SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
189 
THE MAN OF ENERGY. 
“ Honesty and energy are the handmaids of success.” 
Energy may be said to be one of the most important 
elements of character. In some sense, it influences, con- 
trols and rules the world. No great undertaking can be 
achieved, no mighty work can be consummated, no vast 
enterprise can be carried into successful effect without its 
aid and agency. In matters of love as well as in matters 
of war, it is equally potent. The faint-hearted are rarely 
energetic, and hence they are sure to lag behind, and be 
out-distanced by their competitors and rivals. The indi- 
vidual who is listless, inanimate and indifferent, apathetic, 
who does nothing, yet is constantly expecting something 
to turn up, something that will redound to his advantage 
and open the pathway to independence, is doomed to 
many a bitter disappointment. It is wisely ordered by 
Providence that, however we may be gifted in person, or 
mind — however we may have been favored by a patri 
mony, however bright our hopes and expectations, as we 
enter upon the arena of the busy world, we are sure to 
fail by the wayside, be tripped up and prostrated, unless 
we exercise the faculties that have been given to us— re 
sist the machinations of the crafty, the designing and the 
unprincipled— in brief, manifest a due degree of firmness, 
determination and energy. Ever and anon we are amused 
by the promulgation, on the part of the visionary, of some 
plausible and tempting scheme. It may have all the 
elements of probability, abound with fascination, and hold 
out buoyant and encouraging inducements to the active, 
the pushing and the persevering. And yet, without ener- 
gy — constant, untiring and indomitable — it will amount 
to a mere bubble. 
If we are asked for the true secret of the motive power, 
the active principle of success, in this life, and were con- 
fined, for our answer, to a single word, that word would 
be “energy.” Men of vivid imaginations, and poetic 
fancies, dreamers, enthusiasts and fanatics, are constantly 
starting schemes and undertakings which, at the first 
glance, are calculated to captivate. But how rarely do 
they enter into such movements in a truly practical spirit 
and bring to their aid that degree of energy which is so 
essential to success ! Thousands of our fellow-creatures 
are self- deceived. They do not look sufficiently before 
they leap. They do not examine the entire ground, and 
calculate all the chances, before they risk their judgment, 
their means, their reputation and their time. Nay, they 
do not look all the difficulties calmly in the face, and de- 
termine at the onset to wrestle with and overcome them. 
On the contrary, they struggle on for a few days or for a 
few weeks, and because they cannot realize all that they 
fancied, they become disspirited, intimidated and abandon 
what they are then disposed to consider a delusion, for 
some other scheme. In brief, they either lack forethought 
at the outset, and thus commit a mistake in the beginning, 
or they are deficient in energy, and thus are sure to fail. 
The struggles of the commercial and business world are 
full of anxiety and care. A thousand temptations beset 
us, and a thousand difficulties lie in our way. This is 
the fate of man. He is born to trouble as the sparks fly 
upward. But a first disappointment, either of the head 
or the heart, the falsehood of a woman, the treachery of a 
friend, or the failure of an enterprise, should never induce 
us to despair. Adversity is sometimes only a blessing in 
disguise, for it tests, tries, and fortifies us for future strug- 
gles and vicissitudes. When, however, convinced that 
we are treading the path that sooner or later must lead to 
fame and fortune, or that we are seeking a conquesi which 
can be achieved only by the patient work of years, energy, 
untiring, unswerving and unfaltering energy, is the great 
essential. 
Look around, gentle reader, and you will find this illus- 
trated nearly every day you live. The cool, the cautious, 
the resolute and energetic are constantly achieving tri- 
umphs. All that they touch seems to turn to gold. They 
may be down to-day, but they will be up to- morrow. No 
reverse, no misfortune can depress them. They have the 
will, the courage and the perseverance, and thus they are 
bound to succeed. Occasional disasters will of course 
come, reverses will -overtake, and disappointments will 
attend them. But these they anticipate as part and par- 
cel of the great chapter of life, as not only incidental but 
as inevitable, and they therefore rouse themselves for a 
fresh struggle, determined again. Energy, assisted by 
purity of motive, integrity of character, and firmness of 
purpose, is like the lever of Archimedes ; for we repeat, 
properly applied, it will move the world . — Pennsylvania 
Inquirer. 
SHEEP IN TEXAS. 
The Texas State Gazettee says : — It is doubtless true 
that the great sheep raising country of the United States is 
by nature, in Western Texas. A writer in the News 
speaks of the high, e’evated lands, back from the Rio 
Grande, in Webb, Maverick and Kinney counties extend- 
ing over towards the Nueces, as having an abundance of 
the richest grass in winter— the only drawback is water, 
which is being procured by Artesian wells. The writer 
adds : 
“A dry climate always for sheep. The most fastidious 
cannot complain as to the character of the country under 
consideration. It is a little too dry for some things I could 
name, but I am now speaking of sheep, and so I have 
just the country I was looking for, and having found it, 
let me say to you that clear, pure streams of water, gurg- 
ling springs, and rivulets from the hills, never flowed 
with more beauty nor regularity than along the foot of 
what are called the Mountains here, but nothing more 
than the first spurs which point down towards the level 
country, and extend from the Cross Timbers towards the 
RioGrattde; but for the present let me call your atten- 
tion to the Medina, the Frio, the Uvalde, the Leona, and 
a thousand lesser branches which flow into the Rio 
Grande, are the San Felipe, San Pedro, the Las Moras, 
Zoquate, Dolores, and innumerable others, which, al- 
though flowing through an arid country, are nevertheless 
supplied from a deeper fountain which can never fail, and 
which, when penetrated by the wisdom and energy of the 
State, will develop new sources of inexhaustible wealth, 
now hidden from the eye, but which will be brought to 
light as sure as our freedom exists and our liberties are 
maintained. Can it be possible that such a body of land 
was created for nought, with evidence surrounding it of 
inexhaustible power I I believe not. And I expect to 
see the day when those hills will be dotted over with the 
cottages of the husbandman, and the flocks and herds, 
which will give a currency to the woollen manufactories 
of the old world, as well as of our own country.” 
Cooked Food for Swine. — Samuel H. Clay, of Kerj- 
tucky, has been experimenting in feeding several lots uf 
hogs, changing them from raw to cooked, and from ground 
to unground food, with the following results : One bushel 
of dry corn made 5 lbs. and 10 oz. of live pork; 1 bushel 
of boiled corn made 14 lbs. and 7 oz. of pork ; 1 bushel of 
ground corn, boiled, made, in one instance, IG lbs. 7 oz,, 
and in another, nearly 18 pounds of pork. Esti- 
mating corn at 90 cts. a bushel, and pork at 8 cents a 
pound, we have, as the result of 1 bushel of dry corn, 45 
cents worth of pork; of 1 bushel of boiled corn, 110 cents 
worth of pork; and of 1 bushel of ground corn, 1.36 cents 
worth of pork. 
