374 STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE 



the very fact that the routine is unceasing and progressive we find satis- 

 faction and inspiration. It opens to our weak vision the uncertain road 

 of human progress. It gives confidence in a higher destiny and strength- 

 ens the purpose to train for it. 



If all matter and all energy, and all thought, are subject to God's 

 omniscient law of equipoise and advancement, it is certain that a single 

 being cannot hope to be successful, even in the small things of this life, 

 and disregard it. 



Individuals who start from the same point, with even opportunities and 

 purposes equalh' correct^, come out at very different ends. Few mark out 

 a precise roadway in life and no one precisely follows the road which his 

 mind may have outlined. There are elements in ourselves which we do 

 not know and cannot estimate, and time will find us in environing condi- 

 tions which time alone can reveal. Plans will miscarry and expectations 

 be disappointed. At no time in life can we decide with entire confidence 

 what is most desirable in the future. It is said that in early life General 

 Grant cherished the hope of becoming a physician, and always regretted 

 that the hope was not realized. The fact is, we cannot see and we do 

 not know about things in advance of us. Failure to accomplish an 

 undertaking has more than once opened the way for something of vastly 

 more importance. Many lives are barren of results because many men 

 insist upon predicating present action upon events which are a long way 

 in the future and which they cannot foresee. They are so cautious, or 

 so cowardly, that they accomplish nothing. We are to make the best 

 plans we can, seek to make every cycle of our lives an advance upon the 

 last one, and take with composure whatever may come to us. 



Find the point of equipoise between seeing and aiming and doing. 

 Some spend their lives in gaping; others aim high but seldom mutilate 

 the target; still others are always doing without looking or aiming, 

 and of course thev are alwavs blundering. To me the most trving ones 

 of all are those who mean well and do ill continually, as some good 

 people seem prone to do. Some men deliberate so wisely and so long 

 that they never get to the point of exercising their energies, and the 

 powers which make for advancement shrink to the vanishing point for 

 lack of use. Some look wise and say little, and though they are 

 dreadfully trying at times it must be confessed that others would fare 

 better and be less trying by following their example. The life that 

 accomplishes things is the one that has ideals, sees with what eyes it 

 has, exercises the judgment it possesses within the limits of time which 

 the occasion allows, and then plunges into action. And the life that 

 accomplishes the most things and the best things is the one that has the 

 noblest ideals, is trained to the greatest acuteness of vision, is capable 

 of the most rational reasoning, has the greatest courage and force of 

 execution, and above all is able to keep these high endowments in 

 equilibrium. 



Live in harmonious and enthusiastic relations with your work. ^There 

 is work of some sort for everyone to do. If one has not adjusted him- 

 self to some kind of work there is something the matter. We may not 

 find work exactly to our liking; indeed there are people who find it 

 difficult to fall in love with any kind of work. But you wdll be at fault 

 if you do not in a little time find congenial employment. 



bo the work that comes to vour hands, and assume other and yet other 



