task. If you put
your manhood into your labor, you will soon be given something better
to do.

This question of a right aim in life has become exceedingly perplexing
in our complicated age. It is not a difficult problem to solve when
one is the son of a Zulu or the daughter of a Bedouin. The condition
of the savage hardly admits of but one choice; but as one rises higher
in the scale of civilization and creeps nearer to the great centers of
activity, the difficulty of a correct decision increases with its
importance. In proportion as one is hard pressed in competition is it
of the sternest necessity for him to choose the right aim, so as to be
able to throw the whole of his energy and enthusiasm into the struggle
for success. The dissipation of strength or hope is fatal to
prosperity even in the most attractive field.

Gladstone says there is a limit to the work that can be got out of a
human body, or a human brain, and he is a wise man who wastes no energy
on pursuits for which he is not fitted.

"Blessed is he who has found his work," says Carlyle. "Let him ask no
other blessedness. He has a work--a life purpose; he has found it, and
will follow it."

In choosing an occupation, do not ask yourself how you can make the
most money or gain the most notoriety, but choose that work which will
call out all your powers and develop your manhood into the greatest
strength and symmetry. Not money, not notoriety, not fame even, but
power is what you want. Manhood is greater than wealth, grander than
fame. Character is greater than any career. Each faculty must be
educated, and any deficiency in its training will appear in whatever
you do. The hand must be educated to be graceful, steady, and strong.
The eye must be educated to be alert, discriminating, and microscopic.
The heart must be educated to be tender, sympathetic, and true. The
memory must be drilled for years in accuracy, retention, and
comprehensiveness. The world does not demand that you be a lawyer,
minister, doctor, farmer, scientist, or merchant; it does not dictate
what you shall do, but it does require that you be a master in whatever
you undertake. If you are a master in your line, the world will
applaud you and all doors will fly open to you. But it condemns all
botches, abortions, and failures.

"Whoever is well educated to discharge the duty of a man," says
Rousseau, "cannot be badly prepared to fill any of those offices that
have rela