How to Succeed, Rosetta Dunigan [interesting books to read in english txt] 📗

affecting to underrate what he has done. He prefers to act rather than to talk, to be busy rather than to seem, above all things is distinguished by his deep insight and sympathy, his quick perception of an attention to those little and [6] apparently insignificant things that may cause pleasure or pain to others. In giving his opinions he does not dogmatize. He listens patiently and respectfully to all other men, and, if compelled to dissent from their opinions, acknowledges his fallibility and asserts his own views in such a manner as to command the respect of all who hear him. Frankness and cordiality mark all his intercourse with his fellows and, however high his station, the humblest man feels instantly at ease in his presence. The success or failure of one’s plans have often turned upon the address and manner of the man. If we wish to be successful men and women, we must first be in possession of both politeness and manners. POVERTY MAY BE A BITTER DRAUGHT, YET IT OFTEN IS A TONIC.

The majority of the men of note in this country are not the sons of those fathers who could give them all they want, and much more than they should have, but are those who were brought up in cottages and cabins cutting their way through difficulties on every side to their present commanding position.

It is not prosperity so much as advertising, not wealth so much as poverty, that stimulates the perseverance of strong and healthy natures, rouses their energies and develops their character. Indeed, misfortune and poverty have frequently converted an indolent votary of society into a useful member of the community and made him a moving power in the great workshop of the world, teaching men and developing the powers which Nature has bestowed on them.

It can’t be too often repeated that it is not the blessings of life, its sunshine and calms, that make men, but its rugged experiences, its storms and trials. Thousands of men are bemoaning present indigence who might have won riches and honor had they only been compelled by early poverty to develop their manhood. Poverty does more, perhaps, than anything else to develop the energetic, self-reliant trait of character, without which the highest ability makes but sorry work of life’s battles.

Of all poverty that of the mind is the most deplorable, and is at the same time without excuse. Every one who wills it can lay in a rich store of mental wealth. The poor man’s purse may be empty, but he has as much gold in the sunset, and as much silver in the moon, as anybody. Wealth of heart is not dependent upon wealth of purse.

Thus the evils of poverty are much exaggerated, and the evils, if evils they be, are often all for our own ultimate good. [7] Poverty is the great test of civility and touch-stone of friendship. It is one of the mysteries of our life that genius, the noblest gift of God to man, is nourished by poverty.

THE VICE OF SELFISHNESS DISPLAYS ITSELF IN MANY WAYS.

The selfish person lives as if the world were made altogether for him, and not he for the world, to take in everything and part with nothing. Unselfish and noble acts are the most radiant epochs in the history of souls, when wrought in earliest youth, they lie in the memory of age.

Selfishness contracts and narrows our benevolence and causes us, like serpents, to infold ourselves within ourselves, and to turn out our stings to all the world besides. As frost to the bud and blight to the blossom, even such is self-interest to friendship, for confidence cannot dwell where selfishness is porter at the gate.

Selfishness is the bone of all life and dwarfs all the better nature of man. It takes from him that feeling of kindly sympathy for others’ good, which is one of the most pleasing traits of manhood, and in itself sets up self as the one whose good is to be chiefly sought. These withering effects are to be seen not only in the high road and public places of life, but in the nooks and bylanes as well. Not alone among conquerors and kings, but among the humble and obscure in the unsanctified lust of wealth.

As heat changes the hitherto brittle metal into the elastic yielding, yet deadly Damascus blade, so when the demon of avarice finds lodgment in the heart of men, it changes all his better nature.

It may find him delighted to good and relieving the wants of others; it leaves him one whose whole energy and power are turned to advancement of self alone.

THE GREATEST MISFORTUNE OF ALL IS NOT TO BE ABLE TO BEAR MISFORTUNE.

Heaven in its mercy has placed the fountain of wisdom in the hidden and concealed depths of the soul, that the children of misfortune might seek and find in its healthful waters the antidote and cordial of their cares. Knowledge and sorrow are blended together, just as ignorance and folly.

Man is like a sword in a shop window. Men that look upon the perfect blade do not dream of the process by which it was completed. Man is a sword; daily life is the workshop and God is the artificer, and the trials and sorrows of life the very [8] things that fashion the man. When borne down by trials they are sent only for instructions.

