The making of a man

by W. D. Flatt

Perhaps a word here from the experience of an older man than most of those who will read this book will be helpful.

In going through the current magazines and trade journals ordinarily read by young men and women, I am impressed by the fact that they seem to be largely devoted to pastime or for showing methods of accumulating wealth, and in most of these the latter seems to be termed success. After having seen a good deal of life in its various aspects I know full well that there is no success worth mentioning in the terms of dollars. While it is necessary that we work hard, and keep everlastingly at it; while it is essential that we be thrifty and look after what we earn carefully to produce the right kind of character, it is a fact to which those who have grown out of youth will testify if they are serious, that the dollars a man has do not leave any lasting record for him.

Character is all that lives. The kind words we speak, the helpful things we do, the service we give to others willingly, the sacrifices we make cheerfully and gladly for the good of mankind, are the things which really count, and these things it has been surely proved are the things which go to make up real character.

Suppose that you who are reading this are old enough to be face to face with the realities of life. Heretofore you have been living at the home fireside, able to depend on your father and mother for help in your difficulties of whatever kind. It is as though your personal craft has been sailing on a calm mill-pond. Now you have come out of the mouth of the River of Youth and find yourself face to face with the great Ocean of Life. New responsibility will come to you. Difficulties that you did not appreciate will crop up frequently and you will not be able to turn to father and mother for help. If you are made of the right stuff you will not want to do so, but will want to sail your own course, and it is in doing so, and in getting through the storms on your own resources that will build up your character. It will be necessary to use courage, grit and determination in the battle of life. These are the things which will carry you through. But you will find that life and good fellowship when properly used will radiate themselves widely and make their influence largely felt. Let your words always be truthful. This is a bigger factor in success than most young people imagine, and if thankfulness for kindnesses received is apparent this will smooth the way a good deal.

“MEN OF TO-MORROW” AMID NATURE’S
WONDROUS STATUARY.

With everything else you must remember to play the game of life fairly. While it is only right to stand up for one’s own rights and to hold to this principle firmly it is not at all necessary to try to shift responsibility to the other fellow. There is far too much of this in the world. The man who carries himself honestly, straightforwardly, and is willing to accept the responsibility for the mistakes he is occasionally certain to make is much more likely to be awarded praise for the good things he does than the chap who is continually trying to get out of difficulty by shoving the matter to someone else’s shoulders.

Keep in mind the fact that the real things of life are the ones to be worked for, and by attempting to work up to an ideal much better progress will be made. If God gives you powers to construct, to create, to organize and to develop, be mightily thankful and do your utmost to develop these powers. Any man can be mightily useful in the world if he will seriously take hold of the talents—be they one or twenty—God gives him and uses them as best he knows how.

And remember that it is largely the little things which make up the big ones. What you do every day, what you read, your thoughts, your words, your deeds, go to make up yourself, and as you speak and think and read and do now so will you be hereafter.

If you are to win in the battle of life there must be no compromise with your better self. One is either useful to the world or is detrimental. There is no neutral point. You will be either somebody or nobody, and remember that so long as you are perfectly sincere and live according to your own knowledge and as your conscience tells you, you will be somebody, and it doesn’t make very much difference what the world thinks of you. The men who have proved themselves strongest, the men of genius, the inventors, the philosophers, the preachers, the scientists, have in hundreds of cases been men whom the people of their day laughed at. They did the best they could according to their light, cared little for what the people around them thought, and while they were probably laughed at in their day, time showed their value to the world and to their fellow men. Thus it may be with you.