Pushing to the Front | Page 9

but industry makes the
commonest chances golden.
"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads
on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows
and in miseries; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose
our ventures."
"'Tis never offered twice; seize, then, the hour When fortune smiles,
and duty points the way; Nor shrink aside to 'scape the specter fear, Nor
pause, though pleasure beckon from her bower; But bravely bear thee
onward to the goal."
CHAPTER II
WANTED--A MAN
"Wanted; men: Not systems fit and wise, Not faiths with rigid eyes, Not
wealth in mountain piles, Not power with gracious smiles, Not even the
potent pen; Wanted; men."
All the world cries, Where is the man who will save us? We want a
man! Don't look so far for this man. You have him at hand. This
man,--it is you, it is I, it is each one of us! . . . How to constitute one's
self a man? Nothing harder, if one knows not how to will it; nothing
easier, if one wills it.--ALEXANDRE DUMAS.
Diogenes sought with a lantern at noontide in ancient Athens for a

perfectly honest man, and sought in vain. In the market place he once
cried aloud, "Hear me, O men"; and, when a crowd collected around
him, he said scornfully: "I called for men, not pygmies."
Over the door of every profession, every occupation, every calling, the
world has a standing advertisement: "Wanted--A Man."
Wanted, a man who will not lose his individuality in a crowd, a man
who has the courage of his convictions, who is not afraid to say "No,"
though all the world say "Yes."
Wanted, a man who, though he is dominated by a mighty purpose, will
not permit one great faculty to dwarf, cripple, warp, or mutilate his
manhood; who will not allow the over-development of one faculty to
stunt or paralyze his other faculties.
Wanted, a man who is larger than his calling, who considers it a low
estimate of his occupation to value it merely as a means of getting a
living. Wanted, a man who sees self-development, education and
culture, discipline and drill, character and manhood, in his occupation.
A thousand pulpits vacant in a single religious denomination, a
thousand preachers standing idle in the market place, while a thousand
church committees scour the land for men to fill those same vacant
pulpits, and scour in vain, is a sufficient indication, in one direction at
least, of the largeness of the opportunities of the age, and also of the
crying need of good men.
Wanted, a man of courage who is not a coward in any part of his
nature.
Wanted, a man who is well balanced, who is not cursed with some little
defect of weakness which cripples his usefulness and neutralizes his
powers.
Wanted, a man who is symmetrical, and not one-sided in his
development, who has not sent all the energies of his being into one
narrow specialty and allowed all the other branches of his life to wither

and die. Wanted, a man who is broad, who does not take half views of
things; a man who mixes common sense with his theories, who does
not let a college education spoil him for practical, every-day life; a man
who prefers substance to show, and one who regards his good name as
a priceless treasure.
Wanted, a man "who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but
whose passions are trained to heed a strong will, the servant of a tender
conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or of
art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself."
The world wants a man who is educated all over; whose nerves are
brought to their acutest sensibility; whose brain is cultured, keen,
incisive, broad; whose hands are deft; whose eyes are alert, sensitive,
microscopic; whose heart is tender, magnanimous, true.
The whole world is looking for such a man. Although there are millions
out of employment, yet it is almost impossible to find just the right man
in almost any department of life, and yet everywhere we see the
advertisement: "Wanted--A Man."
Rousseau, in his celebrated essay on education, says; "According to the
order of nature, men being equal, their common vocation is the
profession of humanity; and whoever is well educated to discharge the
duty of a man can not be badly prepared to fill any of those offices that
have a relation to him. It matters little to me whether my pupil be
designed for the army, the pulpit, or the bar. Nature has destined us to
the offices of human life antecedent to our destination concerning