Is seldom an easy matter. In some few cases, a young man feels the possession of such an unmistakable bias to some peculiar profession that neither he nor his friends, have any hesitancy in deciding upon his future. It most cases, however there is no particular preference, and a wise decision is not reached before many considerations have been carefully weighed. In far too many cases wrong considerations are given attention, and a decision is reached whose ultimate result is a life failure which, had the profession been selected with greater wisdom, would not have happened. A socially ambitious father and mother check their young son's honest ambition to become a mechanic, send him to college and make a briefless barrister out of the material which could have been moulded into an honest and efficient artisan. Many a boy whose soul yearned for the higher walks of intellectual culture, to share in which he had been endowed, has been doomed by injudicious parents, who despised colleges, to dull life at a dry-goods counter or counting-room desk. Parents are not by any means infallible judges upon this point, and every young man about to start out in search of success in life should study himself carefully in order to discover his aptitudes.

The natural bent may be hard to find, but the discovery will well repay the search. Historical biography teems with the lives of men whose peculiar aptitude was early displayed to the advantage of themselves and the world. Napoleon, a school boy at Brienne, led the mimic armies of his youthful associates; Nelson had conceived the idea of future greatness as a sailor before he entered the navy; Pascal contributed to the mathematical literature of his age before he was seventeen; Pope acknowledged that "While yet a child and still a fool of fame, I lisped in numbers, for the numbers came;"

Dryden illustrated the growth of natural aptitude when he wrote:

"What the child admired The youth endeavored, and the man acquired;"

Michael Angelo stayed away from school to draw pictures; Murillo covered his text-books with them; West, at seven, plundered the cat's tail of hair with which to make pencils; Calhoun, a student, held his own in debate with the college president - and so on, until the examples of the theory of natural aptitude become too numerous for recapitulation. Taking for granted that one has discovered, or believes that he has discovered his bent, he must beware of the danger which lies in fickleness of purpose, which may, shortly after the weariness of work begins to be felt, lead him to suppose that he has chosen unwisely, and that some other field of usefulness would be more suitable to his temper and parts. It is the practical repetition of the old story of the traveler in the express train sighing for the quiet pleasure of the farmer, whose broad fields are flying past, while the farmer looks longingly at the train as it passes by, and dreams of the enjoyable excitements of a life of endless bustle, stir and energy. Whatever the calling, there will be toil and trial for its follower, and these come from him rather than from the occupation, which might be changed a dozen times in the vain hope of escaping from them. Having deliberately selected a profession, stick to it.

The longer you remain in it, the more expert you become and the easier becomes the work and the larger the pay. It is only the early days which bring weariness and pain. These conquered by perseverance, the rest is easy, and the success in conquering the first pleadings of the siren fickleness of purpose, who is of closer kin to laziness than one might think, lays the corner-stone of success in life.

Excelsior!

Having chosen his occupation, the young man of proper ambition will not be long in selecting for himself an honorable position in it, to be filled as soon as he has shown himself worthy and able. What men have accomplished shows that hardly any ambitious longing can be considered as unwise on the part of those who are willing to undertake all work and suffer all want in the struggle.

The extremest poverty has been no obstacle in the way of men devoted to the duty of self-culture. Professor Alexander Murray, the linguist, learned to write by scribbling his letters on an old wool-card with the end of a burnt heather-stem. The only book which his father, who was a poor shepherd, possessed, was a penny Shorter Catechism; but, that being thought too valuable for common use, was carefully preserved in a cupboard for the" Sunday catechizings. Professor Moore, when a young man, being too poor to purchase Newton's "Principia," borrowed the book, and copied the whole of it with his own hand. Many poor students, while laboring daily for their living, have only been able to snatch an atom of knowledge here and there at intervals, as birds do their food in winter time when the fields are covered with snow. They have struggled on, and faith and hope have come to them. A well known author and publisher, William Chambers, of Edinburgh, speaking before an assemblage of young men in that city, thus briefly described to them his humble beginnings for their encouragement: "I stand before you," he said, "a self-educated man.

My education is that which is supplied at the humble parish-schools of Scotland; and it was only when I went to Edinburgh, a poor boy, that I devoted my evenings, after the labors of the day, to the cultivation of that intellect which the Almighty has given me. From seven or eight in the morning till nine or ten at night was I at my business as a bookseller's apprentice, and it was only during hours after these, stolen from sleep, that I could devote myself to study. I did not read novels; my attention was devoted to physical science and other useful matters. I also taught myself French. I look back to those times with great pleasure, and am almost sorry I have not to go through the same experience again; for I reaped more pleasure when I had not a sixpence in my pocket, studying in a garret in Edinburgh, than I now find when sitting amid all the elegancies and comforts of a parlor."

William Cobbett learned English grammar when he was a private soldier on the pay of sixpence a day.

These are men who have selected an aim in life and have attained it through sticking to it. Concentration of purpose carried them through. The "Admirable Crichtons" are scarce geniuses, and no young man need be ashamed, in these days of special accomplishment, of having decided to follow a single pursuit in life - to become a man of one idea - provided it is a good one. Almost all the great men in war, literature, science, diplomacy, business, the professions, have been men of "one idea," not because they were incapable of harboring more than one, but because, having selected some one object as worthy of attainment, they gave themselves up to it solely. It was often long of coming, but it came at last. Adam Smith gave ten years to his "Wealth of Nations;" Edward Gibbon, twenty to the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire;" Bishop Butler, twenty to his famous "Analogy;" Kant, fifty years to his metaphysical researches; Dr. Johnson, seven years to his Dictionary. These men sought one prize and gained it.

As many years have been spent by thousands of men of equal ability, who sought each a number of prizes and gained none.