Paxton High School - Reflector Yearbook (Paxton, IL)

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The Paxton High School Reflector Volume VI. JANUARY, 1910 Number A WORD OF ADVICE TO THE SOPHOMORES I do not know that the Sophomores need this well-meant advice any more than the members of the other classes but this is your Reflector and 1 dedi- cate it to you. To begin with; Do you care to amount to anything? And secondly. Have you any ambition? I imagine that “Yes” will be the answer to both of these interrogations. Then comes the question, “Are you laying the right foundation?” I will answer this for you. “Probably not,” I say. Why? Well, you don’t go at it right, you don't use method, perseverance, and work to sufficient extent. You, like the majority of people, want to have a good time, and you have it; that is, you think so. But it’s the old story of “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” Certainly its old. but it’s just as true as the day it was first stated. Remem- ber this. Any one can be a good fel- low, but does it pay? Cast your eye around for the good fellow. Is he building his future upon a reinforced concrete foundation? No; he forgot tha' there had to be a foundation. He started his house by shingling. Listen! Have you any brains? If so. use them,—not necessarily in your studies alone (though incidentally that might help some), but in every move you make. Think independently. Don’t use your neighbor’s brain for a crutch. Some time he will need it himself and then you will be at sea in a leaky boat and “far from home and mother.” Do you want a good remedy? One 4 that will lead to success? I’ll endeav- or to tell you one. Get up in the morning with a definite aim, and try to accomplish some thing or part of thing that day. Begin now. Pick up loose ends and carry some thing to its logical conclusion. Be it mental or physical labor, finish it then at once. I admit it doesn’t sound invit- ing, but, it’s the only way. You can loaf your way into luxury, but you can’t stick with it very long. “You can’t get something for nothing.” That’s not new either, but, it never- theless holds good. It always has, and probably always will. Watch the Good Fellow. Keep your eye on him a while and note down results. The Good Fellow can be found by going over the salary lists of business firms and picking out the names with twelve dollars a week or less opposite their pay roll numbers. They seldom are worth that much, but some times they get it. While his money lasts, so lasts his popularity. But the dream vanishes, another Good Fellow takes his place; and the once Good Fellow “Joins that in- numerable caravan that moves” to the poor-house or the penitentiary. Also don’t be a “Cut-up.” The world is full of cut-ups, the market’s glutted with them now. The one-ring circus, the dog and pony shows, and the cheap vaudeville has strenuously endeavored to absorb the output, but has signally failed, and the Cut-up is omnipresent. The nearest degenerate relative to the Cut-up and the Good Fellow is the “Willie Boy” who wears a hat two