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diff --git a/21291.txt b/21291.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ea8190 --- /dev/null +++ b/21291.txt @@ -0,0 +1,27647 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pushing to the Front, by Orison Swett Marden + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pushing to the Front + +Author: Orison Swett Marden + +Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21291] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUSHING TO THE FRONT *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Orison Swett Marden] + + + + + + +Pushing to the Front + + +BY + +ORISON SWETT MARDEN + + + +"The world makes way for the determined man." + + + + +PUBLISHED BY + +The Success Company's + +Branch Offices + +PETERSBURG, N.Y. ---- TOLEDO ---- DANVILLE + +OKLAHOMA CITY ---- SAN JOSE + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1911, + +By ORISON SWETT MARDEN. + + + + +FOREWORD + +This revised and greatly enlarged edition of "Pushing to the Front" is +the outgrowth of an almost world-wide demand for an extension of the +idea which made the original small volume such an ambition-arousing, +energizing, inspiring force. + +It is doubtful whether any other book, outside of the Bible, has been +the turning-point in more lives. + +It has sent thousands of youths, with renewed determination, back to +school or college, back to all sorts of vocations which they had +abandoned in moments of discouragement. It has kept scores of business +men from failure after they had given up all hope. + +It has helped multitudes of poor boys and girls to pay their way +through college who had never thought a liberal education possible. + +The author has received thousands of letters from people in nearly all +parts of the world telling how the book has aroused their ambition, +changed their ideals and aims, and has spurred them to the successful +undertaking of what they before had thought impossible. + +The book has been translated into many foreign languages. In Japan and +several other countries it is used extensively in the public schools. +Distinguished educators in many parts of the world have recommended its +use in schools as a civilization-builder. + +Crowned heads, presidents of republics, distinguished members of the +British and other parliaments, members of the United States Supreme +Court, noted authors, scholars, and eminent people in many parts of the +world, have eulogized this book and have thanked the author for giving +it to the world. + +This volume is full of the most fascinating romances of achievement +under difficulties, of obscure beginnings and triumphant endings, of +stirring stories of struggles and triumphs. It gives inspiring stories +of men and women who have brought great things to pass. It gives +numerous examples of the triumph of mediocrity, showing how those of +ordinary ability have succeeded by the use of ordinary means. It shows +how invalids and cripples even have triumphed by perseverance and will +over seemingly insuperable difficulties. + +The book tells how men and women have seized common occasions and made +them great; it tells of those of average ability who have succeeded by +the use of ordinary means, by dint of indomitable will and inflexible +purpose. It tells how poverty and hardship have rocked the cradle of +the giants of the race. The book points out that most people do not +utilize a large part of their effort because their mental attitude does +not correspond with their endeavor, so that although working for one +thing, they are really expecting something else; and it is what we +expect that we tend to get. + +No man can become prosperous while he really expects or half expects to +remain poor, for holding the poverty thought, keeping in touch with +poverty-producing conditions, discourages prosperity. + +Before a man can lift himself he must lift his thoughts. When we shall +have learned to master our thought habits, to keep our minds open to +the great divine inflow of life force, we shall have learned the truths +of human endowment, human possibility. + +The book points out the fact that what is called success may be +failure; that when men love money so much that they sacrifice their +friendships, their families, their home life, sacrifice position, +honor, health, everything for the dollar, their life is a failure, +although they may have accumulated money. It shows how men have become +rich at the price of their ideals, their character, at the cost of +everything noblest, best, and truest in life. It preaches the larger +doctrine of equality; the equality of will and purpose which paves a +clear path even to the Presidential chair for a Lincoln or a Garfield, +for any one who will pay the price of study and struggle. Men who feel +themselves badly handicapped, crippled by their lack of early +education, will find in these pages great encouragement to broaden +their horizon, and will get a practical, helpful, sensible education in +their odd moments and half-holidays. + +Dr. Marden, in "Pushing to the Front," shows that the average of the +leaders are not above the average of ability. They are ordinary +people, but of extraordinary persistence and perseverance. It is a +storehouse of noble incentive, a treasury of precious sayings. There +is inspiration and encouragement and helpfulness on every page. It +teaches the doctrine that no limits can be placed on one's career if he +has once learned the alphabet and has push; that there are no barriers +that can say to aspiring talent, "Thus far, and no farther." +Encouragement is its keynote; it aims to arouse to honorable exertion +those who are drifting without aim, to awaken dormant ambitions in +those who have grown discouraged in the struggle for success. + +THE PUBLISHERS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE MAN AND THE OPPORTUNITY + II. WANTED--A MAN + III. BOYS WITH NO CHANCE + IV. THE COUNTRY BOY + V. OPPORTUNITIES WHERE YOU ARE + VI. POSSIBILITIES IN SPARE MOMENTS + VII. HOW POOR BOYS AND GIRLS GO TO COLLEGE + VIII. YOUR OPPORTUNITY CONFRONTS YOU--WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT? + IX. ROUND BOYS IN SQUARE HOLES + X. WHAT CAREER? + XI. CHOOSING A VOCATION + XII. CONCENTRATED ENERGY + XIII. THE TRIUMPHS OF ENTHUSIASM + XIV. "ON TIME," OR, THE TRIUMPH OF PROMPTNESS + XV. WHAT A GOOD APPEARANCE WILL DO + XVI. PERSONALITY AS A SUCCESS ASSET + XVII. If YOU CAN TALK WELL + XVIII. A FORTUNE IN GOOD MANNERS + XIX. SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AND TIMIDITY FOES TO SUCCESS + XX. TACT OR COMMON SENSE + XXI. ENAMORED OF ACCURACY + XXII. DO IT TO A FINISH + XXIII. THE REWARD OF PERSISTENCE + XXIV. NERVE--GRIP, PLUCK + XXV. CLEAR GRIT + XXVI. SUCCESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES + XXVII. USES OF OBSTACLES + XXVIII. DECISION + XXIX. OBSERVATION AS A SUCCESS FACTOR + XXX. SELF-HELP + XXXI. THE SELF-IMPROVEMENT HABIT + XXXII. RAISING OF VALUES + XXXIII. PUBLIC SPEAKING + XXXIV. THE TRIUMPHS OF THE COMMON VIRTUES + XXXV. GETTING AROUSED + XXXVI. THE MAN WITH AN IDEA + XXXVII. DARE + XXXVIII. THE WILL AND THE WAY + XXXIX. ONE UNWAVERING AIM + XL. WORK AND WAIT + XLI. THE MIGHT OF LITTLE THINGS + XLII. THE SALARY YOU DO NOT FIND IN YOUR PAY ENVELOPE + XLIII. EXPECT GREAT THINGS OF YOURSELF + XLIV. THE NEXT TIME YOU THINK YOU ARE A FAILURE + XLV. STAND FOR SOMETHING + XLVI. NATURE'S LITTLE BILL + XLVII. HABIT--THE SERVANT,--THE MASTER + XLVIII. THE CIGARETTE + XLIX. THE POWER OF PURITY + L. THE HABIT OF HAPPINESS + LI. PUT BEAUTY INTO YOUR LIFE + LII. EDUCATION BY ABSORPTION + LIII. THE POWER OF SUGGESTION + LIV. THE CURSE OF WORRY + LV. TAKE A PLEASANT THOUGHT TO BED WITH YOU + LVI. THE CONQUEST OF POVERTY + LVII. A NEW WAY OF BRINGING UP CHILDREN + LVIII. THE HOME AS A SCHOOL OF GOOD MANNERS + LIX. MOTHER + LX. WHY SO MANY MARRIED WOMEN DETERIORATE + LXI. THRIFT + LXII. A COLLEGE EDUCATION AT HOME + LXIII. DISCRIMINATION IN READING + LXIV. READING A SPUR TO AMBITION + LXV. WHY SOME SUCCEED AND OTHERS FAIL + LXVI. RICH WITHOUT MONEY + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Orison Swett Marden . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +House in which Abraham Lincoln was born + +Ulysses S. Grant + +William Ewart Gladstone + +John Wanamaker + +Jane Addams + +Thomas Alva Edison + +Henry Ward Beecher + +Lincoln studying by the firelight + +Marshall Field + +Joseph Jefferson [Transcriber's note: Jefferson was a prominent actor +during the latter half of the 1800's.] + +Theodore Roosevelt + +Helen Keller + +William McKinley + +Julia Ward Howe + +Mark Twain + + + + +PUSHING TO THE FRONT + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAN AND THE OPPORTUNITY + +No man is born into this world whose work is not born with him.--LOWELL. + +Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them +up.--GARFIELD. + +Vigilance in watching opportunity; tact and daring in seizing upon +opportunity; force and persistence in crowding opportunity to its +utmost of possible achievement--these are the martial virtues which +must command success.--AUSTIN PHELPS. + +"I will find a way or make one." + +There never was a day that did not bring its own opportunity for doing +good that never could have been done before, and never can be +again.--W. H. BURLEIGH. + + "Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; + What you can do, or dream you can, _begin_ it." + + +"If we succeed, what will the world say?" asked Captain Berry in +delight, when Nelson had explained his carefully formed plan before the +battle of the Nile. + +"There is no if in the case," replied Nelson. "That we shall succeed +is certain. Who may live to tell the tale is a very different +question." Then, as his captains rose from the council to go to their +respective ships, he added: "Before this time to-morrow I shall have +gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey." His quick eye and daring +spirit saw an opportunity of glorious victory where others saw only +probable defeat. + +"Is it POSSIBLE to cross the path?" asked Napoleon of the engineers who +had been sent to explore the dreaded pass of St. Bernard. "Perhaps," +was the hesitating reply, "it is within the limits of _possibility_." + +"FORWARD THEN," said the Little Corporal, without heeding their account +of apparently insurmountable difficulties. England and Austria laughed +in scorn at the idea of transporting across the Alps, where "no wheel +had ever rolled, or by any possibility could roll," an army of sixty +thousand men, with ponderous artillery, tons of cannon balls and +baggage, and all the bulky munitions of war. But the besieged Massena +was starving in Genoa, and the victorious Austrians thundered at the +gates of Nice, and Napoleon was not the man to fail his former comrades +in their hour of peril. + +When this "impossible" deed was accomplished, some saw that it might +have been done long before. Others excused themselves from +encountering such gigantic obstacles by calling them insuperable. Many +a commander had possessed the necessary supplies, tools, and rugged +soldiers, but lacked the grit and resolution of Bonaparte, who did not +shrink from mere difficulties, however great, but out of his very need +made and mastered his opportunity. + +Grant at New Orleans had just been seriously injured by a fall from his +horse, when he received orders to take command at Chattanooga, so +sorely beset by the Confederates that its surrender seemed only a +question of a few days; for the hills around were all aglow by night +with the camp-fires of the enemy, and supplies had been cut off. +Though in great pain, he immediately gave directions for his removal to +the new scene of action. + +On transports up the Mississippi, the Ohio, and one of its tributaries; +on a litter borne by horses for many miles through the wilderness; and +into the city at last on the shoulders of four men, he was taken to +Chattanooga. Things assumed a different aspect immediately. _A +master_ had arrived who was _equal to the situation_. The army felt +the grip of his power. Before he could mount his horse he ordered an +advance, and although the enemy contested the ground inch by inch, the +surrounding hills were soon held by Union soldiers. + +Were these things the result of chance, or were they compelled by the +indominable determination of the injured General? + +Did things _adjust themselves_ when Horatius with two companions held +ninety thousand Tuscans at bay until the bridge across the Tiber had +been destroyed?--when Leonidas at Thermopylae checked the mighty march +of Xerxes?--when Themistocles, off the coast of Greece, shattered the +Persian's Armada?--when Caesar, finding his army hard pressed, seized +spear and buckler, fought while he reorganized his men, and snatched +victory from defeat?--when Winkelried gathered to his heart a sheaf of +Austrian spears, thus opening a path through which his comrades pressed +to freedom?--when for years Napoleon did not lose a single battle in +which he was personally engaged?--when Wellington fought in many climes +without ever being conquered?--when Ney, on a hundred fields, changed +apparent disaster into brilliant triumph?--when Perry left the disabled +_Lawrence_, rowed to the _Niagara_, and silenced the British +guns?--when Sheridan arrived from Winchester just as the Union retreat +was becoming a rout, and turned the tide by riding along the +line?--when Sherman, though sorely pressed, signaled his men to hold +the fort, and they, knowing that their leader was coming, held it? + +History furnishes thousands of examples of men who have seized +occasions to accomplish results deemed impossible by those less +resolute. Prompt decision and whole-souled action sweep the world +before them. + +True, there has been but one Napoleon; but, on the other hand, the Alps +that oppose the progress of the average American youth are not as high +or dangerous as the summits crossed by the great Corsican. + +Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. _Seize common occasions +and make them great_. + +On the morning of September 6, 1838, a young woman in the Longstone +Lighthouse, between England and Scotland, was awakened by shrieks of +agony rising above the roar of wind and wave. A storm of unwonted fury +was raging, and her parents could not hear the cries; but a telescope +showed nine human beings clinging to the windlass of a wrecked vessel +whose bow was hanging on the rocks half a mile away. "We can do +nothing," said William Darling, the light-keeper. "Ah, yes, we must go +to the rescue," exclaimed his daughter, pleading tearfully with both +father and mother, until the former replied: "Very well, Grace, I will +let you persuade me, though it is against my better judgment." Like a +feather in a whirlwind the little boat was tossed on the tumultuous +sea, but, borne on the blast that swept the cruel surge, the shrieks of +those shipwrecked sailors seemed to change her weak sinews into cords +of steel. Strength hitherto unsuspected came from somewhere, and the +heroic girl pulled one oar in even time with her father. At length the +nine were safely on board. "God bless you; but ye're a bonny English +lass," said one poor fellow, as he looked wonderingly upon this +marvelous girl, who that day had done a deed which added more to +England's glory than the exploits of many of her monarchs. + +"If you will let me try, I think I can make something that will do," +said a boy who had been employed as a scullion at the mansion of Signer +Faliero, as the story is told by George Cary Eggleston. A large +company had been invited to a banquet, and just before the hour the +confectioner, who had been making a large ornament for the table, sent +word that he had spoiled the piece. "You!" exclaimed the head servant, +in astonishment; "and who are you?" "I am Antonio Canova, the grandson +of Pisano, the stone-cutter," replied the pale-faced little fellow. + +"And pray, what can you do?" asked the major-domo. "I can make you +something that will do for the middle of the table, if you'll let me +try." The servant was at his wits' end, so he told Antonio to go ahead +and see what he could do. Calling for some butter, the scullion +quickly molded a large crouching lion, which the admiring major-domo +placed upon the table. + +Dinner was announced, and many of the most noted merchants, princes, +and noblemen of Venice were ushered into the dining-room. Among them +were skilled critics of art work. When their eyes fell upon the butter +lion, they forgot the purpose for which they had come in their wonder +at such a work of genius. They looked at the lion long and carefully, +and asked Signer Faliero what great sculptor had been persuaded to +waste his skill upon such a temporary material. Faliero could not +tell; so he asked the head servant, who brought Antonio before the +company. + +When the distinguished guests learned that the lion had been made in a +short time by a scullion, the dinner was turned into a feast in his +honor. The rich host declared that he would pay the boy's expenses +under the best masters, and he kept his word. Antonio was not spoiled +by his good fortune, but remained at heart the same simple, earnest, +faithful boy who had tried so hard to become a good stone-cutter in the +shop of Pisano. Some may not have heard how the boy Antonio took +advantage of this first great opportunity; but all know of Canova, one +of the greatest sculptors of all time. + +_Weak men wait for opportunities, strong men make them_. + +"The best men," says E. H. Chapin, "are not those who have waited for +chances but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the +chance; and made chance the servitor." + +There may not be one chance in a million that you will ever receive +unusual aid; but opportunities are often presented which you can +improve to good advantage, if you will only _act_. + +The lack of opportunity is ever the excuse of a weak, vacillating mind. +Opportunities! Every life is full of them. Every lesson in school or +college is an opportunity. Every examination is a chance in life. +Every patient is an opportunity. Every newspaper article is an +opportunity. Every client is an opportunity. Every sermon is an +opportunity. Every business transaction is an opportunity,--an +opportunity to be polite,--an opportunity to be manly,--an opportunity +to be honest,--an opportunity to make friends. Every proof of +confidence in you is a great opportunity. Every responsibility thrust +upon your strength and your honor is priceless. Existence is the +privilege of effort, and when that privilege is met like a man, +opportunities to succeed along the line of your aptitude will come +faster than you can use them. If a slave like Fred Douglass, who did +not even own his body, can elevate himself into an orator, editor, +statesman, what ought the poorest white boy to do, who is rich in +opportunities compared with Douglass? + +It is the idle man, not the great worker, who is always complaining +that he has no time or opportunity. Some young men will make more out +of the odds and ends of opportunities which many carelessly throw away +than other will get out of a whole life-time. Like bees, they extract +honey from every flower. Every person they meet, every circumstance of +the day, adds something to their store of useful knowledge or personal +power. + +"There is nobody whom Fortune does not visit once in his life," says a +cardinal; "but when she finds he is not ready to receive her, she goes +in at the door and out at the window." + +Cornelius Vanderbilt saw his opportunity in the steamboat, and +determined to identify himself with steam navigation. To the surprise +of all his friends, he abandoned his prosperous business and took +command of one of the first steamboats launched, at a salary of one +thousand dollars a year. Livingston and Fulton had acquired the sole +right to navigate New York waters by steam, but Vanderbilt thought the +law unconstitutional, and defied it until it was repealed. He soon +became a steamboat owner. When the government was paying a large +subsidy for carrying the European mails, he offered to carry them free +and give better service. His offer was accepted, and in this way he +soon built up an enormous freight and passenger traffic. + +Foreseeing the great future of railroads in a country like ours, he +plunged into railroad enterprises with all his might, laying the +foundation for the vast Vanderbilt system of to-day. + +Young Philip Armour joined the long caravan of Forty-Niners, and +crossed the "Great American Desert" with all his possessions in a +prairie schooner drawn by mules. Hard work and steady gains carefully +saved in the mines enabled him to start, six years later, in the grain +and warehouse business in Milwaukee. In nine years he made five +hundred thousand dollars. But he saw his great opportunity in Grant's +order, "On to Richmond." One morning in 1864 he knocked at the door of +Plankinton, partner in his venture as a pork packer. "I am going to +take the next train to New York," said he, "to sell pork 'short.' +Grant and Sherman have the rebellion by the throat, and pork will go +down to twelve dollars a barrel." This was his opportunity. He went +to New York and offered pork in large quantities at forty dollars per +barrel. It was eagerly taken. The shrewd Wall Street speculators +laughed at the young Westerner, and told him pork would go to sixty +dollars, for the war was not nearly over. Mr. Armour, however, kept on +selling, Grant continued to advance. Richmond fell, pork fell with it +to twelve dollars a barrel, and Mr. Armour cleared two millions of +dollars. + +John D. Rockefeller saw his opportunity in petroleum. He could see a +large population in this country with very poor lights. Petroleum was +plentiful, but the refining process was so crude that the product was +inferior, and not wholly safe. Here was Rockefeller's chance. Taking +into partnership Samuel Andrews, the porter in a machine shop where +both men had worked, he started a single barrel "still" in 1870, using +an improved process discovered by his partner. They made a superior +grade of oil and prospered rapidly. They admitted a third partner, Mr. +Flagler, but Andrews soon became dissatisfied. "What will you take for +your interest?" asked Rockefeller. Andrews wrote carelessly on a piece +of paper, "One million dollars." Within twenty-four hours Mr. +Rockefeller handed him the amount, saying, "Cheaper at one million than +ten." In twenty years the business of the little refinery, scarcely +worth one thousand dollars for building and apparatus, had grown into +the Standard Oil Trust, capitalized at ninety millions of dollars, with +stock quoted at 170, giving a market value of one hundred and fifty +millions. + +These are illustrations of seizing opportunity for the purpose of +making money. But fortunately there is a new generation of +electricians, of engineers, of scholars, of artists, of authors, and of +poets, who find opportunities, thick as thistles, for doing something +_nobler than merely amassing riches_. Wealth is not an end to strive +for, but an opportunity; not the climax of a man's career, but an +incident. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, a Quaker lady, saw her opportunity in the prisons +of England. From three hundred to four hundred half-naked women, as +late as 1813, would often be huddled in a single ward of Newgate, +London, awaiting trial. They had neither beds nor bedding, but women, +old and young, and little girls, slept in filth and rags on the floor. +No one seemed to care for them, and the Government merely furnished +food to keep them alive. Mrs. Fry visited Newgate, calmed the howling +mob, and told them she wished to establish a school for the young women +and the girls, and asked them to select a schoolmistress from their own +number. They were amazed, but chose a young woman who had been +committed for stealing a watch. In three months these "wild beasts," +as they were sometimes called, became harmless and kind. The reform +spread until the Government legalized the system, and good women +throughout Great Britain became interested in the work of educating and +clothing these outcasts. Fourscore years have passed, and her plan has +been adopted throughout the civilized world. + +A boy in England had been run over by a car, and the bright blood +spurted from a severed artery. No one seemed to know what to do until +another boy, Astley Cooper, took his handkerchief and stopped the +bleeding by pressure above the wound. The praise which he received for +thus saving the boy's life encouraging him to become a surgeon, the +foremost of his day. + +"The time comes to the young surgeon," says Arnold, "when, after long +waiting, and patient study and experiment, he is suddenly confronted +with his first critical operation. The great surgeon is away. Time is +pressing. Life and death hang in the balance. Is he equal to the +emergency? Can he fill the great surgeon's place, and do his work? If +he can, he is the one of all others who is wanted. _His opportunity +confronts him_. He and it are face to face. Shall he confess his +ignorance and inability, or step into fame and fortune? It is for him +to say." + +Are you prepared for a great opportunity? + +"Hawthorne dined one day with Longfellow," said James T. Fields, "and +brought a friend, with him from Salem. After dinner the friend said, +'I have been trying to persuade Hawthorne to write a story based upon a +legend of Acadia, and still current there,--the legend of a girl who, +in the dispersion of the Acadians, was separated from her lover, and +passed her life in waiting and seeking for him, and only found him +dying in a hospital when both were old.' Longfellow wondered that the +legend did not strike the fancy of Hawthorne, and he said to him, 'If +you have really made up your mind not to use it for a story, will you +let me have it for a poem?' To this Hawthorne consented, and promised, +moreover, not to treat the subject in prose till Longfellow had seen +what he could do with it in verse. Longfellow seized his opportunity +and gave to the world 'Evangeline, or the Exile of the Acadians.'" + +Open eyes will discover opportunities everywhere; open ears will never +fail to detect the cries of those who are perishing for assistance; +open hearts will never want for worthy objects upon which to bestow +their gifts; open hands will never lack for noble work to do. + +Everybody had noticed the overflow when a solid is immersed in a vessel +filled with water, although no one had made use of his knowledge that +the body displaces its exact bulk of liquid; but when Archimedes +observed the fact, he perceived therein an easy method of finding the +cubical contents of objects, however irregular in shape. + +Everybody knew how steadily a suspended weight, when moved, sways back +and forth until friction and the resistance of the air bring it to +rest, yet no one considered this information of the slightest practical +importance; but the boy Galileo, as he watched a lamp left swinging by +accident in the cathedral at Pisa, saw in the regularity of those +oscillations the useful principle of the pendulum. Even the iron doors +of a prison were not enough to shut him out from research. He +experimented with the straw of his cell, and learned valuable lessons +about the relative strength of tubes and rods of equal diameters. + +For ages astronomers had been familiar with the rings of Saturn, and +regarded them merely as curious exceptions to the supposed law of +planetary formation; but Laplace saw that, instead of being exceptions, +they are the sole remaining visible evidences of certain stages in the +invariable process of star manufacture, and from their mute testimony +he added a valuable chapter to the scientific history of Creation. + +There was not a sailor in Europe who had not wondered what might lie +beyond the Western Ocean, but it remained for Columbus to steer boldly +out into an unknown sea and discover a new world. + +Innumerable apples had fallen from trees, often hitting heedless men on +the head as if to set them thinking, but Newton was the first to +realize that they fall to the earth by the same law which holds the +planets in their courses and prevents the momentum of all the atoms in +the universe from hurling them wildly back to chaos. + +Lightning had dazzled the eyes, and thunder had jarred the ears of men +since the days of Adam, in the vain attempt to call their attention to +the all-pervading and tremendous energy of electricity; but the +discharges of Heaven's artillery were seen and heard only by the eye +and ear of terror until Franklin, by a simple experiment, proved that +lightning is but one manifestation of a resistless yet controllable +force, abundant as air and water. + +Like many others, these men are considered great, simply because they +improved opportunities common to the whole human race. Read the story +of any successful man and mark its moral, told thousands of years ago +by Solomon: "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand +before kings." This proverb is well illustrated by the career of the +industrious Franklin, for he stood before five kings and dined with two. + +He who improves an opportunity sows a seed which will yield fruit in +opportunity for himself and others. Every one who has labored honestly +in the past has aided to place knowledge and comfort within the reach +of a constantly increasing number. + +Avenues greater in number, wider in extent, easier of access than ever +before existed, stand open to the sober, frugal, energetic and able +mechanic, to the educated youth, to the office boy and to the +clerk--avenues through which they can reap greater successes than ever +before within the reach of these classes in the history of the world. +A little while ago there were only three or four professions--now there +are fifty. And of trades, where there was one, there are a hundred now. + +"What is its name?" asked a visitor in a studio, when shown, among many +gods, one whose face was concealed by hair, and which had wings on its +feet. "Opportunity," replied the sculptor. "Why is its face hidden?" +"Because men seldom know him when he comes to them." "Why has he wings +on his feet?" "Because he is soon gone, and once gone, cannot be +overtaken." + +"Opportunity has hair in front," says a Latin author; "behind she is +bald; if you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her, but, if +suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again." + +But what is the best opportunity to him who cannot or will not use it? + +"It was my lot," said a shipmaster, "to fall in with the ill-fated +steamer _Central America_. The night was closing in, the sea rolling +high; but I hailed the crippled steamer and asked if they needed help. +'I am in a sinking condition,' cried Captain Herndon. 'Had you not +better send your passengers on board directly?' I asked. 'Will you not +lay by me until morning?' replied Captain Herndon. 'I will try,' I +answered 'but had you not better send your passengers on board _now_?' +'Lay by me till morning,' again shouted Captain Herndon. + +"I tried to lay by him, but at night, such was the heavy roll of the +sea, I could not keep my position, and I never saw the steamer again. +In an hour and a half after he said, 'Lay by me till morning,' his +vessel, with its living freight, went down. The captain and crew and +most of the passengers found a grave in the deep." + +Captain Herndon appreciated the value of the opportunity he had +neglected when it was beyond his reach, but of what avail was the +bitterness of his self-reproach when his last moments came? How many +lives were sacrificed to his unintelligent hopefulness and indecision! +Like him the feeble, the sluggish, and the purposeless too often see no +meaning in the happiest occasions, until too late they learn the old +lesson that the mill can never grind with the water which has passed. + +Such people are always a little too late or a little too early in +everything they attempt. "They have three hands apiece," said John B. +Gough; "a right hand, a left hand, and a little behindhand." As boys, +they were late for school, and unpunctual in their home duties. That +is the way the habit is acquired; and now, when responsibility claims +them, they think that if they had only gone yesterday they would have +obtained the situation, or they can probably get one to-morrow. They +remember plenty of chances to make money, or know how to make it some +other time than now; they see how to improve themselves or help others +in the future, but perceive no opportunity in the present. They cannot +_seize their opportunity_. + +Joe Stoker, rear brakeman on the ---- accommodation train, was +exceedingly popular with all the railroad men. The passengers liked +him, too, for he was eager to please and always ready to answer +questions. But he did not realize the full responsibility of his +position. He "took the world easy," and occasionally tippled; and if +any one remonstrated, he would give one of his brightest smiles, and +reply, in such a good-natured way that the friend would think he had +over-estimated the danger: "Thank you. I'm all right. Don't you +worry." + +One evening there was a heavy snowstorm, and his train was delayed. +Joe complained of extra duties because of the storm, and slyly sipped +occasional draughts from a flat bottle. Soon he became quite jolly; +but the conductor and engineer of the train were both vigilant and +anxious. + +Between two stations the train came to a quick halt. The engine had +blown out its cylinder head, and an express was due in a few minutes +upon the same track. The conductor hurried to the rear car, and +ordered Joe back with a red light. The brakeman laughed and said: + +"There's no hurry. Wait till I get my overcoat." + +The conductor answered gravely, "Don't stop a minute, Joe. The express +is due." + +"All right," said Joe, smilingly. The conductor then hurried forward +to the engine. + +But the brakeman did not go at once. He stopped to put on his +overcoat. Then he took another sip from the flat bottle to keep the +cold out. Then he slowly grasped the lantern and, whistling, moved +leisurely down the track. + +He had not gone ten paces before he heard the puffing of the express. +Then he ran for the curve, but it was too late. In a horrible minute +the engine of the express had telescoped the standing train, and the +shrieks of the mangled passengers mingled with the hissing escape of +steam. + +Later on, when they asked for Joe, he had disappeared; but the next day +he was found in a barn, delirious, swinging an empty lantern in front +of an imaginary train, and crying, "Oh, that I had!" + +He was taken home, and afterwards to an asylum, and there is no sadder +sound in that sad place than the unceasing moan, "Oh, that I had! Oh, +that I had!" of the unfortunate brakeman, whose criminal indulgence +brought disaster to many lives. + +"Oh, that I had!" or "Oh, that I had not!" is the silent cry of many a +man who would give life itself for the opportunity to go back and +retrieve some long-past error. + +"There are moments," says Dean Alford, "which are worth more than +years. We cannot help it. There is no proportion between spaces of +time in importance nor in value. A stray, unthought-of five minutes +may contain the event of a life. And this all-important moment--who +can tell when it will be upon us?" + +"What we call a turning-point," says Arnold, "is simply an occasion +which sums up and brings to a result previous training. Accidental +circumstances are nothing except to men who have been trained to take +advantage of them." + +The trouble with us is that we are ever looking for a princely chance +of acquiring riches, or fame, or worth. We are dazzled by what Emerson +calls the "shallow Americanism" of the day. We are expecting mastery +without apprenticeship, knowledge without study, and riches by credit. + +Young men and women, why stand ye here all the day idle? Was the land +all occupied before you were born? Has the earth ceased to yield its +increase? Are the seats all taken? the positions all filled? the +chances all gone? Are the resources of your country fully developed? +Are the secrets of nature all mastered? Is there no way in which you +can utilize these passing moments to improve yourself or benefit +others? Is the competition of modern existence so fierce that you must +be content simply to gain an honest living? Have you received the gift +of life in this progressive age, wherein all the experience of the past +is garnered for your inspiration, merely that you may increase by one +the sum total of purely animal existence? + +Born in an age and country in which knowledge and opportunity abound as +never before, how can you sit with folded hands, asking God's aid in +work for which He has already given you the necessary faculties and +strength? Even when the Chosen People supposed their progress checked +by the Red Sea, and their leader paused for Divine help, the Lord said, +"Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, +_that they go forward_." + +With the world full of work that needs to be done; with human nature so +constituted that often a pleasant word or a trifling assistance may +stem the tide of disaster for some fellow man, or clear his path to +success; with our own faculties so arranged that in honest, earnest, +persistent endeavor we find our highest good; and with countless noble +examples to encourage us to dare and to do, each moment brings us to +the threshold of some new opportunity. + +Don't _wait_ for your opportunity. _Make it_,--make it as the +shepherd-boy Ferguson made his when he calculated the distances of the +stars with a handful of glass beads on a string. Make it as George +Stephenson made his when he mastered the rules of mathematics with a +bit of chalk on the grimy sides of the coal wagons in the mines. Make +it, as Napoleon made his in a hundred "impossible" situations. Make +it, as _all leaders of men_, in war and in peace, have made their +chances of success. Golden opportunities are nothing to laziness, but +industry makes the commonest chances golden. + + "There is a tide in the affairs of men, + Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; + Omitted, all the voyage of their life + Is bound in shallows and in miseries; + And we must take the current when it serves, + Or lose our ventures." + + "'Tis never offered twice; seize, then, the hour + When fortune smiles, and duty points the way; + Nor shrink aside to 'scape the specter fear, + Nor pause, though pleasure beckon from her bower; + But bravely bear thee onward to the goal." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WANTED--A MAN + + "Wanted; men: + Not systems fit and wise, + Not faiths with rigid eyes, + Not wealth in mountain piles, + Not power with gracious smiles, + Not even the potent pen; + Wanted; men." + +All the world cries, Where is the man who will save us? We want a man! +Don't look so far for this man. You have him at hand. This man,--it +is you, it is I, it is each one of us! . . . How to constitute one's +self a man? Nothing harder, if one knows not how to will it; nothing +easier, if one wills it.--ALEXANDRE DUMAS. + + +Diogenes sought with a lantern at noontide in ancient Athens for a +perfectly honest man, and sought in vain. In the market place he once +cried aloud, "Hear me, O men"; and, when a crowd collected around him, +he said scornfully: "I called for men, not pygmies." + +Over the door of every profession, every occupation, every calling, the +world has a standing advertisement: "Wanted--A Man." + +Wanted, a man who will not lose his individuality in a crowd, a man who +has the courage of his convictions, who is not afraid to say "No," +though all the world say "Yes." + +Wanted, a man who, though he is dominated by a mighty purpose, will not +permit one great faculty to dwarf, cripple, warp, or mutilate his +manhood; who will not allow the over-development of one faculty to +stunt or paralyze his other faculties. + +Wanted, a man who is larger than his calling, who considers it a low +estimate of his occupation to value it merely as a means of getting a +living. Wanted, a man who sees self-development, education and +culture, discipline and drill, character and manhood, in his occupation. + +A thousand pulpits vacant in a single religious denomination, a +thousand preachers standing idle in the market place, while a thousand +church committees scour the land for men to fill those same vacant +pulpits, and scour in vain, is a sufficient indication, in one +direction at least, of the largeness of the opportunities of the age, +and also of the crying need of good men. + +Wanted, a man of courage who is not a coward in any part of his nature. + +Wanted, a man who is well balanced, who is not cursed with some little +defect of weakness which cripples his usefulness and neutralizes his +powers. + +Wanted, a man who is symmetrical, and not one-sided in his development, +who has not sent all the energies of his being into one narrow +specialty and allowed all the other branches of his life to wither and +die. Wanted, a man who is broad, who does not take half views of +things; a man who mixes common sense with his theories, who does not +let a college education spoil him for practical, every-day life; a man +who prefers substance to show, and one who regards his good name as a +priceless treasure. + +Wanted, a man "who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but +whose passions are trained to heed a strong will, the servant of a +tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, whether of +nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as +himself." + +The world wants a man who is educated all over; whose nerves are +brought to their acutest sensibility; whose brain is cultured, keen, +incisive, broad; whose hands are deft; whose eyes are alert, sensitive, +microscopic; whose heart is tender, magnanimous, true. + +The whole world is looking for such a man. Although there are millions +out of employment, yet it is almost impossible to find just the right +man in almost any department of life, and yet everywhere we see the +advertisement: "Wanted--A Man." + +Rousseau, in his celebrated essay on education, says; "According to the +order of nature, men being equal, their common vocation is the +profession of humanity; and whoever is well educated to discharge the +duty of a man can not be badly prepared to fill any of those offices +that have a relation to him. It matters little to me whether my pupil +be designed for the army, the pulpit, or the bar. Nature has destined +us to the offices of human life antecedent to our destination +concerning society. To live is the profession I would teach him. When +I have done with him, it is true he will be neither a soldier, a +lawyer, nor a divine. _Let him first be a man_; Fortune may remove him +from one rank to another as she pleases, he will be always found in his +place." + +A little, short doctor of divinity in a large Baptist convention stood +on a step and said he thanked God he was a Baptist. The audience could +not hear and called "Louder." "Get up higher," some one said. "I +can't," he replied. "To be a Baptist is as high as one can get." But +there is something higher than being a Baptist, and that is being a +_man_. + +As Emerson says, Talleyrand's question is ever the main one; not, is he +rich? is he committed? is he well-meaning? has he this or that faculty? +is he of the movement? is he of the establishment? but is he anybody? +does he stand for something? He must be good of his kind. That is all +that Talleyrand, all that the common sense of mankind asks. + +When Garfield as a boy was asked what he meant to be he answered: +"First of all, I must make myself a man; if I do not succeed in that, I +can succeed in nothing." + +Montaigne says our work is not to train a soul by itself alone, nor a +body by itself alone, but to train a man. + +One great need for the world to-day is for men and women who are good +animals. To endure the strain of our concentrated civilization, the +coming man and woman must have good bodies and an excess of animal +spirits. + +What more glorious than a magnificent manhood, animated with the +bounding spirits of overflowing health? + +It is a sad sight to see thousands of students graduated every year +from our grand institutions whose object is to make stalwart, +independent, self-supporting men, turned out into the world saplings +instead of stalwart oaks, "memory-glands" instead of brainy men, +helpless instead of self-supporting, sickly instead of robust, weak +instead of strong, leaning instead of erect. "So many promising +youths, and never a finished man!" + +The character sympathizes with and unconsciously takes on the nature of +the body. A peevish, snarling, ailing man can not develop the vigor +and strength of character which is possible to a healthy, robust, +cheerful man. There is an inherent love in the human mind for +_wholeness_, a demand that man shall come up to the highest standard; +and there is an inherent protest or contempt for preventable +deficiency. Nature, too, demands that man be ever at the top of his +condition. + +As we stand upon the seashore while the tide is coming in, one wave +reaches up the beach far higher than any previous one, then recedes, +and for some time none that follows comes up to its mark, but after a +while the whole sea is there and beyond it. So now and then there +comes a man head and shoulders above his fellow men, showing that +Nature has not lost her ideal, and after a while even the average man +will overtop the highest wave of manhood yet given to the world. + +Apelles hunted over Greece for many years, studying the fairest points +of beautiful women, getting here an eye, there a forehead and there a +nose, here a grace and there a turn of beauty, for his famous portrait +of a perfect woman which enchanted the world. So the coming man will +be a composite, many in one. He will absorb into himself not the +weakness, not the follies, but the strength and the virtues of other +types of men. He will be a man raised to the highest power. He will +be a self-centered, equipoised, and ever master of himself. His +sensibility will not be deadened or blunted by violation of Nature's +laws. His whole character will be impressionable, and will respond to +the most delicate touches of Nature. + +The first requisite of all education and discipline should be +man-timber. Tough timber must come from well grown, sturdy trees. +Such wood can be turned into a mast, can be fashioned into a piano or +an exquisite carving. But it must become timber first. Time and +patience develop the sapling into the tree. So through discipline, +education, experience, the sapling child is developed into hardy +mental, moral, physical man-timber. + +If the youth should start out with the fixed determination that every +statement he makes shall be the exact truth; that every promise he +makes shall be redeemed to the letter; that every appointment shall be +kept with the strictest faithfulness and with full regard for other +men's time; if he should hold his reputation as a priceless treasure, +feel that the eyes of the world are upon him that he must not deviate a +hair's breadth from the truth and right; if he should take such a stand +at the outset, he would, like George Peabody, come to have almost +unlimited credit and the confidence of everybody who knows him. + +What are palaces and equipages; what though a man could cover a +continent with his title-deeds, or an ocean with his commerce; compared +with conscious rectitude, with a face that never turns pale at the +accuser's voice, with a bosom that never throbs with fear of exposure, +with a heart that might be turned inside out and disclose no stain of +dishonor? To have done no man a wrong; to have put your signature to +no paper to which the purest angel in heaven might not have been an +attesting witness; to walk and live, unseduced, within arm's length of +what is not your own, with nothing between your desire and its +gratification but the invisible law of rectitude;--_this is to be a +man_. + +Man is the only great thing in the universe. All the ages have been +trying to produce a perfect model. Only one complete man has yet +evolved. The best of us are but prophesies of what is to come. + + What constitutes a state? + Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, + Thick wall or moated gate; + Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; + Not bays and broad-armed ports, + Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; + Not starred and spangled courts, + Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. + No: men, high-minded men, + With powers as far above dull brutes endued + In forest, brake, or den, + As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude,-- + Men who their duties know, + But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain, + Prevent the long-aimed blow, + And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain. + WILLIAM JONES. + + God give us men. A time like this demands + Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands: + Men whom the lust of office does not kill; + Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; + Men who possess opinions and a will; + Men who have honor--men who will not lie; + Men who can stand before a demagogue + And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking; + Tall men sun-crowned, who live above the fog + In public duty, and in private thinking. + ANON. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOYS WITH NO CHANCE + +In the blackest soils grow the fairest flowers, and the loftiest and +strongest trees spring heavenward among the rocks.--J. G. HOLLAND. + +Poverty is very terrible, and sometimes kills the very soul within us, +but it is the north wind that lashes men into Vikings; it is the soft, +luscious south wind which lulls them to lotus dreams.--OUIDA. + +Poverty is the sixth sense.--GERMAN PROVERB. + +It is not every calamity that is a curse, and early adversity is often +a blessing. Surmounted difficulties not only teach, but hearten us in +our future struggles.--SHARPE. + +There can be no doubt that the captains of industry to-day, using that +term in its broadest sense, are men who began life as poor boys.--SETH +LOW. + + 'Tis a common proof, + That lowliness is young ambition's ladder! + SHAKESPEARE. + + +"I am a child of the court," said a pretty little girl at a children's +party in Denmark; "_my_ father is Groom of the Chambers, which is a +very high office. And those whose names end with 'sen,'" she added, +"can never be anything at all. We must put our arms akimbo, and make +the elbows quite pointed, so as to keep these 'sen' people at a great +distance." + +"But my papa can buy a hundred dollars' worth of bonbons, and give them +away to children," angrily exclaimed the daughter of the rich merchant +Peter_sen_. "Can your papa do that?" + +"Yes," chimed in the daughter of an editor, "my papa can put your papa +and everybody's papa into the newspaper. All sorts of people are +afraid of him, my papa says, for he can do as he likes with the paper." + +"Oh, if I could be one of them!" thought a little boy peeping through +the crack of the door, by permission of the cook for whom he had been +turning the spit. But no, _his_ parents had not even a penny to spare, +and his name ended in "sen." + +Years afterwards when the children of the party had become men and +women, some of them went to see a splendid house, filled with all kinds +of beautiful and valuable objects. There they met the owner, once the +very boy who thought it so great a privilege to peep at them through a +crack in the door as they played. He had become the great sculptor +Thorwald_sen_. + +This sketch is adapted from a story by a poor Danish cobbler's son, +another whose name did not keep him from becoming famous,--Hans +Christian Ander_sen_. + +"There is no fear of my starving, father," said the deaf boy, Kitto, +begging to be taken from the poorhouse and allowed to struggle for an +education; "we are in the midst of plenty, and I know how to prevent +hunger. The Hottentots subsist a long time on nothing but a little +gum; they also, when hungry, tie a ligature around their bodies. +Cannot I do so, too? The hedges furnish blackberries and nuts, and the +fields, turnips; a hayrick will make an excellent bed." + +The poor deaf boy with a drunken father, who was thought capable of +nothing better than making shoes as a pauper, became one of the +greatest Biblical scholars in the world. His first book was written in +the workhouse. + +Creon was a Greek slave, as a writer tells the story in Kate Field's +"Washington," but he was also a slave of the Genius of Art. Beauty was +his god, and he worshiped it with rapt adoration. It was after the +repulse of the great Persian invader, and a law was in force that under +penalty of death no one should espouse art except freemen. When the +law was enacted he was engaged upon a group for which he hoped some day +to receive the commendation of Phidias, the greatest sculptor living, +and even the praise of Pericles. + +What was to be done? Into the marble block before him Creon had put +his head, his heart, his soul, his life. On his knees, from day to +day, he had prayed for fresh inspiration, new skill. He believed, +gratefully and proudly, that Apollo, answering his prayers, had +directed his hand and had breathed into the figures the life that +seemed to animate them; but now,--now, all the gods seemed to have +deserted him. + +Cleone, his devoted sister, felt the blow as deeply as her brother. "O +Aphrodite!" she prayed, "immortal Aphrodite, high enthroned child of +Zeus, my queen, my goddess, my patron, at whose shrine I have daily +laid my offerings, to be now my friend, the friend of my brother!" + +Then to her brother she said: "O Creon, go to the cellar beneath our +house. It is dark, but I will furnish light and food. Continue your +work; the gods will befriend us." + +To the cellar Creon went, and guarded and attended by his sister, day +and night, he proceeded with his glorious but dangerous task. + +About this time all Greece was invited to Athens to behold an exhibit +of works of art. The display took place in the Agora. Pericles +presided. At his side was Aspasia. Phidias, Socrates, Sophocles, and +other renowned men stood near him. + +The works of the great masters were there. But one group, far more +beautiful than the rest,--a group that Apollo himself must have +chiseled,--challenged universal attention, exciting at the same time no +little envy among rival artists. + +"Who is the sculptor of this group?" None could tell. Heralds +repeated the question, but there was no answer. "A mystery, then! Can +it be the work of a slave?" Amid great commotion a beautiful maiden +with disarranged dress, disheveled hair, a determined expression in her +eyes, and with closed lips, was dragged into the Agora. "This woman," +cried the officers, "this woman knows the sculptor; we are sure of it; +but she will not tell his name." + +Cleone was questioned, but was silent. She was informed of the penalty +of her conduct, but her lips remained closed. "Then," said Pericles, +"the law is imperative, and I am the minister of the law. Take the +maid to the dungeon." + +As he spoke a youth with flowing hair, emaciated, but with black eyes +that beamed with the flashing light of genius, rushed forward, and +flinging himself before him exclaimed: "O Pericles, forgive and save +the maid! She is my sister. I am the culprit. The group is the work +of my hands, the hands of a slave." + +The indignant crowd interrupted him and cried, "To the dungeon, to the +dungeon with the slave." "As I live, no!" said Pericles, rising. +"Behold that group! Apollo decides by it that there is something +higher in Greece than an unjust law. The highest purpose of law should +be the development of the beautiful. If Athens lives in the memory and +affections of men, it is her devotion to art that will immortalize her. +Not to the dungeon, but to my side bring the youth." + +And there, in the presence of the assembled multitude, Aspasia placed +the crown of olives, which she held in her hands, on the brow of Creon; +and at the same time, amid universal plaudits, she tenderly kissed +Creon's affectionate and devoted sister. + +The Athenians erected a statue to Aesop, who was born a slave, that men +might know that the way to honor is open to all. In Greece, wealth and +immortality were the sure reward of the man who could distinguish +himself in art, literature, or war. No other country ever did so much +to encourage and inspire struggling merit. + +"I was born in poverty," said Vice-President Henry Wilson. "Want sat +by my cradle. I know what it is to ask a mother for bread when she has +none to give. I left my home at ten years of age, and served an +apprenticeship of eleven years, receiving a month's schooling each +year, and, at the end of eleven years of hard work, a yoke of oxen and +six sheep, which brought me eighty-four dollars. I never spent the sum +of one dollar for pleasure, counting every penny from the time I was +born till I was twenty-one years of age. I know what it is to travel +weary miles and ask my fellow men to give me leave to toil. . . . In +the first month after I was twenty-one years of age, I went into the +woods, drove a team, and cut mill-logs. I rose in the morning before +daylight and worked hard till after dark, and received the magnificent +sum of six dollars for the month's work! Each of these dollars looked +as large to me as the moon looks to-night." + +Mr. Wilson determined never to lose an opportunity for self-culture or +self-advancement. Few men knew so well the value of spare moments. +_He seized them as though they were gold_ and would not let one pass +until he had wrung from it every possibility. He managed to read a +thousand good books before he was twenty-one--what a lesson for boys on +a farm! When he left the farm he started on foot for Natick, Mass., +over one hundred miles distant, to learn the cobbler's trade. He went +through Boston that he might see Bunker Hill monument and other +historical landmarks. The whole trip cost him but one dollar and six +cents. In a year he was the head of a debating club at Natick. Before +eight years had passed, he made his great speech against slavery, in +the Massachusetts Legislature. Twelve years later he stood shoulder to +shoulder with the polished Sumner in Congress. With him, _every +occasion was a great occasion_. He ground every circumstance of his +life into material for success. + +"Don't go about the town any longer in that outlandish rig. Let me +give you an order on the store. Dress up a little, Horace." Horace +Greeley looked down on his clothes as if he had never before noticed +how seedy they were, and replied: "You see Mr. Sterrett, my father is +on a new place, and I want to help him all I can." He had spent but +six dollars for personal expenses in seven months, and was to receive +one hundred and thirty-five from Judge J. M. Sterret of the Erie +"Gazette" for substitute work. He retained but fifteen dollars and +gave the rest to his father, with whom he had moved from Vermont to +Western Pennsylvania, and for whom he had camped out many a night to +guard the sheep from wolves. He was nearly twenty-one; and, although +tall and gawky, with tow-colored hair, a pale face and whining voice, +he resolved to seek his fortune in New York City. Slinging his bundle +of clothes on a stick over his shoulder, he walked sixty miles through +the woods to Buffalo, rode on a canal boat to Albany, descended the +Hudson in a barge, and reached New York, just as the sun was rising, +August 18, 1831. + +He found board over a saloon at two dollars and a half a week. His +journey of six hundred miles had cost him but five dollars. For days +Horace wandered up and down the streets, going into scores of buildings +and asking if they wanted "a hand"; but "no" was the invariable reply. +His quaint appearance led many to think he was an escaped apprentice. +One Sunday at his boarding-place he heard that printers were wanted at +"West's Printing-office." He was at the door at five o'clock Monday +morning, and asked the foreman for a job at seven. The latter had no +idea that a country greenhorn could set type for the Polyglot Testament +on which help was needed, but said: "Fix up a case for him and we'll +see if he _can_ do anything." When the proprietor came in, he objected +to the new-comer and told the foreman to let him go when his first +day's work was done. That night Horace showed a proof of the largest +and most correct day's work that had then been done. + +In ten years he was a partner in a small printing-office. He founded +the "New Yorker," the best weekly paper in the United States, but it +was not profitable. When Harrison was nominated for President in 1840, +Greeley started "The Log-Cabin," which reached the then fabulous +circulation of ninety thousand. But on this paper at a penny per copy +he made no money. His next venture was "The New York Tribune," price +one cent. To start it he borrowed a thousand dollars and printed five +thousand copies of the first number. It was difficult to give them all +away. He began with six hundred subscribers, and increased the list to +eleven thousand in six weeks. The demand for the "Tribune" grew faster +than new machinery could be obtained to print it. It was a paper whose +editor, whatever his mistakes, always tried to be right. + +James Gordon Bennett had made a failure of his "New York Courier" in +1825, of the "Globe" in 1832, and of the "Pennsylvanian" a little +later, and was only known as a clever writer for the press, who had +saved a few hundred dollars by hard labor and strict economy for +fourteen years. In 1835 he asked Horace Greeley to join him in +starting a new daily paper, the "New York Herald." Greeley declined, +but recommended two young printers, who formed partnership with +Bennett, and the "Herald" was started on May 6, 1835, with a cash +capital to pay expenses for _ten days_. Bennet hired a small cellar in +Wall Street, furnished it with a chair and a desk composed of a plank +supported by two barrels; and there, doing all the work except the +printing, began the work of making a really great daily newspaper, a +thing then unknown in America, as all its predecessors were party +organs. Steadily the young man struggled towards his ideal, giving the +news, fresh and crisp, from an ever-widening area, until his paper was +famous for giving the current history of the world as fully and quickly +as any competitor, and often much more thoroughly and far more +promptly. Neither labor nor expense was spared in obtaining prompt and +reliable information on every topic of general interest. It was an +up-hill job, but its completion was finally marked by the opening at +the corner of Broadway and Ann Street of the most complete newspaper +establishment then known. + +One of the first things to attract the attention on entering George W. +Childs' private office in Philadelphia was this motto, which was the +key-note of the success of a boy who started with "no chance": "Nihil +sine labore." It was his early ambition to own the "Philadelphia +Ledger" and the great building in which it was published; but how could +a poor boy working for $2.00 a week ever hope to own such a great +paper? However, he had great determination and indomitable energy; and +as soon as he had saved a few hundred dollars as a clerk in a +bookstore, he began business as a publisher. He made "great hits" in +some of the works he published, such as "Kane's Arctic Expedition." He +had a keen sense of what would please the public, and there seemed no +end to his industry. + +In spite of the fact that the "Ledger" was losing money every day, his +friends could not dissuade him from buying it, and in 1864 the dreams +of his boyhood found fulfilment. He doubled the subscription price, +lowered the advertising rates, to the astonishment of everybody, and +the paper entered upon a career of remarkable prosperity, the profits +sometimes amounting to over four hundred thousand dollars a year. He +always refused to lower the wages of his employees even when every +other establishment in Philadelphia was doing so. + +At a banquet in Lyons, nearly a century and a half ago, a discussion +arose in regard to the meaning of a painting representing some scene in +the mythology or history of Greece. Seeing that the discussion was +growing warm, the host turned to one of the waiters and asked him to +explain the picture. Greatly to the surprise of the company, the +servant gave a clear concise account of the whole subject, so plain and +convincing that it at once settled the dispute. + +"In what school have you studied, Monsieur?" asked one of the guests, +addressing the waiter with great respect. "I have studied in many +schools, Monseigneur," replied the young servant: "but the school in +which I studied longest and learned most is the school of adversity." +Well had he profited by poverty's lessons; for, although then but a +poor waiter, all Europe soon rang with the fame of the writings of the +greatest genius of his age and country, Jean Jacques Rousseau. + +The smooth sand beach of Lake Erie constituted the foolscap on which, +for want of other material, P. R. Spencer, a barefoot boy with no +chance, perfected the essential principles of the Spencerian system of +penmanship, the most beautiful exposition of graphic art. + +For eight years William Cobbett had followed the plow, when he ran away +to London, copied law papers for eight or nine months, and then +enlisted in an infantry regiment. During his first year of soldier +life he subscribed to a circulating library at Chatham, read every book +in it, and began to study. + +"I learned grammar when I was a private soldier on the pay of sixpence +a day. The edge of my berth, or that of the guard-bed, was my seat to +study in; my knapsack was my bookcase; a bit of board lying on my lap +was my writing-table, and the task did not demand anything like a year +of my life. I had no money to purchase candles or oil; in winter it +was rarely that I could get any evening light but that of the fire, and +only my turn, even, of that. To buy a pen or a sheet of paper I was +compelled to forego some portion of my food, though in a state of half +starvation. I had no moment of time that I could call my own, and I +had to read and write amidst the talking, laughing, singing, whistling, +and bawling of at least half a score of the most thoughtless of men, +and that, too, in the hours of their freedom from all control. Think +not lightly of the _farthing_ I had to give, now and then, for pen, +ink, or paper. That farthing was, alas! a great sum to me. I was as +tall as I am now, and I had great health and great exercise. The whole +of the money not expended for us at market was _twopence a week_ for +each man. I remember, and well I may! that upon one occasion I had, +after all absolutely necessary expenses, made shift to have a +half-penny in reserve, which I had destined for the purpose of a red +herring in the morning, but so hungry as to be hardly able to endure +life, when I pulled off my clothes at night, I found that I had lost my +half-penny. I buried my head in the miserable sheet and rug, and cried +like a child." + +But Cobbett made even his poverty and hard circumstances serve his +all-absorbing passion for knowledge and success. "If I," said he, +"under such circumstances could encounter and overcome this task, is +there, can there be in the whole world, a youth to find any excuse for +its non-performance?" + +Humphrey Davy had but a slender chance to acquire great scientific +knowledge, yet he had true mettle in him, and he made even old pans, +kettles, and bottles contribute to his success, as he experimented and +studied in the attic of the apothecary-store where he worked. + +"Many a farmer's son," says Thurlow Weed, "has found the best +opportunities for mental improvement in his intervals of leisure while +tending 'sap-bush.' Such, at any rate, was my own experience. At +night you had only to feed the kettles and keep up the fires, the sap +having been gathered and the wood cut before dark. During the day we +would always lay in a good stock of 'fat-pine,' by the light of which, +blazing bright before the sugar-house, I passed many a delightful night +in reading. I remember in this way to have a history of the French +Revolution, and to have obtained a better and more enduring knowledge +of its events and horrors and of the actors in that great national +tragedy than I have received from all subsequent reading. I remember, +also, how happy I was in being able to borrow the books of a Mr. Keyes, +after a two-mile tramp through the snow, shoeless, my feet swaddled in +remnants of rag carpet." + +"May I have a holiday to-morrow, father?" asked Theodore Parker one +August afternoon. The poor Lexington millwright looked in surprise at +his youngest son, for it was a busy time, but he saw from the boy's +earnest face that he had no ordinary object in view, and granted the +request. Theodore rose very early the next morning, walked through the +dust ten miles to Harvard College, and presented himself for a +candidate for admission. He had been unable to attend school regularly +since he was eight years old, but he had managed to go three months +each winter, and had reviewed his lessons again and again as he +followed the plow or worked at other tasks. All his odd moments had +been hoarded, too, for reading useful books, which he borrowed. One +book he could not borrow, but he felt that he must have it; so on +summer mornings he rose long before the sun and picked bushel after +bushel of berries, which he sent to Boston, and so got the money to buy +that coveted Latin dictionary. + +"Well done, my boy!" said the millwright, when his son came home late +at night and told of his successful examination; "but, Theodore, I +cannot afford to keep you there!" "True, father," said Theodore, "I am +not going to stay there; I shall study at home, at odd times, and thus +prepare myself for a final examination, which will give me a diploma." +He did this; and, by teaching school as he grew older, got money to +study for two years at Harvard, where he was graduated with honor. +Years after, when, as the trusted friend and adviser of Seward, Chase, +Sumner, Garrison, Horace Mann, and Wendell Phillips, his influence for +good was felt in the hearts of all his countrymen, it was a pleasure +for him to recall his early struggles and triumphs among the rocks and +bushes of Lexington. + +"The proudest moment of my life," said Elihu Burritt, "was when I had +first gained the full meaning of the first fifteen lines of Homer's +Iliad." Elihu Burritt's father died when he was sixteen, and Elihu was +apprenticed to a blacksmith in his native village of New Britain, Conn. +He had to work at the forge for ten or twelve hours a day; but while +blowing the bellows, he would solve mentally difficult problems in +arithmetic. In a diary kept at Worcester, whither he went some ten +years later to enjoy its library privileges, are such entries as +these,--"Monday, June 18, headache, 40 pages Cuvier's 'Theory of the +Earth,' 64 pages French, 11 hours' forging. Tuesday, June 19, 60 lines +Hebrew, 30 Danish, 10 lines Bohemian, 9 lines Polish, 15 names of +stars, 10 hours' forging. Wednesday, June 20, 25 lines Hebrew, 8 lines +Syriac, 11 hours' forging." He mastered 18 languages and 32 dialects. +He became eminent as the "Learned Blacksmith," and for his noble work +in the service of humanity. Edward Everett said of the manner in which +this boy with no chance acquired great learning: "It is enough to make +one who has good opportunities for education hang his head in shame." + +The barefoot Christine Nilsson in remote Sweden had little chance, but +she won the admiration of the world for her wondrous power of song, +combined with rare womanly grace. + +"Let me say in regard to your adverse worldly circumstances," says Dr. +Talmage to young men, "that you are on a level now with those who are +finally to succeed. Mark my words, and think of it thirty years from +now. You will find that those who are then the millionaires of this +country, who are the orators of the country, who are the poets of the +country, who are the strong merchants of the country, who are the great +philanthropists of the country,--mightiest in the church and +state,--are now on a level with you, not an inch above you, and in +straightened circumstances. + +"No outfit, no capital to start with? Young man, go down to the +library and get some books, and read of what wonderful mechanism God +gave you in your hand, in your foot, in your eye, in your ear, and then +ask some doctor to take you into the dissecting-room and illustrate to +you what you have read about, and never again commit the blasphemy of +saying you have no capital to start with. _Equipped_? _Why, the +poorest young man is equipped as only the God of the whole universe +could afford to equip him_." + +A newsboy is not a very promising candidate for success or honors in +any line of life. A young man can't set out in life with much less +chance than when he starts his "daily" for a living. Yet the man who +more than any other is responsible for the industrial regeneration of +this continent started in life as a newsboy on the Grand Trunk Railway. +Thomas Alva Edison was then about fifteen years of age. He had already +begun to dabble in chemistry, and had fitted up a small itinerant +laboratory. One day, as he was performing some occult experiment, the +train rounded a curve, and the bottle of sulphuric acid broke. There +followed a series of unearthly odors and unnatural complications. The +conductor, who had suffered long and patiently, promptly ejected the +youthful devotee, and in the process of the scientist's expulsion added +a resounding box upon the ear. + +Edison passed through one dramatic situation after another--always +mastering it--until he attained at an early age the scientific throne +of the world. When recently asked the secret of his success, he said +he had always been a total abstainer and singularly moderate in +everything but work. + +Daniel Manning who was President Cleveland's first campaign manager and +afterwards Secretary of the Treasury, started out as a newsboy with +apparently the world against him. So did Thurlow Weed; so did David B. +Hill. New York seems to have been prolific in enterprising newsboys. + +What nonsense for two uneducated and unknown youths who met in a cheap +boarding-house in Boston to array themselves against an institution +whose roots were embedded in the very constitution of our country, and +which was upheld by scholars, statesmen, churches, wealth, and +aristocracy, without distinction of creed or politics! What chance had +they against the prejudices and sentiment of a nation? But these young +men were fired by a lofty purpose, and they were thoroughly in earnest. +One of them, Benjamin Lundy, had already started in Ohio a paper called +"The Genius of Universal Liberty," and had carried the entire edition +home on his back from the printing-office, twenty miles, every month. +He had walked four hundred miles on his way to Tennessee to increase +his subscription list. He was no ordinary young man. + +With William Lloyd Garrison, he started to prosecute his work more +earnestly in Baltimore. The sight of the slave-pens along the +principal streets; of vessel-loads of unfortunates torn from home and +family and sent to Southern ports; the heartrending scenes at the +auction blocks, made an impression on Garrison never to be forgotten; +and the young man whose mother was too poor to send him to school, +although she early taught him to hate oppression, resolved to devote +his life to secure the freedom of these poor wretches. + +In the first issue of his paper, Garrison urged an immediate +emancipation, and called down upon his head the wrath of the entire +community. He was arrested and sent to jail. John G. Whittier, a +noble friend in the North, was so touched at the news that, being too +poor to furnish the money himself, he wrote to Henry Clay, begging him +to release Garrison by paying the fine. After forty-nine days of +imprisonment he was set free. Wendell Phillips said of him, "He was +imprisoned for his opinion when he was twenty-four. He had confronted +a nation in the bloom of his youth." + +In Boston, with no money, friends, or influence, in a little upstairs +room, Garrison started the "Liberator." Read the declaration of this +poor young man with "no chance," in the very first issue: "I will be as +harsh as truth, as uncompromising as justice. I am in earnest. I will +not equivocate, I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch, +and I will be heard." What audacity for a young man, with the world +against him! + +Hon. Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, wrote to Otis, mayor of +Boston, that some one had sent him a copy of the "Liberator," and asked +him to ascertain the name of the publisher. Otis replied that he had +found a poor young man printing "this insignificant sheet in an obscure +hole, his only auxiliary a negro boy, his supporters a few persons of +all colors and little influence." + +But this poor young man, eating, sleeping, and printing in this +"obscure hole," had set the world to thinking, and must be suppressed. +The Vigilance Association of South Carolina offered a reward of fifteen +hundred dollars for the arrest and prosecution of any one detected +circulating the "Liberator." The Governors of one or two States set a +price on the editor's head. The legislature of Georgia offered a +reward of five thousand dollars for his arrest and conviction. + +Garrison and his coadjutors were denounced everywhere. A clergyman +named Lovejoy was killed by a mob in Illinois for espousing the cause, +while defending his printing-press, and in the old "Cradle of American +Liberty" the wealth, power, and culture of Massachusetts arrayed itself +against the "Abolitionists" so outrageously, that a mere spectator, a +young lawyer of great promise, asked to be lifted upon the high +platform, and replied in such a speech as was never before heard in +Faneuil Hall. "When I heard the gentleman lay down the principles +which place the murderers of Lovejoy at Alton side by side with Otis +and Hancock, with Quincy and Adams," said Wendell Phillips, pointing to +their portraits on the walls. "I thought those pictured lips would +have broken into voice to rebuke the recreant American, the slanderer +of the dead. For the sentiments that he has uttered, on soil +consecrated by the prayers of the Puritans and the blood of patriots. +the earth should have yawned and swallowed him up." + +The whole nation was wrought to fever heat. + +Between the Northern pioneers and Southern chivalry the struggle was +long and fierce, even in far California. The drama culminated in the +shock of civil war. When the war was ended, and, after thirty-five +years of untiring, heroic conflict, Garrison was invited as the +nation's guest, by President Lincoln, to see the stars and stripes +unfurled once more above Fort Sumter, an emancipated slave delivered +the address of welcome, and his two daughters, no longer chattels in +appreciation presented Garrison with a beautiful wreath of flowers. + +About this time Richard Cobden, another powerful friend of the +oppressed, died in London. + +His father had died leaving nine children almost penniless. The boy +earned his living by watching a neighbor's sheep, but had no chance to +attend school until he was ten years old. He was sent to a +boarding-school, where he was abused, half starved, and allowed to +write home only once in three months. At fifteen he entered his +uncle's store in London as a clerk. He learned French by rising early +and studying while his companions slept. He was soon sent out in a gig +as a commercial traveler. + +He called upon John Bright to enlist his aid in fighting the terrible +"Corn-Laws" which were taking bread from the poor and giving it to the +rich. He found Mr. Bright in great grief, for his wife was lying dead +in the house. + +"There are thousands of homes in England at this moment," said Richard +Cobden, "where wives, mothers, and children are dying of hunger. Now, +when the first paroxysm of grief is passed, I would advise you to come +with me, and we will never rest until the Corn-Laws are repealed." +Cobden could no longer see the poor man's bread stopped at the +Custom-House and taxed for the benefit of the landlord and farmer, and +he threw his whole soul into this great reform. "This is not a party +question," said he, "for men of all parties are united upon it. It is +a pantry question,--a question between the working millions and the +aristocracy." They formed the "Anti-Corn-Law League," which, aided by +the Irish famine,--for it was hunger that at last ate through those +stone walls of protection,--secured the repeal of the law in 1846. Mr. +Bright said: "There is not in Great Britain a poor man's home that has +not a bigger, better, and cheaper loaf through Richard Cobden's labors." + +John Bright himself was the son of a poor working man, and in those +days the doors of the higher schools were closed to such as he; but the +great Quaker heart of this resolute youth was touched with pity for the +millions of England's and Ireland's poor, starving under the Corn-Laws. +During the frightful famine, which cut off two millions of Ireland's +population in a year, John Bright was more powerful than all the +nobility of England. The whole aristocracy trembled before his +invincible logic, his mighty eloquence, and his commanding character. +Except possibly Cobden, no other man did so much to give the laborer a +shorter day, a cheaper loaf, an added shilling. + +Over a stable in London lived a poor boy named Michael Faraday, who +carried newspapers about the streets to loan to customers for a penny +apiece. He was apprenticed for seven years to a bookbinder and +bookseller. When binding the Encyclopaedia Britannica, his eyes caught +the article on electricity, and he could not rest until he had read it. +He procured a glass vial, an old pan, and a few simple articles, and +began to experiment. A customer became interested in the boy, and took +him to hear Sir Humphry Davy lecture on chemistry. He summoned courage +to write the great scientist and sent the notes he had taken of his +lecture. One night, not long after, just as Michael was about to +retire, Sir Humphry Davy's carriage stopped at his humble lodging, and +a servant handed him a written invitation to call upon the great +lecturer the next morning. Michael could scarcely trust his eyes as he +read the note. In the morning he called as requested, and was engaged +to clean instruments and take them to and from the lecture-room. He +watched eagerly every movement of Davy, as with a glass mask over his +face, he developed his safety-lamp and experimented with dangerous +explosives. Michael studied and experimented, too, and it was not long +before this poor boy with no chance was invited to lecture before the +great philosophical society. + +He was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Woolwich, and became +the wonder of the age in science. Tyndall said of him, "He is the +greatest experimental philosopher the world has ever seen." When Sir +Humphry Davy was asked what was his greatest discovery, he replied +"Michael Faraday." + +"What has been done can be done again," said the boy with no chance, +Disraeli, who become Lord Beaconsfield, England's great Prime Minister. +"I am not a slave, I am not a captive, and by energy I can overcome +greater obstacles." Jewish blood flowed in his veins and everything +seemed against him, but he remembered the example of Joseph, who became +Prime Minister of Egypt four thousand years before, and that of Daniel, +who was Prime Minister to the greatest despot of the world five +centuries before the birth of Christ. He pushed his way up through the +lower classes, up through the middle classes, up through the upper +classes, until he stood a master, self-poised upon the topmost round of +political and social power. Rebuffed, scorned, ridiculed, hissed down +in the House of Commons, he simply said, "The time will come when you +will hear me." The time did come, and the boy with no chance but a +determined will swayed the scepter of England for a quarter of a +century. + +Henry Clay, the "mill-boy of the slashes," was one of seven children of +a widow too poor to send him to any but a common country school, where +he was drilled only in the "three R's." But he used every spare moment +to study without a teacher, and in after years he was a king among +self-made men. The boy who had learned to speak in a barn, with only a +cow and a horse for an audience, became one of the greatest of American +orators and statesmen. + +See Kepler struggling with poverty and hardship, his books burned in +public by order of the state, his library locked up by the Jesuits, and +himself exiled by public clamor. For seventeen years he works calmly +upon the demonstration of the great principles that planets revolve in +ellipses, with the sun at one focus; that a line connecting the center +of the earth with the center of the sun passes over equal spaces in +equal times, and that the squares of the times of revolution of the +planets above the sun are proportioned to the cubes by their mean +distances from the sun. This boy with no chance became one of the +world's greatest astronomers. + +"When I found that I was black," said Alexandre Dumas, "I resolved to +live as if I were white, and so force men to look below my skin." + +How slender seemed the chance of James Sharples, the celebrated +blacksmith artist of England! He was very poor, but he often rose at +three o'clock to copy books he could not buy. He would walk eighteen +miles to Manchester and back after a hard day's work to buy a +shilling's worth of artist's materials. He would ask for the heaviest +work in the blacksmith shop, because it took a longer time to heat at +the forge, and he could thus have many spare minutes to study the +precious book, which he propped up against the chimney. He was a great +miser of spare moments and used every one as though he might never see +another. He devoted his leisure hours for five years to that wonderful +production, "The Forge," copies of which are to be seen in many a home. + +What chance had Galileo to win renown in physics or astronomy, when his +parents compelled him to go to a medical school? Yet while Venice +slept, he stood in the tower of St. Mark's Cathedral and discovered the +satellites of Jupiter and the phases of Venus, through a telescope made +with his own hands. When compelled on bended knee to publicly renounce +his heretical doctrine that the earth moves around the sun, all the +terrors of the Inquisition could not keep this feeble man of threescore +years and ten from muttering to himself, "Yet it does move." When +thrown into prison, so great was his eagerness for scientific research +that he proved by a straws in his cell that a hollow tube is relatively +much stronger than a solid rod of the same size. Even when totally +blind, he kept constantly at work. + +Imagine the surprise of the Royal Society of England when the poor +unknown Herschel sent in the report of his discovery of the star +Georgium Sidus, its orbit and rate of motion; and of the rings and +satellites of Saturn. The boy with no chance, who had played the oboe +for his meals, had with his own hands made the telescope through which +he discovered facts unknown to the best-equipped astronomers of his +day. He had ground two hundred specula before he could get one perfect. + +George Stephenson was one of eight children whose parents were so poor +that all lived in a single room. George had to watch cows for a +neighbor, but he managed to get time to make engines of clay, with +hemlock sticks for pipes. At seventeen he had charge of an engine, +with his father for fireman. He could neither read nor write, but the +engine was his teacher, and he a faithful student. While the other +hands were playing games or loafing in liquor shops during the +holidays, George was taking his machine to pieces, cleaning it, +studying it, and making experiments in engines. When he had become +famous as a great inventor of improvements in engines, those who had +loafed and played called him lucky. + +Without a charm of face or figure, Charlotte Cushman resolved to place +herself in the front rank as an actress, even in such characters as +Rosalind and Queen Katherine. The star actress was unable to perform, +and Miss Cushman, her understudy, took her place. That night she held +her audience with such grasp of intellect and iron will that it forgot +the absence of mere dimpled feminine grace. Although poor, friendless, +and unknown before, when the curtain fell upon her first performance at +the London theater, her reputation was made. In after years, when +physicians told her she had a terrible, incurable disease, she flinched +not a particle, but quietly said, "I have learned to live with my +trouble." + +A poor colored woman in a log-cabin in the South had three boys, but +could afford only one pair of trousers for the three. She was so +anxious to give them an education that she sent them to school by +turns. The teacher, a Northern girl, noticed that each boy came to +school only one day out of three, and that all wore the same +pantaloons. The poor mother educated her boys as best she could. One +became a professor in a Southern college, another a physician, and the +third a clergyman. What a lesson for boys who plead "no chance" as an +excuse for wasted lives! + +Sam Cunard, the whittling Scotch lad of Glasgow, wrought many odd +inventions with brain and jack-knife, but they brought neither honor +nor profit until he was consulted by Burns & McIvor, who wished to +increase their facilities for carrying foreign mails. The model of a +steamship which Sam whittled out for them was carefully copied for the +first vessel of the great Cunard Line, and became the standard type for +all the magnificent ships since constructed by the firm. + +The new Testament and the speller were Cornelius Vanderbilt's only +books at school, but he learned to read, write, and cipher a little. +He wished to buy a boat, but had no money. To discourage him from +following the sea, his mother told him if he would plow, harrow, and +plant with corn, before the twenty-seventh day of the month, ten acres +of rough, hard, stony land, the worst on his father's farm, she would +lend him the amount he wished. Before the appointed time the work was +done, and well done. On his seventeenth birthday he bought the boat, +but on his way home it struck a sunken wreck and sank just as he +reached shallow water. + +But Cornelius Vanderbilt was not the boy to give up. He at once began +again, and in three years saved three thousand dollars. He often +worked all night, and soon had far the largest patronage of any boatman +in the harbor. During the War of 1812 he was awarded the Government +contract to carry provisions to the military stations near the +metropolis. He fulfilled his contract by night so that he might run +his ferry-boat between New York and Brooklyn by day. + +The boy who gave his parents all his day earnings and had half of what +he got at night, was worth thirty thousand dollars at thirty-five, and +when he died, at an advanced age, he left to his thirteen children one +of the largest fortunes in America. + +Lord Eldon might well have pleaded "no chance" when a boy, for he was +too poor to go to school or even to buy books. But no; he had grit and +determination, and was bound to make his way in the world. He rose at +four o'clock in the morning and copied law books which he borrowed, the +voluminous "Coke upon Littleton" among others. He was so eager to +study that sometimes he would keep it up until his brain refused to +work, when he would tie a wet towel about his head to enable him to +keep awake and to study. His first year's practice brought him but +nine shillings, yet he was bound not to give up. + +When Eldon was leaving the chamber the Solicitor tapped him on the +shoulder and said, "Young man, your bread and butter's cut for life." +The boy with "no chance" became Lord Chancellor of England, and one of +the greatest lawyers of his age. + +Stephen Girard had "no chance." He left his home in France when ten +years old, and came to America as a cabin boy. His great ambition was +to get on and succeed at any cost. There was no work, however hard and +disagreeable, that he would not undertake. Midas like, he turned to +gold everything he touched, and became one of the wealthiest merchants +of Philadelphia. His abnormal love of money cannot be commended, but +his thoroughness in all he did, his public spirit at times of national +need, and willingness to risk his life to save strangers sick with the +deadly yellow fever, are traits of character well worthy of imitation. + +John Wanamaker walked four miles to Philadelphia every day, and worked +in a bookstore for one dollar and twenty-five cents a week. He next +worked in a clothing store at an advance of twenty-five cents a week. +From this he went up and up until he became one of the greatest living +merchants. He was appointed Postmaster-General by President Harrison +in 1889, and in that capacity showed great executive ability. + +Prejudice against her race and sex did not deter the colored girl, +Edmonia Lewis, from struggling upward to honor and fame as a sculptor. + +Fred Douglass started in life with less than nothing, for he did not +own his own body, and he was pledged before his birth to pay his +master's debts. To reach the starting-point of the poorest white boy, +he had to climb as far as the distance which the latter must ascend if +he would become President of the United States. He saw his mother but +two or three times, and then in the night, when she would walk twelve +miles to be with him an hour, returning in time to go into the field at +dawn. He had no chance to study, for he had no teacher, and the rules +of the plantation forbade slaves to learn to read and write. But +somehow, unnoticed by his master, he managed to learn the alphabet from +scraps of paper and patent medicine almanacs, and then no limits could +be placed to his career. He put to shame thousands of white boys. He +fled from slavery at twenty-one, went North, and worked as a stevedore +in New York and New Bedford. At Nantucket he was given an opportunity +to speak at an anti-slavery meeting, and made so favorable an +impression that he was made agent of the Anti-Slavery Society of +Massachusetts. While traveling from place to place to lecture, he +would study with all his might. He was sent to Europe to lecture, and +won the friendship of several Englishmen, who gave him $750, with which +he purchased his freedom. He edited a paper in Rochester, N. Y., and +afterwards conducted the "New Era" in Washington. For several years he +was Marshal of the District of Columbia. + +Henry E. Dixey, the well-known actor, began his career upon the stage +in the humble part of the hind legs of a cow. + +P. T. Barnum rode a horse for ten cents a day. + +It was a boy born in a log-cabin, without schooling, or books, or +teacher, or ordinary opportunities, who won the admiration of mankind +by his homely practical wisdom while President during our Civil War, +and who emancipated four million slaves. + +Behold this long, lank, awkward youth, felling trees on the little +claim, building his homely log-cabin, without floor or windows, +teaching himself arithmetic and grammar in the evening by the light of +the fireplace. In his eagerness to know the contents of Blackstone's +Commentaries, he walked forty-four miles to procure the precious +volumes, and read one hundred pages while returning. Abraham Lincoln +inherited no opportunities, and acquired nothing by luck. His good +fortune consisted simply of untiring perseverance and a right heart. + +In another log-cabin, in the backwoods of Ohio, a poor widow is holding +a boy eighteen months old, and wondering if she will be able to keep +the wolf from her little ones. The boy grows, and in a few years we +find him chopping wood and tilling the little clearing in the forest, +to help his mother. Every spare hour is spent in studying the books he +has borrowed, but cannot buy. At sixteen he gladly accepts a chance to +drive mules on a canal towpath. Soon he applies for a chance to sweep +floors and ring the bell of an academy, to pay his way while studying +there. + +His first term at Geauga Seminary cost him but seventeen dollars. When +he returned the next term he had but a sixpence in his pocket, and this +he put into the contribution box at church the next day. He engaged +board, washing, fuel, and light of a carpenter at one dollar and six +cents a week, with the privilege of working at night and on Saturdays +all the time he could spare. He had arrived on a Saturday and planed +fifty-one boards that day, for which he received one dollar and two +cents. When the term closed, he had paid all expenses and had three +dollars over. The following winter he taught school at twelve dollars +a month and "board around." In the spring he had forty-eight dollars, +and when he returned to school he boarded himself at an expense of +thirty-one cents a week. + +Soon we find him in Williams College, where in two years he is +graduated with honors. He reaches the State Senate at twenty-six and +Congress at thirty-three. Twenty-seven years from the time he applied +for a chance to ring the bell at Hiram College, James A. Garfield +became President of the United States. The inspiration of such an +example is worth more to the young men of America than all the wealth +of the Astors, the Vanderbilts, and the Goulds. + +Among the world's greatest heroes and benefactors are many others whose +cradles were rocked by want in lowly cottages, and who buffeted the +billows of fate without dependence, save upon the mercy of God and +their own energies. + +"The little gray cabin appears to be the birthplace of all your great +men," said an English author who had been looking over a book of +biographies of eminent Americans. + +With five chances on each hand and one unwavering aim, no boy, however +poor, need despair. There is bread and success for every youth under +the American flag who has energy and ability to seize his opportunity. +It matters not whether the boy is born in a log-cabin or in a mansion; +if he is dominated by a resolute purpose and upholds himself, neither +men nor demons can keep him down. