OVER AND UNDERDOING
[Sidenote: If you will not hear reason, she will surely rap your
knuckles.--FRANKLIN.]
Learn to do, without overdoing. Too much striving for success is as bad
as too little.
Bishop Hall says: "Moderation is the silken string running through the
pearl chain of all virtues."
[Sidenote: The only true conquests--those which awaken no regrets--are
those obtained over our ignorance.--NAPOLEON.]
"You have too much respect upon the world," Shakespeare tells us. "They
lose it that do buy it with much care."
Do not cram books into your head until you crowd pleasant thinking out
of it.
A moderately informed man standing firmly on his two good legs is a
much superior man to the wise professor who is unable to leave his bed.
[Sidenote: The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise
high with the occasion.--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.]
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul?" And what does it profit him if he shall become a
multi-millionaire and lose his health of mind or body?
Success that costs more than it is worth is failure.
[Sidenote: If you want to be missed by your friends, be useful.--ROBERT
E. LEE.]
Make haste slowly. Be ambitious but not foolish.
Learn a few things and learn them well. He who grasps much holds
little. Upon investigating the fund of information possessed by a great
many young persons it has been found that the matter with it is the
"smatter."
Herbert Spencer says the brains of precocious children cease to develop
after a certain age, like a plant that fails to flower.
[Sidenote: The man of grit carries in his presence a power which spares
him the necessity of resenting insult.--WHIPPLE.]
"Those unhappy children who are forced to rise too early in their
classes are conceited all the forenoon of their lives and stupid all
the afternoon," says Professor Huxley. "The keenness and vitality
which should have been stored up for the sharp struggle of practical
existence have been washed out of them by precocious mental debauchery,
by book-gluttony and lesson-bibbing. Their faculties are worn out by
the strain put upon their callow brains, and they are demoralized by
worthless, childish triumphs before the real tasks of life begin."
[Sidenote: If you would create something you must be
something.--GOETHE.]
Carlyle's words upon this subject are worth remembering: "The richer
a nature, the harder and slower its development. Two boys were once
members of a class in the Edinburgh Grammar School: John, ever trim,
precise, and a dux; Walter, ever slovenly, confused, and a dolt. In
due time John became Baillie John, of Hunter Square, and Walter became
Sir Walter Scott, of the universe. The quickest and completest of all
vegetables is the cabbage."
[Sidenote: Manners must adorn knowledge and smooth its way through the
world.--CHESTERFIELD.]
[Sidenote: Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous
difficulties.--SPURGEON.]
We all know that there is a happy medium between too much preciseness
and slovenliness; between laziness and an unwarranted degree of mental
activity; between ignorance and an intellect ground to an edge too fine
to carve its way through a hard world.
[Sidenote: The least error should humble, but we should never permit
even the greatest to discourage us.--BISHOP POTTER.]
"It is now generally conceded on all hands," says Professor Mathews,
"that the mind has no right to build itself up at the expense of the
body; that it is no more justifiable in abandoning itself without
restraint to its cravings, than the body in yielding itself to sensual
indulgence. The acute stimulants, the mental drams, that produce this
unnatural activity or overgrowth of the intellect, are as contrary
to nature, and as hurtful to the man, as the coarser stimulants that
unduly excite the body. The mind, it has been well said, should
be a good, strong, healthy feeder, but not a glutton. When unduly
stimulated, it wears out the mechanism of the body, like friction upon
a machine not lubricated, and the growing weakness of the physical
frame nullifies the power it incloses."
[Sidenote: The most manifest sign of wisdom is continued
cheerfulness.--MONTAIGNE.]
The foundations for a splendid working constitution are laid during
boyhood.
You are laying yours now.
[Sidenote: Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order
that they may see twice as much as they say.--COLTON.]
Is it to be a good, firm, durable foundation that will stand through
all the years to come? Or is it being built of faulty material and in
a manner so careless that in the by and by when, at great pains and
expense you have built your life structure upon it, you will find it
untenable or so unstable that it will require a great share of your
time and attention to keep it patched up so that you can continue to
dwell within it?
