So, when John Henry Jones, the hat-maker’s son, shows a disinclination to go to school his father is pretty sure to take a shot at him something like this: “Either go to school, or go to work. _You can’t lay around and loaf._” Now there was where John’s father got off on the wrong foot. There and then he missed his chance for a real heart to heart talk and at a time when his boy, from pure lack of reasoning ability, had worked his mind into a bad state. Then was the time to have dropped his tools and straightened out the kinks in the youngster’s noggin. A little friendly counsel might easily have shown the folly of going out into the world without _brain tools_ to work with. As for the boy, his whole future most likely hung upon the result of an interview inside _the first doorway he entered_. Not possessing a proper amount of mental training his natural tendency became his sole guardian at the supreme moment of his career--_the start_. Surely it would be a matter of luck how he came through. His future, in a sense, was in the hands of strangers and a strange environment. In these days people are employed to fill a certain niche. If they fill it, they are allowed to _keep on filling it_. There’s little chance to look up from the job--and when the day’s work ends there’s little chance to look around for another. Thus if John Henry was set to work in a menial position at the beginning he might never be regarded as eligible for a position leading toward real advancement. He came without knowledge and for lack of opportunity he gained none. Being a perfectly good _sweeper_ and _duster_ he remained to sweep and dust until, in despair, he tries for a job at another place. [Illustration: Tweedle-dee--Tweedle-dum] “But,” you say, “the example is not trustworthy. Look at the great men who started out in a small way. They are now the bulwark of the nation.” Perhaps true, but times have changed radically. It is the _boy graduate_ that is being sought after now. “Big Business” is bidding for the annual graduating classes long in advance. It wants _trained minds_ to fill _brain positions_--and that’s why the college man and the graduates of technical schools forge ahead so quickly. They literally run over the half-educated, untrained workers who sit and wonder at their own lack of advancement. It’s not a matter to pout about. There’s only one thing to do--_work out of it_. A special course in the thing the mind and talent is best fitted for is the way out. Why wait for “lightning” to strike us? Night schools abound in all branches of learning. Many a man has turned himself into a brilliant lawyer, expert accountant, or famous editor, through _night school work_. Diligence and perseverance is the price of success, and only through success do we find life entirely worth while.