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The probability that any particular person shall ever be

qualified for the employments to which he is educated, is very

different in different occupations. In the greatest part of

mechanic trades success is almost certain; but very uncertain in

the liberal professions. Put your son apprentice to a shoemaker,

there is little doubt of his learning to make a pair of shoes;

but send him to study the law, it as at least twenty to one if he

ever makes such proficiency as will enable him to live by the

business. In a perfectly fair lottery, those who draw the prizes

ought to gain all that is lost by those who draw the blanks. In a

profession, where twenty fail for one that succeeds, that one

ought to gain all that should have been gained by the

unsuccessful twenty.