THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
ON THE THEESHOLD.
BY
THEODORE T. HUNGER.
" Many men that stumble at the threshold."
TWELFTH EDITION.
BOSTON:
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY.
CI)0 EibfrSiire i3ic^^, Cambriirge.
1884
• J . J J J »
J>3 JiJ J>J
Copyright, 1880,
By THEODORE T. MUXGER.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Cambrulf;e :
Stereotyped and Printed by II. 0. Houghton & Co.
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A
PEEFACE.
Tee object of this little book is to put
into clear form some of the main principles
that enter into life as it is now opening be-
fore young men in this country. Its sug-
gestions are more specific and direct than if
3 they had been addressed to older persons ;
still, I have aimed to support every point
by sound reasons, and to join the authority
w and inspiration of the greater minds with
8 my own views. I think I may assure my
readers that they will not encounter a sim-
6 pie mass of advice, nor the generalities of
i£ an essay, but rather a series of hints suit-
"^ able to the times, and pointing out paths
^ that are just now somewhat obscured. If
y they find some pages that are strenuous in
their suggestions, they will find none that
are keyed to impossible standards of con-
4.5671G
IV PREFACE.
duct, or filled witli moralizings that are
remote from tlie every-day business of life.
It is not pleasant to play the rdle of
Polonius, and I undertake it only because
Laertes seems to be quite as much in need
of advice as ever. I have not, however,
written out of a critical mood, so much as
from a desire to bring young men face to
face with the inspiring influences that, in a
peculiar degree, surround them. The coun-
try was never so prosperous, the future
never so full of happy assurance as it is to-
day. To point out the way of reaping the
double harvest of this prosperity and a
noble manhood, is the motive that underlies
these pages.
CONTENTS.
♦
FAea
I PtTEPOSE 1
II. Fkiends A2n) Co3II•A^^ON3 .... 31
in. MAJf^^ER8 51
IV. Thrift 75
V. Self-Eeliastcb xsd Courage ... 99
VI. Health 123
Vn. Eeadixg 155
Vm. AiitrsEMEXTS 183
LX. Faith . 209
I.
PURPOSE.
" I long hae thought, my youthfa' friend,
A somethiug to have sent you,
The' it should serve nae ither end
Than just a kind memento ;
But how the subject theme may gang,
Let time and chance determine ;
Perhaps, it may turn out a sang.
Perhaps, turn out a sermon."
Burns.
"Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and yon
reap a character; sow a <;naracter, and you reap a destiny."
- Anon.
'• So teach us to number our days that we may apply oai
hearts unto wisdom." — Psalm xc.
I.
PUEPOSE.
In entering upon this series of essays, or
talks with young men, I wish to have it un-
derstood at the outset that I do not under-
take to cover or even touch the whole truth
of the subject in hand. The philosophical
basis and the religious application will not
be much regarded ; hence, to some they
may seem to lack profound thought, and to
others moral earnestness ; but I shall not
mind if I can lead my readers to think
seriously of what I do say. If I speak the
truth, it will have enough philosophy in it ;
if it is carefully heeded, it will of itself
grow into the moral and religious.
I begin with Purpose^ because it natu-
rally underlies the themes that are to fol-
low, and also because it is a matter of special
importance. I say special because I think
that just now many young men are entering
life without any very definite purpose ; aa
4 PURPOSE.
Bome one has put it, " the world is full of
purposeless people." It is due in part to
nearly ten years of hard times, when occu-
pations have been closed up, and multitudes
of young men could find little to do. Busi-
ness men have struggled along as best they
could, capitalists have been idle, and young
men have been shut up to the few chance
openings, without much choice based on fit-
ness or desire. It is also due to the fact
that, during the previous years, large and
Budden accumulations of property were made
by people not accustomed to its use. The
consciousness of wealth is always dangerous.
