Said Goldsmith,-- Burke, born for the universe, narrowed his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind.
"Constant engagement in traffic and barter has no elevating influence," says Lyndall.

"The endeavor to obtain the upper hand of those with whom we have to deal, to make good bargains, the higgling and scheming, and the thousand petty artifices, which in these days of stern competition are unscrupulously resorted to, tend to narrow the sphere and to lessen the strength of the intellect, and, at the same time, the delicacy of the moral sense." Choose upward, study the men in the vocation you think of adopting.
Does it elevate those who follow it?
Are they broad, liberal, intelligent men?
Or have they become mere appendages of their profession, living in a rut with no standing in the community, and of no use to it?
Don't think you will be the great exception, and can enter a questionable vocation without becoming a creature of it.

In spite of all your determination and will power to the contrary, your occupation, from the very law of association and habit, will seize you as in a vise, will mold you, shape you, fashion you, and stamp its inevitable impress upon you.

How frequently do we see bright, open-hearted, generous young men come out of college with high hopes and lofty aims, enter a doubtful vocation, and in a few years return to college commencement so changed that they are scarcely recognized.

The once broad, noble features have become contracted and narrowed.