In youth we look forward, the future appears calm as we approach manhood and womanhood life changes its appearance and becomes tempestuous and rough, as the ocean changes before the storm. In the changes of life real joy and grief are never far apart.

Trials come in a thousand different forms and many avenues are open to their approach. They come with the warm throbbing of our youthful lives, keep pace with the measured tread of manhood’s noon, and depart not from the descending footsteps of decrepitude age. We may not hope to be entirely free from either disciplinary trials or the fiery darts of the enemy until we are through with life’s burdens. Men may be so old that ambition has no chain, but they are never too old to experience trials. Misfortune gathers around great men as storms do around great mountains, but, like them, they break the storms and purify the air. Those who have had misfortune are like those who know many languages. They have learned to understand and be understood by all. Time is the rider that breaks youth. To the young how bright the world looks—how full of novelty and enjoyment. But as years pass on they are found to abound in sorrowful scenes as well as those pleasant scenes of toil, suffering, difficulty and perhaps misfortune and failure. Happy are they who can pass through misfortune with a firm mind and a pure heart, encountering trials with cheerfulness and standing erect beneath even the heaviest burdens.

Misfortune is a crown of thorns, but it becomes a wreath of light on the brow which it has lacerated. Oh, it is a cross on which the spirit groans. Let us learn to be able to bear our misfortune, because every Calvary has an Olivet. To every place of crucifixion there is likewise a place of ascension. So to be successful in this life we must be able to bear misfortunes.

ADVERSITY THE TOUCH STONE OF CHARACTER.

At a superficial view it appears that adversity happens to all alike, without regard to rank or condition. People are continually rising and falling in all degrees of association. We often see men of high expectations cut down and left to struggle with despair and ruin. Much of the most useful work done by men and women has been amidst afflictions—sometimes as a relief from it, sometimes as a sense of duty overwhelming their personal sorrows.

[9] There beats not a heart but that has felt the force of adversity. There is not an eye but has witnessed many scenes of sorrow. How can we exercise the grace of contentment if all things succeed well, or that of forgiveness if we have no enemies! Sad accidents and a state of adversity are the school of virtue. It reduces our spirits to soberness and our counsels to moderation. God, who governs the world in mercy and wisdom, never would have suffered the virtuous ones to endure so many afflictions did He not intend that they should be the seminary of comfort, the nursery of virtue, the exercise of wisdom and the trial of patience, venturing for a crown and the gate of glory. Adversity sent by Providence must be submitted to in a humble spirit, or they will not conduce to lasting good. As the musician straineth at his strings, and yet breaketh none of them, but maketh thereby a sweet melody and better concord. Adversity is the medicine of the mind. If it is not pleasing it is wholesome. No soul is so obscure that God does not take thought for its schooling. The sun is the central light of the solar system; but it has a mission to the ripening corn and the purpling cluster on the vine, as well as the ponderous planet. The sunshine that comes fluttering through the morning mists with healing on its wings, and charging all the birds to singing, should have also a message from God to sad hearts. No soul is so grief-laden that it may not be lifted to sources of heavenly comfort by recognizing the divine love in the recurrence of earthly blessings. In a great adversity there is no light either in the mind or in the sun, for when the inward light is fed with fragrant oil there can be no darkness, though clouds should cover the sun. But when, like a sacred lamp in the temple, the inward light is quenched, there is no light outwardly, though a thousand suns should preside in the heavens.

TRUE DIGNITY OF MIND.

True dignity of mind is always modest in expression. The grace of an action is gone as soon as we are convinced that it was done only that persons might applaud the act. But he who is truly great, and does good because it is his duty, is not at all anxious that others should witness his acts. His aim is to do good because it is right.

It is impossible to conceive of a truly great character and not think of one with the spirit of kindness. True dignity of spirit will not dwell with the haughty in manner. True dignity delights to take up its abode with the generous and those who seek to relieve the misery of others as they would their own. As long as human nature is a mass of contradictions this is [10] not to be wondered at. But the influence of such men is ever working, and will sooner or later show itself. Men such as these are the true life-blood of the community to which they belong. True dignity of character is within the reach of all. It is the result of patient endeavors after a life of goodness and, when acquired, cannot be swept unless by the consent of its possessor. Wealth may be