When a young man comes to feel that be-
cause his father has wealth he has no need
of personal exertion, he is doomed. Only
the rarest natural gifts and the most excep-
tional training can save the sons of the rich
from failure of the true ends of life. They
may escape vice and attain to respectability,
but for the most part they are hurt in some
degree or respect. The consciousness of
wealth in the latter part of life, after one
has earned or become prepared for it, may
be not only not injurious, but healtliful,
though one ought to be able to live a high
and happy life without it. But anything
PURPOSE. 6
that lessens in a young man the feeling that
he is- to make his own way in the world is
hurtful to the last degree. ,
As the result of these two causes, — with
others, doubtless, — young men of the pres-
ent years, as a class, are not facing life with
that resolute and definite purpose that is
essential both to manhood and to external
success. There is far less of this early meas-
urement and laying hold of life with some
definite intent than there was a generation
ago. It is to be feared that we could not
again fight the war for the Union to the
same issue. Young men do not so much
go to college as they are sent. They do not
push their way into callings, but suffer them-
selves to be led into them. Indeed, the sa-
cred word calling seems to have lost its
meaning ; they hear no voice summoning
them to the appointed field, but drift into
this or that, as happens. They appear to be
waiting, — to be floating with the current
instead of rowing up the stream towards
the hills where lie the treasures of life. I
mean, of course, that this seems to be the
drift, — not that it is a deliberate purpose.
My object is to interrupt this tendency, —
ko induce you to aim at a far end rather
6 PURPOSE.
than a near one ; to live under a purpos6
rather than under impulse ; to set aside the
thought of enjoyment, and get to thinking
of attainment ; to conceive of life as a race
instead of a drift.
Men may be divided in many ways, but
there is no clearer cut division than between
those who have a purpose and those who
are without one. It is the character of the
purpose that determines the character of
the man, — for a purpose may be good or
bad, high or low. It is the strength and
definiteness of the purpose that determine
the measure of success.
It is one of the gracious features of our
nature that we are capable of forming high
and noble purposes. The mind overleaps its
ignorance, and fixes upon what is wisest
and best. A child is always planning no-
ble things before its " life fades into the
light of the common day," There may not
9,1 ways be congruity in these early ambi-
tions, but they are nearly always noble. A
friend of mine set out in life with the com-
plex purpose of becoming " a great man, a
good man, and a stage-driver." He has
not yet achieved greatness, and I doubt if
he Las ever held a four-in-hand or knowa
PURPOSE. 7
what tandem means, except in its Latin
sense ; but lie has not failed in the other
part, being the worthy pastor of a church,
over Avhich he presides with a dignity and
wisdom that are the proper outcome of his
early conceptions. The weaker element
naturally passed away, and the nobler ones
took up his expanding powers.
Nor does this distinction divide men ac-
cording to good and bad ; for, while an
aimless man cannot be said to be good, he
may cherish a very definite aim without
ranking amongst the virtuous. Few men
ever held to a pur^jose more steadily than
Warren Hastings, having for the dream
and sole motive of his youth and manhood
to regain the lost estates and social position
of his family ; but he can hardly be classed
amongst good men. He is a fine example,
however, of how a clearly conceived pur-
pose strengthens and inspires a man. The
career of Beaconsfield — the most brilliant
figure amongst modern English statesmen
— is another illustration of how a definite
purpose carries a man on to its fulfillment.
When the young Jew was laughed and
jeered into silence in his first attempt to
Hddre.ss the House of Commons, he re^
8 PURPOSE.
marked, " The time will come when j^ou
will hear me ; " speaking not out of any
pettishness of the moment, but from a set-
tled purpose to lead his compeers. The re-
buff but whetted the edge of his graud
ambition.
I do not mean to say that a purpose, if
cherished with sufficient energy, will al-
ways carry a man to its goal, — for every
man has his limitations, — but rather that
it is sure to q-avvj him on towards some
kind of success ; often it proves greater
than that aimed at. Shakespeare went
down to London to retrieve his fortune, —
a very laudable purpose ; but the ardor
with which he souglit it unwittnigly ended
in the greatest achievements of the human
intellect. Saul determined to crush out
Christianity ; but the energy of his purpose
was diverted to the opposite and immeasur-
ably nobler end. It would bo absurd for
me to assure you that if you aim and strive
with sufficient energy to become great
Btatosmcn, or the heads of corporations, or
famous poets or artists, or for any other spe-
cific high end, you will certainly reach it.
