Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year Part 32

He who reads and reads And does not what he knows, Is he who plows and plows And never sows.

SAILING AND FAILING

BY HAMILTON W. MABIE

There are two kinds of men in the world: those who sail and those who drift; those who choose the ports to which they will go and skillfully and boldly shape their course across the seas, with the wind or against it, and those who let winds and tides carry them where they will. The 5 men who sail, in due time arrive; those who drift, often cover greater distances but they never make port.

The men who sail know where they want to go and what they want to do; they do not wait on luck or fortune or favorable currents; they depend on themselves and 10 expect no help from circ.u.mstances. Success of the real kind is always in the man who wins it, not in conditions.

No man becomes great by accident; great things are never done by chance; a man gets what he pays for it, in character, in work, and in energy. A boy would better put 15 luck out of his mind if he means to accomplish anything.

There are few really fine things which he cannot get if he is willing to pay the price.

Keep ahead of your work, and your work will push your fortunes for you. Our employers do not decide whether we 20 shall stay where we are or go on and up; we decide that matter ourselves. We can drift along, doing our work fairly well; or we can set our faces to the front and do our work so well that we cannot be kept back. In this way we make or mar our own fortunes. Success or failure is not 25 chosen for us; we choose for ourselves.

USE AND ABUSE OF TIME

BY ARCHER BROWN

Time is the stuff life is made of, says Benjamin Franklin.

Every man has exactly the same amount of it in a year. One improves it and reaps great results.

Another wastes it and reaps failure. The first cla.s.s, they call lucky; the second, unfortunate. 5

To use time aright, have a system. Shape everything to it. Divide the twenty-four hours between work, recreation, sleep, and mental culture according to a scheme that suits your judgment and circ.u.mstances. Then make things go that way. The scheme will quickly go to pieces 10 unless backed by persistent purpose.

When you work, work. Put the whole mind and heart in it. Know nothing else. Do everything the very best.

Distance everybody about you. This will not be hard, for the other fellows are not trying much. Master details and 15 difficulties. Be always ready for the next step up. If a bookkeeper, be an expert. If a machinist, know more than the boss. If an office boy, surprise the employer by model work. If in school, go to the head and stay there. All this is easy when the habit of conquering takes possession. 20

It is wholesome in this connection to read what men have accomplished who have once learned the art of redeeming time. Study the causes of the success of Benjamin Franklin, of Lincoln, of McKinley, of Sir Michael Faraday, of Aga.s.siz, of Edison. Learn the might of minutes. 25 "Every day is a little life, and our whole life is a day repeated. Those that dare lose a day are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate." Emerson says, "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

Sound and wholesome recreation is important in our scheme; but in this age of athletic frenzy the danger of 5 neglect on that line is not excessive. The real fact is that athletic sports are educating the muscles too often at the expense of the brain.

It is the mind work that differentiates you from the herd.

Mental culture calls for study--carefully planned, regular, 10 persistent. One or two hours a day, aiming at some distinct object, mastering what you learn, adding little by little, like a miser to his store, will in a few years make of you a broad, educated man, no matter what your schooling.

To abuse time, have no system. Chance everything. 15 Do your work indifferently. Growl if too much is asked.

Hunt for an easy job. Change often. Dodge obstacles.

Always come a little short of the standard. Fritter away in silly things the few golden moments left for self-culture.

Then you will not crowd anybody very hard in the contest 20 for leaders.h.i.+p.

Time abused is bad luck.

1. What great men do you know of who divided up their day in the way suggested here? Make out a timetable for yourself and see how you can improve it and how long you can stick to its use.

2. In what did the "success" of each of the men mentioned in the fourth paragraph consist? Make one of the studies suggested and report your findings to the cla.s.s.

3. What out-of-door exercises educate both brain and muscles? What is the special value of games played by a team? What great people of ancient times trained the body as well as the mind?

4. Which paragraphs define bad luck? What is it?

HIDDEN TREASURE

BY CHARLES READE

Charles Reade (1814-1884) was born at Ipsden, England, and educated at Oxford. He wrote plays and novels, the latter usually with some purpose of reform. Compare this story with "Ali Hafed's Quest"

(page 13) as to setting, characters, ending, and moral.

Once upon a time there was an old farmer that had heard or read about treasures being found in odd places--a potful of gold pieces or something of the sort--and it took root in his heart till nothing would satisfy him but he must find a potful of gold pieces too. He spent 5 all his time hunting in this place and in that for buried treasures. He poked about all the old ruins in the neighborhood and even wished to take up the floor of the church.

One morning he arose with a bright face and said to his wife, "It's all right, Mary. I've found the treasure." 10

"No! Have you, though?" said she.

"Yes!" he answered; "at least it's as good as found.

It's only waiting till I've had my breakfast, and then I'll go out and fetch it in."

"Oh, John! How did you find it?" 15

"It was revealed to me in a dream," said he, as grave as a judge.

"Oh! and where is it?"

"Under a tree in our orchard--no farther than that."

"Oh, how long you are at your breakfast, John! Let's 20 hurry out and get it."

They went out together into the orchard.

"Now which tree is it under?" asked the wife.

John scratched his head and looked very sheepish. "I'm blessed if I know!"

"Oh, you foolish fellow," said the wife. "Why didn't you take the trouble to notice?" 5

"I did notice," said he. "I saw the exact tree in my dream, but now there's so many of them, they muddle it all."

"Well, I think you're stupid," said the wife angrily.