“COULDN’T” AND “COULD”
While you stand deliberating which book your son shall read first, another boy has read both.—Dr. Johnson.
“Couldn’t” and “Could” were two promising boys
Who lived not a great while ago.
They had just the same playmates and just the same toys,
And just the same chances for winning life’s joys
And all that the years may bestow.
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.—Franklin.
And “Could” soon found out he could fashion his life
On lines very much as he planned;
He could cultivate goodness and guard against strife;
He could have all his deeds with good cheer to be rife,
And build him a name that would stand.
When passion is on the throne, reason is out of doors.—Matthew Henry.
But poor little “Couldn’t” just couldn’t pull through
All the trials he met with a sigh;
When a task needed doing, he couldn’t, he knew;
And hence, when he couldn’t, how could he? Could you,
If you couldn’t determine you’d try?
I wasted time, and now time doth waste me.—Shakespeare.
So “Could” just kept building his way to success,
Nor clouding his sky with a doubt,
But “Couldn’t” strayed into the slough of Distress,
Alas! and his end it is easy to guess—
Strayed in, but he couldn’t get out.
And that was the difference ’twixt “Couldn’t” and “Could”;
Each followed his own chosen plan;
And where “Couldn’t” just wouldn’t “Could” earnestly would,
And where one of them weakened the other “made good,”
And won with his watchword, “I can!”
Weak men wait for opportunities, strong men make them.—Marden.
By reading between the lines we can infer from the foregoing that what the world really wants is men—good men. But the world is old enough and wise enough to know that if it does not train up some good boys, there will be no good men, by and by. “As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.” “The child is father of the man.”
Give me insight into to-day, and you may have the antique and future worlds.—Emerson.
So the world simply wishes to inform you, here and now, that it will count on your assistance as soon as you have had sufficient time and opportunity to prepare properly for the many chances it has in store for you. It notifies you in good season of the important use it hopes to make of you. It does not wish you to be confronted suddenly with a life problem you cannot solve intelligently. You must be so well equipped that you will not make life a “fizzle.”
When I don’t know whether to fight or not, I always fight.—Nelson.
A “fizzle,” as defined by the dictionaries, is a bungling, unsuccessful undertaking.
What is a gentleman? I’ll tell you: a gentleman is one who keeps his promises made to those who cannot enforce them.—Hubbard.
Life is, or ought to be, a splendid undertaking. Some make a success of it; some make a “fizzle;” some make a sort of half-and-half. Every one who lives his or her life must make something of it. What that “something” is depends very largely on the individual person. Heredity has something to do with it; environment has something to do with it; yet we like to think it is the individual who has most to do with the finished product.
All men are to some degree “self-made,” although they are slow to admit it except in instances where the work has been well done.
When one begins to turn in bed it is time to turn out.—Wellington.
The loser declares it is Fate’s hard plan,
But the winner—ho, ho!—he’s a “self-made” man.
It is unfair for the loser to blame others for his deficiencies and delinquencies. No one’s reputation is likely to suffer much lasting injury as long as he keeps his character unspotted. What others may say of us is not of so much moment; the important question is, “Is it true?”
When I found I was black, I resolved to live as if I were white, and so force men to look below my skin.—Alexandre Dumas.
Of strife others make us, we’ve little to fear
Because we can surely defeat it;
Few persons get into hot water, ’tis clear,
But they furnish the fuel to heat it.
Impossible? I trample upon impossibilities!—Pitt.
On the other hand the winner is ungrateful when he credits to his own ability the help and good influence he has derived from his associates and his surroundings. No one lives by, to, or for himself, alone. A great man adds to his greatness by generously praising those who have aided in his advancement.
We are, most of us, selfishly slow to confess
How much others aid us in winning success;
But the Fourth of July and the oyster must see
What failures, without any crackers, they’d be.
When all is holiday, there are no holidays.—Lamb.
This timely notice telling you what the world is going to ask you to perform is as if you were told to prepare to take an extended and important journey. It would require some time for you to procure a trunk and a traveling-bag and to select wearing apparel suitable for the undertaking. Then, too, you would need to study maps and time-tables so as to select the best lines of travel and to make advantageous connections with trains and steamships. Furthermore, it would be for your best interests to read books describing the countries through which you were to pass, and to learn as much as possible regarding their peoples and customs.
Let’s take the instant by the forward top.—Shakespeare.
I have generally found that the man who is good at an excuse is good for nothing else.—Franklin.
I feel and grieve, but, by the grace of God, I fret at nothing.—John Wesley.
As a matter of fact you are preparing to start on an extended and important journey. You are going out into the big world, by and by, to do business. You are going into partnership with the world, after a fashion. You are to put into the business your honesty, industry, integrity, and ability, and in return for your contributions, the world is to bestow upon you all the honor, fame, goodwill, and happiness of mind that your manner of living your life shall merit. The world is only too willing to bargain for the highest and noblest and best products of the human mind with any one who can