Nothing is more foolish than the idea that any schooling is worthless
which is obtained in schools after the regular school hours; and more
than one attempt has been made to enact laws which shall hinder from
practice physicians and lawyers who have been obliged to get their
knowledge through channels other than the conventional. The victory of
the general does not depend upon the place where he got his military
training or the time of the day when he studied. Oliver Cromwell, the
greatest general of his day, was a farmer until his fortieth year, when
he entered the army of the Parliament against Charles I. The only
question that concerns the nation that puts a general at the head of
its forces is, has he the powers that shall make us victorious?
Men in distress don't ask for the pedigree of the life-saver, nor do
they stop to inquire when he graduated. Don't be frightened off by
sticklers for what is customary. Knowledge is the right of the poorest
boy and girl in America, and it can be had by the humblest in the land.
Be convinced of this and enter the race. The world steps aside and lets
the man pass who knows where he is going; all the world will shout to
clear the track when they see a determined giant is coming. In choosing
your career, don't be limited to the old professions. There are to-day
many more occupations calling for the highest skill and offering the
highest inducements than there were twenty years ago, and these
positions are steadily increasing. Many occupations which were recently
regarded almost as menial have risen almost to professions--cooking,
agriculture, decorative art, forestry, nursing, sanitation, designing
apparel, and countless others; and the men and women qualified for these
are surer of better positions than formerly, and far better rewards.
But the youth who is imbued with the determination to _be_ right and to
_do_ right must never lose sight of this truth--that life is vastly
more than place and meat and raiment. Living for self is suicide; men
that are men get far greater enjoyment and far greater reward from
making life a blessing for those who come their way than they get from
all other things combined. No man lives so truly for himself as he who
lives for other people, and one of the chiefest purposes of education is
that it gives larger views of life and adds greater power to serve
humanity. The man who is really in earnest to make his life count is
studiously observant. Each day and each place multiplies his means of
happiness for himself and others.
THE END
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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