Oglethorpe University - Yamacraw Yearbook (Atlanta, GA)

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The Nash Motors Company .VfHi i iirfurnr.H o A ' tes i Cars and Trucks Kl•:XOSHA, V ' I8COXSI J young man, after graduating from col- ime to me for advice I would say to First, make up your mind that you are ing to lead an honest, industrious life. k ] ll H Next, that the life you lead will be clean i Hk. wHi in every respect; that as you go on down life ' s H I H pathway, you will attempt to do unto others, MWM BI as near as may be, as you would like to be done unto. Next, that you will not attempt to climb a ladder by starting at the top, but that you will be willing to begin down at the bottom and climb the ladder step by step. Next, that you will practice in your living and in your business life, economy, having in mind at all times that a dollar saved is as good as two earned. ' ' The next thing for the young man to do is to make up his mind about what he thinks he would like to do in a business or professional way through life, and then start at the bot- tom at that thing and not undertake to do something that he would not be interested in. When once he has decided upon his course, he should go at whatever the task may be with a firm desire and intention of succeeding at it and then be prepared to stick to it until he has mastered the task. Too many young men believe that all they have to do is receive a college education in order to be a success. What a great mistake this is I Men succeed through their own ef- forts and not on account of having enjoyed an education. The opportunities are as great, if not greater, than ever before for the young man who is willing to start at the bot- tom, work, and work intelligently and faithfully and not want to begin where the older man, who has made a success, leaves off. I believe that if any young chap is possessed of the right determination, the future is as bright as it ever was. 3. cfc - Twenty-Five

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out it. IKt THE VA.i-1-EY HYDA.U, GEORGLA. A man should standardize himself early in life with what he considers the essential vir- tues of a man, and he should practice them until they become habits of conduct. If he chooses honor, energy and courage, all the others will be added unto him. In my own experience I have learned never to take a dare from life, but to face what- ever comes. It is better to be defeated in the effort to achieve than to retreat without making it. To speak the truth is a sublime privilege which fools and cravens never enjoy. It is ignoble and unprofitable to practice vengeance, but it is despisable to court one ' s enemies and produces the perfectly correct impression that one is treacherous or knows himself to be inferior and incapable of the decent in- difference which buries enemies. The man who believes in God, and so acts, dignifies him- self. Such faith is a form of spiritual culture and ele- gance which the meanly bred who deny Him never have. As the shadows of the years lengthen behind him this is what every man knows: — It is more exalting to have earned his own self-respect than to have many worldly honors with- C t c( f oc Jx Twenty-Fon

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4« AUGUSTA, GA. I feel deeply honored to be asked to write something which would be of interest to the young men graduating from Oglethorpe Univer- sity. I also feel very incompetent to at- tempt such a thing, but your inspiring state- ment, There are boys at Oglethorpe who have JLtSf the will to do, has helped me considerably. BTia m it seems to me that if I were going to — ' deliver an address to the young men who are about to graduate from Oglethorpe, and enter upon their chosen field of endeavor, I could wish for no finer text than this statement, The will to do. It is a theme that holds for me an irresistible appeal, for in my philosophy of life AMBITION is the cornerstone of success. A young man with an aggressive AMBITION is bound to succeed regardless of all draw backs. Indeed, it is my belief that AMBITION is a far greater asset than natural gifts. Many men of great natural gifts fail to apply their talent be- cause they haven ' t AMBITION, while others, far less capable, but possessed with that wonderful will to do have scaled the heights of success despite handicaps. It is not going too far to say that knowledge of natural ability often dulls ambition, while it is almost invariably true, a like appreciation of one ' s handicaps whets ambition to an edge which cuts through all obstacles. Of course, we sometimes see an almost ideal combination of natural talent and an unswerving ambition. Then you have a genius — but if one were forced to make a choice between the two — natural ability and AMBITION, you would see that the chance of suc- cess would be to the man with ambition.