Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/419

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JOHN R. THAYER
349

academy for fifteen years. He has never been a member of any secret society or of any club since leaving college. He determined to see if one could not get on in the world relying upon himself and his own resources, without the assistance of clubmates or society affiliations. He holds that his life as a boy on his father's farm trained him to habits of activity and unremitting toil and enforced upon his mind the conviction that laziness was next to crime. He was taught to be a producer rather than a mere consumer, and to be of service to others even at the cost of hardship to himself. On the farm he learned to work, and to rely upon habits of industry. He attributes his success in life to always holding himself in readiness to help "the under dog," and never attempting to impress his fellowmen with a sense of his attainments, of his exclusiveness or of any assumed claim of superiority. To the youth of America he says: "When you are conscious of your limitations never attempt to palm yourself off as a greater person than you really are; always recognize your limitations, or you will surely be detected and condemned to a lower plane than you really ought to occupy. There is altogether too much veneered furniture on exhibition all the time."