The Young Man and the World

oes not some one give counsel and encouragement to the boy who, for any one of a thousand reasons, cannot take four years or four months from his life of continuous

ave the nerve, ability, and ambition to "work their way through college," there are tens of thousands who cannot do even th

whose shoulders, therefore, fell the duty of "supporting mother" and helping the girls, even before his young ma

oes our complex industrial civilization, which every day grows more intense, hold out to these

n, he whom fortune overlooks. It is a strange weakness of human nature that makes everybody interested in the man at the top, and nobody interested in the man at the bottom. Yet it is the man at the

ot the Master, with a wisdom wholly divine, choose as the seed-bearers of our faith throughout the world the neglected men? Only one of the apostles was what we w

reet parade. We think it is the conspicuous man who counts. Our attention is mostly for him who wears the epaulettes of prominence and favorable

ose young men with stout heart, true intention, and good ability, who labor o

me to a young American to-day? If Joubert, from an ignorant private who could not write his name, became one of the greatest generals of t

uld have succeeded if you had a lifetime of college education. If you are discouraged because you cannot go to college, what will happen to you when life hereafter presents to you

r way and out of existence, which makes these strong men strong. It is the overcoming of these obstacles d

ch you call success but victory over untoward events? Do not, then, let your resolution be softened by the hard luck that keeps you

hought, with Mr. Huntington, that a college training was unnecessary; and his own life demonstrated that the very ultimate of achieving, the very crest o

of one who serves and waits. From a messenger-boy with bundle in his hand, to the general of an industrial army of thousands of men, and the

el Scott had no college education. "Because the other fellows have friends and influence and I have none," do you protest? But neither P

ind an assistant superintendent. There are now under me seven young engineers, every man a graduate of a college; four of them with uncommon ability, and all of them relatives of men heavily interested in th

akes himself less than his best every day and every night. Besides this, each of them has some defect. One is brilliant, but not steady; another is steady, but not resourceful-n

n started thirty-eight years ago as a freight-handler in Chicago at one dollar per day for this same railroad company, which was then a comparatively small and obscure line. Ah! but you say, "That was thirty-eight years ago."

ugh the weary decades, instead of changing every thirty minutes; if you are willing to wait as long as they; if you are willing to plant the seed of success in the soil of good hard work

States for a young man capable of being his assistant, had seven high-grade college men on his

enough about operating a railroad, and had the qualities of leadership, the gift of organizing ability. It did not m

this place was seeking was a blond or a brunette. The only question

uestion your Fate is putting to you who are anxious to do big work, "Are you equal to the job?" If you are not, then

m. Don't swear that "There is no chance for a young man any more." That's not true, you know. And remember always that if y

confers, or the absence of it prevents, success. But I do think that where there are two men of equal health, ability, and character, that one will be chosen who has been

of cap and gown that you will run as fast and as far as they, with all their training, will you not? You are willing-yes, an

rd will be as rich as the college man's reward. Yes, richer, for the gold which your refinery purge

with each succeeding year as long as time endures. Both these men have lived, almost to a day, the same number of years; both of them are still alive; both of them hav

he University of Boston. He used the gifts which God gave him for that purpose, and as long as the transmission

orked when he was a boy. Your patience will never be so taxed and tested as his patience was and is. But who can say that your efforts and your persistence will not be as richly rew

legraph (and what is more mysterious?) constantly called him. The click of the instrument was a voice from an unkn

steries behind it. Result: the duplex telegraph and the developments from that; the phonograph, the incandescent electri

ut the gates, unlike in preparation but similar in character, devotion, and abili

se who have wrought gloriously without a college training. These men, too, have succeeded in every possi

they have created vast industries, and piled mountain high their golden fortunes; not only have they made epoch-making discoveries in science, but they have

the great founders of modern journalism-the four extraordinary men whom their profession to this day refers to as the great journalists-only one was a college graduate-Raymond, who established the New York Times. Charles A. Dana,

ghout the Nation, attended a private institution for a while. James Gordon Bennett, the editor whose reso

ublic opinion than any other single influence in the Republic, never went to college; and Greeley's famous saying, "Of all horned cattle, deliver

aptain Eades, whose fame was world wide; yet this Indiana boy, who constructed the jetties of the Mississippi, built the ship railroad across the Isthmus of Panama and other like wonders, never had a day's instruction in any higher institut

o other alma mater than the university of human nature, and that Robert Burns was not a college man. Our own Washington Irving never saw th

ed as a philosopher, is innocent of a college training. James Whitcomb Riley, our American Burns, is not a "college ma

