And if all this is true, your fifty years
have given you an arsenal of power that is a considerable advantage
over younger men, if you will but use it; and it is to point out some
of the methods for its use, and some of the mistakes which I have
observed men in your condition make, that this paper is written.
A great and natural desire of men such as those to whom this paper is
addressed is to move from the places in which they have achieved no
success to new locations, where, as they put it, they "can start life
afresh." Do not do it. Such a course is, ordinarily, as fatal as it is
alluring.
If you have been an upright man--and without this there can be no
permanent success of any kind--your long residence in your community
has put you to no disadvantage, but precisely the contrary. You have,
during these years, secured the confidence of your community. They
know you to be loyal, truthful, sober, steadfast, industrious. This
popular faith in the elemental qualities of your character is the
foundation of success, and usually it requires years to establish
that.
You are at no disadvantage because the people do not have for you that
admiration which the doing of things compels.
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