[Sidenote: The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and to
possess the aptitude and perseverance to attain it.--GOETHE.]
Are you playing and working with moderation or are you so thoughtless
that you sometimes, in a single hour, inflict wrongs upon your health
and your constitution, the sorry effects of which you cannot overcome
during your lifetime?
It may be possible that you are studying too hard at school.
[Sidenote: Method is the hinge of business, and there is no method
without order and punctuality.--HANNAH MORE.]
I know that there are many who will smile at the suggestion that the
average American schoolboy sticks too closely to his books, but I am
sure that such is frequently the case.
[Sidenote: The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use
it.--EMERSON.]
Sometimes the boy's parents and teachers are eager to have their boy
"show off" to the best advantage possible. They urge him, crowd him,
compel him to develop as rapidly as he can. In their eagerness to
secure results they employ the formulas that require the least possible
time for completing the important task of
MAKING A MAN
[Sidenote: The elect are those who will, and the non-elect are those
who won't.--BEECHER.]
Hurry the baby as fast as you can,
Hurry him, worry him, make him a man.
Off with his baby-clothes, get him in pants,
Feed him on brain-foods and make him advance.
Hustle him, soon as he's able to walk,
Into a grammar school; cram him with talk.
Fill his poor head full of figures and facts,
Keep on a-jamming them in till it cracks.
Once boys grew up at a rational rate,
Now we develop a man while you wait.
Rush him through college, compel him to grab
Of every known subject a dip and a dab.
Get him in business and after the cash
All by the time he can grow a mustache.
Let him forget he was ever a boy,
Make gold his god and its jingle his joy.
Keep him a-hustling and clear out of breath,
Until he wins--Nervous Prostration and Death!
[Sidenote: Much talent is often lost for want of a little
courage.--GEORGE ELIOT.]
A sorry picture, isn't it? No doubt it sets forth, in an extreme
manner, the evils that arise from crowding a child into boyhood, and a
boy into manhood; still, no one who observes carefully will doubt that
such wrongs are constantly being committed by hundreds of ambitious
parents and well-meaning teachers.
[Sidenote: The crowning fortune of a man is to be born with a bias to
some pursuit, which finds him in employment and happiness.--EMERSON.]
Yet, I think you have little to fear along the lines of over-study. You
must train your mind to grapple with tasks while you are young, for
if you do not begin now you may not, later on, be able to summon that
concentration of thought that is necessary for winning success along
any line of endeavor.
"Difficulties are the best stimulant. Trouble is a tonic," says one of
our wise essayists.
[Sidenote: No one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of it
for any one else.--CHARLES DICKENS.]
"He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our
skill, our antagonist is our helper," says Edmund Burke. "This conflict
with difficulty makes us acquainted with our object, and compels
us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be
superficial."
[Sidenote: The fewer the words the better the prayer.--LUTHER.]
Life is a grind; a sorry few
Are blunted in their aim,
And some are sharpened, keen and true,
And carve their way to fame.
"Don't take too much advice--keep at the helm and steer your own ship,"
says Noah Porter. All of which is very good advice.
[Sidenote: Next to excellence is the appreciation of it.--THACKERAY.]
The boy that the world wants most is the one who will think for himself
at the same time he is hearing words of wisdom from others. A boy who
tried to follow all the advice given him would probably find himself
unable to do anything at all. Everyone and everything seems eager to
give him the short cut to fortune, as I have endeavored to set forth in
a bit of nonsense rhyme which I call the secret of
HOW TO WIN SUCCESS
[Sidenote: The great are only great because we are on our knees; let us
rise up.--PROUDHON.]
"How shall I win success in life?" the young man asked, whereat:
"Have push," replied the Button; "And a purr-puss" said the Cat.
"Find out the work you're sooted for," the Chimney-Sweeper said,
Just as the Match and Pin remarked: "And never lose your head."
"Aspire to grater, finer things," the Nutmeg cried. The Hoe
Said: "Don't fly off the handle," and the Snail remarked: "Go slow."
"Be deaf to all that's told you," said the Adder. "'Mid the strife
I've found it best," remarked the Heart, "to beat my way through
life."