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE COUNTRY BOY + +The Napoleonic wars so drained the flower of French manhood that even +to-day the physical stature of the average Frenchman is nearly half an +inch below what it was at the beginning of Napoleon's reign. + +The country in America to-day is constantly paying a similar tribute to +the city in the sacrifice of its best blood, its best brain, the finest +physical and mental fiber in the world. This great stream of superb +country manhood, which is ever flowing cityward, is rapidly +deteriorated by the softening, emasculating influences of the city, +until the superior virility, stamina and sturdy qualities entirely +disappear in two or three generations of city life. Our city +civilization is always in a process of decay, and would, in a few +generations, become emasculated and effeminate were it not for the +pure, crystal stream of country youth flowing steadily into and +purifying the muddy, devitalized stream of city life. It would soon +become so foul and degenerate as to threaten the physical and moral +health of city dwellers. + +One of our great men says that one of the most unfortunate phases of +modern civilization is the drift away from the farm, the drift of +country youth to the city which has an indescribable fascination for +him. His vivid imagination clothes it with Arabian Nights +possibilities and joys. The country seems tame and commonplace after +his first dream of the city. To him it is synonymous with opportunity, +with power, with pleasure. He can not rid himself of its fascination +until he tastes its emptiness. He can not know the worth of the +country and how to appreciate the glory of its disadvantages and +opportunities until he has seen the sham and shallowness of the city. + +One of the greatest boons that can ever come to a human being is to be +born on a farm and reared in the country. Self-reliance and grit are +oftenest country-bred. The country boy is constantly thrown upon his +own resources, forced to think for himself, and this calls out his +ingenuity and inventiveness. He develops better all-round judgment and +a more level head than the city boy. His muscles are harder, his flesh +firmer, and his brain-fiber partakes of the same superior quality. + +The very granite hills, the mountains, the valleys, the brooks, the +miracle of the growing crops are every moment registering their mighty +potencies in his constitution, putting iron into his blood and stamina +into his character, all of which will help to make him a giant when he +comes to compete with the city-bred youth. + +The sturdy, vigorous, hardy qualities, the stamina, the brawn, the grit +which characterize men who do great things in this world, are, as a +rule, country bred. If power is not absorbed from the soil, it +certainly comes from very near it. There seems to be a close +connection between robust character and the soil, the hills, mountains +and valleys, the pure air and sunshine. There is a very appreciable +difference between the physical stamina, the brain vigor, the solidity +and the reliability of country-bred men and that of those in the city. + +The average country-bred youth has a better foundation for +success-building, has greater courage, more moral stamina. He has not +become weakened and softened by the superficial ornamental, decorative +influences of city life. And there is a reason for all this. We are +largely copies of our environment. We are under the perpetual +influence of the suggestion of our surroundings. The city-bred youth +sees and hears almost nothing that is natural, aside from the faces and +forms of human beings. Nearly everything that confronts him from +morning till night is artificial, man-made. He sees hardly anything +that God made, that imparts solidity, strength and power, as do the +natural objects in the country. How can a man build up a solid, +substantial character when his eyes and ears bring him only sights and +sounds of artificial things? A vast sea of business blocks, +sky-scrapers and asphalt pavements does not generate character-building +material. + +Just as sculpture was once carried to such an extreme that pillars and +beams were often so weakened by the extravagant carvings as to threaten +the safety of the structure, so the timber in country boys and girls, +when brought to the city, is often overcarved and adorned at the cost +of strength, robustness and vigor. + +In other words, virility, forcefulness, physical and mental stamina +reach their maximum in those who live close to the soil. The moment a +man becomes artificial in his living, takes on artificial conditions, +he begins to deteriorate, to soften. + +Much of what we call the best society in our cities is often in an +advanced process of decay. The muscles may be a little more delicate +but they are softer; the skin may be a little fairer, but it is not so +healthy; the thought a little more supple, but less vigorous. The +whole tendency of life in big cities is toward deterioration. City +people rarely live really normal lives. It is not natural for human +beings to live far from the soil. It is Mother Earth and country life +that give vitality, stamina, courage and all the qualities which make +for manhood and womanhood. What we get from the country is solid, +substantial, enduring, reliable. What comes from the artificial +conditions of the city is weakening, enervating, softening. + +The country youth, on the other hand, is in the midst of a perpetual +miracle. He can not open his eyes without seeing a more magnificent +painting than a Raphael or a Michael Angelo could have created in a +lifetime. And this magnificent panorama is changing every instant. + +There is a miracle going on in every growing blade of grass and flower. +Is it not wonderful to watch the chemical processes in nature's +laboratory, mixing and flinging out to the world the gorgeous colorings +and marvelous perfumes of the rose and wild flower! No city youth was +ever in such a marvelous kindergarten, where perpetual creation is +going on in such a vast multitude of forms. + +The city youth has too many things to divert his attention. Such a +multiplicity of objects appeals to him that he is often superficial; he +lacks depth; his mind is perpetually drawn away from his subject, and +he lacks continuity of thought and application. His reading is +comparatively superficial. He glances through many papers; magazines +and periodicals and gives no real thought to any. His evenings are +much more broken up than those of the country boy, who, having very +little diversion after supper, can read continuously for an entire +evening on one subject. The country boy does not read as many books as +the city boy, but, as a rule, he reads them with much better results. + +The dearth of great libraries, books and periodicals is one reason why +the country boy makes the most of good books and articles, often +reading them over and over again, while the city youth, in the midst of +newspapers and libraries, sees so many books that in most instances he +cares very little for them, and will often read the best literature +without absorbing any of it. + +The fact is that there is such a diversity of attractions and +distractions, of temptation and amusement in the city, that unless a +youth is made of unusual stuff he will yield to the persuasion of the +moment and follow the line of least resistance. It is hard for the +city-bred youth to resist the multiplicity of allurements and pleasures +that bid for his attention, to deny himself and turn a deaf ear to the +appeals of his associates and tie himself down to self-improvement +while those around him are having a good time. + +These exciting, diverting, tempting conditions of city life are not +conducive to generating the great master purpose, the one unwavering +life aim, which we often see so marked in the young man from the +country. Nor do city-bred youths store up anything like the reserve +power, the cumulative force, the stamina, which are developed in the +simple life of the soil. + +For one thing, the country boy is constantly developing his muscular +system. His health is better. He gets more exercise, more time to +think and to reflect; hence, he is not so superficial as the city boy. +His perceptions are not so quick, he is not so rapid in his movements, +his thought action is slower and he does not have as much polish, it is +true, but he is better balanced generally. He has been forced to do a +great variety of work and this has developed corresponding mental +qualities. + +The drudgery of the farm, the chores which we hated as boys, the rocks +which we despised, we have found were the very things which educated +us, which developed our power and made us practical. The farm is a +great gymnasium, a superb manual training school, nature's +kindergarten, constantly calling upon the youth's self-reliance and +inventiveness. He must make the implements and toys which he can not +afford to buy or procure. He must run, adjust and repair all sorts of +machinery and farm utensils. His ingenuity and inventiveness are +constantly exercised. If the wagon or plow breaks down it must be +repaired on the spot, often without the proper tools. This training +develops instinctive courage, strong success qualities, and makes him a +resourceful man. + +Is it any wonder that the boy so trained in self-reliance, so superbly +equipped with physical and mental stamina, should take such +pre-eminence, should be in such demand when he comes to the city? Is +it any wonder that he is always in evidence in great emergencies and +crises? Just stand a stamina-filled, self-reliant country boy beside a +pale, soft, stamina-less, washed-out city youth. Is it any wonder that +the country-bred boy is nearly always the leader; that he heads the +banks, the great mercantile houses? It is this peculiar, +indescribable something; this superior stamina and mental caliber, that +makes the stuff that rises to the top in all vocations. + +There is a peculiar quality of superiority which comes from dealing +with _realities_ that we do not find in the superficial city +conditions. The life-giving oxygen, breathed in great inspirations +through constant muscular effort, develops in the country boy much +greater lung power than is developed in the city youth, and his outdoor +work tends to build up a robust constitution. Plowing, hoeing, mowing, +everything he does on the farm gives him vigor and strength. His +muscles are harder, his flesh firmer, and his brain-fiber partakes of +the same superior quality. He is constantly bottling up forces, +storing up energy in his brain and muscles which later may be powerful +factors in shaping the nation's destiny or which may furnish backbone +to keep the ship of state from floundering on the rocks. This +marvelous reserve power which he stores up in the country will come out +in the successful banker, statesman, lawyer, merchant, or business man. + +Self-reliance and grit are oftenest country-bred. The country boy is +constantly thrown upon his own resources; he is forced to think for +himself, and this calls out his ingenuity and makes him self-reliant +and strong. It has been found that the use of tools in our manual +training schools develops the brain, strengthens the deficient +faculties and brings out latent powers. The farm-reared boy is in the +best manual training school in the world and is constantly forced to +plan things, make things; he is always using tools. This is one of the +reasons why he usually develops better all-round judgment and a more +level head than the city boy. + +It is human nature to exaggerate the value of things beyond our reach. +People save money for years in order to go to Europe to visit the great +art centers and see the famous masterpieces, when they have really +never seen the marvelous pictures painted by the Divine Artist and +spread in the landscape, in the sunset, in the glory of flowers and +plant life, right at their very doors. + +What a perpetual inspiration, what marvels of beauty, what miracles of +coloring are spread everywhere in nature, confronting us on every hand! +We see them almost every day of our lives and they become so common +that they make no impression upon us. Think of the difference between +what a Ruskin sees in a landscape and the impression conveyed to his +brain, and what is seen by the ordinary mind, the ordinary person who +has little or no imagination and whose esthetic faculties have scarcely +been developed! + +We are immersed in a wilderness of mysteries and marvelous beauties. +Miracles innumerable in grass and flower and fruit are performed right +before our eyes. How marvelous is Nature's growing of fruit, for +example! How she packs the concentrated sunshine and delicious juices +into the cans that she makes as she goes along, cans exactly the right +size, without a particle of waste, leakage or evaporation, with no +noise of factories, no hammering of tins! The miracles are wrought in +a silent laboratory; not a sound is heard, and yet what marvels of +skill, deliciousness and beauty? + +What interrogation points, what wonderful mysteries, what +wit-sharpeners are ever before the farmer boy, whichever way he turns! +Where does all this tremendous increase of corn, wheat, fruit and +vegetables come from? There seems to be no loss to the soil, and yet, +what a marvelous growth in everything! Life, life, more life on every +hand! Wherever he goes he treads on chemical forces which produce +greater marvels than are described in the Arabian Nights. The trees, +the brooks, the mountains, the hills, the valleys, the sunsets, the +growing animals on the farm, are all mysteries that set him thinking +and to wondering at the creative processes which are working on every +hand. + +Then again, the delicious freedom of it all, as contrasted with the +cramped, artificial life in the city! Everything in the country tends +to set the boy thinking, to call out his dormant powers and develop his +latent forces. And what health there is in it all! How hearty and +natural he is in comparison with the city boy, who is tempted to turn +night into day, to live an artificial, purposeless life. + +The very temptation in the city to turn night into day is of itself +health-undermining, stamina-dissipating and character-weakening. + +While the city youth is wasting his precious energy capital in late +hours, pleasure seeking, and often dissipation, the country youth is +storing up power and vitality; he is being recharged with physical +force by natural, refreshing sleep, away from the distracting influence +and enervating excitement of city life. The country youth does not +learn to judge people by the false standards of wealth and social +standing. He is not inculcated with snobbish ideas. Everything in the +great farm kindergarten teaches him sincerity, simplicity and honesty. + +The time was when the boy who gave no signs of genius or unusual +ability was consigned to the farm, and the brilliant boy was sent to +college or to the city to make a career for himself. But we are now +beginning to see that man has made a botch of farming only because he +looked upon it as a sort of humdrum occupation; as a means provided by +nature for living-getting for those who were not good for much else. +Farming was considered by many people as a sort of degrading occupation +desirable only for those who lacked the brains and education to go into +a profession or some of the more refined callings. But the searchlight +of science has revealed in it possibilities hitherto undreamed of. We +are commencing to realize that it takes a high order of ability and +education to bring out the fullest possibilities of the soil; that it +requires fine-grained sympathetic talent. We are now finding that +agriculture is as great a science as astronomy, and that ignorant men +have been getting an indifferent living from their farms simply because +they did not know how to mix brains with the soil. + +The science of agriculture is fast becoming appreciated and is more and +more regarded as a high and noble calling, a dignified profession. +Think of what it means to go into partnership with the Creator in +bringing out larger, grander products from the soil; to be able to +co-operate with that divine creative force, and even to vary the size, +the beauty, the perfume of flowers; to enlarge, modify and change the +flavor of fruits and vegetables to our liking! + +Think what it must mean to be a magician in the whole vegetable +kingdom, like Luther Burbank, changing colors, flavors, perfumes, +species! Almost anything is possible when one knows enough and has +heart and sympathy enough to enter into partnership with the great +creative force in nature. Mr. Burbank says that the time will come +when man will be able to do almost anything he wishes in the vegetable +kingdom; will be able to produce at will any shade or color he wishes, +and almost any flavor in any fruit; that the size of all fruits and +vegetables and flowers is just a matter of sufficient understanding, +and that Nature will give us almost anything when we know enough to +treat her intelligently, wisely and sympathetically. + +The history of most great men shows that there is a disadvantage in +having too many advantages. + +Who can tell what the consequences would have been had Lincoln been +born in New York and educated at Harvard? If he had been reared in the +midst of great libraries, brought up in an atmosphere of books, of only +a small fraction of which he could get even a superficial knowledge, +would he have had that insatiable hunger which prompted him to walk +twenty miles in order to borrow Blackstone's "Commentaries" and to read +one hundred pages on the way home? + +[Illustration: House in which Abraham Lincoln was born] + +What was there in that rude frontier forest, where this poor boy +scarcely ever saw any one who knew anything of books, to rouse his +ambition and to stimulate him to self-education? Whence came that +yearning to know the history of men and women who had made a nation; to +know the history of his country? Whence came that passion to devour +the dry statutes of Indiana, as a young girl would devour a love story? +Whence came that all-absorbing ambition to be somebody in the world; to +serve his country with no selfish ambition? Had his father been rich +and well-educated instead of a poor man who could neither read nor +write and who was generally of a shiftless and roving disposition, +there is no likelihood that Lincoln would ever have become the powerful +man he was. + +Had he not felt that imperious "must" calling him, the prod of +necessity spurring him on, whence would have come the motive which led +him to struggle for self-development, self-unfoldment? If he had been +born and educated in luxury, his character would probably have been +soft and flabby in comparison with what it was. + +Where in all the annals of history is there another record of one born +of such poor parentage and reared in such a wretched environment, who +ever rose to such eminence? Imagine a boy of to-day, so hungry for an +education that he would walk nine miles a day to attend a rude frontier +school in a log cabin! What would the city boys of to-day, who do not +want to walk even a few blocks to school, think of a youth who would do +what Lincoln did to overcome his handicap? + + + + +CHAPTER V + +OPPORTUNITIES WHERE YOU ARE + + To each man's life there comes a time supreme; + One day, one night, one morning, or one noon, + One freighted hour, one moment opportune, + One rift through which sublime fulfillments gleam, + One space when fate goes tiding with the stream, + One Once, in balance 'twixt Too Late, Too Soon, + And ready for the passing instant's boon + To tip in favor the uncertain beam. + Ah, happy he who, knowing how to wait, + Knows also how to watch and work and stand + On Life's broad deck alert, and at the prow + To seize the passing moment, big with fate, + From Opportunity's extended hand, + When the great clock of destiny strikes Now! + MARY A. TOWNSEND. + +What is opportunity to a man who can't use it? An unfecundated egg, +which the waves of time wash away into non-entity.--GEORGE ELIOT. + +The secret of success in life is for a man _to be ready for his +opportunity_ when it comes.--DISRAELI. + + +"There are no longer any good chances for young men," complained a +youthful law student to Daniel Webster. "There is always room at the +top," replied the great statesman and jurist. + +No chance, no opportunities, in a land where thousands of poor boys +become rich men, where newsboys go to Congress, and where those born in +the lowest stations attain the highest positions? The world is all +gates, all opportunities to him who will use them. But, like Bunyan's +Pilgrim in the dungeon of Giant Despair's castle, who had the key of +deliverance all the time with him but had forgotten it, we fail to rely +wholly upon the ability to advance all that is good for us which has +been given to the weakest as well as the strongest. We depend too much +upon outside assistance. + + "We look too high + For things close by." + + +A Baltimore lady lost a valuable diamond bracelet at a ball, and +supposed that it was stolen from the pocket of her cloak. Years +afterward she washed the steps of the Peabody Institute, pondering how +to get money to buy food. She cut up an old, worn-out, ragged cloak to +make a hood, when lo! in the lining of the cloak she discovered the +diamond bracelet. During all her poverty she was worth $3500, but did +not know it. + +Many of us who think we are poor are rich in opportunities, if we could +only see them, in possibilities all about us, in faculties worth more +than diamond bracelets. In our large Eastern cities it has been found +that at least ninety-four out of every hundred found their first +fortune at home, or near at hand, and in meeting common every-day +wants. It is a sorry day for a young man who can not see any +opportunities where he is, but thinks he can do better somewhere else. +Some Brazilian shepherds organized a party to go to California to dig +gold, and took along a handful of translucent pebbles to play checkers +with on the voyage. After arriving in San Francisco, and after they +had thrown most of the pebbles away, they discovered that they were +diamonds. They hastened back to Brazil, only to find that the mines +from which the pebbles had been gathered had been taken up by other +prospectors and sold to the government. + +The richest gold and silver mine in Nevada was sold by the owner for +$42, to get money to pay his passage to other mines, where he thought +he could get rich. Professor Agassiz once told the Harvard students of +a farmer who owned a farm of hundreds of acres of unprofitable woods +and rocks, and concluded to sell out and get into a more profitable +business. He decided to go into the coal-oil business; he studied coal +measures and coal-oil deposits, and experimented for a long time. He +sold his farm for $200, and engaged in his new business two hundred +miles away. Only a short time after, the man who bought his farm +discovered upon it a great flood of coal-oil, which the farmer had +previously ignorantly tried to drain off. + +Hundreds of years ago there lived near the shore of the river Indus a +Persian by the name of Ali Hafed. He lived in a cottage on the river +bank, from which he could get a grand view of the beautiful country +stretching away to the sea. He had a wife and children; an extensive +farm, fields of grain, gardens of flowers, orchards of fruit, and miles +of forest. He had plenty of money and everything that heart could +wish. He was contented and happy. One evening a priest of Buddha +visited him, and, sitting before the fire, explained to him how the +world was made, and how the first beams of sunlight condensed on the +earth's surface into diamonds. + +The old priest told that a drop of sunlight the size of his thumb was +worth more than large mines of copper, silver, or gold; that with one +of them he could buy many farms like his; that with a handful he could +buy a province, and with a mine of diamonds he could purchase a +kingdom. Ali Hafed listened, and was no longer a rich man. He had +been touched with discontent, and with that all wealth vanishes. Early +the next morning he woke the priest who had been the cause of his +unhappiness, and anxiously asked him where he could find a mine of +diamonds. "What do you want of diamonds?" asked the astonished priest. +"I want to be rich and place my children on thrones." "All you have to +do is to go and search until you find them," said the priest. "But +where shall I go?" asked the poor farmer. "Go anywhere, north, south, +east, or west." "How shall I know when I have found the place?" "When +you find a river running over white sands between high mountain ranges, +in those white sands you will find diamonds," answered the priest. + +The discontented man sold the farm for what he could get, left his +family with a neighbor, took the money he had at interest, and went to +search for the coveted treasure. Over the mountains of Arabia, through +Palestine and Egypt, he wandered for years, but found no diamonds. +When his money was all gone and starvation stared him in the face, +ashamed of his folly and of his rags, poor Ali Hafed threw himself into +the tide and was drowned. The man who bought his farm was a contented +man, who made the most of his surroundings, and did not believe in +going away from home to hunt for diamonds or success. While his camel +was drinking in the garden one day, he noticed a flash of light from +the white sands of the brook. He picked up a pebble, and pleased with +its brilliant hues took it into the house, put it on the shelf near the +fireplace, and forgot all about it. + +The old priest of Buddha who had filled Ali Hafed with the fatal +discontent called one day upon the new owner of the farm. He had no +sooner entered the room than his eye caught that flash of light from +the stone. "Here's a diamond! here's a diamond!" he shouted in great +excitement. "Has Ali Hafed returned?" "No," said the farmer, "nor is +that a diamond. That is but a stone." They went into the garden and +stirred up the white sand with their fingers, and behold, other +diamonds more beautiful than the first gleamed out of it. So the +famous diamond beds of Golconda were discovered. Had Ali Hafed been +content to remain at home, and dug in his own garden, instead of going +abroad in search for wealth, he would have been one of the richest men +in the world, for the entire farm abounded in the richest of gems. + +You have your own special place and work. Find it, fill it. Scarcely +a boy or girl will read these lines but has much better opportunity to +win success than Garfield, Wilson, Franklin, Lincoln, Harriet Beecher +Stowe, Frances Willard, and thousands of others had. But to succeed +you must be prepared to seize and improve the opportunity when it +comes. Remember that four things come not back: the spoken word, the +sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity. + +It is one of the paradoxes of civilization that the more opportunities +are utilized, the more new ones are thereby created. New openings are +as easy to find as ever to those who do their best; although it is not +so easy as formerly to obtain great distinction in the old lines, +because the standard has advanced so much, and competition has so +greatly increased. "The world is no longer clay," said Emerson, "but +rather iron in the hands of its workers, and men have got to hammer out +a place for themselves by steady and rugged blows." + +Thousands of men have made fortunes out of trifles which others pass +by. As the bee gets honey from the same flower from which the spider +gets poison, so some men will get a fortune out of the commonest and +meanest things, as scraps of leather, cotton waste, slag, iron filings, +from which others get only poverty and failure. There is scarcely a +thing which contributes to the welfare and comfort of humanity, +scarcely an article of household furniture, a kitchen utensil, an +article of clothing or of food, that is not capable of an improvement +in which there may be a fortune. + +Opportunities? They are all around us. Forces of nature plead to be +used in the service of man, as lightning for ages tried to attract his +attention to the great force of electricity, which would do his +drudgery and leave him to develop the God-given powers within him. +There is power lying latent everywhere waiting for the observant eye to +discover it. + +First find out what the world needs and then supply the want. An +invention to make smoke go the wrong way in a chimney might be a very +ingenious thing, but it would be of no use to humanity. The patent +office at Washington is full of wonderful devices of ingenious +mechanism, but not one in hundreds is of use to the inventor or to the +world. And yet how many families have been impoverished, and have +struggled for years amid want and woe, while the father has been +working on useless inventions. A. T. Stewart, as a boy, lost +eighty-seven cents, when his capital was one dollar and a half, in +buying buttons and thread which shoppers did not call for. After that +he made it a rule never to buy anything which the public did not want, +and so prospered. + +An observing man, the eyelets of whose shoes pulled out, but who could +not afford to get another pair, said to himself, "I will make a +metallic lacing hook, which can be riveted into the leather." He was +then so poor that he had to borrow a sickle to cut grass in front of +his hired tenement. He became a very rich man. + +An observing barber in Newark, N. J., thought he could make an +improvement on shears for cutting hair, invented clippers, and became +rich. A Maine man was called in from the hayfield to wash clothes for +his invalid wife. He had never realized what it was to wash before. +Finding the method slow and laborious, he invented the washing machine, +and made a fortune. A man who was suffering terribly with toothache +felt sure there must be some way of filling teeth which would prevent +their aching and he invented the method of gold filling for teeth. + +The great things of the world have not been done by men of large means. +Ericsson began the construction of the screw propellers in a bathroom. +The cotton-gin was first manufactured in a log cabin. John Harrison, +the great inventor of the marine chronometer, began his career in the +loft of an old barn. Parts of the first steamboat ever run in America +were set up in the vestry of a church in Philadelphia by Fitch. +McCormick began to make his famous reaper in a grist-mill. The first +model dry-dock was made in an attic. Clark, the founder of Clark +University of Worcester, Mass., began his great fortune by making toy +wagons in a horse shed. Farquhar made umbrellas in his sitting-room, +with his daughter's help, until he sold enough to hire a loft. Edison +began his experiments in a baggage car on the Grand Trunk Railroad when +a newsboy. + +Michael Angelo found a piece of discarded Carrara marble among waste +rubbish beside a street in Florence, which some unskilful workman had +cut, hacked, spoiled, and thrown away. No doubt many artists had +noticed the fine quality of the marble, and regretted that it should +have been spoiled. But Michael Angelo still saw an angel in the ruin, +and with his chisel and mallet he called out from it one of the finest +pieces of statuary in Italy, the young David. + +Patrick Henry was called a lazy boy, a good-for-nothing farmer, and he +failed as a merchant. He was always dreaming of some far-off +greatness, and never thought he could be a hero among the corn and +tobacco and saddlebags of Virginia. He studied law for six weeks; when +he put out his shingle. People thought he would fail, but in his first +case he showed that he had a wonderful power of oratory. It then first +dawned upon him that he could be a hero in Virginia. From the time the +Stamp Act was passed and Henry was elected to the Virginia House of +Burgesses, and he had introduced his famous resolution against the +unjust taxation of the American colonies, he rose steadily until he +became one of the brilliant orators of America. In one of his first +speeches upon this resolution he uttered these words, which were +prophetic of his power and courage: "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the +First his Cromwell, and George the Third--may profit by their example. +If this be treason, make the most of it." + +The great natural philosopher, Faraday, who was the son of a +blacksmith, wrote, when a young man, to Humphry Davy, asking for +employment at the Royal Institution. Davy consulted a friend on the +matter. "Here is a letter from a young man named Faraday; he has been +attending my lectures, and wants me to give him employment at the Royal +Institution--what can I do?" "Do? put him to washing bottles; if he is +good for anything he will do it directly; if he refuses he is good for +nothing." But the boy who could experiment in the attic of an +apothecary shop with an old pan and glass vials during every moment he +could snatch from his work saw an opportunity in washing bottles, which +led to a professorship at the Royal Academy at Woolwich. Tyndall said +of this boy with no chance, "He is the greatest experimental +philosopher the world has ever seen." He became the wonder of his age +in science. + +There is a legend of an artist who long sought for a piece of +sandalwood, out of which to carve a Madonna. He was about to give up +in despair, leaving the vision of his life unrealized, when in a dream +he was bidden to carve his Madonna from a block of oak wood which was +destined for the fire. He obeyed, and produced a masterpiece from a +log of common firewood. Many of us lose great opportunities in life by +waiting to find sandalwood for our carvings, when they really lie +hidden in the common logs that we burn. One man goes through life +without seeing chances for doing anything great, while another close +beside him snatches from the same circumstances and privileges +opportunities for achieving grand results. + +Opportunities? They are everywhere. "America is another name for +opportunities. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine +Providence in behalf of the human race." Never before were there such +grand openings, such chances, such opportunities. Especially is this +true for girls and young women. A new era is dawning for them. +Hundreds of occupations and professions, which were closed to them only +a few years ago, are now inviting them to enter. + +We can not all of us perhaps make great discoveries like Newton, +Faraday, Edison, and Thompson, or paint immortal pictures like an +Angelo or a Raphael. But we can all of us make our lives sublime, by +_seizing common occasions and making them great_. What chance had the +young girl, Grace Darling, to distinguish herself, living on those +barren lighthouse rocks alone with her aged parents? But while her +brothers and sisters, who moved to the cities to win wealth and fame, +are not known to the world, she became more famous than a princess. +This poor girl did not need to go to London to see the nobility; they +came to the lighthouse to see her. Right at home she had won fame +which the regal heirs might envy, and a name which will never perish +from the earth. She did not wander away into dreamy distance for fame +and fortune, but did her best where duty had placed her. + +If you want to get rich, study yourself and your own wants. You will +find that millions have the same wants. The safest business is always +connected with man's prime necessities. He must have clothing and +dwelling; he must eat. He wants comforts, facilities of all kinds for +pleasure, education, and culture. Any man who can supply a great want +of humanity, improve any methods which men use, supply any demand of +comfort, or contribute in any way to their well-being, can make a +fortune. + + "The golden opportunity + Is never offered twice; seize then the hour + When Fortune smiles and Duty points the way." + + Why thus longing, thus forever sighing, + For the far-off, unattained and dim, + While the beautiful, all around thee lying + Offers up its low, perpetual hymn? + HARRIET WINSLOW. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +POSSIBILITIES IN SPARE MOMENTS + +Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff +life is made of.--FRANKLIN. + +Eternity itself cannot restore the loss struck from the minute.--ANCIENT +POET. + +_Periunt et imputantur_,--the hours perish and are laid to our +charge.--INSCRIPTION ON A DIAL AT OXFORD. + +I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.--SHAKESPEARE. + +Believe me when I tell you that thrift of time will repay you in after +life with a usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams, and that +waste of it will make you dwindle alike in intellectual and moral stature +beyond your darkest reckoning.--GLADSTONE. + +Lost! Somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set +with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone +forever.--HORACE MANN. + + +"What is the price of that book?" at length asked a man who had been +dawdling for an hour in the front store of Benjamin Franklin's newspaper +establishment. "One dollar," replied the clerk. "One dollar," echoed +the lounger; "can't you take less than that?" "One dollar is the price," +was the answer. + +The would-be purchaser looked over the books on sale a while longer, and +then inquired: "Is Mr. Franklin in?" "Yes," said the clerk, "he is very +busy in the press-room." "Well, I want to see him," persisted the man. +The proprietor was called, and the stranger asked: "What is the lowest, +Mr. Franklin, that you can take for that book?" "One dollar and a +quarter," was the prompt rejoinder. "One dollar and a quarter! Why, +your clerk asked me only a dollar just now." "True," said Franklin, "and +I could have better afforded to take a dollar than to leave my work." + +The man seemed surprised; but, wishing to end a parley of his own +seeking, he demanded: "Well, come now, tell me your lowest price for this +book." "One dollar and a half," replied Franklin. "A dollar and a half! +Why, you offered it yourself for a dollar and a quarter." "Yes," said +Franklin coolly, "and I could better have taken that price then than a +dollar and a half now." + +The man silently laid the money on the counter, took his book, and left +the store, having received a salutary lesson from a master in the art of +transmuting time, at will, into either wealth or wisdom. + +Time-wasters are everywhere. + +On the floor of the gold-working room, in the United States Mint at +Philadelphia, there is a wooden lattice-work which is taken up when the +floor is swept, and the fine particles of gold-dust, thousands of +dollars' yearly, are thus saved. So every successful man has a kind of +network to catch "the raspings and parings of existence, those leavings +of days and wee bits of hours" which most people sweep into the waste of +life. He who hoards and turns to account all odd minutes, half hours, +unexpected holidays, gaps "between times," and chasms of waiting for +unpunctual persons, achieves results which astonish those who have not +mastered this most valuable secret. + +"All that I have accomplished, expect to, or hope to accomplish," said +Elihu Burritt, "has been and will be by that plodding, patient, +persevering process of accretion which builds the ant-heap--particle by +particle, thought by thought, fact by fact. And if ever I was actuated +by ambition, its highest and warmest aspiration reached no further than +the hope to set before the young men of my country an example in +employing those invaluable fragments of time called moments." + +"I have been wondering how Ned contrived to monopolize all the talents of +the family," said a brother, found in a brown study after listening to +one of Burke's speeches in Parliament; "but then I remember; when we were +at play, he was always at work." + +The days come to us like friends in disguise, bringing priceless gifts +from an unseen hand; but, if we do not use them, they are borne silently +away, never to return. Each successive morning new gifts are brought, +but if we failed to accept those that were brought yesterday and the day +before, we become less and less able to turn them to account, until the +ability to appreciate and utilize them is exhausted. Wisely was it said +that lost wealth may be regained by industry and economy, lost knowledge +by study, lost health by temperance and medicine, but lost time is gone +forever. + +"Oh, it's only five minutes or ten minutes till mealtime; there's no time +to do anything now," is one of the commonest expressions heard in the +family. But what monuments have been built up by poor boys with no +chance, out of broken fragments of time which many of us throw away! The +very hours you have wasted, if improved, might have insured your success. + +Marion Harland has accomplished wonders, and she has been able to do this +by economizing the minutes to shape her novels and newspaper articles, +when her children were in bed and whenever she could get a spare minute. +Though she has done so much, yet all her life has been subject to +interruptions which would have discouraged most women from attempting +anything outside their regular family duties. She has glorified the +commonplace as few other women have done. Harriet Beecher Stowe, too, +wrote her great masterpiece, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in the midst of +pressing household cares. Beecher read Froude's "England" a little each +day while he had to wait for dinner. Longfellow translated the "Inferno" +by snatches of ten minutes a day, while waiting for his coffee to boil, +persisting for years until the work was done. + +Hugh Miller, while working hard as a stone-mason, found time to read +scientific books, and write the lessons learned from the blocks of stone +he handled. + +Madame de Genlis, when companion of the future Queen of France, composed +several of her charming volumes while waiting for the princess to whom +she gave her daily lessons. Burns wrote many of his most beautiful poems +while working on a farm. The author of "Paradise Lost" was a teacher, +Secretary of the Commonwealth, Secretary of the Lord Protector, and had +to write his sublime poetry whenever he could snatch a few minutes from a +busy life. John Stuart Mill did much of his best work as a writer while +a clerk in the East India House. Galileo was a surgeon, yet to the +improvement of his spare moments the world owes some of its greatest +discoveries. + +If a genius like Gladstone carried through life a little book in his +pocket lest an unexpected spare moment slip from his grasp, what should +we of common abilities not resort to, to save the precious moments from +oblivion? What a rebuke is such a life to the thousands of young men and +women who throw away whole months and even years of that which the "Grand +Old Man" hoarded up even to the smallest fragments! Many a great man has +snatched his reputation from odd bits of time which others, who wonder at +their failure to get on, throw away. In Dante's time nearly every +literary man in Italy was a hard-working merchant, physician, statesman, +judge, or soldier. + +While Michael Faraday was employed binding books, he devoted all his +leisure to experiments. At one time he wrote to a friend, "Time is all I +require. Oh, that I could purchase at a cheap rate some of our modern +gentlemen's spare hours--nay, days." + +Oh, the power of ceaseless industry to perform miracles! + +Alexander von Humboldt's days were so occupied with his business that he +had to pursue his scientific labors in the night or early morning, while +others were asleep. + +One hour a day withdrawn from frivolous pursuits and profitably employed +would enable any man of ordinary capacity to master a complete science. +One hour a day would in ten years make an ignorant man a well-informed +man. It would earn enough to pay for two daily and two weekly papers, +two leading magazines, and at least a dozen good books. In an hour a day +a boy or girl could read twenty pages thoughtfully--over seven thousand +pages, or eighteen large volumes in a year. An hour a day might make all +the difference between bare existence and useful, happy living. An hour +a day might make--nay, has made--an unknown man a famous one, a useless +man a benefactor to his race. Consider, then, the mighty possibilities +of two--four--yes, six hours a day that are, on the average, thrown away +by young men and women in the restless desire for fun and diversion! + +Every young man should have a hobby to occupy his leisure hours, +something useful to which he can turn with delight. It might be in line +with his work or otherwise, only _his heart must be in it_. + +If one chooses wisely, the study, research, and occupation that a hobby +confers will broaden character and transform the home. + +"He has nothing to prevent him but too much idleness, which, I have +observed," says Burke, "fills up a man's time much more completely and +leaves him less his own master, than any sort of employment whatsoever." + +Some boys will pick up a good education in the odds and ends of time +which others carelessly throw away, as one man saves a fortune by small +economies which others disdain to practise. What young man is too busy +to get an hour a day for self-improvement? Charles C. Frost, the +celebrated shoemaker of Vermont, resolved to devote one hour a day to +study. He became one of the most noted mathematicians in the United +States, and also gained an enviable reputation in other departments of +knowledge. John Hunter, like Napoleon, allowed himself but four hours of +sleep. It took Professor Owen ten years to arrange and classify the +specimens in Comparative Anatomy, over twenty-four thousand in number, +which Hunter's industry had collected. What a record for a boy who began +his studies while working as a carpenter! + +John Q. Adams complained bitterly when robbed of his time by those who +had no right to it. An Italian scholar put over his door the +inscription: "Whoever tarries here must join in my labors." Carlyle, +Tennyson, Browning, and Dickens signed a remonstrance against +organ-grinders who disturbed their work. + +Many of the greatest men of history earned their fame outside of their +regular occupations in odd bits of time which most people squander. +Spenser made his reputation in his spare time while Secretary to the Lord +Deputy of Ireland. Sir John Lubbock's fame rests on his prehistoric +studies, prosecuted outside of his busy banking-hours. Southey, seldom +idle for a minute, wrote a hundred volumes. Hawthorne's notebook shows +that he never let a chance thought or circumstance escape him. Franklin +was a tireless worker. He crowded his meals and sleep into as small +compass as possible so that he might gain time for study. When a child, +he became impatient of his father's long grace at table, and asked him if +he could not say grace over a whole cask once for all, and save time. He +wrote some of his best productions on shipboard, such as his "Improvement +of Navigation" and "Smoky Chimneys." + +What a lesson there is in Raphael's brief thirty-seven years to those who +plead "no time" as an excuse for wasted lives! + +Great men have ever been misers of moments. Cicero said: "What others +give to public shows and entertainments, nay, even to mental and bodily +rest, I give to the study of philosophy." Lord Bacon's fame springs from +the work of his leisure hours while Chancellor of England. During an +interview with a great monarch, Goethe suddenly excused himself, went +into an adjoining room and wrote down a thought for his "Faust," lest it +should be forgotten. Sir Humphry Davy achieved eminence in spare moments +in an attic of an apothecary's shop. Pope would often rise in the night +to write out thoughts that would not come during the busy day. Grote +wrote his matchless "History of Greece" during the hours of leisure +snatched from his duties as a banker. + +George Stephenson seized the moments as though they were gold. He +educated himself and did much of his best work during his spare moments. +He learned arithmetic during the night shifts when he was an engineer. +Mozart would not allow a moment to slip by unimproved. He would not stop +his work long enough to sleep, and would sometimes write two whole nights +and a day without intermission. He wrote his famous "Requiem" on his +death-bed. + +Caesar said: "Under my tent in the fiercest struggle of war I have always +found time to think of many other things." He was once shipwrecked, and +had to swim ashore; but he carried with him the manuscript of his +"Commentaries," upon which he was at work when the ship went down. + +Dr. Mason Good translated "Lucretius" while riding to visit his patients +in London. Dr. Darwin composed most of his works by writing his thoughts +on scraps of paper wherever he happened to be. Watt learned chemistry +and mathematics while working at his trade of a mathematical +instrument-maker. Henry Kirke White learned Greek while walking to and +from the lawyer's office where he was studying. Dr. Burney learned +Italian and French on horseback. Matthew Hale wrote his "Contemplations" +while traveling on his circuit as judge. + +The present time is the raw material out of which we make whatever we +will. Do not brood over the past, or dream of the future, but seize the +instant and _get your lesson from the hour_. The man is yet unborn who +rightly measures and fully realizes the value of an hour. As Fenelon +says, God never gives but one moment at a time, and does not give a +second until he withdraws the first. + +Lord Brougham could not bear to lose a moment, yet he was so systematic +that he always seemed to have more leisure than many who did not +accomplish a tithe of what he did. He achieved distinction in politics, +law, science, and literature. + +Dr. Johnson wrote "Rasselas" in the evenings of a single week, in order +to meet the expenses of his mother's funeral. + +Lincoln studied law during his spare hours while surveying, and learned +the common branches unaided while tending store. Mrs. Somerville learned +botany and astronomy and wrote books while her neighbors were gossiping +and idling. At eighty she published "Molecular and Microscopical +Science." + +The worst of a lost hour is not so much in the wasted time as in the +wasted power. Idleness rusts the nerves and makes the muscles creak. +Work has system, laziness has none. + +President Quincy never went to bed until he had laid his plans for the +next day. + +Dalton's industry was the passion of his life. He made and recorded over +two hundred thousand meteorological observations. + +In factories for making cloth a single broken thread ruins a whole web; +it is traced back to the girl who made the blunder and the loss is +deducted from her wages. But who shall pay for the broken threads in +life's great web? We cannot throw back and forth an empty shuttle; +threads of some kind follow every movement as we weave the web of our +fate. It may be a shoddy thread of wasted hours or lost opportunities +that will mar the fabric and mortify the workman forever; or it may be a +golden thread which will add to its beauty and luster. We cannot stop +the shuttle or pull out the unfortunate thread which stretches across the +fabric, a perpetual witness of our folly. + +No one is anxious about a young man while he is busy in useful work. But +where does he eat his lunch at noon? Where does he go when he leaves his +boarding-house at night? What does he do after supper? Where does he +spend his Sundays and holidays? The way he uses his spare moments +reveals his character. The great majority of youths who go to the bad +are ruined after supper. Most of those who climb upward to honor and +fame devote their evenings to study or work or the society of those who +can help and improve them. Each evening is a crisis in the career of a +young man. There is a deep significance in the lines of Whittier:-- + + This day we fashion Destiny, our web of Fate we spin; + This day for all hereafter choose we holiness or sin. + + +Time is money. We should not be stingy or mean with it, but we should +not throw away an hour any more than we would throw away a dollar-bill. +Waste of time means waste of energy, waste of vitality, waste of +character in dissipation. It means the waste of opportunities which will +never come back. Beware how you kill time, for all your future lives in +it. + +"And it is left for each," says Edward Everett, "by the cultivation of +every talent, by watching with an eagle's eye for every chance of +improvement, by redeeming time, defying temptation, and scorning sensual +pleasure, to make himself useful, honored, and happy." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HOW POOR BOYS AND GIRLS GO TO COLLEGE + +"Can I afford to go to college?" asks many an American youth who has +hardly a dollar to his name and who knows that a college course means +years of sacrifice and struggle. + +It seems a great hardship, indeed, for a young man with an ambition to +do something in the world to be compelled to pay his own way through +school and college by hard work. But history shows us that the men who +have led in the van of human progress have been, as a rule, +self-educated, self-made. + +The average boy of to-day who wishes to obtain a liberal education has +a better chance by a hundredfold than had Daniel Webster or James A. +Garfield. There is scarcely one in good health who reads these lines +but can be assured that if he will he may. Here, as elsewhere, the +will can usually make the way, and never before was there so many +avenues of resource open to the strong will, the inflexible purpose, as +there are to-day--at this hour and this moment. + +"Of the five thousand persons--students,--directly connected with +Harvard University," writes a graduate, "five hundred are students +entirely or almost entirely dependent upon their own resources. They +are not a poverty-stricken lot, however, for half of them make an +income above the average allowance of boys in smaller colleges. From +$700 to $1,000 are by no means exceptional yearly earnings of a student +who is capable of doing newspaper work or tutoring,--branches of +employment that pay well at Harvard. + +"There are some men that make much more. A classmate of the writer +entered college with about twenty-five dollars. As a freshman he had a +hard struggle. In his junior year, however, he prospered and in his +last ten months of undergraduate work he cleared above his college +expenses, which were none too low, upward of $3,000. + +"He made his money by advertising schemes and other publishing +ventures. A few months after graduation he married. He is now living +comfortably in Cambridge." + +A son of poor parents, living in Springfield, New York, worked his way +through an academy. This only whetted his appetite for knowledge, and +he determined to advance, relying wholly on himself for success. +Accordingly, he proceeded to Schenectady, and arranged with a professor +of Union College to pay for his tuition by working. He rented a small +room, which served for study and home, the expense of his +bread-and-milk diet never exceeding fifty cents a week. After +graduation, he turned his attention to civil engineering, and, later, +to the construction of iron bridges of his own design. He procured +many valuable patents, and amassed a fortune. His life was a success, +the foundation being self-reliance and integrity. + +Albert J. Beveridge, the junior United States Senator from Indiana, +entered college with no other capital than fifty dollars loaned to him +by a friend. He served as steward of a college club, and added to his +original fund of fifty dollars by taking the freshman essay prize of +twenty-five dollars. When summer came, he returned to work in the +harvest fields and broke the wheat-cutting records of the county. He +carried his books with him morning, noon and night, and studied +persistently. When he returned to college he began to be recognized as +an exceptional man. He had shaped his course and worked to it. + +The president of his class at Columbia University recently earned the +money to pay for his course by selling agricultural implements. One of +his classmates, by the savings of two years' work as a farm laborer, +and money earned by tutoring, writing, and copying done after study +hours, not only paid his way through college, but helped to support his +aged parents. He believed that he could afford a college training and +he got it. + +At Chicago University many hundreds of plucky young men are working +their way. The ways of earning money are various, depending upon the +opportunities for work, and the student's ability and adaptability. To +be a correspondent of city daily papers is the most coveted occupation, +but only a few can obtain such positions. Some dozen or more teach +night school. Several teach in the public schools in the daytime, and +do their university work in the afternoons and evenings, so as to take +their degrees. Scores carry daily papers, by which they earn two and +one-half to three and one-half dollars a week; but, as this does not +pay expenses, they add other employments. A few find evening work in +the city library. Some attend to lawns in summer and furnaces in +winter; by having several of each to care for, they earn from five to +ten dollars a week. Many are waiters at clubs and restaurants. Some +solicit advertisements. The divinity students, after the first year, +preach in small towns. Several are tutors. Two young men made twelve +hundred dollars apiece, in this way, in one year. One student is a +member of a city orchestra, earning twelve dollars a week. A few serve +in the university postoffice, and receive twenty cents an hour. + +A representative American college president recently said: "I regard it +as, on the whole, a distinct advantage that a student should have to +pay his own way in part as a condition of obtaining a college +education. It gives a reality and vigor to one's work which is less +likely to be obtained by those who are carried through college. I do +not regard it, however, as desirable that one should have to work his +own way entirely, as the tax upon strength and time is likely to be +such as to interfere with scholarship and to undermine health." + +Circumstances have rarely favored great men. A lowly beginning is no +bar to a great career. The boy who works his way through college may +have a hard time of it, but he will learn how to work his way in life, +and will often take higher rank in school, and in after life, than his +classmate who is the son of a millionaire. It is the son and daughter +of the farmer, the mechanic and the operative, the great average class +of our country, whose funds are small and opportunities few, that the +republic will depend on most for good citizenship and brains in the +future. The problem of securing a good education, where means are +limited and time short, is of great importance both to the individual +and the nation. Encouragement and useful hints are offered by the +experience of many bright young people who have worked their way to +diplomas worthily bestowed. + +Gaius B. Frost was graduated at the Brattleboro, Vt., High School, +taught district schools six terms, and entered Dartmouth College with +just money enough to pay the first necessary expenses. He worked in +gardens and as a janitor for some time. During his course he taught +six terms as principal of a high school, and one year as assistant +superintendent in the Essex County Truant School, at Lawrence, Mass., +pushed a rolling chair at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, was porter +one season at Oak Hill House, Littleton, N. H., and canvassed for a +publishing house one summer in Maine. None of his fellow-students did +more to secure an education. + +Isaac J. Cox of Philadelphia worked his way through Kimball Academy, +Meriden, N. H., and through Dartmouth College, doing many kinds of +work. There was no honest work within the limits of his ability that +he would not undertake to pay his way. He served summers as waiter in +a White Mountain hotel, finally becoming head-waiter. Like Mr. Frost, +he ranked well in his classes, and is a young man of solid character +and distinguished attainments. + +For four years Richard Weil was noted as the great prize winner of +Columbia College, and for "turning his time, attention and energy to +any work that would bring remuneration." He would do any honest work +that would bring cash,--and every cent of this money as well as every +hour not spent in sleep throughout the four years of his college course +was devoted to getting his education. + +All these and many more from the ranks of the bright and well-trained +young men who have been graduated from the colleges and universities of +the country in recent years believed--sincerely, doggedly +believed--that a college training was something that they must have. +The question of whether or not they could afford it does not appear to +have occasioned much hesitancy on their part. It is evident that they +did not for one instant think that they could not afford to go to +college. + +In an investigation conducted to ascertain exact figures and facts +which a poor boy must meet in working his way through college, it was +found that, in a list of forty-five representative colleges and +universities, having a student population of somewhat over forty +thousand, the average expense per year is three hundred and four +dollars; the average maximum expense, five hundred and twenty-nine +dollars. In some of the smaller colleges the minimum expense per year +is from seventy-five dollars to one hundred and ten dollars. There are +many who get along on an expenditure of from one hundred and fifty +dollars to two hundred dollars per year, while the maximum expense +rises in but few instances above one thousand dollars. + +In Western and Southern colleges the averages are lower. For example, +eighteen well-known Western colleges and universities have a general +average expense of two hundred and forty-two dollars per year, while +fourteen as well-known Eastern institutions give an average expense of +four hundred and forty-four dollars. + +Statistics of expense, and the opportunities for self-help, at some of +the best known Eastern institutions are full of interest: + +Amherst makes a free gift of the tuition to prospective ministers; has +one hundred tuition scholarships for other students of good character, +habits, and standing; has some free rooms; makes loans at low rates; +students have chances to earn money at tutoring, table-waiting, +shorthand, care of buildings, newspaper correspondence, agencies for +laundries, sale of books, etc. Five hundred dollars a year will defray +all necessary expenses. + +Bowdoin has nearly a hundred scholarships, fifty dollars to +seventy-five dollars a year: "no limits placed on habits or social +privileges of recipients;" students getting employment in the library +or laboratories can earn about one-fourth of their expenses; these will +be, for the college year, three hundred dollars to four hundred dollars. + +Brown University has over a hundred tuition scholarships and a loan +fund; often remits room rent in return for services about the college +buildings; requires studiousness and economy in the case of assisted +students. Many students earn money in various ways. The average +yearly expenditure is five hundred dollars. + +The cost at Columbia University averages five hundred and forty-seven +dollars, the lowest being three hundred and eighty-seven dollars. A +great many students who know how to get on in a great city work their +way through Columbia. + +Cornell University gives free tuition and free rooms to seniors and +juniors of good standing in their studies and of good habits. It has +thirty-six two-year scholarships (two hundred dollars), for freshmen, +won by success in competitive examination. It has also five hundred +and twelve state tuition scholarships. Many students support +themselves in part by waiting on table, by shorthand, newspaper work, +etc. The average yearly expenditure per student is five hundred +dollars. + +Dartmouth has some three hundred scholarships; those above fifty +dollars conditioned on class rank; some rooms at nominal rent; +requirements, economy and total abstinence; work of one sort or another +to be had by needy students; a few get through on less than two hundred +and fifty dollars a year; the average expenditure is about four hundred +dollars. + +Harvard has about two hundred and seventy-five scholarships, sixty +dollars to four hundred dollars apiece, large beneficiary and loan +funds, distributed or loaned in sums of forty dollars to two hundred +and fifty dollars to needy and promising under-graduates; freshmen +(usually) barred; a faculty employment committee; some students earning +money as stenographers, typewriters, reporters, private tutors, clerks, +canvassers, and singers; yearly expenditure (exclusive of clothes, +washing, books, and stationery, laboratory charges, membership in +societies, subscriptions and service), three hundred and fifty-eight +dollars to one thousand and thirty-five dollars. + +The University of Pennsylvania in a recent year gave three hundred and +fifteen students forty-three thousand, two hundred and forty-two +dollars in free scholarships and fellowships; no requirements except +good standing. No money loaned, no free rooms. Many students support +themselves in part, and a few wholly. The average expenditure per +year, exclusive of clothes, railway fares, etc., is four hundred and +fifty dollars. + +Wesleyan University remits tuition wholly or in part to two-thirds of +its under-graduates. Loan funds are available. "Beneficiaries must be +frugal in habits, total abstainers, and maintain good standing and +conduct." Many students are self-supporting, thirty-five per cent of +the whole undergraduate body earning money. The yearly expenditure is +three hundred and twenty-five dollars. + +Yale is pretty well off now for fellowships and prizes; remits all but +forty dollars of term bills, in case of worthy students, regular in +attendance and studious; many such students earning money for +themselves; average yearly expenditure, about six hundred dollars. + +There is a splendid chance for girls at some of the soundest and best +known girls' colleges in the United States. + +The number of girls in the University of Michigan who are paying their +own way is large. "Most of them," says Dr. Eliza M. Mosher, woman's +dean of the college, "have earned the money by teaching. It is not +unusual for students to come here for two years and go away for a time, +in order to earn money to complete the course. Some of our most worthy +graduates have done this. Some lighten their expenses by waiting on +tables in boarding-houses, thus paying for their board. Others get +room and board in the homes of professors by giving, daily, three hours +of service about the house. A few take care of children, two or three +hours a day, in the families of the faculty. One young woman, who is +especially brave and in good earnest, worked as a chambermaid on a lake +steamer last year and hurried away this year to do the same. It is her +aim to earn one hundred dollars. With this sum, and a chance to pay +for room and board by giving service, she will pay the coming year's +expenses. Because it is especially difficult to obtain good servants +in this inland town, there are a few people who are glad to give the +college girls such employment." + +"It is my opinion," said Miss Mary E. Woolley, president of Mount +Holyoke College, "that, if a girl with average intelligence and energy +wishes a college education, she can obtain it. As far as I know, the +girls who have earned money to pay their way through college, at least +in part, have accomplished it by tutoring, typewriting or stenography. +Some of them earn pin-money while in college by tutoring, typewriting, +sewing, summer work in libraries and offices, and in various little +ways such as putting up lunches, taking care of rooms, executing +commissions, and newspaper work. There are not many opportunities at +Mount Holyoke to earn large amounts of money, but pin-money may be +acquired in many little ways by a girl of ingenuity." + +The system of compulsory domestic service obtaining now at Mount +Holyoke--whereby, in return for thirty, or at the most, fifty minutes a +day of light household labor, every student reduces her college +expenses by a hundred dollars or a hundred and fifty,--was formerly in +use at Wellesley; now, however, it is confined there to a few cottages. +It has no foothold at Bryn Mawr, Smith and Vassar, or at the affiliated +colleges, Barnard and Radcliffe. + +At city colleges, like the last two mentioned, board and lodging cost +more than in the country; and in general it is more difficult for a +girl to pay any large part of her expenses through her own efforts and +carry on her college work at the same time. + +A number of girls in Barnard are, however, paying for their clothes, +books, car fares, etc., by doing what work they can find. Tutoring in +Barnard is seldom available for the undergraduates, because the lists +are always full of experienced teachers, who can be engaged by the +hour. Typewriting is one of the favorite resources. One student has +done particularly well as agent for a firm that makes college caps and +gowns. Another girl, a Russian Jewess, from the lower East Side, New +York, runs a little "sweat shop," where she keeps a number of women +busy making women's wrappers and children's dresses. She has paid all +the expenses of her education in this way. + +"Do any of your students work their way through?" was asked of a Bryn +Mawr authority. + +"Some,--to a certain extent," was the reply; "but not many. The lowest +entire expenses of a year, are between four hundred and five hundred +and fifty dollars. This amount includes positively everything. Two +girls may pay part of their expenses by taking charge of the library, +and by selling stationery; another, by distributing the mail, and +others by 'tutoring'. Those who 'tutor' receive a dollar, a dollar and +a half, and sometimes a very good one receives two dollars and a half, +a lesson. But to earn all of one's way in a college year, and at the +same time to keep up in all the studies, is almost impossible, and is +not often done. Yet several are able to pay half their way." + +A similar question put to a Vassar student brought the following +response: + +"Why, yes, I know a girl who has a sign on the door of her +room,--'Dresses pressed,'--and she earns a good deal of money, too. Of +course, there are many wealthy girls here who are always having +something like that done, and who are willing to pay well for it. And +so this girl makes a large sum of money, evenings and Saturdays. + +"There are other girls who are agents for two of the great +manufacturers of chocolate creams. + +"The girl that plays the piano for the exercises in the gymnasium is +paid for that, and some of the girls paint and make fancy articles, +which they sell here, or send to the stores in New York, to be sold. +Some of them write for the newspapers and magazines, too, and still +others have pupils in music, etc., in Poughkeepsie. Yes, there are a +great many girls who manage to pay most of their expenses." + +Typewriting, tutoring, assistance rendered in library or laboratory or +office, furnish help to many a girl who wishes to help herself, in +nearly every college. Beside these standard employments, teaching in +evening schools occasionally offers a good opportunity for steady eking +out of means. + +In many colleges there is opportunity for a girl with taste and cunning +fingers to act as a dressmaker, repairer, and general refurnisher to +students with generous allowances. Orders for gymnasium suits and +swimming suits mean good profits. The reign of the shirt-waist has +been a boon to many, for the well-dressed girl was never known to have +enough pretty ones, and by a judicious display of attractive samples +she is easily tempted to enlarge her supply. Then, too, any girl who +is at all deft in the art of sewing can make a shirt-waist without a +professional knowledge of cutting and fitting. + +No boy or girl in America to-day who has good health, good morals and +good grit need despair of getting a college education unless there are +extremely unusual reasons against the undertaking. + +West of the Alleghanies a college education is accessible to all +classes. In most of the state universities tuition is free. In +Kansas, for example, board and a room can be had for twelve dollars a +month; the college fees are five dollars a year, while the average +expenditure of the students does not exceed two hundred dollars per +annum. In Ohio, the state university has abolished all tuition fees; +and most of the denominational colleges demand fees even lower than +were customary in New England half a century ago. Partly by reason of +the cheapness of a college education in Ohio, that state now sends more +students to college than all of New England. Yet if the total cost is +less in the West, on the other hand, the opportunities for self-help +are correspondingly more in the East. Every young man or woman should +weigh the matter well before concluding that a college education is out +of the question. + +Former President Tucker of Dartmouth says: "The student who works his +way may do it with ease and profit; or he may be seriously handicapped +both by his necessities and the time he is obliged to bestow on outside +matters. I have seen the sons of rich men lead in scholarship, and the +sons of poor men. Poverty under most of the conditions in which we +find it in colleges is a spur. Dartmouth College, I think, furnishes a +good example. The greater part of its patronage is from poor men. +Without examining the statistics, I should say, from facts that have +fallen under my observation, that a larger percentage of Dartmouth men +have risen to distinction than those of almost any other American +college." + +The opportunities of to-day are tenfold what they were half a century +ago. Former President Schurman of Cornell says of his early life: "At +the age of thirteen I left home. I hadn't definite plans as to my +future. I merely wanted to get into a village, and to earn some money. + +"My father got me a place in the nearest town,--Summerside,--a village +of about one thousand inhabitants. For my first year's work I was to +receive thirty dollars and my board. Think of that, young men of +to-day! Thirty dollars a year for working from seven in the morning +until ten at night! But I was glad to get the place. It was a start +in the world, and the little village was like a city to my country eyes. + +"From the time I began working in the store until to-day, I have always +supported myself, and during all the years of my boyhood I never +received a penny that I did not earn myself. At the end of my first +year, I went to a larger store in the same town, where I was to receive +sixty dollars a year and my board. My salary was doubled; I was +getting on swimmingly. + +"I kept this place for two years, and then I gave it up, against the +wishes of my employer, because I had made up my mind that I wanted to +get a better education. I determined to go to college. + +"I did not know how I was going to do this, except that it must be by +my own efforts. I had saved about eighty dollars from my +store-keeping, and that was all the money I had in the world. + +"When I told my employer of my plan, he tried to dissuade me from it. +He pointed out the difficulties in the way of my going to college, and +offered to double my pay if I would stay in the store. + +"That was the turning-point in my life. In one side was the certainty +of one hundred and twenty dollars a year, and the prospect of promotion +as fast as I deserved it. Remember what one hundred and twenty dollars +meant on Prince Edward Island, and to me, a poor boy who had never +possessed such a sum in his life. On the other side was my hope of +obtaining an education. I knew that it involved hard work and +self-denial, and there was the possibility of failure in the end. But +my mind was made up. I would not turn back. I need not say that I do +not regret that early decision, although I think that I should have +made a successful storekeeper. + +"With my capital of eighty dollars, I began to attend the village high +school, to get my preparation for college. I had only one year to do +it in. My money would not last longer than that. I recited in Latin, +Greek, and algebra, all on the same day, and for the next forty weeks I +studied harder than I ever had before or have since. At the end of the +year I entered the competitive examination for a scholarship in Prince +of Wales College, at Charlottetown, on the Island. I had small hope of +winning it, my preparation had been so hasty and incomplete. But when +the result was announced, I found that I had not only won the +scholarship from my county, but stood first of all the competitors on +the Island. + +"The scholarship I had won amounted to only sixty dollars a year. It +seems little enough, but I can say now, after nearly thirty years, that +the winning of it was the greatest success I ever have had. I have had +other rewards, which, to most persons, would seem immeasurably greater, +but with this difference: that first success was essential; without it +I could not have gone on. The others I could have done without, if it +had been necessary." + +For two years young Schurman attended Prince of Wales College. He +lived on his scholarship and what he could earn by keeping books for +one of the town storekeepers, spending less than one hundred dollars +during the entire college year. Afterward, he taught a country school +for a year, and then went to Acadia College in Nova Scotia to complete +his course. + +One of Mr. Schurman's fellow-students in Acadia says that he was +remarkable chiefly for taking every prize to which he was eligible. In +his senior year, he learned of a scholarship in the University of +London offered for competition by the students of Canadian colleges. +The scholarship paid five hundred dollars a year for three years. The +young student in Acadia was ambitious to continue his studies in +England, and saw in this offer his opportunity. He tried the +examination and won the prize, in competition with the brightest +students in the larger Canadian colleges. + +During the three years in the University of London, Mr. Schurman became +deeply interested in the study of philosophy, and decided that he had +found in it his life-work. He was eager to go to Germany to study +under the great leaders of philosophic thought. A way was opened for +him, through the offer of the Hibbard Society, in London, of a +traveling fellowship with two thousand dollars a year. The honor men +of the great English Universities like Oxford and Cambridge were among +the competitors, but the poor country boy from Prince Edward Island was +again successful, greatly to the surprise of the others. + +At the end of his course in Germany, Mr. Schurman, then a Doctor of +Philosophy, returned to Acadia College to become a teacher there. Soon +afterward, he was called to Dalhousie University, at Halifax, Nova +Scotia. In 1886, when a chair of philosophy was established at +Cornell, President White, who had once met the brilliant young +Canadian, called him to that position. Two years later, Dr. Schurman +became dean of the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell; and, in 1892, +when the president's chair became vacant, he was placed at the head of +the great university. At that time he was only thirty-eight years of +age. + +A well-known graduate of Amherst college gives the following figures, +which to the boy who earnestly wants to go to college are of the most +pertinent interest: + +"I entered college with $8.42 in my pocket. During the year I earned +$60; received from the college a scholarship of $60, and an additional +gift of $20; borrowed $190. My current expenses during my freshman +year were $4.50 per week. Besides this I spent $10.55 for books; +$23.45 for clothing; $10.57 for voluntary subscriptions; $15 for +railroad fares; $8.24 for sundries. + +"During the next summer I earned $100. I waited on table at a $4 +boarding-house all of my sophomore year, and earned half board, +retaining my old room at $1 per week. The expenses of the sophomore +year were $394.50. I earned during the year, including board, $87.20; +received a scholarship of $70, and gifts amounting to $12.50, and +borrowed $150, with all of which I just covered expenses. + +"In my junior year I engaged a nice furnished room at $60 per year, +which I agreed to pay for by work about the house. By clerical work, +etc., I earned $37; also earned full board waiting upon table; received +$70 for a scholarship; $55 from gifts; borrowed $70, which squared my +accounts for the year, excepting $40 due on tuition. The expenses for +the year, including, of course, the full value of board, room, and +tuition, were $478.76. + +"During the following summer I earned $40. Throughout the senior year +I retained the same room, under the same conditions as the previous +year. I waited on table all the year, and received full board; earned +by clerical work, tutoring, etc., $40; borrowed $40; secured a +scholarship of $70; took a prize of $25; received a gift of $35. The +expenses of the senior year, $496.64 were necessarily heavier than +these of previous years. But having secured a good position as teacher +for the coming year, I was permitted to give my note for the amount I +could not raise, and so was enabled to graduate without financial +embarrassment. + +"The total expense for the course was about $1,708; of which (counting +scholarships as earnings) I earned $1,157." + +Twenty-five of the young men graduated at Yale not long ago paid their +way entirely throughout their courses. It seemed as if they left +untried no avenue for earning money. Tutoring, copying, newspaper +work, and positions as clerks were well-occupied fields; and painters, +drummers, founders, machinists, bicycle agents, and mail carriers were +numbered among the twenty-five. + +In a certain district in Boston there are ten thousand students. Many +of them come from the country and from factory towns. A large number +come from the farms of the West. Many of these students are paying for +their education by money earned by their own hands. It is said that +unearned money does not enrich. The money that a student earns for his +own education does enrich his life. It is true gold. + +Every young man or woman should weigh the matter well before concluding +that a college education is out of the question. + +If Henry Wilson, working early and late on a farm with scarcely any +opportunities to go to school, bound out until he was twenty-one for +only a yoke of oxen and six sheep, could manage to read a thousand good +books before his time had expired; if the slave Frederick Douglass, on +a plantation where it was almost a crime to teach a slave to read, +could manage from scraps of paper, posters on barns, and old almanacs, +to learn the alphabet and lift himself to eminence; if the poor deaf +boy Kitto, who made shoes in an alms-house, could become the greatest +Biblical scholar of his age, where is the boy or girl to-day, under the +American flag, who cannot get a fair education and escape the many +disadvantages of ignorance? + +"If a man empties his purse into his head," says Franklin, "no man can +take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best +interest." + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +YOUR OPPORTUNITY CONFRONTS YOU--WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT? + +Never before was the opportunity of the educated man so great as +to-day. Never before was there such a demand for the trained man, _the +man who can do a thing superbly well_. At the door of every vocation +is a sign out, "Wanted--a man." No matter how many millions are out of +employment, the whole world is hunting for a man who can do things; a +trained thinker who can do whatever he undertakes a little better than +it has ever before been done. Everywhere it is the educated, the +trained man, the man whose natural ability has been enlarged, enhanced +one hundredfold by superior training, that is wanted. + +On all sides we see men with small minds, but who are well educated, +pushing ahead of those who have greater capabilities, but who are only +half educated. A one-talent man, superbly trained, often gets the +place when a man with many untrained or half-trained talents loses it. +Never was ignorance placed at such a disadvantage as to-day. + +While the opportunities awaiting the educated man, the college +graduate, on his entrance into practical life were never before so +great and so numerous as to-day, so also the dangers and temptations +which beset him were never before so great, so numerous, so insidious. + +All education which does not elevate, refine, and ennoble its recipient +is a curse instead of a blessing. A liberal education only renders a +rascal more dishonest, more dangerous. _Educated rascality is +infinitely more of a menace to society than ignorant rascality_. + +Every year, thousands of young men and young women graduate full of +ambition and hope, full of expectancy, go out from the schools, the +colleges, and the universities, with their diplomas, to face for the +first time the practical world. + +There is nothing else, perhaps, which the graduate needs to be +cautioned against more than the money madness which has seized the +American people, for nothing else is more fatal to the development of +the higher, finer instincts and nobler desires. + +Wealth with us multiplies a man's power so tremendously that everything +gravitates toward it. A man's genius, art, what he stands for, is +measured largely by how many dollars it will bring. "How much can I +get for my picture?" "How much royalty for my book?" "How much can I +get out of my specialty, my profession, my business?" "How can I make +the most money?" or "How can I get rich?" is the great interrogation of +the century. How will the graduate, the trained young man or woman +answer it? + +The dollar stands out so strongly in all the undertakings of life that +the ideal is often lowered or lost, the artistic suffers, the soul's +wings are weighted down with gold. The commercial spirit tends to drag +everything down to its dead, sordid level. It is the subtle menace +which threatens to poison the graduate's ambition. _Whichever way you +turn, the dollar-mark will swing info your vision_. The money-god, +which nearly everybody worships in some form or other, will tempt you +on every hand. + +Never before was such pressure brought to bear on the trained youth to +sell his brains, to coin his ability into dollars, to prostitute his +education, as to-day. The commercial prizes held up to him are so +dazzling, so astounding, that it takes a strong, vigorous character to +resist their temptation, even when the call in one to do something +which bears little relation to money-making speaks very loudly. + +The song of the money-siren to-day is so persistent, so entrancing, so +overwhelming that it often drowns the still small voice which bids one +follow the call that runs in his blood, that is indicated in the very +structure in his brain. + +Tens of thousands of young people just out of school and college stand +tiptoe on the threshold of active life, with high ideals and glorious +visions, full of hope and big with promise, but many of them will very +quickly catch the money contagion; the fatal germ will spread through +their whole natures, inoculating their ambition with its vicious virus, +and, after a few years, their fair college vision will fade, their +yearnings for something higher will gradually die and be replaced by +material, sordid, selfish ideals. + +The most unfortunate day in a youth's career is that one on which his +ideals begin to grow dim and his high standards begin to drop; that day +on which is born in him the selfish, money-making germ, which so often +warps and wrenches the whole nature out of its legitimate orbit. + +You will need to be constantly on your guard to resist the attack of +this germ. After you graduate and go out into the world, powerful +influences will be operative in your life, tending to deteriorate your +standards, lower your ideals, and encoarsen you generally. + +When you plunge into the swim of things, you will be constantly thrown +into contact with those of lower ideals, who are actuated only by +sordid, selfish aims. Then dies the man, the woman in you, unless you +are made of superior stuff. + +What a contrast that high and noble thing which the college diploma +stands for presents to that which many owners of the diploma stand for +a quarter of a century later! It is often difficult to recognize any +relationship between the two. + +American-Indian graduates, who are so transformed by the inspiring, +uplifting influences of the schools and colleges which are educating +them that they are scarcely recognizable by their own tribes when they +return home, very quickly begin to change under the deteriorating +influences operating upon them when they leave college. They soon +begin to shed their polish, their fine manners, their improved +language, and general culture; the Indian blanket replaces their modern +dress, and they gradually drift back into their former barbarism. They +become Indians again. + +The influences that will surround you when you leave college or your +special training school will be as potent to drag you down as those +that cause the young Indian to revert to barbarism. The shock you will +receive in dropping from the atmosphere of high ideals and beautiful +promise in which you have lived for four years to that of a very +practical, cold, sordid materiality will be a severe test to your +character, your manhood. + +But the graduate whose training, whose education counts for anything +ought to be able to resist the shock, to withstand all temptations. + +The educated man ought to be able to do something better, something +higher than merely to put money in his purse. Money-making can not +compare with man-making. There is something infinitely better than to +be a millionaire of money, and that is to be a millionaire of brains, +of culture, of helpfulness to one's fellows, a millionaire of +character--a gentleman. + +Whatever degrees you carry from school or college, whatever distinction +you may acquire in your career, no title will ever mean quite so much, +will ever be quite so noble, as that of gentleman. + +"A keen and sure sense of honor," says Ex-President Eliot, of Harvard +University, "is the finest result of college life." The graduate who +has not acquired this keen and sure sense of honor, this thing that +stamps the gentleman, misses the best thing that a college education +can impart. + +Your future, fortunate graduate, like a great block of pure white +marble, stands untouched before you. You hold the chisel and +mallet--your ability, your education--in your hands. There is +something in the block for you, and it lives in your ideal. Shall it +be angel or devil? What are your ideals, as you stand tiptoe on the +threshold of active life? Will you smite the block and shatter it into +an unshapely or hideous piece; or will you call out a statue of +usefulness, of grace and beauty, a statue which will tell the unborn +generations the story of a noble life? + +Great advantages bring great responsibilities. You can not divorce +them. A liberal education greatly increases a man's obligations. +There is coupled with it a responsibility which you can not shirk +without paying the penalty in a shriveled soul, a stunted mentality, a +warped conscience, and a narrow field of usefulness. It is more of a +disgrace for a college graduate to grovel, to stoop to mean, low +practises, than for a man who has not had a liberal education. The +educated man has gotten a glimpse of power, of grander things, and he +is expected to look up, not down, to aspire, not to grovel. + +We cannot help feeling that it is worse for a man to go wrong who has +had all the benefits of a liberal education, than it is for one who has +not had glimpses of higher things, who has not had similar advantages, +because where much is given, much is expected. The world has a right +to expect that wherever there is an educated, trained man people should +be able to say of him as Lincoln said of Walt Whitman, "There goes a +man." + +The world has a right to expect that the graduate, having once faced +the light and felt its power, will not turn his back on it; that he +will not disgrace his _alma mater_ which has given him his superior +chance in life and opened wide for him the door of opportunity. It has +a right to expect that a man who has learned how to use skilfully the +tools of life, will be an artist and not an artisan; that he will not +stop growing. Society has a right to look to the collegian to be a +refining, uplifting force in his community, an inspiration to those who +have not had his priceless chance; it is justified in expecting that he +will raise the standard of intelligence in his community; that he will +illustrate in his personality, his finer culture, the possible glory of +life. It has a right to expect that he will not be a victim of the +narrowing, cramping influence of avarice; that he will not be a slave +of the dollar or stoop to a greedy, grasping career: that he will be +free from the sordidness which often characterizes the rich ignoramus. + +If you have the ability and have been given superior opportunities, it +simply means that you have a great commission to do something out of +the ordinary for your fellows; a special message for humanity. + +If the torch of learning has been put in your hand, its significance is +that you should light up the way for the less fortunate. + +If you have received a message which carries freedom for people +enslaved by ignorance and bigotry, you have no right to suppress it. +Your education means an increased obligation to live your life up to +the level of your gift, your superior opportunity. Your duty is to +deliver your message to the world with all the manliness, vigor, and +force you possess. + +What shall we think of a man who has been endowed with godlike gifts, +who has had the inestimable advantage of a liberal education, who has +ability to ameliorate the hard conditions of his fellows, to help to +emancipate them from ignorance and drudgery; what shall we think of +this man, so divinely endowed, so superbly equipped, who, instead of +using his education to lift his fellow men, uses it to demoralize, to +drag them down; who employs his talents in the book he writes, in the +picture he paints, in his business, whatever it may be, to mislead, to +demoralize, to debauch; who uses his light as a decoy to lure his +fellows on the rocks and reefs, instead of as a beacon to guide them +into port? + +We imprison the burglar for breaking into our houses and stealing, but +what shall we do with the educated rascal who uses his trained mind and +all his gifts to ruin the very people who look up to him as a guide? + +"The greatest thing you can do is to be what you ought to be." + +A great man has said that no man will be content to live a half life +when he has once discovered it is a half life, because the other half, +the higher half, will haunt him. Your superior training has given you +a glimpse of the higher life. Never lose sight of your college vision. +Do not permit yourself to be influenced by the maxims of a low, sordid +prudence, which will be dinned into your ears wherever you go. Regard +the very suggestion that you shall coin your education, your high +ideals into dollars; that you lower your standards, prostitute your +education by the practise of low-down, sordid methods, as an insult. + +Say to yourself, "_If the highest thing in me will not bring success, +surely the lowest, the worst, cannot._" + +The mission of the trained man is to show the world a higher, finer +type of manhood. + +The world has a right to expect better results from the work of the +educated man; something finer, of a higher grade, and better quality, +than from the man who lacks early training, the man who has discovered +only a small part of himself. "Pretty good," "Fairly good," applied +either to character or to work are bad mottoes for an educated man. +You should be able to demonstrate that the man with a diploma has +learned to use the tools of life skilfully; has learned how to focus +his faculties so that he can bring the whole man to his task, and not a +part of himself. Low ideals, slipshod work, aimless, systemless, +half-hearted endeavors, should have no place in your program. + +It is a disgrace for a man with a liberal education to botch his work, +demoralize his ideals, discredit his teachers, dishonor the institution +which has given him his chance to be a superior man. + +"Keep your eye on the model, don't watch your hands," is the injunction +of a great master as he walks up and down among his pupils, criticizing +their work. The trouble with most of us is that we do not keep our +eyes on the model; we lose our earlier vision. A liberal education +ought to broaden a man's mind so that he will be able to keep his eye +always on the model, the perfect ideal of his work, uninfluenced by the +thousand and one petty annoyances, bickerings, misunderstandings, and +discords which destroy much of the efficiency of narrower, less +cultivated minds. + +The graduate ought to be able to rise above these things so that he can +use all his brain power and energy and fling the weight of his entire +being into work that is worth while. + +After the withdrawal of a play that has been only a short time on the +stage, we often read this comment, "An artistic success, but a +financial failure." While an education should develop all that is +highest and best in a man, it should also make him a practical man, not +a financial failure. Be sure that you possess your knowledge, that +your knowledge does not possess you. + +The mere possession of a diploma will only hold you up to ridicule, +will only make you more conspicuous as a failure, if you cannot bring +your education to a focus and utilize it in a practical way. + +_Knowledge is power only when it can be made available, practical_. + +Only what you can use of your education will benefit you or the world. + +The great question which confronts you in the practical world is "What +can you do with what you know?" Can you transmute your knowledge into +power? Your ability to read your Latin diploma is not a test of true +education; a stuffed memory does not make an educated man. The +knowledge that can be utilized, that can be translated into power, +constitutes the only education worthy of the name. There are thousands +of college-bred men in this country, who are loaded down with knowledge +that they have never been able to utilize, to make available for +working purposes. There is a great difference between absorbing +knowledge, making a sponge of one's brain, and transmuting every bit of +knowledge into power, into working capital. + +As the silkworm transmutes the mulberry leaf into satin, so you should +transmute your knowledge into practical wisdom. + +There is no situation in life in which the beneficent influence of a +well-assimilated education will not make itself felt. + +The college man _ought_ to be a superb figure anywhere. The +consciousness of being well educated should put one at ease in any +society. The knowledge that one's mentality has been broadened out by +college training, that one has discovered his possibilities, not only +adds wonderfully to one's happiness, but also increases one's +self-confidence immeasurably, and _self-confidence is the lever that +moves the world_. On every hand we see men of good ability who feel +crippled all their lives and are often mortified, by having to confess, +by the poverty of their language, their sordid ideals, their narrow +outlook on life, that they are not educated. The superbly trained man +can go through the world with his head up and feel conscious that he is +not likely to play the ignoramus in any company, or be mortified or +pained by ignorance of matters which every well-informed person is +supposed to know. This assurance of knowledge multiplies +self-confidence and gives infinite satisfaction. + +In other words, a liberal education makes a man think a little more of +himself, feel a little surer of himself, have more faith in himself, +because he has discovered himself. There is also great satisfaction in +the knowledge that one has not neglected the unfoldment and expansion +of his mind, that he has not let the impressionable years of youth go +by unimproved. + +But the best thing you carry from your _alma mater_ is not what you +there prized most, not your knowledge of the sciences, languages, +literature, art; it is something infinitely more sacred, of greater +value than all these, and that is _your aroused ambition, your +discovery of yourself, of your powers, of your possibilities; your +resolution to be a little more of a man, to play a manly part in life, +to do the greatest, grandest thing possible to you_. This will mean +infinitely more to you than all you have learned from books or lectures. + +The most precious thing of all, however, if you have made the most of +your chance, is the uplift, encouragement, inspiration, which you have +absorbed from your teachers, from your associations; this is the +embodiment of the college spirit, the spirit of your _alma mater_; it +is that which should make you reach up as well as on, which should make +you aspire instead of grovel--look up, instead of down. + +The graduate should regard his education as a sacred trust. He should +look upon it as a power to be used, not alone for his advancement, or +for his own selfish ends, but for the betterment of all mankind. As a +matter of fact, things are so arranged in this world that no one can +use his divine gift for himself alone and get the best out of it. To +try to keep it would be as foolish as for the farmer to hoard his seed +corn in a bin instead of giving it to the earth, for fear he would +never get it back. + +The man who withholds the giving of himself to the world, does it at +his peril, at the cost of mental and moral penury. + +The way to get the most out of ourselves, or out of life, is not to try +to _sell_ ourselves for the highest possible price but to _give_ +ourselves, not stingily, meanly, but _royally, magnanimously, to our +fellows_. If the rosebud should try to retain all of its sweetness and +beauty locked within its petals and refuse to give it out, it would be +lost. It is only by flinging them out to the world that their fullest +development is possible. The man who tries to keep his education, his +superior advantages for himself, who is always looking out for the main +chance, only shrivels, and strangles the very faculties he would +develop. + +The trouble with most of us is that, in our efforts to sell ourselves +for selfish ends or for the most dollars, we impoverish our own lives, +stifle our better natures. + +The graduate should show the world that he has something in him too +sacred to be tampered with, something marked "not for sale," a sacred +something that bribery cannot touch, that influence cannot buy. You +should so conduct yourself that every one will see that there is +something in you that would repel as an insult the very suggestion that +you could be bought or bribed, or influenced to stoop to anything low +or questionable. + +The college man who is cursed with commonness, who gropes along in +mediocrity, who lives a shiftless, selfish life, and does not lift up +his head and show that he has made the most of his great privileges +disgraces the institution that gave him his chance. + +You have not learned the best lesson from your school or college if you +have not discovered the secret of making life a glory instead of a +sordid grind. When you leave your _alma mater_, my young friend, +whatever your vocation, do not allow all that is finest within you, +your high ideals and noble purposes to be suffocated, strangled, in the +everlasting scramble for the dollar. Put beauty into your life, do not +let your esthetic faculties, your aspiring instincts, be atrophied in +your efforts to make a living. Do not, as thousands of graduates do, +sacrifice your social instincts, your friendships, your good name, for +power or position. + +Whether you make money or lose it, never sell your divine heritage, +your good name, for a mess of pottage. Whatever you do, be larger than +your vocation; never let it be said of you that you succeeded in your +vocation, but failed as a man. + +When William Story, the sculptor, was asked to make a speech at the +unveiling of his great statue of George Peabody, in London, he simply +pointed to the statue and said, "_That is my speech._" + +So conduct yourself that your life shall need no eulogy in words. Let +it be its own eulogy, let your success tell to the world the story of a +noble career. However much money you may accumulate, carry your +greatest wealth with you, in _a clean record, an unsullied reputation_. +Then you will not need houses or lands or stocks or bonds to testify to +a rich life. + +Never before did an opportunity to render such great service to mankind +confront the educated youth as confronts you to-day. WHAT WILL YOU DO +WITH IT? + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ROUND BOYS IN SQUARE HOLES + +The high prize of life, the crowning fortune of a man, is to be born +with a bias to some pursuit, which finds him in employment and +happiness.