s still like to tell of the immortal Lincoln poring over the pages of his few and hard-won volumes before the glare of th

ironmaster, and master of gold as well, who has written as vigorously as he has wrought, was a Scotch immigrant. Geo

n New York were made by men not yet forty-five years old, none of whom had any other education than our common school

paper might be occupied by nothing more than the names of men who have blessed the race and become historic success

o prove that no matter how hard the conditions that you think surround you, success is yours in spite of them, if you are willing to pay the price of success-if y

ese men, cannot go to college. Consider, for example, how Samuel B. Raymond established the New York Times. He wrote h

clerk; he swept and dusted his own storeroom, and polished his own show-cases. He was up at five in the morning, and he worked to twelve and one at night, and then slept on the

xamples like it. And, mark you, most of these men were weighted down with responsibilities as great as yours

the very head of his class. For you know this, don't you, that the world hands down success to any man who pays the price. Very wel

On the shelves this Merchant of Destiny has both failure and success, in measure large and small. Every man steps up to this counter and

within the compass of your abilities; but you accomplish all your achievings with heart-beats. This is a rule which has no exceptions, and

while oth

upward throug

ng a failure. Do not say, "I have no chance because I am not a college man," and blame t

r Brutus, is no

es, that we ar

do not go to pitying yourself. No whim

ot heat designed by Fate to temper the steel of your real character. Certainly that ought to be true if you have the stuff in you. And if you have not the stuff in you, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Ca

Connecticut. "Manhood," answered this great New Englander, and then he went on to point out the seemingly contradictory fa

of the inventive faculty, thus making the intellect more productive by the continuous and creative use of it-all these develop those powers of mind and heart which through a

support the family," or have inherited a debt which your honor compels you to pay, o

eir hand. They don't understand their value. Having "influence" to help them, they usually rely on this artificial aid-seldom upon themselves. Having friends, they depend upon these

en. Having the training of the best universities very much as they have their food and clothing, these men

mouth, and trained by tutors, finished by professors, and clothed with all the "advantages," has not such a great start of you after all.

instant of your time, for you will understand, in the wise language of the common people, that "time is money"; and that is something, mind you, which the heir of wealth with whom you are competing does not understand at all

s he must make every shot tell; he cannot waste a cartridge. But he of abundant ammunition fires without certain aim, and so wastes his treasure of shells

sted the resources of their fields. So opulent was the black soil that little care was taken save to sow the seed and crudely cultivate it; and the simple p

ld win from the reluctant German field was secured. The German farmer had to woo his land like a lover. And so the unyielding fie

igorous care. Take your reading, for example. Choose your books with an eye single to their helpfulnes

emeral novel or the discursive hop-skip-and-jump reading of current periodicals. Thus he will day by day be weakening his strength, diminis

ry fact which the author furnishes you, the seed for new thoughts of your own. Remember that no fact in the universe stands by itself, but that every fact is related to every other

college and university give. For, mind you, the principal purpose of going to college is not to acquire knowledge. That is o

u cannot be careless with books-in the selection of books, or in the use of them. For the same reason, you cannot be indifferent with men an

fish that come to their net, and frogs, too, you dare not take the risk of a dissolute companionship, or any o

astered this, the most abstruse of sciences, has a better equipment for practical suc

at the world now demands effectiveness, you will nurture your physical and nervous powers where the rich young man

from which your fellow runner starts; so you have got to save your wind. You need a

l observers of you, will, consciously or unconsciously, approve; and refrain from doing anything that your

ry association of idleness and sloth. No social club for you; that institution is for the man of dollars and

arnest, earnestly honest, high of intention, sound of purpose, direct of method. Out of all these you will finally wring everything wh

allroom. For remember this-you who in your heart cherish a secret envy of those other young men whom you believe, by reason of family, wealth, or any favorable circumstance, are getting more of th

United States, or of the world, for that matter, I met some fifteen years ago a young man of German parentage. His father

, he made himself the best man in technical work in the firm's employ. The next step was to demonstrate his ability as a manager and fi

urished in those days. He had no capital behind him. His acquaintance was small. Never mind, he made acquaintances among people of his own

ed. How could it help prospering? While other building and loan associations undertook alluring but hazardous expe

day the attorney of this association, also a young man, called his fellow directors together, and resigned, upon the ground t

n able to manage this institution in prosperous times; now if I can only have a chance to close it up so that n

sufficient guarantee collapsed in a day. Most building and loan associations, taking advantage of certain provisions of the law, and of their charters, refus

ity to organize, manage, and support a difficult business, and to properly handle complex financial q

