Pushing to the Front

man, is to be born with a bias to some pursuit, wh

or teachers. In these cases Nature seems to have triumphed by direct interposition; to have insisted on her darlings having their rights, and encouraged disobedienc

oice you c

s, I must

and you c

eckons

CK

have been doing all this time? Why, you have taken off and replaced, and taken off again, the teapot lid, and you have held alternately in the steam, first a saucer and then a spoon, and you have busied yourself

the old lady's failure to tell James how h

." "Nor do I," said the merchant, laughing at the earnestness of his clerk. "Only don't put me away, sir, don't put me away. Try me at something besides selling. I cannot sell; I know I cannot sell." "I know that, too," said the principal; "that is what is wrong." "

ded the needle of that young life so it will point to the star of its own destiny; and though you may pull it around by artificial advice and unnatural education, and compel it to point to the s

unded, no matter how unpromising the prospect, this occupation is the only one which he will pursue with interest and pleasure. When his efforts fail to procure means of subsistence, and he finds himself

e. Like a locomotive, he is strong on the track, but weak anywhere else. "Like a boat on a river," says Emerson, "every boy runs against obstru

y were out of their places; of square boys forced into round holes, and oppressed because they did not fit; of boys compelled to pore over dry theological books when the voice within continually cried "Law,"

e trying to make that boy another you. One is enough," said Emerson. John Jacob Astor's father wished his son t

on for art and music and did not care for military drill. His father hated the fine arts and imprisoned him. He even contemplated killing his son, but his own death placed Fred

t how keen his glance, how steady and true his curves, w

cunning device destined to bless humanity and to do the drudgery of millions of England's poor; so he must needs say "

and stealthily work out the abstruse problems. He was only eighteen when he discovered the principle of the pendulum in a lamp left

him for covering the walls and furniture with sketches; but the fire burning in his breast was kindled by the Divine Artist, and would not let

languages, but the voice of mathematics drowned every other ca

es, and wrote on one: "Done by Joshua out of pure idleness." Yet

Maiden Lane, but became the greate

-cook; Molière, the author, to an upholsterer; and Guido,

f which he had to witness in disguise. The irksomeness of his prison-like school so galled him, and his longing for authorship so allured him, that he v

ke of Weisenfelds, he took his son with him. The boy wandered unobserved to the organ in a chapel, and soon had a private concert under full blast. The duke happened to hear the performance, and wondered who could possibly combine so much

tory manager, a commissioner's accountant, an envoy, and an author of sev

led in five different professi

where his regiment was quartered. The presiding judge, an acquaintance, invited Erskine to sit near him, and said that the pleaders at the bar were among the most eminent lawyers of Great Britain.

ling as a merchant, through the accident of having lent money to a friend. The latter, with failure

down to the machine-shop on Monday morning." It was many years before Jonathan escaped from the shop, to

ppy only when earnestly engaged in its performance. Happy the youth who finds the place which his dreams have pictured! If he does not fill that place, he will not fill any to the satisfaction of himself or others. Nature never lets a man rest until he has found his plac

e poor clergymen by trying to imitate their fathers who were good ones; of poor doctors and lawyers for the same reason! The country is full of men who are out of place, "disappointed, soured, ruined, out of office, out of money, out of credit, out of courage, out at elbows, out in the cold." The fact is, nearly every

es S.

ring on the sand as though he would tear himself to pieces. But look again: a huge wave breaks higher up the beach and covers the unfortunate creature. The moment his fins feel th

yer. He was so timid that he could not plead a case, but he wrote some of our finest poems. Molière found that he was not adapted to the work of a lawyer, but he lef

eir fifteenth or even before their twentieth year to decide what to do for a living. Each knocks at the portals of the mind, demanding a wonderful aptitude for some definite line of work, but it is not there. That is no reason why the duty at hand should

f responsibility to our parents or employers, ourselves, and our God, wi

ouse, or an irresistible genius for ruling men. So no one should be disappointed because he was not endowed with tremendous gifts in the cradle. His business is to do the best he can wherever his lot may be cast, and

hat shall my l

cceed. But if there be no instinct, or if it be weak or faint, one should choose cautiously along the line of his best adaptability and opportunity. No one need doubt

ng through discouragement and misinterpretation. Give every boy and girl a fair chance and reasonable encouragement, and do not condemn them because of even a large degree of d

anything was expected. He showed no talent, and had no desire to enter the army. His industry and perseverance were his only redeeming

erature. Goldsmith found himself totally unfit for the duties of a physician; but who else could have written the "Vicar of Wakefield" or the "Deserted Village"? Dr. Johnson found him very poo

sand at Plassey and laid the foundation of the British Empire in India. Sir Walter Scott was called a blockhead by his teacher. Whe

study medicine. But the silent teacher within, greater and wiser than all others, led him to the fields; and neither sickness, misf

studies. The mother's death aroused slumbering talents, as has happened in

brother, he became so studious and industrious that he could not bear to lose a moment. He read at every meal, using all the time he could get for self-improvemen

ade an ill figure who understood his own