--EMERSON. + +There is hardly a poet, artist, philosopher, or man of science +mentioned in the history of the human intellect, whose genius was not +opposed by parents, guardians, or teachers. In these cases Nature +seems to have triumphed by direct interposition; to have insisted on +her darlings having their rights, and encouraged disobedience, secrecy, +falsehood, even flight from home and occasional vagabondism, rather +than the world should lose what it cost her so much pains to +produce.--E. P. WHIPPLE. + + I hear a voice you cannot hear, + Which says, I must not stay; + I see a hand you cannot see, + Which beckons me away. + TICKELL. + + +"James Watt, I never saw such an idle young fellow as you are," said +his grandmother; "do take a book and employ yourself usefully. For the +last half-hour you have not spoken a single word. Do you know what you +have been doing all this time? Why, you have taken off and replaced, +and taken off again, the teapot lid, and you have held alternately in +the steam, first a saucer and then a spoon, and you have busied +yourself in examining and, collecting together the little drops formed +by the condensation of the steam on the surface of the china and the +silver. Now, are you not ashamed to waste your time in this +disgraceful manner?" + +The world has certainly gained much through the old lady's failure to +tell James how he could employ his time to better advantage! + +"But I'm good for something," pleaded a young man whom a merchant was +about to discharge for his bluntness. "You are good for nothing as a +salesman," said his employer. "I am sure I can be useful," said the +youth. "How? Tell me how." "I don't know, sir, I don't know." "Nor +do I," said the merchant, laughing at the earnestness of his clerk. +"Only don't put me away, sir, don't put me away. Try me at something +besides selling. I cannot sell; I know I cannot sell." "I know that, +too," said the principal; "that is what is wrong." "But I can make +myself useful somehow," persisted the young man; "I know I can." He +was placed in the counting-house, where his aptitude for figures soon +showed itself, and in a few years he became not only chief cashier in +the large store, but an eminent accountant. + +You cannot look into a cradle and read the secret message traced by a +divine hand and wrapped up in that bit of clay, any more than you can +see the North Star in the magnetic needle. God has loaded the needle +of that young life so it will point to the star of its own destiny; and +though you may pull it around by artificial advice and unnatural +education, and compel it to point to the star which presides over +poetry, art, law, medicine, or whatever your own pet calling is until +you have wasted years of a precious life, yet, when once free, the +needle flies back to its own star. + +"Rue it as he may, repent it as he often does," says Robert Waters, +"the man of genius is drawn by an irresistible impulse to the +occupation for which he was created. No matter by what difficulties +surrounded, no matter how unpromising the prospect, this occupation is +the only one which he will pursue with interest and pleasure. When his +efforts fail to procure means of subsistence, and he finds himself poor +and neglected, he may, like Burns, often look back with a sigh and +think how much better off he would be had he pursued some other +occupation, but he will stick to his favorite pursuit nevertheless." + +Civilization will mark its highest tide when every man has chosen his +proper work. No man can be ideally successful until he has found his +place. Like a locomotive, he is strong on the track, but weak anywhere +else. "Like a boat on a river," says Emerson, "every boy runs against +obstructions on every side but one. On that side all obstruction is +taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an +infinite sea." + +Only a Dickens can write the history of "Boy Slavery," of boys whose +aspirations and longings have been silenced forever by ignorant +parents; of boys persecuted as lazy, stupid, or fickle, simply because +they were out of their places; of square boys forced into round holes, +and oppressed because they did not fit; of boys compelled to pore over +dry theological books when the voice within continually cried "Law," +"Medicine," "Art," "Science," or "Business"; of boys tortured because +they were not enthusiastic in employments which they loathed, and +against which every fiber of their being was uttering perpetual protest. + +It is often a narrow selfishness in a father which leads him to wish +his son a reproduction of himself. "You are trying to make that boy +another you. One is enough," said Emerson. John Jacob Astor's father +wished his son to be his successor as a butcher, but the instinct of +commercial enterprise was too strong in the future merchant. + +Nature never duplicates men. She breaks the pattern at every birth. +The magic combination is never used but once. Frederick the Great was +terribly abused because he had a passion for art and music and did not +care for military drill. His father hated the fine arts and imprisoned +him. He even contemplated killing his son, but his own death placed +Frederick on the throne at the age of twenty-eight. This boy, who, +because he loved art and music, was thought good for nothing, made +Prussia one of the greatest nations of Europe. + +How stupid and clumsy is the blinking eagle at perch, but how keen his +glance, how steady and true his curves, when turning his powerful wing +against the clear blue sky! + +Ignorant parents compelled the boy Arkwright to become a barber's +apprentice, but Nature had locked up in his brain a cunning device +destined to bless humanity and to do the drudgery of millions of +England's poor; so he must needs say "hands off" even to his parents, +as Christ said to his mother, "Wist ye not that I must be about my +Father's business?" + +Galileo was set apart for a physician, but when compelled to study +anatomy and physiology, he would hide his Euclid and Archimedes and +stealthily work out the abstruse problems. He was only eighteen when +he discovered the principle of the pendulum in a lamp left swinging in +the cathedral at Pisa. He invented both the microscope and telescope, +enlarging knowledge of the vast and minute alike. + +The parents of Michael Angelo had declared that no son of theirs should +ever follow the discreditable profession of an artist, and even +punished him for covering the walls and furniture with sketches; but +the fire burning in his breast was kindled by the Divine Artist, and +would not let him rest until he had immortalized himself in the +architecture of St. Peter's, in the marble of his Moses, and on the +walls of the Sistine Chapel. + +Pascal's father determined that his son should teach the dead +languages, but the voice of mathematics drowned every other call, +haunting the boy until he laid aside his grammar for Euclid. + +The father of Joshua Reynolds rebuked his son for drawing pictures, and +wrote on one: "Done by Joshua out of pure idleness." Yet this "idle +boy" became one of the founders of the Royal Academy. + +Turner was intended for a barber in Maiden Lane, but became the +greatest landscape-painter of modern times. + +Claude Lorraine, the painter, was apprenticed to a pastry-cook; +Moliere, the author, to an upholsterer; and Guido, the famous painter +of Aurora, was sent to a music school. + +Schiller was sent to study surgery in the military school at Stuttgart, +but in secret he produced his first play, "The Robbers," the first +performance of which he had to witness in disguise. The irksomeness of +his prison-like school so galled him, and his longing for authorship so +allured him, that he ventured, penniless, into the inhospitable world +of letters. A kind lady aided him, and soon he produced the two +splendid dramas which made him immortal. + +The physician Handel wished his son to become a lawyer, and so tried to +discourage his fondness for music. But the boy got an old spinet and +practiced on it secretly in a hayloft. When the doctor visited a +brother in the service of the Duke of Weisenfelds, he took his son with +him. The boy wandered unobserved to the organ in a chapel, and soon +had a private concert under full blast. The duke happened to hear the +performance, and wondered who could possibly combine so much melody +with so much evident unfamiliarity with the instrument. The boy was +brought before him, and the duke, instead of blaming him for disturbing +the organ, praised his performance, and persuaded Dr. Handel to let his +son follow his bent. + +Daniel Defoe had been a trader, a soldier, a merchant, a secretary, a +factory manager, a commissioner's accountant, an envoy, and an author +of several indifferent books, before he wrote his masterpiece, +"Robinson Crusoe." + +Wilson, the ornithologist, failed in five different professions before +he found his place. + +Erskine spent four years in the navy, and then, in the hope of more +rapid promotion, joined the army. After serving more than two years, +he one day, out of curiosity, attended a court, in the town where his +regiment was quartered. The presiding judge, an acquaintance, invited +Erskine to sit near him, and said that the pleaders at the bar were +among the most eminent lawyers of Great Britain. Erskine took their +measure as they spoke, and believed he could excel them. He at once +began the study of law, in which he eventually soon stood alone as the +greatest forensic orator of his country. + +A. T. Stewart studied for the ministry, and became a teacher, before he +drifted into his proper calling as a merchant, through the accident of +having lent money to a friend. The latter, with failure imminent, +insisted that his creditor should take the shop as the only means of +securing the money. + +"Jonathan," said Mr. Chase, when his son told of having nearly fitted +himself for college, "thou shalt go down to the machine-shop on Monday +morning." It was many years before Jonathan escaped from the shop, to +work his way up to the position of a man of great influence as a United +States Senator from Rhode Island. + +It has been well said that if God should commission two angels, one to +sweep a street crossing, and the other to rule an empire, they could +not be induced to exchange callings. Not less true is it that he who +feels that God has given him a particular work to do can be happy only +when earnestly engaged in its performance. Happy the youth who finds +the place which his dreams have pictured! If he does not fill that +place, he will not fill any to the satisfaction of himself or others. +Nature never lets a man rest until he has found his place. She haunts +him and drives him until all his faculties give their consent and he +falls into his proper niche. A parent might just as well decide that +the magnetic needle will point to Venus or Jupiter without trying it, +as to decide what profession his son shall adopt. + +What a ridiculous exhibition a great truck-horse would make on the +race-track; yet this is no more incongruous than the popular idea that +law, medicine, and theology are the only desirable professions. How +ridiculous, too, for fifty-two per cent. of our American college +graduates to study law! How many young men become poor clergymen by +trying to imitate their fathers who were good ones; of poor doctors and +lawyers for the same reason! The country is full of men who are out of +place, "disappointed, soured, ruined, out of office, out of money, out +of credit, out of courage, out at elbows, out in the cold." The fact +is, nearly every college graduate who succeeds in the true sense of the +word, prepares himself in school, but makes himself after he is +graduated. The best thing his teachers have taught him is _how_ to +study. The moment he is beyond the college walls he ceases to use +books and helps which do not feed him, and seizes upon those that do. + +[Illustration: Ulysses S. Grant] + +We must not jump to the conclusion that because a man has not succeeded +in what he has really tried to do with all his might, he cannot succeed +at anything. Look at a fish floundering on the sand as though he would +tear himself to pieces. But look again: a huge wave breaks higher up +the beach and covers the unfortunate creature. The moment his fins +feel the water, he is himself again, and darts like a flash through the +waves. His fins mean something now, while before they beat the air and +earth in vain, a hindrance instead of a help. + +If you fail after doing your level best, examine the work attempted, +and see if it really be in the line of your bent or power of +achievement. Cowper failed as a lawyer. He was so timid that he could +not plead a case, but he wrote some of our finest poems. Moliere found +that he was not adapted to the work of a lawyer, but he left a great +name in literature. Voltaire and Petrarch abandoned the law, the +former choosing philosophy, the latter, poetry. Cromwell was a farmer +until forty years old. + +Very few of us, before we reach our teens, show great genius or even +remarkable talent for any line of work or study. The great majority of +boys and girls, even when given all the latitude and longitude heart +could desire, find it very difficult before their fifteenth or even +before their twentieth year to decide what to do for a living. Each +knocks at the portals of the mind, demanding a wonderful aptitude for +some definite line of work, but it is not there. That is no reason why +the duty at hand should be put off, or why the labor that naturally +falls to one's lot should not be done well. Samuel Smiles was trained +to a profession which was not to his taste, yet he practiced it so +faithfully that it helped him to authorship, for which he was well +fitted. + +Fidelity to the work or everyday duties at hand, and a genuine feeling +of responsibility to our parents or employers, ourselves, and our God, +will eventually bring most of us into the right niches at the proper +time. + +Garfield would not have become President if he had not previously been +a zealous teacher, a responsible soldier, a conscientious statesman. +Neither Lincoln nor Grant started as a baby with a precocity for the +White House, or an irresistible genius for ruling men. So no one +should be disappointed because he was not endowed with tremendous gifts +in the cradle. His business is to do the best he can wherever his lot +may be cast, and advance at every honorable opportunity in the +direction towards which the inward monitor points. Let duty be the +guiding-star, and success will surely be the crown, to the full measure +of one's ability and industry. + +What career? What shall my life's work be? + +If instinct and heart ask for carpentry, be a carpenter; if for +medicine, be a physician. With a firm choice and earnest work, a young +man or woman cannot help but succeed. But if there be no instinct, or +if it be weak or faint, one should choose cautiously along the line of +his best adaptability and opportunity. No one need doubt that the +world has use for him. True success lies in acting well your part, and +this every one can do. Better be a first-rate hod-carrier than a +second-rate anything. + +The world has been very kind to many who were once known as dunces or +blockheads, after they have become very successful; but it was very +cross to them while they were struggling through discouragement and +misinterpretation. Give every boy and girl a fair chance and +reasonable encouragement, and do not condemn them because of even a +large degree of downright stupidity; for many so-called +good-for-nothing boys, blockheads, numskulls, dullards, or dunces, were +only boys out of their places, round boys forced into square holes. + +Wellington was considered a dunce by his mother. At Eton he was called +dull, idle, slow, and was about the last boy in school of whom anything +was expected. He showed no talent, and had no desire to enter the +army. His industry and perseverance were his only redeeming +characteristics in the eyes of his parents and teachers. But at +forty-six he had defeated the greatest general living, except himself. + +Goldsmith was the laughing-stock of his schoolmasters. He was +graduated "Wooden Spoon," a college name for a dunce. He tried to +enter a class in surgery, but was rejected. He was driven to +literature. Goldsmith found himself totally unfit for the duties of a +physician; but who else could have written the "Vicar of Wakefield" or +the "Deserted Village"? Dr. Johnson found him very poor and about to +be arrested for debt. He made Goldsmith give him the manuscript of the +"Vicar of Wakefield," sold it to the publishers, and paid the debt. +This manuscript made its author famous. + +Robert Clive bore the name of "dunce" and "reprobate" at school, but at +thirty-two, with three thousand men, he defeated fifty thousand at +Plassey and laid the foundation of the British Empire in India. Sir +Walter Scott was called a blockhead by his teacher. When Byron +happened to get ahead of his class, the master would say: "Now, Jordie, +let me see how soon you will be at the foot again." + +Young Linnaeus was called by his teachers almost a blockhead. Not +finding him fit for the church, his parents sent him to college to +study medicine. But the silent teacher within, greater and wiser than +all others, led him to the fields; and neither sickness, misfortune, +nor poverty could drive him from the study of botany, the choice of his +heart, and he became the greatest botanist of his age. + +Richard B. Sheridan's mother tried in vain to teach him the most +elementary studies. The mother's death aroused slumbering talents, as +has happened in hundreds of cases, and he became one of the most +brilliant men of his age. + +Samuel Drew was one of the dullest and most listless boys in his +neighborhood, yet after an accident by which he nearly lost his life, +and after the death of his brother, he became so studious and +industrious that he could not bear to lose a moment. He read at every +meal, using all the time he could get for self-improvement. He said +that Paine's "Age of Reason" made him an author, for it was by his +attempt to refute its arguments that he was first known as a strong, +vigorous writer. + +It has been well said that no man ever made an ill figure who +understood his own talents, nor a good one who mistook them. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WHAT CAREER? + + Brutes find out where their talents lie; + A bear will not attempt to fly, + A foundered horse will oft debate + Before he tries a five-barred gate. + A dog by instinct turns aside + Who sees the ditch too deep and wide. + But man we find the only creature + Who, led by folly, combats nature; + Who, when she loudly cries--Forbear! + With obstinacy fixes there; + And where his genius least inclines, + Absurdly bends his whole designs. + SWIFT. + +The crowning fortune of a man is to be born to some pursuit which finds +him in employment and happiness, whether it be to make baskets, or +broadswords, or canals, or statues, or songs.--EMERSON. + +Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of +talent. Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be +anything else, and you will be ten thousand times worse than +nothing.--SYDNEY SMITH. + + +"Every man has got a Fort," said Artemus Ward. "It's some men's fort +to do one thing, and some other men's fort to do another, while there +is numeris shiftless critters goin' round loose whose fort is not to do +nothin'. + +"Twice I've endevered to do things which they wasn't my Fort. The +first time was when I undertook to lick a owdashus cuss who cut a hole +in my tent and krawld threw. Sez I, 'My jentle sir, go out, or I shall +fall onto you putty hevy.' Sez he, 'Wade in, Old Wax Figgers,' +whereupon I went for him, but he cawt me powerful on the hed and knockt +me threw the tent into a cow pastur. He pursood the attack and flung +me into a mud puddle. As I aroze and rung out my drencht garmints, I +concluded fitin was n't my fort. + +"I'le now rize the curtain upon seen 2nd. It is rarely seldum that I +seek consolation in the Flowin Bole. But in a certain town in Injianny +in the Faul of 18--, my orgin grinder got sick with the fever and died. +I never felt so ashamed in my life, and I thought I'd hist in a few +swallers of suthin strengthnin. Konsequents was, I histed so much I +didn't zackly know whereabouts I was. I turned my livin' wild beasts +of Pray loose into the streets, and split all my wax-works. + +"I then Bet I cood play hoss. So I hitched myself to a kanawl bote, +there bein' two other hosses behind and anuther ahead of me. But the +hosses bein' onused to such a arrangemunt, begun to kick and squeal and +rair up. Konsequents was, I was kicked vilently in the stummuck and +back, and presently, I found myself in the kanawl with the other +hosses, kikin and yellin like a tribe of Cusscaroorus savajis. I was +rescood, and as I was bein carried to the tavern on a hemlock bored I +sed in a feeble voice, 'Boys, playin' hoss isn't my Fort.' + +"_Moral: Never don't do nothin' which isn't your Fort, for ef you do +you'll find yourself splashin' round in the kanawl, figuratively +speakin._" + +The following advertisement, which appeared day after day in a Western +paper, did not bring a single reply:-- + +"Wanted.--Situation by a Practical Printer, who is competent to take +charge of any department in a printing and publishing house. Would +accept a professorship in any of the academies. Has no objection to +teach ornamental painting and penmanship, geometry, trigonometry, and +many other sciences. Has had some experience as a lay preacher. Would +have no objection to form a small class of young ladies and gentlemen +to instruct them in the higher branches. To a dentist or chiropodist +he would be invaluable; or he would cheerfully accept a position as +bass or tenor singer in a choir." + +At length there appeared this addition to the notice:-- + +"P. S. Will accept an offer to saw and split wood at less than the +usual rates." This secured a situation at once, and the advertisement +was seen no more. + +Your talent is your _call_. Your legitimate destiny speaks in your +character. If you have found your place, your occupation has the +consent of every faculty of your being. + +If possible, choose that occupation which focuses the largest amount of +your experience and tastes. You will then not only have a congenial +vocation, but also will utilize largely your skill and business +knowledge, which is your true capital. + +_Follow your bent_. You cannot long fight successfully against your +aspirations. Parents, friends, or misfortune may stifle and suppress +the longings of the heart, by compelling you to perform unwelcome +tasks; but, like a volcano, the inner fire will burst the crusts which +confine it and will pour forth its pent-up genius in eloquence, in +song, in art, or in some favorite industry. Beware of "a talent which +you cannot hope to practice in perfection." Nature hates all botched +and half-finished work, and will pronounce her curse upon it. + +Better be the Napoleon of bootblacks, or the Alexander of +chimney-sweeps, let us say with Matthew Arnold, than a shallow-brained +attorney who, like necessity, knows no law. + +Half the world seems to have found uncongenial occupation, as though +the human race had been shaken up together and exchanged places in the +operation. A servant girl is trying to teach, and a natural teacher is +tending store. Good farmers are murdering the law, while Choates and +Websters are running down farms, each tortured by the consciousness of +unfulfilled destiny. Boys are pining in factories who should be +wrestling with Greek and Latin, and hundreds are chafing beneath +unnatural loads in college who should be on the farm or before the +mast. Artists are spreading "daubs" on canvas who should be +whitewashing board fences. Behind counters stand clerks who hate the +yard-stick and neglect their work to dream of other occupations. A +good shoemaker writes a few verses for the village paper, his friends +call him a poet, and the last, with which he is familiar, is abandoned +for the pen, which he uses awkwardly. Other shoemakers are cobbling in +Congress, while statesmen are pounding shoe-lasts. Laymen are +murdering sermons while Beechers and Whitefields are failing as +merchants, and people are wondering what can be the cause of empty +pews. A boy who is always making something with tools is railroaded +through the university and started on the road to inferiority in one of +the "three honorable professions." Real surgeons are handling the +meat-saw and cleaver, while butchers are amputating human limbs. How +fortunate that-- + + "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, + _Rough-hew them how we will._" + + +"He that hath a trade," says Franklin, "hath an estate; and he that +hath a calling hath a place of profit and honor. A plowman on his legs +is higher than a gentleman on his knees." + +A man's business does more to make him than anything else. It hardens +his muscles, strengthens his body, quickens his blood, sharpens his +mind, corrects his judgment, wakes up his inventive genius, puts his +wits to work, starts him on the race of life, arouses his ambition, +makes him feel that he is a man and must fill a man's shoes, do a man's +work, bear a man's part in life, and show himself a man in that part. +No man feels himself a man who is not doing a man's business. A man +without employment is not a man. He does not prove by his works that +he is a man. A hundred and fifty pounds of bone and muscle do not make +a man. A good cranium full of brains is not a man. The bone and +muscle and brain must know how to do a man's work, think a man's +thoughts, mark out a man's path, and bear a man's weight of character +and duty before they constitute a man. + +Go-at-it-iveness is the first requisite for success. +Stick-to-it-iveness is the second. Under ordinary circumstances, and +with practical common sense to guide him, one who has these requisites +will not fail. + +Don't wait for a higher position or a larger salary. Enlarge the +position you already occupy; put originality of method into it. Fill +it as it never was filled before. Be more prompt, more energetic, more +thorough, more polite than your predecessor or fellow workmen. Study +your business, devise new modes of operation, be able to give your +employer points. The art lies not in giving satisfaction merely, not +in simply filling your place, but in doing better than was expected, in +surprising your employer; and the reward will be a better place and a +larger salary. + +When out of work, take the first respectable job that offers, heeding +not the disproportion between your faculties and your task. If you put +your manhood into your labor, you will soon be given something better +to do. + +This question of a right aim in life has become exceedingly perplexing +in our complicated age. It is not a difficult problem to solve when +one is the son of a Zulu or the daughter of a Bedouin. The condition +of the savage hardly admits of but one choice; but as one rises higher +in the scale of civilization and creeps nearer to the great centers of +activity, the difficulty of a correct decision increases with its +importance. In proportion as one is hard pressed in competition is it +of the sternest necessity for him to choose the right aim, so as to be +able to throw the whole of his energy and enthusiasm into the struggle +for success. The dissipation of strength or hope is fatal to +prosperity even in the most attractive field. + +Gladstone says there is a limit to the work that can be got out of a +human body, or a human brain, and he is a wise man who wastes no energy +on pursuits for which he is not fitted. + +"Blessed is he who has found his work," says Carlyle. "Let him ask no +other blessedness. He has a work--a life purpose; he has found it, and +will follow it." + +In choosing an occupation, do not ask yourself how you can make the +most money or gain the most notoriety, but choose that work which will +call out all your powers and develop your manhood into the greatest +strength and symmetry. Not money, not notoriety, not fame even, but +power is what you want. Manhood is greater than wealth, grander than +fame. Character is greater than any career. Each faculty must be +educated, and any deficiency in its training will appear in whatever +you do. The hand must be educated to be graceful, steady, and strong. +The eye must be educated to be alert, discriminating, and microscopic. +The heart must be educated to be tender, sympathetic, and true. The +memory must be drilled for years in accuracy, retention, and +comprehensiveness. The world does not demand that you be a lawyer, +minister, doctor, farmer, scientist, or merchant; it does not dictate +what you shall do, but it does require that you be a master in whatever +you undertake. If you are a master in your line, the world will +applaud you and all doors will fly open to you. But it condemns all +botches, abortions, and failures. + +"Whoever is well educated to discharge the duty of a man," says +Rousseau, "cannot be badly prepared to fill any of those offices that +have relation to him. It matters little to me whether my pupils be +designed for the army, the pulpit, or the bar. Nature has destined us +to the offices of human life antecedent to our destination concerning +society. To live is the profession I would teach him. When I have +done with him, it is true he will be neither a soldier, a lawyer, nor a +divine. Let him first be a man. Fortune may remove him from one rank +to another as she pleases; he will be always found in his place." + +In the great race of life common sense has the right of way. Wealth, a +diploma, a pedigree, talent, genius, without tact and common sense, cut +but a small figure. The incapables and the impracticables, though +loaded with diplomas and degrees, are left behind. Not what do you +know, or _who_ are you, but _what_ are you, _what can you do_, is the +interrogation of the century. + +George Herbert has well said: "What we are is much more to us than what +we do." An aim that carries in it the least element of doubt as to its +justice or honor or right should be abandoned at once. The art of +dishing up the wrong so as to make it look and taste like the right has +never been more extensively cultivated than in our day. It is a +curious fact that reason will, on pressure, overcome a man's instinct +of right. An eminent scientist has said that a man could soon reason +himself out of the instinct of decency if he would only take pains and +work hard enough. So when a doubtful but attractive future is placed +before one, there is a great temptation to juggle with the wrong until +it seems the right. Yet any aim that is immoral carries in itself the +germ of certain failure, in the real sense of the word--failure that is +physical and spiritual. + +There is no doubt that every person has a special adaptation for his +own peculiar part in life. A very few--geniuses, we call them--have +this marked in an unusual degree, and very early in life. + +Madame de Stael was engrossed in political philosophy at an age when +other girls are dressing dolls. Mozart, when but four years old, +played the clavichord and composed minuets and other pieces still +extant. The little Chalmers, with solemn air and earnest gestures, +would preach often from a stool in the nursery. Goethe wrote tragedies +at twelve, and Grotius published an able philosophical work before he +was fifteen. Pope "lisped in numbers." Chatterton wrote good poems at +eleven, and Cowley published a volume of poetry in his sixteenth year. +Thomas Lawrence and Benjamin West drew likenesses almost as soon as +they could walk. Liszt played in public at twelve. Canova made models +in clay while a mere child. Bacon exposed the defects of Aristotle's +philosophy when but sixteen. Napoleon was at the head of armies when +throwing snowballs at Brienne. + +All these showed their bent while young, and followed it in active +life. But precocity is not common, and, except in rare cases, we must +discover the bias in our natures, and not wait for the proclivity to +make itself manifest. When found, it is worth more to us than a vein +of gold. + +"_I_ do not forbid you to preach," said a Bishop to a young clergyman, +"but nature does." + +Lowell said: "It is the vain endeavor to make ourselves what we are not +that has strewn history with so many broken purposes, and lives left in +the rough." + +You have not found your place until all your faculties are roused, and +your whole nature consents and approves of the work you are doing; not +until you are so enthusiastic in it that you take it to bed with you. +You may be forced to drudge at uncongenial toil for a time, but +emancipate yourself as soon as possible. Carey, the "Consecrated +Cobbler," before he went as a missionary said: "My business is to +preach the gospel. I cobble shoes to pay expenses." + +If your vocation be only a humble one, elevate it with more manhood +than others put into it. Put into it brains and heart and energy and +economy. Broaden it by originality of methods. Extend it by +enterprise and industry. Study it as you would a profession. Learn +everything that is to be known about it. Concentrate your faculties +upon it, for the greatest achievements are reserved for the man of +single aim, in whom no rival powers divide the empire of the soul. +_Better adorn your own than seek another's place_. + +Go to the bottom of your business if you would climb to the top. +Nothing is small which concerns your business. Master every detail. +This was the secret of A. T. Stewart's and of John Jacob Astor's great +success. They knew everything about their business. + +As love is the only excuse for marriage, and the only thing which will +carry one safely through the troubles and vexations of married life, so +love for an occupation is the only thing which will carry one safely +and surely through the troubles which overwhelm ninety-five out of +every one hundred who choose the life of a merchant, and very many in +every other career. + +A famous Englishman said to his nephew, "Don't choose medicine, for we +have never had a murderer in our family, and the chances are that in +your ignorance you may kill a patient; as to the law, no prudent man is +willing to risk his life or his fortune to a young lawyer, who has not +only no experience, but is generally too conceited to know the risks he +incurs for his client, who alone is the loser; therefore, as the +mistakes of a clergyman in doctrine or advice to his parishioners +cannot be clearly determined in this world, I advise you by all means +to enter the church." + +"I felt that I was in the world to do something, and thought I must," +said Whittier, thus giving the secret of his great power. It is the +man who must enter law, literature, medicine, the ministry, or any +other of the overstocked professions, who will succeed. His certain +call, that is his love for it, and his fidelity to it, are the +imperious factors of his career. If a man enters a profession simply +because his grandfather made a great name in it, or his mother wants +him to, with no love or adaptability for it, it were far better for him +to be a motor-man on an electric car at a dollar and seventy-five cents +a day. In the humbler work his intelligence may make him a leader; in +the other career he might do as much harm as a bowlder rolled from its +place upon a railroad track, a menace to the next express. + +Only a few years ago marriage was the only "sphere" open to girls, and +the single woman had to face the disapproval of her friends. Lessing +said: "The woman who thinks is like a man who puts on rouge, +ridiculous." Not many years have elapsed since the ambitious woman who +ventured to study or write would keep a bit of embroidery at hand to +throw over her book or manuscript when callers entered. Dr. Gregory +said to his daughters: "If you happen to have any learning, keep it a +profound secret from the men, who generally look with a jealous and +malignant eye on a woman of great parts and a cultivated +understanding." Women who wrote books in those days would deny the +charge as though a public disgrace. + +All this has changed, and what a change it is! As Frances Willard +said, the greatest discovery of the century is the discovery of woman. +We have emancipated her, and are opening countless opportunities for +our girls outside of marriage. Formerly only a boy could choose a +career; now his sister can do the same. This freedom is one of the +greatest glories of the twentieth century. But with freedom comes +responsibility, and under these changed conditions every girl should +have a definite aim. + +Dr. Hall says that the world has urgent need of "girls who are mother's +right hand; girls who can cuddle the little ones next best to mamma, +and smooth out the tangles in the domestic skein when thing's get +twisted; girls whom father takes comfort in for something better than +beauty, and the big brothers are proud of for something that outranks +the ability to dance or shine in society. Next, we want girls of +sense,--girls who have a standard of their own, regardless of +conventionalities, and are independent enough to live up to it; girls +who simply won't wear a trailing dress on the street to gather up +microbes and all sorts of defilement; girls who don't wear a high hat +to the theater, or lacerate their feet and endanger their health with +high heels and corsets; girls who will wear what is pretty and becoming +and snap their fingers at the dictates of fashion when fashion is +horrid and silly. And we want good girls,--girls who are sweet, right +straight out from the heart to the lips; innocent and pure and simple +girls, with less knowledge of sin and duplicity and evil-doing at +twenty than the pert little schoolgirl of ten has all too often. And +we want careful girls and prudent girls, who think enough of the +generous father who toils to maintain them in comfort, and of the +gentle mother who denies herself much that they may have so many pretty +things, to count the cost and draw the line between the essentials and +non-essentials; girls who strive to save and not to spend; girls who +are unselfish and eager to be a joy and a comfort in the home rather +than an expense and a useless burden. We want girls with +hearts,--girls who are full of tenderness and sympathy, with tears that +flow for other people's ills, and smiles that light outward their own +beautiful thoughts. We have lots of clever girls, and brilliant girls, +and witty girls. Give us a consignment of jolly girls, warm-hearted +and impulsive girls; kind and entertaining to their own folks, and with +little desire to shine in the garish world. With a few such girls +scattered around, life would freshen up for all of us, as the weather +does under the spell of summer showers." + + "They talk about a woman's sphere, + As though it had a limit; + There's not a place in earth or heaven, + There's not a task to mankind given, + There's not a blessing or a woe, + There's not a whisper, Yes or No, + There's not a life, or death, or birth, + That has a feather's weight of worth, + Without a woman in it." + + +"Do that which is assigned you," says Emerson, "and you cannot hope too +much or dare too much. There is at this moment for you an utterance +brave and grand as that of the colossal chisel of Phidias, or trowel of +the Egyptians, or the pen of Moses or Dante, but different from all +these." + +"The best way for a young man to begin, who is without friends or +influence," said Russell Sage, "is, first, by getting a position; +second, keeping his mouth shut; third, observing; fourth, being +faithful; fifth, making his employer think he would be lost in a fog +without him; and sixth, being polite." + +"Close application, integrity, attention to details, discreet +advertising," are given as the four steps to success by John Wanamaker, +whose motto is, "Do the next thing." + +Whatever you do in life, be greater than your calling. Most people +look upon an occupation or calling as a mere expedient for earning a +living. What a mean, narrow view to take of what was intended for the +great school of life, the great man developer, the character-builder; +that which should broaden, deepen, heighten, and round out into +symmetry, harmony, and beauty all the God-given faculties within us! +How we shrink from the task and evade the lessons which were intended +for the unfolding of life's great possibilities into usefulness and +power, as the sun unfolds into beauty and fragrance the petals of the +flower! + + I am glad to think + I am not bound to make the world go round; + But only to discover and to do, + With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints. + JEAN INGELOW. + + "'What shall I do to be forever known?' + Thy duty ever! + 'This did full many who yet sleep all unknown,'-- + Oh, never, never! + Think'st thou, perchance, that they remain unknown + Whom thou know'st not? + By angel trumps in heaven their praise is blown, + Divine their lot." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CHOOSING A VOCATION + +Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be anything +else, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing.--SYDNEY +SMITH. + +"Many a man pays for his success with a slice of his constitution." + +No man struggles perpetually and victoriously against his own +character; and one of the first principles of success in life is so to +regulate our career as rather to turn our physical constitution and +natural inclinations to good account than to endeavor to counteract the +one or oppose the other.--BULWER. + +He that hath a trade hath an estate.--FRANKLIN. + +Nature fits all her children with something to do.--LOWELL. + + +As occupations and professions have a powerful influence upon the +length of human life, the youth should first ascertain whether the +vocation he thinks of choosing is a healthy one. Statesmen, judges, +and clergymen are noted for their longevity. They are not swept into +the great business vortex, where the friction and raspings of sharp +competition whittle life away at a fearful rate. Astronomers, who +contemplate vast systems, moving through enormous distances, are +exceptionally long lived,--as Herschel and Humboldt. Philosophers, +scientists, and mathematicians, as Galileo, Bacon, Newton, Euler, +Dalton, in fact, those who have dwelt upon the exact sciences, seem to +have escaped many of the ills from which humanity suffers. Great +students of natural history have also, as a rule, lived long and happy +lives. Of fourteen members of a noted historical society in England, +who died in 1870, two were over ninety, five over eighty, and two over +seventy. + +The occupation of the mind has a great influence upon the health of the +body. + +There is no employment so dangerous and destructive to life but plenty +of human beings can be found to engage in it. Of all the instances +that can be given of recklessness of life, there is none which exceeds +that of the workmen employed in what is called dry-pointing--the +grinding of needles and of table forks. The fine steel dust which they +breathe brings on a painful disease, of which they are almost sure to +die before they are forty. Yet not only are men tempted by high wages +to engage in this employment, but they resist to the utmost all +contrivances devised for diminishing the danger, through fear that such +things would cause more workmen to offer themselves and thus lower +wages. Many physicians have investigated the effects of work in the +numerous match factories in France upon the health of the employees, +and all agree that rapid destruction of the teeth, decay or necrosis of +the jawbone, bronchitis, and other diseases result. + +We will probably find more old men on farms than elsewhere. There are +many reasons why farmers should live longer than persons residing in +cities or than those engaged in other occupations. Aside from the +purer air, the outdoor exercise, both conducive to a good appetite and +sound sleep, which comparatively few in cities enjoy, they are free +from the friction, harassing cares, anxieties, and the keen competition +incident to city life. On the other hand, there are some great +drawbacks and some enemies to longevity, even on the farm. Man does +not live by bread alone. The mind is by far the greatest factor in +maintaining the body in a healthy condition. The social life of the +city, the great opportunities afforded the mind for feeding upon +libraries and lectures, great sermons, and constant association with +other minds, the great variety of amusements compensate largely for the +loss of many of the advantages of farm life. In spite of the great +temperance and immunity from things which corrode, whittle, and rasp +away life in the cities, farmers in many places do not live so long as +scientists and some other professional men. + +There is no doubt that aspiration and success tend to prolong life. +Prosperity tends to longevity, if we do not wear life away or burn it +out in the feverish pursuit of wealth. Thomas W. Higginson made a list +of thirty of the most noted preachers of the last century, and found +that their average length of life was sixty-nine years. + +Among miners in some sections over six hundred out of a thousand die +from consumption. In the prisons of Europe, where the fatal effects of +bad air and filth are shown, over sixty-one per cent. of the deaths are +from tuberculosis. In Bavarian monasteries, fifty per cent. of those +who enter in good health die of consumption, and in the Prussian +prisons it is almost the same. The effect of bad air, filth, and bad +food is shown by the fact that the death-rate among these classes, +between the ages of twenty and forty, is five times that of the general +population of the same age. In New York City, over one-fifth of all +the deaths of persons over twenty are from this cause. In large cities +in Europe the percentage is often still greater. Of one thousand +deaths from all causes, on the average, one hundred and three farmers +die of pulmonary tuberculosis, one hundred and eight fishermen, one +hundred and twenty-one gardeners, one hundred and twenty-two farm +laborers, one hundred and sixty-seven grocers, two hundred and nine +tailors, three hundred and one dry-goods dealers, and four hundred and +sixty-one compositors,--nearly one-half. + +According to a long series of investigations by Drs. Benoysten and +Lombard into occupations or trades where workers must inhale dust, it +appears that mineral dust is the most detrimental to health, animal +dust ranking next, and vegetable dust third. + +In choosing an occupation, cleanliness, pure air, sunlight, and freedom +from corroding dust and poisonous gases are of the greatest importance. +A man who would sell a year of his life for any amount of money would +be considered insane, and yet we deliberately choose occupations and +vocations which statistics and physicians tell us will be practically +sure to cut off from five to twenty-five, thirty, or even forty years +of our lives, and are seemingly perfectly indifferent to our fate. + +There is danger in a calling which requires great expenditure of +vitality at long, irregular intervals. He who is not regularly, or +systematically employed incurs perpetual risk. "Of the thirty-two +all-round athletes in a New York club not long ago," said a physician, +"three are dead of consumption, five have to wear trusses, four or five +are lop-shouldered, and three have catarrh and partial deafness." Dr. +Patten, chief surgeon at the National Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Ohio, +says that "of the five thousand soldiers in that institution fully +eighty per cent. are suffering from heart disease in one form or +another, due to the forced physical exertions of the campaigns." + +Man's faculties and functions are so interrelated that whatever affects +one affects all. Athletes who over-develop the muscular system do so +at the expense of the physical, mental, and moral well-being. It is a +law of nature that the overdevelopment of any function or faculty, +forcing or straining it, tends not only to ruin it, but also to cause +injurious reactions on every other faculty and function. + +Vigorous thought must come from a fresh brain. We cannot expect nerve, +snap, robustness and vigor, sprightliness and elasticity, in the +speech, in the book, or in the essay, from an exhausted, jaded brain. +The brain is one of the last organs of the body to reach maturity (at +about the age of twenty-eight), and should never be overworked, +especially in youth. The whole future of a man is often ruined by +over-straining the brain in school. + +Brain-workers cannot do good, effective work in one line many hours a +day. When the brain is weary, when it begins to lose its elasticity +and freshness, there will be the same lack of tonicity and strength in +the brain product. Some men often do a vast amount of literary work in +entirely different lines during their spare hours. + +Cessation of brain activity does not necessarily constitute brain rest, +as most great thinkers know. The men who accomplish the most +brain-work, sooner or later--usually later, unfortunately--learn to +give rest to one set of faculties and use another, as interest begins +to flag and a sense of weariness comes. In this way they have been +enabled to astonish the world by their mental achievements, which is +very largely a matter of skill in exercising alternate sets of +faculties, allowing rest to some while giving healthy exercise to +others. The continual use of one set of faculties by an ambitious +worker will soon bring him to grief. No set of brain cells can +possibly set free more brain force in the combustion of thought than is +stored up in them. The tired brain must have rest, or nervous +exhaustion, brain fever, or even softening of the brain is liable to +follow. + +As a rule, physical vigor is the condition of a great career. What +would Gladstone have accomplished with a weak, puny physique? He +addresses an audience at Corfu in Greek, and another at Florence in +Italian. A little later he converses at ease with Bismarck in German, +or talks fluent French in Paris, or piles up argument on argument in +English for hours in Parliament. There are families that have +"clutched success and kept it through generations from the simple fact +of a splendid physical organization handed down from one generation to +another." + +[Illustration: William Ewart Gladstone] + +All occupations that enervate, paralyze, or destroy body or soul should +be avoided. Our manufacturing interests too often give little thought +to the employed; the article to be made is generally the only object +considered. They do not care if a man spends the whole of his life +upon the head of a pin, or in making a screw in a watch factory. They +take no notice of the occupations that ruin, or the phosphorus, the +dust, the arsenic that destroys the health, that shortens the lives of +many workers; of the cramped condition of the body which creates +deformity. + +The moment we compel those we employ to do work that demoralizes them +or does not tend to elevate or lift them, we are forcing them into +service worse than useless. "If we induce painters to work in fading +colors, or architects with rotten stone, or contractors to construct +buildings with imperfect materials, we are forcing our Michael Angelos +to carve in snow." + +Ruskin says that the tendency of the age is to expend its genius in +perishable art, _as if it were a triumph to burn its thoughts away in +bonfires_. Is the work you compel others to do useful to yourself and +to society? If you employ a seamstress to make four or five or six +beautiful flounces for your ball dress, flounces which will only clothe +yourself, and which you will wear at only one ball, you are employing +your money selfishly. Do not confuse covetousness with benevolence, +nor cheat yourself into thinking that all the finery you can wear is so +much put into the hungry mouths of those beneath you. It is what those +who stand shivering on the street, forming a line to see you step out +of your carriage, know it to be. These fine dresses do not mean that +so much has been put into their mouths, but _that so much has been +taken out of their mouths_. + +Select a clean, useful, honorable occupation. If there is any doubt on +this point, abandon it at once, for _familiarity with a bad business +will make it seem good_. Choose a business that has expansiveness in +it. Some kinds of business not even a J. Pierpont Morgan could make +respectable. Choose an occupation which will develop you; which will +elevate you; which will give you a chance for self-improvement and +promotion. You may not make quite so much money, but you will be more +of a man, and _manhood is above all riches, overtops all titles_, and +_character is greater than any career_. If possible avoid occupations +which compel you to work in a cramped position, or where you must work +at night and on Sundays. Don't try to justify yourself on the ground +that somebody must do this kind of work. Let "somebody," not yourself, +take the responsibility. Aside from the right and wrong of the thing, +it is injurious to the health to work seven days in the week, to work +at night when Nature intended you to sleep, or to sleep in the daytime +when she intended you to work. + +Many a man has dwarfed his manhood, cramped his intellect, crushed his +aspiration, blunted his finer sensibilities, in some mean, narrow +occupation just because there was money in it. + +"Study yourself," says Longfellow, "and most of all, note well wherein +kind nature meant you to excel." + +Dr. Matthews says that "to no other cause, perhaps, is failure in life +so frequently to be traced as to a mistaken calling." We can often +find out by hard knocks and repeated failures what we can not do before +what we can do. This negative process of eliminating the doubtful +chances is often the only way of attaining to the positive conclusion. + +How many men have been made ridiculous for life by choosing law or +medicine or theology, simply because they are "honorable professions"! +These men might have been respectable farmers or merchants, but are +"nobodies" in such vocations. The very glory of the profession which +they thought would make them shining lights simply renders more +conspicuous their incapacity. + +Thousands of youths receive an education that fits them for a +profession which they have not the means or inclination to follow, and +that unfits them for the conditions of life to which they were born. +Unsuccessful students with a smattering of everything are raised as +much above their original condition as if they were successful. A +large portion of Paris cabmen are unsuccessful students in theology and +other professions and also unfrocked priests. They are very bad cabmen. + + "Tompkins forsakes his last and awl + For literary squabbles; + Styles himself poet; but his trade + Remains the same,--he cobbles." + + +Don't choose a profession or occupation because your father, or uncle, +or brother is in it. Don't choose a business because you inherit it, +or because parents or friends want you to follow it. Don't choose it +because others have made fortunes in it. Don't choose it because it is +considered the "proper thing" and a "genteel" business. The mania for +a "genteel" occupation, for a "soft job" which eliminates drudgery, +thorns, hardships, and all disagreeable things, and one which can be +learned with very little effort, ruins many a youth. + +When we try to do that for which we are unfitted we are not working +along the line of our strength, but of our weakness; our will power and +enthusiasm become demoralized; we do half work, botched work, lose +confidence in ourselves, and conclude that we are dunces because we +cannot accomplish what others do; the whole tone of life is demoralized +and lowered because we are out of place. + +How it shortens the road to success to make a wise choice of one's +occupation early, to be started on the road of a proper career while +young, full of hope, while the animal spirits are high, and enthusiasm +is vigorous; to feel that every step we take, that every day's work we +do, that every blow we strike helps to broaden, deepen, and enrich life! + +Those who fail are, as a rule, those who are out of their places. _A +man out of his place is but half a man; his very nature is perverted_. +He is working against his nature, rowing against the current. When his +strength is exhausted he will float down the stream. A man can not +succeed when his whole nature is entering its perpetual protest against +his occupation. To succeed, his vocation must have the consent of all +his faculties; they must be in harmony with his purpose. + +Has a young man a right to choose an occupation which will only call +into play his lower and inferior qualities, as cunning, deceit, letting +all his nobler qualities shrivel and die? Has he a right to select a +vocation that will develop only the beast within him instead of the +man? which will call out the bulldog qualities only, the qualities +which overreach and grasp, the qualities which get and never give, +which develop long-headedness only, while his higher self atrophies? + +The best way to choose an occupation is to ask yourself the question, +"What would my government do with me if it were to consider +scientifically my qualifications and adaptations, and place me to the +best possible advantage for all the people?" The Norwegian precept is +a good one: "Give thyself wholly to thy fellow-men; they will give thee +back soon enough." We can do the most possible for ourselves when we +are in a position where we can do the most possible for others. _We +are doing the most for ourselves and for others when we are in a +position which calls into play in the highest possible way the greatest +number of our best faculties; in other words, we are succeeding best +for ourselves when we are succeeding best for others_. + +The time will come when there will be institutions for determining the +natural bent of the boy and girl; where men of large experience and +close observation will study the natural inclination of the youth, help +him to find where his greatest strength lies and how to use it to the +best advantage. Even if we take for granted what is not true, that +every youth will sooner or later discover the line of his greatest +strength so that he may get his living by his strong points rather than +by his weak ones, the discovery is often made so late in life that +great success is practically impossible. Such institutions would help +boys and girls to start in their proper careers early in life; and _an +early choice shortens the way_. Can anything be more important to +human beings than a start in life in the right direction, where even +small effort will count for more in the race than the greatest +effort--and a life of drudgery--in the wrong direction? A man is +seldom unsuccessful, unhappy, or vicious when he is in his place. + +After once choosing your occupation, however, never look backward; +stick to it with all the tenacity you can muster. Let nothing tempt +you or swerve you a hair's breadth from your aim, and you will win. Do +not let the thorns which appear in every vocation, or temporary +despondency or disappointment, shake your purpose. You will never +succeed while smarting under the drudgery of your occupation, if you +are constantly haunted with the idea that you could succeed better in +something else. Great tenacity of purpose is the only thing that will +carry you over the hard places which appear in every career to ultimate +triumph. This determination, or fixity of purpose, has a great moral +bearing upon our success, for it leads others to feel confidence in us, +and this is everything. It gives credit and moral support in a +thousand ways. People always believe in a man with a fixed purpose, +and will help him twice as quickly as one who is loosely or +indifferently attached to his vocation, and liable at any time to make +a change, or to fail. Everybody knows that determined men are not +likely to fail. They carry in their very pluck, grit, and +determination the conviction and assurance of success. + +The world does not dictate _what_ you shall do, but it does demand that +you do _something_, and that you shall be a king in your line. There +is no grander sight than that of a young man or woman in the right +place struggling with might and main to make the most of the stuff at +command, determined that not a faculty or power shall run to waste. +Not money, not position, but power is what we want; and character is +greater than any occupation or profession. + +"Do not, I beseech you," said Garfield, "be content to enter on any +business that does not require and compel constant intellectual +growth." Choose an occupation that is refining and elevating; an +occupation that you will be proud of; an occupation that will give you +time for self-culture and self-elevation; an occupation that will +enlarge and expand your manhood and make you a better citizen, a better +man. + +Power and constant growth toward a higher life are the great end of +human existence. Your calling should be the great school of life, the +great man-developer, character-builder, that which should broaden, +deepen, and round out into symmetry, harmony, and beauty, all the +God-given faculties within you. + +But whatever you do be greater than your calling; let your manhood +overtop your position, your wealth, your occupation, your title. A man +must work hard and study hard to counteract the narrowing, hardening +tendency of his occupation. Said Goldsmith,-- + + Burke, born for the universe, narrowed his mind, + And to party gave up what was meant for mankind. + + +"Constant engagement in traffic and barter has no elevating influence," +says Lyndall. "The endeavor to obtain the upper hand of those with +whom we have to deal, to make good bargains, the higgling and scheming, +and the thousand petty artifices, which in these days of stern +competition are unscrupulously resorted to, tend to narrow the sphere +and to lessen the strength of the intellect, and, at the same time, the +delicacy of the moral sense." + +Choose upward, study the men in the vocation you think of adopting. +Does it elevate those who follow it? Are they broad, liberal, +intelligent men? Or have they become mere appendages of their +profession, living in a rut with no standing in the community, and of +no use to it? Don't think you will be the great exception, and can +enter a questionable vocation without becoming a creature of it. In +spite of all your determination and will power to the contrary, your +occupation, from the very law of association and habit, will seize you +as in a vise, will mold you, shape you, fashion you, and stamp its +inevitable impress upon you. How frequently do we see bright, +open-hearted, generous young men come out of college with high hopes +and lofty aims, enter a doubtful vocation, and in a few years return to +college commencement so changed that they are scarcely recognized. The +once broad, noble features have become contracted and narrowed. The +man has become grasping, avaricious, stingy, mean, hard. Is it +possible, we ask, that a few years could so change a magnanimous and +generous youth? + +Go to the bottom if you would get to the top. Be master of your +calling in all its details. Nothing is small which concerns your +business. + +Thousands of men who have been failures in life have done drudgery +enough in half a dozen different occupations to have enabled them to +reach great success, if their efforts had all been expended in one +direction. That mechanic is a failure who starts out to build an +engine, but does not _quite_ accomplish it, and shifts into some other +occupation where perhaps he will almost succeed, but stops just short +of the point of proficiency in his acquisition and so fails again. The +world is full of people who are "almost a success." They stop just +this side of success. Their courage oozes out just before they become +expert. How many of us have acquisitions which remain permanently +unavailable because not carried quite to the point of skill? How many +people "almost know a language or two," which they can neither write +nor speak; a science or two whose elements they have not quite +acquired; an art or two partially mastered, but which they can not +practice with satisfaction or profit! The habit of desultoriness, +which has been acquired by allowing yourself to abandon a half-finished +work, more than balances any little skill gained in one vocation which +might possibly be of use later. + +Beware of that frequently fatal gift, versatility. Many a person +misses being a great man by splitting into two middling ones. +Universality is the _ignis fatuus_ which has deluded to ruin many a +promising mind. In attempting to gain a knowledge of half a hundred +subjects it has mastered none. "The jack-of-all-trades," says one of +the foremost manufacturers of this country, "had a chance in my +generation. In this he has none." + +"The measure of a man's learning will be the amount of his voluntary +ignorance," said Thoreau. If we go into a factory where the mariner's +compass is made we can see the needles before they are magnetized, they +will point in any direction. But when they have been applied to the +magnet and received its peculiar power, from that moment they point to +the north, and are true to the pole ever after. So man never points +steadily in any direction until he has been polarized by a great master +purpose. + +Give your life, your energy, your enthusiasm, all to the highest work +of which you are capable. Canon Farrar said, "There is only one real +failure in life possible, and that is, not to be true to the best one +knows." + + "'What must I do to be forever known?' Thy duty ever." + + Who does the best his circumstance allows, + Does well, acts nobly, angels could do no more. + YOUNG. + + +"Whoever can make two ears of corn, two blades of grass to grow upon a +spot of ground where only one grew before," says Swift, "would deserve +better of mankind and do more essential service to his country than the +whole race of politicians put together." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CONCENTRATED ENERGY + +This one thing I do.--ST. PAUL. + +The one prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is dissipation; +and it makes no difference whether our dissipations are coarse or fine. +. . . Everything is good which takes away one plaything and delusion +more, and sends us home to add one stroke of faithful work.--EMERSON. + + The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one, + May hope to achieve it before life be done; + But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes, + Only reaps from the hopes which around him he sows, + A harvest of barren regrets. + OWEN MEREDITH. + +The longer I live, the more deeply am I convinced that that which makes +the difference between one man and another--between the weak and +powerful, the great and insignificant, is energy--invincible +determination--a purpose once formed, and then death or +victory.--FOWELL BUXTON. + + +"There was not enough room for us all in Frankfort," said Nathan Mayer +Rothschild, in speaking of himself and his four brothers. "I dealt in +English goods. One great trader came there, who had the market to +himself: he was quite the great man, and did us a favor if he sold us +goods. Somehow I offended him, and he refused to show me his patterns. +This was on a Tuesday. I said to my father, 'I will go to England.' +On Thursday I started. The nearer I got to England, the cheaper goods +were. As soon as I got to Manchester, I laid out all my money, things +were so cheap, and I made a good profit." + +"I hope," said a listener, "that your children are not too fond of +money and business to the exclusion of more important things. I am +sure you would not wish that." + +"I am sure I would wish that," said Rothschild; "I wish them to give +mind, and soul, and heart, and body, and everything to business; that +is the way to be happy." "Stick to one business, young man," he added, +addressing a young brewer; "stick to your brewery, and you may be the +great brewer of London. But be a brewer, and a banker, and a merchant, +and a manufacturer, and you will soon be in the Gazette." + +Not many things indifferently, but one thing supremely, is the demand +of the hour. He who scatters his efforts in this intense, concentrated +age, cannot hope to succeed. + +"Goods removed, messages taken, carpets beaten, and poetry composed on +any subject," was the sign of a man in London who was not very +successful at any of these lines of work, and reminds one of Monsieur +Kenard, of Paris, "a public scribe, who digests accounts, explains the +language of flowers, and sells fried potatoes." + +The great difference between those who succeed and those who fail does +not consist in the amount of work done by each, but in the amount of +intelligent work. Many of those who fail most ignominiously do enough +to achieve grand success; but they labor at haphazard, building up with +one hand only to tear down with the other. They do not grasp +circumstances and change them into opportunities. They have no faculty +of turning honest defeats into telling victories. With ability enough, +and time in abundance,--the warp and woof of success,--they are forever +throwing back and forth an empty shuttle, and the real web of life is +never woven. + +If you ask one of them to state his aim and purpose in life, he will +say: "I hardly know yet for what I am best adapted, but I am a thorough +believer in genuine hard work, and I am determined to dig early and +late all my life, and I know I shall come across something--either +gold, silver, or at least iron." I say most emphatically, no. Would +an intelligent man dig up a whole continent to find its veins of silver +and gold? The man who is forever looking about to see what he can find +never finds anything. If we look for nothing in particular, we find +just that and no more. We find what we seek with all our heart. The +bee is not the only insect that visits the flower, but it is the only +one that carries honey away. It matters not how rich the materials we +have gleaned from the years of our study and toil in youth, if we go +out into life with no well-defined idea of our future work, there is no +happy conjunction of circumstances that will arrange them into an +imposing structure, and give it magnificent proportions. + +"What a immense power over the life," says Elizabeth Stuart Phelps +Ward, "is the power of possessing distinct aims. The voice, the dress, +the look, the very motions of a person, define and alter when he or she +begins to live for a reason. I fancy that I can select, in a crowded +street, the busy, blessed women who support themselves. They carry +themselves with an air of conscious self-respect and self-content, +which a shabby alpaca cannot hide, nor a bonnet of silk enhance, nor +even sickness nor exhaustion quite drag out." + +It is said that the wind never blows fair for that sailor who knows not +to what port he is bound. + +"The weakest living creature," says Carlyle, "by concentrating his +powers on a single object, can accomplish something; whereas the +strongest, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish +anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through +the hardest rock. The hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar +and leaves no trace behind." + +"When I was young I used to think it was thunder that killed men," said +a shrewd preacher; "but as I grew older, I found it was lightning. So +I resolved to thunder less, and lighten more." + +The man who knows one thing, and can do it better than anybody else, +even if it only be the art of raising turnips, receives the crown he +merits. If he raises the best turnips by reason of concentrating all +his energy to that end, he is a benefactor to the race, and is +recognized as such. + +If a salamander be cut in two, the front part will run forward and the +other backward. Such is the progress of him who divides his purpose. +Success is jealous of scattered energies. + +No one can pursue a worthy object steadily and persistently with all +the powers of his mind, and yet make his life a failure. You can't +throw a tallow candle through the side of a tent, but you can shoot it +through an oak board. Melt a charge of shot into a bullet, and it can +be fired through the bodies of four men. Focus the rays of the sun in +winter, and you can kindle a fire with ease. + +The giants of the race have been men of concentration, who have struck +sledgehammer blows in one place until they have accomplished their +purpose. The successful men of to-day are men of one overmastering +idea, one unwavering aim, men of single and intense purpose. +"Scatteration" is the curse of American business life. Too many are +like Douglas Jerrold's friend, who could converse in twenty-four +languages, but had no ideas to express in any one of them. + +"The only valuable kind of study," said Sydney Smith, "is to read so +heartily that dinner-time comes two hours before you expected it; to +sit with your Livy before you and hear the geese cackling that saved +the Capitol, and to see with your own eyes the Carthaginian sutlers +gathering up the rings of the Roman knights after the battle of Cannae, +and heaping them into bushels, and to be so intimately present at the +actions you are reading of, that when anybody knocks at the door it +will take you two or three seconds to determine whether you are in your +own study or on the plains of Lombardy, looking at Hannibal's +weather-beaten face and admiring the splendor of his single eye." + +"The one serviceable, safe, certain, remunerative, attainable quality +in every study and pursuit is the quality of attention," said Charles +Dickens. "My own invention, or imagination, such as it is, I can most +truthfully assure you, would never have served me as it has, but for +the habit of commonplace, humble, patient, daily, toiling, drudging +attention." When asked on another occasion the secret of his success, +he said: "I never put one hand to anything on which I could throw my +whole self." "Be a whole man at everything," wrote Joseph Gurney to +his son, "a whole man at study, in work, and in play." + +_Don't dally with your purpose_. + +"I go at what I am about," said Charles Kingsley, "as if there was +nothing else in the world for the time being. That's the secret of all +hard-working men; but most of them can't carry it into their +amusements." + +Many a man fails to become a great man by splitting into several small +ones, choosing to be a tolerable Jack-of-all-trades rather than to be +an unrivaled specialist. + +"Many persons seeing me so much engaged in active life," said Edward +Bulwer Lytton, "and as much about the world as if I had never been a +student, have said to me, 'When do you get time to write all your +books? How on earth do you contrive to do so much work?' I shall +surprise you by the answer I made. The answer is this--'I contrive to +do so much by never doing too much at a time. A man to get through +work well must not overwork himself; or, if he do too much to-day, the +reaction of fatigue will come, and he will be obliged to do too little +to-morrow. Now, since I began really and earnestly to study, which was +not till I had left college and was actually in the world, I may +perhaps say that I have gone through as large a course of general +reading as most men of my time. I have traveled much and I have seen +much; I have mixed much in politics, and in the various business of +life; and in addition to all this, I have published somewhere about +sixty volumes, some upon subjects requiring much special research. And +what time do you think, as a general rule, I have devoted to study, to +reading and writing? Not more than three hours a day; and, when +Parliament is sitting, not always that. But then, during these three +hours, I have given my whole attention to what I was about.'" + +S. T. Coleridge possessed marvelous powers of mind, but he had no +definite purpose; he lived in an atmosphere of mental dissipation which +consumed his energy, exhausted his stamina, and his life was in many +respects a miserable failure. He lived in dreams and died in reverie. +He was continually forming plans and resolutions, but to the day of his +death they remained simply resolutions and plans. + +He was always just going to do something, but never did it. "Coleridge +is dead," wrote Charles Lamb to a friend, "and is said to have left +behind him above forty thousand treatises on metaphysics and +divinity--not one of them complete!" + +Every great man has become great, every successful man has succeeded, +in proportion as he has confined his powers to one particular channel. + +Hogarth would rivet his attention upon a face and study it until it was +photographed upon his memory, when he could reproduce it at will. He +studied and examined each object as eagerly as though he would never +have a chance to see it again, and this habit of close observation +enabled him to develop his work with marvelous detail. The very modes +of thought of the time in which he lived were reflected from his works. +He was not a man of great education or culture, except in his power of +observation. + +With an immense procession passing up Broadway, the streets lined with +people, and bands playing lustily, Horace Greeley would sit upon the +steps of the Astor House, use the top of his hat for a desk, and write +an editorial for the "New York Tribune" which would be quoted far and +wide. + +Offended by a pungent article, a gentleman called at the "Tribune" +office and inquired for the editor. He was shown into a little +seven-by-nine sanctum, where Greeley, with his head close down to his +paper, sat scribbling away at a two-forty rate. The angry man began by +asking if this was Mr. Greeley. "Yes, sir; what do you want?" said the +editor quickly, without once looking up from his paper. The irate +visitor then began using his tongue, with no regard for the rules of +propriety, good breeding, or reason. Meantime Mr. Greeley continued to +write. Page after page was dashed off in the most impetuous style, +with no change of features and without his paying the slightest +attention to the visitor. Finally, after about twenty minutes of the +most impassioned abuse ever poured out in an editor's office, the angry +man became disgusted, and abruptly turned to walk out of the room. +Then, for the first time, Mr. Greeley quickly looked up, rose from his +chair, and slapping the gentleman familiarly on his shoulder, in a +pleasant tone of voice said: "Don't go, friend; sit down, sit down, and +free your mind; it will do you good,--you will feel better for it. +Besides, it helps me to think what I am to write about. Don't go." + +One unwavering aim has ever characterized successful men. + +"Daniel Webster," said Sydney Smith, "struck me much like a +steam-engine in trousers." + +As Adams suggests, Lord Brougham, like Canning, had too many talents; +and, though as a lawyer he gained the most splendid prize of his +profession, the Lord Chancellorship of England, and merited the +applause of scientific men for his investigations in science, yet his +life on the whole was a failure. He was "everything by turns and +nothing long." With all his magnificent abilities he left no permanent +mark on history or literature, and actually outlived his own fame. + +Miss Martineau says, "Lord Brougham was at his chateau at Cannes when +the daguerreotype process first came into vogue. An artist undertook +to take a view of the chateau with a group of guests on the balcony. +His Lordship was, asked to keep perfectly still for five seconds, and +he promised that he would not stir, but alas,--he moved. The +consequence was that there was a blur where Lord Brougham should have +been. + +"There is something," continued Miss Martineau, "very typical in this. +In the picture of our century, as taken from the life by history, this +very man should have been the central figure. But, owing to his want +of steadfastness, there will be forever a blur where Lord Brougham +should have been. How many lives are blurs for want of concentration +and steadfastness of purpose!" + +Fowell Buxton attributed his success to ordinary means and +extraordinary application, and being a whole man to one thing at a +time. It is ever the unwavering pursuit of a single aim that wins. +"_Non multa, sed multum_"--not many things, but much, was Coke's motto. + +It is the almost invisible point of a needle, the keen, slender edge of +a razor or an ax, that opens the way for the bulk that follows. +Without point or edge the bulk would be useless. It is the man of one +line of work, the sharp-edged man, who cuts his way through obstacles +and achieves brilliant success. While we should shun that narrow +devotion to one idea which prevents the harmonious development of our +powers, we should avoid on the other hand the extreme versatility of +one of whom W. M. Praed says:-- + + His talk is like a stream which runs + With rapid change from rocks to roses, + It slips from politics to puns, + It glides from Mahomet to Moses: + Beginning with the laws that keep + The planets in their radiant courses, + And ending with some precept deep + For skinning eels or shoeing horses. + + +If you can get a child learning to walk to fix his eyes on any object, +he will generally navigate to that point without capsizing, but +distract his attention and down he goes. + +The young man seeking a position to-day is not asked what college he +came from or who his ancestors were. "_What can you do?_" is the great +question. It is special training that is wanted. Most of the men at +the head of great firms and great enterprises have been promoted step +by step from the bottom. + +"I know that he can toil terribly," said Cecil of Walter Raleigh, in +explanation of the latter's success. + +As a rule, what the heart longs for the head and the hands may attain. +The currents of knowledge, of wealth, of success, are as certain and +fixed as the tides of the sea. In all great successes we can trace the +power of concentration, riveting every faculty upon one unwavering aim; +perseverance in the pursuit of an undertaking in spite of every +difficulty; and courage which enables one to bear up under all trials, +disappointments, and temptations. + +Chemists tell us that there is power enough in a single acre of grass +to drive all the mills and steam-cars in the world, could we but +concentrate it upon the piston-rod of a steam-engine. But it is at +rest, and so, in the light of science, it is comparatively valueless. + +Dr. Mathews says that the man who scatters himself upon many objects +soon loses his energy, and with his energy his enthusiasm. + +"Never study on speculation," says Waters; "all such study is vain. +Form a plan; have an object; then work for it, learn all you can about +it, and you will be sure to succeed. What I mean by studying on +speculation is that aimless learning of things because they may be +useful some day; which is like the conduct of the woman who bought at +auction a brass door-plate with the name of Thompson on it, thinking it +might be useful some day!" + +Definiteness of aim is characteristic of all true art. He is not the +greatest painter who crowds the greatest number of ideas upon a single +canvas, giving all the figures equal prominence. He is the genuine +artist who makes the greatest variety express the greatest unity, who +develops the leading idea in the central figure, and makes all the +subordinate figures, lights, and shades point to that center and find +expression there. So in every well-balanced life, no matter how +versatile in endowments or how broad in culture, there is one grand +central purpose, in which all the subordinate powers of the soul are +brought to a focus, and where they will find fit expression. In nature +we see no waste of energy, nothing left to chance. Since the shuttle +of creation shot for the first time through chaos, design has marked +the course of every golden thread. Every leaf, every flower, every +crystal, every atom even, has a purpose stamped upon it which +unmistakably points to the crowning summit of all creation--man. + +Young men are often told to aim high, but we must aim at what we would +hit. A general purpose is not enough. The arrow shot from the bow +does not wander around to see what it can hit on its way, but flies +straight to the mark. The magnetic needle does not point to all the +lights in the heavens to see which it likes best. They all attract it. +The sun dazzles, the meteor beckons, the stars twinkle to it, and try +to win its affections; but the needle, true to its instinct, and with a +finger that never errs in sunshine or in storm, points steadily to the +North Star; for, while all the other stars must course with untiring +tread around their great centers through all the ages, the North Star, +alone, distant beyond human comprehension, moves with stately sweep on +its circuit of more than 25,000 years, for all practical purposes of +man stationary, not only for a day, but for a century. So all along +the path of life other luminaries will beckon to lead us from our +cherished aim--from the course of truth and duty; but let no moons +which shine with borrowed light, no meteors which dazzle, but never +guide, turn the needle of our purpose from the North Star of its hope. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TRIUMPHS OF ENTHUSIASM. + +The labor we delight in physics pain.--SHAKESPEARE. + +The only conclusive evidence of a man's sincerity is that he gives +himself for a principle. Words, money, all things else are +comparatively easy to give away; but when a man makes a gift of his +daily life and practise, it is plain that the truth, whatever it may +be, has taken possession of him.--LOWELL. + +Let us beware of losing our enthusiasm. Let us ever glory in +something, and strive to retain our admiration for all that would +ennoble, and our interest in all that would enrich and beautify our +life.--PHILLIPS BROOKS. + + +In the Galerie des Beaux Arts in Paris is a beautiful statue conceived +by a sculptor who was so poor that he lived and worked in a small +garret. When his clay model was nearly done, a heavy frost fell upon +the city. He knew that if the water in the interstices of the clay +should freeze, the beautiful lines would be distorted. So he wrapped +his bedclothes around the clay image. In the morning he was found +dead, but his idea was saved, and other hands gave it enduring form in +marble. + +"I do not know how it is with others when speaking on an important +question," said Henry Clay; "but on such occasions I seem to be +unconscious of the external world. Wholly engrossed by the subject +before me, I lose all sense of personal identity, of time, or of +surrounding objects." + +"A bank never becomes very successful," says a noted financier, "until +it gets a president who takes it to bed with him." Enthusiasm gives +the otherwise dry and uninteresting subject or occupation a new meaning. + +As the young lover has finer sense and more acute vision and sees in +the object of his affections a hundred virtues and charms invisible to +all other eyes, so a man permeated with enthusiasm has his power of +perception heightened and his vision magnified until he sees beauty and +charms others cannot discern which compensate for drudgery, privations, +hardships, and even persecution. Dickens says he was haunted, +possessed, spirit-driven by the plots and characters in his stories +which would not let him sleep or rest until he had committed them to +paper. On one sketch he shut himself up for a month, and when he came +out he looked as haggard as a murderer. His characters haunted him day +and night. + +"Herr Capellmeister, I should like to compose something; how shall I +begin?" asked a youth of twelve who had played with great skill on the +piano. "Pooh, pooh," replied Mozart, "you must wait." "But you began +when you were younger than I am," said the boy. "Yes, so I did," said +the great composer, "but I never asked anything about it. When one has +the spirit of a composer, he writes because he can't help it." + +Gladstone said that what is really desired is to light up the spirit +that is within a boy. In some sense and in some degree, in some +effectual degree, there is in every boy the material of good work in +the world; in every boy, not only in those who are brilliant, not only +in those who are quick, but in those who are stolid, and even in those +who are dull, or who seem to be dull. If they have only the good will, +the dulness will day by day clear away and vanish completely under the +influence of the good will. + +Gerster, an unknown Hungarian, made fame and fortune sure the first +night she appeared in opera. Her enthusiasm almost hypnotized her +auditors. In less than a week she had become popular and independent. +Her soul was smitten with a passion for growth, and all the powers of +heart and mind she possessed were enthusiastically devoted to +self-improvement. + +All great works of art have been produced when the artist was +intoxicated with the passion for beauty and form which would not let +him rest until his thought was expressed in marble or on canvas. + +"Well, I've worked hard enough for it," said Malibran when a critic +expressed his admiration of her D in alt, reached by running up three +octaves from low D; "I've been chasing it for a month. I pursued it +everywhere,--when I was dressing, when I was doing my hair; and at last +I found it on the toe of a shoe that I was putting on." + +"Every great and commanding moment in the annals of the world," says +Emerson, "is the triumph of some enthusiasm. The victories of the +Arabs after Mahomet, who, in a few years, from a small and mean +beginning, established a larger empire than that of Rome, is an +example. They did they knew not what. The naked Derar, horsed on an +idea, was found an overmatch for a troop of cavalry. The women fought +like men and conquered the Roman men. They were miserably equipped, +miserably fed, but they were temperance troops. There was neither +brandy nor flesh needed to feed them. They conquered Asia and Africa +and Spain on barley. The Caliph Omar's walking-stick struck more +terror into those who saw it than another man's sword." + +It was enthusiasm that enabled Napoleon to make a campaign in two weeks +that would have taken another a year to accomplish. "These Frenchmen +are not men, they fly," said the Austrians in consternation. In +fifteen days Napoleon, in his first Italian campaign, had gained six +victories, taken twenty-one standards, fifty-five pieces of cannon, had +captured fifteen thousand prisoners, and had conquered Piedmont. + +After this astonishing avalanche a discomfited Austrian general said: +"This young commander knows nothing whatever about the art of war. He +is a perfect ignoramus. There is no doing anything with him." But his +soldiers followed their "Little Corporal" with an enthusiasm which knew +no defeat or disaster. + +"There are important cases," says A. H. K. Boyd, "in which the +difference between half a heart and a whole heart makes just the +difference between signal defeat and a splendid victory." + +"Should I die this minute," said Nelson at an important crisis, "want +of frigates would be found written on my heart." + +The simple, innocent Maid of Orleans with her sacred sword, her +consecrated banner, and her belief in her great mission, sent a thrill +of enthusiasm through the whole French army such as neither king nor +statesmen could produce. Her zeal carried everything before it. Oh! +what a great work each one could perform in this world if he only knew +his power! But, like a bitted horse, man does not realize his strength +until he has once run away with himself. + +"Underneath is laid the builder of this church and city, Christopher +Wren, who lived more than ninety years, not for himself, but for the +public good. Reader, if you seek his monument, look around!" Turn +where you will in London, you find noble monuments of the genius of a +man who never received instruction from an architect. He built +fifty-five churches in the city and thirty-six halls. "I would give my +skin for the architect's design of the Louvre," said he, when in Paris +to get ideas for the restoration of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. +His rare skill is shown in the palaces of Hampton Court and Kensington, +in Temple Bar, Drury Lane Theater, the Royal Exchange, and the great +Monument. He changed Greenwich palace into a sailor's retreat, and +built churches and colleges at Oxford. He also planned for the +rebuilding of London after the great fire, but those in authority would +not adopt his splendid idea. He worked thirty-five years upon his +master-piece, St. Paul's Cathedral. Although he lived so long, and was +exceedingly healthy in later life, he was so delicate as a child that +he was a constant source of anxiety to his parents. His great +enthusiasm alone seemed to give strength to his body. + +Indifference never leads armies that conquer, never models statues that +live, nor breathes sublime music, nor harnesses the forces of nature, +nor rears impressive architecture, nor moves the soul with poetry, nor +the world with heroic philanthropies. Enthusiasm, as Charles Bell says +of the hand, wrought the statue of Memnon and hung the brazen gates of +Thebes. It fixed the mariner's trembling needle upon its axis, and +first heaved the tremendous bar of the printing-press. It opened the +tubes for Galileo, until world after world swept before his vision, and +it reefed the high topsail that rustled over Columbus in the morning +breezes of the Bahamas. It has held the sword with which freedom has +fought her battles, and poised the axe of the dauntless woodman as he +opened the paths of civilization, and turned the mystic leaves upon +which Milton and Shakespeare inscribed their burning thoughts. + +Horace Greeley said that the best product of labor is the high-minded +workman with an enthusiasm for his work. + +"The best method is obtained by earnestness," said Salvini. "If you +can impress people with the conviction that you feel what you say, they +will pardon many shortcomings. And above all, study, study, study! +All the genius in the world will not help you along with any art, +unless you become a hard student. It has taken me years to master a +single part." + +There is a "go," a zeal, a furore, almost a fanaticism for one's ideals +or calling, that is peculiar to our American temperament and life. You +do not find this in tropical countries. It did not exist fifty years +ago. It could not be found then even on the London Exchange. But the +influence of the United States and of Australia, where, if a person is +to succeed, he must be on the jump with all the ardor of his being, has +finally extended until what used to be the peculiar strength of a few +great minds has now become characteristic of the leading nations. +Enthusiasm is the being awake; it is the tingling of every fiber of +one's being to do the work that one's heart desires. Enthusiasm made +Victor Hugo lock up his clothes while writing "Notre Dame," that he +might not leave the work until it was finished. The great actor +Garrick well illustrated it when asked by an unsuccessful preacher the +secret of his power over audiences: "You speak of eternal verities and +what you know to be true as if you hardly believed what you were saying +yourself, whereas I utter what I know to be unreal and untrue as if I +did believe it in my very soul." + +"When he comes into a room, every man feels as if he had taken a tonic +and had a new lease of life," said a man when asked the reason for his +selection, after he, with two companions, had written upon a slip of +paper the name of the most agreeable companion he had ever met. "He is +an eager, vivid fellow, full of joy, bubbling over with spirits. His +sympathies are quick as an electric flash." + +"He throws himself into the occasion, whatever it may be, with his +whole heart," said the second, in praise of the man of his choice. + +"He makes the best of everything," said the third, speaking of his own +most cherished acquaintance. + +The three were traveling correspondents of great English journals, who +had visited every quarter of the world and talked with all kinds of +men. The papers were examined and all were found to contain the name +of a prominent lawyer in Melbourne, Australia. + +"If it were not for respect for human opinions," said Madame de Stael +to M. Mole, "I would not open my window to see the Bay of Naples for +the first time, while I would go five hundred leagues to talk with a +man of genius whom I had not seen." + +Enthusiasm is that secret and harmonious spirit which hovers over the +production of genius, throwing the reader of a book, or the spectator +of a statue, into the very ideal presence whence these works have +originated. + +"One moonlight evening in winter," writes the biographer of Beethoven, +"we were walking through a narrow street of Bonn. 'Hush!' exclaimed +the great composer, suddenly pausing before a little, mean dwelling, +'what sound is that? It is from my Sonata in F. Hark! how well it is +played!' + +"In the midst of the finale there was a break, and a sobbing voice +cried: 'I cannot play any more. It is so beautiful; it is utterly +beyond my power to do it justice. Oh, what would I not give to go to +the concert at Cologne!' 'Ah! my sister,' said a second voice; 'why +create regrets when there is no remedy? We can scarcely pay our rent.' +'You are right,' said the first speaker, 'and yet I wish for once in my +life to hear some really good music. But it is of no use.' + +"'Let us go in,' said Beethoven. 'Go in!' I remonstrated; 'what should +we go in for?' 'I will play to her,' replied my companion in an +excited tone; 'here is feeling,--genius,--understanding! I will play +to her, and she will understand it. Pardon me,' he continued, as he +opened the door and saw a young man sitting by a table, mending shoes, +and a young girl leaning sorrowfully upon an old-fashioned piano; 'I +heard music and was tempted to enter. I am a musician. I--I also +overheard something of what you said. You wish to hear--that is, you +would like--that is--shall I play for you?' + +"'Thank you,' said the shoemaker, 'but our piano is so wretched, and we +have no music.' + +"'No music!' exclaimed the composer; 'how, then, does the young +lady--I--I entreat your pardon,' he added, stammering as he saw that +the girl was blind; 'I had not perceived before. Then you play by ear? +But where do you hear the music, since you frequent no concerts?' + +"'We lived at Bruhl for two years; and, while there, I used to hear a +lady practicing near us. During the summer evenings her windows were +generally open, and I walked to and fro outside to listen to her.' + +"Beethoven seated himself at the piano. Never, during all the years I +knew him, did I hear him play better than to that blind girl and her +brother. Even the old instrument seemed inspired. The young man and +woman sat as if entranced by the magical, sweet sounds that flowed out +upon the air in rhythmical swell and cadence, until, suddenly, the +flame of the single candle wavered, sank, flickered, and went out. The +shutters were thrown open, admitting a flood of brilliant moonlight, +but the player paused, as if lost in thought. + +"'Wonderful man!' said the shoemaker in a low tone; 'who and what are +you?' + +"'Listen!' replied the master, and he played the opening bars of the +Sonata in F. 'Then you are Beethoven!' burst from the young people in +delighted recognition. 'Oh, play to us once more,' they added, as he +rose to go,--'only once more!' + +"'I will improvise a sonata to the moonlight,' said he, gazing +thoughtfully upon the liquid stars shining so softly out of the depths +of a cloudless winter sky. Then he played a sad and infinitely lovely +movement, which crept gently over the instrument, like the calm flow of +moonlight over the earth. This was followed by a wild, elfin passage +in triple time--a sort of grotesque interlude, like the dance of +fairies upon the lawn. Then came a swift agitated ending--a +breathless, hurrying, trembling movement, descriptive of flight, and +uncertainty, and vague impulsive terror, which carried us away on its +rustling wings, and left us all in emotion and wonder. 'Farewell to +you,' he said, as he rose and turned toward the door. 'You will come +again?' asked the host and hostess in a breath. 'Yes, yes,' said +Beethoven hurriedly, 'I will come again, and give the young lady some +lessons. Farewell!' Then to me he added: 'Let us make haste back, +that I may write out that sonata while I can yet remember it.' We did +return in haste, and not until long past the dawn of day did he rise +from his table with the full score of the Moonlight Sonata in his hand." + +Michael Angelo studied anatomy twelve years, nearly ruining his health, +but this course determined his style, his practice, and his glory. He +drew his figures in skeleton, added muscles, fat, and skin +successively, and then draped them. He made every tool he used in +sculpture, such as files, chisels, and pincers. In painting he +prepared all his own colors, and would not let servants or students +even mix them. + +Raphael's enthusiasm inspired every artist in Italy, and his modest, +charming manners disarmed envy and jealousy. He has been called the +only distinguished man who lived and died without an enemy or +detractor. Again and again poor Bunyan might have had his liberty; but +not the separation from his poor blind daughter Mary, which he said was +like pulling the flesh from his bones; not the need of a poor family +dependent upon him; not the love of liberty nor the spur of ambition +could induce him to forego his plain preaching in public places. He +had so forgotten his early education that his wife had to teach him +again to read and write. It was the enthusiasm of conviction which +enabled this poor, ignorant, despised Bedford tinker to write his +immortal allegory with such fascination that a whole world has read it. + +Only thoughts that breathe in words that burn can kindle the spark +slumbering in the heart of another. + +Rare consecration to a great enterprise is found in the work of the +late Francis Parkman. While a student at Harvard he determined to +write the history of the French and English in North America. With a +steadiness and devotion seldom equaled he gave his life, his fortune, +his all to this one great object. Although he had, while among the +Dakota Indians, collecting material for his history, ruined his health +and could not use his eyes more than five minutes at a time for fifty +years, he did not swerve a hair's breadth from the high purpose formed +in his youth, until he gave to the world the best history upon this +subject ever written. + +After Lincoln had walked six miles to borrow a grammar, he returned +home and burned one shaving after another while he studied the precious +prize. + +Gilbert Becket, an English Crusader, was taken prisoner and became a +slave in the palace of a Saracen prince, where he not only gained the +confidence of his master, but also the love of his master's fair +daughter. By and by he escaped and returned to England, but the +devoted girl determined to follow him. She knew but two words of the +English language--_London_ and _Gilbert_; but by repeating the first +she obtained passage in a vessel to the great metropolis, and then she +went from street to street pronouncing the other--"Gilbert." At last +she came to the street on which Gilbert lived in prosperity. The +unusual crowd drew the family to the window, when Gilbert himself saw +and recognized her, and took to his arms and home his far-come princess +with her solitary fond word. + +The most irresistible charm of youth is its bubbling enthusiasm. Youth +sees no darkness ahead,--no defile that has no outlet,--it forgets that +there is such a thing as failure in the world, and believes that +mankind has been waiting all these centuries for him to come and be the +liberator of truth and energy and beauty. + +Of what use was it to forbid the boy Handel to touch a musical +instrument, or to forbid him going to school, lest he learn the gamut? +He stole midnight interviews with a dumb spinet in a secret attic. The +boy Bach copied whole books of studies by moonlight, for want of a +candle churlishly denied. Nor was he disheartened when these copies +were taken from him. The painter West began in a garret, and plundered +the family cat for bristles to make his brushes. + +It is the enthusiasm of youth which cuts the Gordian knot age cannot +untie. "People smile at the enthusiasm of youth," says Charles +Kingsley; "that enthusiasm which they themselves secretly look back to +with a sigh, perhaps unconscious that it is partly their own fault that +they ever lost it." + +How much the world owes to the enthusiasm of Dante! + +Tennyson wrote his first volume at eighteen, and at nineteen gained a +medal at Cambridge. + +"The most beautiful works of all art were done in youth," says Ruskin. +"Almost everything that is great has been done by youth," wrote +Disraeli. "The world's interests are, under God, in the hands of the +young," says Dr. Trumbull. + +It was the youth Hercules that performed the Twelve Labors. +Enthusiastic youth faces the sun, it shadows all behind it. The heart +rules youth; the head, manhood. Alexander was a mere youth when he +rolled back the Asiatic hordes that threatened to overwhelm European +civilization almost at its birth. Napoleon had conquered Italy at +twenty-five. Byron and Raphael died at thirty-seven, an age which has +been fatal to many a genius, and Poe lived but a few months longer. +Romulus founded Rome at twenty. Pitt and Bolingbroke were ministers +almost before they were men. Gladstone was in Parliament in early +manhood. Newton made some of his greatest discoveries before he was +twenty-five. Keats died at twenty-five, Shelley at twenty-nine. +Luther was a triumphant reformer at twenty-five. It is said that no +English poet ever equaled Chatterton at twenty-one. Whitefield and +Wesley began their great revival as students at Oxford, and the former +had made his influence felt throughout England before he was +twenty-four. Victor Hugo wrote a tragedy at fifteen, and had taken +three prizes at the Academy and gained the title of Master before he +was twenty. + +Many of the world's greatest geniuses never saw forty years. Never +before has the young man, who is driven by his enthusiasm, had such an +opportunity as he has to-day. It is the age of young men and young +women. Their ardor is their crown, before which the languid and the +passive bow. + +But if enthusiasm is irresistible in youth, how much more so is it when +carried into old age! Gladstone at eighty had ten times the weight and +power that any man of twenty-five would have with the same ideals. The +glory of age is only the glory of its enthusiasm, and the respect paid +to white hairs is reverence to a heart fervent, in spite of the torpid +influence of an enfeebled body. The "Odyssey" was the creation of a +blind old man, but that old man was Homer. + +The contagious zeal of an old man, Peter the Hermit, rolled the +chivalry of Europe upon the ranks of Islam. + +Dandolo, the Doge of Venice, won battles at ninety-four, and refused a +crown at ninety-six. Wellington planned and superintended +fortifications at eighty. Bacon and Humboldt were enthusiastic +students to the last gasp. Wise old Montaigne was shrewd in his +gray-beard wisdom and loving life, even in the midst of his fits of +gout and colic. + +Dr. Johnson's best work, "The Lives of the Poets," was written when he +was seventy-eight. Defoe was fifty-eight when he published "Robinson +Crusoe." Newton wrote new briefs to his "Principia" at eighty-three. +Plato died writing, at eighty-one. Tom Scott began the study of Hebrew +at eighty-six. Galileo was nearly seventy when he wrote on the laws of +motion. James Watt learned German at eighty-five. Mrs. Somerville +finished her "Molecular and Microscopic Science" at eighty-nine. +Humboldt completed his "Cosmos" at ninety, a month before his death. +Burke was thirty-five before he obtained a seat in Parliament, yet he +made the world feel his character. Unknown at forty, Grant was one of +the most famous generals in history at forty-two. Eli Whitney was +twenty-three when he decided to prepare for college, and thirty when he +graduated from Yale; yet his cotton-gin opened a great industrial +future for the Southern States. What a power was Bismarck at eighty! +Lord Palmerston was an "Old Boy" to the last. He became Prime Minister +of England the second time at seventy-five, and died Prime Minister at +eighty-one. Galileo at seventy-seven, blind and feeble, was working +every day, adapting the principle of the pendulum to clocks. George +Stephenson did not learn to read and write until he had reached +manhood. Some of Longfellow's, Whittier's, and Tennyson's best work +was done after they were seventy. + +At sixty-three Dryden began the translation of the "Aeneid." Robert +Hall learned Italian when past sixty, that he might read Dante in the +original. Noah Webster studied seventeen languages after he was fifty. +Cicero said well that men are like wine: age sours the bad and improves +the good. + +With enthusiasm we may retain the youth of the spirit until the hair is +silvered, even as the Gulf Stream softens the rigors of northern Europe. + +"How ages thine heart,--towards youth? If not, doubt thy fitness for +thy work." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"ON TIME," OR THE TRIUMPH OF PROMPTNESS + +"On the great clock of time there is but one word--NOW." + +Note the sublime precision that leads the earth over a circuit of five +hundred millions of miles back to the solstice at the appointed moment +without the loss of one second,--no, not the millionth part of a +second,--for ages and ages of which it traveled that imperiled +road.--EDWARD EVERETT. + +"Who cannot but see oftentimes how strange the threads of our destiny +run? Oft it is only for a moment the favorable instant is presented. +We miss it, and months and years are lost." + +By the street of by and by one arrives at the house of +never.--CERVANTES. + +"Lose this day by loitering--'t will be the same story tomorrow, and +the next more dilatory." + +Let's take the instant by the forward top.--SHAKESPEARE. + + +"Haste, post, haste! Haste for thy life!" was frequently written upon +messages in the days of Henry VIII of England, with a picture of a +courier swinging from a gibbet. Post-offices were unknown, and letters +were carried by government messengers subject to hanging if they +delayed upon the road. + +Even in the old, slow days of stage-coaches, when it took a month of +dangerous traveling to accomplish the distance we can now span in a few +hours, unnecessary delay was a crime. One of the greatest gains +civilization has made is in measuring and utilizing time. We can do as +much in an hour to-day as they could in twenty hours a hundred years +ago. + +"Delays have dangerous ends." Caesar's delay to read a message cost +him his life when he reached the senate house. Colonel Rahl, the +Hessian commander at Trenton, was playing cards when a messenger +brought a letter stating that Washington was crossing the Delaware. He +put the letter in his pocket without reading it until the game was +finished, when he rallied his men only to die just before his troops +were taken prisoners. Only a few minutes' delay, but he lost honor, +liberty, life! + +Success is the child of two very plain parents--punctuality and +accuracy. There are critical moments in every successful life when if +the mind hesitate or a nerve flinch all will be lost. + +"Immediately on receiving your proclamation," wrote Governor Andrew of +Massachusetts to President Lincoln on May 3, 1861, "we took up the war, +and have carried on our part of it, in the spirit in which we believe +the Administration and the American people intend to act, namely, as if +there were not an inch of red tape in the world." He had received a +telegram for troops from Washington on Monday, April 15; at nine +o'clock the next Sunday he said: "All the regiments demanded from +Massachusetts are already either in Washington, or in Fortress Monroe, +or on their way to the defence of the Capitol." + +"The only question which I can entertain," he said, "is what to do; and +when that question is answered, the other is, what next to do." + +"The whole period of youth," said Ruskin, "is one essentially of +formation, edification, instruction. There is not an hour of it but is +trembling with destinies--not a moment of which, once passed, the +appointed work can ever be done again, or the neglected blow struck on +the cold iron." + +Napoleon laid great stress upon that "supreme moment," that "nick of +time" which occurs in every battle, to take advantage of which means +victory, and to lose in hesitation means disaster. He said that he +beat the Austrians because they did not know the value of five minutes; +and it has been said that among the trifles that conspired to defeat +him at Waterloo, the loss of a few moments by himself and Grouchy on +the fatal morning was the most significant. Blucher was on time, and +Grouchy was late. It was enough to send Napoleon to St. Helena, and to +change the destiny of millions. + +It is a well-known truism that has almost been elevated to the dignity +of a maxim, that what may be done at any time will be done at no time. + +The African Association of London wanted to send Ledyard, the traveler, +to Africa, and asked when he would be ready to go. "To-morrow +morning," was the reply. John Jervis, afterwards Earl St. Vincent, was +asked when he could join his ship, and replied, "Directly." Colin +Campbell, appointed commander of the army in India, and asked when he +could set out, replied without hesitation, "To-morrow." + +The energy wasted in postponing until to-morrow a duty of to-day would +often do the work. How much harder and more disagreeable, too, it is +to do work which has been put off! What would have been done at the +time with pleasure or even enthusiasm, after it has been delayed for +days and weeks, becomes drudgery. Letters can never be answered so +easily as when first received. Many large firms make it a rule never +to allow a letter to lie unanswered overnight. + +Promptness takes the drudgery out of an occupation. Putting off +usually means leaving off, and going to do becomes going undone. Doing +a deed is like sowing a seed: if not done at just the right time it +will be forever out of season. The summer of eternity will not be long +enough to bring to maturity the fruit of a delayed action. If a star +or planet were delayed one second, it might throw the whole universe +out of harmony. + +"There is no moment like the present," said Maria Edgeworth; "not only +so, there is no moment at all, no instant force and energy, but in the +present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are +fresh upon him can have no hopes from them afterward. They will be +dissipated, lost in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the +slough of indolence." + +Cobbett said he owed his success to being "always ready" more than to +all his natural abilities combined. + +"To this quality I owed my extraordinary promotion in the army," said +he. "If I had to mount guard at ten, I was ready at nine; never did +any man or anything wait one minute for me." + +"How," asked a man of Sir Walter Raleigh, "do you accomplish so much, +and in so short a time?" "When I have anything to do, I go and do it," +was the reply. The man who always acts promptly, even if he makes +occasional mistakes, will succeed when a procrastinator, even if he +have the better judgment, will fail. + +When asked how he managed to accomplish so much work, and at the same +time attend to his social duties, a French statesman replied, "I do it +simply by never postponing till to-morrow what should be done to-day." +It was said of an unsuccessful public man that he used to reverse this +process, his favorite maxim being "never to do to-day what might be +postponed till to-morrow." How many men have dawdled away their +success and allowed companions and relatives to steal it away five +minutes at a time! + +"To-morrow, didst thou say?" asked Cotton. "Go to--I will not hear of +it. To-morrow! 'tis a sharper who stakes his penury against thy +plenty--who takes thy ready cash and pays thee naught but wishes, +hopes, and promises, the currency of idiots. _To-morrow_! it is a +period nowhere to be found in all the hoary registers of time, unless +perchance in the fool's calendar. Wisdom disclaims the word, nor holds +society with those that own it. 'Tis fancy's child, and folly is its +father; wrought of such stuffs as dreams are; and baseless as the +fantastic visions of the evening." Oh, how many a wreck on the road to +success could say: "I have spent all my life in pursuit of to-morrow, +being assured that to-morrow has some vast benefit or other in store +for me." + +"But his resolutions remained unshaken," Charles Reade continues in his +story of Noah Skinner, the defaulting clerk, who had been overcome by a +sleepy languor after deciding to make restitution; "by and by, waking +up from a sort of heavy doze, he took, as it were, a last look at the +receipts, and murmured, 'My head, how heavy it feels!' But presently +he roused himself, full of his penitent resolutions, and murmured +again, brokenly, 'I'll take it to--Pembroke--Street to--morrow; +to--morrow.' The morrow found him, and so did the detectives, dead." + +"To-morrow." It is the devil's motto. All history is strewn with its +brilliant victims, the wrecks of half-finished plans and unexecuted +resolutions. It is the favorite refuge of sloth and incompetency. + +"Strike while the iron is hot," and "Make hay while the sun shines," +are golden maxims. + +Very few people recognize the hour when laziness begins to set in. +Some people it attacks after dinner; some after lunch; and some after +seven o'clock in the evening. There is in every person's life a +crucial hour in the day, which must be employed instead of wasted if +the day is to be saved. With most people the early morning hour +becomes the test of the day's success. + +A person was once extolling the skill and courage of Mayenne in Henry's +presence. "You are right," said Henry, "he is a great captain, but I +have always five hours' start of him." Henry rose at four in the +morning, and Mayenne at about ten. This made all the difference +between them. Indecision becomes a disease and procrastination is its +forerunner. There is only one known remedy for the victims of +indecision, and that is prompt decision. Otherwise the disease is +fatal to all success or achievement. He who hesitates is lost. + +A noted writer says that a bed is a bundle of paradoxes. We go to it +with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret. We make up our minds +every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning +to keep it late. + +Yet most of those who have become eminent have been early risers. +Peter the Great always rose before daylight. "I am," said he, "for +making my life as long as possible, and therefore sleep as little as +possible." Alfred the Great rose before daylight. In the hours of +early morning Columbus planned his voyage to America, and Napoleon his +greatest campaigns. Copernicus was an early riser, as were most of the +famous astronomers of ancient and modern times. Bryant rose at five, +Bancroft at dawn, and nearly all our leading authors in the early +morning. Washington, Jefferson, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were all +early risers. + +Daniel Webster used often to answer twenty to thirty letters before +breakfast. + +Walter Scott was a very punctual man. This was the secret of his +enormous achievements. He rose at five. By breakfast-time he had, as +he used to say, broken the neck of the day's work. Writing to a youth +who had obtained a situation and asked him for advice, he gave this +counsel: "Beware of stumbling over a propensity which easily besets you +from not having your time fully employed--I mean what the women call +dawdling. Do instantly whatever is to be done, and take the hours of +recreation after business, never before it." + +Not too much can be said about the value of the habit of rising early. +Eight hours is enough sleep for any man. Very frequently seven hours +is plenty. After the eighth hour in bed, if a man is able, it is his +business to get up, dress quickly, and go to work. + +"A singular mischance has happened to some of our friends," said +Hamilton. "At the instant when He ushered them into existence, God +gave them a work to do, and He also gave them a competence of time; so +much that if they began at the right moment, and wrought with +sufficient vigor, their time and their work would end together. But a +good many years ago a strange misfortune befell them. A fragment of +their allotted time was lost. They cannot tell what became of it, but +sure enough, it has dropped out of existence; for just like two +measuring-lines laid alongside, the one an inch shorter than the other, +their work and their time run parallel, but the work is always ten +minutes in advance of the time. They are not irregular. They are +never too soon. Their letters are posted the very minute after the +mail is closed. They arrive at the wharf just in time to see the +steamboat off, they come in sight of the terminus precisely as the +station gates are closing. They do not break any engagement or neglect +any duty; but they systematically go about it too late, and usually too +late by about the same fatal interval." + +Some one has said that "promptness is a contagious inspiration." +Whether it be an inspiration, or an acquirement, it is one of the +practical virtues of civilization. + +There is one thing that is almost as sacred as the marriage +relation,--that is, an appointment. A man who fails to meet his +appointment, unless he has a good reason, is practically a liar, and +the world treats him as such. + +"If a man has no regard for the time of other men," said Horace +Greeley, "why should he have for their money? What is the difference +between taking a man's hour and taking his five dollars? There are +many men to whom each hour of the business day is worth more than five +dollars." + +When President Washington dined at four, new members of Congress +invited to dine at the White House would sometimes arrive late, and be +mortified to find the President eating. "My cook," Washington would +say, "never asks if the visitors have arrived, but if the hour has +arrived." + +When his secretary excused the lateness of his attendance by saying +that his watch was too slow, Washington replied, "Then you must get a +new watch, or I another secretary." + +Franklin said to a servant who was always late, but always ready with +an excuse, "I have generally found that the man who is good at an +excuse is good for nothing else." + +Napoleon once invited his marshals to dine with him, but, as they did +not arrive at the moment appointed, he began to eat without them. They +came in just as he was rising from the table. "Gentlemen," said he, +"it is now past dinner, and we will immediately proceed to business." + +Bluecher was one of the promptest men that ever lived. He was called +"Marshal Forward." + +John Quincy Adams was never known to be behind time. The Speaker of +the House of Representatives knew when to call the House to order by +seeing Mr. Adams coming to his seat. Once a member said that it was +time to begin. "No," said another, "Mr. Adams is not in his seat." It +was found that the clock was three minutes fast, and prompt to the +minute, Mr. Adams arrived. + +Webster was never late at a recitation in school or college. In court, +in congress, in society, he was equally punctual. Amid the cares and +distractions of a singularly busy life, Horace Greeley managed to be on +time for every appointment. Many a trenchant paragraph for the +"Tribune" was written while the editor was waiting for men of leisure, +tardy at some meeting. + +Punctuality is the soul of business, as brevity is of wit. + +During the first seven years of his mercantile career, Amos Lawrence +did not permit a bill to remain unsettled over Sunday. Punctuality is +said to be the politeness of princes. Some men are always running to +catch up with their business: they are always in a hurry, and give you +the impression that they are late for a train. They lack method, and +seldom accomplish much. Every business man knows that there are +moments on which hang the destiny of years. If you arrive a few +moments late at the bank, your paper may be protested and your credit +ruined. + +One of the best things about school and college life is that the bell +which strikes the hour for rising, for recitations, or for lectures, +teaches habits of promptness. Every young man should have a watch +which is a good timekeeper; one that is _nearly_ right encourages bad +habits, and is an expensive investment at any price. + +"Oh, how I do appreciate a boy who is always on time!" says H. C. +Brown. "How quickly you learn to depend on him, and how soon you find +yourself intrusting him with weightier matters! The boy who has +acquired a reputation for punctuality has made the first contribution +to the capital that in after years makes his success a certainty." + +Promptness is the mother of confidence and gives credit. It is the +best possible proof that our own affairs are well ordered and well +conducted, and gives others confidence in our ability. The man who is +punctual, as a rule, will keep his word, and may be depended upon. + +A conductor's watch is behind time, and a terrible railway collision +occurs. A leading firm with enormous assets becomes bankrupt, simply +because an agent is tardy in transmitting available funds, as ordered. +An innocent man is hanged because the messenger bearing a reprieve +should have arrived five minutes earlier. A man is stopped five +minutes to hear a trivial story and misses a train or steamer by one +minute. + +Grant decided to enlist the moment that he learned of the fall of +Sumter. When Buckner sent him a flag of truce at Fort Donelson, asking +for the appointment of commissioners to consider terms of capitulation, +he promptly replied: "No terms except an unconditional and immediate +surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your +works." Buckner replied that circumstances compelled him "to accept +the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose." + +The man who, like Napoleon, can on the instant seize the most important +thing and sacrifice the others, is sure to win. + +Many a wasted life dates its ruin from a lost five minutes. "Too late" +can be read between the lines on the tombstone of many a man who has +failed. A few minutes often makes all the difference between victory +and defeat, success and failure. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WHAT A GOOD APPEARANCE WILL DO + +Let thy attire be comely but not costly.--LIVY. + + Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, + But not expressed in fancy; rich not gaudy; + For the apparel oft proclaims the man. + SHAKESPEARE. + +I hold that gentleman to be the best dressed whose dress no one +observes.--ANTHONY TROLLOPE. + +As a general thing an individual who is neat in his person is neat in +his morals.--H. W. SHAW. + + +There are two chief factors in good appearance; cleanliness of body and +comeliness of attire. Usually these go together, neatness of attire +indicating a sanitary care of the person, while outward slovenliness +suggests a carelessness for appearance that probably goes deeper than +the clothes covering the body. + +We express ourselves first of all in our bodies. The outer condition +of the body is accepted as the symbol of the inner. If it is unlovely, +or repulsive, through sheer neglect or indifference, we conclude that +the mind corresponds with it. As a rule, the conclusion is a just one. +High ideals and strong, clean, wholesome lives and work are +incompatible with low standards of personal cleanliness. A young man +who neglects his bath will neglect his mind; he will quickly +deteriorate in every way. A young woman who ceases to care for her +appearance in minutest detail will soon cease to please. She will fall +little by little until she degenerates into an ambitionless slattern. + +It is not to be wondered at that the Talmud places cleanliness next to +godliness. I should place it nearer still, for I believe that absolute +cleanliness _is_ godliness. Cleanliness or purity of soul and body +raises man to the highest estate. Without this he is nothing but a +brute. + +There is a very close connection between a fine, strong, clean physique +and a fine, strong, clean character. A man who allows himself to +become careless in regard to the one will, in spite of himself, fall +away in the other. + +But self-interest clamors as loudly as esthetic or moral considerations +for the fulfilment of the laws of cleanliness. Every day we see people +receiving "demerits" for failure to live up to them. I can recall +instances of capable stenographers who forfeited their positions +because they did not keep their finger nails clean. An honest, +intelligent man whom I know lost his place in a large publishing firm +because he was careless about shaving and brushing his teeth. The +other day a lady remarked that she went into a store to buy some +ribbons, but when she saw the salesgirl's hands she changed her mind +and made her purchase elsewhere. "Dainty ribbons," she said, "could +not be handled by such soiled fingers without losing some of their +freshness." Of course, it will not be long until that girl's employer +will discover that she is not advancing his business, and then,--well, +the law will work inexorably. + +The first point to be emphasized in the making of a good appearance is +the necessity of frequent bathing. A daily bath insures a clean, +wholesome condition of the skin, without which health is impossible. + +Next in importance to the bath is the proper care of the hair, the +hands, and the teeth. This requires little more than a small amount of +time and the use of soap and water. + +The hair, of course, should be combed and brushed regularly every day. +If it is naturally oily, it should be washed thoroughly every two weeks +with a good reliable scalp soap and warm water, to which a very little +ammonia may be added. If the hair is dry or lacking in oily matter, it +should not be washed oftener than once a month and the ammonia may be +omitted. Manicure sets are so cheap that they are within the reach of +almost everyone. If you can not afford to buy a whole set, you can buy +a file (you can get one as low as ten cents), and keep your nails +smooth and clean. Keeping the teeth in good condition is a very simple +matter, yet perhaps more people sin in this particular point of +cleanliness than in any other. I know young men, and young women, too, +who dress very well and seem to take considerable pride in their +personal appearance, yet neglect their teeth. They do not realize that +there could hardly be a worse blot on one's appearance than dirty or +decaying teeth, or the absence of one or two in front. Nothing can be +more offensive in man or woman than a foul breath, and no one can have +neglected teeth without reaping this consequence. We all know how +disagreeable it is to be anywhere near a person whose breath is bad. +It is positively disgusting. No employer wants a clerk, or +stenographer, or other employee about him who contaminates the +atmosphere. Nor does he, if he is at all particular, want one whose +appearance is marred by a lack of one or two front teeth. Many an +applicant has been denied the position he sought because of bad teeth. + +For those who have to make their way in the world, the best counsel on +the subject of clothes may be summed up in this short sentence, "Let +thy attire be comely, but not costly." Simplicity in dress is its +greatest charm, and in these days, when there is such an infinite +variety of tasteful but inexpensive fabrics to choose from, the +majority can afford to be well dressed. But no one need blush for a +shabby suit, if circumstances prevent his having a better one. You +will be more respected by yourself and every one else with an old coat +on your back that has been paid for than a new one that has not. It is +not the shabbiness that is unavoidable, but the slovenliness that is +avoidable, that the world frowns upon. No one, no matter how poor he +may be, will be excused for wearing a dirty coat, a crumpled collar, or +muddy shoes. If you are dressed according to your means, no matter how +poorly, you are appropriately dressed. The consciousness of making the +best appearance you possibly can, of always being scrupulously neat and +clean, and of maintaining your self-respect and integrity at all costs, +will sustain you under the most adverse circumstances, and give you a +dignity, strength, and magnetic forcefulness that will command the +respect and admiration of others. + +Herbert H. Vreeland, who rose in a short time from a section hand on +the Long Island Railroad to the presidency of all the surface railways +in New York City, should be a practical authority on this subject. In +the course of an address on how to attain success, he said:-- + +"Clothes don't make the man, but good clothes have got many a man a +good job. If you have twenty-five dollars, and want a job, it is +better to spend twenty dollars for a suit of clothes, four dollars for +shoes, and the rest for a shave, a hair-cut, and a clean collar, and +walk to the place, than go with the money in the pockets of a dingy +suit." + +[Illustration: John Wanamaker] + +Most large business houses make it a rule not to employ anyone who +looks seedy, or slovenly, or who does not make a good appearance when +he applies for a position. The man who hires all the salespeople for +one of the largest retail stores in Chicago says: + +"While the routine of application is in every case strictly adhered to, +the fact remains that the most important element in an applicant's +chance for a trial is his personality." + +It does not matter how much merit or ability an applicant for a +position may possess, he can not afford to be careless of his personal +appearance. Diamonds in the rough of infinitely greater value than the +polished glass of some of those who get positions may, occasionally, be +rejected. Applicants whose good appearance helped them to secure a +place may often be very superficial in comparison with some who were +rejected in their favor and may not have half their merit; but having +secured it, they may keep it, though not possessing half the ability of +the boy or girl who was turned away. + +That the same rule that governs employers in America holds in England, +is evidenced by the "London Draper's Record." It says:-- + +"Wherever a marked personal care is exhibited for the cleanliness of +the person and for neatness in dress, there is also almost always found +extra carefulness as regards the finish of work done. Work people +whose personal habits are slovenly produce slovenly work; those who are +careful of their own appearance are equally careful of the looks of the +work they turn out. And probably what is true of the workroom is +equally true of the region behind the counter. Is it not a fact that +the smart saleswoman is usually rather particular about her dress, is +averse to wearing dingy collars, frayed cuffs; and faded ties? The +truth of the matter seems to be that extra care as regards personal +habits and general appearance is, as a rule, indicative of a certain +alertness of mind, which shows itself antagonistic to slovenliness of +all kinds." + +No young man or woman who wishes to retain that most potent factor of +the successful life, self-respect, can afford to be negligent in the +matter of dress, for "the character is subdued to what it is clothed +in." As the consciousness of being well dressed tends to grace and +ease of manner, so shabby, ill-fitting, or soiled attire makes one feel +awkward and constrained, lacking in dignity and importance. Our +clothes unmistakably affect our feelings, and self respect, as anyone +knows who has experienced the sensation--and who has not?--that comes +from being attired in new and becoming raiment. Poor, ill-fitting, or +soiled garments are detrimental to morals and manners. "The +consciousness of clean linen," says Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, "is in and +of itself a source of moral strength, second only to that of a clean +conscience. A well-ironed collar or a fresh glove has carried many a +man through an emergency in which a wrinkle or a rip would have +defeated him." + +The importance of attending to little details--the perfection of which +really constitutes the well-dressed man or woman--is well illustrated +by this story of a young woman's failure to secure a desirable +position. One of those large-souled women of wealth, in which our +generation is rich, had established an industrial school for girls in +which they received a good English education and were trained to be +self-supporting. She needed the services of a superintendent and +teacher, and considered herself fortunate when the trustees of the +institution recommended to her a young woman whose tact, knowledge, +perfect manners, and general fitness for the position they extolled in +the highest terms. The young woman was invited by the founder of the +school to call on her at once. Apparently she possessed all the +required qualifications; and yet, without assigning any reason, Mrs. V. +absolutely refused to give her a trial. Long afterward, when +questioned by a friend as to the cause of her seemingly inexplicable +conduct in refusing to engage so competent a teacher, she replied: "It +was a trifle, but a trifle in which, as in an Egyptian hieroglyphic, +lay a volume of meaning. The young woman came to me fashionably and +expensively dressed, but with torn and soiled gloves, and half of the +buttons off her shoes. A slovenly woman is not a fit guide for any +young girl." Probably the applicant never knew why she did not obtain +the position, for she was undoubtedly well qualified to fill it in +every respect, except in this seemingly unimportant matter of attention +to the little details of dress. + +From every point of view it pays well to dress well. The knowledge +that we are becomingly clothed acts like a mental tonic. Very few men +or women are so strong and so perfectly poised as to be unaffected by +their surroundings. If you lie around half-dressed, without making +your toilet, and with your room all in disorder, taking it easy because +you do not expect or wish to see anybody, you will find yourself very +quickly taking on the mood of your attire and environment. Your mind +will slip down; it will refuse to exert itself; it will become as +slovenly, slipshod, and inactive as your body. On the other hand, if, +when you have an attack of the "blues," when you feel half sick and not +able to work, instead of lying around the house in your old wrapper or +dressing gown, you take a good bath,--a Turkish bath, if you can afford +it,--put on your best clothes, and make your toilet as carefully as if +you were going to a fashionable reception, you will feel like a new +person. Nine times out of ten, before you have finished dressing your +"blues" and your half-sick feeling will have vanished like a bad dream, +and your whole outlook on life will have changed. + +By emphasizing the importance of dress I do not mean that you should be +like Beau Brummel, the English fop, who spent four thousand dollars a +year at his tailor's alone, and who used to take hours to tie his +cravat. An undue love of dress is worse than a total disregard of it, +and they love dress too much who "go in debt" for it, who make it their +chief object in life, to the neglect of their most sacred duty to +themselves and others, or who, like Beau Brummel, devote most of their +waking hours to its study. But I do claim, in view of its effect on +ourselves and on those with whom we come in contact, that it is a duty, +as well as the truest economy, to dress as well and becomingly as our +position requires and our means will allow. + +Many young men and women make the mistake of thinking that "well +dressed" necessarily means being expensively dressed, and, with this +erroneous idea in mind, they fall into as great a pitfall as those who +think clothes are of no importance. They devote the time that should +be given to the culture of head and heart to studying their toilets, +and planning how they can buy, out of their limited salaries, this or +that expensive hat, or tie or coat, which they see exhibited in some +fashionable store. If they can not by any possibility afford the +coveted article, they buy some cheap, tawdry imitation, the effect of +which is only to make them look ridiculous. Young men of this stamp +wear cheap rings, vermilion-tinted ties, and broad checks, and almost +invariably they occupy cheap positions. Like the dandy, whom Carlyle +describes as "a clothes-wearing man,--a man whose trade, office and +existence consists in the wearing of clothes,--every faculty of whose +soul, spirit, person and purse is heroically consecrated to this one +object," they live to dress, and have no time to devote to self-culture +or to fitting themselves for higher positions. + +The overdressed young woman is merely the feminine of the overdressed +young man. The manners of both seem to have a subtle connection with +their clothes. They are loud, flashy, vulgar. Their style of dress +bespeaks a type of character even more objectionable than that of the +slovenly, untidily dressed person. The world accepts the truth +announced by Shakespeare that "the apparel oft proclaims the man"; and +the man and the woman, too, are frequently condemned by the very garb +which they think makes them so irresistible. At first sight, it may +seem hasty or superficial to judge men or women by their clothes, but +experience has proved, again and again, that they do, as a rule, +measure the sense and self-respect of the wearer; and aspirants to +success should be as careful in choosing their dress as their +companions, for the old adage: "Tell me thy company and I will tell +thee what thou art," is offset by this wise saying of some philosopher +of the commonplace: "Show me all the dresses a woman has worn in the +course of her life, and I will write you her biography." + +"How exquisitely absurd it is," says Sydney Smith, "to teach a girl +that beauty is of no value, dress of no use. Beauty is of value. Her +whole prospect and happiness in life may often depend upon a new gown +or a becoming bonnet. If she has five grains of common sense, she will +find this out. The great thing is to teach her their proper value." + +It is true that clothes do not make the man, but they have a much +larger influence on man's life than we are wont to attribute to them. +Prentice Mulford declares dress to be one of the avenues for the +spiritualization of the race. This is not an extravagant statement, +when we remember what an effect clothes have in inciting to personal +cleanliness. Let a woman, for instance, don an old soiled or worn +wrapper, and it will have the effect of making her indifferent as to +whether her hair is frowsy or in curl papers. It does not matter +whether her face or hands are clean or not, or what sort of slipshod +shoes she wears, for "anything," she argues, "is good enough to go with +this old wrapper." Her walk, her manner, the general trend of her +feelings, will in some subtle way be dominated by the old wrapper. +Suppose she changes,--puts on a dainty muslin garment instead; how +different her looks and acts! Her hair must be becomingly arranged, so +as not to be at odds with her dress. Her face and hands and finger +nails must be spotless as the muslin which surrounds them. The +down-at-heel old shoes are exchanged for suitable slippers. Her mind +runs along new channels. She has much more respect for the wearer of +the new, clean wrapper than for the wearer of the old, soiled one. +"Would you change the current of your thoughts? Change your raiment, +and you will at once feel the effect." Even so great an authority as +Buffon, the naturalist and philosopher, testifies to the influence of +dress on thought. He declared himself utterly incapable of thinking to +good purpose except in full court dress. This he always put on before +entering his study, not even omitting his sword. + +There is something about ill-fitting, unbecoming, or shabby apparel +which not only robs one of self-respect, but also of comfort and power. +Good clothes give ease of manner, and make one talk well. The +consciousness of being well dressed gives a grace and ease of manner +that even religion will not bestow, while inferiority of garb often +induces restraint. + +One can not but feel that God is a lover of appropriate dress. He has +put robes of beauty and glory upon all His works. Every flower is +dressed in richness; every field blushes beneath a mantle of beauty; +every star is veiled in brightness; every bird is clothed in the +habiliments of the most exquisite taste. And surely He is pleased when +we provide a beautiful setting for the greatest of His handiworks. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PERSONALITY AS A SUCCESS ASSET + +There is something about one's personality which eludes the +photographer, which the painter can not reproduce, which the sculptor +can not chisel. This subtle something which every one feels, but which +no one can describe, which no biographer ever put down in a book, has a +great deal to do with one's success in life. + +It is this indescribable quality, which some persons have in a +remarkable degree, which sets an audience wild at the mention of the +name of a Blaine or a Lincoln,--which makes people applaud beyond the +bounds of enthusiasm. It was this peculiar atmosphere which made Clay +the idol of his constituents. Although, perhaps, Calhoun was a greater +man, he never aroused any such enthusiasm as "the mill-boy of the +slashes." Webster and Sumner were great men, but they did not arouse a +tithe of the spontaneous enthusiasm evoked by men like Blaine and Clay. + +A historian says that, in measuring Kossuth's influence over the +masses, "we must first reckon with the orator's physical bulk, and then +carry the measuring line above his atmosphere." If we had discernment +fine enough and tests delicate enough, we could not only measure the +personal atmosphere of individuals, but could also make more accurate +estimates concerning the future possibilities of schoolmates and young +friends. We are often misled as to the position they are going to +occupy from the fact that we are apt to take account merely of their +ability, and do not reckon this personal atmosphere or magnetic power +as a part of their success-capital. Yet this individual atmosphere has +quite as much to do with one's advancement as brain-power or education. +Indeed, we constantly see men of mediocre ability but with fine +personal presence, superb manner, and magnetic qualities, being rapidly +advanced over the heads of those who are infinitely their superiors in +mental endowments. + +A good illustration of the influence of personal atmosphere is found in +the orator who carries his audience with him like a whirlwind, while he +is delivering his speech, and yet so little of this personal element +adheres to his cold words in print that those who read them are +scarcely moved at all. The influence of such speakers depends almost +wholly upon their presence,--the atmosphere that emanates from them. +They are much larger than anything they say or do. + +Certain personalities are greater than mere physical beauty and more +powerful than learning. Charm of personality is a divine gift that +sways the strongest characters, and sometimes even controls the +destinies of nations. + +We are unconsciously influenced by people who possess this magnetic +power. The moment we come into their presence we have a sense of +enlargement. They unlock within us possibilities of which we +previously had no conception. Our horizon broadens; we feel a new +power stirring through all our being; we experience a sense of relief, +as if a great weight which long had pressed upon us had been removed. + +We can converse with such people in a way that astonishes us, although +meeting them, perhaps, for the first time. We express ourselves more +clearly and eloquently than we believed we could. They draw out the +best that is in us; they introduce us, as it were, to our larger, +better selves. With their presence, impulses and longings come +thronging to our minds which never stirred us before. All at once life +takes on a higher and nobler meaning, and we are fired with a desire to +do more than we have ever before done, and to be more than we have been +in the past. + +A few minutes before, perhaps, we were sad and discouraged, when, +suddenly, the flashlight of a potent personality of this kind has +opened a rift in our lives and revealed to us hidden capabilities. +Sadness gives place to joy, despair to hope, and disheartenment to +encouragement. We have been touched to finer issues; we have caught a +glimpse of higher ideals; and, for the moment, at least, have been +transformed. The old commonplace life, with its absence of purpose and +endeavor, has dropped out of sight, and we resolve, with better heart +and newer hope, to struggle to make permanently ours the forces and +potentialities that have been revealed to us. + +Even a momentary contact with a character of this kind seems to double +our mental and soul powers, as two great dynamos double the current +which passes over the wire, and we are loath to leave the magical +presence lest we lose our new-born power. + +On the other hand, we frequently meet people who make us shrivel and +shrink into ourselves. The moment they come near us we experience a +cold chill, as if a blast of winter had struck us in midsummer. A +blighting, narrowing sensation, which seems to make us suddenly +smaller, passes over us. We feel a decided loss of power, of +possibility. We could no more smile in their presence than we could +laugh while at a funeral. Their gloomy miasmatic atmosphere chills all +our natural impulses. In their presence there is no possibility of +expansion for us. As a dark cloud suddenly obscures the brightness of +a smiling summer sky, their shadows are cast upon us and fill us with +vague, undefinable uneasiness. + +We instinctively feel that such people have no sympathy with our +aspirations, and our natural prompting is to guard closely any +expression of our hopes and ambitions. When they are near us our +laudable purposes and desires shrink into insignificance and mere +foolishness; the charm of sentiment vanishes and life seems to lose +color and zest. The effect of their presence is paralyzing, and we +hasten from it as soon as possible. + +If we study these two types of personality, we shall find that the +chief difference between them is that the first loves his kind, and the +latter does not. Of course, that rare charm of manner which captivates +all those who come within the sphere of its influence, and that strong +personal magnetism which inclines all hearts toward its fortunate +possessor, are largely natural gifts. But we shall find that the man +who practises unselfishness, who is genuinely interested in the welfare +of others, who feels it a privilege to have the power to do a +fellow-creature a kindness,--even though polished manners and a +gracious presence may be conspicuous by their absence,--will be an +elevating influence wherever he goes. He will bring encouragement to +and uplift every life that touches his. He will be trusted and loved +by all who come in contact with him. This type of personality we may +all cultivate if we will. + +Magnetic personality is intangible. This mysterious something, which +we sometimes call individuality, is often more powerful than the +ability which can be measured, or the qualities that can be rated. + +Many women are endowed with this magnetic quality, which is entirely +independent of personal beauty. It is often possessed in a high degree +by very plain women. This was notably the case with some of the women +who ruled in the French _salons_ more absolutely than the king on his +throne. + +At a social gathering, when conversation drags, and interest is at a +low ebb, the entrance of some bright woman with a magnetic personality +instantly changes the whole situation. She may not be handsome, but +everybody is attracted; it is a privilege to speak to her. + +People who possess this rare quality are frequently ignorant of the +source of their power. They simply know they have it, but can not +locate or describe it. While it is, like poetry, music, or art, a gift +of nature, born in one, it can be cultivated to a certain extent. + +Much of the charm of a magnetic personality comes from a fine, +cultivated manner. Tact, also, is a very important element,--next to a +fine manner, perhaps the most important. One must know exactly what to +do, and be able to do just the right thing at the proper time. Good +judgment and common sense are indispensable to those who are trying to +acquire this magic power. Good taste is also one of the elements of +personal charm. You can not offend the tastes of others without +hurting their sensibilities. + +One of the greatest investments one can make is that of attaining a +gracious manner, cordiality of bearing, generosity of feeling,--the +delightful art of pleasing. It is infinitely better than money +capital, for all doors fly open to sunny, pleasing personalities. They +are more than welcome; they are sought for everywhere. + +Many a youth owes his promotion or his first start in life to the +disposition to be accommodating, to help along wherever he could. This +was one of Lincoln's chief characteristics; he had a passion for +helping people, for making himself agreeable under all circumstances. +Mr. Herndon, his law partner, says: "When the Rutledge Tavern, where +Lincoln boarded, was crowded, he would often give up his bed, and sleep +on the counter in his store with a roll of calico for his pillow. +Somehow everybody in trouble turned to him for help." This generous +desire to assist others and to return kindnesses especially endeared +Lincoln to the people. + +The power to please is a tremendous asset. What can be more valuable +than a personality which always attracts, never repels? It is not only +valuable in business, but also in every field of life. It makes +statesmen and politicians, it brings clients to the lawyer, and +patients to the physician. It is worth everything to the clergyman. +No matter what career you enter, you can not overestimate the +importance of cultivating that charm of manner, those personal +qualities, which attract people to you. They will take the place of +capital, or influence. They are often a substitute for a large amount +of hard work. + +Some men attract business, customers, clients, patients, as naturally +as magnets attract particles of steel. Everything seems to point their +way, for the same reason that the steel particles point toward the +magnet,--because they are attracted. + +Such men are business magnets. Business moves toward them, even when +they do not apparently make half so much effort to get it as the less +successful. Their friends call them "lucky dogs." But if we analyze +these men closely, we find that they have attractive qualities. There +is usually some charm of personality about them that wins all hearts. + +Many successful business and professional men would be surprised, if +they should analyze their success, to find what a large percentage of +it is due to their habitual courtesy and other popular qualities. Had +it not been for these, their sagacity, long-headedness, and business +training would not, perhaps, have amounted to half so much; for, no +matter how able a man may be, if his coarse, rude manners drive away +clients, patients, or customers, if his personality repels, he will +always be placed at a disadvantage. + +It pays to cultivate popularity. It doubles success possibilities, +develops manhood, and builds up character. To be popular, one must +strangle selfishness, he must keep back his bad tendencies, he must be +polite, gentlemanly, agreeable, and companionable. In trying to be +popular, he is on the road to success and happiness as well. The +ability to cultivate friends is a powerful aid to success. It is +capital which will stand by one when panics come, when banks fail, when +business concerns go to the wall. How many men have been able to start +again after having everything swept away by fire or flood, or some +other disaster, just because they had cultivated popular qualities, +because they had learned the art of being agreeable, of making friends +and holding them with hooks of steel! People are influenced powerfully +by their friendships, by their likes and dislikes, and a popular +business or professional man has every advantage in the world over a +cold, indifferent man, for customers, clients, or patients will flock +to him. + +Cultivate the art of being agreeable. It will help you to +self-expression as nothing else will; it will call out your success +qualities; it will broaden your sympathies. It is difficult to +conceive of any more delightful birthright than to be born with this +personal charm, and yet it is comparatively easy to cultivate, because +it is made up of so many other qualities, all of which are cultivatable. + +I never knew a thoroughly unselfish person who was not an attractive +person. No person who is always thinking of himself and trying to +figure out how he can get some advantage from everybody else will ever +be attractive. We are naturally disgusted with people who are trying +to get everything for themselves and never think of anybody else. + +The secret of pleasing is in being pleasant yourself, in being +interesting. If you would be agreeable, you must be magnanimous. The +narrow, stingy soul is not lovable. People shrink from such a +character. There must be heartiness in the expression, in the smile, +in the hand-shake, in the cordiality, which is unmistakable. The +hardest natures can not resist these qualities any more than the eyes +can resist the sun. If you radiate sweetness and light, people will +love to get near you, for we are all looking for the sunlight, trying +to get away from the shadows. + +It is unfortunate that these things are not taught more in the home and +in the school; for our success and happiness depend largely upon them. +Many of us are no better than uneducated heathens. We may know enough, +but we give ourselves out stingily and we live narrow and reserved +lives, when we should be broad, generous, sympathetic, and magnanimous. + +Popular people, those with great personal charm, take infinite pains to +cultivate all the little graces and qualities which go to make up +popularity. If people who are naturally unsocial would only spend as +much time and take as much pains as people who are social favorites in +making themselves popular, they would accomplish wonders. + +Everybody is attracted by lovable qualities and is repelled by the +unlovely wherever found. The whole principle of an attractive +personality lives in this sentence. A fine manner pleases; a coarse, +brutal manner repels. We cannot help being attracted to one who is +always trying to help us,--who gives us his sympathy, who is always +trying to make us comfortable and to give us every advantage he can. +On the other hand, we are repelled by people who are always trying to +get something out of us, who elbow their way in front of us, to get the +best seat in a car or a hall, who are always looking for the easiest +chair, or for the choicest bits at the table, who are always wanting to +be waited on first at the restaurant or hotel, regardless of others. + +The ability to bring the best that is in you to the man you are trying +to reach, to make a good impression at the very first meeting, to +approach a prospective customer as though you had known him for years +without offending his taste, without raising the least prejudice, but +getting his sympathy and good will, is a great accomplishment, and this +is what commands a great salary. + +There is a charm in a gracious personality from which it is very hard +to get away. It is difficult to snub the man who possesses it. There +is something about him which arrests your prejudice, and no matter how +busy or how worried you may be, or how much you may dislike to be +interrupted, somehow you haven't the heart to turn away the man with a +pleasing personality. + +Who has not felt his power multiplied many times, his intellect +sharpened, and a keener edge put on all of his faculties, when coming +into contact with a strong personality which has called forth hidden +powers which he never before dreamed he possessed, so that he could say +things and do things impossible to him when alone? The power of the +orator, which he flings back to his listeners, he first draws from his +audience, but he could never get it from the separate individuals any +more than the chemist could get the full power from chemicals standing +in separate bottles in his laboratory. It is in contact and +combination only that new creations, new forces, are developed. + +We little realize what a large part of our achievement is due to others +working through us, to their sharpening our faculties, radiating hope, +encouragement, and helpfulness into our lives, and sustaining and +inspiring us mentally. + +We are apt to overestimate the value of an education from books alone. +A large part of the value of a college education comes from the social +intercourse of the students, the reenforcement, the buttressing of +character by association. Their faculties are sharpened and polished +by the attrition of mind with mind, and the pitting of brain against +brain, which stimulate ambition, brighten the ideals, and open up new +hopes and possibilities. Book knowledge is valuable, but the knowledge +which comes from mind intercourse is invaluable. + +Two substances totally unlike, but having a chemical affinity for each +other, may produce a third infinitely stronger than either, or even +both of those which unite. Two people with a strong affinity often +call into activity in each other a power which neither dreamed he +possessed before. Many an author owes his greatest book, his cleverest +saying to a friend who has aroused in him latent powers which otherwise +might have remained dormant. Artists have been touched by the power of +inspiration through a masterpiece, or by some one they happened to meet +who saw in them what no one else had ever seen,--the power to do an +immortal thing. + +The man who mixes with his fellows is ever on a voyage of discovery, +finding new islands of power in himself which would have remained +forever hidden but for association with others. Everybody he meets has +some secret for him, if he can only extract it, something which he +never knew before, something which will help him on his way, something +which will enrich his life. No man finds himself alone. Others are +his discoverers. + +It is astonishing how much you can learn from people in social +intercourse when you know how to look at them rightly. But it is a +fact that you can only get a great deal out of them by giving them a +great deal of yourself. The more you radiate yourself, the more +magnanimous you are, the more generous of yourself, the more you fling +yourself out to them without reserve, the more you will get back. + +You must give much in order to get much. The current will not set +toward you until it goes out from you. About all you get from others +is a reflex of the currents from yourself. The more generously you +give, the more you get in return. You will not receive if you give out +stingily, narrowly, meanly. You must give of yourself in a +whole-hearted, generous way, or you will receive only stingy rivulets, +when you might have had great rivers and torrents of blessings. + +A man who might have been symmetrical, well-rounded, had he availed +himself of every opportunity of touching life along all sides, remains +a pygmy in everything except his own little specialty, because he did +not cultivate his social side. + +It is always a mistake to miss an opportunity of meeting with our kind, +and especially of mixing with those above us, because we can always +carry away something of value. It is through social intercourse that +our rough corners are rubbed off, that we become polished and +attractive. + +If you go into social life with a determination to give it something, +to make it a school for self-improvement, for calling out your best +social qualities, for developing the latent brain cells, which have +remained dormant for the lack of exercise, you will not find society +either a bore or unprofitable. But you must give it something, or you +will not get anything. + +When you learn to look upon every one you meet as holding a treasure, +something which will enrich your life, which will enlarge and broaden +your experience, and make you more of a man, you will not think the +time in the drawing-room wasted. + +The man who is determined to get on will look upon every experience as +an educator, as a culture chisel, which will make his life a little +more shapely and attractive. + +Frankness of manner is one of the most delightful of traits in young or +old. Everybody admires the open-hearted, the people who have nothing +to conceal, and who do not try to cover up their faults and weaknesses. +They are, as a rule, large-hearted and magnanimous. They inspire love +and confidence, and, by their very frankness and simplicity, invite the +same qualities in others. + +Secretiveness repels as much as frankness attracts. There is something +about the very inclination to conceal or cover up which arouses +suspicion and distrust. We cannot have the same confidence in people +who possess this trait, no matter how good they may seem to be, as in +frank, sunny natures. Dealing with these secretive people is like +traveling on a stage coach on a dark night. There is always a feeling +of uncertainty. We may come out all right, but there is a lurking fear +of some pitfall or unknown danger ahead of us. We are uncomfortable +because of the uncertainties. They may be all right, and may deal +squarely with us, but we are not sure and can not trust them. No +matter how polite or gracious a secretive person may be, we can never +rid ourselves of the feeling that there is a motive behind his +graciousness, and that he has an ulterior purpose in view. He is +always more or less of an enigma, because he goes through life wearing +a mask. He endeavors to hide every trait that is not favorable to +himself. Never, if he can help it, do we get a glimpse of the real man. + +How different the man who comes out in the open, who has no secrets, +who reveals his heart to us, and who is frank, broad and liberal! How +quickly he wins our confidence! How we all like and trust him! We +forgive him for many a slip or weakness, because he is always ready to +confess his faults, and to make amends for them. It he has bad +qualities, they are always in sight, and we are ready to make +allowances for them. His heart is sound and true, his sympathies are +broad and active. The very qualities he possesses--frankness and +simplicity,--are conducive to the growth of the highest manhood and +womanhood. + +In the Black Hills of South Dakota there lived a humble, ignorant +miner, who won the love and good will of everyone. "You can't 'elp +likin' 'im," said an English miner, and when asked why the miners and +the people in the town couldn't help liking him, he answered. "Because +he has a 'eart in 'im; he's a man. He always 'elps the boys when in +trouble. You never go to 'im for nothin'." + +Bright, handsome young men, graduates of Eastern colleges, were there +seeking their fortune; a great many able, strong men drawn there from +different parts of the country by the gold fever; but none of them held +the public confidence like this poor man. He could scarcely write his +name, and knew nothing of the usages of polite society, yet he so +intrenched himself in the hearts in his community that no other man, +however educated or cultured, had the slightest chance of being elected +to any office of prominence while "Ike" was around. + +He was elected mayor of his town, and sent to the legislature, although +he could not speak a grammatical sentence. It was all because he had a +heart in him; he was a man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +IF YOU CAN TALK WELL + +When Charles W. Eliot was president of Harvard, he said, "I recognize +but one mental acquisition as an essential part of the education of a +lady or gentleman, namely, an accurate and refined use of the +mother-tongue." + +Sir Walter Scott defined "a good conversationalist" as "one who has +ideas, who reads, thinks, listens, and who has therefore something to +say." + +There is no other one thing which enables us to make so good an +impression, especially upon those who do not know us thoroughly, as the +ability to converse well. + +To be a good conversationalist, able to interest people, to rivet their +attention, to draw them to you naturally, by the very superiority of +your conversational ability, is to be the possessor of a very great +accomplishment, one which is superior to all others. It not only helps +you to make a good impression upon strangers, it also helps you to make +and keep friends. It opens doors and softens hearts. It makes you +interesting in all sorts of company. It helps you to get on in the +world. It sends you clients, patients, customers. It helps you into +the best society, even though you are poor. + +A man who can talk well, who has the art of putting things in an +attractive way, who can interest others immediately by his power of +speech, has a very great advantage over one who may know more than he, +but who cannot express himself with ease or eloquence. + +No matter how expert you may be in any other art or accomplishment, you +cannot use your expertness always and everywhere as you can the power +to converse well. If you are a musician, no matter how talented you +may be, or how many years you may have spent in perfecting yourself in +your specialty, or how much it may have cost you, only comparatively +few people can ever hear or appreciate your music. + +You may be a fine singer, and yet travel around the world without +having an opportunity of showing your accomplishment, or without anyone +guessing your specialty. But wherever you go and in whatever society +you are, no matter what your station in life may be, you talk. + +You may be a painter, you may have spent years with great masters, and +yet, unless you have very marked ability so that your pictures are hung +in the salons or in the great art galleries, comparatively few people +will ever see them. But if you are an artist in conversation, everyone +who comes in contact with you will see your life-picture, which you +have been painting ever since you began to talk. Everyone knows +whether you are an artist or a bungler. + +In fact, you may have a great many accomplishments which people +occasionally see or enjoy, and you may have a very beautiful home and a +lot of property which comparatively few people ever know about; but if +you are a good converser, everyone with whom you talk will feel the +influence of your skill and charm. + +A noted society leader, who has been very successful in the launching +of _debutantes_ in society, always gives this advice to her _proteges_, +"Talk, talk. It does not matter much what you say, but chatter away +lightly and gayly. Nothing embarrasses and bores the average man so +much as a girl who has to be entertained." + +There is a helpful suggestion in this advice. The way to learn to talk +is to talk. The temptation for people who are unaccustomed to society, +and who feel diffident, is to say nothing themselves and listen to what +others say. + +Good talkers are always sought after in society. Everybody wants to +invite Mrs. So-and-So to dinners or receptions because she is such a +good talker. She entertains. She may have many defects, but people +enjoy her society because she can talk well. + +Conversation, if used as an educator, is a tremendous power developer; +but talking without thinking, without an effort to express oneself with +clearness, conciseness, or efficiency, mere chattering, or gossiping, +the average society small talk, will never get hold of the best thing +in a man. It lies too deep for such superficial effort. + +Thousands of young people who envy such of their mates as are getting +on faster than they are keep on wasting their precious evenings and +their half-holidays, saying nothing but the most frivolous, frothy, +senseless things--things which do not rise to the level of humor, but +the foolish, silly talk which demoralizes one's ambition, lowers one's +ideals and all the standards of life, because it begets habits of +superficial and senseless thinking. On the streets, on the cars, and +in public places, loud, coarse voices are heard in light, flippant, +slipshod speech, in coarse slang expressions. "You're talking through +your hat"; "Search me"; "You just bet"; "Well, that's the limit"; "I +hate that man; he gets on my nerves," and a score of other such +vulgarities we often hear. + +Nothing else will indicate your fineness or coarseness of culture, your +breeding or lack of it, so quickly as your conversation. It will tell +your whole life's story. What you say, and how you say it, will betray +all your secrets, will give the world your true measure. + +There is no accomplishment, no attainment which you can use so +constantly and effectively, which will give so much pleasure to your +friends, as fine conversation. There is no doubt that the gift of +language was intended to be a much greater accomplishment than the +majority of us have ever made of it. + +Most of us are bunglers in our conversation, because we do not make an +art of it; we do not take the trouble or pains to learn to talk well. +We do not read enough or think enough. Most of us express ourselves in +sloppy, slipshod English, because it is so much easier to do so than it +is to think before we speak, to make an effort to express ourselves +with elegance, ease, and power. + +Poor conversers excuse themselves for not trying to improve by saying +that "good talkers are born, not made." We might as well say that good +lawyers, good physicians, or good merchants are born, not made. None +of them would ever get very far without hard work. This is the price +of all achievement that is of value. + +Many a man owes his advancement very largely to his ability to converse +well. The ability to interest people in your conversation, to hold +them, is a great power. The man who has a bungling expression, who +knows a thing, but never can put it in logical, interesting, or +commanding language, is always placed at a great disadvantage. + +I know a business man who has cultivated the art of conversation to +such an extent that it is a great treat to listen to him. His language +flows with such liquid, limpid beauty, his words are chosen with such +exquisite delicacy, taste, and accuracy, there is such a refinement in +his diction that he charms everyone who hears him speak. All his life +he has been a reader of the finest prose and poetry, and has cultivated +conversation as a fine art. + +You may think you are poor and have no chance in life. You may be +situated so that others are dependent upon you, and you may not be able +to go to school or college, or to study music or art, as you long to; +you may be tied down to an iron environment; you may be tortured with +an unsatisfied, disappointed ambition; and yet you can become an +interesting talker, because in every sentence you utter you can +practise the best form of expression. Every book you read, every +person with whom you converse, who uses good English, can help you. + +Few people think very much about how they are going to express +themselves. They use the first words that come to them. They do not +think of forming a sentence so that it will have beauty, brevity, +transparency, power. The words flow from their lips helter-skelter, +with little thought of arrangement or order. + +Now and then we meet a real artist in conversation, and it is such a +treat and delight that we wonder why the most of us should be such +bunglers in our conversation, that we should make such a botch of the +medium of communication between human beings, when it is capable of +being made the art of arts. + +I have met a dozen persons in my lifetime who have given me such a +glimpse of its superb possibilities that it has made all other arts +seem comparatively unimportant to me. + +I was once a visitor at Wendell Phillips's home in Boston, and the +music of his voice, the liquid charm of his words, the purity, the +transparency of his diction, the profundity of his knowledge, the +fascination of his personality, and his marvelous art of putting +things, I shall never forget. He sat down on the sofa beside me and +talked as he would to an old schoolmate, and it seemed to me that I had +never heard such exquisite and polished English. I have met several +English people who possessed that marvelous power of "soul in +conversation which charms all who come under its spell." + +Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Julia Ward Howe, and Elizabeth S. P. Ward, had +this wonderful conversational charm, as has ex-President Eliot of +Harvard. + +The quality of the conversation is everything. We all know people who +use the choicest language and express their thoughts in fluent, liquid +diction, who impress us by the wonderful flow of their conversation; +but that is all there is to it. They do not impress us with their +thoughts; they do not stimulate us to action. We do not feel any more +determined to do something in the world, to be somebody, after we have +heard them talk than we felt before. + +We know other people who talk very little, but whose words are so full +of meat and stimulating brain force that we feel ourselves multiplied +many times by the power they have injected into us. + +In olden times the art of conversation reached a much higher standard +than that of to-day. The deterioration is due to the complete +revolution in the conditions of modern civilization. Formerly people +had almost no other way of communicating their thoughts than by speech. +Knowledge of all kinds was disseminated almost wholly through the +spoken word. There were no great daily newspapers, no magazines or +periodicals of any kind. + +The great discoveries of vast wealth in the precious minerals, the new +world opened up by inventions and discoveries, and the great impetus to +ambition have changed all this. In this lightning-express age, in +these strenuous times, when everybody has the mania to attain wealth +and position, we no longer have time to reflect with deliberation, and +to develop our powers of conversation. In these great newspaper and +periodical days, when everybody can get for one or a few cents the news +and information which it has cost thousands of dollars to collect, +everybody sits behind the morning sheet or is buried in a book or +magazine. There is no longer the same need of communicating thought by +the spoken word. + +Oratory is becoming a lost art for the same reason. Printing has +become so cheap that even the poorest homes can get more reading for a +few dollars than kings and noblemen could afford in the Middle Ages. + +It is a rare thing to find a polished conversationalist to-day. So +rare is it to hear one speaking exquisite English, and using a superb +diction, that it is indeed a luxury. + +Good reading, however, will not only broaden the mind and give new +ideas, but it will also increase one's vocabulary, and that is a great +aid to conversation. Many people have good thoughts and ideas, but +they cannot express them because of the poverty of their vocabulary. +They have not words enough to clothe their ideas and make them +attractive. They talk around in a circle, repeat and repeat, because, +when they want a particular word to convey their exact meaning, they +cannot find it. + +If you are ambitious to talk well, you must be as much as possible in +the society of well-bred, cultured people. If you seclude yourself, +though you are a college graduate, you will be a poor converser. + +We all sympathize with people, especially the timid and shy, who have +that awful feeling of repression and stifling of thought, when they +make an effort to say something and cannot. Timid young people often +suffer keenly in this way in attempting to declaim at school or +college. But many a great orator went through the same sort of +experience, when he first attempted to speak in public and was often +deeply humiliated by his blunders and failures. There is no other way, +however, to become an orator or a good conversationalist than by +constantly trying to express oneself efficiently and elegantly. + +If you find that your ideas fly from you when you attempt to express +them, that you stammer and flounder about for words which you are +unable to find, you may be sure that every honest effort you make, even +if you fail in your attempt, will make it all the easier for you to +speak well the next time. It is remarkable, if one keeps on trying, +how quickly he will conquer his awkwardness and self-consciousness, and +will gain ease of manner and facility of expression. + +Everywhere we see people placed at a tremendous disadvantage because +they have never learned the art of putting their ideas into +interesting, telling language. We see brainy men at public gatherings, +when momentous questions are being discussed, sit silent, unable to +tell what they know, when they are infinitely better informed than +those who are making a great deal of display of oratory or smooth talk. + +People with a lot of ability, who know a great deal, often appear like +a set of dummies in company, while some superficial, shallow-brained +person holds the attention of those present simply because he can tell +what he knows in an interesting way. They are constantly humiliated +and embarrassed when away from those who happen to know their real +worth, because they can not carry on an intelligent conversation upon +any topic. There are hundreds of these silent people at our national +capital--many of them wives of husbands who have suddenly and +unexpectedly come into political prominence. + +Many people--and this is especially true of scholars--seem to think +that the great _desideratum_ in life is to get as much valuable +information into the head as possible. But it is just as important to +know how to give out knowledge in a palatable manner as to acquire it. +You may be a profound scholar, you may be well read in history and in +politics, you may be wonderfully well-posted in science, literature, +and art, and yet, if your knowledge is locked up within you, you will +always be placed at a great disadvantage. + +Locked-up ability may give the individual some satisfaction, but it +must be exhibited, expressed in some attractive way, before the world +will appreciate it or give credit for it. It does not matter how +valuable the rough diamond may be, no explaining, no describing its +marvels of beauty within, and its great value, would avail; nobody +would appreciate it until it was ground and polished and the light let +into its depths to reveal its hidden brilliancy. Conversation is to +the man what the cutting of the diamond is to the stone. The grinding +does not add anything to the diamond. It merely reveals its wealth. + +How little parents realize the harm they are doing their children by +allowing them to grow up ignorant of or indifferent to the marvelous +possibilities in the art of conversation! In the majority of homes, +children are allowed to mangle the English language in a most painful +way. + +Nothing else will develop the brain and character more than the +constant effort to talk well, intelligently, interestingly, upon all +sorts of topics. There is a splendid discipline in the constant effort +to express one's thoughts in clear language and in an interesting +manner. We know people who are such superb conversers that no one +would ever dream that they have not had the advantages of the higher +schools. Many a college graduate has been silenced and put to shame by +people who have never even been to a high school, but who have +cultivated the art of self-expression. + +The school and the college employ the student comparatively a few hours +a day for a few years; conversation is a training in a perpetual +school. Many get the best part of their education in this school. + +Conversation is a great ability discoverer, a great revealer of +possibilities and resources. It stimulates thought wonderfully. We +think more of ourselves if we can talk well, if we can interest and +hold others. The power to do so increases our self-respect, our +self-confidence. + +No man knows what he really possesses until he makes his best effort to +express to others what is in him. Then the avenues of the mind fly +open, the faculties are on the alert. Every good converser has felt a +power come to him from the listener which he never felt before, and +which often stimulates and inspires to fresh endeavor. The mingling of +thought with thought, the contact of mind with mind, develops new +powers, as the mixing of two chemicals often produces a new third +substance. + +To converse well one must listen well also--hold oneself in a receptive +attitude. + +We are not only poor conversationalists, but we are poor listeners as +well. We are too impatient to listen. Instead of being attentive and +eager to drink in the story or the information, we have not enough +respect for the talker to keep quiet. We look about impatiently, +perhaps snap our watch, play a tattoo with our fingers on a chair or a +table, hitch about as if we were bored and were anxious to get away, +and interrupt the speaker before he reaches his conclusion. In fact, +we are such an impatient people that we have no time for anything +excepting to push ahead, to elbow our way through the crowd to get the +position or the money we desire. Our life is feverish and unnatural. +We have no time to develop charm of manner, or elegance of diction. +"We are too intense for epigram or repartee. We lack time." + +Nervous impatience is a conspicuous characteristic of the American +people. Everything bores us which does not bring us more business, or +more money, or which does not help us to attain the position for which +we are striving. Instead of enjoying our friends, we are inclined to +look upon them as so many rungs in a ladder, and to value them in +proportion as they furnish readers for our books, send us patients, +clients, customers or show their ability to give us a boost for +political position. + +Before these days of hurry and drive, before this age of excitement, it +was considered one of the greatest luxuries possible to be a listener +in a group surrounding an intelligent talker. It was better than most +modern lectures, than anything one could find in a book; for there was +a touch of personality, a charm of style, a magnetism which held, a +superb personality which fascinated. For the hungry soul, yearning for +an education, to drink in knowledge from those wise lips was to be fed +with a royal feast indeed. + +But to-day everything is "touch and go." We have no time to stop on +the street and give a decent salutation. It is: "How do?" or +"Morning," accompanied by a sharp nod of the head, instead of by a +graceful bow. We have no time for the graces and the charms. +Everything must give way to the material. + +We have no time for the development of a fine manner; the charm of the +days of chivalry and leisure has almost vanished from our civilization. +A new type of individual has sprung up. We work like Trojans during +the day, and then rush to a theater or other place of amusement in the +evening. We have no time to make our own amusement or to develop the +faculty of humor and fun-making as people used to do. We pay people +for doing that while we sit and laugh. We are like some college boys, +who depend upon tutors to carry them through their examinations--they +expect to buy their education ready-made. + +Life is becoming so artificial, so forced, so diverse from naturalness, +we drive our human engines at such a fearful speed, that our finer life +is crushed out. Spontaneity and humor, and the possibility of a fine +culture and a superb charm of personality in us are almost impossible +and extremely rare. + +One cause for our conversational decline is a lack of sympathy. We are +too selfish, too busily engaged in our own welfare, and wrapped up in +our own little world, too intent upon our own self-promotion to be +interested in others. No one can make a good conversationalist who is +not sympathetic. You must be able to enter into another's life, to +live it with the other person, to be a good listener or a good talker. + +Walter Besant used to tell of a clever woman who had a great reputation +as a conversationalist, though she talked very little. She had such a +cordial, sympathetic manner that she helped the timid and the shy to +say their best things, and made them feel at home. She dissipated +their fears, and they could say things to her which they could not say +to anyone else. People thought her an interesting conversationalist +because she had this ability to call out the best in others. + +If you would make yourself agreeable you must be able to enter into the +life of the people you are conversing with, and you must touch them +along the lines of their interest. No matter how much you may know +about a subject, if it does not happen to interest those to whom you +are talking your efforts will be largely lost. + +It is pitiable, sometimes, to see men standing around at the average +reception or club gathering, dumb, almost helpless, and powerless to +enter heartily into the conversation because they are in a subjective +mood. They are thinking, thinking, thinking business, business, +business; thinking how they can get on a little faster--get more +business, more clients, more patients, or more readers for their +books--or a better house to live in; how they can make more show. They +do not enter heartily into the lives of others, or abandon themselves +to the occasion enough to make good talkers. They are cold and +reserved, distant, because their minds are somewhere else, their +affections on themselves and their own affairs. There are only two +things that interest them; business and their own little world. If you +talk about these things, they are interested at once; but they do not +care a snap about your affairs, how you get on, or what your ambition +is, or how they can help you. Our conversation will never reach a high +standard while we live in such a feverish, selfish, and unsympathetic +state. + +Great conversationalists have always been very tactful--interesting +without offending. It does not do to stab people if you would interest +them, nor to drag out their family skeletons. Some people have the +peculiar quality of touching the best that is in us; others stir up the +bad. Every time they come into our presence they irritate us. Others +allay all that is disagreeable. They never touch our sensitive spots, +and they call out all that is spontaneous and sweet and beautiful. + +Lincoln was master of the art of making himself interesting to +everybody he met. He put people at ease with his stories and jokes, +and made them feel so completely at home in his presence that they +opened up their mental treasures to him without reserve. Strangers +were always glad to talk with him because he was so cordial and quaint, +and always gave more than he got. + +A sense of humor such as Lincoln had is, of course, a great addition to +one's conversational power. But not everyone can be funny; and, if you +lack the sense of humor, you will make yourself ludicrous by attempting +to be funny. + +A good conversationalist, however, is not too serious. He does not +deal too much with facts, no matter how important. Facts, statistics, +weary. Vivacity is absolutely necessary. Heavy conversation bores; +too light, disgusts. + +Therefore, to be a good conversationalist you must be spontaneous, +buoyant, natural, sympathetic, and must show a spirit of good will. +You must feel a spirit of helpfulness, and must enter heart and soul +into things which interest others. You must get the attention of +people and hold it by interesting them, and you can only interest them +by a warm sympathy--a real friendly sympathy. If you are cold, +distant, and unsympathetic you can not hold their attention. + +You must be broad, tolerant. A narrow stingy soul never talks well. A +man who is always violating your sense of taste, of justice, and of +fairness, never interests you. You lock tight all the approaches to +your inner self, every avenue is closed to him. Your magnetism and +your helpfulness are thus cut off, and the conversation is perfunctory, +mechanical, and without life or feeling. + +You must bring your listener close to you, must open your heart wide, +and exhibit a broad free nature, and an open mind. You must be +responsive, so that he will throw wide open every avenue of his nature +and give you free access to his heart of hearts. + +If a man is a success anywhere, it ought to be in his personality, in +his power to express himself in strong, effective, interesting +language. He should not be obliged to give a stranger an inventory of +his possessions in order to show that he has achieved something. A +greater wealth should flow from his lips, and express itself in his +manner. + +No amount of natural ability or education or good clothes, no amount of +money, will make you appear well if you use poor English. