Show A WORD TO THE BOYS come boys and listen a few minutes to your uncle you have now arrived at an age when you must begin to think about doing something for yourselves you selves the first piece of advice I 1 have for you is to do everything well which you undertake der take there is but little danger of your being too particular in this respect A boy who is careful to draw drawn a straight lineon line on his slate will be very likely to make a straight line through life there is no position in life in which you will not be called upon to be as exact as possible step into a je jewelers shop and see how careful the workman must be in finishing up the article he holds in his hands visit a shipyard and the man with a broad axe must learn to hew on the line or be dismissed you think of being a clerk well weli remember that a mistake there is little less than a crime I 1 never saw a man who was very particular about his affairs that was not successful how exact the military officer in command of a body of men A clumsy sailor will never rise to the command of a ship but there is one great danger which besets many young men at the present day it is the disposition to avoid all solid improvement and take up with subjects that require no thought and which serve as mere excitement to the mind your older friends tell you that boys are very fast at the present day but I 1 can remember fast boys long before you were born but they never made solid and useful men very few of them ever lived to be forty years old nobody ever trusted them they never filled any important office or station they usually became small men because they had no capital in their heads with which to work out a living out of fifty of this class of fast boys boya I 1 do not know of one who ever accomplished much As you sow so shall you reap the boy who spends his hours late and early at the card table bowling alley or tavern barroom bar room is learning nothing useful but much that is injurious listen to such men as amos lawrence thomas H benton daniel webster benjamin franklin and george washington and they will all tell you that I 1 they avoided all these things and owed their greatness to their attention in ear ly life to what would be useful to them this may be a hard lesson for you but it must be studied and the earlier in life you acquire it the better will be your prospects for a successful career please regard the advice of your old uncle felix |