'Tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder.
- ShakespeareHezekiah Conant, the millionaire manufacturer and philanthropist of Pawtucket, RI, once explained:
"I persuaded my father to let me leave my home in Dudley, Mass., and strike out on my own."
"So one morning in May, 1845, the old farm horse and wagon was hitched up and we both dressed in our Sunday clothes as we started out for Worcester."
"Our goal was to get me a job that was advertised by the Worcester County Gazette as follows:"
BOY WANTED
Wanted Immediately -
At the Gazette Office,
a hard working boy,
able to do heavy rolling."The financial reward was thirty dollars the first year, thirty-five the next, and forty dollars the third and board at the employer's family home."
"These conditions were accepted, and I began work the next day."
"The Gazette was an ordinary 4-page newspaper. I soon learned what heavy rolling meant. The paper was printed on a Washington hand-press, each edition of about 2,000 copies requiring two laborious intervals of about ten hours each, every week."
"In addition, I also had the laborious task of carrying a large quantity of water from the pump behind the block around to the entrance in front and then up two flights of stairs, usually a daily job."
"In exchange for my solid work ethic, I was verbally abused by many of my co-workers and various associates, called all sorts of nicknames and made to complete tasks not initally part of my regular job duties. I was seen to be just about everybody's personal servant. I had to sweep out the office, build fires in winter, run errands, post bills, carry papers, wait on the editor, and any other number of degrading tasks."
"I led the life of a hired boy, but when I showed them all at length, that I had learned to set type and run the press, I GOT PROMOTED!" Another boy was hired to succeed me, and he inherited all of decorations that came with the job."
"That was my first success, and from that day on I have never asked anybody to get me a job and never have I used a letter of recommendation. When an important opportunity came my way, the prospective employers were given all the means to learn of my abilities and character."
If some young men or women are easily discouraged, we hope that this tale of one man's path to success will aid he or she to gain encouragement and strength to press forward.
It is a long and rough road at first, in any occupation. But, like a ship on the ocean, you must lay your coarse for the place where you hope to land, and take full advantage of every opportunity that avails itself to you.
"What has been done can be done again," said the young boy whom most took for a boy with no chance of becoming anything outside the world he was born into.The boy ultimately grew to be known as Lord Beaconfield, England's great prime minister.
"I an not a slave, I am not a captive, and by my own energy and persistence I can overcome anything!" he said.
In earnest, he pushed his way up to obtain a solid education. He used every spare moment to learn and to improve himself in order to compete with his more fortunate peers.
Eventually, he stood up as a master, self poised to lead the highest guard of the political and social classes.
Early on in his career when he was rebuffed, scorned, ridiculed, hissed down at in the House of Commons, he simply would say, "The time will come, when you will hear me."
And the time did come, and the boy with no chance but who possessed a determined will, swayed the elite of England as Prime Minister for over a quarter of a century.
To be sure, every individual possessing a high desire and will to conquer an obstacle, no matter what stands before he or she as a barrier, can overcome it if that is truly the choice.