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A FORTUNE IN GOOD MANNERS + +Give a boy address and accomplishments, and you give him the mastery of +palaces and fortunes wherever he goes; he has not the trouble of +earning or owning them; they solicit him to enter and possess.--EMERSON. + +With hat in hand, one gets on in the world.--GERMAN PROVERB. + + What thou wilt, + Thou must rather enforce it with thy smile, + Than hew to it with thy sword. + SHAKESPEARE. + +Politeness has been compared to an air cushion, which, although there +is apparently nothing in it, eases our jolts wonderfully.--GEORGE L. +CAREY. + +Birth's gude, but breedin's better.--SCOTCH PROVERB. + +Conduct is three fourths of life.--MATTHEW ARNOLD. + + +"Why the doose de 'e 'old 'is 'ead down like that?" asked a cockney +sergeant-major angrily, when a worthy fellow soldier wished to be +reinstated in a position from which he had been dismissed. "Has 'e 's +been han hofficer 'e bought to know 'ow to be'ave 'isself better. What +use 'ud 'e be has a non-commissioned hofficer hif 'e didn't dare look +'is men in the face? Hif a man wants to be a soldier, hi say, let 'im +cock 'is chin hup, switch 'is stick abart a bit, an give a crack hover +the 'ead to hanybody who comes foolin' round 'im, helse 'e might just +has well be a Methodist parson." + +The English is somewhat rude, but it expresses pretty forcibly the fact +that a good bearing is indispensable to success as a soldier. Mien and +manner have much to do with our influence and reputation in any walk of +life. + +"Don't you wish you had my power?" asked the East Wind of the Zephyr. +"Why, when I start they hail me by storm signals all along the coast. +I can twist off a ship's mast as easily as you can waft thistledown. +With one sweep of my wing I strew the coast from Labrador to Cape Horn +with shattered ship timber. I can lift and have often lifted the +Atlantic. I am the terror of all invalids, and to keep me from +piercing to the very marrow of their bones, men cut down forests for +their fires and explore the mines of continents for coal to feed their +furnaces. Under my breath the nations crouch in sepulchers. Don't you +wish you had my power?" + +Zephyr made no reply, but floated from out the bowers of the sky, and +all the rivers and lakes and seas, all the forests and fields, all the +beasts and birds and men smiled at its coming. Gardens bloomed, +orchards ripened, silver wheat-fields turned to gold, fleecy clouds +went sailing in the lofty heaven, the pinions of birds and the sails of +vessels were gently wafted onward, and health and happiness were +everywhere. The foliage and flowers and fruits and harvests, the +warmth and sparkle and gladness and beauty and life were the only +answer Zephyr gave to the insolent question of the proud but pitiless +East Wind. + +The story goes that Queen Victoria once expressed herself to her +husband in rather a despotic tone, and Prince Albert, whose manly +self-respect was smarting at her words, sought the seclusion of his own +apartment, closing and locking the door. In about five minutes some +one knocked. + +"Who is it?" inquired the Prince. + +"It is I. Open to the Queen of England!" haughtily responded her +Majesty. There was no reply. After a long interval there came a +gentle tapping and the low spoken words: "It is I, Victoria, your +wife." Is it necessary to add that the door was opened, or that the +disagreement was at an end? It is said that civility is to a man what +beauty is to a woman: it creates an instantaneous impression in his +behalf. + +The monk Basle, according to a quaint old legend, died while under the +ban of excommunication by the pope, and was sent in charge of an angel +to find his proper place in the nether world. But his genial +disposition and great conversational powers won friends wherever he +went. The fallen angels adopted his manner, and even the good angels +went a long way to see him and live with him. He was removed to the +lowest depths of Hades, but with the same result. His inborn +politeness and kindness of heart were irresistible, and he seemed to +change the hell into a heaven. At length the angel returned with the +monk, saying that no place could be found in which to punish him. He +still remained the same Basle. So his sentence was revoked, and he was +sent to Heaven and canonized as a saint. + +The Duke of Marlborough "wrote English badly and spelled it worse," yet +he swayed the destinies of empires. The charm of his manner was +irresistible and influenced all Europe. His fascinating smile and +winning speech disarmed the fiercest hatred and made friends of the +bitterest enemies. + +A gentleman took his daughter of sixteen to Richmond to witness the +trial of his bitter personal enemy, Aaron Burr, whom he regarded as an +arch-traitor. But she was so fascinated by Burr's charming manner that +she sat with his friends. Her father took her from the courtroom, and +locked her up, but she was so overcome by the fine manner of the +accused that she believed in his innocence and prayed for his +acquittal. "To this day," said she fifty years afterwards, "I feel the +magic of his wonderful deportment." + +Madame Recamier was so charming that when she passed around the box at +the Church St. Roche in Paris, twenty thousand francs were put into it. +At the great reception to Napoleon on his return from Italy, the crowd +caught sight of this fascinating woman and almost forgot to look at the +great hero. + +"Please, Madame," whispered a servant to Madame de Maintenon at dinner, +"one anecdote more, for there is no roast to-day." She was so +fascinating in manner and speech that her guests appeared to overlook +all the little discomforts of life. + +According to St. Beuve, the privileged circle at Coppet after making an +excursion returned from Chambery in two coaches. Those arriving in the +first coach had a rueful experience to relate--a terrific +thunder-storm, shocking roads, and danger and gloom to the whole +company. The party in the second coach heard their story with +surprise; of thunder-storm, of steeps, of mud, of danger, they knew +nothing; no, they had forgotten earth, and breathed a purer air; such a +conversation between Madame de Stael and Madame Recamier and Benjamin +Constant and Schlegel! they were all in a state of delight. The +intoxication of the conversation had made them insensible to all notice +of weather or rough roads. "If I were Queen," said Madame Tesse, "I +should command Madame de Stael to talk to me every day." "When she had +passed," as Longfellow wrote of Evangeline, "it seemed like the ceasing +of exquisite music." + +Madame de Stael was anything but beautiful, but she possessed that +indefinable something before which mere conventional beauty cowers, +commonplace and ashamed. Her hold upon the minds of men was wonderful. +They were the creatures of her will, and she shaped careers as if she +were omnipotent. Even the Emperor Napoleon feared her influence over +his people so much that he destroyed her writings and banished her from +France. + +In the words of Whittier it could be said of her as might be said of +any woman:-- + + Our homes are cheerier for her sake, + Our door-yards brighter blooming, + And all about the social air + Is sweeter for her coming. + + +A guest for two weeks at the house of Arthur M. Cavanaugh, M. P., who +was without arms or legs, was very desirous of knowing how he fed +himself; but the conversation and manner of the host were so charming +that the visitor was scarcely conscious of his deformity. + +"When Dickens entered a room," said one who knew him well, "it was like +the sudden kindling of a big fire, by which every one was warmed." + +It is said that when Goethe entered a restaurant people would lay down +their knives and forks to admire him. + +Philip of Macedon, after hearing the report of Demosthenes' famous +oration, said: "Had I been there he would have persuaded me to take up +arms against myself." + +Henry Clay was so graceful and impressive in his manner that a +Pennsylvania tavern-keeper tried to induce him to get out of the +stage-coach in which they were riding, and make a speech to himself and +his wife. + +"I don't think much of Choate's spread-eagle talk," said a +simple-minded member of a jury that had given five successive verdicts +to the great advocate; "but I call him a very lucky lawyer, for there +was not one of those five cases that came before us where he wasn't on +the right side." His manner as well as his logic was irresistible. + +When Edward Everett took a professor's chair at Harvard after five +years of study in Europe, he was almost worshiped by the students. His +manner seemed touched by that exquisite grace seldom found except in +women of rare culture. His great popularity lay in a magical +atmosphere which every one felt, but no one could describe, and which +never left him. + +A New York lady had just taken her seat in a car on a train bound for +Philadelphia, when a somewhat stout man sitting just ahead of her +lighted a cigar. She coughed and moved uneasily; but the hints had no +effect, so she said tartly: "You probably are a foreigner, and do not +know that there is a smoking-car attached to the train. Smoking is not +permitted here." The man made no reply, but threw his cigar from the +window. What has her astonishment when the conductor told her, a +moment later, that she had entered the private car of General Grant. +She withdrew in confusion, but the same fine courtesy which led him to +give up his cigar was shown again as he spared her the mortification of +even a questioning glance, still less of a look of amusement, although +she watched his dumb, immovable figure with apprehension until she +reached the door. + +Julian Ralph, after telegraphing an account of President Arthur's +fishing-trip to the Thousand Islands, returned to his hotel at two +o'clock in the morning, to find all the doors locked. With two friends +who had accompanied him, he battered at a side door to wake the +servants, but what was his chagrin when the door was opened by the +President of the United States! + +"Why, that's all right," said Mr. Arthur when Mr. Ralph asked his +pardon. "You wouldn't have got in till morning if I had not come. No +one is up in the house but me. I could have sent my colored boy, but +he had fallen asleep and I hated to wake him." + +The late King Edward, when Prince of Wales, the first gentleman in +Europe, invited an eminent man to dine with him. When coffee was +served, the guest, to the consternation of the others, drank from his +saucer. An open titter of amusement went round the table. The Prince, +quickly noting the cause of the untimely amusement, gravely emptied his +cup into his saucer and drank after the manner of his guest. Silent +and abashed, the other members of the princely household took the +rebuke and did the same. + +Queen Victoria sent for Carlyle, who was a Scotch peasant, offering him +the title of nobleman, which he declined, feeling that he had always +been a nobleman in his own right. He understood so little of the +manners at court that, when presented to the Queen, after speaking to +her a few minutes, being tired, he said, "Let us sit down, madam;" +whereat the courtiers were ready to faint. But she was great enough, +and gave a gesture that seated all her puppets in a moment. The +Queen's courteous suspension of the rules of etiquette, and what it may +have cost her, can be better understood from what an acquaintance of +Carlyle said of him when he saw him for the first time. "His presence, +in some unaccountable manner, rasped the nerves. I expected to meet a +rare being, and I left him feeling as if I had drunk sour wine, or had +had an attack of seasickness." + +Some persons wield a scepter before which others seem to bow in glad +obedience. But whence do they obtain such magic power? What is the +secret of that almost hypnotic influence over people which we would +give anything to possess? + +Courtesy is not always found in high places. Even royal courts furnish +many examples of bad manners. At an entertainment given years ago by +Prince Edward and the Princess of Wales, to which only the very cream +of the cream of society was admitted, there was such pushing and +struggling to see the Princess, who was then but lately married, that, +as she passed through the reception rooms, a bust of the Princess Royal +was thrown from its pedestal and damaged, and the pedestal upset; and +the ladies, in their eagerness to see the Princess, actually stood upon +it. + +When Catherine of Russia gave receptions to her nobles, she published +the following rules of etiquette upon cards: "Gentlemen will not get +drunk before the feast is ended. Noblemen are forbidden to strike +their wives in company. Ladies of the court must not wash out their +mouths in the drinking-glasses, or wipe their faces on the damask, or +pick their teeth with forks." But to-day the nobles of Russia have no +superiors in manners. + +Etiquette originally meant the ticket or tag tied to a bag to indicate +its contents. If a bag had this ticket it was not examined. From this +the word passed to cards upon which were printed certain rules to be +observed by guests. These rules were "the ticket" or the etiquette. +To be "the ticket," or, as it was sometimes expressed, to act or talk +by the card, became the thing with the better classes. + +It was fortunate for Napoleon that he married Josephine before he was +made commander-in-chief of the armies of Italy. Her fascinating +manners and her wonderful powers of persuasion were more influential +than the loyalty of any dozen men in France in attaching to him the +adherents who would promote his interests. Josephine was to the +drawing-room and the salon what Napoleon was to the field--a preeminent +leader. The secret of her personality that made her the Empress not +only of the hearts of the Frenchmen, but also of the nations her +husband conquered, has been beautifully told by herself. "There is +only one occasion," she said to a friend, "in which I would voluntarily +use the words, 'I _will_!'--namely, when I would say, 'I will that all +around me be happy.'" + + "It was only a glad 'good-morning,' + As she passed along the way, + But it spread the morning's glory + Over the livelong day." + + +A fine manner more than compensates for all the defects of nature. The +most fascinating person is always the one of most winning manners, not +the one of greatest physical beauty. The Greeks thought beauty was a +proof of the peculiar favor of the gods, and considered that beauty +only worth adorning and transmitting which was unmarred by outward +manifestations of hard and haughty feeling. According to their ideal, +beauty must be the expression of attractive qualities within--such as +cheerfulness, benignity, contentment, charity, and love. + +Mirabeau was one of the ugliest men in France. It was said he had "the +face of a tiger pitted by smallpox," but the charm of his manner was +almost irresistible. + +Beauty of life and character, as in art, has no sharp angles. Its +lines seem continuous, so gently does curve melt into curve. It is +sharp angles that keep many souls from being beautiful that are almost +so. Our good is less good when it is abrupt, rude, ill timed, or ill +placed. Many a man and woman might double their influence and success +by a kindly courtesy and a fine manner. + +Tradition tells us that before Apelles painted his wonderful Goddess of +Beauty which enchanted all Greece, he traveled for years observing fair +women, that he might embody in his matchless Venus a combination of the +loveliest found in all. So the good-mannered study, observe, and adopt +all that is finest and most worthy of imitation in every cultured +person they meet. + +Throw a bone to a dog, said a shrewd observer, and he will run off with +it in his mouth, but with no vibration in his tail. Call the dog to +you, pat him on the head, let him take the bone from your hand, and his +tail will wag with gratitude. The dog recognizes the good deed and the +gracious manner of doing it. Those who throw their good deeds should +not expect them to be caught with a thankful smile. + +"Ask a person at Rome to show you the road," said Dr. Guthrie of +Edinburgh, "and he will always give you a civil and polite answer; but +ask any person a question for that purpose in this country (Scotland), +and he will say, 'Follow your nose and you will find it.' But the +blame is with the upper classes; and the reason why, in this country, +the lower classes are not polite is because the upper classes are not +polite. I remember how astonished I was the first time I was in Paris. +I spent the first night with a banker, who took me to a pension, or, as +we call it, a boarding-house. When we got there, a servant girl came +to the door, and the banker took off his hat, and bowed to the servant +girl, and called her mademoiselle, as though she were a lady. Now, the +reason why the lower classes there are so polite is because the upper +classes are polite and civil to them." + +A fine courtesy is a fortune in itself. The good-mannered can do +without riches, for they have passports everywhere. All doors fly open +to them, and they enter without money and without price. They can +enjoy nearly everything without the trouble of buying or owning. They +are as welcome in every household as the sunshine; and why not? for +they carry light, sunshine, and joy everywhere. They disarm jealousy +and envy, for they bear good will to everybody. Bees will not sting a +man smeared with honey. + +"A man's own good breeding," says Chesterfield, "is the best security +against other people's ill manners. It carries along with it a dignity +that is respected by the most petulant. Ill breeding invites and +authorizes the familiarity of the most timid. No man ever said a pert +thing to the Duke of Marlborough, or a civil one to Sir Robert Walpole." + +The true gentleman cannot harbor those qualities which excite the +antagonism of others, as revenge, hatred, malice, envy, or jealousy, +for these poison the sources of spiritual life and shrivel the soul. +Generosity of heart and a genial good will towards all are absolutely +essential to him who would possess fine manners. Here is a man who is +cross, crabbed, moody, sullen, silent, sulky, stingy, and mean with his +family and servants. He refuses his wife a little money to buy a +needed dress, and accuses her of extravagance that would ruin a +millionaire. Suddenly the bell rings. Some neighbors call: what a +change! The bear of a moment ago is as docile as a lamb. As by magic +he becomes talkative, polite, generous. After the callers have gone, +his little girl begs her father to keep on his "company manners" for a +little while, but the sullen mood returns and his courtesy vanishes as +quickly as it came. He is the same disagreeable, contemptible, crabbed +bear as before the arrival of his guests. + +What friend of the great Dr. Johnson did not feel mortified and pained +to see him eat like an Esquimau, and to hear him call men "liars" +because they did not agree with him? He was called the "Ursa Major," +or Great Bear. + +Benjamin Rush said that when Goldsmith at a banquet in London asked a +question about "the American Indians," Dr. Johnson exclaimed: "There is +not an Indian in North America foolish enough to ask such a question." +"Sir," replied Goldsmith, "there is not a savage in America rude enough +to make such a speech to a gentleman." + +After Stephen A. Douglas had been abused in the Senate he rose and +said: "What no gentleman should say no gentleman need answer." + +Aristotle thus described a real gentleman more than two thousand years +ago: "The magnanimous man will behave with moderation under both good +fortune and bad. He will not allow himself to be exalted; he will not +allow himself to be abased. He will neither be delighted with success, +nor grieved with failure. He will never choose danger, nor seek it. +He is not given to talk about himself or others. He does not care that +he himself should be praised, nor that other people should be blamed." + +A gentleman is just a gentle man: no more, no less; a diamond polished +that was first a diamond in the rough. A gentleman is gentle, modest, +courteous, slow to take offense, and never giving it. He is slow to +surmise evil, as he never thinks it. He subjects his appetites, +refines his tastes, subdues his feelings, controls his speech, and +deems every other person as good as himself. A gentleman, like +porcelain-ware, must be painted before he is glazed. There can be no +change after it is burned in, and all that is put on afterwards will +wash off. He who has lost all but retains his courage, cheerfulness, +hope, virtue, and self-respect, is a true gentleman, and is rich still. + +"You replace Dr. Franklin, I hear," said the French Minister, Count de +Vergennes, to Mr. Jefferson, who had been sent to Paris to relieve our +most popular representative. "I succeed him; no man can replace him," +was the felicitous reply of the man who became highly esteemed by the +most polite court in Europe. + +"You should not have returned their salute," said the master of +ceremonies, when Clement XIV bowed to the ambassadors who had bowed in +congratulating him upon his election. "Oh, I beg your pardon," replied +Clement. "I have not been pope long enough to forget good manners." + +Cowper says:-- + + A modest, sensible, and well-bred man + Would not insult me, and no other can. + + +"I never listen to calumnies," said Montesquieu, "because if they are +untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they are true, of +hating people not worth thinking about." + +"I think," says Emerson, "Hans Andersen's story of the cobweb cloth +woven so fine that it was invisible--woven for the king's garment--must +mean manners, which do really clothe a princely nature." + +No one can fully estimate how great a factor in life is the possession +of good manners, or timely thoughtfulness with human sympathy behind +it. They are the kindly fruit of a refined nature, and are the open +sesame to the best of society. Manners are what vex or soothe, exalt +or debase, barbarize or refine us by a constant, steady, uniform, +invincible operation like that of the air we breathe. Even power +itself has not half the might of gentleness, that subtle oil which +lubricates our relations with each other, and enables the machinery of +society to perform its functions without friction. + +"Have you not seen in the woods, in a late autumn morning," asks +Emerson, "a poor fungus, or mushroom,--a plant without any solidity, +nay, that seemed nothing but a soft mush or jelly,--by its constant, +total, and inconceivably gentle pushing, manage to break its way up +through the frosty ground, and actually to lift a hard crust on its +head? It is the symbol of the power of kindness." + +"There is no policy like politeness," says Magoon; "since _a good +manner often succeeds where the best tongue has failed_." The art of +pleasing is the art of rising in the world. + +The politest people in the world, it is said, are the Jews. In all +ages they have been maltreated and reviled, and despoiled of their +civil privileges and their social rights; yet are they everywhere +polite and affable. They indulge in few or no recriminations; are +faithful to old associations; more considerate of the prejudices of +others than others are of theirs; not more worldly-minded and +money-loving than people generally are; and, everything considered, +they surpass all nations in courtesy, affability, and forbearance. + +"Men, like bullets," says Richter, "go farthest when they are +smoothest." + +Napoleon was much displeased on hearing that Josephine had permitted +General Lorges, a young and handsome man, to sit beside her on the +sofa. Josephine explained that, instead of its being General Lorges, +it was one of the aged generals of his army, entirely unused to the +customs of courts. She was unwilling to wound the feelings of the +honest old soldier, and so allowed him to retain his seat. Napoleon +commended her highly for her courtesy. + +President Jefferson was one day riding with his grandson, when they met +a slave, who took off his hat and bowed. The President returned the +salutation by raising his hat, but the grandson ignored the civility of +the negro. "Thomas," said the grandfather, "do you permit a slave to +be more of a gentleman than yourself?" + +"Lincoln was the first great man I talked with freely in the United +States," said Fred Douglass, "who in no single instance reminded me of +the difference between himself and me, of the difference in color." + +"Eat at your own table," says Confucius, "as you would eat at the table +of the king." If parents were not careless about the manners of their +children at home, they would seldom be shocked or embarrassed at their +behavior abroad. + +James Russell Lowell was as courteous to a beggar as to a lord, and was +once observed holding a long conversation in Italian with an +organ-grinder whom he was questioning about scenes in Italy with which +they were each familiar. + +In hastily turning the corner of a crooked street in London, a young +lady ran with great force against a ragged beggar-boy and almost +knocked him down. Stopping as soon as she could, she turned around and +said very kindly: "I beg your pardon, my little fellow; I am very sorry +that I ran against you." The astonished boy looked at her a moment, +and then, taking off about three quarters of a cap, made a low bow and +said, while a broad, pleasant smile overspread his face: "You have my +parding, miss, and welcome,--and welcome; and the next time you run +ag'in' me, you can knock me clean down and I won't say a word." After +the lady had passed on, he said to a companion: "I say, Jim, it's the +first time I ever had anybody ask my parding, and it kind o' took me +off my feet." + +"Respect the burden, madame, respect the burden," said Napoleon, as he +courteously stepped aside at St. Helena to make way for a laborer +bending under a heavy load, while his companion seemed inclined to keep +the narrow path. + +A Washington politician went to visit Daniel Webster at Marshfield, +Mass., and, in taking a short cut to the house, came to a stream which +he could not cross. Calling to a rough-looking farmer near by, he +offered a quarter to be carried to the other side. The farmer took the +politician on his broad shoulders and landed him safely, but would not +take the quarter. The old rustic presented himself at the house a few +minutes later, and to the great surprise and chagrin of the visitor was +introduced as Mr. Webster. + +Garrison was as polite to the furious mob that tore his clothes from +his back and dragged him through the streets as he could have been to a +king. He was one of the serenest souls that ever lived. Christ was +courteous, even to His persecutors, and in terrible agony on the cross, +He cried: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." St. +Paul's speech before Agrippa is a model of dignified courtesy, as well +as of persuasive eloquence. + +Good manners often prove a fortune to a young man. Mr. Butler, a +merchant in Providence, R. I., had once closed his store and was on his +way home when he met a little girl who wanted a spool of thread. He +went back, opened the store, and got the thread. This little incident +was talked of all about the city and brought him hundreds of customers. +He became very wealthy, largely because of his courtesy. + +Ross Winans of Baltimore owed his great success and fortune largely to +his courtesy to two foreign strangers. Although his was but a +fourth-rate factory, his great politeness in explaining the minutest +details to his visitors was in such marked contrast with the limited +attention they had received in large establishments that it won their +esteem. The strangers were Russians sent by their Czar, who later +invited Mr. Winans to establish locomotive works in Russia. He did so, +and soon his profits resulting from his politeness were more than +$100,000 a year. + +A poor curate saw a crowd of rough boys and men laughing and making fun +of two aged spinsters dressed in antiquated costume. The ladies were +embarrassed and did not dare enter the church. The curate pushed +through the crowd, conducted them up the central aisle, and amid the +titter of the congregation, gave them choice seats. These old ladies +although strangers to him, at their death left the gentle curate a +large fortune. Courtesy pays. + +Not long ago a lady met the late President Humphrey of Amherst College, +and she was so much pleased with his great politeness that she gave a +generous donation to the college. + +"Why did our friend never succeed in business?" asked a man returning +to New York after years of absence; "he had sufficient capital, a +thorough knowledge of his business, and exceptional shrewdness and +sagacity." "He was sour and morose," was the reply; "he always +suspected his employees of cheating him, and was discourteous to his +customers. Hence, no man ever put good will or energy into work done +for him, and his patrons went to shops where they were sure of +civility." + +Some men almost work their hands off and deny themselves many of the +common comforts of life in their earnest efforts to succeed, and yet +render success impossible by their cross-grained ungentlemanliness. +They repel patronage, and, naturally, business which might easily be +theirs goes to others who are really less deserving but more +companionable. + +Bad manners often neutralize even honesty, industry, and the greatest +energy; while agreeable manners win in spite of other defects. Take +two men possessing equal advantages in every other respect; if one be +gentlemanly, kind, obliging, and conciliating, and the other +disobliging, rude, harsh, and insolent, the former will become rich +while the boorish one will starve. + +[Illustration: Jane Addams] + +A fine illustration of the business value of good manners is found in +the Bon Marche, an enormous establishment in Paris where thousands of +clerks are employed, and where almost everything is kept for sale. The +two distinguishing characteristics of the house are one low price to +all, and extreme courtesy. Mere politeness is not enough; the +employees must try in every possible way to please and to make +customers feel at home. Something more must be done than is done in +other stores, so that every visitor will remember the Bon Marche with +pleasure. By this course the business has been developed until it is +said to be the largest of the kind in the world. + +"Thank you, my dear; please call again," spoken to a little beggar-girl +who bought a pennyworth of snuff proved a profitable advertisement and +made Lundy Foote a millionaire. + +Many persons of real refinement are thought to be stiff, proud, +reserved, and haughty who are not, but are merely diffident and shy. + +It is a curious fact that diffidence often betrays us into +discourtesies which our hearts abhor, and which cause us intense +mortification and embarrassment. Excessive shyness must be overcome as +an obstacle to perfect manners. It is peculiar to the Anglo-Saxon and +the Teutonic races, and has frequently been a barrier to the highest +culture. It is a disease of the finest organizations and the highest +types of humanity. It never attacks the coarse and vulgar. + +Sir Isaac Newton was the shyest man of his age. He did not acknowledge +his great discovery for years just for fear of attracting attention to +himself. He would not allow his name to be used in connection with his +theory of the moon's motion, for fear it would increase the +acquaintances he would have to meet. George Washington was awkward and +shy and had the air of a countryman. Archbishop Whately was so shy +that he would escape notice whenever it was possible. At last he +determined to give up trying to cure his shyness; "for why," he asked, +"should I endure this torture all my life?" when, to his surprise, it +almost entirely disappeared. Elihu Burritt was so shy that he would +hide in the cellar when his parents had company. + +Practice on the stage or lecture platform does not always eradicate +shyness. David Garrick, the great actor, was once summoned to testify +in court; and, though he had acted for thirty years with marked +self-possession, he was so confused and embarrassed that the judge +dismissed him. John B. Gough said that he could not rid himself of his +early diffidence and shrinking from public notice. He said that he +never went on the platform without fear and trembling, and would often +be covered with cold perspiration. + +There are many worthy people who are brave on the street, who would +walk up to a cannon's mouth in battle, but who are cowards in the +drawing-room, and dare not express an opinion in the social circle. +They feel conscious of a subtle tyranny in society's code, which locks +their lips and ties their tongues. Addison was one of the purest +writers of English and a perfect master of the pen, but he could +scarcely utter a dozen words in conversation without being embarrassed. +Shakespeare was very shy. He retired from London at forty, and did not +try to publish or preserve one of his plays. He took second or +third-rate parts on account of his diffidence. + +Generally shyness comes from a person thinking too much about +himself--which in itself is a breach of good breeding--and wondering +what other people think about him. + +"I was once very shy," said Sydney Smith, "but it was not long before I +made two very useful discoveries; first, that all mankind were not +solely employed in observing me; and next, that shamming was of no use; +that the world was very clear-sighted, and soon estimated a man at his +true value. This cured me." + +What a misfortune it is to go through life apparently encased in ice, +yet all the while full of kindly, cordial feeling for one's fellow men! +Shy people are always distrustful of their powers and look upon their +lack of confidence as a weakness or lack of ability, when it may +indicate quite the reverse. By teaching children early the arts of +social life, such as boxing, horseback riding, dancing, elocution, and +similar accomplishments, we may do much to overcome the sense of +shyness. + +Shy people should dress well. Good clothes give ease of manner, and +unlock the tongue. The consciousness of being well dressed gives a +grace and ease of manner that even religion will not bestow, while +inferiority of garb often induces restraint. As peculiarities in +apparel are sure to attract attention, it is well to avoid bright +colors and fashionable extremes, and wear plain, well-fitting garments +of as good material as the purse will afford. + +Beauty in dress is a good thing, rail at it who may. But it is a lower +beauty, for which a higher beauty should not be sacrificed. They love +dress too much who give it their first thought, their best time, or all +their money; who for it neglect the culture of the mind or heart, or +the claims of others on their service; who care more for dress than for +their character; who are troubled more by an unfashionable garment than +by a neglected duty. + +When Ezekiel Whitman, a prominent lawyer and graduate of Harvard, was +elected to the Massachusetts legislature, he came to Boston from his +farm in countryman's dress, and went to a hotel in Boston. He entered +the parlor and sat down, when he overheard the remark between some +ladies and gentlemen: "Ah, here comes a real homespun countryman. +Here's fun." They asked him all sorts of queer questions, tending to +throw ridicule upon him, when he arose and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, +permit me to wish you health and happiness, and may you grow better and +wiser in advancing years, bearing in mind that outward appearances are +deceitful. You mistook me, from my dress, for a country booby; while +I, from the same superficial cause, thought you were ladies and +gentlemen. The mistake has been mutual." Just then Governor Caleb +Strong entered and called to Mr. Whitman, who, turning to the +dumfounded company, said: "I wish you a very good evening." + +"In civilized society," says Johnson, "external advantages make us more +respected. A man with a good coat upon his back meets with a better +reception than he who has a bad one." + +One cannot but feel that God is a lover of the beautiful. He has put +robes of beauty and glory upon all his works. Every flower is dressed +in richness; every field blushes beneath a mantle of beauty; every star +is veiled in brightness; every bird is clothed in the habiliments of +the most exquisite taste. + +Some people look upon polished manners as a kind of affectation. They +claim admiration for plain, solid, square, rugged characters. They +might as well say that they prefer square, plain, unornamented houses +made from square blocks of stone. St. Peter's is none the less strong +and solid because of its elegant columns and the magnificent sweep of +its arches, its carved and fretted marbles of matchless hues. + +Our manners, like our characters, are always under inspection. Every +time we go into society we must step on the scales of each person's +opinion, and the loss or gain from our last weight is carefully noted. +Each mentally asks, "Is this person going up or down? Through how many +grades has he passed?" For example, young Brown enters a drawing-room. +All present weigh him in their judgment and silently say, "This young +man is gaining; he is more careful, thoughtful, polite, considerate, +straightforward, industrious." Besides him stands young Jones. It is +evident that he is losing ground rapidly. He is careless, indifferent, +rough, does not look you in the eye, is mean, stingy, snaps at the +servants, yet is over-polite to strangers. + +And so we go through life, tagged with these invisible labels by all +who know us. I sometimes think it would be a great advantage if one +could read these ratings of his associates. We cannot long deceive the +world, for that other self, who ever stands in the shadow of ourselves +holding the scales of justice, that telltale in the soul, rushes to the +eye or into the manner and betrays us. + +But manners, while they are the garb of the gentleman, do not +constitute or finally determine his character. Mere politeness can +never be a substitute for moral excellence, any more than the bark can +take the place of the heart of the oak. It may well indicate the kind +of wood below, but not always whether it be sound or decayed. +Etiquette is but a substitute for good manners and is often but their +mere counterfeit. + +Sincerity is the highest quality of good manners. + +The following recipe is recommended to those who wish to acquire +genuine good manners:-- + +Of Unselfishness, three drachms; + +Of the tincture of Good Cheer, one ounce; + +Of Essence of Heart's-Ease, three drachms; + +Of the Extract of the Rose of Sharon, four ounces; + +Of the Oil of Charity, three drachms, and no scruples; + +Of the Infusion of Common Sense and Tact, one ounce; + +Of the Spirit of Love, two ounces. + +The Mixture to be taken whenever there is the slightest symptom of +selfishness, exclusiveness, meanness, or I-am-better-than-you-ness. + + +Pattern after Him who gave the Golden Rule, and who was the first true +gentleman that ever breathed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AND TIMIDITY FOES TO SUCCESS + +Timid, shy people are morbidly self-conscious; they think too much +about themselves. Their thoughts are always turned inward; they are +always analyzing, dissecting themselves, wondering how they appear and +what people think of them. If these people could only forget +themselves and think of others, they would be surprised to see what +freedom, ease, and grace they would gain; what success in life they +would achieve. + +Timidity, shyness, and self-consciousness belong to the same family. +We usually find all where we find any one of these qualities, and they +are all enemies of peace of mind, happiness, and achievement. No one +has ever done a great thing while his mind was centered upon himself. +We must lose ourselves before we can find ourselves. Self analysis is +valuable only to learn our strength; fatal, if we dwell upon our +weaknesses. + +Thousands of young people are held back from undertaking what they long +to do, and are kept from trying to make real their great life-dreams, +because they are afraid to jostle with the world. They shrink from +exposing their sore spots and sensitive points, which smart from the +lightest touch. Their super-sensitiveness makes cowards of them. + +Over-sensitiveness, whether in man or woman, is really an exaggerated +form of self-consciousness. It is far removed from conceit or +self-esteem, yet it causes one's personality to overshadow everything +else. A sensitive person feels that, whatever he does, wherever he +goes, or whatever he says, he is the center of observation. He +imagines that people are criticizing his movements, making fun at his +expense, or analyzing his character, when they are probably not +thinking of him at all. He does not realize that other people are too +busy and too much interested in themselves and other things to devote +to him any of their time beyond what is absolutely necessary. When he +thinks they are aiming remarks at him, putting slights upon him, or +trying to hold him up to the ridicule of others, they may not be even +conscious of his presence. + +Morbid sensitiveness requires heroic treatment. A sufferer who wishes +to overcome it must take himself in hand as determinedly as he would if +he wished to get control of a quick temper, or to rid himself of a +habit of lying, or stealing, or drinking, or any other defect which +prevented his being a whole man. + +"What shall I do to get rid of it?" asks a victim. Think less of +yourself and more of others. Mingle freely with people. Become +interested in things outside of yourself. Do not brood over what is +said to you, or analyze every simple remark until you magnify it into +something of the greatest importance. Do not have such a low and +unjust estimate of people as to think they are bent on nothing but +hurting the feelings of others, and depreciating and making light of +them on every possible occasion. A man who appreciates himself at his +true value, and who gives his neighbors credit for being at least as +good as he is, cannot be a victim of over-sensitiveness. + +One of the best schools for a sensitive boy is a large business house +in which he will be thrown among strangers who will not handle him with +gloves. In such an environment he will soon learn that everyone has +all he can do to attend to his own business. He will realize that he +must be a man and give and take with the others, or get out. He will +be ashamed to play "cry baby" every time he feels hurt, but will make +up his mind to grin and bear it. Working in competition with other +people, and seeing that exactly the same treatment is given to those +above him as to himself, takes the nonsense out of him. He begins to +see that the world is too busy to bother itself especially about him, +and that, even when people look at him, they are not usually thinking +of him. + +A college course is of inestimable value to a boy or girl of +over-refined sensibilities. Oftentimes, when boys enter college as +freshmen, they are so touchy that their sense of honor is constantly +being hurt and their pride stung by the unconscious thrusts of +classmates and companions. But after they have been in college a term, +and have been knocked about and handled in a rough but good-humored +manner by youths of their own age, they realize that it would be the +most foolish thing in the world to betray resentment. If one shows +that he is hurt, he knows that he will be called the class booby, and +teased unmercifully, so he is simply forced to drop his foolish +sensitiveness. + +Thousands of people are out of positions, and cannot keep places when +they get them, because of this weakness. Many a good business man has +been kept back, or even ruined, by his quickness to take offense, or to +resent a fancied slight. There is many a clergyman, well educated and +able, who is so sensitive that he can not keep a pastorate long. From +his distorted viewpoint some brother or sister in the church is always +hurting him, saying and thinking unkind things, or throwing out hints +and suggestions calculated to injure him in the eyes of the +congregation. + +Many schoolteachers are great sufferers from over-sensitiveness. +Remarks of parents, or school committees, or little bits of gossip +which are reported to them make them feel as if people were sticking +pins in them, metaphorically speaking, all the time. Writers, authors, +and other people with artistic temperaments, are usually very +sensitive. I have in mind a very strong, vigorous editorial writer who +is so prone to take offense that he can not hold a position either on a +magazine or a daily paper. He is cut to the very quick by the +slightest criticism, and regards every suggestion for the improvement +of his work as a personal affront. He always carries about an injured +air, a feeling that he has been imposed upon, which greatly detracts +from an otherwise agreeable personality. + +The great majority of people, no matter how rough in manner or bearing, +are kind-hearted, and would much rather help than hinder a fellowbeing, +but they have all they can do to attend to their own affairs, and have +no time to spend in minutely analyzing the nature and feeling of those +whom they meet in the course of their daily business. In the busy +world of affairs, it is give and take, touch and go, and those who +expect to get on must rid themselves of all morbid sensitiveness. If +they do not, they doom themselves to unhappiness and failure. + +Self-consciousness is a foe to greatness in every line of endeavor. No +one ever does a really great thing until he feels that he is a part of +something greater than himself, until he surrenders to that greater +principle. + +Some of our best writers never found themselves, never touched their +power, until they forgot their rules for construction, their grammar, +their rhetorical arrangement, by losing themselves in their subject. +Then they found their style. + +It is when a writer is so completely carried away with his subject that +he cannot help writing, that he writes naturally. He shows what his +real style is. + +No orator has ever electrified an audience while he was thinking of his +style or was conscious of his rhetoric, or trying to apply the +conventional rules of oratory. It is when the orator's soul is on fire +with his theme, and he forgets his audience, forgets everything but his +subject, that he really does a great thing. + +No painter ever did a great masterpiece when trying to keep all the +rules of his profession, the laws of drawing, of perspective, the +science of color, in his mind. Everything must be swallowed up in his +zeal, fused in the fire of his genius,--then, and then only, can he +really create. + +No singer ever captivated her audience until she forgot herself, until +she was lost in her song. + +Could anything be more foolish and short-sighted than to allow a morbid +sensitiveness to interfere with one's advancement in life? + +I know a young lady with a superb mind and a fine personality, capable +of filling a superior position, who has been kept in a very ordinary +situation for years simply because of her morbid sensitiveness. + +She takes it for granted that if any criticism is made in the +department where she works, it is intended for her, and she "flies off +the handle" over every little remark that she can possibly twist into a +reflection upon herself. + +The result is that she makes it so unpleasant for her employers that +they do not promote her. And she can not understand why she does not +get on faster. + +No one wishes to employ anyone who is so sensitive that he is obliged +to be on his guard every moment lest he wound him or touch a sore spot. +It makes an employer very uncomfortable to feel that those about him +are carrying around an injured air a large part of the time, so that he +never quite knows whether they are in sympathy with him or not. If +anything has gone wrong in his business and he feels vexed, he knows +that he is liable to give offense to these people without ever +intending it. + +A man wants to feel that his employees understand him, and that they +take into consideration the thousand and one little vexations and +happenings which are extremely trying, and that if he does not happen +to approach them with a smiling face, with consideration and +friendliness in his words or commands, they will not take offense. +They will think of his troubles, not their own, if they are wise: they +will forget self, and contribute their zeal to the greater good. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TACT OR COMMON SENSE + +"Who is stronger than thou?" asked Braham; and Force replied +"Address."--VICTOR HUGO. + +Address makes opportunities; the want of it gives them.--BOVEE. + + He'll suit his bearing to the hour, + Laugh, listen, learn, or teach. + ELIZA COOK. + +A man who knows the world will not only make the most of everything he +does know, but of many things he does not know; and will gain more +credit by his adroit mode of hiding his ignorance, than the pedant by +his awkward attempt to exhibit his erudition.--COLTON. + +The art of using moderate abilities to advantage wins praise, and often +acquires more reputation than actual brilliancy.--ROCHEFOUCAULD. + + "Tact clinches the bargain, + Sails out of the bay, + Gets the vote in the Senate, + Spite of Webster or Clay." + + +"I never will surrender to a nigger," said a Confederate officer, when +a colored soldier chased and caught him. "Berry sorry, massa," said +the negro, leveling his rifle; "must kill you den; hain't time to go +back and git a white man." The officer surrendered. + +"When God endowed human beings with brains," says Montesquieu, "he did +not intend to guarantee them." + +When Abraham Lincoln was running for the legislature the first time, on +the platform of the improvement of the Sangamon River, he went to +secure the votes of thirty men who were cradling a wheatfield. They +asked no questions about internal improvements, but only seemed curious +to know whether he had muscle enough to represent them in the +legislature. Lincoln took up a cradle and led the gang around the +field. The whole thirty voted for him. + +"I do not know how it is," said Napoleon in surprise to his cook, "but +at whatever hour I call for my breakfast my chicken is always ready and +always in good condition." This seemed to him the more strange because +sometimes he would breakfast at eight and at other times as late as +eleven. "Sire," said the cook, "the reason is, that every quarter of +an hour I put a fresh chicken down to roast, so that your Majesty is +sure always to have it at perfection." + +Talent in this age is no match for tact. We see its failure +everywhere. Tact will manipulate one talent so as to get more out of +it in a lifetime than ten talents will accomplish without it. "Talent +lies abed till noon; tact is up at six." Talent is power, tact is +skill. Talent knows what to do, tact knows how to do it. + +"Talent is something, but tact is everything. It is not a sixth sense, +but it is like the life of all the five. It is the open eye, the quick +ear, the judging taste, the keen smell, and lively touch; it is the +interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, the +remover of all obstacles." + +The world is full of theoretical, one-sided, impractical men, who have +turned all the energies of their lives into one faculty until they have +developed, not a full-orbed, symmetrical man, but a monstrosity, while +all their other faculties have atrophied and died. We often call these +one-sided men geniuses, and the world excuses their impractical and +almost idiotic conduct in most matters, because they can perform one +kind of work that no one else can do as well. A merchant is excused if +he is a giant in merchandise, though he may be an imbecile in the +drawing-room. Adam Smith could teach the world economy in his "Wealth +of Nations," but he could not manage the finances of his own household. + +Many great men are very impractical even in the ordinary affairs of +life. Isaac Newton could read the secret of creation; but, tired of +rising from his chair to open the door for a cat and her kitten, he had +two holes cut through the panels for them to pass at will, a large hole +for the cat, and a small one for the kitten. Beethoven was a great +musician, but he sent three hundred florins to pay for six shirts and +half a dozen handkerchiefs. He paid his tailor as large a sum in +advance, and yet he was so poor at times that he had only a biscuit and +a glass of water for dinner. He did not know enough of business to cut +the coupon from a bond when he wanted money, but sold the whole +instrument. Dean Swift nearly starved in a country parish where his +more practical classmate Stafford became rich. One of Napoleon's +marshals understood military tactics as well as his chief, but he did +not know men so well, and lacked the other's skill and tact. Napoleon +might fall; but, like a cat, he would fall upon his feet. + +For his argument in the Florida Case, a fee of one thousand dollars in +crisp new bills of large denomination was handed to Daniel Webster as +he sat reading in his library. The next day he wished to use some of +the money, but could not find any of the bills. Years afterward, as he +turned the page of a book, he found a bank-bill without a crease in it. +On turning the next leaf he found another, and so on until he took the +whole amount lost from the places where he had deposited them +thoughtlessly, as he read. Learning of a new issue of gold pieces at +the Treasury, he directed his secretary, Charles Lanman, to obtain +several hundred dollars' worth. A day or two after he put his hand in +his pocket for one, but they were all gone. Webster was at first +puzzled, but on reflection remembered that he had given them away, one +by one, to friends who seemed to appreciate their beauty. + +A professor in mathematics in a New England college, a "book-worm," was +asked by his wife to bring home some coffee. "How much will you have?" +asked the merchant. "Well, I declare, my wife did not say, but I guess +a bushel will do." + +Many a great man has been so absent-minded at times as to seem devoid +of common-sense. + +"The professor is not at home," said his servant who looked out of a +window in the dark and failed to recognize Lessing when the latter +knocked at his own door in a fit of absent-mindedness. "Oh, very +well," replied Lessing. "No matter, I'll call at another time." + +Louis Philippe said he was the only sovereign in Europe fit to govern, +for he could black his own boots. The world is full of men and women +apparently splendidly endowed and highly educated, yet who can scarcely +get a living. + +Not long ago three college graduates were found working on a sheep farm +in Australia, one from Oxford, one from Cambridge, and the other from a +German University,--college men tending brutes! Trained to lead men, +they drove sheep. The owner of the farm was an ignorant, coarse +sheep-raiser. He knew nothing of books or theories, but he knew sheep. +His three hired graduates could speak foreign languages and discuss +theories of political economy and philosophy, but he could make money. +He could talk about nothing but sheep and farm; but he had made a +fortune, while the college men could scarcely get a living. Even the +University could not supply common sense. It was "culture against +ignorance; the college against the ranch; and the ranch beat every +time." + +Do not expect too much from books. Bacon said that studies "teach not +their own use, but that there is a practical wisdom without them, won +by observation." The use of books must be found outside their own +lids. It was said of a great French scholar: "He was drowned in his +talents." Over-culture, without practical experience, weakens a man, +and unfits him for real life. Book education alone tends to make a man +too critical, too self-conscious, timid, distrustful of his abilities, +too fine for the mechanical drudgery of practical life, too highly +polished, and too finely cultured for every day use. + +The culture of books and colleges refines, yet it is often but an +ethical culture, and is gained at the cost of vigor and rugged +strength. Book culture alone tends to paralyze the practical +faculties. The bookworm loses his individuality; his head is filled +with theories and saturated with other men's thoughts. The stamina of +the vigorous mind he brought from the farm has evaporated in college; +and when he graduates, he is astonished to find that he has lost the +power to grapple with men and things, and is therefore out-stripped in +the race of life by the boy who has had no chance, but who, in the +fierce struggle for existence, has developed hard common sense and +practical wisdom. The college graduate often mistakes his crutches for +strength. He inhabits an ideal realm where common sense rarely dwells. +The world cares little for his theories or his encyclopaedic knowledge. +The cry of the age is for practical men. + +"We have been among you several weeks," said Columbus to the Indian +chiefs; "and, although at first you treated us like friends, you are +now jealous of us and are trying to drive us away. You brought us food +in plenty every morning, but now you bring very little and the amount +is less with each succeeding day. The Great Spirit is angry with you +for not doing as you agreed in bringing us provisions. To show his +anger he will cause the sun to be in darkness." He knew that there was +to be an eclipse of the sun, and told the day and hour it would occur, +but the Indians did not believe him, and continued to reduce the supply +of food. + +On the appointed day the sun rose without a cloud, and the Indians +shook their heads, beginning to show signs of open hostility as the +hours passed without a shadow on the face of the sun. But at length a +dark spot was seen on one margin; and, as it became larger, the natives +grew frantic and fell prostrate before Columbus to entreat for help. +He retired to his tent, promising to save them, if possible. About the +time for the eclipse to pass away, he came out and said that the Great +Spirit had pardoned them, and would soon drive away the monster from +the sun if they would never offend him again. They readily promised, +and when the sun had passed out of the shadow they leaped and danced +and sang for joy. Thereafter the Spaniards had all the provisions they +needed. + +"Common sense," said Wendell Phillips, "bows to the inevitable and +makes use of it." + +When Caesar stumbled in landing on the beach of Britain, he instantly +grasped a handful of sand and held it aloft as a signal of triumph, +hiding forever from his followers the ill omen of his threatened fall. + +Goethe, speaking of some comparisons that had been instituted between +himself and Shakespeare, said: "Shakespeare always hits the right nail +on the head at once; but I have to stop and think which is the right +nail, before I hit." + +It has been said that a few pebbles from a brook in the sling of a +David who knows how to send them to the mark are more effective than a +Goliath's spear and a Goliath's strength with a Goliath's clumsiness. + +"Get ready for the redskins!" shouted an excited man as he galloped up +to the log-cabin of the Moore family in Ohio many years ago; "and give +me a fresh horse as soon as you can. They killed a family down the +river last night, and nobody knows where they'll turn up next!" + +"What shall we do?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a pale face. "My husband +went away yesterday to buy our winter supplies, and will not be back +until morning." + +"Husband away? Whew! that's bad! Well, shut up as tight as you can. +Cover up your fire, and don't strike a light to-night." Then springing +upon the horse the boys had brought, he galloped away to warn other +settlers. + +Mrs. Moore carried the younger children to the loft of the cabin, and +left Obed and Joe to watch, reluctantly yielding the post of danger to +them at their urgent request. "They're coming, Joe!" whispered Obed +early in the evening, as he saw several shadows moving across the +fields. "Stand by that window with the axe, while I get the rifle +pointed at this one." Opening the bullet-pouch, he took out a ball, +but nearly fainted as he found it was too large for the rifle. His +father had taken the wrong pouch. Obed felt around to see if there +were any smaller balls in the cupboard, and almost stumbled over a very +large pumpkin, one of the two which he and Joe had been using to make +Jack-o'-lanterns when the messenger alarmed them. Pulling off his +coat, he flung it over the vegetable lantern, made to imitate a +gigantic grinning face, with open eyes, nose, and mouth, and with a +live coal from the ashes he lighted the candle inside. "They'll sound +the war-whoop in a minute, if I give them time," he whispered, as he +raised the covered lantern to the window. "Now for it!" he added, +pulling the coat away. An unearthly yell greeted the appearance of the +grinning monster, and the Indians fled wildly to the woods. "Quick, +Joe! Light up the other one! Don't you see that's what scar't 'em +so?" demanded Obed; and at the appearance of the second fiery face the +savages gave a final yell and vanished in the forest. Mr. Moore and +daylight came together, but the Indians did not return. + +Thurlow Weed earned his first quarter by carrying a trunk on his back +from a sloop in New York harbor to a Broad Street hotel. He had very +few chances such as are now open to the humblest boy, but he had tact +and intuition. He could read men as an open book, and mold them to his +will. He was unselfish. By three presidents whom his tact and +shrewdness had helped to elect he was offered the English mission and +scores of other important positions, but he invariably declined. + +Lincoln selected Weed to attempt the reconciliation of the "New York +Herald," which had a large circulation in Europe, and was creating a +dangerous public sentiment abroad and at home by its articles in +sympathy with the Confederacy. Though Weed and Bennett had not spoken +to each other before for thirty years, the very next day after their +interview the "Herald" became a strong Union paper. Weed was then sent +to Europe to counteract the pernicious influence of secession agents. +The emperor of France favored the South. He was very indignant because +Charleston harbor had been blockaded, thus shutting off French +manufacturers from large supplies of cotton. But Weed's rare tact +modified his views, and induced him to change to friendliness the tone +of a hostile speech prepared for delivery to the National Assembly. +England was working night and day preparing for war when Weed arrived +upon the scene, and soon changed largely the current of public +sentiment. On his return to America the city of New York extended +public thanks to him for his inestimable services. He was equally +successful in business, and acquired a fortune of a million dollars. + +"Tell me the breadth of this stream," said Napoleon to his chief +engineer, as they came to a bridgeless river which the army had to +cross. "Sire, I cannot. My scientific instruments are with the army, +and we are ten miles ahead of it." + +"Measure the width of this stream instantly."--"Sire, be +reasonable!"--"Ascertain at once the width of this river, or you shall +be deposed." + +The engineer drew the cap-piece of his helmet down until the edge +seemed just in line between his eye and the opposite bank; then, +holding himself carefully erect, he turned on his heel and noticed +where the edge seemed to touch the bank on which he stood, which was on +the same level as the other. He paced the distance to the point last +noted, and said: "This is the approximate width of the stream." He was +promoted. + +"Mr. Webster," said the mayor of a Western city, when it was learned +that the great statesman, although weary with travel, would be delayed +for an hour by a failure to make close connections, "allow me to +introduce you to Mr. James, one of our most distinguished citizens." +"How do you do, Mr. James?" asked Webster mechanically, as he glanced +at a thousand people waiting to take his hand. "The truth is, Mr. +Webster," replied Mr. James in a most lugubrious tone, "I am not very +well." "I hope nothing serious is the matter," thundered the godlike +Daniel, in a tone of anxious concern. "Well, I don't know that, Mr. +Webster. I think it's rheumatiz, but my wife----" "Mr. Webster, this +is Mr. Smith," broke in the mayor, leaving poor Mr. James to enjoy his +bad health in the pitiless solitude of a crowd. His total want of tact +had made him ridiculous. + +"Address yourself to the jury, sir," said a judge to a witness who +insisted upon imparting his testimony in a confidential tone to the +court direct. The man did not understand and continued as before. +"Speak to the jury, sir, the men sitting behind you on the raised +benches." Turning, the witness bowed low in awkward suavity, and said, +"Good-morning, gentlemen." + +"What are these?" asked Napoleon, pointing to twelve silver statues in +a cathedral. "The twelve Apostles," was the reply. "Take them down," +said Napoleon, "melt them, coin them into money, and let them go about +doing good, as their Master did." + +"I don't think the Proverbs of Solomon show very great wisdom," said a +student at Brown University; "I could make as good ones myself." "Very +well," replied President Wayland, "bring in two to-morrow morning." He +did not bring them. + +"Will you lecture for us for fame?" was the telegram young Henry Ward +Beecher received from a Young Men's Christian Association in the West. +"Yes, F. A. M. E. Fifty and my expenses," was the answer the shrewd +young preacher sent back. + +Montaigne tells of a monarch who, on the sudden death of an only child, +showed his resentment against Providence by abolishing the Christian +religion throughout his dominions for a fortnight. + +The triumphs of tact, or common sense, over talent and genius, are seen +everywhere. Walpole was an ignorant man, and Charlemagne could hardly +write his name so that it could be deciphered; but these giants knew +men and things, and possessed that practical wisdom and tact which have +ever moved the world. + +Tact, like Alexander, cuts the knots it cannot untie, and leads its +forces to glorious victory. A practical man not only sees, but seizes +the opportunity. There is a certain getting-on quality difficult to +describe, but which is the great winner of the prizes of life. +Napoleon could do anything in the art of war with his own hands, even +to the making of gunpowder. Paul was all things to all men, that he +might save some. The palm is among the hardest and least yielding of +all woods, yet rather than be deprived of the rays of the life-giving +sun in the dense forests of South America, it is said to turn into a +creeper, and climb the nearest trunk to the light. + +A farmer who could not get a living sold one half of his farm to a +young man who made enough money on the half to pay for it and buy the +rest. "You have not tact," was his reply, when the old man asked how +one could succeed so well where the other had failed. + +According to an old custom a Cape Cod minister was called upon in April +to make a prayer over a piece of land. "No," said he, when shown the +land, "this does not need a prayer; it needs manure." + +To see a man as he is you must turn him round and round until you get +him at the right angle. Place him in a good light, as you would a +picture. The excellences and defects will appear if you get the right +angle. How our old schoolmates have changed places in the ranking of +actual life! The boy who led his class and was the envy of all has +been distanced by the poor dunce who was called slow and stupid, but +who had a sort of dull energy in him which enabled him to get on in the +world. The class leader had only a theoretical knowledge, and could +not cope with the stern realities of the age. Even genius, however +rapid its flight, must not omit a single essential detail, and must be +willing to work like a horse. + +Shakespeare had marvelous tact; he worked everything into his plays. +He ground up the king and his vassal, the fool and the fop, the prince +and the peasant, the black and the white, the pure and the impure, the +simple and the profound, passions and characters, honor and +dishonor,--everything within the sweep of his vision he ground up into +paint and spread it upon his mighty canvas. + +Some people show want of tact in resenting every slight or petty +insult, however unworthy their notice. Others make Don Quixote's +mistake of fighting a windmill by engaging in controversies with public +speakers and editors, who are sure to have the advantage of the final +word. One of the greatest elements of strength in the character of +Washington was found in his forbearance when unjustly attacked or +ridiculed. + +Artemus Ward touches this bubble with a pretty sharp-pointed pen. + +"It was in a surtin town in Virginny, the Muther of Presidents and +things, that I was shaimfully aboozed by a editer in human form. He +set my Show up steep, and kalled me the urbane and gentlemunly manager, +but when I, fur the purpuss of showin' fair play all round, went to +anuther offiss to get my handbills printed, what duz this +pussillanermus editer do but change his toon and abooze me like a +injun. He sed my wax-wurks was a humbug, and called me a horey-heded +itinerent vagabone. I thort at fust Ide pollish him orf ar-lar Beneki +Boy, but on reflectin' that he cood pollish me much wuss in his paper, +I giv it up; and I wood here take occashun to advise people when they +run agin, as they sumtimes will, these miserable papers, to not pay no +attenshun to um. Abuv all, don't assault a editer of this kind. It +only gives him a notorosity, which is jist what he wants, and don't do +you no more good than it would to jump into enny other mudpuddle. +Editors are generally fine men, but there must be black sheep in every +flock." + +John Jacob Astor had practical talent in a remarkable degree. During a +storm at sea, on his voyage to America, the other passengers ran about +the deck in despair, expecting every minute to go down; but young Astor +went below and coolly put on his best suit of clothes, saying that if +the ship should founder and he should happen to be rescued, he would at +least save his best suit of clothes. + +"Their trading talent is bringing the Jews to the front in America as +well as in Europe," said a traveler to one of that race; "and it has +gained for them an ascendency, at least in certain branches of trade, +from which nothing will ever displace them." + +"Dey are coming to de vront, most zairtainly," replied his companion; +"but vy do you shpeak of deir drading dalent all de time?" + +"But don't you regard it as a talent?" + +"A dalent? No! It is chenius. I vill dell you what is de difference, +in drade, between dalent and chenius. Ven one goes into a man's shtore +and manaches to seel him vat he vonts, dat is dalent; but ven annoder +man goes into dat man's shtore and sells him vot he don't vont, dat is +chenius; and dat is de chenius vot my race has got." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ENAMORED OF ACCURACY + + "Antonio Stradivari has an eye + That winces at false work and loves the true." + +Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty.--C. SIMMONS. + +Genius is the infinite art of taking pains.--CARLYLE. + +I hate a thing done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly; if it be +wrong, leave it undone.--GILPIN. + + If I were a cobbler, it would be my pride + The best of all cobblers to be; + If I were a tinker, no tinker beside + Should mend an old kettle like me. + OLD SONG. + +If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a +better mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the +woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.