Читать книгу Zorra Boys at Home and Abroad - Rev. W. A. MacKay - Страница 4
ОглавлениеINTRODUCTORY
By Zorra, in the following sketches, is meant a little district in Oxford county, Ontario, some ten miles square, composed of part of East and part of West Zorra, and containing a population of about fourteen hundred. It was settled about the year 1830, chiefly by Highlanders from Sutherlandshire, Scotland.
Within the last forty years there have gone from this district over one hundred young men who have made their mark in the world. With most of these it has been the writer's good fortune to be personally and intimately acquainted; and companionship with some of them has been to him a pleasure and a benefit. Three of them are to-day millionaires, or within sight of that coveted goal; three are senators in the United States; two are presidents of colleges, one in England and one in the United States; one is a professor in an American college and one in a Canadian college; another was appointed to a professor's chair but death intervened; one was a member of the Dominion Parliament, and after him, a second; and on his death, a third was elected, and he is to-day a member of the Dominion Cabinet; one is at the head of the largest departmental store in the world; one is a liberal patron of the fine arts; one is the most famous missionary in the world, while two others are intimately associated with him in the same work; one is "Ralph Connor," the popular author; one is an inventor of wide reputation; several are prominent lawyers; two or three dozen are physicians, and about twice that number are clergymen. Of the latter, six have the degree of B.A., four that of M.A., two Ph.D., and nine D.D.
It is not intended to include all these in the following sketches; this were impracticable, but it is believed that a brief, unvarnished account of the career of some of them may be an inspiration, not only to the young men of Zorra to-day, but to men everywhere struggling against difficulties, and earnestly engaged in the conflict of life. Such sketches will also be to many a pleasant souvenir of early days, when
| "Hearts were light as ony feather, Free frae sorrow, care and strife." |
When we speak of the boys abroad, we make no comparison unfavorable to the boys at home, some of whom, as we shall see, are filling high and useful positions in the land. Still, it is the absent one who is most frequently thought of and spoken about, and news concerning him is as water to a thirsty traveller.
The end of the nineteenth century finds us living at high pressure, and engaged in a keen competition for wealth, position or subsistence. The indolent, the weak, the intemperate must go under. Never were tact, push and principle more necessary to him who would succeed in life. In the "Zorra Boys at Home and Abroad" we have success illustrated by example. Born in humble though Christian homes, reared amid hardships and sometimes want, they were unconsciously trained by a stern but kind Providence in those habits of temperance, economy and hard work which have brought them to the front in almost every department of life.
What is success? It is not wealth, learning or power, although these may be included. It is the building up of a pure, strong, noble character. The man who overcomes selfishness, indolence, wastefulness, and becomes kind, industrious, frugal, is a success, though he may not make much money, or be a great man for people to look up to with wonder. Success has been rightly defined as consisting in "the proper and harmonious development of those faculties which God has given us." The present is an intensely materialistic age, when, in the mad rush after gain and worldly pleasure, home life is at a low ebb, the religious education of the young sadly neglected, and the sanctity of the Sabbath trampled under foot. We would seek to combat this dangerous tendency of our day by exhibiting men born and reared in homes where God was honored, the children instructed in the Scriptures, and the Sabbath observed as holy unto the Lord and honorable. While the following sketches will introduce the reader to some "boys" who have acquired considerable wealth, yet, so far as known to the writer, they have done it by honorable means. Their capital has been energy, economy, tact, industry and Christian character. Their money is not laid up, but laid out, and their beneficence is a benediction to many poor and needy ones. A few of those of whom we shall speak, though poor in material things, are rich in faith—millionaires in qualities that go to constitute a noble Christian life. One of them thus writes to me: "I never enjoyed material prosperity. The Lord saw best that I should not; for when I prospered financially I almost invariably suffered spiritually." The example of such men, rich or poor, is an honor to the memory of our pioneer fathers and mothers, and ought to be an inspiration to the young men and women of to-day.
Perhaps no son of Zorra would refer to the humble circumstances surrounding his entrance into life as a positive disadvantage. To the brave, apparent hindrances are real helps. "Ad astra per aspera." No man was ever rocked into a strong character in a hammock. Life is a battle. We must conquer difficulties, or difficulties will conquer us. It is with us, as with the Highlanders in battle, when their chief called out to them, "Lads, there they are. If ye dinna kill them, they will kill you."
"There's always room at the top," someone says.
"Yes," I reply, "but no man ever reached the top sitting in a cushioned Pullman car."
Think of the early struggles of Lincoln, Grant, Garfield. Call to mind the fact that of the seven Dominion premiers we have had since Confederation, nearly all were developed through the struggles of early life. One was a shoemaker, another a printer, another a stonemason, another an errand boy. Self-indulgence is a curse to anyone. The greatest misfortune that can happen to a boy is to have all his wants supplied without any effort on his part, so that he grows up in a life of luxurious ease. Such a misfortune did not overtake the Zorra boys, and for that they have reason to be thankful.
In the following sketches we may occasionally refer to the failings, foibles and amusing experiences of the boys, for these are not without their lessons; but it was undoubtedly, in a large measure, their stern Puritanical training that sent them into the world armed against the seductions of easy, luxurious indolence. They were taught firmly to believe in an All-supreme Ruler, to take the Bible as the infallible rule of their faith and practice; to regard every experience in life as coming from the Most High, and to feel their responsibility to Him for every act of life. This made them strong, devout, successful.
"I have been," said Gladstone, "in public life fifty-eight years, and forty-seven years in the Cabinet of the British Government, and during those forty-seven years I have been associated with sixty of the master-minds of the country, and all but five of the sixty were Christians."
So far as known to the writer, no Zorra boy to-day is ashamed of either the porridge or the Catechism on which he was reared. On the contrary, many readily testify how much they owe to the wholesome physical and mental pabulum of boyhood days.
The Indian motto is: "Don't walk if you can ride; don't stand if you can sit down; don't sit down if you can lie down." Different is the motto of the typical Zorra boy: "Don't sleep when you ought to be awake; don't stay awake with eyes closed and hands folded; work with your hands, think with your head, and love with your heart, and never forget that character is capital."
If it should be objected to the following sketches that they are partial and imperfect, inasmuch as I do not publish the faults of my friends, I have only to reply that I plead guilty to the offence, if offence it be. There are so many ready to point out faults, that I may be excused if I prefer to look on the sunny side of life.
| Don't look for the flaws as you go through life, And even when you find them 'Tis wise and kind to be somewhat blind, And look for the virtues behind them. |
Alexander the Great had an ugly scar on his forehead, received in battle. When an eminent artist was requested to paint his portrait, he said: "If I retain the scar it will be an offence to the admirers of the monarch, and if I omit it, it will fail to be a perfect likeness. What shall I do?" He hit upon a happy expedient. He sketched the monarch leaning upon his elbow with his forefinger upon his brow covering the scar. There was the likeness, and the scar hidden.
Thus I would study to paint with the finger of charity on the scar of a brother, hiding the ugly mark, and revealing only the beautiful, the true and the good.
P.S.—A number of these sketches originally appeared in the Montreal Witness, and were copied extensively by the press of the Dominion. At the request of many friends they are now collected, revised, and published in permanent form.
COMMISSION MERCHANT, CHICAGO
