oy who always had a plan. He had a plan for studying his lessons; he
had a plan which showed what time he had resolved to get up in the
morning; how many hours he would devote to study; what portions of the
day he would give to play, and how much to work. So each and every day
he had his plans. At the beginning of the year he had his plans for each
month of the year.

The other boy never had any plans. Everything went along just as it
happened. The boy who always had the plans had no money; his father was
poor. But the boy who had no plans had plenty of money, for his father
was rich. These two boys both became merchants, had stores in the same
square in a large city. The one who had the plans always knew what he
purposed to do, before the season began. He knew just when to purchase
his goods for the spring trade; he knew when to sell them; everything
was done methodically and with a plan. As the result of his thoughtful
plans he soon began to accumulate wealth, obtained a place of confidence
in the minds of business men, and eventually became one of the most
honored and influential men in the city. With the other boy it was not
so. He bought his goods whenever he chanced to see something that he
fancied; often bought too much of one thing; had no method in business,
and consequently in the course of a few years lost what money he had and
died a poor man.

Let me hope that you will always have a plan for everything you do. God
is the God of order, and we should also be orderly in all that we do.

[Illustration: Plans for Building a Life.]

These plans of the architect, when followed by the builders, will tell
the stonemason, the bricklayer, the millman and the carpenter, the
plasterer and the painter, just what each is to do, and all will be able
to work in harmony, so as to secure a nice, comfortable and desirable
home when the work is completed.

Now, we are all laying foundations in this world, and the perfect
character cannot be obtained until in eternity. So when you come to plan
for life, do not think that your stay in this world is to be all there
is of your life. Let your plans take in eternity. If they leave out
eternity they leave out the greatest portion of your existence. If you
leave out the idea of eternity you will be like the man who simply lays
the foundation and then never builds a house on it, and there, year
after year, the foundation stands as the monument of his folly.

But you may desire to