--EMERSON. + + +"Sir, it is a watch which I have made and regulated myself," said +George Graham of London to a customer who asked how far he could depend +upon its keeping correct time; "take it with you wherever you please. +If after seven years you come back to see me, and can tell me there has +been a difference of five minutes, I will return you your money." +Seven years later the gentleman returned from India. "Sir," said he, +"I bring you back your watch." + +"I remember our conditions," said Graham. "Let me see the watch. +Well, what do you complain of?" "Why," said the man, "I have had it +seven years, and there is a difference of more than five minutes." + +"Indeed! In that case I return you your money." "I would not part +with my watch," said the man, "for ten times the sum I paid for it." +"And I would not break my word for any consideration," replied Graham; +so he paid the money and took the watch, which he used as a regulator. + +He learned his trade of Tampion, the most exquisite mechanic in London, +if not in the world, whose name on a timepiece was considered proof +positive of its excellence. When a person once asked him to repair a +watch upon which his name was fraudulently engraved, Tampion smashed it +with a hammer, and handed the astonished customer one of his own +master-pieces, saying, "Sir, here is a watch of my making." + +Graham invented the "compensating mercury pendulum," the "dead +escapement," and the "orrery," none of which have been much improved +since. The clock which he made for Greenwich Observatory has been +running one hundred and fifty years, yet it needs regulating but once +in fifteen months. Tampion and Graham lie in Westminster Abbey, +because of the accuracy of their work. + +To insure safety, a navigator must know how far he is from the equator, +north or south, and how far east or west of some known point, as +Greenwich, Paris, or Washington. He could be sure of this knowledge +when the sun is shining, if he could have an absolutely accurate +timekeeper; but such a thing has not yet been made. In the sixteenth +century Spain offered a prize of a thousand crowns for the discovery of +an approximately correct method of determining longitude. About two +hundred years later the English government offered 5,000 pounds for a +chronometer by which a ship six months from home could get her +longitude within sixty miles; 7,500 pounds if within forty miles; +10,000 pounds if within thirty miles; and in another clause 20,000 +pounds for correctness within thirty miles, a careless repetition. + +The watchmakers of the world contested for the prizes, but 1761 came, +and they had not been awarded. In that year John Harrison asked for a +test of his chronometer. In a trip of one hundred and forty-seven days +from Portsmouth to Jamaica and back, it varied less than two minutes, +and only four seconds on the outward voyage. In a round trip of one +hundred and fifty-six days to Barbadoes, the variation was only fifteen +seconds. The 20,000 pounds was paid to the man who had worked and +experimented for forty years, and whose hand was as exquisitely +delicate in its movement as the mechanism of his chronometer. + +"Make me as good a hammer as you know how," said a carpenter to the +blacksmith in a New York village before the first railroad was built; +"six of us have come to work on the new church, and I've left mine at +home." "As good a one as I know how?" asked David Maydole, doubtfully, +"but perhaps you don't want to pay for as good a one as I know how to +make." "Yes, I do," said the carpenter, "I want a good hammer." + +It was indeed a good hammer that he received, the best, probably, that +had ever been made. By means of a longer hole than usual, David had +wedged the handle in its place so that the head could not fly off, a +wonderful improvement in the eyes of the carpenter, who boasted of his +prize to his companions. They all came to the shop next day, and each +ordered just such a hammer. When the contractor saw the tools, he +ordered two for himself, asking that they be made a little better than +those of his men. "I can't make any better ones," said Maydole; "when +I make a thing, I make it as well as I can, no matter whom it is for." + +The storekeeper soon ordered two dozen, a supply unheard of in his +previous business career. A New York dealer in tools came to the +village to sell his wares, and bought all the storekeeper had, and left +a standing order for all the blacksmith could make. David might have +grown very wealthy by making goods of the standard already attained; +but throughout his long and successful life he never ceased to study +still further to perfect his hammers in the minutest detail. They were +usually sold without any warrant of excellence, the word "Maydole" +stamped on the head being universally considered a guaranty of the best +article the world could produce. + +Character is power, and is the best advertisement in the world. + +"We have no secret," said the manager of an iron works employing +thousands of men. "We always try to beat our last batch of rails. +That is all the secret we've got, and we don't care who knows it." + +"I don't try to see how cheap a machine I can produce, but how good a +machine," said the late John C. Whitin, of Northbridge, Mass., to a +customer who complained of the high price of some cotton machinery. +Business men soon learned what this meant; and when there was occasion +to advertise any machinery for sale, New England cotton manufacturers +were accustomed to state the number of years it had been in use and +add, as an all-sufficient guaranty of Northbridge products, "Whitin +make." + +"Madam," said the sculptor H. K. Brown, as he admired a statue in +alabaster made by a youth in his teens, "this boy has something in +him." It was the figure of an Irishman who worked for the Ward family +in Brooklyn years ago, and gave with minutest fidelity not merely the +man's features and expression, but even the patches in his trousers, +the rent in his coat, and the creases in his narrow-brimmed stove-pipe +hat. Mr. Brown saw the statue at the house of a lady living at +Newburgh-on-the-Hudson. Six years later he invited her brother, J. Q. +A. Ward, to become a pupil in his studio. To-day the name of Ward is +that of the most prosperous of all Americans sculptors. + +"Paint me just as I am, warts and all," said Oliver Cromwell to the +artist who, thinking to please the great man, had omitted a mole. + +"I can remember when you blacked my father's shoes," said one member of +the House of Commons to another in the heat of debate. "True enough," +was the prompt reply, "but did I not black them well?" + +"It is easy to tell good indigo," said an old lady. "Just take a lump +and put it into water, and if it is good, it will either sink or swim, +I am not sure which; but never mind, you can try it for yourself." + +John B. Gough told of a colored preacher who, wishing his congregation +to fresco the recess back of the pulpit, suddenly closed his Bible and +said, "There, my bredren, de Gospel will not be dispensed with any more +from dis pulpit till de collection am sufficient to fricassee dis +abscess." + +When troubled with deafness, Wellington consulted a celebrated +physician, who put strong caustic into his ear, causing an inflammation +which threatened his life. The doctor apologized, expressed great +regrets, and said that the blunder would ruin him. "No," said +Wellington, "I will never mention it." "But you will allow me to +attend you, so that people will not withdraw their confidence?" "No," +said the Iron Duke, "that would be lying." + +"Father," said a boy, "I saw an immense number of dogs--five hundred, I +am sure--in our street, last night." "Surely not so many," said the +father. "Well, there were one hundred, I'm quite sure." "It could not +be," said the father; "I don't think there are a hundred dogs in our +village." "Well, sir, it could not be less than ten: this I am quite +certain of." "I will not believe you saw ten even," said the father; +"for you spoke as confidently of seeing five hundred as of seeing this +smaller number. You have contradicted yourself twice already, and now +I cannot believe you." "Well, sir," said the disconcerted boy, "I saw +at least our Dash and another one." + +We condemn the boy for exaggerating in order to tell a wonderful story; +but how much more truthful are they who "never saw it rain so before," +or who call day after day the hottest of the summer or the coldest of +the winter? + +There is nothing which all mankind venerate and admire so much as +simple truth, exempt from artifice, duplicity, and design. It exhibits +at once a strength of character and integrity of purpose in which all +are willing to confide. + +To say nice things merely to avoid giving offense; to keep silent +rather than speak the truth; to equivocate, to evade, to dodge, to say +what is expedient rather than what is truthful; to shirk the truth; to +face both ways; to exaggerate; to seem to concur with another's +opinions when you do not; to deceive by a glance of the eye, a nod of +the head, a smile, a gesture; to lack sincerity; to assume to know or +think or feel what you do not--all these are but various manifestations +of hollowness and falsehood resulting from want of accuracy. + +We find no lying, no inaccuracy, no slipshod business in nature. Roses +blossom and crystals form with the same precision of tint and angle +to-day as in Eden on the morning of creation. The rose in the queen's +garden is not more beautiful, more fragrant, more exquisitely perfect, +than that which blooms and blushes unheeded amid the fern-decked brush +by the roadside, or in some far-off glen where no human eye ever sees +it. The crystal found deep in the earth is constructed with the same +fidelity as that formed above ground. Even the tiny snowflake whose +destiny is to become an apparently insignificant and a wholly unnoticed +part of an enormous bank, assumes its shape of ethereal beauty as +faithfully as though preparing for some grand exhibition. Planets rush +with dizzy sweep through almost limitless courses, yet return to +equinox or solstice at the appointed second, their very movement being +"the uniform manifestation of the will of God." + +The marvelous resources and growth of America have developed an +unfortunate tendency to overstate, overdraw, and exaggerate. It seems +strange that there should be so strong a temptation to exaggerate in a +country where the truth is more wonderful than fiction. The positive +is stronger than the superlative, but we ignore this fact in our +speech. Indeed, it is really difficult to ascertain the exact truth in +America. How many American fortunes are built on misrepresentation +that is needless, for nothing else is half so strong as truth. + +"Does the devil lie?" was asked of Sir Thomas Browne. "No, for then +even he could not exist." Truth is necessary to permanency. + +In Siberia a traveler found men who could see the satellites of Jupiter +with the naked eye. These men have made little advance in +civilization, yet they are far superior to us in their accuracy of +vision. It is a curious fact that not a single astronomical discovery +of importance has been made through a large telescope, the men who have +advanced our knowledge of that science the most working with ordinary +instruments backed by most accurately trained minds and eyes. + +A double convex lens three feet in diameter is worth $60,000. Its +adjustment is so delicate that the human hand is the only instrument +thus far known suitable for giving the final polish, and one sweep of +the hand more than is needed, Alvan Clark says, would impair the +correctness of the glass. During the test of the great glass which he +made for Russia, the workmen turned it a little with their hands. +"Wait, boys, let it cool before making another trial," said Clark; "the +poise is so delicate that the heat from your hands affects it." + +Mr. Clark's love of accuracy has made his name a synonym of exactness +the world over. + +"No, I can't do it, it is impossible," said Webster, when urged to +speak on a question soon to come up, toward the close of a +Congressional session. "I am so pressed with other duties that I +haven't time to prepare myself to speak upon that theme." "Ah, but, +Mr. Webster, you always speak well upon any subject. You never fail." +"But that's the very reason," said the orator, "because I never allow +myself to speak upon any subject without first making that subject +thoroughly my own. I haven't time to do that in this instance. Hence +I must refuse." + +Rufus Choate would plead before a shoemaker justice of the peace in a +petty case with all the fervor and careful attention to detail with +which he addressed the United States Supreme Court. + +"Whatever is right to do," said an eminent writer, "should be done with +our best care, strength, and faithfulness of purpose; we have no scales +by which we can weigh our faithfulness to duties, or determine their +relative importance in God's eyes. That which seems a trifle to us may +be the secret spring which shall move the issues of life and death." + +"There goes a man that has been in hell," the Florentines would say +when Dante passed, so realistic seemed to them his description of the +nether world. + +"There is only one real failure in life possible," said Canon Farrar; +"and that is, not to be true to the best one knows." + +"It is quite astonishing," Grove said of Beethoven, "to find the length +of time during which some of the best known instrumental melodies +remained in his thoughts till they were finally used, or the crude, +vague, commonplace shape in which they were first written down. The +more they are elaborated, the more fresh and spontaneous they become." + +Leonardo da Vinci would walk across Milan to change a single tint or +the slightest detail in his famous picture of the Last Supper. "Every +line was then written twice over by Pope," said his publisher Dodsley, +of manuscript brought to be copied. Gibbon wrote his memoir nine +times, and the first chapters of his history eighteen times. Of one of +his works Montesquieu said to a friend: "You will read it in a few +hours, but I assure you it has cost me so much labor that it has +whitened my hair." He had made it his study by day and his dream by +night, the alpha and omega of his aims and objects. "He who does not +write as well as he can on every occasion," said George Ripley, "will +soon form the habit of not writing well on any occasion." + +An accomplished entomologist thought he would perfect his knowledge by +a few lessons under Professor Agassiz. The latter handed him a dead +fish and told him to use his eyes. Two hours later he examined his new +pupil, but soon remarked, "You haven't really looked at the fish yet. +You'll have to try again." After a second examination he shook his +head, saying, "You do not show that you can use your eyes." This +roused the pupil to earnest effort, and he became so interested in +things he had never noticed before that he did not see Agassiz when he +came for the third examination. "That will do," said the great +scientist. "I now see that you can use your eyes." + +Reynolds said he could go on retouching a picture forever. + +The captain of a Nantucket whaler told the man at the wheel to steer by +the North Star, but was awakened towards morning by a request for +another star to steer by, as they had "sailed by the other." + +Stephen Girard was precision itself. He did not allow those in his +employ to deviate in the slightest degree from his iron-clad orders. +He believed that no great success is possible without the most rigid +accuracy in everything. He did not vary from a promise in the +slightest degree. People knew that his word was not "pretty good," but +_absolutely_ good. He left nothing to chance. Every detail of +business was calculated and planned to a nicety. He was as exact and +precise even in the smallest trifles as Napoleon; yet his brother +merchants attributed his superior success to good luck. + +In 1805 Napoleon broke up the great camp he had formed on the shores of +the English Channel, and gave orders for his mighty host to defile +toward the Danube. Vast and various as were the projects fermenting in +his brain, however, he did not content himself with giving the order, +and leaving the elaboration of its details to his lieutenants. To +details and minutiae which inferior captains would have deemed too +microscopic for their notice, he gave such exhaustive attention that +before the bugle had sounded for the march he had planned the exact +route which every regiment was to follow, the exact day and hour it was +to leave that station, and the precise moment when it was to reach its +destination. These details, so thoroughly premeditated, were carried +out to the letter, and the result of that memorable march was the +victory of Austerlitz, which sealed the fate of Europe for ten years. + +When a noted French preacher speaks in Notre Dame, the scholars of +Paris throng the cathedral to hear his fascinating, eloquent, polished +discourses. This brilliant finish is the result of most patient work, +as he delivers but five or six sermons a year. + +When Sir Walter Scott visited a ruined castle about which he wished to +write, he wrote in a notebook the separate names of grasses and wild +flowers growing near, saying that only by such means can a writer be +natural. + +The historian, Macaulay, never allowed a sentence to stand until it was +as good as he could make it. + +Besides his scrapbooks, Garfield had a large case of some fifty +pigeonholes, labeled "Anecdotes," "Electoral Laws and Commissions," +"French Spoliation," "General Politics," "Geneva Award," +"Parliamentary Decisions," "Public Men," "State Politics," "Tariff," +"The Press," "United States History," etc.; every valuable hint he +could get being preserved in the cold exactness of black and white. +When he chose to make careful preparation on a subject, no other +speaker could command so great an array of facts. Accurate people are +methodical people, and method means character. + +"Am offered 10,000 bushels wheat on your account at $1.00. Shall I +buy, or is it too high?" telegraphed a San Francisco merchant to one in +Sacramento. "No price too high," came back over the wire instead of +"No. Price too high," as was intended. The omission of a period cost +the Sacramento dealer $1,000. How many thousands have lost their +wealth or lives, and how many frightful accidents have occurred through +carelessness in sending messages! + +"The accurate boy is always the favored one," said President Tuttle. +"Those who employ men do not wish to be on the constant lookout, as +though they were rogues or fools. If a carpenter must stand at his +journeyman's elbow to be sure his work is right, or if a cashier must +run over his bookkeeper's columns, he might as well do the work himself +as employ another to do it in that way; and it is very certain that the +employer will get rid of such a blunderer as soon as he can." + +"If you make a good pin," said a successful manufacturer, "you will +earn more than if you make a bad steam-engine." + +"There are women," said Fields, "whose stitches always come out, and +the buttons they sew on fly off on the mildest provocation; there are +other women who use the same needle and thread, and you may tug away at +their work on your coat, or waistcoat, and you can't start a button in +a generation." + +"Carelessness," "indifference," "slouchiness," "slipshod financiering," +could truthfully be written over the graves of thousands who have +failed in life. How many clerks, cashiers, clergymen, editors, and +professors in colleges have lost position and prestige by carelessness +and inaccuracy! + +"You would be the greatest man of your age, Grattan," said Curran, "if +you would buy a few yards of red tape and tie up your bills and +papers." Curran realized that methodical people are accurate, and, as +a rule, successful. + +Bergh tells of a man beginning business who opened and shut his shop +regularly at the same hour every day for weeks, without selling two +cents' worth, yet whose application attracted attention and paved the +way to fortune. + +A. T. Stewart was extremely systematic and precise in all his +transactions. Method ruled in every department of his store, and for +every delinquency a penalty was rigidly enforced. His eye was upon his +business in all its ramifications; he mastered every detail and worked +hard. + +From the time Jonas Chickering began to work for a piano-maker, he was +noted for the pains and care with which he did everything. To him +there were no trifles in the manufacturing of pianos. Neither time nor +labor was of any account to him, compared with accuracy and knowledge. +He soon made pianos in a factory of his own. He determined to make an +instrument yielding the fullest and richest volume of melody with the +least exertion to the player, withstanding atmospheric changes, and +preserving its purity and truthfulness of tone. He resolved that each +piano should be an improvement upon the one which preceded it; +perfection was his aim. To the end of his life he gave the finishing +touch to each of his instruments, and would trust it to no one else. +He permitted no irregularity in workmanship or sales, and was +characterized by simplicity, transparency, and straightforwardness. + +He distanced all competitors. Chickering's name was such a power that +one piano-maker had his name changed to Chickering by the Massachusetts +legislature, and put it on his pianos; but Jonas Chickering sent a +petition to the legislature, and the name was changed back. Character +has a commercial as well as an ethical value. + +Joseph M. W. Turner was intended by his father for a barber, but he +showed such a taste for drawing that a reluctant permission was given +for him to follow art as a profession. He soon became skilful, but as +he lacked means he took anything to do that came in his way, frequently +illustrating guide-books and almanacs. But although the pay was very +small the work was never careless. His labor was worth several times +what he received for it, but the price was increased and work of higher +grade given him simply because men seek the services of those who are +known to be faithful, and employ them in as lofty work as they seem +able to do. And so he toiled upward until he began to employ himself, +his work sure of a market at some price, and the price increasing as +other men began to get glimpses of the transcendent art revealed in his +paintings, an art not fully comprehended even in our day. He surpassed +the acknowledged masters in various fields of landscape work, and left +matchless studies of natural scenery in lines never before attempted. +What Shakespeare is in literature, Turner is in his special field, the +greatest name on record. + +The demand for perfection in the nature of Wendell Phillips was +wonderful. Every word must exactly express the shade of his thought; +every phrase must be of due length and cadence; every sentence must be +perfectly balanced before it left his lips. Exact precision +characterized his style. He was easily the first forensic orator +America has produced. The rhythmical fulness and poise of his periods +are remarkable. + +Alexandre Dumas prepared his manuscript with the greatest care. When +consulted by a friend whose article had been rejected by several +publishers, he advised him to have it handsomely copied by a +professional penman, and then change the title. The advice was taken, +and the article eagerly accepted by one of the very publishers who had +refused it before. Many able essays have been rejected because of poor +penmanship. We must strive after accuracy as we would after wisdom, or +hidden treasure or anything we would attain. Determine to form exact +business habits. Avoid slipshod financiering as you would the plague. +Careless and indifferent habits would soon ruin a millionaire. Nearly +every very successful man is accurate and painstaking. Accuracy means +character, and character is power. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DO IT TO A FINISH + +Years ago a relief lifeboat at New London sprung a leak, and while +being repaired a hammer was found in the bottom that had been left +there by the builders thirteen years before. From the constant motion +of the boat the hammer had worn through the planking, clear down to the +plating. + +Not long since, it was discovered that a girl had served twenty years +for a twenty months' sentence, in a southern prison, because of the +mistake of a court clerk who wrote "years" instead of "months" in the +record of the prisoner's sentence. + +The history of the human race is full of the most horrible tragedies +caused by carelessness and the inexcusable blunders of those who never +formed the habit of accuracy, of thoroughness, of doing things to a +finish. + +Multitudes of people have lost an eye, a leg, or an arm, or are +otherwise maimed, because dishonest workmen wrought deception into the +articles they manufactured, slighted their work, covered up defects and +weak places with paint and varnish. + +How many have lost their lives because of dishonest work, carelessness, +criminal blundering in railroad construction? Think of the tragedies +caused by lies packed in car-wheels, locomotives, steamboat boilers, +and engines; lies in defective rails, ties, or switches; lies in +dishonest labor put into manufactured material by workmen who said it +was good enough for the meager wages they got! Because people were not +conscientious in their work there were flaws in the steel, which caused +the rail or pillar to snap, the locomotive or other machinery to break. +The steel shaft broke in mid-ocean, and the lives of a thousand +passengers were jeopardized because of somebody's carelessness. + +Even before they are completed, buildings often fall and bury the +workmen under their ruins, because somebody was careless, +dishonest--either employer or employee--and worked lies, deceptions, +into the building. + +The majority of railroad wrecks, of disasters on land and sea, which +cause so much misery and cost so many lives, are the result of +carelessness, thoughtlessness, or half-done, botched, blundering work. +They are the evil fruit of the low ideals of slovenly, careless, +indifferent workers. + +Everywhere over this broad earth we see the tragic results of botched +work. Wooden legs, armless sleeves, numberless graves, fatherless and +motherless homes everywhere speak of somebody's carelessness, +somebody's blunders, somebody's habit of inaccuracy. The worst crimes +are not punishable by law. Carelessness, slipshodness, lack of +thoroughness, are crimes against self, against humanity, that often do +more harm than the crimes that make the perpetrator an outcast from +society. Where a tiny flaw or the slightest defect may cost a precious +life, carelessness is as much a crime as deliberate criminality. + +If everybody put his conscience into his work, did it to a complete +finish, it would not only reduce the loss of human life, the mangling +and maiming of men and women, to a fraction of what it is at present, +but it would also give us a higher quality of manhood and womanhood. + +Most young people think too much of quantity, and too little of quality +in their work. They try to do too much, and do not do it well. They +do not realize that the education, the comfort, the satisfaction, the +general improvement, and bracing up of the whole man that comes from +doing one thing absolutely right, from putting the trade-mark of one's +character on it, far outweighs the value that attaches to the doing of +a thousand botched or slipshod jobs. + +We are so constituted that the quality which we put into our life-work +affects everything else in our lives, and tends to bring our whole +conduct to the same level. The entire person takes on the +characteristics of one's usual way of doing things. The habit of +precision and accuracy strengthens the mentality, improves the whole +character. + +On the contrary, doing things in a loose-jointed, slipshod, careless +manner deteriorates the whole mentality, demoralizes the mental +processes, and pulls down the whole life. + +Every half-done or slovenly job that goes out of your hands leaves its +trace of demoralization behind. After slighting your work, after doing +a poor job, you are not quite the same man you were before. You are +not so likely to try to keep up the standard of your work, not so +likely to regard your word as sacred as before. + +The mental and moral effect of half doing, or carelessly doing things; +its power to drag down, to demoralize, can hardly be estimated because +the processes are so gradual, so subtle. No one can respect himself +who habitually botches his work, and when self-respect drops, +confidence goes with it; and when confidence and self-respect have +gone, excellence is impossible. + +It is astonishing how completely a slovenly habit will gradually, +insidiously fasten itself upon the individual and so change his whole +mental attitude as to thwart absolutely his life-purpose, even when he +may think he is doing his best to carry it out. + +I know a man who was extremely ambitious to do something very +distinctive and who had the ability to do it. When he started on his +career he was very exact and painstaking. He demanded the best of +himself--would not accept his second-best in anything. The thought of +slighting his work was painful to him, but his mental processes have so +deteriorated, and he has become so demoralized by the habit which, +after a while, grew upon him, of accepting his second-best, that he now +slights his work without a protest, seemingly without being conscious +of it. He is to-day doing quite ordinary things, without apparent +mortification or sense of humiliation, and the tragedy of it all is, +_he does not know why he has failed_! + +One's ambition and ideals need constant watching and cultivation in +order to keep up to the standards. Many people are so constituted that +their ambition wanes and their ideals drop when they are alone, or with +careless, indifferent people. They require the constant assistance, +suggestion, prodding, or example of others to keep them up to standard. + +How quickly a youth of high ideals, who has been well trained in +thoroughness, often deteriorates when he leaves home and goes to work +for an employer with inferior ideals and slipshod methods! + +The introduction of inferiority into our work is like introducing +subtle poison into the system. It paralyzes the normal functions. +Inferiority is an infection which, like leaven, affects the entire +system. It dulls ideals, palsies the aspiring faculty, stupefies the +ambition, and causes deterioration all along the line. + +The human mechanism is so constituted that whatever goes wrong in one +part affects the whole structure. There is a very intimate relation +between the quality of the work and the quality of the character. Did +you ever notice the rapid decline in a young man's character when he +began to slight his work, to shirk, to slip in rotten hours, rotten +service? + +If you should ask the inmates of our penitentiaries what had caused +their ruin, many of them could trace the first signs of deterioration +to shirking, clipping their hours, deceiving their employers--to +indifferent, dishonest work. + +We were made to be honest. Honesty is our normal expression, and any +departure from it demoralizes and taints the whole character. Honesty +means integrity in everything. It not only means reliability in your +word, but also carefulness, accuracy, honesty in your work. It does +not mean that if only you will not lie with your lips you may lie and +defraud in the quality of your work. Honesty means wholeness, +completeness; it means truth in everything--in deed and in word. +Merely not to steal another's money or goods is not all there is to +honesty. You must not steal another's time, you must not steal his +goods or ruin his property by half finishing or botching your work, by +blundering through carelessness or indifference. Your contract with +your employer means that you will give him your best, and not your +second-best. + +"What a fool you are," said one workman to another, "to take so much +pains with that job, when you don't get much pay for it. 'Get the most +money for the least work,' is my rule, and I get twice as much money as +you do." + +"That may be," replied the other, "but I shall like myself better, I +shall think more of myself, and that is more important to me than +money." + +You will like yourself better when you have the approval of your +conscience. That will be worth more to you than any amount of money +you can pocket through fraudulent, skimped, or botched work. Nothing +else can give you the glow of satisfaction, the electric thrill and +uplift which come from a superbly-done job. Perfect work harmonizes +with the very principles of our being, because we were made for +perfection. It fits our very natures. + +Some one has said: "It is a race between negligence and ignorance as to +which can make the more trouble." + +Many a young man is being kept down by what probably seems a small +thing to him--negligence, lack of accuracy. He never quite finishes +anything he undertakes; he can not be depended upon to do anything +quite right; his work always needs looking over by some one else. +Hundreds of clerks and book-keepers are getting small salaries in poor +positions today because they have never learned to do things absolutely +right. + +A prominent business man says that the carelessness, inaccuracy, and +blundering of employees cost Chicago one million dollars a day. The +manager of a large house in that city, says that he has to station +pickets here and there throughout the establishment in order to +neutralize the evils of inaccuracy and the blundering habit. One of +John Wanamaker's partners says that unnecessary blunders and mistakes +cost that firm twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The dead letter +department of the Post Office in Washington received in one year seven +million pieces of undelivered mail. Of these more than eighty thousand +bore no address whatever. A great many of them were from business +houses. Are the clerks who are responsible for this carelessness +likely to win promotion? + +Many an employee who would be shocked at the thought of telling his +employer a lie with his lips is lying every day in the quality of his +work, in his dishonest service, in the rotten hours he is slipping into +it, in shirking, in his indifference to his employer's interests. It +is just as dishonest to express deception in poor work, in shirking, as +to express it with the lips, yet I have known office-boys, who could +not be induced to tell their employer a direct lie, to steal his time +when on an errand, to hide away during working hours to smoke a +cigarette or take a nap, not realizing, perhaps, that lies can be acted +as well as told and that acting a lie may be even worse than telling +one. + +The man who botches his work, who lies or cheats in the goods he sells +or manufactures, is dishonest with himself as well as with his fellow +men, and must pay the price in loss of self-respect, loss of character, +of standing in his community. + +Yet on every side we see all sorts of things selling for a song because +the maker put no character, no thought into them. Articles of clothing +that look stylish and attractive when first worn, very quickly get out +of shape, and hang and look like old, much-worn garments. Buttons fly +off, seams give way at the slightest strain, dropped stitches are +everywhere in evidence, and often the entire article goes to pieces +before it is worn half a dozen times. + +Everywhere we see furniture which looks all right, but which in reality +is full of blemishes and weaknesses, covered up with paint and varnish. +Glue starts at joints, chairs and bedsteads break down at the slightest +provocation, castors come off, handles pull out, many things "go to +pieces" altogether, even while practically new. + +"Made to sell, not for service," would be a good label for the great +mass of manufactured articles in our markets to-day. + +It is difficult to find anything that is well and honestly made, that +has character, individuality and thoroughness wrought into it. Most +things are just thrown together. This slipshod, dishonest +manufacturing is so general that concerns which turn out products based +upon honesty and truth often win for themselves a world-wide reputation +and command the highest prices. + +There is no other advertisement like a good reputation. Some of the +world's greatest manufacturers have regarded their reputation as their +most precious possession, and under no circumstances would they allow +their names to be put on an imperfect article. Vast sums of money are +often paid for the use of a name, because of its great reputation for +integrity and square dealing. + +There was a time when the names of Graham and Tampion on timepieces +were guarantees of the most exquisite workmanship and of unquestioned +integrity. Strangers from any part of the world could send their +purchase money and order goods from those manufacturers without a doubt +that they would be squarely dealt with. + +Tampion and Graham lie in Westminster Abbey because of the accuracy of +their work--because they refused to manufacture and sell lies. + +When you finish a thing you ought to be able to say to yourself: +"There, I am willing to stand for that piece of work. It is not pretty +well done; it is done as well as I can do it; done to a complete +finish. I will stand for that. I am willing to be judged by it." + +Never be satisfied with "fairly good," "pretty good," "good enough." +Accept nothing short of your best. Put such a quality into your work +that anyone who comes across anything you have ever done will see +character in it, individuality in it, your trade-mark of superiority +upon it. Your reputation is at stake in everything you do, and your +reputation is your capital. You cannot afford to do a poor job, to let +botched work or anything that is inferior go out of your hands. Every +bit of your work, no matter how unimportant or trivial it may seem, +should bear your trade-mark of excellence; you should regard every task +that goes through your hands, every piece of work you touch, as Tampion +regarded every watch that went out of his shop. It must be the very +best you can do, the best that human skill can produce. + +It is just the little difference between the good and the best that +makes the difference between the artist and the artisan. It is just +the little touches after the average man would quit that make the +master's fame. + +Regard your work as Stradivarius regarded his violins, which he "made +for eternity," and not one of which was ever known to come to pieces or +break. Stradivarius did not need any patent on his violins, for no +other violin maker would pay such a price for excellence as he paid; +would take such pains to put his stamp of superiority upon his +instrument. Every "Stradivarius" now in existence is worth from three +to ten thousand dollars, or several times its weight in gold. + +Think of the value such a reputation for thoroughness as that of +Stradivarius or Tampion, such a passion to give quality to your work, +would give you! There is nothing like being enamored of accuracy, +being grounded in thoroughness as a life-principle, of always striving +for excellence. + +No other characteristic makes such a strong impression upon an employer +as the habit of painstaking, carefulness, accuracy. He knows that if a +youth puts his conscience into his work from principle, not from the +standpoint of salary or what he can get for it, but because there is +something in him which refuses to accept anything from himself but the +best, that he is honest and made of good material. + +I have known many instances where advancement hinged upon the little +overplus of interest, of painstaking an employee put into his work, on +his doing a little better than was expected of him. Employers do not +say all they think, but they detect very quickly the earmarks of +superiority. They keep their eye on the employee who has the stamp of +excellence upon him, who takes pains with his work, who does it to a +finish. They know he has a future. + +John D. Rockefeller, Jr., says that the "secret of success is to do the +common duty uncommonly well." The majority of young people do not see +that the steps which lead to the position above them are constructed, +little by little, by the faithful performance of the common, humble, +every-day duties of the position they are now filling. The thing which +you are now doing will unlock or bar the door to promotion. + +Many employees are looking for some great thing to happen that will +give them an opportunity to show their mettle. "What can there be," +they say to themselves, "in this dry routine, in doing these common, +ordinary things, to help me along?" But it is the youth who sees a +great opportunity hidden in just these simple services, who sees a very +uncommon chance in a common situation, a humble position, who gets on +in the world. It is doing things a little better than those about you +do them; being a little neater, a little quicker, a little more +accurate, a little more observant; it is ingenuity in finding new and +more progressive ways of doing old things; it is being a little more +polite, a little more obliging, a little more tactful, a little more +cheerful, optimistic, a little more energetic, helpful, than those +about you that attracts the attention of your employer and other +employers also. + +Many a boy is marked for a higher position by his employer long before +he is aware of it himself. It may be months, or it may be a year +before the opening comes, but when it does come the one who has +appreciated the infinite difference between "good" and "better," +between "fairly good" and "excellent," between what others call "good" +and the best that can be done, will be likely to get the place. + +If there is that in your nature which demands the best and will take +nothing less; if you insist on keeping up your standards in everything +you do, you will achieve distinction in some line provided you have the +persistence and determination to follow your ideal. + +But if you are satisfied with the cheap and shoddy, the botched and +slovenly, if you are not particular about quality in your work, or in +your environment, or in your personal habits, then you must expect to +take second place, to fall back to the rear of the procession. + +People who have accomplished work worth while have had a very high +sense of the way to do things. They have not been content with +mediocrity. They have not confined themselves to the beaten tracks; +they have never been satisfied to do things just as others do them, but +always a little better. They always pushed things that came to their +hands a little higher up, a little farther on. It is this little +higher up, this little farther on, that counts in the quality of life's +work. It is the constant effort to be first-class in everything one +attempts that conquers the heights of excellence. + +It is said that Daniel Webster made the best chowder in his state on +the principle that he would not be second-class in anything. This is a +good resolution with which to start out in your career; never to be +second-class in anything. No matter what you do, try to do it as well +as it can be done. Have nothing to do with the inferior. Do your best +in everything; deal with the best; choose the best; live up to your +best. + +Everywhere we see mediocre or second-class men--perpetual clerks who +will never get away from the yardstick; mechanics who will never be +anything but bunglers, all sorts of people who will never rise above +mediocrity, who will always fill very ordinary positions because they +do not take pains, do not put conscience into their work, do not try to +be first-class. + +Aside from the lack of desire or effort to be first-class, there are +other things that help to make second-class men. Dissipation, bad +habits, neglect of health, failure to get an education, all make +second-class men. A man weakened by dissipation, whose understanding +has been dulled, whose growth has been stunted by self-indulgences, is +a second-class man, if, indeed, he is not third-class. A man who, +through his amusements in his hours of leisure, exhausts his strength +and vitality, vitiates his blood, wears his nerves till his limbs +tremble like leaves in the wind, is only half a man, and could in no +sense be called first-class. + +Everybody knows the things that make for second-class characteristics. +Boys imitate older boys and smoke cigarettes in order to be "smart." +Then they keep on smoking because they have created an appetite as +unnatural as it is harmful. Men get drunk for all sorts of reasons; +but, whatever the reason, they cannot remain first-class men and drink. +Dissipation in other forms is pursued because of pleasure to be +derived, but the surest consequence is that of becoming second-class, +below the standard of the best men for any purpose. + +Every fault you allow to become a habit, to get control over you, helps +to make you second-class, and puts you at a disadvantage in the race +for honor, position, wealth, and happiness. Carelessness as to health +fills the ranks of the inferior. The submerged classes that the +economists talk about are those that are below the high-water mark of +the best manhood and womanhood. Sometimes they are second-rate or +third-rate people because those who are responsible for their being and +their care during their minor years were so before them, but more and +more is it becoming one's own fault if, all through life, he remains +second-class. Education of some sort, and even a pretty good sort, is +possible to practically everyone in our land. Failure to get the best +education available, whether it be in books or in business training, is +sure to relegate one to the ranks of the second-class. + +There is no excuse for incompetence in this age of opportunity; no +excuse for being second-class when it is possible to be first-class, +and when first-class is in demand everywhere. + +Second-class things are wanted only when first-class can't be had. You +wear first-class clothes if you can pay for them, eat first-class +butter, first-class meat, and first-class bread, or, if you don't, you +wish you could. Second-class men are no more wanted than any other +second-class commodity. They are taken and used when the better +article is scarce or is too high-priced for the occasion. For work +that really amounts to anything, first-class men are wanted. If you +make yourself first-class in anything, no matter what your condition or +circumstances, no matter what your race or color, you will be in +demand. If you are a king in your calling, no matter how humble it may +be, nothing can keep you from success. + +The world does not demand that you be a physician, a lawyer, a farmer, +or a merchant; but it does demand that whatever you do undertake, you +will do it right, will do it with all your might and with all the +ability you possess. It demands that you be a master in your line. + +When Daniel Webster, who had the best brain of his time, was asked to +make a speech on some question at the close of a Congressional session, +he replied: "I never allow myself to speak on any subject until I have +made it my own. I haven't time to do that in this case, hence, I must +refuse to speak on the subject." + +Dickens would never consent to read before an audience until he had +thoroughly prepared his selection. + +Balzac, the great French novelist, sometimes worked a week on a single +page. + +Macready, when playing before scant audiences in country theaters in +England, Ireland, and Scotland, always played as if he were before the +most brilliant audiences in the great metropolises of the world. + +Thoroughness characterizes all successful men. Genius is the art of +taking infinite pains. The trouble with many Americans is that they +seem to think they can put any sort of poor, slipshod, half-done work +into their careers and get first-class products. They do not realize +that all great achievement has been characterized by extreme care, +infinite painstaking, even to the minutest detail. No youth can ever +hope to accomplish much who does not have thoroughness and accuracy +indelibly fixed in his life-habit. Slipshodness, inaccuracy, the habit +of half doing things, would ruin the career of a youth with a +Napoleon's mind. + +If we were to examine a list of the men who have left their mark on the +world, we should find that, as a rule, it is not composed of those who +were brilliant in youth, or who gave great promise at the outset of +their careers, but rather of the plodding young men who, if they have +not dazzled by their brilliancy, have had the power of a day's work in +them, who could stay by a task until it was done, and well done; who +have had grit, persistence, common sense, and honesty. + +The thorough boys are the boys that are heard from, and usually from +posts far higher up than those filled by the boys who were too "smart" +to be thorough. One such boy is Elihu Root, now United States Senator. +When he was a boy in the grammar school at Clinton, New York, he made +up his mind that anything he had to study he would keep at until he +mastered it. Although not considered one of the "bright" boys of the +school, his teacher soon found that when Elihu professed to know +anything he knew it through and through. He was fond of hard problems +requiring application and patience. Sometimes the other boys called +him a plodder, but Elihu would only smile pleasantly, for he knew what +he was about. On winter evenings, while the other boys were out +skating, Elihu frequently remained in his room with his arithmetic or +algebra. Mr. Root recently said that if his close application to +problems in his boyhood did nothing else for him, it made him careful +about jumping at conclusions. To every problem there was only one +answer, and patience was the price to be paid for it. Carrying the +principle of "doing everything to a finish" into the law, he became one +of the most noted members of the New York bar, intrusted with vast +interests, and then a member of the President's cabinet. + +William Ellery Channing, the great New England divine, who in his youth +was hardly able to buy the clothes he needed, had a passion for +self-improvement. "I wanted to make the most of myself," he says; "I +was not satisfied with knowing things superficially and by halves, but +tried to get comprehensive views of what I studied." + +The quality which, more than any other, has helped to raise the German +people to their present commanding position in the world, is their +thoroughness. It is giving young Germans a great advantage over both +English and American youths. Every employer is looking for +thoroughness, and German employees, owing to their preeminence in this +respect, the superiority of their training, and the completeness of +their preparation for business, are in great demand to-day in England, +especially in banks and large mercantile houses. + +As a rule, a German who expects to engage in business takes a four +years' course in some commercial school, and after graduation serves +three years' apprenticeship without pay, to his chosen business. + +Thoroughness and reliability, the German's characteristics, are +increasing the power of Germany throughout the civilized world. + +Our great lack is want of thoroughness. How seldom you find a young +man or woman who is willing to prepare for his life-work! A little +education is all they want, a little smattering of books, and then they +are ready for business. + +"Can't wait," "haven't time to be thorough," is characteristic of our +country, and is written on everything--on commerce, on schools, on +society, on churches. We can't wait for a high-school, seminary, or +college education. The boy can't wait to become a youth, nor the youth +to become a man. Young men rush into business with no great reserve of +education or drill; of course, they do poor, feverish work, and break +down in middle life, while many die of old age in the forties. + +Perhaps there is no other country in the world where so much poor work +is done as in America. Half-trained medical students perform bungling +operations, and butcher their patients, because they are not willing to +take time for thorough preparation. Half-trained lawyers stumble +through their cases, and make their clients pay for experience which +the law school should have given. Half-trained clergymen bungle away +in the pulpit, and disgust their intelligent and cultured parishioners. +Many an American youth is willing to stumble through life half prepared +for his work, and then blame society because he is a failure. + +A young man, armed with letters of introduction from prominent men, one +day presented himself before Chief Engineer Parsons, of the Rapid +Transit Commission of New York as a candidate for a position. "What +can you do? Have you any specialty?" asked Mr. Parsons. "I can do +almost anything," answered the young man. "Well," remarked the Chief +Engineer, rising to end the interview, "I have no use for anyone who +can 'almost' do anything. I prefer someone who can actually do one +thing thoroughly." + +There is a great crowd of human beings just outside the door of +proficiency. They can half do a great many things, but can't do any +one thing well, to a finish. They have acquisitions which remain +permanently unavailable because they were not carried quite to the +point of skill; they stopped just short of efficiency. How many people +almost know a language or two, which they can neither write nor speak; +a science or two, whose elements they have not fully mastered; an art +or two, which they can not practise with satisfaction or profit! + +The Patent Office at Washington contains hundreds,--yes, thousands,--of +inventions which are useless simply because they are not quite +practical, because the men who started them lacked the staying quality, +the education, or the ability necessary to carry them to the point of +practicability. + +The world is full of half-finished work,--failures which require only a +little more persistence, a little finer mechanical training, a little +better education, to make them useful to civilization. Think what a +loss it would be if such men as Edison and Bell had not come to the +front and carried to a successful termination the half-finished work of +others! + +Make it a life-rule to give your best to whatever passes through your +hands. Stamp it with your manhood. Let superiority be your +trade-mark, let it characterize everything you touch. This is what +every employer is looking for. It indicates the best kind of brain; it +is the best substitute for genius; it is better capital than cash; it +is a better promoter than friends, or "pulls" with the influential. + +A successful manufacturer says: "If you make a good pin, you will earn +more money than if you make a bad steam engine." "If a man can write a +better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than +his neighbor," says Emerson, "though he build his house in the woods, +the world will make a path to his door." + +Never allow yourself to dwell too much upon what you are getting for +your work. You have something of infinitely greater importance, +greater value, at stake. Your honor, your whole career, your future +success, will be affected by the way you do your work, by the +conscience or lack of it which you put into your job. Character, +manhood and womanhood are at stake, compared with which salary is +nothing. + +Everything you do is a part of your career. If any work that goes out +of your hands is skimped, shirked, bungled, or botched, your character +will suffer. If your work is badly done; if it goes to pieces; if +there is shoddy or sham in it; if there is dishonesty in it, there is +shoddy, sham, dishonesty in your character. We are all of a piece. We +cannot have an honest character, a complete, untarnished career, when +we are constantly slipping rotten hours, defective material and +slipshod service into our work. + +The man who has dealt in shams and inferiority, who has botched his +work all his life, must be conscious that he has not been a real man; +he can not help feeling that his career has been a botched one. + +To spend a life buying and selling lies, dealing in cheap, shoddy +shams, or botching one's work, is demoralizing to every element of +nobility. + +Beecher said he was never again quite the same man after reading +Ruskin. You are never again quite the same man after doing a poor job, +after botching your work. You cannot be just to yourself and unjust to +the man you are working for in the quality of your work, for, if you +slight your work, you not only strike a fatal blow at your efficiency, +but also smirch your character. If you would be a full man, a complete +man, a just man, you must be honest to the core in the quality of your +work. + +No one can be really happy who does not believe in his own honesty. We +are so constituted that every departure from the right, from principle, +causes loss of self-respect, and makes us unhappy. + +Every time we obey the inward law of doing right we hear an inward +approval, the amen of the soul, and every time we disobey it, a protest +or condemnation. + +There is everything in holding a high ideal of your work, for whatever +model the mind holds, the life copies. Whatever your vocation, let +quality be your life-slogan. + +A famous artist said he would never allow himself to look at an +inferior drawing or painting, to do anything that was low or +demoralizing, lest familiarity with it should taint his own ideal and +thus be communicated to his brush. + +Many excuse poor, slipshod work on the plea of lack of time. But in +the ordinary situations of life there is plenty of time to do +everything as it ought to be done. + +There is an indescribable superiority added to the character and fiber +of the man who always and everywhere puts quality into his work. There +is a sense of wholeness, of satisfaction, of happiness, in his life +which is never felt by the man who does not do his level best every +time. He is not haunted by the ghosts or tail ends of half-finished +tasks, of skipped problems; is not kept awake by a troubled conscience. + +When we are trying with all our might to do our level best, our whole +nature improves. Everything looks down when we are going down hill. +Aspiration lifts the life; groveling lowers it. + +Don't think you will never hear from a half-finished job, a neglected +or botched piece of work. It will never die. It will bob up farther +along in your career at the most unexpected moments, in the most +embarrassing situations. It will be sure to mortify you when you least +expect it. Like Banquo's ghost, it will arise at the most unexpected +moments to mar your happiness. A single broken thread in a web of +cloth is traced back to the girl who neglected her work in the factory, +and the amount of damage is deducted from her wages. + +Thousands of people are held back all their lives and obliged to accept +inferior positions because they cannot entirely overcome the handicap +of slipshod habits formed early in life, habits of inaccuracy, of +slovenliness, of skipping difficult problems in school, of slurring +their work, shirking, or half doing it. "Oh, that's good enough, +what's the use of being so awfully particular?" has been the beginning +of a life-long handicap in many a career. + +I was much impressed by this motto, which I saw recently in a great +establishment, "WHERE ONLY THE BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH." What a life-motto +this would be! How it would revolutionize civilization if everyone +were to adopt it and use it; to resolve that, whatever they did only +the best they could do would be good enough, would satisfy them! + +Adopt this motto as yours. Hang it up in your bedroom, in your office +or place of business, put it into your pocket-book, weave it into the +texture of everything you do, and your life-work will be what every +one's should be--A MASTERPIECE. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE REWARD OF PERSISTENCE + +Every noble work is at first impossible.--CARLYLE. + +Victory belongs to the most persevering.--NAPOLEON. + +Success in most things depends on knowing how long it takes to +succeed.--MONTESQUIEU. + +Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance, +and make a seeming impossibility give way.--JEREMY COLLIER. + +"Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." + +The nerve that never relaxes, the eye that never blanches, the thought +that never wanders,--these are the masters of victory.--BURKE. + + +"The pit rose at me!" exclaimed Edmund Kean in a wild tumult of +emotion, as he rushed home to his trembling wife. "Mary, you shall +ride in your carriage yet, and Charles shall go to Eton!" He had been +so terribly in earnest with the study of his profession that he had at +length made a mark on his generation. He was a little dark man with a +voice naturally harsh, but he determined, when young, to play the +character of Sir Giles Overreach, in Massinger's drama, as no other man +had ever played it. By a persistency that nothing seemed able to +daunt, he so trained himself to play the character that his success, +when it did come, was overwhelming, and all London was at his feet. + +"I am sorry to say that I don't think this is in your line," said +Woodfall the reporter, after Sheridan had made his first speech in +Parliament. "You would better have stuck to your former pursuits." +With head on his hand Sheridan mused for a time, then looked up and +said, "It is in me, and it shall come out of me." From the same man +came that harangue against Warren Hastings which the orator Fox called +the best speech ever made in the House of Commons. + +"I had no other books than heaven and earth, which are open to all," +said Bernard Palissy, who left his home in the south of France in 1828, +at the age of eighteen. Though only a glass-painter, he had the soul +of an artist. The sight of an elegant Italian cup disturbed his whole +existence and from that moment the determination to discover the enamel +with which it was glazed possessed him like a passion. For months and +years he tried all kinds of experiments to learn the materials of which +the enamel was compounded. He built a furnace, which was a failure, +and then a second, burning so much wood, spoiling so many drugs and +pots of common earthenware, and losing so much time, that poverty +stared him in the face, and he was forced, from lack of ability to buy +fuel, to try his experiments in a common furnace. Flat failure was the +result, but he decided on the spot to begin all over again, and soon +had three hundred pieces baking, one of which came out covered with +beautiful enamel. + +To perfect his invention he next built a glass-furnace, carrying the +bricks on his back. At length the time came for a trial; but, though +he kept the heat up six days, his enamel would not melt. His money was +all gone, but he borrowed some, and bought more pots and wood, and +tried to get a better flux. When next he lighted his fire, he attained +no result until his fuel was gone. Tearing off the palings of his +garden fence, he fed them to the flames, but in vain. His furniture +followed to no purpose. The shelves of his pantry were then broken up +and thrown into the furnace; and the great burst of heat melted the +enamel. The grand secret was learned. Persistence had triumphed again. + +"If you work hard two weeks without selling a book," wrote a publisher +to an agent, "you will make a success of it." + +"Know thy work and do it," said Carlyle; "and work at it like a +Hercules." + +"Whoever is resolved to excel in painting, or, indeed, in any other +art," said Reynolds, "must bring all his mind to bear upon that one +object from the moment that he rises till he goes to bed." + +"I have no secret but hard work," said Turner, the painter. + +"The man who is perpetually hesitating which of two things he will do +first," said William Wirt, "will do neither. The man who resolves, but +suffers his resolution to be changed by the first counter-suggestion of +a friend--who fluctuates from opinion to opinion, from plan to plan, +and veers like a weather-cock to every point of the compass, with every +breath of caprice that blows,--can never accomplish anything great or +useful. Instead of being progressive in anything, he will be at best +stationary, and, more probably, retrograde in all." + +Perseverance built the pyramids on Egypt's plains, erected the gorgeous +temple at Jerusalem, inclosed in adamant the Chinese Empire, scaled the +stormy, cloud-capped Alps, opened a highway through the watery +wilderness of the Atlantic, leveled the forests of the new world, and +reared in its stead a community of states and nations. Perseverance +has wrought from the marble block the exquisite creations of genius, +painted on canvas the gorgeous mimicry of nature, and engraved on a +metallic surface the viewless substance of the shadow. Perseverance +has put in motion millions of spindles, winged as many flying shuttles, +harnessed thousands of iron steeds to as many freighted cars, and set +them flying from town to town and nation to nation, tunneled mountains +of granite, and annihilated space with the lightning's speed. It has +whitened the waters of the world with the sails of a hundred nations, +navigated every sea and explored every land. It has reduced nature in +her thousand forms to as many sciences, taught her laws, prophesied her +future movements, measured her untrodden spaces, counted her myriad +hosts of worlds, and computed their distances, dimensions, and +velocities. + +The slow penny is surer than the quick dollar. The slow trotter will +out-travel the fleet racer. Genius darts, flutters, and tires; but +perseverance wears and wins. The all-day horse wins the race. The +afternoon-man wears off the laurels. The last blow drives home the +nail. + +"Are your discoveries often brilliant intuitions?" asked a reporter of +Thomas A. Edison. "Do they come to you while you are lying awake +nights?" + +"I never did anything worth doing by accident," was the reply, "nor did +any of my inventions come indirectly through accident, except the +phonograph. No, when I have fully decided that a result is worth +getting I go ahead on it and make trial after trial until it comes. I +have always kept strictly within the lines of commercially useful +inventions. I have never had any time to put on electrical wonders, +valuable simply as novelties to catch the popular fancy. _I like it_," +continued the great inventor. "I don't know any other reason. +Anything I have begun is always on my mind, and I am not easy while +away from it until it is finished." + +[Illustration: Thomas Alva Edison] + +A man who thus gives himself wholly to his work is certain to +accomplish something; and if he have ability and common sense, his +success will be great. + +How Bulwer wrestled with the fates to change his apparent destiny! His +first novel was a failure; his early poems were failures; and his +youthful speeches provoked the ridicule of his opponents. But he +fought his way to eminence through ridicule and defeat. + +Gibbon worked twenty years on his "Decline and Fall of the Roman +Empire." Noah Webster spent thirty-six years on his dictionary. What +a sublime patience he showed in devoting a life to the collection and +definition of words! George Bancroft spent twenty-six years on his +"History of the United States." Newton rewrote his "Chronology of +Ancient Nations" fifteen times. Titian wrote to Charles V.: "I send +your majesty the Last Supper, after working on it almost daily for +seven years." He worked on his Pietro Martyn eight years. George +Stephenson was fifteen years perfecting his locomotive; Watt, twenty +years on his condensing engine. Harvey labored eight long years before +he published his discovery of the circulation of the blood. He was +then called a crack-brained impostor by his fellow physicians. Amid +abuse and ridicule he waited twenty-five years before his great +discovery was recognized by the profession. + +Newton discovered the law of gravitation before he was twenty-one, but +one slight error in a measurement of the earth's circumference +interfered with a demonstration of the correctness of his theory. +Twenty years later he corrected the error, and showed that the planets +roll in their orbits as a result of the same law which brings an apple +to the ground. + +Sothern, the great actor, said that the early part of his theatrical +career was spent in getting dismissed for incompetency. + +"Never depend upon your genius," said John Ruskin, in the words of +Joshua Reynolds; "if you have talent, industry will improve it; if you +have none, industry will supply the deficiency." + +Savages believe that when they conquer an enemy, his spirit enters into +them, and fights for them ever afterwards. So the spirit of our +conquests enters us, and helps us to win the next victory. + +Bluecher may have been routed at Ligny yesterday, but to-day you hear +the thunder of his guns at Waterloo hurling dismay and death among his +former conquerors. + +Opposing circumstances create strength. Opposition gives us greater +power of resistance. To overcome one barrier gives us greater ability +to overcome the next. + +In February, 1492, a poor gray-haired man, his head bowed with +discouragement almost to the back of his mule, rode slowly out through +the beautiful gateway of the Alhambra. From boyhood he had been +haunted with the idea that the earth is round. He believed that the +piece of carved wood picked up four hundred miles at sea and the bodies +of two men unlike any other human beings known, found on the shores of +Portugal, had drifted from unknown lands in the west. But his last +hope of obtaining aid for a voyage of discovery had failed. King John +of Portugal, while pretending to think of helping him, had sent out +secretly an expedition of his own. + +He had begged bread, drawn maps and charts to keep from starving; he +had lost his wife; his friends had called him crazy, and forsaken him. +The council of wise men called by Ferdinand and Isabella ridiculed his +theory of reaching the east by sailing west. + +"But the sun and moon are round," said Columbus, "why not the earth?" + +"If the earth is a ball, what holds it up?" asked the wise men. + +"What holds the sun and moon up?" inquired Columbus. + +"But how can men walk with their heads hanging down, and their feet up, +like flies on a ceiling?" asked a learned doctor; "how can trees grow +with their roots in the air?" + +"The water would run out of the ponds and we should fall off," said +another philosopher. + +"This doctrine is contrary to the Bible, which says, 'The heavens are +stretched out like a tent:'--of course it is flat; it is rank heresy to +say it is round," said a priest. + +Columbus left the Alhambra in despair, intending to offer his services +to Charles VII., but he heard a voice calling his name. An old friend +had told Isabella that it would add great renown to her reign at a +trifling expense if what the sailor believed should prove true. "It +shall be done," said Isabella, "I will pledge my jewels to raise the +money. Call him back." + +Columbus turned and with him turned the world. Not a sailor would go +voluntarily; so the king and queen compelled them. Three days out, in +his vessels scarcely larger than fishing-schooners, the _Pinta_ floated +a signal of distress for a broken rudder. Terror seized the sailors, +but Columbus calmed their fears with pictures of gold and precious +stones from India. Two hundred miles west of the Canaries, the compass +ceased to point to the North Star. The sailors are ready to mutiny, +but he tells them the North Star is not exactly north. Twenty-three +hundred miles from home, though he tells them it is but seventeen +hundred, a bush with berries floats by, land birds fly near, and they +pick up a piece of wood curiously carved. On October 12, Columbus +raised the banner of Castile over the western world. + +"How hard I worked at that tremendous shorthand, and all improvement +appertaining to it," said Dickens. "I will only add to what I have +already written of my perseverance at this time of my life, and of a +patient and continuous energy which then began to be matured." + +Cyrus W. Field had retired from business with a large fortune when he +became possessed with the idea that by means of a cable laid upon the +bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, telegraphic communication could be +established between Europe and America. He plunged into the +undertaking with all the force of his being. The preliminary work +included the construction of a telegraph line one thousand miles long, +from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland. Through four hundred miles +of almost unbroken forest they had to build a road as well as a +telegraph line across Newfoundland. Another stretch of one hundred and +forty miles across the island of Cape Breton involved a great deal of +labor, as did the laying of a cable across the St. Lawrence. + +By hard work he secured aid for his company from the British +government, but in Congress he encountered such bitter opposition from +a powerful lobby that his measure only had a majority of one in the +Senate. The cable was loaded upon the _Agamemnon_, the flag ship of +the British fleet at Sebastopol, and upon the _Niagara_, a magnificent +new frigate of the United States Navy; but, when five miles of cable +had been paid out, it caught in the machinery and parted. On the +second trial, when two hundred miles at sea, the electric current was +suddenly lost, and men paced the decks nervously and sadly, as if in +the presence of death. Just as Mr. Field was about to give the order +to cut the cable, the current returned as quickly and mysteriously as +it had disappeared. The following night, when the ship was moving but +four miles an hour and the cable running out at the rate of six miles, +the brakes were applied too suddenly just as the steamer gave a heavy +lurch, breaking the cable. + +Field was not the man to give up. Seven hundred miles more of cable +were ordered, and a man of great skill was set to work to devise a +better machine for paying out the long line. American and British +inventors united in making a machine. At length in mid-ocean the two +halves of the cable were spliced and the steamers began to separate, +the one headed for Ireland, the other for Newfoundland, each running +out the precious thread, which, it was hoped, would bind two continents +together. Before the vessels were three miles apart, the cable parted. +Again it was spliced, but when the ships were eighty miles apart, the +current was lost. A third time the cable was spliced and about two +hundred miles paid out, when it parted some twenty feet from the +_Agamemnon_, and the vessels returned to the coast of Ireland. + +Directors were disheartened, the public skeptical, capitalists were +shy, and but for the indomitable energy and persuasiveness of Mr. +Field, who worked day and night almost without food or sleep, the whole +project would have been abandoned. Finally a third attempt was made, +with such success that the whole cable was laid without a break, and +several messages were flashed through nearly seven hundred leagues of +ocean, when suddenly the current ceased. + +Faith now seemed dead except in the breast of Cyrus W. Field, and one +or two friends, yet with such persistence did they work that they +persuaded men to furnish capital for yet another trial even against +what seemed their better judgment. A new and superior cable was loaded +upon the _Great Eastern_, which steamed slowly out to sea, paying out +as she advanced. Everything worked to a charm until within six hundred +miles of Newfoundland, when the cable snapped and sank. After several +attempts to raise it, the enterprise was abandoned for a year. + +Not discouraged by all these difficulties, Mr. Field went to work with +a will, organized a new company, and made a new cable far superior to +anything before used, and on July 13, 1866, was begun the trial which +ended with the following message sent to New York:-- + + +"HEART'S CONTENT, July 27. + +"We arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank God! +the cable is laid and is in perfect working order. + +"CYRUS W. FIELD." + + +The old cable was picked up, spliced, and continued to Newfoundland, +and the two are still working, with good prospects for usefulness for +many years. + +In Revelation we read: "He that overcometh, I will give him to sit down +with me on my throne." + +Successful men, it is said, owe more to their perseverance than to +their natural powers, their friends, or the favorable circumstances +around them. Genius will falter by the side of labor, great powers +will yield to great industry. Talent is desirable, but perseverance is +more so. + +"How long did it take you to learn to play?" asked a young man of +Geradini. "Twelve hours a day for twenty years," replied the great +violinist. Lyman Beecher when asked how long it took him to write his +celebrated sermon on the "Government of God," replied, "About forty +years." + +A Chinese student, discouraged by repeated failures, had thrown away +his book in despair, when he saw a poor woman rubbing an iron bar on a +stone to make a needle. This example of patience sent him back to his +studies with a new determination, and he became one of the three +greatest scholars of China. + +Malibran said: "If I neglect my practice a day, I see the difference in +my execution; if for two days, my friends see it; and if for a week, +all the world knows my failure." Constant, persistent struggle she +found to be the price of her marvelous power. + +When an East India boy is learning archery, he is compelled to practise +three months drawing the string to his ear before he is allowed to +touch an arrow. + +Benjamin Franklin had this tenacity of purpose in a wonderful degree. +When he started in the printing business in Philadelphia, he carried +his material through the streets on a wheelbarrow. He hired one room +for his office, work-room, and sleeping-room. He found a formidable +rival in the city and invited him to his room. Pointing to a piece of +bread from which he had just eaten his dinner, he said: "Unless you can +live cheaper than I can you can not starve me out." + +All are familiar with the misfortune of Carlyle while writing his +"History of the French Revolution." After the first volume was ready +for the press, he loaned the manuscript to a neighbor who left it lying +on the floor, and the servant girl took it to kindle the fire. It was +a bitter disappointment, but Carlyle was not the man to give up. After +many months of poring over hundreds of volumes of authorities and +scores of manuscripts, he reproduced that which had burned in a few +minutes. + +Audubon, the naturalist, had spent two years with his gun and note-book +in the forests of America, making drawings of birds. He nailed them +all up securely in a box and went off on a vacation. When he returned +he opened the box only to find a nest of Norwegian rats in his +beautiful drawings. Every one was ruined. It was a terrible +disappointment, but Audubon took his gun and note-book and started for +the forest. He reproduced his drawings, and they were even better than +the first. + +When Dickens was asked to read one of his selections in public he +replied that he had not time, for he was in the habit of reading the +same piece every day for six months before reading it in public. "My +own invention," he says, "such as it is, I assure you, would never have +served me as it has but for the habit of commonplace, humble, patient, +toiling attention." + +Addison amassed three volumes of manuscript before he began the +"Spectator." + +Everyone admires a determined, persistent man. Marcus Morton ran +sixteen times for governor of Massachusetts. At last his opponents +voted for him from admiration of his pluck, and he was elected by a +majority of one! Such persistence always triumphs. + +Webster declared that when a pupil at Phillips Exeter Academy he never +could declaim before the school. He said he committed piece after +piece and rehearsed them in his room, but when he heard his name called +in the academy and all eyes turned towards him the room became dark and +everything he ever knew fled from his brain; but he became the great +orator of America. Indeed, it is doubtful whether Demosthenes himself +surpassed his great reply to Hayne in the United States Senate. +Webster's tenacity was illustrated by a circumstance which occurred in +the academy. The principal punished him for shooting pigeons by +compelling him to commit one hundred lines of Vergil. He knew the +principal was to take a certain train that afternoon, so he went to his +room and learned seven hundred lines. He went to recite them to the +principal just before train time. After repeating the hundred lines he +continued until he had recited two hundred. The principal anxiously +looked at his watch and grew nervous, but Webster kept right on. The +principal finally stopped him and asked him how many more he had +learned. "About five hundred more," said Webster, continuing to recite. + +"You can have the rest of the day for pigeon-shooting," said the +principal. + +Great writers have ever been noted for their tenacity of purpose. +Their works have not been flung off from minds aglow with genius, but +have been elaborated and elaborated into grace and beauty, until every +trace of their efforts has been obliterated. + +Bishop Butler worked twenty years incessantly on his "Analogy," and +even then was so dissatisfied that he wanted to burn it. Rousseau says +he obtained the ease and grace of his style only by ceaseless +inquietude, by endless blotches and erasures. Vergil worked eleven +years on the Aeneid. The note-books of great men like Hawthorne and +Emerson are tell-tales of the enormous drudgery, of the years put into +a book which may be read in an hour. Montesquieu was twenty-five years +writing his "Esprit des Lois," yet you can read it in sixty minutes. +Adam Smith spent ten years on his "Wealth of Nations." A rival +playwright once laughed at Euripides for spending three days on three +lines, when he had written five hundred lines. "But your five hundred +lines in three days will be dead and forgotten, while my three lines +will live forever," he replied. + +Ariosto wrote his "Description of a Tempest" in sixteen different ways. +He spent ten years on his "Orlando Furioso," and only sold one hundred +copies at fifteen pence each. The proof of Burke's "Letters to a Noble +Lord" (one of the sublimest things in all literature) went back to the +publisher so changed and blotted with corrections that the printer +absolutely refused to correct it, and it was entirely reset. Adam +Tucker spent eighteen years on the "Light of Nature." Thoreau's New +England pastoral, "A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers," was an +entire failure. Seven hundred of the one thousand copies printed were +returned from the publishers. Thoreau wrote in his diary: "I have some +nine hundred volumes in my library, seven hundred of which I wrote +myself." Yet he took up his pen with as much determination as ever. + +The rolling stone gathers no moss. The persistent tortoise outruns the +swift but fickle hare. An hour a day for twelve years more than equals +the time given to study in a four years' course at a high school. The +reading and re-reading of a single volume has been the making of many a +man. "Patience," says Bulwer "is the courage of the conqueror; it is +the virtue _par excellence_, of Man against Destiny--of the One against +the World, and of the Soul against Matter. Therefore, this is the +courage of the Gospel; and its importance in a social view--its +importance to races and institutions--cannot be too earnestly +inculcated." + +Want of constancy is the cause of many a failure, making the +millionaire of to-day a beggar to-morrow. Show me a really great +triumph that is not the reward of persistence. One of the paintings +which made Titian famous was on his easel eight years; another, seven. +How came popular writers famous? By writing for years without any pay +at all; by writing hundreds of pages as mere practise-work; by working +like galley-slaves at literature for half a lifetime with no other +compensation than--fame. + +"Never despair," says Burke; "but if you do, work on in despair." + +The head of the god Hercules is represented as covered with a lion's +skin with claws joined under the chin, to show that when we have +conquered our misfortunes, they become our helpers. Oh, the glory of +an unconquerable will! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +NERVE--GRIP, PLUCK + + "Never give up; for the wisest is boldest, + Knowing that Providence mingles the cup; + And of all maxims, the best, as the oldest, + Is the stern watchword of 'Never give up!'" + + Be firm; one constant element of luck + Is genuine, solid, old Teutonic pluck. + Stick to your aim; the mongrel's hold will slip, + But only crowbars loose the bulldog's grip; + Small though he looks, the jaw that never yields + Drags down the bellowing monarch of the fields! + HOLMES. + + +"Soldiers, you are Frenchmen," said Napoleon, coolly walking among his +disaffected generals when they threatened his life in the Egyptian +campaign; "you are too many to assassinate, and too few to intimidate +me." "How brave he is!" exclaimed the ringleader, as he withdrew, +completely cowed. + +"General Taylor never surrenders," said old "Rough and Ready" at Buena +Vista, when Santa Anna with 20,000 men offered him a chance to save his +4,000 soldiers by capitulation. The battle was long and desperate, but +at length the Mexicans were glad to avoid further defeat by flight. +When Lincoln was asked how Grant impressed him as a general, he +replied, "The greatest thing about him is cool persistency of purpose. +He has the grip of a bulldog; when he once gets his teeth in, nothing +can shake him off." It was "On to Richmond," and "I propose to fight +it out on this line if it takes all summer," that settled the fate of +the Rebellion. + +"My sword is too short," said a Spartan youth to his father. "Add a +step to it, then," was the only reply. + +It is said that the snapping-turtle will not release his grip, even +after his head is cut off. He is resolved, if he dies, to die hard. +It is just such grit that enables men to succeed, for what is called +luck is generally the prerogative of valiant souls. It is the final +effort that brings victory. It is the last pull of the oar, with +clenched teeth and knit muscles, that shows what Oxford boatmen call +"the beefiness of the fellow." + +After Grant's defeat at the first battle of Shiloh, nearly every +newspaper of both parties in the North, almost every member of +Congress, and public sentiment everywhere demanded his removal. +Friends of the President pleaded with him to give the command to some +one else, for his own sake as well as for the good of the country. +Lincoln listened for hours one night, speaking only at rare intervals +to tell a pithy story, until the clock struck one. Then, after a long +silence, he said: "I can't spare this man. He fights." It was +Lincoln's marvelous insight and sagacity that saved Grant from the +storm of popular passion, and gave us the greatest hero of the Civil +War. + +It is this keeping right on that wins in the battle of life. + +Grant never looked backward. Once, after several days of hard fighting +without definite result, he called a council of war. One general +described the route by which he would retreat, another thought it +better to retire by a different road, and general after general told +how he would withdraw, or fall back, or seek a more favorable position +in the rear. At length all eyes were turned upon Grant, who had been a +silent listener for hours. He rose, took a bundle of papers from an +inside pocket, handed one to each general, and said: "Gentlemen, at +dawn you will execute those orders." Every paper gave definite +directions for an advance, and with the morning sun the army moved +forward to victory. + +Massena's army of 18,000 men in Genoa had been reduced by fighting and +famine to 8,000. They had killed and captured more than 15,000 +Austrians, but their provisions were completely exhausted; starvation +stared them in the face; the enemy outnumbered them four to one, and +they seemed at the mercy of their opponents. General Ott demanded a +discretionary surrender, but Massena replied: "My soldiers must be +allowed to march out with colors flying, and arms and baggage; not as +prisoners of war, but free to fight when and where we please. If you +do not grant this, I will sally forth from Genoa sword in hand. With +eight thousand famished men I will attack your camp, and I will fight +till I cut my way through it." Ott knew the temper of the great +soldier, and agreed to accept the terms if he would surrender himself, +or if he would depart by sea so as not to be quickly joined by +reinforcements. Massena's only reply was: "Take my terms, or I will +cut my way through your army." Ott at last agreed, when Massena said: +"I give you notice that ere fifteen days are passed I shall be once +more in Genoa," and he kept his word. + +Napoleon said of this man, who was orphaned in infancy and cast upon +the world to make his own way in life: "When defeated, Massena was +always ready to fight a battle over again, as though he had been the +conqueror." + +"The battle is completely lost," said Desaix, looking at his watch, +when consulted by Napoleon at Marengo; "but it is only two o'clock, and +we shall have time to gain another." He then made his famous cavalry +charge, and won the field, although a few minutes before the French +soldiers all along the line were momentarily expecting an order to +retreat. + +"Well," said Barnum to a friend in 1841, "I am going to buy the +American Museum." "Buy it!" exclaimed the astonished friend, who knew +that the showman had not a dollar; "what do you intend buying it with?" +"Brass," was the prompt reply, "for silver and gold have I none." + +Everyone interested in public entertainments in New York knew Barnum, +and knew the condition of his pocket; but Francis Olmstead, who owned +the Museum building, consulted numerous references all telling of "a +good showman, who would do as he agreed," and accepted a proposition to +give security for the purchaser. Mr. Olmstead was to appoint a +money-taker at the door, and credit Barnum towards the purchase with +all above expenses and an allowance of fifty dollars per month to +support his wife and three children. Mrs. Barnum assented to the +arrangement, and offered to cut down the household expenses to a little +more than a dollar a day. Six months later Mr. Olmstead entered the +ticket-office at noon, and found Barnum eating for dinner a few slices +of bread and some corned beef. "Is this the way you eat your dinner?" +he asked. + +"I have not eaten a warm dinner since I bought the Museum, except on +the Sabbath; and I intend never to eat another until I get out of +debt." "Ah! you are safe, and will pay for the Museum before the year +is out," said Mr. Olmstead, slapping the young man approvingly on the +shoulder. He was right, for in less than a year Barnum had paid every +cent out of the profits of the establishment. + +"Hard pounding, gentlemen," said Wellington at Waterloo to his +officers, "but we will see who can pound the longest." + +"It is very kind of them to 'sand' our letters for us," said young +Junot coolly, as an Austrian shell scattered earth over the dispatch he +was writing at the dictation of his commander-in-chief. The remark +attracted Napoleon's attention and led to the promotion of the +scrivener. + +"There is room enough up higher," said Webster to a young man +hesitating to study law because the profession was so crowded. This is +true in every department of activity. The young man who succeeds must +hold his ground and push hard. Whoever attempts to pass through the +door to success will find it labeled, "Push." + +There is another big word in the English language: the perfection of +grit is the power of saying "No," with emphasis that can not be +mistaken. Learn to meet hard times with a harder will, and more +determined pluck. The nature which is all pine and straw is of no use +in times of trial, we must have some oak and iron in us. The goddess +of fame or of fortune has been won by many a poor boy who had no +friends, no backing, or anything but pure grit and invincible purpose. + +A good character, good habits, and _iron industry_ are impregnable to +the assaults of the ill luck that fools are dreaming of. There is no +luck, for all practical purposes, to him who is not striving, and whose +senses are not all eagerly attent. What are called accidental +discoveries are almost invariably made by those who are looking for +something. A man incurs about as much risk of being struck by +lightning as by accidental luck. There is, perhaps, an element of luck +in the amount of success which crowns the efforts of different men; but +even here it will usually be found that the sagacity with which the +efforts are directed and the energy with which they are prosecuted +measure pretty accurately the luck contained in the results achieved. +Apparent exceptions will be found to relate almost wholly to single +undertakings, while in the long run the rule will hold good. Two +pearl-divers, equally expert, dive together and work with equal energy. +One brings up a pearl, while the other returns empty-handed. But let +both persevere and at the end of five, ten, or twenty years it will be +found that they succeeded almost in exact proportion to their skill and +industry. + +"Varied experience of men has led me, the longer I live," says Huxley, +"to set less value on mere cleverness; to attach more and more +importance to industry and physical endurance. Indeed, I am much +disposed to think that endurance is the most valuable quality of all; +for industry, as the desire to work hard, does not come to much if a +feeble frame is unable to respond to the desire. No life is wasted +unless it ends in sloth, dishonesty, or cowardice. No success is +worthy of the name unless it is won by honest industry and brave +breasting of the waves of fortune." + +Has luck ever made a fool speak words of wisdom; an ignoramus utter +lectures on science; a dolt write an Odyssey, an Aeneid, a Paradise +Lost, or a Hamlet; a loafer become a Girard or Astor, a Rothschild, +Stewart, Vanderbilt, Field, Gould, or Rockefeller; a coward win at +Yorktown, Wagram, Waterloo, or Richmond; a careless stonecutter carve +an Apollo, a Minerva, a Venus de Medici, or a Greek Slave? Does luck +raise rich crops on the land of the sluggard, weeds and brambles on +that of the industrious farmer? Does luck make the drunkard sleek and +attractive, and his home cheerful, while the temperate man looks +haggard and suffers want and misery? Does luck starve honest labor, +and pamper idleness? Does luck put common sense at a discount, folly +at a premium? Does it cast intelligence into the gutter, and raise +ignorance to the skies? Does it imprison virtue, and laud vice? Did +luck give Watt his engine, Franklin his captive lightning, Whitney his +cotton-gin, Fulton his steamboat, Morse his telegraph, Blanchard his +lathe, Howe his sewing-machine, Goodyear his rubber, Bell his +telephone, Edison his phonograph? + +If you are told of the man who, worn out by a painful disorder, tried +to commit suicide, but only opened an internal tumor, effecting a cure; +of the Persian condemned to lose his tongue, on whom a bungling +operation merely removed an impediment of speech; of a painter who +produced an effect long desired by throwing his brush at a picture in +rage and despair; of a musician who, after repeated failures in trying +to imitate a storm at sea, obtained the result desired by angrily +running his hands together from the extremities of the keyboard,--bear +in mind that even this "luck" came to men as the result of action, not +inaction. + +"Luck is ever waiting for something to turn up," says Cobden; "labor, +with keen eyes and strong will, will turn up something. Luck lies in +bed, and wishes the postman would bring him the news of a legacy; labor +turns out at six o'clock, and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the +foundation of a competence. Luck whines; labor whistles. Luck relies +on chance; labor, on character." + +Stick to the thing and carry it through. _Believe you were made for +the place you fill_, and that no one else can fill it as well. Put +forth your whole energies. Be awake, electrify yourself; go forth to +the task. Only once learn to carry a thing through in all its +completeness and proportion, and you will become a hero. You will +think better of yourself; others will think better of you. The world +in its very heart admires the stern, determined doer. + + "I like the man who faces what he must + With step triumphant and a heart of cheer; + Who fights the daily battle without fear; + Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust + That God is God; that somehow, true and just, + His plans work out for mortals; not a tear + Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear, + Falls from his grasp; better, with love, a crust + Than living in dishonor; envies not, + Nor loses faith in man; but does his best, + Nor even murmurs at his humbler lot; + But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest + To every toiler; he alone is great, + Who by a life heroic conquers fate." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CLEAR GRIT + + Let fortune empty her whole quiver on me, + I have a soul that, like an ample shield, + Can take in all, and verge enough for more. + DRYDEN. + + There's a brave fellow! There's a man of pluck! + A man who's not afraid to say his say, + Though a whole town's against him. + LONGFELLOW. + +Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we +fall.--GOLDSMITH. + +The barriers are not yet erected which shall say to aspiring talent, +"Thus far and no farther."