For thougli there are certain great prizes
that any man may win who will pay the
PURPOSE. 9
price, there are others that are reserved
for the few who are peculiarly fortunate,
or have peculiar claims. The Providence
that, blindly to us, endows and strangely
leads, apportions the great honors of exist-
ence ; but Providence has nothing good or
high in store for one who does not reso-
lutely aim at something high and good.
A purpose is the eternal condition of suc-
cess. Nothing will take its place. Talent
will not ; nothing is more common than
unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will
not ; unrewarded genius is a proverb ; the
" mute, inglorious Milton " is not a poetic
creation. The chance of events, the push
of circumstances, will not. The natural un-
folding of faculties will not. Education
will not ; the country is full of unsuccessful
educated men ; indeed, it is a problem of
society what to do with the young men it
is turning out of its colleges and profes-
sional schools. There is no road to success
but through a clear, strong purpose. A
purpose underlies character, culture, posi-
tion, attainment of whatever sort. Shake-
Bpeare says : " Some achieve greatness, and
Bome have greatness thrust upon them ; "
but the latter is external, and not to be ac.
counted as success.
10 PURPOSE.
It is wortli wlille to look into the reasons
of the matter a little.
(1.) A purpose, steadily held, trains the
faculties into strength and aptness.
The first main thing a man has to do in
this world is to turn his possibilities into
powers, or to get the use of himself. Here
we are packed full of faculties, — physical,
mental, moral, social, — with almost no in-
stincts, and therefore no natural use of
them ; a veritable box of tools, ready for
use. Think what a capability is lodged in
the hand of the pianist or of the physician,
— fairly seeing with his fingers. Or take
the mechanical eye, instantly seizing pro-
portions ; or the ear of the musician ; or the
mind bending itself to mathematical prob-
lems, or grouping wide arrays of facts for
induction, — the every-day work of the pro-
fessional man, the merchant, and the manu-
facturer. How to use these tools — how to
get the faculties at work — is the main ques-
tion. The answer is, steady use under a
main piuyose.
The call to-day is not only for educated,
but for trained men. The next miglitiost
event that daily happens in this world of
ours, after the sunrise, — that " daily mira-
PURPOSE. 11
cle," as Edwin Arnold calls it, — is the pub-
lication of such a newspaper as the " New
York Herald " or " London Times." If it
were possible to send to Mars or Jupiter
a single illustration of our highest achieve-
ments, it should be a copy of a great Daily.
I thirk nothing finer could be brought back.
But what produces this superb and gigantic
achievement three hundred and more times
a year ? Not learning, talent, energy, nor
money, but training. From the editor-in-
chief, with his frequent leaders, — broad,
compact, trenchant, — and the manager,
bringing together the various departments
in just proportion and harmony, so that
the paper goes from the press almost like
the solar system in its adjusted balance,
down to the folding and distributing de-
partments, the work throughout is done
by men trained to their specific tasks by
steady and sympathetic habit.
Every man's work should be both an in-
spiration and a ti'ade ; that is, he should
love it, and he should have that facility in
it that comes from use. It is said that Na-
poleon could go through the manual of the
common soldier better than any man in his
armies. He would not have been the great-
12 PURPOSE.
est general bad he not been the best soldier ,
his genius would have been weak without
the support of the drill and the practical
knowledge of all the details of the military.
So of raih-oading, now one of the great
callings ; it has become a nearly universal
custom that every higher position shall be
filled from below by promotion, according
to excellence, and this excellence turns upon
two points : an intelligent and sympathetic
interest in the work, and consequent handi-
ness in it. One cannot look over a com-
pany of railroad men without perceiving
that those highest up have the most head
for the entire business. I have noticed, in
looking at machinery, that the proprietor
can explain it better than the workman who
oijerates it.
All lines of business are conducted more
and more upon the principle of promotion.
Less and less do men step from one occupa-
tion to another. Tiie demand is for trained
men. But life is too sliort and the stand-
ards are too severe for various trainings.
It is seldom one is found wlio has thoroughly
fitted himself for diverse pursuits. Our apt-
itudes are not many. Pick out the success-
ful man in almost any occupation, and nearly
PURPOSE. 13
mthout exception it will be found lie has
been trained to it.
