Nothing is more foolish than the idea that any schooling is worthless which is obtained in schools after the regular school hours; and more than one attempt has been made to enact laws which shall hinder from practice physicians and lawyers who have been obliged to get their knowledge through channels other than the conventional. The victory of the general does not depend upon the place where he got his military training or the time of the day when he studied. Oliver Cromwell, the greatest general of his day, was a farmer until his fortieth year, when he entered the army of the Parliament against Charles I. The only question that concerns the nation that puts a general at the head of its forces is, has he the powers that shall make us victorious?
Men in distress don"t ask for the pedigree of the life-saver, nor do they stop to inquire when he graduated. Don"t be frightened off by sticklers for what is customary. Knowledge is the right of the poorest boy and girl in America, and it can be had by the humblest in the land.
Be convinced of this and enter the race. The world steps aside and lets the man pa.s.s who knows where he is going; all the world will shout to clear the track when they see a determined giant is coming. In choosing your career, don"t be limited to the old professions. There are to-day many more occupations calling for the highest skill and offering the highest inducements than there were twenty years ago, and these positions are steadily increasing. Many occupations which were recently regarded almost as menial have risen almost to professions--cooking, agriculture, decorative art, forestry, nursing, sanitation, designing apparel, and countless others; and the men and women qualified for these are surer of better positions than formerly, and far better rewards.
But the youth who is imbued with the determination to _be_ right and to _do_ right must never lose sight of this truth--that life is vastly more than place and meat and raiment. Living for self is suicide; men that are men get far greater enjoyment and far greater reward from making life a blessing for those who come their way than they get from all other things combined. No man lives so truly for himself as he who lives for other people, and one of the chiefest purposes of education is that it gives larger views of life and adds greater power to serve humanity. The man who is really in earnest to make his life count is studiously observant. Each day and each place multiplies his means of happiness for himself and others.
THE END