I take pleasure in laying before my readers a volume the aim of which is
to lighten the cares of to-day and heighten the hopes of to-morrow.
Every human aspiration which is not an _ignis fatuus_ or fool's beacon
is built on the realities of to-day. Every young person evincing talents
in any direction hears predictions which are alone built on what he is
doing at present. He takes this hope and redoubles his efforts. He
usually succeeds--therefore, the inherited universality of hope.
Looking thus upon hope as a beautiful edifice rising above the
foundations of our lives, I have striven to give my special attention to
the duties of to-day, those stones whereon the structure is reared, that
the first cruel tempest of adversity may not transport an unsubstantial
fabric, like the palace of Aladdin, into the deserts of despair.
I have also tried to show that the lesson, so true in a proper view of
this life, is also applicable to the far grander vista of eternity
which, in the mind of philosopher as well as divine, lies so clearly
before us.
In a Hard-Pan Series of ten chapters I have endeavored to point out, to
the young men just starting in practical life, some things less general
in their scope than the other thoughts spread forth in the book. The
necessity of arming our youth with those qualities which lead to
business success has made me confident that this attempt would be
approved by the general reader.
Wherever a writer versed in the deep mysteries of the heart has left his
thoughts on record, and they have fallen under my eye, I have eagerly
chained them to my humble chariot, always, when possible, giving the
authorship of the idea. The value of a thoroughly good admonition is
frequently enhanced by the knowledge that it comes from the mouth of a
thoroughly good man.