f judging men, so that any man of intelligence can
discover genius--or just native ability--in himself and others.

As the result of our ignorance, great possibilities lie undeveloped in
nearly all men. Self-expression is smothered in uncongenial toil. Parents
and teachers, groping in the dark, have long been training natural-born
artists to become mechanics, natural-born business men to become
musicians, and boys and girls with great aptitudes for agriculture and
horticulture to become college professors, lawyers, and doctors. Splendid
human talent, amounting in some cases to positive genius, is worse than
wasted as a result.

In our experience, covering years of careful investigation and the
examination of many thousands of individuals, we have seen so much of the
tragedy of the misfit that it seems at times almost universal. The records
of one thousand persons taken at random from our files show that 763, or
76.3 per cent, felt that they were in the wrong vocations. Of these 414
were thirty-five years old or older. Most of these, when questioned as to
why they had entered upon vocations for which they had so little natural
aptitude, stated that they had either drifted along lines of least
resistance or had been badly advised by parents, teachers, or employers.

We knew a wealthy father, deaf to all pleas from his children, who spent
thousands of dollars upon what he thought was a musical education for his
daughter, including several years in Europe. The young lady could not
become a musician. The aptitude for music was not in her. But she was
unusually talented in mathematics and appreciation of financial values,
and could have made a marked success had she been permitted to gratify her
constantly reiterated desire for a commercial career. This same father,
with the same obstinacy, insisted that his son go into business. The young
man was so passionately determined to make a career of music that he was
a complete failure in business and finally embezzled several thousand
dollars from his employer in the hope of making his escape to Europe and
securing a musical education. Here were two human lives of marked talent
as completely ruined and wasted as a well-intentioned but ignorant and
obstinate parent could accomplish that end.

A few years ago a young man was brought to us by his friends for advice.
He had been educated for the law and then inherited from his father a
considerable sum of money. Having no taste for