Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1878 — Unlucky Men. [ARTICLE]

Unlucky Men.

Who are the ualnrky men? Speaking broadly, I hey are the wen deficient in qualhire conducive to tin cess, or povaeasing other <|ualilics that load to failure. The in* gradients of which men are composed vary infinitely; each perron is a mixture of good and had, and the |wvpoudrranee of the one or ti e other determines hi* flu*. The man really lacking in natural ability will never become a prominent m-n. There are euch, as every one knows—men *l’o cannot see a.-d c litnei lie taught to see. There la, however, some hope tor such men. If go-.-d, honeai and worthy they may travel along the road of mediocrity with fair success, and very often their freedom from the faults which l«-e< brighter intellects is s<> much in their fhv«r thst they will make more headway than others far superior to them in ability. The man who is deficient In industry assuredly will not succ-od. Ho may be quick to see a thing; his understanding may be perfect; lie nwy be surrounded with many advantages; but if be is invctorniely lazy, his future will be very limit.-d. loxin’-m is a very cumnion fault', aud it Is one which nc'ive, energetic men have the least patience with ; i» them it is muueiliing utipattluiiable. A man who faila through laziness deserves to fail, because it is something which might be cured and oeercomc.

Want of ciuwcience produces failure in thousands ot csm-s. A man may have the brains; he may have the energy ; lotif he lacks houesty he will *.a>ner or later lain; ed into Homeriling that will end hi trouble, from nbicli all his ability cannot extricate him. There is a great need in thia country ot goo<i early training ; and the iustillmvut of right pniuiplc, wiihout which, such is the blunting influence of the world, that it is hard io any whether lhe want of principle is more u fault than a iiiisf. rtune. Waiil of knowledge is a great disqualification, ami in these days fin unpurdunable one. A man needs to know ell that he can know about his business, and where through indolence or some oilier cause he is deficient in this respect, he will find other men constantly passing him by. Besides these dcficicnces there ore many more, all of which are disqualifications. There nrc waul of nut, want of method, want of thoroughness in details, want of a pleasing manner and address, want of general prudence, i-eglect of economy? want of capital at the right tiino, and also want of poi»-, owing to which a man becomes intoxicated with succ<-ss. There is nlso a long list of |M>silitu drawbacks to success, witn which if a man is afflicted, he may fail in spite of having all the requisites for good fortune, line of the worst of these is, a tendency to extravagance. No mailer what a man makes, if he spends it ull, be cannot fa'rly accuse hi* luck be a use he is |HK>r, or if he is unprovided for na emergency out of which a prudent man would conic unharmed. If he seeks to gratify expensive tastes, which will naturally grow in proportion as they ore indulged, be cannot, at the same time, gratify himself by seeing his business grow up ns though he had devoted all his means aud attention to that end. Rxiravagauce is very frequently the name f->t what is culled bad luck.

A love of pleasure is a cause of extravagance nnd a fruit:'ul source of failure. A man who places pleasure before business cannot hope to succeed in the latter. The list of uulueky men is largely swelled by those who have been led away from their legitimate pursuits by wlmt is called “good company," •■fashionable society,' ’ etc. No man can serve tno masters and, if a person desires.tv succeed in Imsiness, lie must give his whole and undivided attention to it. A ten-leucy Io speculation causes the downfall of thousands'. Men who have traveled along the safe road an-l have acquired capital, venture it in one grand stroke and lose. They are literally unlucky in tlic specula lion in which they engage but otherwise their failure is not their bad luck, but is immediately traceable to their departure from the sure mid safe methods of making money. The alaivo enumeration of some few of the causes of nob-success must be sufficient to convince anyone lliat there is no need to look for any fanciful ways of accounting fora person's fortune, when there nre so many perfectly simple nnd natural modes of explaining it. The man who, nt t lie end of a btisiness career, is ns poor as "wTieh lie began, has either fail -d to profit liy ids advantages ami to conduct his business properly, or has fallen into some raTieal error which has brought on his downfall. Among the ranksof unlucky men. so called, are some to whose failure i’ would be difficult to assign any special cause, but the natural reason is there notwithstanding. They have, perhaps, taken life too easily, waiting like Micawber for things to“ turn up,’’ when they should have been on the look-cut for advantages, and have been prompt to avail tiiem-elves of them as they atose They are wanting in purpose and tenacity itl pursuing it; They have la <-u unwisely generous; they had been led away from their tiiain objects by sjde issues: have imprudently invested in unprofitable undertaking.-; but withal their lives have been so exemplary mid so little open to objection that their lack of success causes a feeling of sympathy—and for waut of good reason for their ill tho world will sometim- s characterize them ns simply “unlucky.” Fortune is, however, no sentimentnlist, an<l she exercisrs co special benevolence in su-h ca~es. What is won from her must be pur-chns-d by the use of sterling qualities which insure success, and no amount of mere moral worth will aldne with her for their absence.