He took part in politics, too. His acquaintance grew slowly but steadily, and then with e

ous than all, it was said that he was even religious. And the saying was true. During all these years when he had no time for

ot so very long ago. To-day this young man is a member of the firm for which he began as a common workman, and which has since grown to be one of the largest concerns of its

ent to see" in the hard days of his beginnings, when he had no time for "society" except that which he found in her presence. As he was

ties, no friends, few acquaintances. But he did have right principles, good health, and an understanding that every drop of his b

rtainly I personally know of a score of such successes in my own home city. I personally know of many such examples in other

country boys who started out as farm hands at sixteen dollars per month and board, who to-day own the farms on which they were e

r you have eaten them. That makes eleven hours, and leaves you thirteen hours remaining. Take one of these for getting to and from you

lege man's advantage over you-and that can only be done by hard work. But what of that? For a young man like you, full of that boundl

to unfailing success, even over the bodies of your rivals who, with greater "advantages" than yours, neglect them and fall upon the steep ascent up which, with harder muscles, s

d a Government position. He was studying law. He was "quivering" with ambition. But his lungs were getting weak. Would it be

very best lawyer that ever mastered Blackstone. He already had a clerkship promised in one of the great legal establishments in the metro

t a certain man who held a Government position paying him $150 a month promoted? This last man's record was admirable; h

ut why did he want this position? Well, answered the young man, it would enable him to take his law course at one of the law schools of the Capitol and ge

intance while he was getting that training, as well as the clerkship in the New York office would? Perhaps not, but, af

one chair, and a washstand, and buy him the necessary clothing? Oh, yes! of course he could s

ington had social advantages, to be sure, and $150 a month would enable him to have some of that life which a young man w

young man needed was the experience of going back to New York and having to apply for position after position until his shoe soles wore out, and he felt the pangs of hunger. He needed iro

a young man who had neither college education, money, nor friends. He was, I am told, a stenographer in one of New York's great legal establishments. But that young man had done precisely what

in a previous paper-the inscription which Doc Peets inscribed on the headboard

ing, de

he holding o

u

of a poor

After all, it is not what we have, but what we make out of what we have that counts

V

NEW

Build you a roof-tree that may in its turn shelter others. What abnormal egotism the attitude of him who says, "This planet, a

said she; "he ought to have waited ten years longer." "I think not," was the response of the world-wise man with whom she was conversing. "If he got a good wife he was in grea

our code of national living, will make the lives of our young people abnormal and our twentieth century civilization artificial and neurotic. Eve

children whom he must feed, clothe, and consider. The icy selfishness of this hypothesis of life ought to be enough to reject it without ar

sar dead and

hole to keep

is sadly confused as to whether he wrote Shakespeare. "Career!" Let your "career" grow out of the right livi

ou are too old to be interesting? Very well. Just what is it that you expect to do with these self-centered and s

anity have been men enough to lead the natural life. They have been men who have founded homes. And how can you

e "getting down to earth," as the saying is. You would be "benefiting humanity" sure enough and in real earnest by taking care of

nly at astonishing loss of men and money, and irreparable impairment of prestige. They were glorious fighting men, these Boers. The blood that flowed in their veins was unadulterated Dutc

sically, they were also exalted beings spiritually. They knew how to pray as well as to fight. They made their living, too, and asked no favors. Also the

ic. Indeed, all great constructive periods and peoples have lived in harmony with the laws of Nature. It has been the races of marrying men that have made the heroic ep

eries swollen with masculine blood pumped by a great, big, strong heart, working as easily and joyfully as a Corliss engine; with thews of steel wire and step as light as a tiger's and masterful as an old-time warrior's; with

building it before he is twenty-five; and the man who does not, is either too weak or too

tation of masculinity on the other hand. I am assuming that you think-and, what is more important, feel-that Nature k

s before there is a gray hair in your head or a wrinkle under your eye. These new homes which young Americans are building will be the sources o

American ideals must be kept burning, just as it was kept burning in the old homes which these young Americans have

national purity and power. No wonder that Bismarck considered the perpetuation of the German home, with its elemental and joyous p

ip," many of which, on analysis, are found to be imaginary and supposititious. Yes, and it would be better for the country if our literary men would descr

the present decade. Yes, decidedly, our public men, and our writers, too, ought to "get down to earth." There is where the people live. The people walk upon the brown soil and the green grass. They dwell beneath the

or our foreign trade increase. So, in considering the young man and the new home, we are dealing with an immediate and permane

othes and shoes on. Undoubtedly you ought first to get "settled"; that is, you ought to prepare for what you are going to do in life and begin the doing of it. Don't take this step while you are in college. If you

