PREFACE

THIS book has been written with a sincere desire to supply young men and women with information that will aid them in making a rational and profitable choice in the selection of their lifework. The question of the proper choice of a business or profession is often a perplexing one, and an experience of many years in intimate relations with young people in our higher schools of learning has convinced the writer that it is perplexing because of lack of the knowledge necessary to make an intelligent decision. The author has sought to unfold that which lies at the foundation of our great industries, presenting what is vital in the subjects themselves—not simply writing about them. There is much connected with law, medicine, the ministry, pedagogy, journalism, agriculture, mechanic arts, commerce, etc., which should be understood before the individual chooses any one of these as his life pursuit. He should have some idea of what he will encounter before he commits himself irrevocably to a special line of preparation. Multitudes of people are unsuccessful because of their unwise

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selection of an occupation; the choice would have been different had they understood what was before them.

It will be observed that our discussions of these subjects are not comparative. There is no effort to place one vocation before any other, for individuals vary in tastes and in special mental qualifications. A right adjustment of industries to powers would put one person in one pursuit and another person in some other line of work, and we believe that if young men and women could have the broad field of life's activities laid out clearly before them, they could be greatly aided in determining the part they would individually best perform; fewer mistakes would be made, and success would more generally be achieved. The author of this book hopes by a survey of the trunk lines of human industry to assist in the selection of the occupation in which their personal interests may be most fully promoted and their obligations to others most completelv fulfilled.

Recognizing the fact that lack of success is largely the outcome of insufficient knowledge and poor management, the author has sought not only to enunciate the principles involved in each vocation, but to indicate the preparation that should be made in order to achieve the best results: In all the great

lines of industry there is a field for the employment of wide scholarship and superior intellectual powers. The world will run smoothly, the products of labor be abundant, the comforts of life generally enjoyed, and the temptations to commit wrong diminished in proportion to the wisdom of the choice, the preparation secured, and the skill gained.

Every young person should realize that no life can be successful, in any true sense of the word, without spiritual development and employment in religious activities. Secular pursuits are but the means of living, religious activities the end. If the writer shall help the reader intelligently to fulfill a divine plan, his purpose will be accomplished.