Being On One's Job

Levin Daily Chronicle, 7 May 1918, Page 4

Being On One's Job

(By the Kcv. Charles Stelzle.) To be the master of one's self is the flrst and most fundamental thing. And this is largely a question of personal caliber and equipment. In almost every case, it's a matter of development. It's easy to stop when the job becomes difficult —and find an excuse that will be accepted by our friends and be a comfort to ourselves .

Those who do succeed, get there principally because they hang on when others let go, and not because they actually posses more original power. There are, of course, the great mass of drifters, who will never attempt to swim against the tide, but I have in mind the average fellow whose honest purpose it is to excel.

Furthermore, it is Tn the little things that most men fall down. It isn't the big obstacle that stumps us—we'll surmount that and win out. Sometimes it's only a word spoken at a critical moment which either makes or unmakes a fellow. An opinion expressed, a criticism made, a judgment given—and the keen judge of men sizes you up and generally puts you where you belong, mcnt casks, or boxes with the bottoms He doesn't always hit it right, but there's usually a character and a life back of your remark, and your alert man of the world knows it. You will undoubtedly get another chance, but for the present you've lost it. Sometimes it's a matter of dress. A frayed linen collar, worth, at the time, less than a nickel has cost many a man the chance of a lifetime. '' Cheap, careless, slouchy"—was the verdict of the relentless judge, and the opportunity was gone. There arc geniuses who can afford to be slouches, but you've got to prove that you're a genius before you can afford to be a slouch.

In the end it's the man who really is on the job seven days in the week, who will win out. Not in the same way every day, of course, for if he has good sense, he'll get strength for his job on the first day of the week before he starts in for the week's work.

But always, whether he works or plays, whether he reads or writes, whether he talks or thinks, or thinks and talks —always on the job—that's the fellow who will make his way to the front, while others step aside.