Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1870 — Self-Reliance. [ARTICLE]

Self-Reliance.

Thbhb is nothing more likely to result in the successful career of a young man than confident self reliance. It is astonishing how much more a youth will accomplish who relies upon himself, than one who depends upon others for assistance. Having first ascertained the direction in, and the means by which his object is to be reached, let him put his whole energies to work, and with unflagging industry press forward. The young man who, instead of rising at five, sleeps till seven or eight, and who spends his evenings on the corners, or in the companionship of those who are wanting in laudable ambition, rarely ever wins a position of honor or achieves a reputation above that enjoyed by the common masses. J In a country like ours, where the avenues to honor and wealth are open alike to all, there is no reasonable excuse that can be offered for a man’s failure to achieve one or the other, or both. 11l health, or extraordinary misfortune may keep him dawn, but these are the exceptions that establish the rule. Few men know of how much they are capable until they have first thoroughly tested their abilities. The amount of labor, literary or mechanical, which a person in vigorous health can perform, is almost without limit if a systematic method is adopted Bad the proper spirit incited to the effort An hour of each evening rpent with some good author, or in the study of some branch of useful science, will in the course of a few years give to a young man who thus devotes this small portion of his time an amount of information, literary or scientific, which can not fail to fit him for positions to which he could never properly aspire withou this attention to study.— Exchange