y presumption, than that
of so many young men and women who, on setting out in life, conclude
that it is no use to mark out for themselves a course, and then set
themselves with strenuous effort to attain some worthy end; who
conclude, therefore, to commit themselves blindly to the current of
circumstances. Is it anything surprising that those who aim at nothing,
accomplish nothing in life? No better result could reasonably be
expected. Twenty clerks in a store; twenty apprentices in a ship-yard;
twenty young men in a city or village--all want to get on in the world;
most of them expect to succeed. One of the clerks will become a partner,
and make a fortune; one of the young men will find his calling and
succeed. But what of the other nineteen? They will fail; and miserably
fail, some of them. They expect to succeed, but they aim at nothing;
content to live for the day only, consequently, little effort is put
forth, and they reap a reward accordingly.

Luck! There is no luck about it. The thing is almost as certain as the
"rule of three." The young man who will distance his competitors is he
who will master his business; who lives within his income, saving his
spare money; who preserves his reputation; who devotes his leisure hours
to the acquisition of knowledge; and who cultivates a pleasing manner,
thus gaining friends. We hear a great deal about luck. If a man succeeds
finely in business, he is said to have "good luck." He may have labored
for years with this one object in view, bending every energy to attain
it. He may have denied himself many things, and his seemingly sudden
success may be the result of years of hard work, but the world looks in
and says: "He is lucky." Another man plunges into some hot-house scheme
and loses: "He is unlucky." Another man's nose is perpetually on the
grind-stone; he also has "bad luck." No matter if he follows inclination
rather than judgment, if he fails, as he might know he would did he but
exercise one-half the judgment he does possess, yet he is never willing
to ascribe the failure to himself--he invariably ascribes it to bad
luck, or blames some one else.

Luck! There is no such factor in the race for success. Rufus Choate once
said, "There is little in the theory of luck which will bring man
success; but work, guided by thought, will remove mountains or tunnel
them." Carlyle said, "Man know thy work, then do it." How often do we
see the sign: "Gentlemen WILL not; OTHERS MUS