Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/532

 not all along been perfectly well known. Had the educated youth of India been from the first subjected to the kindly but firm discipline under which English boys in England are brought up, not omitting a moderate use of that invaluable botanical aid to education the common birch, there would have been no occasion for this outcry. These faults are not however serious, they are much less than might have been expected in the circumstances, and if you but have the sense to listen to the truth, to accept honest advice, and to turn a deaf ear to pernicious flattery, they will soon be things of the past.

Now the subject of first interest to young men about to start in life is naturally the choice of a career, but on this we will not linger. The general arguments respecting the different professions are too familiar to need repetition, and it must lie with each one of you who has not already made up his mind to consider how far those general arguments are modified by the particular circumstances of his own case. All sources of information are open to you—friends and relatives are at hand to consult—think the matter well over—and then decide. The counsel of a stranger can be of little use. But without running the risk of recommending this or that profession which might, for reasons only known to yourselves, be unsuitable, there is one point which I would urge. Do not choose a calling solely on pecuniary grounds. This is a very common but a very fatal mistake. The great majority of people judge of a profession entirely by the income it affords. Of course the money element is not to be ignored, especially by a man without private means, give it the first place in the calculation if you like, but do not lose sight of other factors. Think also whether the profession suits you. Money is not the only object in life, there is also happiness; and how can a man be happy if his days are spent in an uncongenial occupation? For instance, picture the life of a doctor who has a distaste for his work—few dooms can be more terrible. I say not this to dissuade you from the medical profession, to my mind the noblest of the professions, but as a warning: precisely because it is noble it should not be entered lightly. This is of course an extreme case, but the truth holds good always. A man is fond of the open air and out-door exercise —what salary can compensate him for thirty years of office drudgery in a close room? Again, think whether your work will, in addition to giving you a livelihood, do good to others. This may seem too quixotic a consideration for every-