al wages as a skilled laborer. Begin at the beginning, and live your lives together, win your successes together, share you

same row" you are hoeing; and it is among these men and women you must win your success. It is largely through their favor and confidence that you will g

the very beginning of your life as her father was at the close of his. Least of all does she herself expect it. And even if this were possible, it is not from such continuous luxury

ative hardship are the very things necessary to bring out in them sweetness, self-sacrifice, and uplifting hardihood of character. In these sharp experiences, too

as you possibly can. Don't make them so high that neither you nor any other human being can live up to them, of course; but if you can pu

home life will be one of the best assets that you can accumulate. "They are attending strictly to business and will make their mark," said a wise old

or not, but I do know that he could borrow it if he wanted it. And one reason why his credit was est

not known of the premature withering of young business men and lawyers (yes, and sometimes men not so young, alas!) who have suddenly bl

s the abode of a poor young man asking sympathy and aid of his friends. "Yes, rent a piano, by all means. Do not e

a to buy a picture. And get a good one while you are at it. It will not break you up to buy a really good etching. A fine "print" is infinitely better than a poor painting.

magic be converted into a home. For the purposes of a home, better a separate dwelling with dry-goods box for table and camp-s

nothing, not even if you were paid to live in gilded rooms. For the making of a home is priceless. And that cannot be done in flats or hotels or other walled and roofed herding places. Every man would like to

It is not a boarding-house, remember that. Books are there, and music and a human sympathy and a marvelous care for you, under whose in

would not care to live," said he, "if I could not have my play-hour, music, and flowers. They are God's gifts and my nec

d his words have good sense in them, have they not? Make that good sense yours, then. Make a play-hour each day for yourself an

ge at all; it is merely an arrangement. Robert Louis Stevenson calls it "a friendship recognized by the police."

it. But even the man who has not this faith beholds his own immortality in his children. "Why of course I am immortal," said a scientist who believed that death

hing worth while. The "simple life" is all right, and the "strenuous life" excellent. The "artistic life" is charming, no doubt, and all the other kinds of "lives" have thei

t into a sunbeam. And, mark you, it is quite as easy to take the other course. But what a cowar

he view-point of good health. If you eat your meal in a sour silence which almost curdles the cream and scares your wife half to death, you

right," and keep on saying it. You will be surprised to find how nearly "all right" the mere saying of it at the beginning of the day will re

er human male animals. They will make it unpleasant for you if you don't. But it is far more important in your new home than i

ugh you will never treat her well, nor anybody else, from that low motive. I am merely calling the attention of your comm

If he is a strong man, his community glories in his strength and increases it by their admiration and support. If he is not a strong man, eve

of any woman, "She is lovely in her home," they have placed upon her brow the crown of their ultimate tribu

everything. And being a man, he should have a large and kindly forbearance, a sort of soothing streng

der the control of a strong man who is strong enough to carry in his daily look the suggestion of a smile. It worked splendidly. It has never been satisfactorily explained why it is next to impossible

s muscular state of your countenance is connected in some strange way with that mysterious thing called the mind; for you will find, if you try it, that a sort of sereni

ess this report is true. It has at bottom the same reason that music in battle has. What could be more terrifying than the approach of an enemy determined on your d

n smile from children who were watching you from the fields, whereas a frown would instantly becloud the little face with a kindred expression of disfavor. I am spending

any, the talk, the silent sympathy of that sagacious and congenial person who is your wife yield a ret

ually absent himself from Parliament for the sheer pleasure of her presence and conversation. Lord Beaconsfield, who, we are told, married for the mere purp

ife. The German people particularly loved the wife of Bismarck because of these exclusively domestic traits. Perhaps that was why he adored her

things good-natured. For says the Bible, "It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman." But read what i

hysicians are saying that there is not one American woman in a hundred who is nervously normal. The profession declares that they are ex

han their neighbors, and, above all, to have their children (their one or two children) particularly spick and span; the long catalogue of folly into which our high-geared, modern civilization has led our women, and through

t and apply the remedy, or we are a lost people; for that nation is doo

rced into the brain at a period when Nature meant that brain to be the very paradise of joyous dreams and happy imaginings? While we may thus gain a staccato smartness, a jerky and inconsequent brilliancy, do we not lose someth

counsel with your wife on business matters that affect your mutual fortune is sheer stupidity. Also, it is morally wrong. From the very nature of her she is more interested than you in strengt

she is not to be trusted-for she is. She will carry to her grave any secret that affects you. But the disclosures of client or patient are not your secrets. If they were, she would be entitled to k

