"Not exactly," Dan answered.

"You'd rather be president of a big railroad company?"

"Yes, if I had to choose between the two jobs."

"Then perhaps you can get a glimmering of why you're in high school,"
Dick went on. "When you compare the railway president and the
laborer, the difference between them lies a good deal in the difference
in their natural abilities. Yet a lot depends, too, upon the
difference in their training. You don't find many college graduates
wielding the pick and shovel for a living, nor many high school
graduates doing so, either. By the way, Dan, what are you going
to do in life?"

Dalzell shook his head.

"Then within the next year you had better go after the problem
and make your decision hard and fast. Fasten your gaze on something
in life that you want, and then don't stop traveling until you
get it, and it's all yours! A boy of seventeen, without an idea
of what he intends to do in life has already turned down the lane
that leads to the junk heap. Get out of that road, Danny!"

"What are you going to do in life yourself?" challenged Danny Grin.

"I'm going to West Point if there's any possible chance of my
winning the nomination from our home district. There's a vacancy
to be competed for next spring."