phenson, the inventor of the locomotive engine, was a common collier
working in the mines. James Watt, the inventor of the steam-engine,
was a poor sickly child not strong enough to go to school. John
Calvin, who gave a theology to the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, which has not yet been outgrown, was tortured with disease
all his days. When were circumstances favorable to any great or good
attempt, except as they were compelled by determination and industry to
become favorable?

(_c_) Even if circumstances seem in every way favorable, industry is
necessary to success. Though we be born, as the saying is, "with a
silver spoon in our mouth," we cannot afford to dispense with work.
Unless we are hard-working, life will become a weariness to us. Work
keeps life full and happy; it drives all diseased fancies out of the
mind; it gives balance and regularity to all movements of the soul.

If then we expect to succeed in life we must make up our mind to work
hard. We must not let it be our notion of a fine lady or gentleman to
do nothing. The idle life is a miserable life; it is bound to be so.
God has promised many a blessing to industry; He has promised none to
indolence. God himself works, and He wants His children to work.

_The second thing that tends directly to success in life is a distinct
Aim_.--A man may run very hard in a race, the perspiration may stream
from his brow and every muscle be strained, but if he is not running in
a right direction, if he is running away from the goal, all his
activity will not help him. So, industrious habits are not sufficient,
unless we have a distinct idea of what we are aiming at. The world is
full of purposeless people, and such people come to nothing. Those who
have succeeded best have chosen their line and stuck to it.

One great aim, like a guiding-star above,
Which tasked strength, wisdom, stateliness, to lift
Their manhood to the height that takes the prize.
BROWNING.

(_a_) The choice of a trade or profession is of enormous importance in
settling our aim in life. Men often fail from having adopted a calling
for which they are entirely unfitted. The round man in the square hole
is a pitiful spectacle. It is difficult to lay down any special rule
in regard to the choice of a profession or business. Some are obliged
to take whatever opportunity offers, and others have to begin work at
too early an age to permit them to form a true idea