il is only at the
base that men are so thick that they pick
the meat out Of one another teeth 10 keep
them from starving. II man has no
power To get out of the rabble at the bot
tom. then he is self-convictcd OF having
chosen a calling or profession to whose
duties lie has no adaptation.


The grand mistake that young men make
during the first ten years of their business
and professional cares, is in idly waiting
for their chance. They seem To forget. OF
they do not know, that during those ten
years they enjoy the only leisure they will
ever have. After ten years in the natural
course of things. they will be absorbingly
busy. There will then be no time foI
reading, culture, and study. If they dc
not become thoroughly grounded in the
principles and practical details of theil
profession during these years; if they dc





/ ledge; if they do not pursue habits o.
reading and observation, and social inter,
course. which result in culture; the ques
tion whether they will ever rise to occupy
a place where there is room enough fol
them, will be decided in the negative
The young physicians and young lawyers
who sit idly in their offices, end lounge
away the time ''waitin. for something tC
turn up" are by that course fastening
themselves for life to the lower stratum
where their struggle for bare livelihood
! is to be perpetual. The first ten years arr
golden years that should be filled witt
perpetual reading and observation. Every


thing that tends to professional excellence
should be an object of daily pursuit. Tt
such men the doors OF success open o
themselves, at last. Work seeks the bes
hands as naturally as water runs dowl
hill. and it never seeks the hands of ;
trifier. or of one whose only recommenda
ton for work is that he needs it. Young


men do not know very much, any way


and the time always comes to those wh'


become worthy, when they look back will


wonder upon their good opinion of ac
qulrements and their own, themselves.


There is another point that ought no
to be overlooked in the treatment of thi


subject. Young men look about them ant


see a great measure of worldly success


awarded to men without principle. The.


see the trickster crowned with public
honors, they see the swindler rolling II


wealth, they see the shary man, the over


reaching man, the unprincipled man, tn


liar, the demagogue, the time server, tn


trimmer, the scroundrel who cunningl


manages though constantly disobeyin!


moral laws, and tramplmg on social cour


tesy-to keep himself out of the clutche


of the legal police, carrying off prizes o


wealth and place. All this is demon


alizing puzzle, and fearful temptation


and multitudes Of young men are not abl


to stand before it. They ought to under


stand, that in this wicked world there
) great deal Of room where there is inte


gritty. Great trusts may be sought b
scoundrels, but great trusts never see