News Items

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4398, 15 April 1909, Page 1

News Items

EXCUSES. j ■ "3 I was talking to the head of one! of the large mercantile houses a day or two ago, and whilesat there waiting to see him, IJ noticed an intelligent young fellow leaving his private office whose face showed signs of distress; something seemed toy be worrying him. He really - aroused my curiosity, and intended asking my friend the cause of his trouble, had he not j anticipated the question. He said, “Owings, did you I notice that fellow leaving my | office just before you came in ?”• | “yes,” said I, “a very intellkj gent face. but he seemed •] troubled.” j

“Yes, he is an unusually intellkl gent young man, and could be 1 very valuable to me, were it not I that he is so unreliable, vi never a week passes without his I being late to work or off a d&pj through sickness or death, or J some other of a thousand and 1 one excuses. It is excuses I v eek after week, until I am sick I of hearing them, I have just dis- I charged him and given his I position to a less experienced I but more reliable employee. I Think of it gentlemen, a J capable young man wasting his i energy, going rapidly to, want | from indisposition, through excuses, as I thought I could see him a few years | hence a vagrant upon the street | corner, shivering from cold from | the want of proper clothing,,l still giving excuses. Always | excusing himself and attributing"! his failure to the cruel hand of | fate. j

Have you not met just suchvS au individual on the street« corner, beggingtfor a quarter for a meal or a night’s lodging ? J Yes, of course, you have. They j are in every town, and I venture * to say too, you, have oftenwondered how it happened such - intelligent men could sink so low. It didn’t happen in a day I or a year, it was a gradual! downward movemeut, so gradual * that they were down and out 1 before they realised it. It isj the result of false living. Ex-* cuses piled upon excuses for [ every step from the pinnacle of success to the bottomless pit of failure.

That demon Excuse. Excuse \ for not working to-day, excused for being late, excuse fori making this or that error, excuse for forgetting, and so we might j go down the list indefinitely ] covering everything to the imagination. >.

.ae successful man doesn’t make excuses, he doesn’t need ■ to. Why should h. ? Excuses are for failure, um cess. i:| only wish you coul this. I could mention 'h • most! successful men. hm > would -i be the ones who haw iue least . complaining to do. And yet I t stretch my head ofltirn s at the outlandish excuses I' received from deliverers for n,n working; J such as raiu, counting stqo'k, j races, circuses, etc.

Is it possible the wheels of business must cease to move *on such occasions ? Ho the merchants in your towns close their shops at such times ? Is it possible that such conditions possibly exist, and people marvel at the rapid progress of Amen* can ingenuity ? Those of y-m who have given such excuses for losing time, should be ashamed of yourselves, —“ Business Philosopher.”