he care of home, the upbringing of children, the strengthening of a husband's character here and there, the detection of those thousand little vices of manner and speech and t

does not deserve distinction. In the end, he does not get it-the apron-strings usually break, and they ought to break. It m

g in politics. They want a man who aspires to anything to be worthy of that thing on his own account. They want their leader to be a leader; an

he fact that she is the ideal wife and mother has made the strongest, subtlest appeal to the nation. But she cannot do this by "mixing up in politics," by trying to plan and manage her husband's campaigns,

your home the exclusive scene of her activities if you will only be man enough to do a man's full part in the world and l

rmal development in her character as it is to a decadence in our manhood. At least I have always observed that the wife of a really masterful man finds her greatest happiness in being mer

t. What right has any man to vote as he individually thinks best? He is the head of the family, it is true, but he is only one of the fam

hildren have a vital interest in every ballot deposited by father and husband-an interest as definite and tangible as his own. Every voter, therefore, o

ters of that family sustain or reject him at the polls, according to the verdict of the household. If such were the rule, only those men w

ions. There would not be so many fads to deflect sound and sane statesmanship. So by all means,

quality of rights; but equality of duties and similarity of work is absu

d bless them! Once our s

s, and different view-points of life. Each supplements the other. Doubtless the woman has the choicer lot. Surely this is true abstractly speaking. Suppose we should

men. To these men I will give the task of labor in the fields, of warfare with wild beasts. It shall be your duty to subdue wildernesses, and to construct and defend a dwelling-place for this other one wh

which will be called home. There shall she bind up his wounds and give him rest and comfort. I will give into her keeping also the making of the race, and thus the control of th

d mission than man? But the mission of both man and woman is sufficiently

ut friends are more precious than either business or vegetables. Cultivate friends, therefore. C

t make friends for the purposes of success. Make friends for the purposes of friendship. Be true to them, therefore. Don't neglect them when

e a worn-out glove when his ends have been accomplished. Make friends and nourish friendship because friends and frien

he world's thought and feeling. Newspapers are literally indispensable to you; and you should take two of them-the morning paper and

licy of an administration, the state of the Nation's business-all these are mental food which you need as much as you need your breakfast. One thoroughly up-to-date magazine a

ht books with that-not books for the office, but books for their home. He succeeded-"won out"-"won out" with his ca

n Greece, and it is so now. The theater occasionally is good for you. But let the play you go to see be high-grade. Inferior perfor

unwillingly. It is a great producer of thought also. Some men can write well only under its inspiration. Educate yourself up in it, therefore. Do not

home may each day be more and more the dwelling-place of beauty and the abode of real happiness. You cannot think

o the same church. This is a matter of prudence as well as of righteousness; for get it into your consciousness that you must be in harmony with the people of whom

church attendance, and then to reduce that resolve to a habit. It is good for you, too;

ng reverence for the one woman who has blessed him with her life's companionship. You will cherish her, therefore, in that way

is the crowning pride of her life to yield to you; and, finally, receiving that care which only her hands can give, and a life-long joy which, increasing with the years, is fullest and most perfect when both your heads are whit

T

AWYER AND H

ed to the ministry who had not received his "call." It was necessary that he should hear th

nty of misery if you do not. Unless you are convinced that you would rather work, toil, nay, slave for years to secure reco

enthusiasm expended in almost any other occupation will bring you financial returns tremendously out of proportion to your most successful compensation in the law, measured by m

to college, do not take what is known as the "scientific" course, or "physical" course. Take the classical course. Next to geometry and logarithms and the Bible, the

this, spend two or three years in active work in the office of some successful lawyer w

arly as well. You can get along without your law school, but you can never get a

you will succeed anyhow. Even if you are not so highly gifted you can win in the law without a college education if you are naturally a lawyer and will work hard enough. If you

esses, make arguments to court and jury, get out transcripts for appeal, write briefs, petitions, motions, and all the rest of that careful and

not mean that you are merely to sit around the office and say "bright things." There is

them too firmly. I am no admirer of the acidulous character of John Adams (not that he was not both great and good, however, for he was-but he was too sour), yet he announced a great thing, and lived up to it, whe

that "the conscientious lawyer must be at the service of the criminal as well as of the state." And this great lawyer proceeds to argue with c

ned and educated mouthpiece of his client; and that to refuse the cause of a client in which the attorney does not believe is to relegate a

genious, and when one beholds them through the medium of the great Englishman's wonderful argument they seem radiant with aggressive truth. Nev

cause you have espoused a good one before the court. And when that conception has shot its cancerous roots and filaments through your brain and