--BEETHOVEN. + + +"Friends and comrades," said Pizarro, as he turned toward the south, +after tracing with his sword upon the sand a line from east to west, +"on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, +desertion, and death; on this side, ease and pleasure. There lies Peru +with its riches: here, Panama and its poverty. Choose, each man, what +best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go to the south." So +saying, he crossed the line and was followed by thirteen Spaniards in +armor. Thus, on the little island of Gallo in the Pacific, when his +men were clamoring to return to Panama, did Pizarro and his few +volunteers resolve to stake their lives upon the success of a desperate +crusade against the powerful empire of the Incas. At the time they had +not even a vessel to transport them to the country they wished to +conquer. Is it necessary to add that all difficulties yielded at last +to such resolute determination? + + "Perseverance is a Roman virtue, + That wins each godlike act, and plucks success + E'en from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger." + + +"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till +it seems as if you could not hold on a minute longer," said Harriet +Beecher Stowe, "never give up then, for that's just the place and time +that the tide'll turn." + +Charles Sumner said "three things are necessary to a strong character: +First, backbone; second, backbone; third, backbone." + +While digging among the ruins of Pompeii, which was buried by the dust +and ashes from an eruption of Vesuvius A. D. 79, the workmen found the +skeleton of a Roman soldier in the sentry-box at one of the city's +gates. He might have found safety under sheltering rocks close by; +but, in the face of certain death, he had remained at his post, a mute +witness to the thorough discipline, the ceaseless vigilance and +fidelity which made the Roman legionaries masters of the known world. + +The world admires the man who never flinches from unexpected +difficulties, who calmly, patiently, and courageously grapples with his +fate; who dies, if need be, at his post. + +"Clear grit" always commands respect. It is that quality which +achieves, and everybody admires achievement. In the strife of parties +and principles, backbone without brains will carry against brains +without backbone. You can not, by tying an opinion to a man's tongue, +make him the representative of that opinion; at the close of any battle +for principles, his name will be found neither among the dead nor among +the wounded, but among the missing. + +The "London Times" was an insignificant sheet published by Mr. Walter +and was steadily losing money. John Walter, Jr., then only +twenty-seven years old, begged his father to give him full control of +the paper. After many misgivings, the father finally consented. The +young journalist began to remodel the establishment and to introduce +new ideas everywhere. The paper had not attempted to mold public +opinion, and had had no individuality or character of its own. The +audacious young editor boldly attacked every wrong, even the +government, whenever he thought it corrupt. Thereupon the public +customs, printing, and the government advertisements were withdrawn. +The father was in utter dismay. His son, he was sure, would ruin the +paper and himself. But no remonstrance could swerve the son from his +purpose to give the world a great journal which should have weight, +character, individuality, and independence. + +The public soon saw that a new power stood behind the "Times"; that its +articles meant business; that new life and new blood and new ideas had +been infused into the insignificant sheet; that a man with brains and +push and tenacity of purpose stood at the helm,--a man who could make a +way when he could not find one. Among other new features foreign +dispatches were introduced, and they appeared in the "Times" several +days before their appearance in the government organs. The "leading +article" also was introduced to stay. The aggressive editor +antagonized the government, and his foreign dispatches were all stopped +at the outposts, while the ministerial journalists were allowed to +proceed. But nothing could daunt this resolute young spirit. At +enormous expense he employed special couriers. Every obstacle put in +his way, and all opposition from the government, only added to his +determination to succeed. Enterprise, push, grit were behind the +"Times," and nothing could stay its progress. Young Walter was the +soul of the paper, and his personality pervaded every detail. In those +days only three hundred copies of the paper could be struck off in an +hour by the best presses, and Walter had duplicate and even triplicate +types set. Then he set his brain to work, and finally the Walter +Press, throwing off 17,000 copies per hour, both sides printed, was the +result. It was the 29th of November, 1814, that the first steam +printed paper was given to the world. + +"Mean natures always feel a sort of terror before great natures, and +many a base thought has been unuttered, many a sneaking vote withheld, +through the fear inspired by the rebuking presence of one noble man." +As a rule, pure grit, character, has the right of way. In the presence +of men permeated with grit and sound in character, meanness and +baseness slink out of sight. Mean men are uncomfortable, dishonesty +trembles, hypocrisy is uncertain. + +Lincoln, being asked by an anxious visitor what he would do after three +or four years if the rebellion were not subdued, replied: "Oh, there is +no alternative but to keep pegging away." + +"It is in me and it shall come out," said Sheridan, when told that he +would never make an orator as he had failed in his first speech in +Parliament. He became known as one of the foremost orators of his day. + +When a boy Henry Clay was very bashful and diffident, and scarcely +dared recite before his class at school, but he determined to become an +orator. So he committed speeches and recited them in the cornfields, +or in the barn with the horse and cows for an audience. + +If impossibilities ever exist, popularly speaking, they ought to have +been found somewhere between the birth and death of Kitto, that deaf +pauper and master of Oriental learning. But Kitto did not find them +there. In the presence of his decision and imperial energy they melted +away. He begged his father to take him out of the poorhouse, even if +he had to subsist like the Hottentots. He told him that he would sell +his books and pawn his handkerchief, by which he thought he could raise +about twelve shillings. He said he could live upon blackberries, nuts, +and field turnips, and was willing to sleep on a hayrick. Here was +real grit. What were impossibilities to such a resolute, indomitable +will? + +Grit is a permanent, solid quality, which enters into the very +structure, the very tissues of the constitution. + +Many of our generals in the Civil War exhibited heroism; they were +"plucky," and often displayed great determination, but Grant had pure +"grit" in the most concentrated form. He could not be moved from his +base; he was self-centered, immovable. "If you try to wheedle out of +him his plans for a campaign, he stolidly smokes; if you call him an +imbecile and a blunderer, he blandly lights another cigar; if you +praise him as the greatest general living, he placidly returns the puff +from his regalia; and if you tell him he should run for the presidency, +it does not disturb the equanimity with which he inhales and exhales +the unsubstantial vapor which typifies the politician's promises. +While you are wondering what kind of creature this man without a tongue +is, you are suddenly electrified with the news of some splendid +victory; proving that behind the cigar, and behind the face discharged +of all telltale expression, is the best brain to plan and the strongest +heart to dare among the generals of the Republic." + +Lincoln had pure "grit." When the illustrated papers everywhere were +caricaturing him, when no epithet seemed too harsh to heap upon him, +when his methods were criticized by his own party, and the generals in +the war were denouncing his "foolish" confidence in Grant, and +delegations were waiting upon him to ask for that general's removal, +the great President sat with crossed legs, and was reminded of a story. + +Lincoln and Grant both had that rare nerve which cares not for +ridicule, is not swerved by public clamor, can bear abuse and hatred. +There is a mighty force in truth, and in the sublime conviction and +supreme self-confidence behind it; in the knowledge that truth is +mighty, and the conviction and confidence that it will prevail. + +Pure grit is that element of character which enables a man to clutch +his aim with an iron grip, and keep the needle of his purpose pointing +to the star of his hope. Through sunshine and storm, through hurricane +and tempest, through sleet and rain, with a leaky ship, with a crew in +mutiny, it perseveres; in fact, nothing but death can subdue it, and it +dies still struggling. + +The man of grit carries in his very presence a power which controls and +commands. He is spared the necessity of declaring himself, for his +grit speaks in his every act. It does not come by fits and starts, it +is a part of his life. It inspires a sublime audacity and a heroic +courage. Many of the failures of life are due to the want of grit or +business nerve. It is unfortunate for a young man to start out in +business life with a weak, yielding disposition, with no resolution or +backbone to mark his own course and stick to it; with no ability to say +"No" with an emphasis, obliging this man by investing in hopeless +speculation, and, rather than offend a friend, indorsing a questionable +note. + +A little boy was asked how he learned to skate. "Oh, by getting up +every time I fell down," he replied. + +Whipple tells a story of Massena which illustrates the masterful +purpose that plucks victory out of the jaws of defeat. "After the +defeat at Essling, the success of Napoleon's attempt to withdraw his +beaten army depended on the character of Massena, to whom the Emperor +dispatched a messenger, telling him to keep his position for two hours +longer at Aspern. This order, couched in the form of a request, +required almost an impossibility; but Napoleon knew the indomitable +tenacity of the man to whom he gave it. The messenger found Massena +seated on a heap of rubbish, his eyes bloodshot, his frame weakened by +his unparalleled exertions during a contest of forty hours, and his +whole appearance indicating a physical state better befitting the +hospital than the field. But that steadfast soul seemed altogether +unaffected by bodily prostration. Half dead as he was with fatigue, he +rose painfully and said courageously, 'Tell the Emperor that I will +hold out for two hours.' And he kept his word." + +"Often defeated in battle," said Macaulay of Alexander the Great, "he +was always successful in war." + +In the battle of Marengo, the Austrians considered the day won. The +French army was inferior in numbers, and had given way. The Austrian +army extended its wings on the right and on the left, to follow up the +French. Then, though the French themselves thought that the battle was +lost, and the Austrians were confident it was won, Napoleon gave the +command to charge; and, the trumpet's blast being given, the Old Guard +charged down into the weakened center of the enemy, cut it in two, +rolled the two wings up on either side, and the battle was won for +France. + +Once when Marshal Ney was going into battle, looking down at his knees +which were smiting together, he said, "You may well shake; you would +shake worse yet if you knew where I am going to take you." + +It is victory after victory with the soldier, lesson after lesson with +the scholar, blow after blow with the laborer, crop after crop with the +farmer, picture after picture with the painter, and mile after mile +with the traveler, that secures what all so much desire--SUCCESS. + +A promising Harvard student was stricken with paralysis of both legs. +Physicians said there was no hope for him. The lad determined to +continue his college studies. The examiners heard him at his bedside, +and in four years he took his degree. He resolved to make a critical +study of Dante, to do which he had to learn Italian and German. He +persevered in spite of repeated attacks of illness and partial loss of +sight. He was competing for the university prize. Think of the +paralytic lad, helpless in bed, competing for a prize, fighting death +inch by inch! What a lesson! Before his manuscript was published or +the prize awarded, the brave student died, but his work was successful. + +Congressman William W. Crapo, while working his way through college, +being too poor to buy a dictionary, actually copied one, walking from +his home in the village of Dartmouth, Mass., to New Bedford to +replenish his store of words and definitions from the town library. + +Oh, the triumphs of this indomitable spirit of the conqueror! This it +was that enabled Franklin to dine on a small loaf in the +printing-office with a book in his hand. It helped Locke to live on +bread and water in a Dutch garret. It enabled Gideon Lee to go +barefoot in the snow, half starved and thinly clad. It sustained +Lincoln and Garfield on their hard journeys from the log cabin to the +White House. + +President Chadbourne put grit in place of his lost lung, and worked +thirty-five years after his funeral had been planned. + +Henry Fawcett put grit in place of eyesight, and became the greatest +Postmaster-General England ever had. + +Prescott also put grit in place of eyesight, and became one of +America's greatest historians. Francis Parkman put grit in place of +health and eyesight, and became the greatest historian of America in +his line. Thousands of men have put grit in place of health, eyes, +ears, hands, legs and yet have achieved marvelous success. Indeed, +most of the great things of the world have been accomplished by grit +and pluck. You can not keep a man down who has these qualities. He +will make stepping-stones out of his stumbling-blocks, and lift himself +to success. + +At fifty, Barnum was a ruined man, owing thousands more than he +possessed, yet he resolutely resumed business once more, fairly +wringing success from adverse fortune, and paying his notes at the same +time. Again and again he was ruined; but phoenix-like, he rose +repeatedly from the ashes of his misfortune each time more determined +than before. + +"It is all very well," said Charles J. Fox, "to tell me that a young +man has distinguished himself by a brilliant first speech. He may go +on, or he may be satisfied with his first triumph; but show me a young +man who has not succeeded at first, and nevertheless has gone on, and I +will back that young man to do better than most of those who have +succeeded at the first trial." + +Cobden broke down completely the first time he appeared on a platform +in Manchester, and the chairman apologized for him. But he did not +give up speaking till every poor man in England had a larger, better, +and cheaper loaf. + +See young Disraeli, sprung from a hated and persecuted race; without +opportunity, pushing his way up through the middle classes, up through +the upper classes, until he stands self-poised upon the topmost round +of political and social power. Scoffed, ridiculed, rebuffed, hissed +from the House of Commons, he simply says, "The time will come when you +will hear me." The time did come, and the boy with no chance swayed +the scepter of England for a quarter of a century. + +One of the most remarkable examples in history is Disraeli, forcing his +leadership upon that very party whose prejudices were deepest against +his race, and which had an utter contempt for self-made men and +interlopers. Imagine England's surprise when she awoke to find this +insignificant Hebrew actually Chancellor of the Exchequer! He was +easily master of all the tortures supplied by the armory of rhetoric; +he could exhaust the resources of the bitterest invective; he could +sting Gladstone out of his self-control; he was absolute master of +himself and his situation. You could see that this young man intended +to make his way in the world. Determined audacity was in his very +face. Handsome, with the hated Hebrew blood in his veins, after three +defeats in parliamentary elections he was not the least daunted, for he +knew his day would come. Lord Melbourne, the great Prime Minister, +when this gay young fop was introduced to him, asked him what he wished +to be. "Prime Minister of England," was his audacious reply. + +William H. Seward was given a thousand dollars by his father with which +to go to college; this was all he was to have. The son returned at the +end of the freshman year with extravagant habits and no money. His +father refused to give him more, and told him he could not stay at +home. When the youth found the props all taken out from under him, and +that he must now sink or swim, he left home moneyless, returned to +college, graduated at the head of his class, studied law, was elected +Governor of New York, and became Lincoln's great Secretary of State +during the Civil War. + +Garfield said, "If the power to do hard work is not talent, it is the +best possible substitute for it." The triumph of industry and grit +over low birth and iron fortune in America, the land of opportunity, +ought to be sufficient to put to shame all grumblers over their hard +fortune and those who attempt to excuse aimless, shiftless, successless +men because they have no chance. + +During a winter in the War of 1812, General Jackson's troops, +unprovided for and starving, became mutinous and were going home. But +the general set the example of living on acorns; and then he rode +before the rebellious line and threatened with instant death the first +mutineer that should try to leave. + +The race is not always to the swift, the battle is not always to the +strong. Horses are sometimes weighted or hampered in the race, and +this is taken into account in the result. So in the race of life the +distance alone does not determine the prize. We must take into +consideration the hindrances, the weights we have carried, the +disadvantages of education, of breeding, of training, of surroundings, +of circumstances. How many young men are weighted down with debt, with +poverty, with the support of invalid parents or brothers and sisters, +or friends? How many are fettered with ignorance, hampered by +inhospitable surroundings, with the opposition of parents who do not +understand them? How many a round boy is hindered in the race by being +forced into a square hole? How many youths are delayed in their course +because nobody believes in them, because nobody encourages them, +because they get no sympathy and are forever tortured for not doing +that against which every fiber of their being protests, and every drop +of their blood rebels? How many men have to feel their way to the goal +through the blindness of ignorance and lack of experience? How many go +bungling along from the lack of early discipline and drill in the +vocation they have chosen? How many have to hobble along on crutches +because they were never taught to help themselves, but have been +accustomed to lean upon a father's wealth or a mother's indulgence? +How many are weakened for the journey of life by self-indulgence, by +dissipation, by "life-sappers"; how many are crippled by disease, by a +weak constitution, by impaired eyesight or hearing? + +When the prizes of life shall be finally awarded, the distance we have +run, the weights we have carried, the handicaps, will all be taken into +account. Not the distance we have run, but the obstacles we have +overcome, the disadvantages under which we have made the race, will +decide the prizes. The poor wretch who has plodded along against +unknown temptations, the poor woman who has buried her sorrows in her +silent heart and sewed her weary way through life, those who have +suffered abuse in silence, and who have been unrecognized or despised +by their fellow-runners, will often receive the greater prize. + + "The wise and active conquer difficulties, + By daring to attempt them; sloth and folly + Shiver and sink at sight of toil and hazard, + And make the impossibility they fear." + + +"I can't, it is impossible," said a foiled lieutenant, to Alexander. +"Begone," shouted the conquering Macedonian, "there is nothing +impossible to him who will try." + +Were I called upon to express in a word the secret of so many failures +among those who started out in life with high hopes, I should say +unhesitatingly, they lacked will-power. They could not half will. +What is a man without a will? He is like an engine without steam, a +mere sport of chance, to be tossed about hither and thither, always at +the mercy of those who have wills. I should call the strength of will +the test of a young man's possibilities. Can he will strong enough, +and hold whatever he undertakes with an iron grip? It is the iron grip +that takes the strong hold on life. What chance is there in this +crowding, pushing, selfish, greedy world, where everything is pusher or +pushed, for a young man with no will, no grip on life? "The truest +wisdom," said Napoleon, "is a resolute determination." An iron will +without principle might produce a Napoleon; but with character it would +make a Wellington or a Grant, untarnished by ambition or avarice. + + "The undivided will + 'T is that compels the elements and wrings + A human music from the indifferent air." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SUCCESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES + +Victories that are easy are cheap. Those only are worth having which +come as the result of hard fighting.--BEECHER. + +Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise +above them.--WASHINGTON IRVING. + + +"I have here three teams that I want to get over to Staten Island," +said a boy of twelve one day in 1806 to the innkeeper at South Amboy, +N. J. "If you will put us across, I'll leave with you one of my horses +in pawn, and if I don't send you back six dollars within forty-eight +hours you may keep the horse." + +The innkeeper asked the reason for this novel proposition, and learned +that the lad's father had contracted to get the cargo of a vessel +stranded near Sandy Hook, and take it to New York in lighters. The boy +had been sent with three wagons, six horses, and three men, to carry +the cargo across a sand-spit to the lighters. The work accomplished, +he had started with only six dollars to travel a long distance home +over the Jersey sands, and reached South Amboy penniless. "I'll do +it," said the innkeeper, as he looked into the bright honest eyes of +the boy. The horse was soon redeemed. + +"My son," said this same boy's mother, on the first of May, 1810, when +he asked her to lend him one hundred dollars to buy a boat, having +imbibed a strong liking for the sea; "on the twenty-seventh of this +month you will be sixteen years old. If, by that time, you will plow, +harrow, and plant with corn the eight-acre lot, I will advance you the +money." The field was rough and stony, but the work was done in time, +and well done. From this small beginning Cornelius Vanderbilt laid the +foundation of a colossal fortune. + +In 1818 Vanderbilt owned two or three of the finest coasting schooners +in New York harbor, and had a capital of nine thousand dollars. Seeing +that steam-vessels would soon win supremacy over those carrying sails +only, he gave up his fine business to become the captain of a steamboat +at one thousand dollars a year. For twelve years he ran between New +York City and New Brunswick, N. J. In 1829 he began business as a +steamboat owner, in the face of opposition so bitter that he lost his +last dollar. But the tide turned, and he prospered so rapidly that he +at length owned over a hundred steamboats. He early identified himself +with the growing railroad interests of the country, and became the +richest man of his day in America. + +Barnum began the race of business life barefoot, for at the age of +fifteen he was obliged to buy on credit the shoes he wore at his +father's funeral. He was a remarkable example of success under +difficulties. There was no keeping him down; no opposition daunted him. + +"Eloquence must have been born with you," said a friend to J. P. +Curran. "Indeed, my dear sir, it was not," replied the orator; "it was +born some three and twenty years and some months after me." Speaking +of his first attempt at a debating club, he said: "I stood up, +trembling through every fiber; but remembering that in this I was but +imitating Tully, I took courage and had actually proceeded almost as +far as 'Mr. Chairman,' when, to my astonishment and terror, I perceived +that every eye was turned on me. There were only six or seven present, +and the room could not have contained as many more; yet was it, to my +panic-stricken imagination, as if I were the central object in nature, +and assembled millions were gazing upon me in breathless expectation. +I became dismayed and dumb. My friends cried, 'Hear him!' but there +was nothing to hear." He was nicknamed "Orator Mum," and well did he +deserve the title until he ventured to stare in astonishment at a +speaker who was "culminating chronology by the most preposterous +anachronisms." "I doubt not," said the annoyed speaker, "that 'Orator +Mum' possesses wonderful talents for eloquence, but I would recommend +him to show it in future by some more popular method than his silence." +Stung by the taunt, Curran rose and gave the man a "piece of his mind," +speaking fluently in his anger. Encouraged by this success, he took +great pains to become a good speaker. He corrected his habit of +stuttering by reading favorite passages aloud every day slowly and +distinctly, and spoke at every opportunity. + +Bunyan wrote his "Pilgrim's Progress" on the untwisted papers which +were used to cork the bottles of milk brought for his meals. Gifford +wrote his first copy of a mathematical work, when a cobbler's +apprentice, on small scraps of leather; and Rittenhouse, the +astronomer, first calculated eclipses on his plow handle. + +David Livingstone at ten years of age was put into a cotton factory +near Glasgow. Out of his first week's wages he bought a Latin grammar, +and studied in the night schools for years. He would sit up and study +till midnight unless his mother drove him to bed, notwithstanding he +had to be at the factory at six in the morning. He mastered Vergil and +Horace in this way, and read extensively, besides studying botany. So +eager for knowledge was he, that he would place his book before him on +the spinning-jenny, and amid the deafening roar of machinery would pore +over its pages. + +"All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise and +wonder," says Johnson, "are instances of the resistless force of +perseverance: it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that +distant countries are united with canals. If a man was to compare the +effect of a single stroke of the pickax, or of one impression of the +spade, with the general design and last result, he would be overwhelmed +by the sense of their disproportion; yet those petty operations, +incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and +mountains are leveled, and oceans bounded, by the slender force of +human beings." + +Great men never wait for opportunities; they make them. Nor do they +wait for facilities or favoring circumstances; they seize upon whatever +is at hand, work out their problem, and master the situation. A young +man determined and willing will find a way or make one. A Franklin +does not require elaborate apparatus; he can bring electricity from the +clouds with a common kite. + +Great men have found no royal road to their triumph. It is always the +old route, by way of industry and perseverance. + +The farmer boy, Elihu B. Washburn, taught school at ten dollars per +month, and early learned the lesson that it takes one hundred cents to +make a dollar. In after years he fought "steals" in Congress, until he +was called the "Watchdog of the Treasury." + +When Elias Howe, harassed by want and woe, was in London completing his +first sewing-machine, he had frequently to borrow money to live on. He +bought beans and cooked them himself. He also borrowed money to send +his wife back to America. He sold his first machine for five pounds, +although it was worth fifty, and then he pawned his letters patent to +pay his expenses home. + +The boy Arkwright begins barbering in a cellar, but dies worth a +million and a half. The world treated his novelties just as it treats +everybody's novelties--made infinite objection, mustered all the +impediments, but he snapped his fingers at their objections, and lived +to become honored and wealthy. + +There is scarcely a great truth or doctrine but has had to fight its +way to public recognition in the face of detraction, calumny, and +persecution. + +Nearly every great discovery or invention that has blessed mankind has +had to fight its way to recognition, even against the opposition of the +most progressive men. + +William H. Prescott was a remarkable example of what a boy with "no +chance" can do. While at college, he lost one eye by a hard piece of +bread thrown during a "biscuit battle," and the other eye became almost +useless. But the boy would not lead a useless life. He set his heart +upon being a historian, and turned all his energies in that direction. +By the aid of others' eyes, he spent ten years studying before he even +decided upon a particular theme for his first book. Then he spent ten +years more, poring over old archives and manuscripts, before he +published his "Ferdinand and Isabella." What a lesson in his life for +young men! What a rebuke to those who have thrown away their +opportunities and wasted their lives! + +"Galileo with an opera-glass," said Emerson, "discovered a more +splendid series of celestial phenomena than any one since with the +great telescopes. Columbus found the new world in an undecked boat." + +Surroundings which men call unfavorable can not prevent the unfolding +of your powers. From among the rock-ribbed hills of New Hampshire +sprang the greatest of American orators and statesmen, Daniel Webster. +From the crowded ranks of toil, and homes to which luxury is a +stranger, have often come the leaders and benefactors of our race. + +Where shall we find an illustration more impressive than in Abraham +Lincoln, whose life, career, and death might be chanted by a Greek +chorus as at once the prelude and the epilogue of the most imperial +theme of modern times? Born as lowly as the Son of God, in a hovel; of +what real parentage we know not; reared in penury, squalor, with no +gleam of light, nor fair surrounding; a young manhood vexed by weird +dreams and visions; with scarcely a natural grace; singularly awkward, +ungainly even among the uncouth about him: it was reserved for this +remarkable character, late in life, to be snatched from obscurity, +raised to supreme command at a supreme moment, and intrusted with the +destiny of a nation. The great leaders of his party were made to stand +aside; the most experienced and accomplished men of the day, men like +Seward, and Chase, and Sumner, statesmen famous and trained, were sent +to the rear, while this strange figure was brought by unseen hands to +the front, and given the reins of power. + +_There is no open door to the temple of success_. Everyone who enters +makes his own door, which closes behind him to all others, not even +permitting his own children to pass. + +Not in the brilliant salon, not in the tapestried library, not in ease +and competence, is genius born and nurtured; but often in adversity and +destitution, amidst the harassing cares of a straitened household, in +bare and fireless garrets. Amid scenes unpropitious, repulsive, +wretched, have men labored, studied, and trained themselves, until they +have at last emanated from the gloom of that obscurity the shining +lights of their times; have become the companions of kings, the guides +and teachers of their kind, and exercised an influence upon the thought +of the world amounting to a species of intellectual legislation. + +"What does he know," said a sage, "who has not suffered?" Schiller +produced his greatest tragedies in the midst of physical suffering +almost amounting to torture. Handel was never greater than when, +warned by palsy of the approach of death, and struggling with distress +and suffering, he sat down to compose the great works which have made +his name immortal in music. Mozart composed his great operas, and last +of all his "Requiem," when oppressed by debt and struggling with a +fatal disease. Beethoven produced his greatest works amidst gloomy +sorrow, when oppressed by almost total deafness. + +Perhaps no one ever battled harder to overcome obstacles which would +have disheartened most men than Demosthenes. He had such a weak voice, +and such an impediment in his speech, and was so short of breath, that +he could scarcely get through a single sentence without stopping to +rest. All his first attempts were nearly drowned by the hisses, jeers, +and scoffs of his audiences. His first effort that met with success +was against his guardian, who had defrauded him, and whom he compelled +to refund a part of his fortune. He was so discouraged by his defeats +that he determined to give up forever all attempts at oratory. One of +his auditors, however, believed the young man had something in him, and +encouraged him to persevere. He accordingly appeared again in public, +but was hissed down as before. As he withdrew, hanging his head in +great confusion, a noted actor, Satyrus, encouraged him still further +to try to overcome his impediment. He stammered so much that he could +not pronounce some of the letters at all, and his breath would give out +before he could get through a sentence. Finally, he determined to be +an orator at any cost. He went to the seashore and practised amid the +roar of the breakers with small pebbles in his mouth, in order to +overcome his stammering, and at the same time accustom himself to the +hisses and tumults of his audience. He overcame his short breath by +practising while running up steep and difficult places on the shore. +His awkward gestures were also corrected by long and determined drill +before a mirror. + +Columbus was dismissed as a fool from court after court, but he pushed +his suit against an incredulous and ridiculing world. Rebuffed by +kings, scorned by queens, he did not swerve a hair's breadth from the +overmastering purpose which dominated his soul. The words "New World" +were graven upon his heart; and reputation, ease, pleasure, position, +life itself if need be, must be sacrificed. Threats, ridicule, +ostracism, storms, leaky vessels, mutiny of sailors, could not shake +his mighty purpose. + +You can not keep a determined man from success. Place stumbling-blocks +in his way and he takes them for stepping-stones, and on them will +climb to greatness. Take away his money, and he makes spurs of his +poverty to urge him on. Cripple him, and he writes the Waverley Novels. + +All that is great and noble and true in the history of the world is the +result of infinite painstaking, perpetual plodding, of common every-day +industry. + +Roger Bacon, one of the profoundest thinkers the world has produced, +was terribly persecuted for his studies in natural philosophy, yet he +persevered and won success. He was accused of dealing in magic, his +books were burned in public, and he was kept in prison for ten years. +Even our own revered Washington was mobbed in the streets because he +would not pander to the clamor of the people and reject the treaty +which Mr. Jay had arranged with Great Britain. But he remained firm, +and the people adopted his opinion. The Duke of Wellington was mobbed +in the streets of London and his windows were broken while his wife lay +dead in the house; but the "Iron Duke" never faltered in his course, or +swerved a hair's breadth from his purpose. + +William Phipps, when a young man, heard some sailors on the street, in +Boston, talking about a Spanish ship wrecked off the Bahama Islands, +which was supposed to have money on board. Young Phipps determined to +find it. He set out at once, and, after many hardships, discovered the +lost treasure. He then heard of another ship, which had been wrecked +off Port De La Plata many years before. He set sail for England and +importuned Charles II for aid. To his delight the king fitted up the +ship _Rose Algier_ for him. He searched and searched for a long time +in vain, and at length had to return to England to repair his vessel. +James II was then on the throne, and Phipps had to wait for four years +before he could raise money to return. His crew mutinied and +threatened to throw him overboard, but he turned the ship's guns on +them. One day an Indian diver went down for a curious sea plant and +saw several cannon lying on the bottom. They proved to belong to the +wreck. He had nothing but dim traditions to guide him, but he returned +to England with $1,500,000. + +A constant struggle, a ceaseless battle to win success in spite of +every barrier, is the price of all great achievements. + +The man who has not fought his way up to his own loaf, and does not +bear the scar of desperate conflict, does not know the highest meaning +of success. + +The money acquired by those who have thus struggled upward to success +is not their only, or indeed their chief reward. When, after years of +toil, of opposition, of ridicule, of repeated failure, Cyrus W. Field +placed his hand upon the telegraph instrument ticking a message under +the sea, think you that the electric thrill passed no further than the +tips of his fingers? When Thomas A. Edison demonstrated that the +electric light had at last been developed into a commercial success, do +you suppose those bright rays failed to illuminate the inmost recesses +of his soul? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +USES OF OBSTACLES + +Nature, when she adds difficulties, adds brains.--EMERSON. + +Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous +difficulties.--SPURGEON. + + The good are better made by ill, + As odors crushed are sweeter still. + ROGERS. + + Though losses and crosses be lessons right severe, + There's wit there ye'll get there, ye'll find no other where. + BURNS. + +"Adversity is the prosperity of the great." + +"Kites rise against, not with, the wind." + + +"Many and many a time since," said Harriet Martineau, referring to her +father's failure in business, "have we said that, but for that loss of +money, we might have lived on in the ordinary provincial method of +ladies with small means, sewing and economizing and growing narrower +every year; whereas, by being thrown, while it was yet time, on our own +resources, we have worked hard and usefully, won friends, reputation, +and independence, seen the world abundantly, abroad and at home; in +short, have truly lived instead of vegetating." + +Two of the three greatest epic poets of the world were blind,--Homer +and Milton; while the third, Dante, was in his later years nearly, if +not altogether, blind. It almost seems as though some great characters +had been physically crippled in certain respects so that they would not +dissipate their energy, but concentrate it all in one direction. + +A distinguished investigator in science said that when he encountered +an apparently insuperable obstacle, he usually found himself upon the +brink of some discovery. + +"Returned with thanks" has made many an author. Failure often leads a +man to success by arousing his latent energy, by firing a dormant +purpose, by awakening powers which were sleeping. Men of mettle turn +disappointments into helps as the oyster turns into pearl the sand +which annoys it. + +"Let the adverse breath of criticism be to you only what the blast of +the storm wind is to the eagle,--a force against him that lifts him +higher." + +A kite would not fly unless it had a string tying it down. It is just +so in life. The man who is tied down by half a dozen blooming +responsibilities and their mother will make a higher and stronger +flight than the bachelor who, having nothing to keep him steady, is +always floundering in the mud. + +When Napoleon's school companions made sport of him on account of his +humble origin and poverty he devoted himself entirely to books, and, +quickly rising above them in scholarship, commanded their respect. +Soon he was regarded as the brightest ornament of the class. + +"To make his way at the bar," said an eminent jurist, "a young man must +live like a hermit and work like a horse. There is nothing that does a +young lawyer so much good as to be half starved." + +Thousands of men of great native ability have been lost to the world +because they have not had to wrestle with obstacles, and to struggle +under difficulties sufficient to stimulate into activity their dormant +powers. No effort is too dear which helps us along the line of our +proper career. + +Poverty and obscurity of origin may impede our progress, but it is only +like the obstruction of ice or debris in the river temporarily forcing +the water into eddies, where it accumulates strength and a mighty +reserve which ultimately sweeps the obstruction impetuously to the sea. +Poverty and obscurity are not insurmountable obstacles, but they often +act as a stimulus to the naturally indolent, and develop a firmer fiber +of mind, a stronger muscle and stamina of body. + +If the germ of the seed has to struggle to push its way up through the +stones and hard sod, to fight its way up to sunlight and air, and then +to wrestle with storm and tempest, with snow and frost, the fiber of +its timber will be all the tougher and stronger. + +There is good philosophy in the injunction to love our enemies, for +they are often our best friends in disguise. They tell us the truth +when friends flatter. Their biting sarcasm and scathing rebuke are +mirrors which reveal us to ourselves. These unkind stings and thrusts +are often spurs which urge us on to grander success and nobler +endeavor. Friends cover our faults and rarely rebuke; enemies drag out +to the light all our weaknesses without mercy. We dread these thrusts +and exposures as we do the surgeon's knife, but are the better for +them. They reach depths before untouched, and we are led to resolve to +redeem ourselves from scorn and inferiority. + +We are the victors of our opponents. They have developed in us the +very power by which we overcome them. Without their opposition we +could never have braced and anchored and fortified ourselves, as the +oak is braced and anchored for its thousand battles with the tempests. +Our trials, our sorrows, and our griefs develop us in a similar way. + +The man who has triumphed over difficulties bears the signs of victory +in his face. An air of triumph is seen in every movement. + +John Calvin, who made a theology for the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries, was tortured with disease for many years, and so was Robert +Hall. The great men who have lifted the world to a higher level were +not developed in easy circumstances, but were rocked in the cradle of +difficulties and pillowed on hardships. + +"The gods look on no grander sight than an honest man struggling with +adversity." + +"Then I must learn to sing better," said Anaximander, when told that +the very boys laughed at his singing. + +Strong characters, like the palm-tree, seem to thrive best when most +abused. Men who have stood up bravely under great misfortune for years +are often unable to bear prosperity. Their good fortune takes the +spring out of their energy, as the torrid zone enervates races +accustomed to a vigorous climate. Some people never come to themselves +until baffled, rebuffed, thwarted, defeated, crushed, in the opinion of +those around them. Trials unlock their virtues; defeat is the +threshold of their victory. + +It is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle +to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible; it is defeat that +has made those heroic natures that are now in the ascendency, and that +has given the sweet law of liberty instead of the bitter law of +oppression. + +Difficulties call out great qualities, and make greatness possible. +How many centuries of peace would have developed a Grant? Few knew +Lincoln until the great weight of the war showed his character. A +century of peace would never have produced a Bismarck. Perhaps +Phillips and Garrison would never have been known to history had it not +been for slavery. + +"Will he not make a great painter?" was asked in regard to an artist +fresh from his Italian tour. "No, never," replied Northcote. "Why +not?" "Because he has an income of six thousand pounds a year." In +the sunshine of wealth a man is, as a rule, warped too much to become +an artist of high merit. He should have some great thwarting +difficulty to struggle against. A drenching shower of adversity would +straighten his fibers out again. + +The best tools receive their temper from fire, their edge from +grinding; the noblest characters are developed in a similar way. The +harder the diamond, the more brilliant the luster, and the greater the +friction necessary to bring it out. Only its own dust is hard enough +to make this most precious stone reveal its full beauty. + +The spark in the flint would sleep forever but for friction; the fire +in man would never blaze but for antagonism. + +Suddenly, with much jarring and jolting, an electric car came to a +standstill just in front of a heavy truck that was headed in an +opposite direction. The huge truck wheels were sliding uselessly round +on the car tracks that were wet and slippery from rain. All the urging +of the teamster and the straining of the horses were in vain,--until +the motorman quietly tossed a shovelful of sand on the track under the +heavy wheels, and then the truck lumbered on its way. "Friction is a +very good thing," remarked a passenger. + +The philosopher Kant observed that a dove, inasmuch as the only +obstacle it has to overcome is the resistance of the air, might suppose +that if only the air were out of the way it could fly with greater +rapidity and ease. Yet if the air were withdrawn, and the bird should +try to fly in a vacuum, it would fall instantly to the ground, unable +to fly at all. The very element that offers the opposition to flying +is at the same time the condition of any flight whatever. + +Emergencies make giant men. But for our Civil War the names of its +grand heroes would not be written among the greatest of our time. + +The effort or struggle to climb to a higher place in life has strength +and dignity in it, and cannot fail to leave us stronger, even though we +may never reach the position we desire, or secure the prize we seek. + +From an aimless, idle, and useless brain, emergencies often call out +powers and virtues before unknown and unsuspected. How often we see a +young man develop astounding ability and energy after the death of a +parent, or the loss of a fortune, or after some other calamity has +knocked the props and crutches from under him. The prison has roused +the slumbering fire in many a noble mind. "Robinson Crusoe" was +written in prison. The "Pilgrim's Progress" appeared in Bedford Jail, +Sir Walter Raleigh wrote "The History of the World" during his +imprisonment of thirteen years. Luther translated the Bible while +confined in the Castle of Wartburg. For twenty years Dante worked in +exile, and even under sentence of death. + +Take two acorns from the same tree, as nearly alike as possible; plant +one on a hill by itself, and the other in the dense forest, and watch +them grow. The oak standing alone is exposed to every storm. Its +roots reach out in every direction, clutching the rocks and piercing +deep into the earth. Every rootlet lends itself to steady the growing +giant, as if in anticipation of fierce conflict with the elements. +Sometimes its upward growth seems checked for years, but all the while +it has been expending its energy in pushing a root across a large rock +to gain a firmer anchorage. Then it shoots proudly aloft again, +prepared to defy the hurricane. The gales which sport so rudely with +its wide branches find more than their match, and only serve still +further to toughen every minutest fiber from pith to bark. + +The acorn planted in the deep forest, on the other hand, shoots up a +weak, slender sapling. Shielded by its neighbors, it feels no need of +spreading its roots far and wide for support. + +Take two boys, as nearly alike as possible. Place one in the country +away from the hothouse culture and refinements of the city, with only +the district school, the Sunday-school, and a few books. Remove wealth +and props of every kind; and, if he has the right sort of material in +him, he will thrive. Every obstacle overcome lends him strength for +the next conflict. If he falls, he rises with more determination than +before. Like a rubber ball, the harder the obstacle he meets the +higher he rebounds. Obstacles and opposition are but apparatus of the +gymnasium in which the fibers of his manhood are developed. He compels +respect and recognition from those who have ridiculed his poverty. Put +the other boy in a Vanderbilt family. Give him French and German +nurses; gratify his every wish. Place him under the tutelage of great +masters and send him to Harvard. Give him thousands a year for +spending money, and let him travel extensively. + +The two meet. The city lad is ashamed of his country brother. The +plain, threadbare clothes, hard hands, tawny face, and awkward manner +of the country boy make sorry contrast with the genteel appearance of +the other. The poor boy bemoans his hard lot, regrets that he has "no +chance in life," and envies the city youth. He thinks that it is a +cruel Providence that places such a wide gulf between them. + +They meet again as men, but how changed! It is as easy to +distinguished the sturdy, self-made man from the one who has been +propped up all his life by wealth, position, and family influence, as +it is for the shipbuilder to tell the difference between the plank from +the rugged mountain oak and one from the sapling of the forest. + +When God wants to educate a man, he does not send him to school to the +Graces, but to the Necessities. Through the pit and the dungeon Joseph +came to a throne. We are not conscious of the mighty cravings of our +half divine humanity; we are not aware of the God within us until some +chasm yawns which must be filled, or till the rending asunder of our +affections forces us to become conscious of a need. St. Paul in his +Roman cell; John Huss led to the stake at Constance; Tyndale dying in +his prison at Amsterdam; Milton, amid the incipient earthquake throes +of revolution, teaching two little boys in Aldgate Street; David +Livingstone, worn to a shadow, dying in a negro hut in Central Africa, +alone--what failures they might all have seemed to themselves to be, +yet what mighty purposes was God working out by their apparent +humiliations! + +Two highwaymen chancing once to pass a gibbet, one of them exclaimed: +"What a fine profession ours would be if there were no gibbets!" "Tut, +you blockhead," replied the other, "gibbets are the making of us; for, +if there were no gibbets, every one would be a highwayman." Just so +with every art, trade, or pursuit; it is the difficulties that scare +and keep out unworthy competitors. + +"Success grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties," says Smiles. +"If there were no difficulties there would be no success. In this +necessity for exertion we find the chief source of human +advancement,--the advancement of individuals as of nations. It has led +to most of the mechanical inventions and improvements of the age." + +"Stick your claws into me," said Mendelssohn to his critics when +entering the Birmingham orchestra. "Don't tell me what you like, but +what you don't like." + +John Hunter said that the art of surgery would never advance until +professional men had the courage to publish their failures as well as +their successes. + +"Young men need to be taught not to expect a perfectly smooth and easy +way to the objects of their endeavor or ambition," says Dr. Peabody. +"Seldom does one reach a position with which he has reason to be +satisfied without encountering difficulties and what might seem +discouragements. But if they are properly met, they are not what they +seem, and may prove to be helps, not hindrances. There is no more +helpful and profiting exercise than surmounting obstacles." + +It was in the Madrid jail that Cervantes wrote "Don Quixote." He was +so poor that he could not even get paper during the last of his +writing, and had to write on scraps of leather. A rich Spaniard was +asked to help him, but replied: "Heaven forbid that his necessities +should be relieved; it is his poverty that makes the world rich." + +"He has the stuff in him to make a good musician," said Beethoven of +Rossini, "if he had only been well flogged when a boy; but he is +spoiled by the ease with which he composes." + +We do our best while fighting desperately to attain what the heart +covets. + +Waters says that the struggle to obtain knowledge and to advance one's +self in the world strengthens the mind, disciplines the faculties, +matures the judgment, promotes self-reliance, and gives one +independence of thought and force of character. + +Kossuth called himself "a tempest-tossed soul, whose eyes have been +sharpened by affliction." + +As soon as young eagles can fly the old birds tumble them out and tear +the down and feathers from their nest. The rude and rough experience +of the eaglet fits him to become the bold king of birds, fierce and +expert in pursuing his prey. + +Boys who are bound out, crowded out, kicked out, usually "turn out," +while those who do not have these disadvantages frequently fail to +"come out." + +"It was not the victories but the defeats of my life which have +strengthened me," said the aged Sidenham Poyntz. + +Almost from the dawn of history, oppression has been the lot of the +Hebrews, yet they have given the world its noblest songs, its wisest +proverbs, its sweetest music. With them persecution seems to bring +prosperity. They thrive where others would starve. They hold the +purse-strings of many nations. To them hardship has been "like spring +mornings, frosty but kindly, the cold of which will kill the vermin, +but will let the plant live." + +In one of the battles of the Crimea a cannon-ball struck inside the +fort, crashing through a beautiful garden. But from the ugly chasm +there burst forth a spring of water which ever afterward flowed a +living fountain. From the ugly gashes which misfortunes and sorrows +make in our hearts, perennial fountains of rich experience and new joys +often spring. + +Don't lament and grieve over lost wealth. The Creator may see +something grand and mighty which even He can not bring out as long as +your wealth stands in the way. You must throw away the crutches of +riches and stand upon your own feet, and develop the long unused +muscles of manhood. God may see a rough diamond in you which only the +hard hits of poverty can polish. + +God knows where the richest melodies of our lives are, and what drill +and what discipline are necessary to bring them out. The frost, the +snows, the tempests, the lightnings are the rough teachers that bring +the tiny acorn to the sturdy oak. Fierce winters are as necessary to +it as long summers. It is its half-century's struggle with the +elements for existence, wrestling with the storm, fighting for its life +from the moment that it leaves the acorn until it goes into the ship, +that gives it value. Without this struggle it would have been +characterless, staminaless, nerveless, and its grain would have never +been susceptible of high polish. The most beautiful as well as the +strongest woods are found not in tropical climates, but in severe +climates, where they have to fight the frosts and the winter's cold. + +Many a man has never found himself until he has lost his all. +Adversity stripped him only to discover him. Obstacles, hardships, are +the chisel and mallet which shape the strong life into beauty. The +rough ledge on the hillside complains of the drill, of the blasting +which disturbs its peace of centuries: it is not pleasant to be rent +with powder, to be hammered and squared by the quarryman. But look +again: behold the magnificent statue, the monument, chiseled into grace +and beauty, telling its grand story of valor in the public square for +centuries. + +The statue would have slept in the marble forever but for the blasting, +the chiseling, and the polishing. The angel of our higher and nobler +selves would remain forever unknown in the rough quarries of our lives +but for the blastings of affliction, the chiseling of obstacles, and +the sand-papering of a thousand annoyances. + +Who has not observed the patience, the calm endurance, the sweet +loveliness chiseled out of some rough life by the reversal of fortune +or by some terrible affliction? + +How many business men have made their greatest strides toward manhood, +and developed their greatest virtues when reverses of fortune have +swept away everything they had in the world; when disease had robbed +them of all they held dear in life! Often we can not see the angel in +the quarry of our lives, the statue of manhood, until the blasts of +misfortune have rent the ledge, and difficulties and obstacles have +squared and chiseled the granite blocks into grace and beauty. + +Many a man has been ruined into salvation. The lightning which smote +his dearest hopes opened up a new rift in his dark life, and gave him +glimpses of himself which, until then, he had never seen. The grave +buried his dearest hopes, but uncovered in his nature possibilities of +patience, endurance, and hope which he never before dreamed he +possessed. + +"Adversity is a severe instructor," says Edmund Burke, "set over us by +one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as he loves us better +too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our +skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with difficulty +makes us acquainted with our object, and compels us to consider it in +all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial." + +Men who have the right kind of material in them will assert their +personality and rise in spite of a thousand adverse circumstances. You +can not keep them down. Every obstacle seems only to add to their +ability to get on. + +The greatest men will ever be those who have risen from the ranks. It +is said that there are ten thousand chances to one that genius, talent, +and virtue shall issue from a farmhouse rather than from a palace. + +Adversity exasperates fools, dejects cowards, but draws out the +faculties of the wise and industrious, puts the modest to the necessity +of trying their skill, awes the opulent, and makes the idle +industrious. The storms of adversity, like those of the ocean, rouse +the faculties, and excite the invention, prudence, skill, and fortitude +of the voyager. A man upon whom continuous sunshine falls is like the +earth in August: he becomes parched and dry and hard and close-grained. +Men have drawn from adversity the elements of greatness. + +Beethoven was almost totally deaf and burdened with sorrow when he +produced his greatest works. Schiller wrote his best books in great +bodily suffering. He was not free from pain for fifteen years. Milton +wrote his leading productions when blind, poor, and sick. "Who best +can suffer," said he, "best can do." Bunyan said that, if it were +lawful, he could even pray for greater trouble, for the greater +comfort's sake. + +Not until the breath of the plague had blasted a hundred thousand +lives, and the great fire had licked up cheap, shabby, wicked London, +did she arise, phoenix-like, from her ashes and ruin, a grand and +mighty city. + +True salamanders live best in the furnace of persecution. + +Many of our best poets + + "Are cradled into poetry by wrong, + And learn in suffering what they teach in song." + + +Byron was stung into a determination to go to the top by a scathing +criticism of his first book, "Hours of Idleness," published when he was +but nineteen years of age. Macaulay said, "There is scarce an instance +in history of so sudden a rise to so dizzy an eminence as Byron +reached." In a few years he stood by the side of such men as Scott, +Southey, and Campbell, and died at thirty-seven, that age so fatal to +genius. Many an orator like "stuttering Jack Curran," or "Orator Mum," +as he was once called, has been spurred into eloquence by ridicule and +abuse. + +This is the crutch age. "Helps" and "aids" are advertised everywhere. +We have institutes, colleges, universities, teachers, books, libraries, +newspapers, magazines. Our thinking is done for us. Our problems are +all worked out in "explanations" and "keys." Our boys are too often +tutored through college with very little study. "Short roads" and +"abridged methods" are characteristic of the century. Ingenious +methods are used everywhere to get the drudgery out of the college +course. Newspapers give us our politics, and preachers our religion. +Self-help and self-reliance are getting old-fashioned. Nature, as if +conscious of delayed blessings, has rushed to man's relief with her +wondrous forces, and undertakes to do the world's drudgery and +emancipate him from Eden's curse. + +But do not misinterpret her edict. She emancipates from the lower only +to call to the higher. She does not bid the world go and play while +she does the work. She emancipates the muscles only to employ the +brain and heart. + +The most beautiful as well as the strongest characters are not +developed in warm climates, where man finds his bread ready made on +trees, and where exertion is a great effort, but rather in a trying +climate and on a stubborn soil. It is not chance that returns to the +Hindoo ryot a penny and to the American laborer a dollar for his daily +toil; that makes Mexico with its mineral wealth poor, and New England +with its granite and ice rich. It is rugged necessity, it is the +struggle to obtain; it is poverty, the priceless spur, that develops +the stamina of manhood, and calls the race out of barbarism. +Intelligent labor found the world a wilderness and has made it a garden. + +As the sculptor thinks only of the angel imprisoned in the marble +block, so Nature cares only for the man or woman shut up in the human +being. The sculptor cares nothing for the block as such; Nature has +little regard for the mere lump of breathing clay. The sculptor will +chip off all unnecessary material to set free the angel. Nature will +chip and pound us remorselessly to bring out our possibilities. She +will strip us of wealth, humble our pride, humiliate our ambition, let +us down from the ladder of fame, will discipline us in a thousand ways, +if she can develop a little character. Everything must give way to +that. + + "The hero is not fed on sweets, + Daily his own heart he eats; + Chambers of the great are jails, + And head-winds right for royal sails." + + Then welcome each rebuff, + That turns earth's smoothness rough, + Each sting, that bids not sit nor stand but go. + BROWNING. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DECISION + +Resolve, and thou art free.--LONGFELLOW. + +The heaviest charged words in our language are those briefest ones, +"yes" and "no." One stands for the surrender of the will, the other +for denial; one stands for gratification, the other for character. A +stout "no" means a stout character, the ready "yes" a weak one, gild it +as we may.--T. T. MUNGER. + +The world is a market where everything is marked at a set price, and +whatever we buy with our time, labor, or ingenuity, whether riches, +ease, fame, integrity, or knowledge, we must stand by our decision, and +not like children, when we have purchased one thing, repine that we do +not possess another we did not buy.--MATHEWS. + +A man must master his undertaking and not let it master him. He must +have the power to decide instantly on which side he is going to make +his mistakes.--P. D. ARMOUR. + + +When Rome was besieged by the Gauls in the time of the Republic, the +Romans were so hard pressed that they consented to purchase immunity +with gold. They were in the act of weighing it, a legend tells us, +when Camillus appeared on the scene, threw his sword into the scales in +place of the ransom, and declared that the Romans should not purchase +peace, but would win it with the sword. This act of daring and prompt +decision so roused the Romans that they triumphantly swept from the +sacred soil the enemy of their peace. + +In an emergency, the arrival of a prompt, decided, positive man, who +will do something, although it may be wrong, changes the face of +everything. Such a man comes upon the scene like a refreshing breeze +blown down from the mountain top. He is a tonic to the hesitating, +bewildered crowd. + +When Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Egypt, which was then under the +protection of Rome, the Romans sent an ambassador who met Antiochus +near Alexandria and commanded him to withdraw. The invader gave an +evasive reply. The brave Roman swept a circle around the king with his +sword, and forbade his crossing the line until he had given his answer. +By the prompt decision of the intrepid ambassador the invader was led +to withdraw, and war was prevented. The prompt decision of the Romans +won them many a battle, and made them masters of the world. All the +great achievements in the history of the world are the results of quick +and steadfast decision. + +Men who have left their mark upon their century have been men of great +and prompt decision. An undecided man, a man who is ever balancing +between two opinions, forever debating which of two courses he will +pursue, proclaims by his indecision that he can not control himself, +that he was meant to be possessed by others; he is not a man, only a +satellite. The decided man, the prompt man, does not wait for +favorable circumstances; he does not submit to events; events must +submit to him. + +The vacillating man is ever at the mercy of the opinion of the man who +talked with him last. He may see the right, but he drifts toward the +wrong. If he decides upon a course he only follows it until somebody +opposes it. + +When Julius Caesar came to the Rubicon, which formed the boundary of +Italia,--"the sacred and inviolable,"--even his great decision wavered +at the thought of invading a territory which no general was allowed to +enter without the permission of the Senate. But his alternative was +"destroy myself, or destroy my country," and his intrepid mind did not +waver long. "The die is cast," he said, as he dashed into the stream +at the head of his legions. The whole history of the world was changed +by that moment's decision. The man who said, "I came, I saw, I +conquered," could not hesitate long. He, like Napoleon, had the power +to choose one course, and sacrifice every conflicting plan on the +instant. When he landed with his troops in Britain, the inhabitants +resolved never to surrender. Caesar's quick mind saw that he must +commit his soldiers to victory or death. In order to cut off all hope +of retreat, he burned all the ships which had borne them to the shores +of Britain. There was no hope of return, it was victory or death. +This action was the key to the character and triumphs of this great +warrior. + +Satan's sublime decision in "Paradise Lost," after his hopeless +banishment from heaven, excites a feeling akin to admiration. After a +few moments of terrible suspense he resumes his invincible spirit and +expresses that sublime line: "What matter where, if I be still the +same?" + +That power to decide instantly the best course to pursue, and to +sacrifice every opposing motive; and, when once sacrificed, to silence +them forever and not allow them continually to plead their claims and +distract us from our single decided course, is one of the most potent +forces in winning success. To hesitate is sometimes to be lost. In +fact, the man who is forever twisting and turning, backing and filling, +hesitating and dawdling, shuffling and parleying, weighing and +balancing, splitting hairs over non-essentials, listening to every new +motive which presents itself, will never accomplish anything. There is +not positiveness enough in him; negativeness never accomplishes +anything. The negative man creates no confidence, he only invites +distrust. But the positive man, the decided man, is a power in the +world, and stands for something. You can measure him, gauge him. You +can estimate the work that his energy will accomplish. It is related +of Alexander the Great that, when asked how it was that he had +conquered the world, he replied, "By not wavering." + +When the packet ship _Stephen Whitney_ struck, at midnight, on an Irish +cliff, and clung for a few moments to the cliff, all the passengers who +leaped instantly upon the rock were saved. The positive step landed +them in safety. Those who lingered were swept off by the returning +wave, and engulfed forever. + +The vacillating man is never a prompt man, and without promptness no +success is possible. Great opportunities not only come seldom into the +most fortunate life, but also are often quickly gone. + +"A man without decision," says John Foster, "can never be said to +belong to himself; since if he dared to assert that he did, the puny +force of some cause, about as powerful as a spider, may make a seizure +of the unhappy boaster the very next minute, and contemptuously exhibit +the futility of the determination by which he was to have proved the +independence of his understanding and will. He belongs to whatever can +make capture of him; and one thing after another vindicates its right +to him by arresting him while he is trying to go on; as twigs and chips +floating near the edge of a river are intercepted by every weed and +whirled into every little eddy." + +The decided man not only has the advantage of the time saved from +dillydallying and procrastination, but he also saves the energy and +vital force which is wasted by the perplexed man who takes up every +argument on one side and then on the other, and weighs them until the +two sides hang in equipoise, with no prepondering motive to enable him +to decide. He is in stable equilibrium, and so does not move at all of +his own volition, but moves very easily at the slightest volition of +another. + +Yet there is not a man living who might not be a prompt and decided man +if he would only learn always to act quickly. The punctual man, the +decided man, can do twice as much as the undecided and dawdling man who +never quite knows what he wants. Prompt decision saved Napoleon and +Grant and their armies many a time when delay would have been fatal. +Napoleon used to say that although a battle might last an entire day, +yet it generally turned upon a few critical minutes, in which the fate +of the engagement was decided. His will, which subdued nearly the +whole of Europe, was as prompt and decisive in the minutest detail of +command as in the greatest battle. + +Decision of purpose and promptness of action enabled him to astonish +the world with his marvelous successes. He seemed to be everywhere at +once. What he could accomplish in a day surprised all who knew him. +He seemed to electrify everybody about him. His invincible energy +thrilled the whole army. He could rouse to immediate and enthusiastic +action the dullest troops, and inspire with courage the most stupid +men. The "ifs and buts," he said, "are at present out of season; and +above all it must be done with speed." He would sit up all night if +necessary, after riding thirty or forty leagues, to attend to +correspondence, dispatches and, details. What a lesson to dawdling, +shiftless, half-hearted men! + +"The doubt of Charles V.," says Motley, "changed the destinies of the +civilized world." + +So powerful were President Washington's views in determining the +actions of the people, that when Congress adjourned, Jefferson wrote to +Monroe at Paris: "You will see by their proceedings the truth of what I +always told you,--namely, that one man outweighs them all in influence, +who supports his judgment against their own and that of their +representatives. Republicanism resigns the vessel to the pilot." + +There is no vocation or occupation which does not present many +difficulties, at times almost overwhelming, and the young man who +allows himself to waver every time he comes to a hard place in life +will not succeed. Without decision there can be no concentration; and, +to succeed, a man must concentrate. + +The undecided man can not bring himself to a focus. He dissipates his +energy, scatters his forces, and executes nothing. He can not hold to +one thing long enough to bring success out of it. One vocation or +occupation presents its rosy side to him, he feels sure it is the thing +he wants to do, and, full of enthusiasm, adopts it as his life's work. +But in a few days the thorns begin to appear, his enthusiasm +evaporates, and he wonders why he is so foolish as to think himself +fitted for that vocation. The one which his friend adopted is much +better suited to him; he drops his own and adopts the other. So he +vacillates through life, captured by any new occupation which happens +to appeal to him as the most desirable at the time, never using his +judgment or common sense, but governed by his impressions and his +feelings at the moment. Such people are never led by principle. You +never know where to find them; they are here to-day and there +to-morrow, doing this thing and that thing, throwing away all the skill +they had acquired in mastering the drudgery of the last occupation. In +fact, they never go far enough in anything to get beyond the drudgery +stage to the remunerative and agreeable stage, the skilful stage. They +spend their lives at the beginning of occupations, which are always +most agreeable. These people rarely reach the stage of competency, +comfort, and contentment. + +There is a legend of a powerful genius who promised a lovely maiden a +gift of rare value if she would go through a field of corn, and, +without pausing, going backward, or wandering hither and thither, +select the largest and ripest ear. The value of the gift was to be in +proportion to the size and perfection of the ear. She passed by many +magnificent ones, but was so eager to get the largest and most perfect +that she kept on without plucking any until the ears she passed were +successively smaller and smaller and more stunted. Finally they became +so small that she was ashamed to select one of them; and, not being +allowed to go backward, she came out on the other side without any. + +Alexander, his heart throbbing with a great purpose, conquers the +world; Hannibal, impelled by his hatred to the Romans, even crosses the +Alps to compass his design. While other men are bemoaning difficulties +and shrinking from dangers and obstacles, and preparing expedients, the +great soul, without fuss or noise, takes the step, and lo, the mountain +has been leveled and the way lies open. Learn, then, to will strongly +and decisively; thus fix your floating life and leave it no longer to +be carried hither and thither, like a withered leaf, by every wind that +blows. An undecided man is like the turnstile at a fair, which is in +everybody's way but stops no one. + +"The secret of the whole matter was," replied Amos Lawrence, "we had +formed the habit of prompt acting, thus taking the top of the tide; +while the habit of some others was to delay till about half tide, thus +getting on the flats." + +Most of the young men and women who are lost in our cities are ruined +because of their inability to say "No" to the thousand allurements and +temptations which appeal to their weak passions. If they would only +show a little decision at first, one emphatic "No" might silence their +solicitors forever. But they are weak, they are afraid of offending, +they don't like to say "No," and thus they throw down the gauntlet and +are soon on the broad road to ruin. A little resolution early in life +will soon conquer the right to mind one's own business. + +An old legend says that a fool and a wise man were journeying together, +and came to a point where two ways opened before them,--one broad and +beautiful, the other narrow and rough. The fool desired to take the +pleasant way; the wise man knew that the difficult one was the shortest +and safest, and so declared. But at last the urgency of the fool +prevailed; they took the more inviting path, and were soon met by +robbers, who seized their goods and made them captives. A little later +both they and their captors were arrested by officers of the law and +taken before the judge. Then the wise man pleaded that the fool was to +blame because he desired to take the wrong way. The fool pleaded that +he was only a fool, and no sensible man should have heeded his counsel. +The judge punished them both equally. "If sinners entice thee, consent +thou not." + +There is no habit that so grows on the soul as irresolution. Before a +man knows what he has done, he has gambled his life away, and all +because he has never made up his mind what he would do with it. On +many of the tombstones of those who have failed in life could be read +between the lines: "He Dawdled," "Behind Time," "Procrastination," +"Listlessness," "Shiftlessness," "Nervelessness," "Always Behind." Oh, +the wrecks strewn along the shores of life "just behind success," "just +this side of happiness," above which the words of warning are flying! + +Webster said of such an undecided man that "he is like the irresolution +of the sea at the turn of tide. This man neither advances nor recedes; +he simply hovers." Such a man is at the mercy of any chance occurrence +that may overtake him. His "days are lost lamenting o'er lost days." +He has no power to seize the facts which confront him and compel them +to serve him. + +To indolent, shiftless, listless people life becomes a mere shuffle of +expedients. They do not realize that the habit of putting everything +off puts off their manhood, their capacity, their success; their +contagion infects their whole neighborhood. Scott used to caution +youth against the habit of dawdling, which creeps in at every crevice +of unoccupied time and often ruins a bright life. "Your motto must +be," he said, "_Hoc age_,"--do instantly. This is the only way to +check the propensity to dawdling. How many hours have been wasted +dawdling in bed, turning over and dreading to get up! Many a career +has been crippled by it. Burton could not overcome this habit, and, +convinced that it would ruin his success, made his servant promise +before he went to bed to get him up at just such a time; the servant +called, and called, and coaxed; but Burton would beg him to be left a +little longer. The servant, knowing that he would lose his shilling if +he did not get him up, then dashed cold water into the bed between the +sheets, and Burton came out with a bound. When one asked a lazy young +fellow what made him lie in bed so long, "I am employed," said he, "in +hearing counsel every morning. _Industry_ advises me to get up; +_Sloth_ to lie still; and they give me twenty reasons for and against. +It is my part, as an impartial judge, to hear all that can be said on +both sides, and by the time the cause is over dinner is ready." + +There is no doubt that, as a rule, great decision of character is +usually accompanied by great constitutional firmness. Men who have +been noted for great firmness of character have usually been strong and +robust. There is no quality of the mind which does not sympathize with +bodily weakness, and especially is this true with the power of +decision, which is usually impaired or weakened from physical suffering +or any great physical debility. As a rule, it is the strong physical +man who carries weight and conviction. Any bodily weakness, or +lassitude, or lack of tone and vigor, is, perhaps, first felt in the +weakened or debilitated power of decisions. + +Nothing will give greater confidence, and bring assistance more quickly +from the bank or from a friend, than the reputation of promptness. The +world knows that the prompt man's bills and notes will be paid on the +day, and will trust him. "Let it be your first study to teach the +world that you are not wood and straw; that there is some iron in you." +"Let men know that what you say you will do; that your decision, once +made, is final,--no wavering; that, once resolved, you are not to be +allured or intimidated." + +Some minds are so constructed that they are bewildered and dazed +whenever a responsibility is thrust upon them; they have a mortal dread +of deciding anything. The very effort to come to immediate and +unflinching decision starts up all sorts of doubts, difficulties, and +fears, and they can not seem to get light enough to decide nor courage +enough to attempt to remove the obstacle. They know that hesitation is +fatal to enterprise, fatal to progress, fatal to success. Yet somehow +they seem fated with a morbid introspection which ever holds them in +suspense. They have just energy enough to weigh motives, but nothing +left for the momentum of action. They analyze and analyze, deliberate, +weigh, consider, ponder, but never act. How many a man can trace his +downfall in life to the failure to seize his opportunity at the +favorable moment, when it was within easy grasp, the nick of time, +which often does not present itself but once! + +It was said that Napoleon had an officer under him who understood the +tactics of war better than his commander, but he lacked that power of +rapid decision and powerful concentration which characterized the +greatest military leaders perhaps of the world. There were several +generals under Grant who were as well skilled in war tactics, knew the +country as well, were better educated, but they lacked that power of +decision which made unconditional surrender absolutely imperative +wherever he met the foe. Grant's decision was like inexorable fate. +There was no going behind it, no opening it up for reconsideration. It +was his decision which voiced itself in those memorable words in the +Wilderness, "I propose to fight it out on these lines if it takes all +summer," and which sent back the words "unconditional surrender" to +General Buckner, who asked him for conditions of capitulation, that +gave the first confidence to the North that the rebellion was doomed. +At last Lincoln had a general who had the power of decision, and the +North breathed easy for the first time. + +The man who would forge to the front in this competitive age must be a +man of prompt and determined decision; like Caesar, he must burn his +ships behind him, and make retreat forever impossible. When he draws +his sword he must throw the scabbard away, lest in a moment of +discouragement and irresolution he be tempted to sheathe it. He must +nail his colors to the mast as Nelson did in battle, determined to sink +with his ship if he can not conquer. Prompt decision and sublime +audacity have carried many a successful man over perilous crises where +deliberation would have been ruin. + +"_Hoc age_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +OBSERVATION AS A SUCCESS FACTOR + +Henry Ward Beecher was not so foolish as to think that he could get on +without systematic study, and a thorough-going knowledge of the world +of books. "When I first went to Brooklyn," he said, "men doubted +whether I could sustain myself. I replied, 'Give me uninterrupted time +till nine o'clock every morning, and I do not care what comes after.'" + +He was a hard student during four hours every morning; those who saw +him after that imagined that he picked up the material for his sermons +on the street. + +Yet having said so much, it is true that much that was most vital in +his preaching he did pick up on the street. + +"Where does Mr. Beecher get his sermons?" every ambitious young +clergyman in the country was asking, and upon one occasion he answered: +"I keep my eyes open and ask questions." + +This is the secret of many a man's success,--keeping his eyes open and +asking questions. Although Beecher was an omnivorous reader he did not +care much for the writings of the theologians; the Christ was his great +model, and he knew that He did not search the writings of the Sanhedrin +for His sermons, but picked them up as He walked along the banks of the +Jordan and over the hills and through the meadows and villages of +Galilee. He saw that the strength of this great Master's sermons was +in their utter simplicity, their naturalness. + +Beecher's sermons were very simple, healthy, and strong. They pulsated +with life; they had the vigor of bright red blood in them, because, +like Christ's, they grew out of doors. He got them everywhere from +life and nature. He picked them up in the marketplace, on Wall Street, +in the stores. He got them from the brakeman, the mechanic, the +blacksmith, the day laborer, the newsboy, the train conductor, the +clerk, the lawyer, the physician, and the business man. + +He did not watch the progress of the great human battle from his study, +as many did. He went into the thick of the fight himself. He was in +the smoke and din. Where the battle of life raged fiercest, there he +was studying its great problems. Now it was the problem of slavery; +again the problem of government, or commerce, or education,--whatever +touched the lives of men. He kept his hand upon the pulse of events. +He was in the swim of things. The great, busy, ambitious world was +everywhere throbbing for him. + +[Illustration: Henry Ward Beecher] + +When he once got a taste of the power and helpfulness which comes from +the study of real life, when he saw how much more forceful and +interesting actual life stories were as they were being lived than +anything he could get out of any book except the Bible, he was never +again satisfied without illustrations fresh from the lives of the +people he met every day. + +Beecher believed a sermon a failure when it does not make a great mass +of hearers go away with a new determination to make a little more of +themselves, to do their work a little better, to be a little more +conscientious, a little more helpful, a little more determined to do +their share in the world. + +This great observer was not only a student of human nature, but of all +nature as well. I watched him, many a time, completely absorbed in +drinking in the beauties of the marvelous landscape, gathering grandeur +and sublimity from the great White Mountains, which he loved so well, +and where he spent many summers. + +He always preached on Sunday at the hotel where he stayed, and great +crowds came from every direction to hear him. There was something in +his sermons that appealed to the best in everyone who heard him. They +were full of pictures of beautiful landscapes, seascapes, and +entrancing sunsets. The clouds, the rain, the sunshine, and the storm +were reflected in them. The flowers, the fields, the brooks, the +record of creation imprinted in the rocks and the mountains were +intermingled with the ferryboats, the steam-cars, orphans, calamities, +accidents, all sorts of experiences and bits of life. Happiness and +sunshine, birds and trees alternated with the direst poverty in the +slums, people on sick beds and death beds, in hospitals and in funeral +processions; life pictures of successes and failures, of the +discouraged, the despondent, the cheerful, the optimist and the +pessimist, passed in quick succession and stamped themselves on the +brains of his eager hearers. + +Wherever he went, Beecher continued his study of life through +observation. Nothing else was half so interesting. To him man was the +greatest study in the world. To place the right values upon men, to +emphasize the right thing in them, to be able to discriminate between +the genuine and the false, to be able to pierce their masks and read +the real man or woman behind them, he regarded as one of a clergyman's +greatest accomplishments. + +Like Professor Agassiz, who could see wonders in the scale of a fish or +a grain of sand, Beecher had an eye like the glass of a microscope, +which reveals marvels of beauty in common things. He could see beauty +and harmony where others saw only ugliness and discord, because he read +the hidden meaning in things. Like Ruskin, he could see the marvelous +philosophy, the Divine plan, in the lowliest object. He could feel the +Divine presence in all created things. + +"An exhaustive observation," says Herbert Spencer, "is an element of +all great success." There is no position in life where a trained eye +can not be made a great success asset. + +"Let's leave it to Osler," said the physicians at a consultation where +a precious life hung by a thread. Then the great Johns Hopkins +professor examined the patient. He did not ask questions. His +experienced eye drew a conclusion from the slightest evidence. He +watched the patient closely; his manner of breathing, the appearance of +the eye,--everything was a telltale of the patient's condition, which +he read as an open book. He saw symptoms which others could not see. +He recommended a certain operation, which was performed, and the +patient recovered. The majority of those present disagreed with him, +but such was their confidence in his power to diagnose a case through +symptoms and indications which escape most physicians, that they were +willing to leave the whole decision to him. Professor Osler was called +a living X-ray machine, with additional eyes in finger tips so familiar +with the anatomy that they could detect a growth or displacement so +small that it would escape ordinary notice. + +The power which inheres in a trained faculty of observation is +priceless. The education which Beecher got through observation, by +keeping his eyes, his ears, and his mind open, meant a great deal more +to him and to the world than his college education. He was not a great +scholar; he did not stand nearly as high in college as some of his +classmates whom he far outstripped in life, but his mind penetrated to +the heart of things. + +Lincoln was another remarkable example of the possibilities of an +education through reflection upon what he observed. His mind stopped +and questioned, and extracted the meaning of everything that came +within its range. Wherever he went, there was a great interrogation +point before him. Everything he saw must give up its secret before he +would let it go. He had a passion for knowledge; he yearned to know +the meaning of things, the philosophy underlying the common, everyday +occurrences. + +Ruskin says: "Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think; but +thousands can think for one who can see." + +I once traveled abroad with two young men, one of whom was all +eyes,--nothing seemed to escape him,--and the other never saw anything. +The day after leaving a city, the latter could scarcely recall anything +of interest, while the former had a genius for absorbing knowledge of +every kind through the eye. Things so trivial that his companion did +not notice them at all, meant a great deal to him. He was a poor +student, but he brought home rich treasures from over the sea. The +other young man was comparatively rich, and brought home almost nothing +of value. + +While visiting Luther Burbank, the wizard horticulturist, in his famous +garden, recently, I was much impressed by his marvelous power of seeing +things. He has observed the habits of fruits and flowers to such +purpose that he has performed miracles in the fields of floriculture +and horticulture. Stunted and ugly flowers and fruits, under the eye +of this miracle worker, become marvels of beauty. + +George W. Cortelyou was a stenographer not long ago. Many people +thought he would remain a stenographer, but he always kept his eyes +open. He was after an opportunity. Promotion was always staring him +in the face. He was always looking for the next step above him. He +was a shrewd observer. But for this power of seeing things quickly, of +absorbing knowledge, he would never have advanced. + +The youth who would get on must keep his eyes open, his ears open, his +mind open. He must be quick, alert, ready. + +I know a young Turk, who has been in this country only a year, yet he +speaks our language fluently. He has studied the map of our country. +He knows its geography, and a great deal of our history, and much about +our resources and opportunities. He said that when he landed in New +York it seemed to him that he saw more opportunities in walking every +block of our streets than he had ever seen in the whole of Turkey. And +he could not understand the lethargy, the lack of ambition, the +indifference of our young men to our marvelous possibilities. + +The efficient man is always growing. He is always accumulating +knowledge of every kind. He does not merely look with his eyes. He +sees with them. He keeps his ears open. He keeps his mind open to all +that is new and fresh and helpful. + +The majority of people do not _see_ things; they just _look_ at them. +The power of keen observation is indicative of a superior mentality; +for it is the mind, not the optic nerve, that really sees. + +Most people are too lazy, mentally, to see things carefully. Close +observation is a powerful mental process. The mind is all the time +working over the material which the eye brings it, considering, forming +opinions, estimating, weighing, balancing, calculating. + +Careless, indifferent observation does not go back of the eye. If the +mind is not focused, the image is not clean-cut, and is not carried +with force and distinctness enough to the brain to enable it to get at +the truth and draw accurate conclusions. + +The observing faculty is particularly susceptible to culture, and is +capable of becoming a mighty power. Few people realize what a +tremendous success and happiness is possible through the medium of the +eye. + +The telegraph, the sewing machine, the telephone, the telescope, the +miracles of electricity, in fact, every great invention of the past or +present, every triumph of modern labor-saving machinery, every +discovery in science and art, is due to the trained power of seeing +things. + +The whole secret of a richly stored mind is alertness, sharp, keen +attention, and thoughtfulness. Indifference, apathy, mental lassitude +and laziness are fatal to all effective observation. + +It does not take long to develop a habit of attention that seizes the +salient points of things. + +It is a splendid drill for children to send them out on the street, or +out of doors anywhere, just for the purpose of finding out how many +things they can see in a certain given time, and how closely they can +observe them. Just the effort to try to see how much they can remember +and bring back is a splendid drill. Children often become passionately +fond of this exercise, and it becomes of inestimable value in their +lives. + +Other things equal, it is the keen observer who gets ahead. Go into a +place of business with the eye of an eagle. Let nothing escape you. +Ask yourself why it is that the proprietor at fifty or sixty years of +age is conducting a business which a boy of eighteen or twenty ought to +be able to handle better. Study his employees; analyze the situation. +You will find perhaps that he never knew the value of good manners in +clerks. He thought a boy, if honest, would make a good salesman; but, +perhaps, by gruff, uncouth manners, he is driving out of the door +customers the proprietor is trying to bring in by advertisements. You +will see by his show windows, perhaps, before you go into his store, +that there is no business insight, no detection of the wants of +possible buyers. If you keep your eyes open, you can, in a little +while, find out why this man is not a greater success. You can see +that a little more knowledge of human nature would have revolutionized +his whole business, multiplied the receipts tenfold in a few years. +You will see that this man has not studied men. He does not know them. + +No matter where you go, study the situation. Think why the man does +not do better if he is not doing well, why he remains in mediocrity all +his life. If he is making a remarkable success, try to find out why. +Keep your eyes open, your ears open. Make deductions from what you see +and hear. Trace difficulties; look up evidences of success or failure +everywhere. It will be one of the greatest factors in your own success. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +SELF-HELP + +I learned that no man in God's wide earth is either willing or able to +help any other man.--PESTALOZZI. + +What I am I have made myself.--HUMPHRY DAVY. + +Be sure, my son, and remember that the best men always make +themselves.