CHAPTER XI.
CHOOSING A VOCATION Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be anything else, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing .-- SYDNEY SMITH.
"Many a man pays for his success with a slice of his constitution." No man struggles perpetually and victoriously against his own character; and one of the first principles of success in life is so to regulate our career as rather to turn our physical constitution and natural inclinations to good account than to endeavor to counteract the one or oppose the other .-- BULWER.
He that hath a trade hath an estate .-- FRANKLIN.
Nature fits all her children with something to do .-- LOWELL.
As occupations and professions have a powerful influence upon the length of human life, the youth should first ascertain whether the vocation he thinks of choosing is a healthy one.

Statesmen, judges, and clergymen are noted for their longevity.

They are not swept into the great business vortex, where the friction and raspings of sharp competition whittle life away at a fearful rate.

Astronomers, who contemplate vast systems, moving through enormous distances, are exceptionally long lived,--as Herschel and Humboldt.

Philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, as Galileo, Bacon, Newton, Euler, Dalton, in fact, those who have dwelt upon the exact sciences, seem to have escaped many of the ills from which humanity suffers.