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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1877)
tf ClIOICK OK PltOKKSSIOX. i-U !" 5 T'r fr well hor capacity, and without some ex. traordinary obstacle, his trip is sure So wc, before entering the active strife of life on our own responsibility, before launch ing our bark into the great unknown, are tried. Yes, are tried in our social inter course, in our daily walks, in the various class rooms, in the society halls, all this is but a preparatory course, employed as a means which, says Emerson, " will bring success." The College is the means of developing special faculties. Some we sec employing their mathematical skill, others excelling in Literature, still others in Science,whileall who show extraordina ry ability in one direction at the same time display a weakness in others. The cases are rare where you find one excelling in all these brandies of culture. Hear Em. erson; "A man is like a bit of Labrador Spar which has no lustre as you turn it in your hand until you come to a cer tain angle, then it shows deep and beauti ful colors." There is no universal applicability in men, but each has his special talent and the mastery of successful men consists in keeping them where they shall be most often practiced. Says Math" i'vs: "The first thing to be done by him who would succeed in life, is to make a wise choice of professions." And this, we appiehend, is one of the most diflicult, if not the most important, problems which he is called upon to settle, now he is to decide which angle shows the deepest colors. This he cannot trust t parents, friends or teachers. Long should he pon der the broadness of his shoulders, learn accurately the weight they can sustain, for, on this decision depends, to a great extent his success; and, how often is this decision biased by ambitious parents, who desire that their sou should forsake the more lowly walks oflife and display his greatness by the choice of some noble profession. So, he is prodded through a course of Latin, regardless of his own choice and fitness, settles down in his pro fession to drag out a miserable existence and is chagrined in the end by a failure in life. Thus, results innumerable cases from this and similar causes. I presume, in making this choice, at least two ques tions arise, out of which spring others. First, will it furnish us a respectable living? Second, will it serve us a means for pur suing that course of study giving us that degree of. culture for which so many seek ? These things being favorable, the ques tion must be settled as to ability, course of preparation, physical strength, natural ad aptation. For, says Mathews, '"Our wish es are presentiments of our capabilities1 is a noble maxim." How often do we fail to gee both sides of the picture m any pro fession, looking only at the brightest lines, repelling the darker scenes, smooihing over the most unfavorable parts. And enter the calling only half awake to some of the stern realities. Hut ere you have followed it long you realize the real h nature of your profession, and find it not what you were looking for. "If you choose to represent the various callings in lite,', says Sidney Smith, "by holes in a table of different shapes, some triangu'ar, some circular, some square, some oblong, and the persons acting the various parts.by bits of wood of the same shape, we shall find generally the iriangu lar bit in the oblong hole, the oblong bit in the triangular hole, the square bit trying to squeeze into the same hoje." We are all desirous of bettering our situation, eager to grasp something higher, anxious for something better. It was this desire that led the Pilgrim fathers to cross the wide expanse of water, it was this desire that led Panthadolaon to wander over Florida in search of the fabled spring, the waters of which would cause the burden of years to fall from him. It is this that leads the son of the farmer to the counting room, it is this that induces college stu dents to abandon their course on the very threshold to engage in Law, Mcdccinc or Journalism. Let us look to it that by this