ine away. An old and distinguished lawyer once told me that one of the most brilliant young lawyers he ever knew said to him, at the co

failure, for his profession and even his clients know him for a dealer in tricks. Senator McDonald, an ideal lawyer in the ethics, learning, and practise of his profe

brace myself to resist him every time he appears before me." One of the ablest Circuit Cou

time it means ruin; and therefore I think, on the whole, that it would be wise for you never t

ite wrong in his first impression that his client has not the right of an impending controversy. They will cite you instances where they have entered into the conduct of a case with much doub

gy and ability to proving its truthfulness to others and to himself. This is peculiarly the case with the most sincere and genuine men. I repeat, therefore, that upon a poi

ause he is obstinate, he will probably lose his case anyhow, and of course blame his lawyer for the loss. So that if you do not have that case you have lost

ord to take his unjust case. After a few years of such practise you will have acquired a moral influence with court, jury, and people which will be, even from a money point of view, th

insolvent corporation, constitutional questions, and the relative equities of conflicting interests. These are fair examples of controversies where a lawyer may rightfully and righteously accept a retaine

ng every cent his services are worth. It is not only degrading, but reveals a base attitude of mind and character, to

the passion of professional devotion, for the work of your great calling, by years and years of discipline and study such as no other calling requires; that, wit

u write "victory" at the end of every one of your cases with your heart's blood; or "defeat," if you do not win), and that for this be

rge to a poor man or woman, that lawyer has too much business. I know-we all know-of very eminent lawyers constantly engaged in causes involving large interests, who nevertheless find leisure

his office, and within a month, by one of those accidents that occur to every attorney, he was offered a

as not the quality of practise to which he wished to devote his career. He courteously declined the case as th

right, and acted with a far-seeing wisdom as rare as the courage which accompanied it. Of course, I assume that you are going into

nial is the road to wealth, as any banker will tell you. Self-denial is the method

fifty-thousand-dollar case. "Despise not the day of small things." In selecting your business, I refer to the quality, and not the magnitude

ect piece of work. The same fervor and ideality should govern your labors in a lawsuit that ins

ion. I must give it attention for obvious reasons, but it is the matte

n the University of Chicago, recently elected to an even more notable position in the Johns Hopkins University, who has won for himself

? You could easily make a great

wer: "Money does

liver one lecture for a large fee: "I must decline, gentlemen

of justice, and the greatest of all arts, the art of adjusting the rights of men. No lawyer can become great who does no

ngs and briefs that he would not endure a blurred or broken letter, and bad punctuation was a source of real irritation to him. Many times have

le digression weakened the force of the reasoning. Not a decision was read from. It was assumed that the l

ised a class of law students to commit to memory half a dozen of Marshall's gr

ly stated is a case nearly won. Beware of digression. It calls attention from your main idea. It is a fault, too, which is well-n

invaluable to you. The young gallants of a century ago used to practise fencing for an hour each morning. Why should not you do

s their value. He knows the stifling mass of precedents, and sighs under them. It is rare that more than two cases should be cited in oral argument on any given point. Those cases

very phase of your proposition. It requires desperate labor to do this and will shorten your life; but such is t

cerning a particular case. You may prevail in your "lawsuit," but you will not be a lawyer. Stick close to the elemental Blackstone. You ca

ope it is not. You cannot do a better thing. Thirty minutes each day will give you Blackstone from cover to cover in less than

u. The great mass of text-books are nothing more than digests. But don't miss the introduction to Stephens' "Pleading," and also the introdu

h English jurisprudence developed of and by itself with only moderate help from the Romans. Reading statutes is unprofitable. You should nev

uestion in the common law without referring to the books. I should feel that I ought to be put out

ad generously, widely. It is impossible for a man to be a great lawyer, so far as the learning of his profession is concerned, who has not saturated himself with the Bible. He may be a great practitioner, but no

dge of history is absolutely indispensable to an understanding of our Constitution. The Federalist, the constitutional debates, and all the discussions that preceded and accompanied the adoption of our

ut the modifications by these upon institutions adopted from England. Follow the indigenous deve

cal criticism, Von Holtz's "Constitutional History of the United States." Books like Douglass Campbell's remarkable production, F

gument on constitutional law by an advocate who thinks he has mastered th

he law? And, if so, do you dare to be less than a lawyer? How dare you not shoulder your glorious burden with pa

mes before the court his mind is fresh and sparkling with clear ideas and varied knowledge poured into his brain from every mountain-peak of inspiration in all the world of human thought. He brings to

u will use it. A little less lingering at the club, an economy of hours here and there-this will give you time, and to spare. Of course i

