| OCR Text |
Show Choosing a Profession. No matter how much or how littlo talent man may havo, tho first ro-quisito ro-quisito to his Biicooas in lifo is tho choice uf n calling. There in no way of ascertain lug how many mon out of 1,000 miss their anil lug, but apparently appar-ently tho world is almost full of Bqunro men in round holes and n largo proportion of tho manhood of tho race is mlsdireotcd and practically prac-tically thrown away. Tho reason of this is that tboro is uotbiug moro diflioult for a young man or for his parents aud frionds to do than to toll what ho is mudo for aud what ho Bhould dovoto his lifo to. Tnko tho young man himself Uret, aud ho has two obstacles to deal with. In tho first plaoo, his host talent may bo slowest of all his powors to dovolop. Somo parts of his body grow faster than other pnrts aud it is so with his mental faculties. xMost frequently his master passion will show iteolf from infancy, but in many onses ho roaches manhood boforo bo-foro he develops tho gifts or traits which murk out his lifo work. In tho second place, self -knowledge 1b tho fast faculty that any human bo lug dovolops. During childhood aud early muuhood, when ho noods self-kuowldega self-kuowldega to detormiuo what occupation occupa-tion to follow, ho knows absolutely nothing about himsolf. lndood, it man is fjortunoto if by tho timo ho Ih grny heuaad ho understands his strong ahd Ills wenlr points and knows wliut ho can do and what ho can not do. Of noiirso, these two considerations make it ullUuultfor a young mans pur cuts to adviso uud direct him. They havo seen his tastes uud inclinations change several Mines already and they do not know but that thoy may change several times moro. Somotimes a youth's instincts will loud him aright aud mislead those who have the control con-trol ot him. It is related of n famous painter Mutt his choico lod him iu boyhood to obtain employment in 1111 artist's studio uud that tho artist, aftor watohing him a whilo, advised him to limit his ambition to erindiug colors. This accounts for tho largo number of omineutly successful men who Btnrt wrong und ohango from ono calling to another bof ore thoy nchievo success. This is of course, nut mil vorsal. Grant and Loo' wero soldiers, Fulton nn inventor and Hawtborno an author from childhood. Necessity denied them tho privilego of following follow-ing thoir bout ut tirneB. but they never for a moment doubted what thoy had it passion for. Possibly this is tho case with most mon who uchiovo buoooss and fame, but not with nil. Everett uud Emor son bolioved until they reached ma-turo ma-turo manhood that thoy wero out out for minietora, Collyor that ho was a born blacksmith, Garfield thut ho would mnko his murk as a carpenter, Jackson that saddlery wub his forte, Johnson that he was u predistiuod tailor, Irving that he would shine ut the bur and Washington thut his mission was that of u surveyor. Somo great men havo gone from 0110 calling to another soverui times and acquired a reputation for instability and general gen-eral worthlessness boforo they qstruak tho guit that mudo thorn famous. 'Ibis makes it uu exceedingly per ploxlng problem for a young man to determine what he will do nnd the perplexity is tenfold grentor now than it was fifty years ago. Thoro were hundreds of years boforo that timo during which the lending trades aud professions wero stablo nnd til-most til-most stationary, but within ono or two generations, owing to tho ravagoa of inventions and labor saving machinery, ma-chinery, thoy havo all olthor disappeared disap-peared or boon transformed. Thoro is scarooly n business that a young man can tnko up today which may not booomo obsoloto in a fow years. In faot, tho only thing thut is por-mnnont por-mnnont 1b knowledge. Tho timo will never oomo when it will not holp a man iu thoracoof lifo to bo acquainted acquaint-ed with unthomntloB, physics, history, his-tory, geography, physiology, ohomla-try ohomla-try and manual training. Unless ho know somotbing of those salouoos ho may bo uiiablo to discover what ho is mndo for or to do it after ho dls covers it. Boyond this audi is the present condition of tho arts, man-ufMOturea, man-ufMOturea, solonoo and politics a young man is lltorally oopollod to be an opportuuiot. That is, ho must do what ho can until ho can do something diiroront uud better. If ho in industrious, in-dustrious, sober, economical und watchful a kind I'rovldonoo will littlo by littlo direct hi in aright. Chicago Ohrouiole. |