[Sidenote: Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that
of good books.--COLTON.]
"Select some proper task and then stick to it," said the Glue.
"Look pleasant," said the Camera; "And tied-y," said the Shoe.
"Have nerve!" exclaimed the Tooth. The Hill remarked; "Put up a
bluff!"
"And keep cool," said the Ice, whereat the young man cried:
"Enough!"
[Sidenote: Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age
and fame to be an excuse for indolence.--HAYDON.]
The right-minded boy will be thoughtful but not so much absorbed that
he is unable to take in the educative, uplifting sunshine all about him.
[Sidenote: The greatest man is he who chooses with the most invincible
reason.--SENECA.]
Sharpen your wits as the woodman must sharpen his axe, but counsel
moderation. The woodman who would stay at the stone and grind his axe
all away in attempting to put a razor edge on it would be deemed very
foolish.
[Sidenote: Self-conquest is the greatest of all victories.--PLATO.]
Of course you will be, you must be thoughtful, for as Ruskin says:
"In general I have no patience with people who talk about 'the
thoughtlessness of youth' indulgently. I had infinitely rather hear
of the thoughtlessness of old age, and the indulgence of that. When
a man has done his work, and nothing can in any way be materially
altered in his fate, let him forget his toil, and jest with his fate,
if he will, but what excuse can you find for wilfulness of thought at
the very time when every crisis of fortune hangs on your decision? A
youth thoughtless, when all the happiness of his home forever depends
on the chances or the passions of an hour! A youth thoughtless, when
the career of all his days depends on the opportunity of a moment!
A youth thoughtless, when his every action is a foundation-stone of
future conduct, and every imagination a fountain of life or death! Be
thoughtless in any after years, rather than now, though, indeed, there
is only one place where a man may be nobly thoughtless, his death-bed.
Nothing should ever be left to be done there."
[Sidenote: Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while
the used key is always bright.--FRANKLIN.]
[Sidenote: My liveliest delight was in having conquered
myself.-ROUSSEAU.]
But whatever else we may forget, let us remember that it is not work,
but overwork that kills. Exercise gained through good, wholesome work
is the greatest life-preserver man has yet discovered.
[Sidenote: The great hope of society is in the individual
character.--CHANNING.]
"I always find something to keep me busy," said Peter Cooper in
explaining how he had preserved so well his strength of mind and body,
"and to be doing something is the best medicine one can take."
[Sidenote: No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very
miserable.--LANDOR.]
The ones who live the longest and best lives are the cheerful workers,
those who find a good excuse for liking the task that comes to their
hands. The greatest joy and the truest success do not come to the
idler, nor the one who overworks, nor yet to the one who does things by
fits and starts, but to
THE STEADY WORKER
[Sidenote: The habit of looking on the bright side of things is worth
more than a thousand pounds a year.--SAMUEL JOHNSON.]
Whene'er the sun was shining out, Squire Pettigrew would say,
"Now, hurrah, boys! it's just the time to be a-making hay,
Because, you see, the sun's so hot 'twill cure it right away!"
Then all the mowers kept right on a-mowing.
But when a cloud obscured the sun Squire Pettigrew would shout,
"Oh, now's the time for working while the sun is blotted out,
A cooling cloud like that will make our muscles twice as stout!"
And that's the way he kept his men a-going.
[Sidenote: Nothing of worth or weight can be achieved with a half mind,
with a faint heart, and with a lame endeavor.--BARROW.]
Hence, little did it matter were the weather wet or dry,--
If sunshine filled the valleys or if clouds o'erspread the sky,
He'd always think of something which he deemed a reason why
'Twas just the time for him to keep a-working.
[Sidenote: The strong man is the man with the gift of method, of
faithfulness, of valor.--CARLYLE.]
But, now and then, or so it seemed, the reasons he would seek
For working on, were quite far-fetched and faulty, so to speak,
But, oh, they were not half so "thin" as are the many weak
Excuses lazy people give for shirking.
[Illustration: LONGFELLOW'S BIRTHPLACE PORTLAND ME.]