FOREWORD THE REASON

These chats are the pleasurable results of the many little confidential¹ ones I have given at boys’ and young men’s clubs and at preparatory schools.

It has been my fortune—for so I consider it—to have been brought into intimate relations with men who are failures. Not the down and out men, but those who are struggling along dissatisfied with what they are doing—what false and wrong training has forced them to do.

Many of these despondent² and useless men have been guided into places where they fit—where there is conservation of energy, happiness and results. These are the factors for a mentally and physically³ balanced man—provided he has had early instruction in some vital matters.

The impulse to have the future fathers in a position to guide and live in close confidential relations with their sons, is the reason for this book.

Professional experience has proven to my[viii] complete satisfaction that the many failures, misfits, despondents and diseased in our present generation were not fundamentally ill fitted to battle with life, but that they had never been started right, physically, mentally, vocationally.

Physical instructors⁵ built muscle, teachers forced much useful and also useless stuff into unwilling⁶ brain cells, fathers furnished the money—as a rule I find that this latter was about all the parents did furnish; and thought this all-sufficient.

The results have been deplorable. Wasted energies, disgust for study in lines that never appealed, misdirected powers, and exhausted⁷ vigor⁸ is what I have daily seen for twenty-five years.

And most of these conditions are avoidable.

How frequently have I heard the remark, after explaining to a young man who came to me a complete failure: “Why didn’t my father see all this?” or “I wanted to do that, Doctor, but they said that I didn’t know my own mind; so they made me study things that I hated.” Then the vital facts which every boy should early have confidentially⁹ and chummily told him:—“Oh, Doctor, if I had only known these things ten years ago! What a different man I would be to-day!”

Yes, and your sons can benefit from your[ix] experience, for it has forced me to “chat” with them in these pages.

My plan as outlined is to give the boy and youth the information which will enable him to conserve¹⁰ his energies, increase his vigor and learn just what his mental endowment and powers are. Then to concentrate upon these constantly, allowing deviations¹¹ only so far as they broaden the horizon surrounding his vocation⁴.

There also is much to say upon physical conservation—the storing of physical vigor which in emergencies can be called upon without injury to the working capital. This vital matter has seldom been touched in the training of our youths; and as men we find them working up to the last degree of power and when the call comes for extra power there is none—the man then goes to the human dump pile. There is no excuse for this sad state of affairs—the cause is ignorance of man’s vital resources and how to conserve them.

Boys, I have been a repairer of human machines all my life; machines sent out on the road not properly adjusted, they have been returned to my shop, and with most of them I could only point out certain parts which were weak and let them go again, taking care not to put too great a strain on these parts.

Now I want you all to start out with every[x] part—brain, body and soul—equally adjusted, all of the same strong material, well fitted to work in peace, happiness and health—these factors working in harmony means success—no matter what line you take up for life’s work.

William Lee Howard.

1 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

2 despondent   

adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的

参考例句：

• He was up for a time and then，without warning,despondent again.他一度兴高采烈，但忽然又情绪低落下来。
• I feel despondent when my work is rejected.作品被拒后我感到很沮丧。

3 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

4 vocation   

n.职业，行业

参考例句：

• She struggled for years to find her true vocation.她多年来苦苦寻找真正适合自己的职业。
• She felt it was her vocation to minister to the sick.她觉得照料病人是她的天职。

5 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

6 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

7 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

8 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

9 confidentially   

ad.秘密地，悄悄地

参考例句：

• She was leaning confidentially across the table. 她神神秘秘地从桌子上靠过来。
• Kao Sung-nien and Wang Ch'u-hou talked confidentially in low tones. 高松年汪处厚两人低声密谈。

10 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

11 deviations   

背离，偏离( deviation的名词复数 )； 离经叛道的行为

参考例句：

• Local deviations depend strongly on the local geometry of the solid matrix. 局部偏离严格地依赖于固体矩阵的局部几何形状。
• They were a series of tactical day-to-day deviations from White House policy. 它们是一系列策略上一天天摆脱白宫政策的偏向。