What the world wants is "the right
man in the right place." What each man wants is to find his right
place.

But the fact that man may, and often does, make a wrong choice, that he
may try to traverse the wrong path, to accomplish the wrong work, and do
many things in the wrong way, is a clear proof that his course in life
is not arbitrarily fixed, that he has been left to the freedom of his
own will, and may therefore fall short of the _best_, though he may be
fortunate enough to attain the good or the better. Hence devolves upon
every one the responsibility of putting and finding an answer to the
question--How shall I make the best of life?

And let me say here in passing that I venture to address young men on
this subject, not because I conceive myself to be gifted with superior
wisdom, but because, being an old man, I stand on the heights and
vantage ground of Experience, and looking back, can see the rocks and
shoals and quicksands in life's ocean, which have damaged and well-nigh
wrecked myself. I would not only try my hand as a pilot to guide, but
as, in some sense, a buoy or beacon to warn from dangers that are not
only unseen but unsuspected.

Every young man of ordinary common sense will at least aim at what he
believes to be best in life, and the question will naturally arise--What
_is_ best?

If a youth's chief idea of felicity is to "have a good time;" to enjoy
himself to the utmost; to cram as much of sport, fun, and adventure into
his early manhood as possible, with a happy-go-lucky indifference as to
the future, he is not yet in a frame of mind to consider our question at
all. I feel disposed to say to him--in paraphrase--"be serious, man,
or, if ye can't be serious, be as serious as ye can," while we consider
a subject that is no trifling matter.

What, then, _is_ best? I reply--So to live and work that we shall do
the highest good of which we are capable to the world, and, in the doing
thereof, achieve the highest possible happiness to ourselves, and to
those with whom we are connected. In the end, to leave the world better
than we found it.

Now, there is only one foundation on which such a life can be reared,
and that foundation is God.

To attempt the building on any other, or to neglect a foundation
altogether, is to solicit and ensure disaster.

But supposing, young man, that you agree with me in this; are fully
alive to the importance of the question, and are desirous of obtainin