(2.) Life is cumulative in all ways. A
steady purpose is like a river, that gathers
volume and momentum by flowing on. The
successful man is not one who can do many
things indifferently, but one thing in a su-
perior manner. Versatility is overpraised.
There is a certain value in having many
Btrings to one's bow, but there is more value
in having a bow and a string, a hand and
an eye, that will every time send the arrow
into the bull's-eye of the target. The world
is full of vagabonds who can turn their
hands to anything. The man who does odd
iobs is not the one who gets very far up in
any job. The factotum is a convenience,
but he is seldom a success. The machinist
who works in anywhere is not the one who
is put to the nicest work. A certain con-
centration is essential to excellence, except
in rare cases like Leonardo da Vinci, and
Pascal, and Aristotle, and Franklin, whose
natures were so broad as to cover all studies
^Md pursuits. One of the most extensive
wool-buyers in the world says that his suc-
*'>ess is due to the fact that his father and
grandfather handled wool, that his own ear-
14 PURPOSE.
liest recollections were of handling wool,
and that he had kept on handling it. The
largest manufacturer of paper in the coun-
try is the son of a paper-maker, born and
bred to all the details of the business.
There are, indeed, many cases of large suc-
cess where men have passed from one pur-
suit to another, but in most you will find
a certain unity running through their vari-
ous occupations. One may begin a stone-
cutter and end as a geologist, like Hugh
Miller, or a sculptor, like Powers ; or as a
machinist, and turn out an inventor ; or as a
printer, and become a publisher. A strong
definite purpose is many-handed, and lays
hold of whatever is near that can serve it ;
it has a magnetic power that draws to itself
whatever is kindred.
(3.) A purpose, by holding one down to
some steady pursuit and legitimate occupa-
tion, wars against the tendencj'- to engage
in ventures and specuUitions. The devil of
the business world is chance. Cliance is
cliaotic ; it belongs to the period
" When eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, held
Eternal anarchy amidst tlie noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stood."
PURPOSE. 16
It is opposed in nature to order and law ;
it is the abdication of reason, the enthrone-
ment of guess. The chance element in
business is not only demoralizing to the
man, but in the long run it is disastrous to
his fortunes. And if it yields a temporary
success it is a success unearned, and there-
fore unappreciated ; for we must put some-
thing of thought and genuine effort into ap
enterprise before we can get any substan
tial good out of it. The defalcations, the
ehoddy of society, the diamonds gleaming
on unwashed hands, the ignorance that
looks through plate-glass, and no small part
of the crime that looks through iron bars,
are the creations of the chance or specula-
tive element in business. No good ever
comes from it. If it lifts a man up, it is
only to dash him to the earth. In Califor-
nia they aptly call it " playing with the
tiger," and the game always ends by the
tiger eating the man. The chances in the
stock market of San Francisco are less than
in Chinese gambling, at which the Caucas-
ian affects to laugh; but the Mongolian
plays to better purpose with his one chance
in ten than does the other in the ever-re-
curring bonanza. The Californians are not
16 PURPOSE.
yet a rich people; but almost every old
resident has at some time held a fortune in
his hands. Their speculations are very like
their smelting of quicksilver, — going up an
expansive vapor, but trickling back solid
into a single reservoir. If there is one pur-
pose a young man needs to hold to rigidly
and without exception, it is to keep to le-
gitimate modes of business. Don't abjure
your reason by appealing to chance, nor
insult order by taking up that which, as
IMilton says, " by confusion stands." Don't
of deliberate purpose make a figure of your-
self for " the spirits of the wise sitting in
the clouds to laugh at." A steady purpose
embodied in a substantial pursuit shuts out
these chance forms of business. Question
the men of substantial character and fort-
une, and you will find that they have
avoided the illegitimate in business, and
have held fast to some steady line of pur-
suit, — busy in prosperous times and pa-
tiently waiting in hard times. The last
ten years have witnessed a bravery and
i^gacity worthy of highest adminition, —
men conducting business year after year
without profit or at a loss, keeping up their
relations with the business world, carrying
PURPOSE. 17
along their employees, exercising forbear-
ance with less fortunate creditors, nursino-
the dull embers of their unremunerative
business instead of petulantly suffering
them to go out. The previous ten years
Bhowed us the heroism of war ; but these
ten years of stagnation have revealed the
heroism of peace, and these brave, patient
waiters upon fortune are now reaping their
reward, while those who gave up and
turned to this and that are out of the ranks
of our great army of jDrosperity.