fter a while, if excessively used, it produces its sure result; your faculties have been sharpened by this intellectual emery-wheel until the edges begin to crumble. Your mind becomes dul

r before. Whereas formerly they could get the point of a precedent by reading it over once, they must now read it over four or five times. You usually find them th

nform to Nature. Go to bed early. Get up early, and do your fine and original work in the morning. It will be hard for you to form

be in repartee. The jury, and even the court, may laugh, but they are not impressed, and you have not helped your c

stness, but not with violence or volume of sound. Remember that even the most terrible emotions of the human heart in their most i

client, your profession, and the cause of justice. Never cringe to a court. Never cringe to any one. He will despise you for it, and properly so. Rememb

xpression is very frequently regarded as an indication of profundity. Nevertheless, persist in a clear and simple style. Make the statement of your case and the arg

ument in the legal tender cases is a model-it is Euclid stated in terms of the law. Webster's arguments you will study, of course. Blackstone is one of the clearest writers w

oth sides of a case argued before an eminent Federal Judge. One of the lawyers made a long, turgid, "profound"-and musty-argument

sharp as a serpent's tooth, as lucid as the atmosphere on a cloudless day, and yet as suggestive as a hickory-wood fire in the old home

opriateness of illustration, and a simplicity of reasoning that made one feel that the other

ost everything if he retains his self-respect. Be a gentleman at the outset of your career and forever. D

w that you are poor. They know it, and sympathize with you. But every one of our race likes to see a man "game

to books. There is no adornment of an office equal to a library, just as there is no adornment of a mechanic's shop

the discipline of your office. It is nothing to your client that your friends find your society so charming that they seek the felicity of your conver

upon the street leading to the Senate House. Don't imitate anybody-be yourself. Still,

to handle your case, you have done wrong to open an independent office. If you call in another attorney, every probability is that you will suggest all the solutio

known to the surgery of the law. Do not bluster, "bull-doze," or browbeat a witness; there is nothing in it. You only make the jury sympathize with the person abused. Reme

ose questions the logical conclusion of which is irresistible, and stop there. Don't p

s you have no right, as an honorable attorney, to make him do. A just judge ought to stop you if you try it. To confuse a witness whom you kno

on and each item of his testimony; you must know the law applicable to your general proposition, and the general law upon its various ramifications; you must study the w

luence him, or "play upon" him, or resort to any of the devices of the baser sort. It is that you may know how best to

is unnecessary even to arouse a jury's sympathies. Forget everything except making the juror understand your case. The result will be that h

with which some of these periodicals burden their pages, except to see if there is a recent decision on some case you are trying. You cannot remember them, and the effort to do so will on

erb pieces of work. Now and then you will find a monograph of monumental worth. Such is the remarkable

ivil law with the English common law, is the most carefully thought out and learned

t right have you, a member of the great profession which, more than all other forces combined, has established and defende

w. It is one profession or the other, one love or the other. But take part in your party's primaries. Make yourse

egislation. It is no doubt proper for a lawyer to make a legal argument before a legislative committee in behalf of clients. Nevertheless, I advise you not to do it. I

ottage. No matter how much you need money, never accept a retainer or fee of any kind from any corporation, pers

, tangible, and honest work. Money obtained from any other kind

e adorned it and established the pillars of its glory. They were gentlemen, men of learning

efforts, you will strive to be one of them-in learning full and thorough, in courtesy delicate, in

oftiest ideals of your profession which your mind can conceive. Do these; keep up your nerve; never despair

I

C SPE

ces reveal the very heart of effective speaking. Considered from the human view-point alone, the Son

Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. These have no tricks, no devices, no tinsel gilt. They do not attempt to "sp

nalysis as much as the perfume of the rose, but which touches the heart and r

hes. They instruct. And, in doing this, they assert. The men who spoke them did not wea

dgment." The great speakers, in their highest moments, have always been so charged with aggressive conviction that they have announced the

nd, to say it as though you mean it. Of course one cannot have something really to say-a lesson to teach, a message

meaning, and the season for his saying it is so compelling, that what he says will result in a deed-a thing accomp

lting and turning to its proper course; if a cause needs pleading; if a law needs interpretation; if anything really needs to be said-the occasion for the orator, in the large

he fails to make the listeners conscious only of the living truth he utters, he has failed in his speech its

am told that Wendell Phillips always spoke in a conversational tone, and yet he was able to make an audie

than Ingersoll. In a literal and a physical sense he charmed them. I never heard him t

l mob. A gentleman who heard that speech told me that, notwithstanding the pandemonium that reigned around h

aving the ferocity of a wild beast. I do not see how that can be, however, because Demosth

loudest-voiced person. They have, too, a singularly touching and tender quality, which, in a sensuous way, captivates and holds the hearers. James Whitcomb Riley has this qu

a joke in Webster would be an offense. The only things which Ingersoll wrote that will live are his oration at his brother's grave and his f

first and second inaugurals, his speech beginning the Douglas campaign, and his Coop

