"Getting the Most of It."

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13330, 6 July 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

"Getting the Most of It."

The true secret of success among men consists', not as many tliink, in large opportunities, but in making the most out of whatever opportunity presents itself. It is a great gift, this ability to make things grow. We see so many men in all vocations tlirowing away their present opportunities in a foolish hunt for something bigger. An old farmer, in relating the mistakes of his life, once said to us -. "The difficulty with me, I guess, is that I never got the most out of anything. When I went to the district school, I fooled away my time, thinking the school -wasn't big enough for me, and it has been going that way ever since.'' And so it had. He owned land enough; too much. His cows were big enough ; too big. He always had time enough to waste; too much. But from boy in school to old man he had never learned the great lesson of making the most of everything that came under his hand. It is a great sscret. But it lies so close to our feet that we overlook it. There is no victory in things half done. Men grow larger in judgment and skill over things well done; they grow smaller over things poorly done. There is no getting away from the reflex effect of that law. It starts- w;ith a boy in school, and it ends in a loose, ship-shod farmer, unless somewhere in his life he recognises the law of reflex effect, on his own mind, of work will done. This is the only way we can make the most of any tiling; the only way we can get the most out of anything. It is not the size of.our opportunity which makes us great, but rather the greatness of our mastery over small things. For without adequate comprehension, there can never be adequate effort. He is the wise farmer, the growing fanner, and finally the great farmer, who realises early in life the effect on his mind and growth of making the most of his opportunities.