It may seem from wliat I have said that
I would advise young men to concentrate
their entire energies upon a pursuit, and
forget all else. But I am very far from
doing that.
The most fundamental mistake men make
is in not recognizing the breadth of their
nature, and a consequent working of some
single part of it. One must give play to
his whole nature and fill out all his re-
lations, or he will have a poor ending. He
must heed the social, domestic, and relig-
ious elements of his being, as well as the
single one that yields him a fortune. These
should be embraced under a ^:)Mr/;osg as
«lear and strong as that which leads to
18 PURPOSE.
wealth, and be cherislied, not out of a bar«
Bense of duty, but for manly completeness.
The most pitiable sight one ever sees is a
young man doing nothing ; the furies early
drag him to his doom. Hardly less pitia-
ble is a young man doing but one thing, —
his whole being centred on money or fame
— forgetful of the broad world of intellec-
tual capacity within him, of the broader
and sweeter world of social and domestic
life, and of the infinite world of the spirit
that inspires him on every side, and holds
his destinies, whether he knows it or not.
It is not only quite possible, but an easy
and natural thing, for a young man front-
ing life to say, I will make the most of
myself ; I will recognize my whole nature ;
I will neglect no duty that belongs to all
men ; I will carry along with an even and
just hand those relations that make up a
full manhood.
I find four general purposes that should
enter into the plan of every man's life as
essential to its completeness. Hereafter I
ahull speak more definitely ; now only of
fundamental or leading purposes.
(1.) A young man should have an em-
ployment congenial, if possible, and as near
PURPOSE. 19
as may be to the line of pursuit he intends to
follow. I have anticipated much that might
be said here. The choice of a profession or
occupation is a hard one to handle practi-
cally or speculatively. So many are forced
into work, and take that nearest at hand ,
so many drift into an occupation because
the time has come ; so many are set to work
too early for choice, that few seem left who
can make a careful selection. It is a sad
thing that any should be defrauded of this
natural prerogative. It may be quite right
to train a boy to a calling, but never to the
exclusion of his personal choice ; if for the
ministry, and he deliberately prefers to be-
come a machinist, or a farmer, or an editor,
it must be suffered. A call, or calling, is a
divine thing, and must be obeyed. Pitt was
trained from his earliest years for the great
place he filled, but for the most part great
men have chosen for themselves. But one
should settle the matter only after very
thorough consideration. Dr. Bushnell once
said to a young man who was consulting
him on this point, " Grasp the handle of
your being," — a most significant and pro-
lound piece of advice. There is in every
one a taste or fitness that is as a handle to
20 PURPOSE.
the faculties; if one gets hold of it, he
can work the entire machinery of his being
to the best advantage. Before committing
one's self to a pursuit, one should make a
very thorough exploration of himself, and
get down to the core of his being. The
fabric of one's life should rest upon the cen-
tral and abiding qualities of one's nature,
— else it will not stand. Hence a choice
should be based on what is within rather
than be drawn from without. Choose your
employment because you like it, and not be-
cause it has some external promise. The
"good opening" is in the man, — not in
circumstances. An ill- adaptation will nul-
lify any good promise, while aptitude cre-
ates success. All true life and success are
from within. God so made the world and
all things in it, — " seed within itself " is
the eternal law. I do not mean that every
boy has an inborn taste for some specific
work, — type-setting, or blacksmithing, or
editing. Aptitudes are generic ; if one fol-
lows his general taste he will probably suc-
ceed in several kindred pursuits. While we
cannot well go contrary to nature, there is a
certain play and oscillation of our faculties,
— as of the planets that yet keep to the
PURPOSE. 21
appointed journey. The' mechaiiical eye
covers a large variety of employments. A
spirit of ministration is fundamental to at
least two of the great professions. One of
an intensely reflective disposition should
not make existence a long battle by bind-
ing himself to a life of external activity;
and many a man pines and shrivels in the
study who would exult in a life upon the