CHOOSING A VOCATION 403 



sions, together with sympathy, character, and love for the work, 

 are essential to success. For engineering, mathematical and con- 

 structive abilities are outstanding ; while a lawyer needs high rea- 

 soning powers and ability to deal with men. The teacher should 

 be well educated and, in addition, must love boys and girls. 

 Health, tact, good nature, imagination, inventiveness, and enthu- 

 siasm are some of the qualities which make the successful teacher. 



Abilities Needed in Commercial Life. — For all commercial 

 life reliability, promptness, energy, cheerfulness, and high moral 

 character are the basis. Stenographers and clerks need, in addi- 

 tion, special skills, which will be increased in practice. If one is 

 to become a manager or a promoter of a business, organizing and 

 executive ability, good judgment, caution, and a knowledge of 

 business affairs are necessary. The business man or woman 

 should know people and have what we call '^ business sense " for 

 leadership. 



Abilities necessary for Trades. — For the mechanical lines, 

 knowledge of the trade is an essential, with skill of eye and of hand. 

 Accuracy and loyalty are essentials, if one is to rise. For in- 

 dustries of a semi-professional nature, such as illustrating, cartoon 

 drawing, or engraving, the artistic abilities should be trained, and 

 imagination, inventiveness, and appreciation of what the public 

 want should be joined with the purely mechanical abilities which 

 have to do with drawing or color work.^ 



Summary. — We have found that life is made up of our social 

 inheritance or what we learn through our environment, but that 

 success, after all, depends on our inheritance. Great men have 

 attained success often in spite of handicaps of environment or of 

 physical ailment. But no one becomes great unless he or she has a 

 nervous system of a superior capacity. The most important 

 things to be learned in this chapter are, first, to choose wisely 

 when we select our mates, and second, to make a wise selection of 

 our life work. These two decisions mean either future happiness 

 or future woe. After making a choice we should bend all our 

 energies and strive faithfully to attain success and happiness along 

 the chosen path. 



^ For further information as to the conditions necessary to become efficient in 

 any line of work, read Parsons, Choosing a Vocation, Hougl.ton Mifflin Company. 



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