CHARACTER SKETCHES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1935, 26 March 1891, Page 32

CHARACTER SKETCHES.

B* FABIAN BELL. THE SELF-MADE MAN. The self - made man is proud of his position — and very properly so, too ; bub that is no reason why, like the cock of the immortal Mrs Poyser, he should suppose that " the sun rose on purpose to hear him crow." It is one thing to be proud — honourably proud — of having conquered certain difficulties, and quite another thing to flaunt your success, like a red rag, in tho eyes of less fortunate persons. The brothers Oheeryble is an idealised if not an ideal character, although Dickens declares it to be drawn from nature, for the amiable disposition of those twins, who began life " without a penny," was not of a kind to allow of their rising to great commercial prosperity. No ; the qualities which go to the formation of a self-made man are not of the gentle, retiring, and amiable type, but . of an altogether harder calibre — not necessarily worse, but different. No man can rise to power, or fame, or even wealth, without possessing, the ability to seize, grasp, and turn to advantage the golden opportunity, whatever it may be. \ He must be restrained by no doubts as to his own power and other people's rights. " The woman who hesitates is lost," and the man who hesitates loses the chance which will never return. The successful man must therefore be ready and alert> and perhaps a little unscrupulous. He must also be capable, must feel in himself the power to succeed. This is difficult to define, but everyone j who has got it, or sees it in another, knows what I mean. Some years ago two young fellows of my acquaintance, both out of employment and both desirous of obtaining it, saw the advertisement of a legal firm who required an engrossing clerk. "Do you see that, A? " said B. •' Yes ; but I can't engross," said A. " Neither can I, but I can learn," returned B — which he did (in the employment of the said firm) to such good purpose that b^ is j now one of the most successful men in j London, having made the position then obtained — the lowest rung of the ladder of success — the stepping stone to another and another ; ) while A — well, perhaps I had better not say too much about A : he was a good sort of fellow, but he never got on. - I knew a starving woman once who, in a sudden emergency, walked into a big London workroom and offered herself as forewoman. She got the position (they were glad enough to take anybody), and kept it, too. A self-made man is generally a man of one idea. He knows what he wants — fame, power, or money — and makes bis way towards it with steady persistency, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. He is seldom a man of much culture. The wide grasp of many subjects which goes to make a really well-educated and cultured man of the present day is not for him. That devotion to one subject which is needed to obtain anything like success is doubly needed when the worker has to conquer his own fortune as well, and life is not long enough to permit of many divergences from the chosen path. Fortune is a hard mistress. But it is only when you coquet with her that she is fickle, i Serve her night and day with the untiring devotion of a slave, and she rarely denies you ', but waver in your allegiance only for a moment, seek some gentler mistress — love, or leisure, or light — and, lo I she turns her face from you, and you call her fickle.

The self-made man surmounts great obstacles and overrides small ones. Sometimes he does not even see theai ; at others he will nob allow himself to be disturbed by them. The world could nob go on if each of us felt the sorrows of another as if they were our own. He knows this as well as Heebie did, and moreover acts upon it. He is therefore always a little hard — sometimes more, sometimes less — according to his nature and the hardening process of his special avocation.

He does not understand why other people can't get on as well as he has done, always forgetting that " when men run in a race, they Jrun all, but one obtaineth the prize," and that when we have arrived at the Bellamennium (if we ever get there) we shall all succeed, or none succeed, according as you look at it ; but in the world, as it is at present constituted, many must sink in order that one may rise, and it is just because "we can't all do it" that the exceptional man goes to the top.

The French have a clever and quite untranslatable proverb, " Rien reussi comme le succes " — in our coarser idiom, " Nothing succeeds like success " ; and again, "Cc n'esb que le premier pas gui coute." These two proverbs embody a very important fact which we must never lose sight of : that having once achieved any marked success a second step in the same direction seems almost inevitable. This is sometimes called by careless observers " a run of luck," but generally there is very little luck about it ; ib is the outcome of well-understood natural laws.

However, ib by no means follows that a successful man is always a self-made one, or vice versa. A self-made man means (in ordinary parlance) a man who has risen from a lower to a higher rank, who has not only conquered fortune, but caste also, which is a far more difficult thing, for fortune looks not at a man's birth and takes but little notice of silver spoons, but it is otherwise with Mrs Gruudy. There was a time when self-made men could only rise in one groove — the church. Becket and Wolsey are examples of this, and many another great churchman of ancient and modern days ; but at the present time there are many roads to this much-deeired goal, and many of our greatest lawyers, statesmen, and diplomatists are selfmade men, as well as our richest merchants and squatters.

In these colonies ib is a common cry that the men who were rich once are now poor, and thai many who are now included among the " Upper Ten " were once very low down indeed. This is true in so many instances that I cannot surely be accused of any personal animus when I instance such a wellknown fact to point my moral and adorn my tale.

The old settlers lost their money because they did not know how to keep it, and what they lost others won. This is a self-evident statement which may be taken on its broadest basis, and perhaps I had better say nothing more on the subject, but all who have studied the ins and outs of colonial life may supply examples from their .own experience.

Why does one succeed and another fail 7 We may see why it is, but that does not help us much. Heredity or some other law of nature appears to govern these things ; a knowledge of their cause and effect does not avail us much. We may be able to see how it is done, but if we can't do ib ourselves that is of little use.

I take it tbat a man is born to success or non-success, and that education does but little to make or mar this natural gift. True, it puts weapons into a man's hand, but if he knows not how to use them they are of little value. At the same time it must not be supposed that success is the only test of life — it is not the best or the greatest ; but here I tonch on a point which belongs to another subject, and cannot rightly be trenched on in this paper. Tbat success is desired by the majority of mankind is sufficiently proved by its name, and we need not in this place dispute its premier position.

The self-made man is apt to be a little arrogant. This perhaps is very natural. He has distanced many competitors in the race for life, and finds himself almost alone near the desired goal. He is elated and triumphant, but let him not think that the race is won. As before the daring climber " Alps upon Alps arise," so it is here. As he approaches the goal it recedes from view and becomes ever more and more distant. The most fortunate of self-made men can rarely say, "I have achieved; I am content."