,
and this fact alone is not without its confusions. Yet if the young man
decides for a mining career, say, the choice may take him, after
graduating, off to South Africa, whereas if his choice lay in the
electrical field he may never get any farther from home than the nearest
electrical manufacturing plant in his town or state--and remain there
for the duration of his life. This making of a choice is a momentous
thing in a prospective engineer's life. It should be approached with all
caution, and with due regard for the nature of the life he would lead
after graduating from school. If he have a penchant for outdoor life,
then the choice, in a way, is easy. He should select mining or civil
engineering as his particular vocation. If he be of those who prefer to
remain more or less indoors in the practice of his profession,
mechanical or electrical engineering should be his choice.

These are the major advantages or disadvantages, depending upon the
point of view. The minor ones are not so easily stated. Speaking always
for the young man without a decided preference, it is the writer's
opinion that the prospective student should analyze his particular
feelings in the matter and decide accordingly. Large projects may
interest him more than smaller ones. In this regard, he will
find greater satisfaction in following the profession dealing
with large projects, which is, of course, the civil engineering
profession--although mining, too, has its large ventures, which,
however, do not "break" as frequently as they do in civil engineering.
On the other hand, the young man may find himself attracted to the
development of small propositions, such as adding-machines and
typewriters and sewing-machines, and the like. Finding himself attracted
to these no less important phases of engineering than the development of
mines or the opening up of new country, the young man can, of course,
make no better choice than to enter the mechanical or the electrical
field.

It all depends upon the point of view. Nor is there any hard-and-fast
rule tying a man down to a single branch once he finds that he does not
like it, or finds that he likes one of the other branches better, after
he has given his chosen branch a trial in the years immediately
following graduation. Not a few mining graduates drift over into
straight civil work after leaving school, and, likewise, not a few in
the electrical branches find themselves in time pursuing mechanical