Part 39 (1/2)
When asked to name his family coat-of-arms, a self-made President of the United States replied, ”A pair of shi+rtsleeves”
It is not the men who have inherited most, except it be in nobility of soul and purpose, who have risen highest; but rather the men with no ”start” who have won fortunes, and have oad them up the steep mount, where
”Fame's proud teoal is accessible, and honest aenius or talent may tread, which has not felt the impress of their feet
You iven hi? You can not transfer the discipline, the experience, the pohich the acquisition has given you; you can not transfer the delight of achieving, the joy felt only in growth, the pride of acquisition, the character which trained habits of accuracy, , politeness of acity, prudence, foresight, which lie concealed in your wealth Itto your heir In cli to your fortune, you developed the th which enabled you to maintain your lofty position, to keep your millions intact You had the pohich comes only from experience, and which alone enables you to stand firht Your fortune was experience to you, joy, growth, discipline, and character; to him it will be a temptation, an anxiety, which will probably dwarf hiht to hihest powers; to hinorance You have taken the priceless spur--necessity--away froreat achieveht it a kindness to deprive yourself in order that your son ht to spare hiery, the hardshi+ps, the deprivations, the lack of opportunities, the er education, which you had on the old farm But you have put a crutch into his hand instead of a staff; you have taken away from him the incentive to self-development, to self-elevation, to self-discipline and self-help, without which no real success, no real happiness, no great character is ever possible His enthusiasy will be dissipated, his ale for self-elevation, will gradually die away If you do everything for your son and fight his battles for hi on your hands at twenty-one
”My life is a wreck,” said the dying Cyrus W Field, ”one, ht I was being kind If I had only had fir, then they would have known theof money”
His table was covered with nition of his great work for civilization in ht, of the farief shook the sands of life as he thought only of the son who had brought disgrace upon a name before unsullied; the wounds were sharper than those of a serpent's tooth
During the great financial crisis of 1857 Maria Mitchell, as visiting England, asked an English lady what becahters when no property was left them ”They live on their brothers,” was the reply ”But what becolish lady, ”when there is no money left?” ”They earn it,” was Miss Mitchell's reply
Men who have been bolstered up all their lives are seldo in a crisis When misfortune comes, they look around for soo Once down, they are as helpless as capsized turtles, or unhorsed men in armor Many a frontier boy has succeeded beyond all his expectations simply because all props were early knocked out froed to stand upon his own feet
”A ers,” said Robert Collyer, who brought his wife to Ae
There is no manhood mill which takes in boys and turns out men What you call ”no chance” may be your only chance Don't wait for your place to be ive you a lift; lift yourself Henry Ward Beecher did not wait for a call to a big church with a large salary He accepted the first pastorate offered him, in a little town near Cincinnati He becaht of the church, for he tri the bell His salary was only about 200 a year,--but he knew that a fine church and great salary can not reat man It ork and opportunity that he wanted He felt that if there were anything in hi the work of Moscheles, he found written at the end, ”Finis, with God's help” He wrote under it, ”Man, help yourself”
A young e He was poor and dejected At length, approaching a basket filled with fish, he sighed, ”If now I had these I would be happy I could sell theive you just as ood,” said the owner, who chanced to overhear his words, ”if you will dofavor” ”And what is that?” asked the other ”Only to tend this line till I coo on a short errand”
The proposal was gladly accepted The old et ireedily at the hook, and he lost all his depression in the exciteht a large nu out fro them to the youth, the old fisherht, to teach you whenever you see others earning what you need to waste no ti, but cast a line for yourself”
A white squall caught a party of tourists on a lake in Scotland, and threatened to capsize the boat When it seeest man in the party, in a state of intense fear, said, ”Let us pray” ”No, no, my man,” shouted the bluff old boatrandest fortunes ever accumulated or possessed on earth were and are the fruit of endeavor that had no capital to begin with save energy, intellect, and the will From Croesus down to Rockefeller the story is the sa of wealth, but also in the acquirement of eminence; those men have won most who relied most upon themselves
”The male inhabitants in the Townshi+p of Loaferdom, in the County of Hatework,” says a printer's squib, ”found thereat inconvenience for want of an easily traveled road between Poverty and Independence They therefore petitioned the Powers that be to levy a tax upon the property of the entire county for the purpose of laying out a hway, broad and smooth, and all the way down hill to the latter place”
”Every one is the artificer of his own fortune,” says Sallust
Man is not merely the architect of his own fate, but he must lay the bricks himself Bayard Taylor, at twenty-three, wrote: ”I will becoraphy sho often the chisel and hammer were in his hands to shape hial tender in the world to true success The Gods sell everything for that, nothing without it You will never find success ”marked down” The door to the temple of success is never left open Every one who enters makes his own door, which closes behind hireat ht their way to triuh all sorts of opposition A lowly beginning and a hureat career The farislatures, in business, at the bar, in pulpits, in Congress, to-day
Boys of lowly origin have reatest discoveries, are presidents of our banks, of our colleges, of our universities Our poor boys and girls have written hest places as teachers and journalists Ask ale cities where he was born, and he will tell you it was on a farreat capitalists of the city came from the country
Isaac Rich, the founder of Boston University, left Cape Cod for Boston to make his ith a capital of only four dollars Like Horace Greeley, he could find no opening for a boy; but what of that? HeHe found a board, and made it into an oyster stand on the street corner He borrowed a wheelbarrow, and went three ht three bushels of oysters, and wheeled thes aht a horse and cart
Self-help has accos of the world
Howmen falter, faint, and dally with their purpose because they have no capital to start with, and wait and wait for soive theery and perseverance It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours Where is the boy to-day who has less chance to rise in the world than Elihu Burritt, apprenticed to a blacksht, and often by candle-light?
Yet, hewith a book before hiht utilize every spare ht and holidays, to pick up an excellent education in the odds and ends of time which most boys throay While the rich boy and the idler were yawning and stretching and getting their eyes open, young Burritt had seized the opportunity and ie he wasthose of Asia What chance had such a boy for distinction?
Probably not a single youth will read this book who has not a better opportunity for success Yet he had a thirst for knowledge and a desire for self-improvement, which overcame every obstacle in his pathway
If the youth of Aainst cruel circu and be somebody in the world could only understand that ninety per cent of what is called genius is merely the result of persistent, deterht hard work, that it is the slavery to a single idea which has given to enius, they would be inspired with new hope It is interesting to note that the enius are the men who like to work the least The lazier thedone by genius