s. Young men who have
learned how to harness the powers of nature and guide them to do their
will are apt to belittle the difficulties they have yet to overcome,
and have a false impression of the problems of life. This feeling is
shown to a minimum extent by graduates of the Stevens Institute, on
account of their careful practical training, in connection with the
thorough study of principles; but it has been thought best for one
from the outside world to supplement such teaching by calling to mind
instances which may have a useful counteracting effect, and, like
parables, serve the purpose of illustrative instruction.

_Gentlemen of the Class of '87_: It was the pleasure of the speaker to
address the class of '79, under the title of "How to Succeed," some
words of counsel and warning, which, if they left an impression of
severity at the time, were apparently so well received afterward that
he has been tempted to continue the general subject, with the title of
"Your Future Problems." The notation of your future problems will not
be found at once among the known quantities, but with _x_, _y_, and
_z_, at the other end of the alphabet. Often word symbols will be
applicable, expressing at times disappointment and pain, at other
times renewed effort, and finally the active phases of individual
thought and exertion.

The first serious problem with many of you will be to secure
satisfactory engagements. This problem cannot be illustrated by
parables. It needs, in general, patient, unremitting, and frequently
long continued effort. It may be that the fame of some of you, that
have already acquired the happy faculty of making yourselves
immediately useful, has already gone abroad and the coveted positions
been already assured. To be frank, we cannot promise you even a bed of
roses. We have in mind an instance where a superior authority in a
large business enterprise who had great respect, as he should have,
for the attainments of young gentlemen who have had the opportunities
of a technical education, deliberately ordered out a competent
mechanical engineer, familiar with the designs required in a large
repair shop, and sent in his place a young gentleman fresh from school
and flushed with hope, but who from the very nature of the case could
know little or nothing of his duties at that particular place. He was
practically alone in the drawing room, and did not know where to find
such drawings as were required, and candor requ