t ought to be pleasant to any male
creature--what more can he want? Just go right ahead with faith in
God, believing in all the virtues and keeping up your nerve. But if
you get to pitying yourself, you are lost, and ought to be.

Furthermore, do not succumb to the fiction that there are fewer
"chances" for young men now than there used to be. Never was there a
period when there were so many opportunities as there are this very
day--_high-grade_ opportunities. They are for high-grade men--and that
is what you are, is it not? If not, why not? The calls for men of fine
equipment daily rise from every business, and are never satisfied.

And these calls are for young men, too. Indeed, it is not the young
man, but the old and middle-aged man who has the right to complain.
The exactions of modern business are discriminating in favor of the
man under forty. There are calls for all kinds of men. But the
fiercest demand is for first-class men. You have only to be a
_first-class man_ in order to be sought for by scores of firms and
corporations--and on your own terms. No! it is not the fact that there
are no chances for young men to-day. The chances are all around you.

CHAPTER XII

THE YOUNG MAN'S SECOND WIND; OR FACING THE WORLD AT FIFTY

Life has three tragedies: loss of honor, loss of health, and the black
conclusion of men past middle life who think they have failed--played
the game and lost. The young man starting out in life has my heart;
but the man past fifty who feels that he has failed has my heart
absolutely and with emphasis. Apparently he has so much to contend
against--the onsweep of the world, the pitying attitude of those of
his own age who have succeeded, and, over all, his secret feeling of
despair. But the last is the only fatal element in his problem.

As a matter of fact, the man past middle life who has not achieved
distinct success very possibly has only been "finding himself," to use
Mr. Kipling's expression. Perhaps he has only been growing. Certainly
he has been accumulating experience, knowledge, and the effective
wisdom which only these can give. And if his failure has not been
because he is a fraud, and because people found it out--if he has
been, and is, genuine--it may be that he has been unconsciously
preparing for continuous, enduring, and possibly great success, if he
only will.

I should say that the very first thing for this man to do is to see
that he does not get soured. That