?sop did not deface one of these great de

e-where tears and grief, the hard seriousness of life and the terrible and speedy certainty of our common fate of sufferin

tal things are s

erstanding of men. I am excluding now that form of speech which belongs to

er upon an audience both in the immediate and permanent effect of his speeches than did Indiana's great Senator. It is related of him that

o be his weighty abilities would be held lightly by his fellow citizens. From that time on t

ton deliberately let them rust. But, generally speaking, it is a distinct descent from the high plane of your address to excite the laughter of your audience. When you do so, you confess that you are not able to hold the attention of your he

ame quality in manner-an impressiveness in bearing and delivery. This is inconsistent with merriment of delivery, which ro

hey were intense, but quiet. I have also seen that bravado and drunken boisterousness which thought it imitated, and meant t

s is to be believed, which I think he is not to be in this particular. He was only excusing his own defeat, and he had to attribute it to delivery. (I think any unprejudiced mind will agree that ?schines made the

a lecture in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1884. He had an audience which would have inspired eloquence in almost any breas

ing to it occasionally to refresh his memory), and then, in a very natural and matter-of-fact way, walked to the footlights, and, look

ised above the common current of the evening's address-if anything, it was lower. While the mature mind cannot endure Ingersoll's rhetoric, it must be acknowledged that his manner of delivery (except when his levity made him coarse) was nearly

not saw the air too much-your hand thus: but use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious, periwig pated

rtall and powerful man, about forty years old, had become angry at a medium-sized but very compact man of about the same age.

aller man either run or be demolished. He did neither. His fists were raised quickly but intensely before him, and when the big man was almost upon him, it seemed

knocked down. This continued for three or four times, for the giant was "gam

point. He did not dissipate his energies. It is so in the manner of speaking. The greatest contrast to the perfect

rn of consequence. After introduction he stood with one hand thrust in the breast of his tightly buttoned frock coat, and looked tremendously a

think about himself, his manner, his appearance, his personality. All the evening we had to wade through that slough, trying to follo

an is not great is that h

the streets of Chicago. I listened with amazement. He was perhaps twenty-three years of age, with delicate, clear-cut features, sensitive mouth, an

nd, he began: "You will admit, my friends, that human happiness is the problem of human life." And from this striking sentence he went on to another equally moving,

efore he had finished, his audience had gathered into itself every pedestrian who p

to the point. Our lives are so rapid; the telephone, telegraph, and all the instantaneous agencies of our neurotically swift civilization have made us so quick in seeing thro

public has already tired of the lilt of Ingersoll's redundant rhetoric, pleasi

ment on either side of the proposition you announce, and acce

possible. Therefore, in matter, the statement is the form of address now most effective. Recall the opinion of Senato

efore they are most influential with them. Also, therefore, your best method of getting Anglo-Saxon is to mingle with and talk with the common people. The next

as taken its place, and all the rest of that kind of talk. Public speaking will never decline u

e's choicest meth

turer or professor to his student (for the universities are all going back to the old oral me

mold and control public opinion. But they do not. When all has been said, the most powerful public opinion, after all, is that from-mouth-to-mouth public opinion-that living, movin

tood this very well, and that is why He chose to speak by word of mouth rather than by writing ep

orm, but its initial power must come from the spoken word and vital personality of its author. But Chr

seemed to me that the college method of speaking was wrong because it was irrational-that the studied gestures, the "cultivated" voice, the stacc

r, will please, persuade, and convince a person, will have the same effect upon an audience. Hence one readily deduces that a simple, quiet, but direct, earnes

his whole attention should be monopolized by the thought. Read Herbert Spencer on the "Philosophy of Style," and apply his reasoning to the d

od is, to read all the books one can get on the subject, take all the opin

gement of second-hand thoughts and observations and of other peop

ut consulting a book or an opinion, reason out from these very elements

s ago-aye, a thousand-and, if it was not, to fortify and make accurate your own thought. Read Matthew Arnold on "Literature and Dogma,

do not read other men's opinions upon the subject before you have clearly

r. Nothing else is important. Nev

those perfect specimens of the art of putting things are the speeches and epistl

ne with their absolute unity with

ly the same words, is noticeable and very effective. He did not fear that He would be