Rising in the world

by T. S. Arthur

"And now, my son," said old Mr. Hudson, as they were all together that evening, "having passed successfully through your long day of preparation for future usefulness in the world, the question as to the next step comes up. What are your thoughts in respect to the future? Have you turned your eyes in that direction?"

"I have thought a good deal of the future," replied the young man, "but without arriving at any definite conclusion. Of course I wish to consult you on the subject. Up to this time I have been entirely dependent upon you for everything. This must now cease, and I must, hereafter, depend upon my own exertions, which, at first, will meet with but poor returns. The first thing to determine will be, where to locate myself."

"Where but in this city?" said the mother, quickly. "You will not go away from Philadelphia."

"A young physician has but a poor chance in a large city like this, mother," replied Lloyd. "I might sit in my office for years without getting practice sufficient to support me. But in some country town at the West or South, I will doubtless find an opening of sufficient importance to enable me to sustain myself."

"All that involves serious considerations," remarked Mr. Hudson. "As Lloyd says, he ought now to sustain himself but if, in the nature of things, is cannot be done without too great a sacrifice, he must be sustained for a time longer. A practice in this city, if it can be made, will be worth securing, even at considerable cost, for in a city like Philadelphia, a physician of eminent abilities may rise into a much more distinguished position, and be much more useful, than he can in a small country town, where everything is circumscribed."

"I am afraid you overrate my ability, father," said the young man, with the modesty he felt. "Eminence in the medical profession in a city like this, is attained only by the few."

"By the few, my son, who, to good natural abilities, add untiring industry and patient thought. You may rise high if you will; but all the hindrances lie with yourself, and may be overcome. If you deem your studies at an end when you get your diploma, then you will not rise above a mere plodding physician, who is retrograding every year, instead of advancing. But, if you remain a student, and, year after year, add to your stock of information, at the same time that you endeavor to make all practical, eminence will come as a natural result."

"That I know, as yet, nothing, I am deeply conscious," replied Lloyd. "No one, therefore, can feel more sensibly than I do the necessity for continuing the study of my profession with unremitting assiduity; and not only of what directly appertains to it, but of all that has an indirect bearing upon it. As to the eminence, I am content to let that come, if ever it does come, as the consequence of well-directed efforts."

"That is the true spirit, my son," replied Mr. Hudson. "Think not of eminence as the end of your exertions, but rather as a consequence that may or may not flow from them but which, if it ever does come, will give you the ability to be more widely useful. If this be your spirit, I incline to the opinion that you had better remain in Philadelphia, where the field is wider, and the opportunities greater."

"But I cannot think of burdening you longer. It would not be right."