The Looker Ahead

(By J. G. Holland)[1]

The wheels of progress do not stop.  The world advances toward and into a better life, and will advance, until, leaving the hard, clumsy and jarring pavements of the marts of selfishness behind, it will strike off joyously into the broad avenue of the millennium.  No man can be a true worker for human good who does not believe that the cobblestone pavement has an end.  He believes that the time is coming when what he is doing, and has done, will be accepted at its true value.  He may be laughed at now; he may be scoffed at and scorned; his motives may be maligned; he may be hammered by opposition and barked by popular clamor; but he knows that sometime in the future it will be his turn to laugh, and he is confident that he will laugh last and best.

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[1] Josiah Gilbert Holland was born in 1819. His family was of the oldest Puritan stock.  During a considerable part of his childhood the family, pursued by misfortune, led a sort of roving life, as the unprosperous father was able to find work. The promising son, Josiah, had little chance for learning, getting but a few months in the public schools in winter. At length, while the family lived at Northampton, Massachusetts, Josiah entered high school, where he pursued his studies with great eagerness and ability. Later, he taught penmanship from town to town, and used to recite his own poems to his intimate friends. He tried daguerreotypy and district school teaching.

Finding it impossible to obtain a classical education, Holland decided to study medicine. In 1844 he was graduated at the Berkshire Medical College with honor. In 1845 Doctor Holland formed a partnership with his classmate, Doctor Bailey, and commenced his medical practice at Springfield, Massachusetts. In the same year he married Miss Elizabeth Chapin, of Springfield. His married life was one of unusual happiness.

After some time in medical practice, Holland decided he did not like it. Attracted to journalism, he started the Bay State Weekly Courier at Springfield, but it survived only for six months. He relocated to Richmond, Virginia, where he taught. In 1849 he returned to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he became assistant editor of the Republican. With tireless energy and research, he gathered local and general matter for his paper. His work made a difference, and he began to succeed as a journalist.  His writing ranged from poems and proverbs to advice and history. His Life of Abraham Lincoln, written the year Lincoln was assassinated, was sold by subscription and was immensely popular. He began authoring novels as well.  The climax of his fame and popular success as an author of books was attained in 1868, when Katrina appeared. In addition to his other literary labors he was one of the most popular of American lecturers.

In 1868 Josiah went to Europe, where he remained two years. While there, he proposed to his friend Roswell Smith the founding of Scribner’s Monthly, which became one of the most important magazines of its day. All this success allowed him a comfortable lifestyle; he had his home in New York and a beautiful country place in the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence, and was able to pass the closing hours of his life in thorough enjoyment of the world. He died in 1881. (Source: 2020site.org)