THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
PAGE 4
THE PROBLEM
(Continued from page 1 )
who have no “dare” in their natures, who are afraid
to take chances, who shrink from hardships, from re
sponsibility, must be content with very small achieve
ment. Students, grit has enabled many a poor boy
and girl to pay his way through school and make a
place for himself in the world; it is more than a match
for any handicap; it has won the greatest battles in
history. No substitute has ever been found for the
ability to stick to a thing, for staying quality.
The great question is: Can you keep at it; can you
stick; can you persevere after failure; have you grit
and backbone enough to hold on, stick and hang on in
spite of everything? Boys and girls, if you have this
faculty, though some of you may be stupid in school,
and dull of comprehension, you will win out in the
end. You are more likely to succeed if you have this
one great quality, even if you lack in other success
qualities, than if you possessed great brilliancy with
out it.
The person whom we all admire is he who does
not shrink back because of temporary defeat, but who
comes up again and again and wrests triumph from de
feat. After all the real test is what we do after we fail.
What will the failure arouse in us? Will it discover
in us new sources of power, double our determination,
or will it dishearten us? How much is there left in
you after you have apparently lost out? If you lie
down then, young folk, throw up the sponge, you cer
tainly are not made of the right stuff.
There are varying degrees of persistency. Some
boys and girls start with enthusiasm and zeal, butturn
back at their very first defeat, at the very first rebuff
they get after their arrival at school, while hard knocks
and iron conditions serve to make others fight the
more. Rebuffs call out their reserve sticking power
and renders them all the more resolute. For some
students every hard place means to “give up,” but
there is no “give-up” in a boy or girl who comes to
school with a purpose, who persists, who is never
beaten. Those who never think of being defeated are
bound to win.
We all believe in the young man or woman who per
sists, sticks, hangs on, when others let go. Tenacity
of purpose gives confidence. If you stick to your pur
pose through thick and thin, if you have the genius
of persistence, you have the very first qualifications of
an achiever.
There may come a time in your life when you will
have no idea what to do next; when you may not be
able to make a single intelligent move, when you can
not see any light ahead. Then is the time simply to
hang on and refuse to give up.
We are hammering this lesson at you students time
and again because it is the very first lesson you should
learn. We have seen hundreds, yea, thousands, of
young men and women spoil their chances of success
by not sticking to their jobs. Without this tena
city of purpose, ability to stick, education and bril
liancy, even genius, will not amount to much. With
it any one of you here may succeed. The world owes
more to persistency that never gives up than to almost
anything else.
A proof of your greatness is shown when you stick
to your aim, can accomplish your purpose in spite of
all embarrassments and conditions. Unless each one
of you here is dominated by some aim, some fixed
purpose, something definite, some plan, you cannot go
very far in securing an education. The higher you
go along educational lines the more successful you
may be on account of the mental training acquired in
seeking out, grasping and applying the principles be
hind the various studies. So after all that may be said
or done, you must have the mental qualifications to
get ahead, which, together with grit and stick, will
put you on the right road to success.
We wish you all a most successful year in your task
of securing an education.
INDUSTRIAL ITEMS
The farmers and gardeners are bringing in the pota
to crop now.
The plumbers are repairing roofs and gutters and
sewer and water lines all over the place.
The shoe and harness detail are ready for the 30 sets
of harness that are to be made for the Indian sendee.
A new floor is to be placed in the dairy barn by the
carpenters, who will start work on the same in a short
time.
The tailors are few in number just at present, but
the crowd will be increased when some more of the
boys return.
Carpenters have just about completed excavating for
the basement of the senior D.S. addition. Forms will
be placed soon for the concrete.
The painters are preparing furniture, etc., for the
fair. Some fine looking green roofs are in evidence
as a result of this department’s efforts.
The engineers have a big job ahead for this fall and
winter. The water tube boiler will be reset, which
will give valuable practice to all the boys of that de
partment.
The blacksmiths and machinists are preparing to re
store the material that was in the old iron house. The
new floor put in this building by the carpenters was
completed in record time.
The removal of the office of the Superintendent of
Industries from the carpenter shop building has given a
great deal of space to the carpentry department, which
will be used for bench room and class room.