“IF a bootblack does all the good he possibly can for his fellowmen,
his life has been just as successful as that of the millionaire who
helps thousands.”
That was what Darius Ogden Mills said when I asked him to give me his
idea of a successful life. His next reply was quite as epigrammatic.
“What, Mr. Mills, do you consider the keynote of success?”
“Work,” he replied, quickly and emphatically. “Work develops all
the good there is in a man; idleness all the evil. Work sharpens
all his faculties and makes him thrifty; idleness makes him lazy
and a spendthrift. Work surrounds a man with those whose habits are
industrious and honest; in such society a weak man develops strength,
and a strong man is made stronger. Idleness, on the other hand, is
apt to throw a man into the company of men whose only object in life
usually is the pursuit of unwholesome and demoralizing diversions.”
Mr. Mills is quite averse to being interviewed, but when I told
him that his words would be carried to many thousands of young men,
and probably do considerable good in the way of encouragement and
inspiration, he consented to a brief talk.