--PATRICK HENRY. + + Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not + Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? + BYRON. + + Who waits to have his task marked out, + Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. + LOWELL. + + +"Colonel Crockett makes room for himself!" exclaimed a backwoods +congressman in answer to the exclamation of the White House usher to +"Make room for Colonel Crockett!" This remarkable man was not afraid +to oppose the head of a great nation. He preferred being right to +being president. Though rough, uncultured, and uncouth, Crockett was a +man of great courage and determination. + +"Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify," said James A. Garfield; +"but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young +man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for +himself. In all my acquaintance I have never known a man to be drowned +who was worth the saving." + +Garfield was the youngest member of the House of Representatives when +he entered, but he had not been in his seat sixty days before his +ability was recognized and his place conceded. He stepped to the front +with the confidence of one who belonged there. He succeeded because +all the world in concert could not have kept him in the background, and +because when once in the front he played his part with an intrepidity +and a commanding ease that were but the outward evidences of the +immense reserves of energy on which it was in his power to draw. + +"Take the place and attitude which belong to you," says Emerson, "and +all men acquiesce. The world must be just. It leaves every man with +profound unconcern to set his own rate." + +"A person under the firm persuasion that he can command resources +virtually has them," says Livy. + +Richard Arkwright, the thirteenth child, in a hovel, with no education, +no chance, gave his spinning model to the world, and put a scepter in +England's right hand such as the queen never wielded. + +Solario, a wandering gypsy tinker, fell deeply in love with the +daughter of the painter Coll' Antonio del Fiore, but was told that no +one but a painter as good as the father should wed the maiden. "Will +you give me ten years to learn to paint, and so entitle myself to the +hand of your daughter?" Consent was given, Coll' Antonio thinking that +he would never be troubled further by the gypsy. + +About the time that the ten years were to end the king's sister showed +Coll' Antonio a Madonna and Child, which the painter extolled in terms +of the highest praise. Judge of his surprise on learning that Solario +was the artist. His great determination gained him his bride. + +Louis Philippe said he was the only sovereign in Europe fit to govern, +for he could black his own boots. + +When asked to name his family coat-of-arms, a self-made President of +the United States replied, "A pair of shirtsleeves." + +It is not the men who have inherited most, except it be in nobility of +soul and purpose, who have risen highest; but rather the men with no +"start" who have won fortunes, and have made adverse circumstances a +spur to goad them up the steep mount, where + + "Fame's proud temple shines afar." + +To such men, every possible goal is accessible, and honest ambition has +no height that genius or talent may tread, which has not felt the +impress of their feet. + +You may leave your millions to your son, but have you really given him +anything? You can not transfer the discipline, the experience, the +power, which the acquisition has given you; you can not transfer the +delight of achieving, the joy felt only in growth, the pride of +acquisition, the character which trained habits of accuracy, method, +promptness, patience, dispatch, honesty of dealing, politeness of +manner have developed. You cannot transfer the skill, sagacity, +prudence, foresight, which lie concealed in your wealth. It meant a +great deal for you, but means nothing to your heir. In climbing to +your fortune, you developed the muscle, stamina, and strength which +enabled you to maintain your lofty position, to keep your millions +intact. You had the power which comes only from experience, and which +alone enables you to stand firm on your dizzy height. Your fortune was +experience to you, joy, growth, discipline, and character; to him it +will be a temptation, an anxiety, which will probably dwarf him. It +was wings to you, it will be a dead weight to him; to you it was +education and expansion of your highest powers; to him it may mean +inaction, lethargy, indolence, weakness, ignorance. You have taken the +priceless spur--necessity--away from him, the spur which has goaded man +to nearly all the great achievements in the history of the world. + +You thought it a kindness to deprive yourself in order that your son +might begin where you left off. You thought to spare him the drudgery, +the hardships, the deprivations, the lack of opportunities, the meager +education, which you had on the old farm. But you have put a crutch +into his hand instead of a staff; you have taken away from him the +incentive to self-development, to self-elevation, to self-discipline +and self-help, without which no real success, no real happiness, no +great character is ever possible. His enthusiasm will evaporate, his +energy will be dissipated, his ambition, not being stimulated by the +struggle for self-elevation, will gradually die away. If you do +everything for your son and fight his battles for him, you will have a +weakling on your hands at twenty-one. + +"My life is a wreck," said the dying Cyrus W. Field, "my fortune gone, +my home dishonored. Oh, I was so unkind to Edward when I thought I was +being kind. If I had only had firmness enough to compel my boys to +earn their living, then they would have known the meaning of money." +His table was covered with medals and certificates of honor from many +nations, in recognition of his great work for civilization in mooring +two continents side by side in thought, of the fame he had won and +could never lose. But grief shook the sands of life as he thought only +of the son who had brought disgrace upon a name before unsullied; the +wounds were sharper than those of a serpent's tooth. + +During the great financial crisis of 1857 Maria Mitchell, who was +visiting England, asked an English lady what became of daughters when +no property was left them. "They live on their brothers," was the +reply. "But what becomes of the American daughters," asked the English +lady, "when there is no money left?" "They earn it," was Miss +Mitchell's reply. + +Men who have been bolstered up all their lives are seldom good for +anything in a crisis. When misfortune comes, they look around for +somebody to lean upon. It the prop is not there, down they go. Once +down, they are as helpless as capsized turtles, or unhorsed men in +armor. Many a frontier boy has succeeded beyond all his expectations +simply because all props were early knocked out from under him and he +was obliged to stand upon his own feet. + +"A man's best friends are his ten fingers," said Robert Collyer, who +brought his wife to America in the steerage. + +There is no manhood mill which takes in boys and turns out men. What +you call "no chance" may be your only chance. Don't wait for your +place to be made for you; make it yourself. Don't wait for somebody to +give you a lift; lift yourself. Henry Ward Beecher did not wait for a +call to a big church with a large salary. He accepted the first +pastorate offered him, in a little town near Cincinnati. He became +literally the light of the church, for he trimmed the lamps, kindled +the fires, swept the rooms, and rang the bell. His salary was only +about $200 a year,--but he knew that a fine church and great salary can +not make a great man. It was work and opportunity that he wanted. He +felt that if there were anything in him work would bring it out. + +When Beethoven was examining the work of Moscheles, he found written at +the end, "Finis, with God's help." He wrote under it, "Man, help +yourself." + +A young man stood listlessly watching some anglers on a bridge. He was +poor and dejected. At length, approaching a basket filled with fish, +he sighed, "If now I had these I would be happy. I could sell them and +buy food and lodgings." "I will give you just as many and just as +good," said the owner, who chanced to overhear his words, "if you will +do me a trifling favor." "And what is that?" asked the other. "Only +to tend this line till I come back; I wish to go on a short errand." +The proposal was gladly accepted. The old man was gone so long that +the young man began to get impatient. Meanwhile the fish snapped +greedily at the hook, and he lost all his depression in the excitement +of pulling them in. When the owner returned he had caught a large +number. Counting out from them as many as were in the basket, and +presenting them to the youth, the old fisherman said, "I fulfil my +promise from the fish you have caught, to teach you whenever you see +others earning what you need to waste no time in foolish wishing, but +cast a line for yourself." + +A white squall caught a party of tourists on a lake in Scotland, and +threatened to capsize the boat. When it seemed that the crisis had +really come, the largest and strongest man in the party, in a state of +intense fear, said, "Let us pray." "No, no, my man," shouted the bluff +old boatman; "_let the little man pray. You take an oar._" + +The grandest fortunes ever accumulated or possessed on earth were and +are the fruit of endeavor that had no capital to begin with save +energy, intellect, and the will. From Croesus down to Rockefeller the +story is the same, not only in the getting of wealth, but also in the +acquirement of eminence; those men have won most who relied most upon +themselves. + +"The male inhabitants in the Township of Loaferdom, in the County of +Hatework," says a printer's squib, "found themselves laboring under +great inconvenience for want of an easily traveled road between Poverty +and Independence. They therefore petitioned the Powers that be to levy +a tax upon the property of the entire county for the purpose of laying +out a macadamized highway, broad and smooth, and all the way down hill +to the latter place." + +"Every one is the artificer of his own fortune," says Sallust. + +Man is not merely the architect of his own fate, but he must lay the +bricks himself. Bayard Taylor, at twenty-three, wrote: "I will become +the sculptor of my own mind's statue." His biography shows how often +the chisel and hammer were in his hands to shape himself into his ideal. + +Labor is the only legal tender in the world to true success. The gods +sell everything for that, nothing without it. You will never find +success "marked down." The door to the temple of success is never left +open. Every one who enters makes his own door, which closes behind him +to all others. + +Circumstances have rarely favored great men. They have fought their +way to triumph over the road of difficulty and through all sorts of +opposition. A lowly beginning and a humble origin are no bar to a +great career. The farmer's boys fill many of the greatest places in +legislatures, in business, at the bar, in pulpits, in Congress, to-day. +Boys of lowly origin have made many of the greatest discoveries, are +presidents of our banks, of our colleges, of our universities. Our +poor boys and girls have written many of our greatest books, and have +filled the highest places as teachers and journalists. Ask almost any +great man in our large cities where he was born, and he will tell you +it was on a farm or in a small country village. Nearly all of the +great capitalists of the city came from the country. + +Isaac Rich, the founder of Boston University, left Cape Cod for Boston +to make his way with a capital of only four dollars. Like Horace +Greeley, he could find no opening for a boy; but what of that? He made +an opening. He found a board, and made it into an oyster stand on the +street corner. He borrowed a wheelbarrow, and went three miles to an +oyster smack, bought three bushels of oysters, and wheeled them to his +stand. Soon his little savings amounted to $130, and then he bought a +horse and cart. + +Self-help has accomplished about all the great things of the world. +How many young men falter, faint, and dally with their purpose because +they have no capital to start with, and wait and wait for some good +luck to give them a lift! But success is the child of drudgery and +perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is +yours. Where is the boy to-day who has less chance to rise in the +world than Elihu Burritt, apprenticed to a blacksmith, in whose shop he +had to work at the forge all the daylight, and often by candle-light? +Yet, he managed, by studying with a book before him at his meals, +carrying it in his pocket that he might utilize every spare moment, and +studying at night and holidays, to pick up an excellent education in +the odds and ends of time which most boys throw away. While the rich +boy and the idler were yawning and stretching and getting their eyes +open, young Burritt had seized the opportunity and improved it. At +thirty years of age he was master of every important language in Europe +and was studying those of Asia. What chance had such a boy for +distinction? + +Probably not a single youth will read this book who has not a better +opportunity for success. Yet he had a thirst for knowledge and a +desire for self-improvement, which overcame every obstacle in his +pathway. + +If the youth of America who are struggling against cruel circumstances +to do something and be somebody in the world could only understand that +ninety per cent. of what is called genius is merely the result of +persistent, determined industry, in most cases of down-right hard work, +that it is the slavery to a single idea which has given to many a +mediocre talent the reputation of being a genius, they would be +inspired with new hope. It is interesting to note that the men who +talk most about genius are the men who like to work the least. The +lazier the man, the more he will have to say about great things being +done by genius. + +The greatest geniuses have been the greatest workers. Sheridan was +considered a genius, but it was found that the "brilliants" and +"off-hand sayings" with which he used to dazzle the House of Commons +were elaborated, polished and repolished, and put down in his +memorandum book ready for any emergency. + +Genius has been well defined as the infinite capacity for taking pains. +If men who have done great things could only reveal to the struggling +youth of to-day how much of their reputations was due to downright hard +digging and plodding, what an uplift of inspiration and encouragement +they would give! How often I have wished that the discouraged, +struggling youth could know of the heartaches, the headaches, the +nerve-aches, the disheartening trials, the discouraged hours, the fears +and despair involved in works which have gained the admiration of the +world, but which have taxed the utmost powers of their authors. You +can read in a few minutes or a few hours a poem or a book with only +pleasure and delight, but the days and months of weary plodding over +details and dreary drudgery often required to produce it would stagger +belief. + +The greatest works in literature have been elaborated and elaborated, +line by line, paragraph by paragraph, often rewritten a dozen times. +The drudgery which literary men have put into the productions which +have stood the test of time is almost incredible. Lucretius worked +nearly a lifetime on one poem. It completely absorbed his life. It is +said that Bryant rewrote "Thanatopsis" a hundred times, and even then +was not satisfied with it. John Foster would sometimes linger a week +over a single sentence. He would hack, split, prune, pull up by the +roots, or practise any other severity on whatever he wrote, till it +gained his consent to exist. Chalmers was once asked what Foster was +about in London. "Hard at it," he replied, "at the rate of a line a +week." + +Even Lord Bacon, one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived, at his +death left large numbers of manuscripts filled with "sudden thoughts +set down for use." Hume toiled thirteen hours a day on his "History of +England." Lord Eldon astonished the world with his great legal +learning, but when he was a student too poor to buy books, he had +actually borrowed and copied many hundreds of pages of large law books. +Matthew Hale for years studied law sixteen hours a day. Speaking of +Fox, some one declared that he wrote "drop by drop." Rousseau says of +the labor involved in his smooth and lively style: "My manuscripts, +blotted, scratched, interlined, and scarcely legible, attest the +trouble they cost me. There is not one of them which I have not been +obliged to transcribe four or five times before it went to press. . . . +Some of my periods I have turned or returned in my head for five or six +nights before they were fit to be put to paper." + +Beethoven probably surpassed all other musicians in his painstaking +fidelity and persistent application. There is scarcely a bar in his +music that was not written and rewritten at least a dozen times. His +favorite maxim was, "The barriers are not yet erected which can say to +aspiring talent and industry 'thus far and no further.'" Gibbon wrote +his autobiography nine times, and was in his study every morning, +summer and winter, at six o'clock; and yet youth who waste their +evenings wonder at the genius which can produce "The Decline and Fall +of the Roman Empire," upon which Gibbon worked twenty years. Even +Plato, one of the greatest writers that ever lived, wrote the first +sentence in his "Republic" nine different ways before he was satisfied +with it. Burke wrote the conclusion of his speech at the trial of +Hastings sixteen times, and Butler his famous "Analogy" twenty times. +It took Vergil seven years to write his Georgics, and twelve years to +write the Aeneid. He was so displeased with the latter that he +attempted to rise from his deathbed to commit it to the flames. + +Haydn was very poor; his father was a coachman and he, friendless and +lonely, married a servant girl. He was sent away from home to act as +errand boy for a music teacher. He absorbed a great deal of +information, but he had a hard life of persecution until he became a +barber in Vienna. Here he blacked boots for an influential man, who +became a friend to him. In 1798 this poor boy's oratorio, "The +Creation," came upon the musical world like the rising of a new sun +which never set. He was courted by princes and dined with kings and +queens; his reputation was made; there was no more barbering, no more +poverty. But of his eight hundred compositions, "The Creation" +eclipsed them all. He died while Napoleon's guns were bombarding +Vienna, some of the shot falling in his garden. + +When a man like Lord Cavanagh, without arms or legs, manages to put +himself into Parliament, when a man like Francis Joseph Campbell, a +blind man, becomes a distinguished mathematician, a musician, and a +great philanthropist, we get a hint as to what it means to make the +most possible out of ourselves and our opportunities. Perhaps +ninety-nine of a hundred under such unfortunate circumstances would be +content to remain helpless objects of charity for life. If it is your +call to acquire money power instead of brain power, to acquire business +power instead of professional power, double your talent just the same, +no matter what it may be. + +A glover's apprentice of Glasgow, Scotland, who was too poor to afford +even a candle or a fire, and who studied by the light of the shop +windows in the streets, and when the shops were closed climbed the +lamp-post, holding his book in one hand, and clinging to the lamp-post +with the other,--this poor boy, with less chance than almost any boy in +America, became the most eminent scholar of Scotland. + +Francis Parkman, half blind, became one of America's greatest +historians in spite of everything, because he made himself such. +Personal value is a coin of one's own minting; one is taken at the +worth he has put into himself. Franklin was but a poor printer's boy, +whose highest luxury at one time was only a penny roll, eaten in the +streets of Philadelphia. + +Michael Faraday was a poor boy, son of a blacksmith, who apprenticed +him at the age of thirteen to a bookbinder in London. Michael laid the +foundations of his future greatness by making himself familiar with the +contents of the books he bound. He remained at night, after others had +gone, to read and study the precious volumes. Lord Tenterden was proud +to point out to his son the shop where he had shaved for a penny. A +French doctor once taunted Flechier, Bishop of Nismes, who had been a +tallow-chandler in his youth, with the meanness of his origin, to which +he replied, "If you had been born in the same condition that I was, you +would still have been but a maker of candles." + +Edwin Chadwick, in his report to the British Parliament, stated that +children, working on half time (that is, studying three hours a day and +working the rest of their time out of doors), really made the greatest +intellectual progress during the year. Business men have often +accomplished wonders during the busiest lives by simply devoting one, +two, three, or four hours daily to study or other literary work. + +James Watt received only the rudiments of an education at school, for +his attendance was irregular on account of delicate health. He more +than made up for all deficiencies, however, by the diligence with which +he pursued his studies at home. Alexander V was a beggar; he was "born +mud, and died marble." William Herschel, placed at the age of fourteen +as a musician in the band of the Hanoverian Guards, devoted all his +leisure to philosophical studies. He acquired a large fund of general +knowledge, and in astronomy, a science in which he was wholly +self-instructed, his discoveries entitle him to rank with the greatest +astronomers of all time. + +George Washington was the son of a widow, born under the roof of a +Westmoreland farmer; almost from infancy his lot had been that of an +orphan. No academy had welcomed him to its shade, no college crowned +him with its honors; to read, to write, to cipher--these had been his +degrees in knowledge. Shakespeare learned little more than reading and +writing at school, but by self-culture he made himself the great master +among literary men. Burns, too, enjoyed few advantages of education, +and his youth was passed in almost abject poverty. + +James Ferguson, the son of a half-starved peasant, learned to read by +listening to the recitations of one of his elder brothers. While a +mere boy he discovered several mechanical principles, made models of +mills and spinning-wheels, and by means of beads on strings worked out +an excellent map of the heavens. Ferguson made remarkable things with +a common penknife. How many great men have mounted the hill of +knowledge by out-of-the-way paths! Gifford worked his intricate +problems with a shoemaker's awl on a bit of leather. Rittenhouse first +calculated eclipses on his plow-handle. + +Columbus, while leading the life of a sailor, managed to become the +most accomplished geographer and astronomer of his time. + +When Peter the Great, a boy of seventeen, became the absolute ruler of +Russia his subjects were little better than savages, and in himself +even the passions and propensities of barbarism were so strong that +they were frequently exhibited during his whole career. But he +determined to transform himself and the Russians into civilized people. +He instituted reforms with great energy, and at the age of twenty-six +started on a visit to the other countries of Europe for the purpose of +learning about their arts and institutions. At Saardam, Holland, he +was so impressed with the sights of the great East India dockyard that +he apprenticed himself to a shipbuilder, and helped to build the _St. +Peter_, which he promptly purchased. Continuing his travels, after he +had learned his trade, he worked in England in paper-mills, saw-mills, +rope-yards, watchmakers' shops, and other manufactories, doing the work +and receiving the treatment of a common laborer. + +While traveling, his constant habit was to obtain as much information +as he could beforehand with regard to every place he was to visit, and +he would demand, "Let me see all." When setting out on his +investigations, on such occasions, he carried his tablets in his hand +and whatever he deemed worthy of remembrance was carefully noted down. +He would often leave his carriage if he saw the country people at work +by the wayside as he passed along, and not only enter into conversation +with them on agricultural affairs, but also accompany them to their +homes, examine their furniture, and take drawings of their implements +of husbandry. Thus he obtained much minute and correct knowledge, +which he would scarcely have acquired by other means, and which he +afterward turned to admirable account in the improvement of his own +country. + +The ancients said, "Know thyself"; the twentieth century says, "Help +thyself." Self-culture gives a second birth to the soul. A liberal +education is a true regeneration. When a man is once liberally +educated, he will generally remain a man, not shrink to a manikin, nor +dwindle to a brute. But if he is not properly educated, if he has +merely been crammed and stuffed through college, if he has merely a +broken-down memory from trying to hold crammed facts enough to pass the +examination, he will continue to shrink, shrivel, and dwindle, often +below his original proportions, for he will lose both his confidence +and self-respect, as his crammed facts, which never became a part of +himself, evaporate from his distended memory. + +Every bit of education or culture is of great advantage in the struggle +for existence. The microscope does not create anything new, but it +reveals marvels. To educate the eye adds to its magnifying power until +it sees beauty where before it saw only ugliness. It reveals a world +we never suspected, and finds the greatest beauty even in the commonest +things. The eye of an Agassiz could see worlds of which the uneducated +eye never dreamed. The cultured hand can do a thousand things the +uneducated hand can not do. It becomes graceful, steady of nerve, +strong, skilful, indeed it almost seems to think, so animated is it +with intelligence. The cultured will can seize, grasp, and hold the +possessor, with irresistible power and nerve, to almost superhuman +effort. The educated touch can almost perform miracles. The educated +taste can achieve wonders almost past belief. What a contrast between +the cultured, logical, profound, masterly reason of a Gladstone and +that of the hod-carrier who has never developed or educated his reason +beyond what is necessary to enable him to mix mortar and carry brick! + +Be careful to avoid that over-intellectual culture which is purchased +at the expense of moral vigor. An observant professor of one of our +colleges has remarked that "the mind may be so rounded and polished by +education, and so well balanced, as not to be energetic in any one +faculty. In other men not thus trained, the sense of deficiency and of +the sharp, jagged corners of their knowledge leads to efforts to fill +up the chasms, rendering them at last far better educated men than the +polished, easy-going graduate who has just knowledge enough to prevent +consciousness of his ignorance. While all the faculties of the mind +should be cultivated, it is yet desirable that it should have two or +three rough-hewn features of massive strength. Young men are too apt +to forget the great end of life, which is to be and do, not to read and +brood over what other men have been and done." + +"I repeat that my object is not to give him knowledge, but to teach him +how to acquire it at need," said Rousseau. + +All learning is self-teaching. It is upon the working of the pupil's +own mind that his progress in knowledge depends. The great business of +the master is to teach the pupil to teach himself. + +"Thinking, not growth, makes manhood," says Isaac Taylor. "Accustom +yourself, therefore, to thinking. Set yourself to understand whatever +you see or read. To join thinking with reading is one of the first +maxims, and one of the easiest operations." + + "How few think justly of the thinking few: + How many never think who think they do." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE SELF-IMPROVEMENT HABIT + +If you want knowledge you must toil for it.--RUSKIN. + +We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.--QUINTILLIAN. + +What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human +soul.--ADDISON. + +A boy is better unborn than untaught.--GASCOIGNE. + +It is ignorance that wastes; it is knowledge that saves, an untaught +faculty is at once quiescent and dead.--N. D. HILLIS. + +The plea that this or that man has no time for culture will vanish as +soon as we desire culture so much that we begin to examine seriously +into our present use of time.--MATTHEW ARNOLD. + + +Education, as commonly understood, is the process of developing the +mind by means of books and teachers. When education has been +neglected, either by reason of lack of opportunity, or because +advantage was not taken of the opportunities afforded, the one +remaining hope is self-improvement. Opportunities for self-improvement +surround us, the helps to self-improvement are abundant, and in this +day of cheap books and free libraries, there can be no good excuse for +neglect to use the faculties for mental growth and development which +are so abundantly supplied. + +When we look at the difficulties which hindered the acquisition of +knowledge fifty years to a century ago; the scarcity and the costliness +of books, the value of the dimmest candle-light, the unremitting toil +which left so little time for study, the physical weariness which had +to be overcome to enable mental exertion in study, we may well marvel +at the giants of scholarship those days of hardship produced. And when +we add to educational limitations, physical disabilities, blindness, +deformity, ill-health, hunger and cold, we may feel shame as we +contemplate the fulness of modern opportunity and the helps and +incentives to study and self-development which are so lavishly provided +for our use and inspiration, and of which we make so little use. + +Self-improvement implies one essential feeling: the desire for +improvement. If the desire exists, then improvement is usually +accomplished only by the conquest of self--the material self, which +seeks pleasure and amusement. The novel, the game of cards, the +billiard cue, idle whittling and story-telling will have to be +eschewed, and every available moment of leisure turned to account. For +all who seek self-improvement "there is a lion in the way," the lion of +self-indulgence, and it is only by the conquest of this enemy that +progress is assured. + +Show me how a youth spends his evenings, his odd bits of time, and I +will forecast his future. Does he look upon this leisure as precious, +rich in possibilities, as containing golden material for his future +life structure? Or does he look upon it as an opportunity for +self-indulgence, for a light, flippant good time? + +The way he spends his leisure will give the keynote of his life, will +tell whether he is dead in earnest, or whether he looks upon it as a +huge joke. + +He may not be conscious of the terrible effects, the gradual +deterioration of character which comes from a frivolous wasting of his +evenings and half-holidays, but the character is being undermined just +the same. + +Young men are often surprised to find themselves dropping behind their +competitors, but if they will examine themselves, they will find that +they have stopped growing, because they have ceased their effort to +keep abreast of the times, to be widely read, to enrich life with +self-culture. + +It is the right use of spare moments in reading and study which qualify +men for leadership. And in many historic cases the "spare" moments +utilized for study were not spare in the sense of being the spare time +of leisure. They were rather _spared_ moments, moments spared from +sleep, from meal times, from recreation. + +Where is the boy to-day who has less chance to rise in the world than +Elihu Burritt, apprenticed at sixteen to a blacksmith, in whose shop he +had to work at the forge all the daylight, and often by candle-light? +Yet he managed, by studying with a book before him at his meals, +carrying it in his pocket that he might utilize every spare moment, and +studying nights and holidays, to pick up an excellent education in the +odds and ends of time which most boys throw away. While the rich boy +and the idler were yawning and stretching and getting their eyes open, +young Burritt had seized the opportunity and improved it. + +He had a thirst for knowledge and a desire for self-improvement, which +overcame every obstacle in his pathway. A wealthy gentleman offered to +pay his expenses at Harvard. But no, Elihu said he could get his +education himself, even though he had to work twelve or fourteen hours +a day at the forge. Here was a determined boy. He snatched every +spare moment at the anvil and forge as if it were gold. He believed, +with Gladstone, that thrift of time would repay him in after years with +usury, and that waste of it would make him dwindle. Think of a boy +working nearly all the daylight in a blacksmith shop, and yet finding +time to study seven languages in a single year. + +It is not lack of ability that holds men down but lack of industry. In +many cases the employee has a better brain, a better mental capacity +than his employer. But he does not improve his faculties. He dulls +his mind by cigarette smoking. He spends his money at the pool table, +theater, or dance, and as he grows old, and the harness of perpetual +service galls him, he grumbles at his lack of luck, his limited +opportunity. + +The number of perpetual clerks is constantly being recruited by those +who did not think it worth while as boys to learn to write a good hand +or to master the fundamental branches of knowledge requisite in a +business career. The ignorance common among young men and young women, +in factories, stores, and offices, everywhere, in fact, in this land of +opportunity, where youth should be well educated, is a pitiable thing +in American life. On every hand we see men and women of ability +occupying inferior positions because they did not think it worth while +in youth to develop their powers and to concentrate their attention on +the acquisition of sufficient knowledge. + +Thousands of men and women find themselves held back, handicapped for +life because of the seeming trifles which they did not think it worth +while to pay attention to in their early days. + +Many a girl of good natural ability spends her most productive years as +a cheap clerk, or in a mediocre position because she never thought it +worth while to develop her mental faculties or to take advantage of +opportunities within reach to fit herself for a superior position. +Thousands of girls unexpectedly thrown on their own resources have been +held down all their lives because of neglected tasks in youth, which at +the time were dismissed with a careless "I don't think it worth while." +They did not think it would pay to go to the bottom of any study at +school, to learn to keep accounts accurately, or fit themselves to do +anything in such a way as to be able to make a living by it. They +expected to marry, and never prepared for being dependent on +themselves,--a contingency against which marriage, in many instances, +is no safeguard. + +The trouble with most youths is that they are not willing to fling the +whole weight of their being into their location. They want short +hours, little work and a lot of play. They think more of leisure and +pleasure than of discipline and training in their great life specialty. + +Many a clerk envies his employer and wishes that he could go into +business for himself, be an employer too but it is too much work to +make the effort to rise above a clerkship. He likes to take life easy; +and he wonders idly whether, after all, it is worth while to strain and +strive and struggle and study to prepare oneself for the sake of +getting up a little higher and making a little more money. + +The trouble with a great many people is that they are not willing to +make present sacrifices for future gain. They prefer to have a good +time as they go along, rather than spend time in self-improvement. +They have a sort of vague wish to do something great, but few have that +intensity of longing which impels them to make the sacrifice of the +present for the future. Few are willing to work underground for years +laying a foundation for the life monument. They yearn for greatness, +but their yearning is not the kind which is willing to pay any price in +endeavor or make any sacrifice for its object. + +So the majority slide along in mediocrity all their lives. They have +ability for something higher up, but they have not the energy and +determination to prepare for it. They do not care to make necessary +effort. They prefer to take life easier and lower down rather than to +struggle for something higher. They do not play the game for all they +are worth. + +If a man or woman has but the disposition for self-improvement and +advancement he will find opportunity to rise or "what he can not find +create." Here is an example from the everyday life going on around us +and in which we are all taking part. + +A young Irishman who had reached the age of nineteen or twenty without +learning to read or write, and who left home because of the +intemperance that prevailed there, learned to read a little by studying +billboards, and eventually got a position as steward aboard a +man-of-war. He chose that occupation and got leave to serve at the +captain's table because of a great desire to learn. He kept a little +tablet in his coat-pocket, and whenever he heard a new word wrote it +down. One day an officer saw him writing and immediately suspected him +of being a spy. When he and the other officers learned what the tablet +was used for, the young man was given more opportunities to learn, and +these led in time to promotion, until, finally, the sometime steward +won a prominent position in the navy. Success as a naval officer +prepared the way for success in other fields. + +Self-help has accomplished about all the great things of the world. +How many young men falter, faint, and dally with their purpose, because +they have no capital to start with, and wait and wait for some good +luck to give them a lift! But success is the child of drudgery and +perseverance. It can not be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is +yours. + +One of the sad things about the neglected opportunities for +self-improvement is that it puts people of great natural ability at a +disadvantage among those who are their mental inferiors. + +I know a member of one of our city legislatures, a splendid fellow, +immensely popular, who has a great, generous heart and broad +sympathies, but who can not open his mouth without so murdering the +English language that it is really painful to listen to him. + +There are a great many similar examples in Washington of men who have +been elected to important positions because of their great natural +ability and fine characters, but who are constantly mortified and +embarrassed by their ignorance and lack of early training. + +One of the most humiliating experiences that can ever come to a human +being is to be conscious of possessing more than ordinary ability, and +yet be tied to an inferior position because of lack of early and +intelligent training commensurate with his ability. To be conscious +that one has ability to realize eighty or ninety per cent of his +possibilities, if he had only had the proper education and training, +but because of this lack to be unable to bring out more than +twenty-five per cent of it on account of ignorance, is humiliating and +embarrassing. In other words, to go through life conscious that you +are making a botch of your capabilities just because of lack of +training, is a most depressing thing. + +Nothing else outside of sin causes more sorrow than that which comes +from not having prepared for the highest career possible to one. There +are no bitterer regrets than those which come from being obliged to let +opportunities pass by for which one never prepared himself. + +I know a pitiable case of a born naturalist whose ambition was so +suppressed, and whose education so neglected in youth, that later when +he came to know more about natural history than almost any man of his +day, he could not write a grammatical sentence, and could never make +his ideas live in words, perpetuate them in books, because of his +ignorance of even the rudiments of an education. His early vocabulary +was so narrow and pinched, and his knowledge of his language so limited +that he always seemed to be painfully struggling for words to express +his thought. + +Think of the suffering of this splendid man, who was conscious of +possessing colossal scientific knowledge, and yet was absolutely unable +to express himself grammatically! + +How often stenographers are mortified by the use of some unfamiliar +word or term, or quotation, because of the shallowness of their +preparation! + +It is not enough to be able to take dictation when ordinary letters are +given, not enough to do the ordinary routine of office work. The +ambitious stenographer must be prepared for the unusual demand, must +have good reserves of knowledge to draw from in case of emergency. + +But, if she is constantly slipping up upon her grammar, or is all at +sea the moment she steps out of her ordinary routine, her employer +knows that her preparation is shallow, that her education is very +limited, and her prospects will be limited also. + +A young lady writes me that she is so handicapped by the lack of an +early education that she fairly dreads to write a letter to anyone of +education or culture for fear of making ignorant mistakes in grammar +and spelling. Her letter indicates that she has a great deal of +natural ability. Yet she is much limited and always placed at a +disadvantage because of this lack of an early education. It is +difficult to conceive of a greater misfortune than always to be +embarrassed and handicapped just because of the neglect of those early +years. + +I am often pained by letters from people, especially young people, +which indicate that the writers have a great deal of natural ability, +that they have splendid minds, but a large part of their ability is +covered up, rendered ineffectual by their ignorance. + +Many of these letters show that the writers are like diamonds in the +rough, with only here and there a little facet ground off, just enough +to let in the light and reveal the great hidden wealth within. + +I always feel sorry for these people who have passed the school age and +who will probably go through life with splendid minds handicapped by +their ignorance which, even late in life, they might largely or +entirely overcome. + +It is such a pity that, a young man, for instance, who has the natural +ability which would make him a leader among men, must, for the lack of +a little training, a little preparation, work for somebody else, +perhaps with but half of his ability but with a better preparation, +more education. + +Everywhere we see clerks, mechanics, employees in all walks of life, +who cannot rise to anything like positions which correspond with their +natural ability, because they have not had the education. They are +ignorant. They can not write a decent letter. They murder the English +language, and hence their superb ability cannot be demonstrated, and +remains in mediocrity. + +The parable of the talents illustrates and enforces one of nature's +sternest laws: "To him that hath shall be given; from him that hath not +shall be taken away even that which he hath." Scientists call this law +the survival of the fittest. The fittest are those who use what they +have, who gain strength by struggle, and who survive by +self-development by control of their hostile or helpful environment. + +The soil, the sunshine, the atmosphere are very liberal with the +material for the growth of the plant or the tree, but the plant must +use all it gets, it must work it up into flowers, into fruit, into leaf +or fiber or something or the supply will cease. In other words, the +soil will not send any more building material up the sap than is used +for growth, and the faster this material is used the more rapid the +growth, the more abundantly the material will come. + +The same law holds good everywhere. Nature is liberal with us if we +utilize what she gives us, but if we stop using it, if we do not +transform what she gives us into power, if we do not do some building +somewhere, if we do not transform the material which she gives us into +force and utilize that force, we not only find the supply cut off, but +we find that we are growing weaker, less efficient. + +Everything in nature is on the move, either one way or the other. It +is either going up or down. It is either advancing or retrograding; we +cannot hold without using. + +Nature withdraws muscle or brain if we do not use them. She withdraws +skill the moment we stop drilling efficiently, the moment we stop using +our power. The force is withdrawn when we cease exercising it. + +A college graduate is often surprised years after he leaves the college +to find that about all he has to show for his education is his diploma. +The power, the efficiency which he gained there has been lost because +he has not been using them. He thought at the time that everything was +still fresh in his mind after his examination that this knowledge would +remain with him, but it has been slipping away from him every minute +since he stopped using it, and only that has remained and increased +which he has used; the rest has evaporated. A great many college +graduates ten years afterwards find that they have but very little left +to show for their four years' course, because they have not utilized +their knowledge. They have become weaklings without knowing it. They +constantly say to themselves, "I have a college education, I must have +some ability, I must amount to something in the world." But the +college diploma has no more power to hold the knowledge you have gained +in college than a piece of tissue paper over a gas jet can hold the gas +in the pipe. + +Everything which you do not use is constantly slipping away from you. +Use it or lose it. The secret of power is use. Ability will not +remain with us, force will evaporate the moment we cease to do +something with it. + +The tools for self-improvement are at your hand, use them. If the ax +is dull the more strength must be put forth. If your opportunities are +limited you must use more energy, put forth more effort. Progress may +seem slow at first, but perseverance assures success. "Line upon line, +and precept upon precept" is the rule of mental upbuilding and "In due +time ye shall reap if ye faint not." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +RAISING OF VALUES + + "Destiny is not about thee, but within,-- + Thyself must make thyself." + + +"The world is no longer clay, but rather iron in the hands of its +workers," says Emerson, "and men have got to hammer out a place for +themselves by steady and rugged blows." + +To make the most of your "stuff," be it cloth, iron, or +character,--this is success. Raising common "stuff" to priceless value +is great success. + +The man who first takes the rough bar of wrought iron may be a +blacksmith, who has only partly learned his trade, and has no ambition +to rise above his anvil. He thinks that the best possible thing he can +do with his bar is to make it into horseshoes, and congratulates +himself upon his success. He reasons that the rough lump of iron is +worth only two or three cents a pound, and that it is not worth while +to spend much time or labor on it. His enormous muscles and small +skill have raised the value of the iron from one dollar, perhaps, to +ten dollars. + +Along comes a cutler, with a little better education, a little more +ambition, a little finer perception, and says to the blacksmith: "Is +this all you can see in that iron? Give me a bar, and I will show you +what brains and skill and hard work can make of it." He sees a little +further into the rough bar. He has studied many processes of hardening +and tempering; he has tools, grinding and polishing wheels, and +annealing furnaces. The iron is fused, carbonized into steel, drawn +out, forged, tempered, heated white-hot, plunged into cold water or oil +to improve its temper, and ground and polished with great care and +patience. When this work is done, he shows the astonished blacksmith +two thousand dollars' worth of knife-blades where the latter only saw +ten dollars' worth of crude horseshoes. The value has been greatly +raised by the refining process. + +"Knife-blades are all very well, if you can make nothing better," says +another artisan, to whom the cutler has shown the triumph of his art, +"but you haven't half brought out what is in that bar of iron. I see a +higher and better use; I have made a study of iron, and know what there +is in it and what can be made of it." + +This artisan has a more delicate touch, a finer perception, a better +training, a higher ideal, and superior determination, which enable him +to look still further into the molecules of the rough bar,--past the +horse-shoes, past the knife-blades,--and he turns the crude iron into +the finest cambric needles, with eyes cut with microscopic exactness. +The production of the invisible points requires a more delicate +process, a finer grade of skill than the cutler possesses. + +This feat the last workman considers marvelous, and he thinks he has +exhausted the possibilities of the iron. He has multiplied many times +the value of the cutler's product. + +But, behold! another very skilful mechanic, with a more finely +organized mind, a more delicate touch, more patience, more industry, a +higher order of skill, and a better training, passes with ease by the +horse-shoes, the knife-blades, and the needles, and returns the product +of his bar in fine mainsprings for watches. Where the others saw +horseshoes, knife-blades, or needles, worth only a few thousand +dollars, his penetrating eye saw a product worth one hundred thousand +dollars. + +A higher artist-artisan appears, who tells us that the rough bar has +not even yet found its highest expression; that he possesses the magic +that can perform a still greater miracle in iron. To him, even +main-springs seem coarse and clumsy. He knows that the crude iron can +be manipulated and coaxed into an elasticity that can not even be +imagined by one less trained in metallurgy. He knows that, if care +enough be used in tempering the steel, it will not be stiff, trenchant, +and merely a passive metal, but so full of its new qualities that it +almost seems instinct with life. + +With penetrating, almost clairvoyant vision, this artist-artisan sees +how every process of mainspring making can be carried further; and how, +at every stage of manufacture, more perfection can be reached; how the +texture of the metal can be so much refined that even a fiber, a +slender thread of it, can do marvelous work. He puts his bar through +many processes of refinement and fine tempering, and, in triumph, turns +his product into almost invisible coils of delicate hair-springs. +After infinite toil and pain, he has made his dream true; he has raised +the few dollars' worth of iron to a value of one million dollars, +perhaps forty times the value of the same weight of gold. + +Still another workman, whose processes are so almost infinitely +delicate, whose product is so little known, by even the average +educated man, that his trade is unmentioned by the makers of +dictionaries and encylopedias, takes but a fragment of one of the bars +of steel, and develops its higher possibilities with such marvelous +accuracy, such ethereal fineness of touch, that even mainsprings and +hairsprings are looked back upon as coarse, crude, and cheap. When his +work is done, he shows you a few of the minutely barbed instruments +used by dentists to draw out the finest branches of the dental nerves. +While a pound of gold, roughly speaking, is worth about two hundred and +fifty dollars, a pound of these slender, barbed filaments of steel, if +a pound could be collected, might be worth hundreds of times as much. + +Other experts may still further refine the product, but it will be many +a day before the best will exhaust the possibilities of a metal that +can be subdivided until its particles will float in the air. + +It sounds magical, but the magic is only that wrought by the +application of the homeliest virtues; by the training of the eye, the +hand, the perception; by painstaking care, by hard work, and by +determination and grit. + +If a metal possessing only a few coarse material qualities is capable +of such marvelous increase in value, by mixing brains with its +molecules, who shall set bounds to the possibilities of the development +of a human being, that wonderful compound of physical, mental, moral, +and spiritual forces? Whereas, in the development of iron, a dozen +processes are possible, a thousand influences may be brought to bear +upon mind and character. While the iron is an inert mass acted upon by +external influences only, the human being is a bundle of forces, acting +and counteracting, yet all capable of control and direction by the +higher self, the real, dominating personality. + +The difference in human attainment is due only slightly to the original +material. It is the ideal followed and unfolded, the effort made, the +processes of education and experience undergone that fuse, hammer, and +mold our life-bar into its ultimate development. + +Life, everyday life, has counterparts of all the tortures the iron +undergoes, and through them it comes to its highest expression. The +blows of opposition, the struggles amid want and woe, the fiery trials +of disaster and bereavement, the crushings of iron circumstances, the +raspings of care and anxiety, the grinding of constant difficulties, +the rebuffs that chill enthusiasm, the weariness of years of dry, +dreary drudgery in education and discipline,--all these are necessary +to the man who would reach the highest success. + +The iron, by this manipulation, is strengthened, refined, made more +elastic or more resistant, and adapted to the use each artisan dreams +of. If every blow should fracture it, if every furnace should burn the +life out of it, if every roller should pulverize it, of what use would +it be? It has that virtue, those qualities that withstand all; that +draw profit from every test, and come out triumphant in the end. In +the iron the qualities are, in the main, inherent; but in ourselves +they are largely matters of growth, culture, and development, and all +are subject to the dominating will. + +Just as each artisan sees in the crude iron some finished, refined +product, so must we see in our lives glorious possibilities, if we +would but realize them. If we see only horseshoes or knife-blades, all +our efforts and struggles will never produce hairsprings. We must +realize our own adaptability to great ends; we must resolve to +struggle, to endure trials and tests, to pay the necessary price, +confident that the result will pay us for our suffering, our trials, +and our efforts. + +Those who shrink from the forging, the rolling, and the drawing out, +are the ones who fail, the "nobodies," the faulty characters, the +criminals. Just as a bar of iron, if exposed to the elements, will +oxidize, and become worthless, so will character deteriorate if there +is no constant effort to improve its form, to increase its ductility, +to temper it, or to better it in some way. + +It is easy to remain a common bar of iron, or comparatively so, by +becoming merely a horseshoe; but it is hard to raise your life-product +to higher values. + +Many of us consider our natural gift-bars poor, mean, and inadequate, +compared with those of others; but, if we are willing, by patience, +toil, study, and struggle, to hammer, draw out, and refine, to work on +and up from clumsy horseshoes to delicate hairsprings, we can, by +infinite patience and persistence, raise the value of the raw material +to almost fabulous heights. It was thus that Columbus, the weaver, +Franklin, the journeyman printer, Aesop, the slave, Homer, the beggar, +Demosthenes, the cutler's son, Ben Jonson, the bricklayer, Cervantes, +the common soldier, and Haydn, the poor wheelwright's son, developed +their powers, until they towered head and shoulders above other men. + +There is very little difference between the material given to a hundred +average boys and girls at birth, yet one with no better means of +improvement than the others, perhaps with infinitely poorer means, will +raise his material in value a hundredfold, five-hundredfold, aye, a +thousandfold, while the ninety-nine will wonder why their material +remains so coarse and crude, and will attribute their failure to hard +luck. + +While one boy is regretting his want of opportunities, his lack of +means to get a college education, and remains in ignorance, another +with half his chances picks up a good education in the odds and ends of +time which other boys throw away. From the same material, one man +builds a palace and another a hovel. From the same rough piece of +marble, one man calls out an angel of beauty which delights every +beholder, another a hideous monster which demoralizes every one who +sees it. + +The extent to which you can raise the value of your life-bar depends +very largely upon yourself. Whether you go upward to the mainspring or +hairspring stage, depends very largely upon your ideal, your +determination to be the higher thing, upon your having the grit to be +hammered, to be drawn out, to be thrust from the fire into cold water +or oil in order to get the proper temper. + +Of course, it is hard and painful, and it takes lots of stamina to +undergo the processes that produce the finest product, but would you +prefer to remain a rough bar of iron or a horseshoe all your life? + +[Illustration: Lincoln studying by the firelight] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +SELF-IMPROVEMENT THROUGH PUBLIC SPEAKING + +It does not matter whether you want to be a public speaker or not, +everybody should have such complete control of himself, should be so +self-centered and self-posed that he can get up in any audience, no +matter how large or formidable, and express his thoughts clearly and +distinctly. + +Self-expression in some manner is the only means of developing mental +power. It may be in music; it may be on canvas: it may be through +oratory; it may come through selling goods or writing a book; but it +must come through self-expression. + +Self-expression in any legitimate form tends to call out what is in a +man, his resourcefulness, inventiveness; but no other form of +self-expression develops a man so thoroughly and so effectively, and so +quickly unfolds all of his powers, as expression before an audience. + +It is doubtful whether anyone can reach the highest standard of culture +without studying the art of expression, especially public vocal +expression. In all ages oratory has been regarded as the highest +expression of human achievement. Young people, no matter what they +intend to be, whether blacksmith or farmer, merchant or physician, +should make it a study. + +Nothing else will call out what is in a man so quickly and so +effectively as the constant effort to do his best in speaking before an +audience. When one undertakes to think on his feet and speak +extemporaneously before the public, the power and the skill of the +entire man are put to a severe test. + +The writer has the advantage of being able to wait for his moods. He +can write when he feels like it; and he knows that he can burn his +manuscript again and again if it does not suit him. There are not a +thousand eyes upon him. He does not have a great audience criticizing +every sentence, weighing every thought. He does not have to step upon +the scales of every listener's judgment to be weighed, as does the +orator. A man may write as listlessly as he pleases, use much or +little of his brain or energy, just as he chooses or feels like doing. +No one is watching him. His pride and vanity are not touched, and what +he writes may never be seen by anyone. Then, there is always a chance +for revision. In conversation, we do not feel that so much depends +upon our words; only a few persons hear them, and perhaps no one will +ever think of them again. In music, whether vocal or instrumental, +what one gives out is only partially one's own; the rest is the +composer's. + +Yet anyone who lays any claim to culture, should train himself to think +on his feet, so that he can at a moment's notice rise and express +himself intelligently. The occasions for little speaking are +increasing enormously. A great many questions which used to be settled +in the office are now discussed and settled at dinners. All sorts of +business deals are now carried through at dinners. There was never +before any such demand for dinner oratory as to-day. + +We know men who have, by the dint of hard work and persistent grit, +lifted themselves into positions of prominence, and yet they are not +able to stand on their feet in public, even to make a few remarks, or +scarcely to put a motion without trembling like an aspen leaf. They +had plenty of opportunities when they were young, at school, in +debating clubs to get rid of their self-consciousness and to acquire +ease and facility in public speaking, but they always shrank from every +opportunity, because they were timid, or felt that somebody else could +handle the debate or questions better. + +There are plenty of business men to-day who would give a great deal of +money if they could only go back and improve the early opportunities +for learning to think and speak on their feet which they threw away. +Now they have money, they have position, but they are nobodies when +called upon to speak in public. All they can do is to look foolish, +blush, stammer out an apology and sit down. + +Some time ago I was at a public meeting when a man who stands very high +in the community, who is king in his specialty, was called upon to give +his opinion upon the matter under consideration, and he got up and +trembled and stammered and could scarcely say his soul was his own. He +could not even make a decent appearance. He had power and a great deal +of experience, but there he stood, as helpless as a child, and he felt +cheap, mortified, embarrassed, and probably would have given anything +if he had early in life trained himself to get himself in hand so that +he could think on his feet and say with power and effectiveness that +which he knew. + +At the very meeting where this strong man who had the respect and +confidence of everybody who knew him, and who made such a miserable +failure of his attempt to give his opinion upon an important public +matter on which he was well posted, being so confused and +self-conscious and "stage struck" that he could say scarcely anything, +a shallow-brained business man, in the same city, who hadn't a +hundredth part of the other man's practical power in affairs, got up +and made a brilliant speech, and strangers no doubt thought that he was +much the stronger man. He had simply cultivated the ability to say his +best thing on his feet, and the other man had not, and was placed at a +tremendous disadvantage. + +A very brilliant young man in New York who has climbed to a responsible +position in a very short time, tells me that he has been surprised on +several occasions when he has been called upon to speak at banquets, or +on other public occasions, at the new discoveries he has made of +himself of power which he never before dreamed he possessed, and he now +regrets more than anything else that he has allowed so many +opportunities for calling himself out to go by in the past. + +The effort to express one's ideas in lucid, clean-cut, concise, telling +English tends to make one's everyday language choicer and more direct, +and improves one's diction generally. In this and other ways +speech-making develops mental power and character. This explains the +rapidity with which a young man develops in school or college when he +begins to take part in public debates or in debating societies. + +Every man, says Lord Chesterfield, may choose good words instead of bad +ones and speak properly instead of improperly; he may have grace in his +motions and gestures, and may be a very agreeable instead of +disagreeable speaker if he will take care and pains. + +It is a matter of painstaking and preparation. There is everything in +learning what you wish to know. Your vocal culture, manner, and mental +furnishing, are to be made a matter for thought and careful training. +Nothing will tire an audience more quickly than monotony, everything +expressed on the same dead level. There must be variety; the human +mind tires very quickly without it. + +This is especially true of a monotonous tone. It is a great art to be +able to raise and lower the voice with sweet flowing cadences which +please the ear. + +Gladstone said, "Ninety-nine men in every hundred never rise above +mediocrity because the training of the voice is entirely neglected and +considered of no importance." + +It was indeed said of a certain Duke of Devonshire that he was the only +English statesman who ever took a nap during the progress of his own +speech. He was a perfect genius for dry uninteresting oratory, moving +forward with a monotonous droning, and pausing now and then as if +refreshing himself by slumber. + +In thinking on one's feet before an audience, one must think quickly, +vigorously, effectively. At the same time he must speak effectively +through a properly modulated voice, with proper facial and bodily +expression and gesture. This requires practise in early life. + +In youth the would-be orator must cultivate robust health, since force, +enthusiasm, conviction, will-power are greatly affected by physical +condition. One, too, must cultivate bodily posture, and have good +habits at easy command. What would have been the result of Webster's +reply to Hayne, the greatest oratorical effort ever made on this +continent, if he had sat down in the Senate and put his feet on his +desk? Think of a great singer like Nordica attempting to electrify an +audience while lounging on a sofa or sitting in a slouchy position. + +An early training for effective speaking will make one careful to +secure a good vocabulary by good reading and a dictionary. One must +know words. + +There is no class of people put to such a severe test of showing what +is in them as public speakers; no other men who run such a risk of +exposing their weak spots, or making fools of themselves in the +estimation of others, as do orators. Public speaking--thinking on +one's feet--is a powerful educator except to the thick-skinned man, the +man who has no sensitiveness, or who does not care for what others +think of him. Nothing else so thoroughly discloses a man's weaknesses +or shows up his limitations of thought, his poverty of speech, his +narrow vocabulary. Nothing else is such a touchstone of the character +and the extent of one's reading, the carefulness or carelessness of his +observation. + +Close, compact statement must be had. Learn to stop when you get +through. Do not keep stringing out conversation or argument after you +have made your point. You only weaken your case and prejudice people +against you for your lack of tact, good judgment, or sense of +proportion. Do not neutralize all the good impression you have made by +talking on and on long after you have made your point. + +The attempt to become a good public speaker is a great awakener of all +the mental faculties. The sense of power that comes from holding +attention, stirring the emotions or convincing the reason of an +audience, gives self-confidence, assurance, self-reliance, arouses +ambition, and tends to make one more effective in every particular. +One's manhood, character, learning, judgment of his opinions--all +things that go to make him what he is--are being unrolled like a +panorama. Every mental faculty is quickened, every power of thought +and expression spurred. Thoughts rush for utterance, words press for +choice. The speaker summons all his reserves of education, of +experience, of natural or acquired ability, and masses all his forces +in the endeavor to capture the approval and applause of the audience. + +Such an effort takes hold of the entire nature, beads the brow, fires +the eye, flushes the cheek, and sends the blood surging through the +veins. Dormant impulses are stirred, half-forgotten memories revived, +the imagination quickened to see figures and similes that would never +come to calm thought. + +This forced awakening of the whole personality has effects reaching +much further than the oratorical occasion. The effort to marshal all +one's reserves in a logical and orderly manner, to bring to the front +all the power one possesses, leaves these reserves permanently better +in hand, more readily in reach. + +The Debating Club is the nursery of orators. No matter how far you +have to go to attend it, or how much trouble it is, or how difficult it +is to get the time, the drill you will get by it is the turning point. +Lincoln, Wilson, Webster, Choate, Clay, and Patrick Henry got their +training in the old-fashioned Debating Society. + +Do not think that because you do not know anything about parliamentary +law that you should not accept the presidency of your club or debating +society. This is just the place to learn, and when you have accepted +the position you can post yourself on the rules, and the chances are +that you will never know the rules until you are thrust into the chair +where you will be obliged to give rulings. Join just as many young +people's organizations--especially self-improvement organizations--as +you can, and force yourself to speak every time you get a chance. If +the chance does not come to you, make it. Jump to your feet and say +something upon every question that is up for discussion. Do not be +afraid to rise to put a motion or to second it or give your opinion +upon it. Do not wait until you are better prepared. You never will be. + +Every time you rise to your feet will increase your confidence, and +after awhile you will form the habit of speaking until it will be as +easy as anything else, and there is no one thing which will develop +young people so rapidly and effectively as the debating clubs and +discussions of all sorts. A vast number of our public men have owed +their advance more to the old-fashioned debating societies than +anything else. Here they learned confidence, self-reliance; they +discovered themselves. It was here they learned not to be afraid of +themselves, to express their opinions with force and independence. +Nothing will call a young man out more than the struggle in a debate to +hold his own. It is strong, vigorous exercise for the mind as +wrestling is for the body. + +Do not remain way back on the back seat. Go up front. Do not be +afraid to show yourself. This shrinking into a corner and getting out +of sight and avoiding publicity is fatal to self-confidence. + +It is so easy and seductive, especially for boys and girls in school or +college, to shrink from the public debates or speaking, on the ground +that they are not quite well enough educated at present. They want to +wait until they can use a little better grammar, until they have read +more history and more literature, until they have gained a little more +culture and ease of manner. + +The way to acquire grace, ease, facility, the way to get poise and +balance so that you will not feel disturbed in public gatherings, is to +get the experience. Do the thing so many times that it will become +second nature to you. If you have an invitation to speak, no matter +how much you may shrink from it, or how timid or shy you may be, +resolve that you will not let this opportunity for self-enlargement +slip by you. + +We know of a young man who has a great deal of natural ability for +public speaking, and yet he is so timid that he always shrinks from +accepting invitations to speak at banquets or in public because he is +so afraid that he has not had experience enough. He lacks confidence +in himself. He is so proud, and so afraid that he will make some slip +which will mortify him, that he has waited and waited and waited until +now he is discouraged and thinks that he will never be able to do +anything in public speaking at all. He would give anything in the +world if he had only accepted all of the invitations he has had, +because then he would have profited by experience. It would have been +a thousand times better for him to have made a mistake, or even to have +broken down entirely a few times, than to have missed the scores of +opportunities which would undoubtedly have made a strong public speaker +of him. + +What is technically called "stage fright" is very common. A college +boy recited an address "to the conscript fathers." His professor +asked,--"Is that the way Caesar would have spoken it?" "Yes," he +replied, "if Caesar had been scared half to death, and as nervous as a +cat." + +An almost fatal timidity seizes on an inexperienced person, when he +knows that all eyes are watching him, that everybody in his audience is +trying to measure and weigh him, studying him, scrutinizing him to see +how much there is in him; what he stands for, and making up their minds +whether he measures more or less than they expected. + +Some are constitutionally sensitive, and so afraid of being gazed at +that they don't dare to open their mouths, even when a question in +which they are deeply interested and on which they have strong views is +being discussed. At debating clubs, meetings of literary societies, or +gatherings of any kind, they sit dumb, longing, yet fearing to speak. +The sound of their own voices, if they should get on their feet to make +a motion or to speak in a public gathering, would paralyze them. The +mere thought of asserting themselves, of putting forward their views or +opinions on any subject as being worthy of attention, or as valuable as +those of their companions, makes them blush and shrink more into +themselves. + +This timidity is often, however, not so much the fear of one's +audience, as the fear lest one can make no suitable expression of his +thought. + +The hardest thing for the public speaker to overcome is +self-consciousness. Those terrible eyes which pierce him through and +through, which are measuring him, criticizing him, are very difficult +to get out of one's consciousness. + +But no orator can make a great impression until he gets rid of himself, +until he can absolutely annihilate his self-consciousness, forget +himself in his speech. While he is wondering what kind of an +impression he is making, what people think of him, his power is +crippled, and his speech to that extent will be mechanical, wooden. + +Even a partial failure on the platform has good results, for it often +arouses a determination to conquer the next time, which never leaves +one. Demosthenes' heroic efforts, and Disraeli's "The time will come +when you will hear me," are historic examples. + +It is not the speech, but the man behind the speech, that wins a way to +the front. + +One man carries weight because he is himself the embodiment of power, +he is himself convinced of what he says. There is nothing of the +negative, the doubtful, the uncertain in his nature. He not only knows +a thing, but he knows that he knows it. His opinion carries with it +the entire weight of his being. The whole man gives consent to his +judgment. He himself is in his conviction, in his act. + +One of the most entrancing speakers I have ever listened to--a man to +hear whom people would go long distances and stand for hours to get +admission to the hall where he spoke--never was able to get the +confidence of his audience because he lacked character. People liked +to be swayed by his eloquence. There was a great charm in the cadences +of his perfect sentences. But somehow they could not believe what he +said. + +The orator must be sincere. The public is very quick to see through +shams. If the audience sees mud at the bottom of your eye, that you +are not honest yourself, that you are acting, they will not take any +stock in you. + +It is not enough to say a pleasing thing, an interesting thing, the +orator must be able to convince; and to convince others he must have +strong convictions. + +Great speeches have become the beacon lights of history. Those who are +prepared acquire a world-wide influence when the fit occasion comes. + +Very few people ever rise to their greatest possibilities or ever know +their entire power unless confronted by some great occasion. We are as +much amazed as others are when, in some great emergency, we out-do +ourselves. Somehow the power that stands behind us in the silence, in +the depths of our natures, comes to our relief, intensifies our +faculties a thousandfold and enables us to do things which before we +thought impossible. + +It would be difficult to estimate the great part which practical drill +in oratory may play in one's life. + +Great occasions, when nations have been in peril, have developed and +brought out some of the greatest orators of the world. Cicero, +Mirabeau, Patrick Henry, Webster, and John Bright might all be called +to witness to this fact. + +The occasion had much to do with the greatest speech delivered in the +United States Senate--Webster's reply to Hayne. Webster had no time +for immediate preparation, but the occasion brought all the reserves in +this giant, and he towered so far above his opponent that Hayne looked +like a pygmy in comparison. + +The pen has discovered many a genius, but the process is slower and +less effective than the great occasion that discovers the orator. +Every crisis calls out ability, previously undeveloped, and perhaps +unexpected. + +No orator living was ever great enough to give out the same power and +force and magnetism to an empty hall, to empty seats, that he could +give to an audience capable of being fired by his theme. + +In the presence of the audience lies a fascination, an indefinable +magnetism that stimulates all the mental faculties, and acts as a tonic +and vitalizer. An orator can say before an audience what he could not +possibly say before he went on the platform, just as we can often say +to a friend in animated conversation things which we could not possibly +say when alone. As when two chemicals are united, a new substance is +formed from the combination, which did not exist in either alone, he +feels surging through his brain the combined force of his audience, +which he calls inspiration, a mighty power which did not exist in his +own personality. + +Actors tell us that there is an indescribable inspiration which comes +from the orchestra, the footlights, the audience, which it is +impossible to feel at a cold mechanical rehearsal. There is something +in a great sea of expectant faces which awakens the ambition and +arouses the reserve of power which can never be felt except before an +audience. The power was there just the same before, but it was not +aroused. + +In the presence of the orator, the audience is absolutely in his power +to do as he will. They laugh or cry as he pleases, or rise and fall at +his bidding, until he releases them from the magic spell. + +What is oratory but to stir the blood of all hearers, to so arouse +their emotions that they can not control themselves a moment longer +without taking the action to which they are impelled? + +"His words are laws" may be well said of the statesmen whose orations +sway the world. What art is greater than that of changing the minds of +men? + +Wendell Phillips so played upon the emotions, so changed the +convictions of Southerners who hated him, but who were curious to +listen to his oratory, that, for the time being he almost persuaded +them that they were in the wrong. I have seen him when it seemed to me +that he was almost godlike in his power. With the ease of a master he +swayed his audience. Some who hated him in the slavery days were +there, and they could not resist cheering him. He warped their own +judgment and for the time took away their prejudice. + +When James Russell Lowell was a student, said Wetmore Story, he and +Story went to Faneuil Hall to hear Webster. They meant to hoot him for +his remaining in Tyler's cabinet. It would be easy, they reasoned, to +get the three thousand people to join them. When he begun, Lowell +turned pale, and Story livid. His great eyes, they thought, were fixed +on them. His opening words changed their scorn to admiration, and +their contempt to approbation. + +"He gave us a glimpse into the Holy of Holies," said another student, +in relating his experience in listening to a great preacher. + +Is not oratory a fine art? The well-spring of eloquence, when +up-gushing as the very water of life, quenches the thirst of myriads of +men, like the smitten rock of the wilderness reviving the life of +desert wanderers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE TRIUMPHS OF THE COMMON VIRTUES + +The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, +and doing well whatever you do, without a thought of fame.--LONGFELLOW. + +It is not a question of what a man knows but what use he can make of +what he knows.--J. G. HOLLAND. + +Seest thou a man diligent in business? He shall stand before +kings.--SOLOMON. + + +The most encouraging truth that can be impressed upon the mind of youth +is this: "What man has done man may do." Men of great achievements are +not to be set on pedestals and reverenced as exceptions to the average +of humanity. Instead, these great men are to be considered as setting +a standard of success for the emulation of every aspiring youth. Their +example shows what can be accomplished by the practise of the common +virtues,--diligence, patience, thrift, self-denial, determination, +industry, and persistence. + +We can best appreciate the uplifting power of these simple virtues +which all may cultivate and exercise, by taking some concrete example +of great success which has been achieved by patient plodding toward a +definite goal. No more illustrious example of success won by the +exercise of common virtues can be offered than Abraham Lincoln, +rail-splitter and president. + +Probably Lincoln has been the hero of more American boys during the +last two generations than any other American character. Young people +look upon him as a marvelous being, raised up for a divine purpose; and +yet, if we analyze his character, we find it made up of the humblest +virtues, the commonest qualities; the poorest boys and girls, who look +upon him as a demigod, possess these qualities. + +The strong thing about Lincoln was his manliness, his straightforward, +downright honesty. You could depend upon him. He was ambitious to +make the most of himself. He wanted to know something, to be somebody, +to lift his head up from his humble environment and be of some account +in the world. He simply wanted to better his condition. + +It is true that he had a divine hunger for growth, a passion for a +larger and completer life than that of those about him; but there is no +evidence of any great genius, any marvelous powers. He was a simple +man, never straining after effect. + +His simplicity was his chief charm. Everybody who knew him felt that +he was a man, a large-hearted, generous friend, always ready to help +everybody and everything out of their troubles, whether it was a pig +stuck in the mire, a poor widow in trouble, or a farmer who needed +advice. He had a helpful mind, open, frank, transparent. He never +covered up anything, never had secrets. The door of his heart was +always open so that anyone could read his inmost thoughts. + +The ability to do hard work, and to stick to it, is the right hand of +genius and the best substitute for it,--in fact, that is genius. + +If young people were to represent Lincoln's total success by one +hundred, they would probably expect to find some brilliant faculty +which would rank at least fifty per cent of the total. But I think +that the verdict of history has given his honesty of purpose, his +purity and unselfishness of motive as his highest attributes, and +certainly these qualities are within the reach of the poorest boy and +the humblest girl in America. + +Suppose we rank his honesty, his integrity twenty per cent of the +total, his dogged persistence, his ability for hard work ten per cent, +his passion for wholeness, for completeness, for doing everything to a +finish ten more, his aspiration, his longing for growth, his yearning +for fulness of life ten more. The reader can see that it would be easy +to make up the hundred per cent, without finding any one quality which +could be called genius; that the total of his character would be made +up of the sum of the commonest qualities, the most ordinary virtues +within the reach of the poorest youth in the land. There is no one +quality in his entire make-up so overpowering, so commanding that it +could be ranked as genius. + +What an inestimable blessing to the world, what an encouragement, an +inspiration to poor boys and poor girls that his great achievement can +be accounted for by the triumph in his character of those qualities +which are beyond the reach of money, of family, of influence, but that +are within the reach of the poorest and the humblest. + +In a speech to the people in Colorado Mountains, Roosevelt said: "You +think that my success is quite foreign to anything you can achieve. +Let me assure you that the big prizes I have won are largely +accidental. If I have succeeded, it is only as anyone of you can +succeed, merely because I have tried to do my duty as I saw it in my +home and in my business, and as a citizen. + +"If when I die the ones who know me best believe that I was a +thoughtful, helpful husband, a loving, wise and painstaking father, a +generous, kindly neighbor and an honest citizen, that will be a far +more real honor, and will prove my life to have been more successful +than the fact that I have ever been president of the United States. +Had a few events over which no one had control been other than they +were it is quite possible I might never have held the high office I now +occupy, but no train of events could accidentally make me a noble +character or a faithful member of my home and community. Therefore +each of you has the same chance to succeed in true success as I have +had, and if my success in the end proves to have been as great as that +achieved by many of the humblest of you I shall be fortunate." + +McKinley did not start with great mental ability. There was nothing +very surprising or startling in his career. He was not a great genius, +not notable as a scholar. He did not stand very high in school; he was +not a great lawyer; he did not make a great record in Congress; but he +had a good, level head. He had _the best substitute for genius--the +ability for hard work and persistence_. He knew how to keep plodding, +how to hang on, and he knew that the only way to show what he was made +of in Congress was to stick to one thing, and he made a specialty of +the tariff, following the advice of a statesman friend. + +The biographies of the giants of the race are often discouraging to the +average poor boy, because the moment he gets the impression that the +character he is reading about was a genius, the effect is largely lost +upon himself, because he knows that he is not a genius, and he says to +himself, "This is very interesting reading, but I can never do those +things." But when he reads the life of McKinley he does not see any +reason why he could not do the same things himself, because there were +no great jumps, no great leaps and bounds in his life from particular +ability or special opportunity. He had no very brilliant talents, but +he averaged well. He had good common sense and was a hard worker. He +had tact and diplomacy and made the most of every opportunity. + +Nothing can keep from success the man who has iron in his blood and is +determined that he will succeed. When he is confronted by barriers he +leaps over them, tunnels through them, or makes a way around them. +Obstacles only serve to stiffen his backbone, increase his +determination, sharpen his wits and develop his innate resources. The +record of human achievement is full of the truth. "There is no +difficulty to him who wills." + +"All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise and +wonder," says Johnson, "are instances of the resistless force of +perseverance." + +It has been well said that from the same materials one man builds +palaces, another hovels; one warehouses, another villas. Bricks and +mortar are mortar and bricks until the architect makes them something +else. The boulder which was an obstacle in the path of the weak +becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the resolute. The +difficulties which dishearten one man only stiffen the sinews of +another, who looks on them as a sort of mental spring-board by which to +vault across the gulf of failure to the sure, solid ground of full +success. + +One of the greatest generals on the Confederate side in the Civil War, +"Stonewall" Jackson, was noted for his slowness. With this he +possessed great application and dogged determination. If he undertook +a task, he never let go till he had it done. So, when he went to West +Point, his habitual class response was that he was too busy getting the +lesson of a few days back to look at the one of the day. He kept up +this steady gait, and, from the least promising "plebe," came out +seventeenth in a class of seventy, distancing fifty-three who started +with better attainments and better minds. His classmates used to say +that, if the course was ten years instead of four, he would come out +first. + +The world always stands aside for the determined man. You will find no +royal road to your triumph. There is no open door to the Temple of +Success. + +One of the commonest of common virtues is perseverance, yet it has been +the open sesame of more fast locked doors of opportunity than have +brilliant tributes. Every man and woman can exercise this virtue of +perseverance, can refuse to stop short of the goal of ambition, can +decline to turn aside in search of pleasures that do but hinder +progress. + +The romance of perseverance under especial difficulty is one of the +most fascinating subjects in history. Tenacity of purpose has been +characteristic of all characters who have left their mark on the world. +Perseverance, it has been said, is the statesman's brain, the warrior's +sword, the inventor's secret, the scholar's "open sesame." + +Persistency is to talent what steam is to the engine. It is the +driving force by which the machine accomplishes the work for which it +was intended. A great deal of persistency, with a very little talent, +can be counted on to go farther than a great deal of talent without +persistency. + +You cannot keep a determined man from success. Take away his money, +and he makes spurs of his poverty to urge him on. Lock him up in a +dungeon, and he writes the immortal "Pilgrim's Progress." + +Stick to a thing and carry it through in all its completeness and +proportion, and you will become a hero. You will think better of +yourself; others will exalt you. + +Thoroughness is another of the common virtues which all may cultivate. +The man who puts his best into every task will leave far behind the man +who lets a job go with the comment "That's good enough." Nothing is +good enough unless it reflects our best. + +Daniel Webster had no remarkable traits of character in his boyhood. +He was sent to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and stayed +there only a short time when a neighbor found him crying on his way +home, and asked the reason. Daniel said he despaired of ever making a +scholar. He said the boys made fun of him, for always being at the +foot of the class, and that he had decided to give up and go home. The +friend said he ought to go back, and see what hard study would do. He +went back, applied himself to his studies with determination to win, +and it was not long before he silenced those who had ridiculed him, by +reaching the head of the class, and remaining there. + +Fidelity to duty has been a distinguishing virtue in men who have risen +to positions of authority and command. It has been observed that the +dispatches of Napoleon rang with the word glory. Wellington's +dispatches centered around the common word duty. + +Nowadays people seem unwilling to tread the rough path of duty and by +patience and steadfast perseverance step into the ranks of those the +country delights to honor. + +Every little while I get letters from young men who say, if they were +positively sure that they could be a Webster in law, they would devote +all their energies to study, fling their whole lives into their work; +or if they could be an Edison in invention, or a great leader in +medicine, or a merchant prince like Wanamaker or Marshall Field, they +could work with enthusiasm and zeal and power and concentration. They +would be willing to make any sacrifice, to undergo any hardship in +order to achieve what these men have achieved. But many of them say +they do not feel that they have the marvelous ability, the great +genius, the tremendous talent exhibited by those leaders, and so they +are not willing to make the great exertion. + +They do not realize that success is not necessarily doing some great +thing, that it is not making a tremendous strain to do something great; +but that it is just honestly, earnestly living the everyday simple +life. It is by the exercise of the common everyday virtues; it is by +trying to do everything one does to a complete finish; it is by trying +to be scrupulously honest in every transaction; it is by always ringing +true in our friendships, by holding a helpful, accommodating attitude +toward those about us; by trying to be the best possible citizen, a +good, accommodating, helpful neighbor, a kind, encouraging father; it +is by all these simple things that we attain success. + +There is no great secret about success. It is just a natural +persistent exercise of the commonest every-day qualities. + +We have seen people in the country in the summer time trampling down +the daisies and the beautiful violets, the lovely wild flowers in their +efforts to get a branch of showy flowers off a large tree, which, +perhaps, would not compare in beauty and delicacy and loveliness to the +things they trampled under their feet in trying to procure it. + +Oh, how many exquisite experiences, delightful possible joys we trample +under our feet in straining after something great, in trying to do some +marvelous thing that will attract attention and get our names in the +papers! We trample down the finer emotions, we spoil many of the most +delicious things in life in our scrambling and greed to grasp something +which is unusual, something showy that we can wave before the world in +order to get its applause. + +In straining for effect, in the struggle to do something great and +wonderful, we miss the little successes, the sum of which would make +our lives sublime; and often, after all this straining and struggling +for the larger, for the grander things, we miss them, and then we +discover to our horror what we have missed on the way up--what +sweetness, what beauty, what loveliness, what a lot of common, homely, +cheering things we have lost in the useless struggle. + +Great scientists tell us that the reason why the secrets of nature have +been hidden from the world so long is because we are not simple enough +in our methods of reasoning; that investigators are always looking for +unusual phenomena, for something complicated; that the principles of +nature's secrets are so extremely simple that men overlook them in +their efforts to see and solve the more intricate problems. + +It is most unfortunate that so many young people get the impression +that success consists in doing some marvelous thing, that there must be +some genius born in the man who achieves it, else he could not do such +remarkable things. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +GETTING AROUSED + +"How's the boy gittin' on, Davis?" asked Farmer John Field, as he +watched his son, Marshall, waiting upon a customer. "Well, John, you +and I are old friends," replied Deacon Davis, as he took an apple from +a barrel and handed it to Marshall's father as a peace offering; "we +are old friends, and I don't want to hurt your feelin's; but I'm a +blunt man, and air goin' to tell you the truth. Marshall is a good, +steady boy, all right, but he wouldn't make a merchant if he stayed in +my store a thousand years. He weren't cut out for a merchant. Take +him back to the farm, John, and teach him how to milk cows!" + +If Marshall Field had remained as clerk in Deacon Davis's store in +Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he got his first position, he could +never have become one of the world's merchant princes. But when he +went to Chicago and saw the marvelous examples around him of poor boys +who had won success, it aroused his ambition and fired him with the +determination to be a great merchant himself. "If others can do such +wonderful things," he asked himself, "why cannot I?" + +Of course, there was the making of a great merchant in Mr. Field from +the start; but circumstances, an ambition-arousing environment, had a +great deal to do with stimulating his latent energy and bringing out +his reserve force. It is doubtful if he would have climbed so rapidly +in any other place than Chicago. In 1856, when young Field went there, +this marvelous city was just starting on its unparalleled career. It +had then only about eighty-five thousand inhabitants. A few years +before it had been a mere Indian trading village. But the city grew by +leaps and bounds, and always beat the predictions of its most sanguine +inhabitants. Success was in the air. Everybody felt that there were +great possibilities there. + +[Illustration: Marshall Field] + +Many people seem to think that ambition is a quality born within us; +that it is not susceptible to improvement; that it is something thrust +upon us which will take care of itself. But it is a passion that +responds very quickly to cultivation, and it requires constant care and +education, just as the faculty for music or art does, or it will +atrophy. + +If we do not try to realize our ambition, it will not keep sharp and +defined. Our faculties become dull and soon lose their power if they +are not exercised. How can we expect our ambition to remain fresh and +vigorous through years of inactivity, indolence, or indifference? If +we constantly allow opportunities to slip by us without making any +attempt to grasp them, our inclination will grow duller and weaker. + +"What I most need," as Emerson says, "is somebody to make me do what I +can." To do what I can, that is my problem; not what a Napoleon or a +Lincoln could do, but what _I_ can do. It makes all the difference in +the world to me whether I bring out the best thing in me or the +worst,--whether I utilize ten, fifteen, twenty-five, or ninety per cent +of my ability. + +Everywhere we see people who have reached middle life or later without +being aroused. They have developed only a small percentage of their +success possibilities. They are still in a dormant state. The best +thing in them lies so deep that it has never been awakened. When we +meet these people we feel conscious that they have a great deal of +latent power that has never been exercised. Great possibilities of +usefulness and of achievement are, all unconsciously, going to waste +within them. + +Some time ago there appeared in the newspapers an account of a girl who +had reached the age of fifteen years, and yet had only attained the +mental development of a small child. Only a few things interested her. +She was dreamy, inactive, and indifferent to everything around her most +of the time until, one day, while listening to a hand organ on the +street, she suddenly awakened to full consciousness. She came to +herself; her faculties were aroused, and in a few days she leaped +forward years in her development. Almost in a day she passed from +childhood to budding womanhood. Most of us have an enormous amount of +power, of latent force, slumbering within us, as it slumbered in this +girl, which could do marvels if we would only awaken it. + +The judge of the municipal court in a flourishing western city, one of +the most highly esteemed jurists in his state, was in middle life, +before his latent power was aroused, an illiterate blacksmith. He is +now sixty, the owner of the finest library in his city, with the +reputation of being its best-read man, and one whose highest endeavor +is to help his fellow man. What caused the revolution in his life? +The hearing of a single lecture on the value of education. This was +what stirred the slumbering power within him, awakened his ambition, +and set his feet in the path of self-development. + +I have known several men who never realized their possibilities until +they reached middle life. Then they were suddenly aroused, as if from +a long sleep, by reading some inspiring, stimulating book, by listening +to a sermon or a lecture, or by meeting some friend,--someone with high +ideals,--who understood, believed in, and encouraged them. + +It will make all the difference in the world to you whether you are +with people who are watching for ability in you, people who believe in, +encourage, and praise you, or whether you are with those who are +forever breaking your idols, blasting your hopes, and throwing cold +water on your aspirations. + +The chief probation officer of the children's court in New York, in his +report for 1905, says: "Removing a boy or girl from improper +environment is the first step in his or her reclamation." The New York +Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, after thirty years +of investigation of cases involving the social and moral welfare of +over half a million of children, has also come to the conclusion that +environment is stronger than heredity. + +Even the strongest of us are not beyond the reach of our environment. +No matter how independent, strong-willed, and determined our nature, we +are constantly being modified by our surroundings. Take the best-born +child, with the greatest inherited advantages, and let it be reared by +savages, and how many of its inherited tendencies will remain? If +brought up from infancy in a barbarous, brutal atmosphere, it will, of +course, become brutal. The story is told of a well-born child who, +being lost or abandoned as an infant, was suckled by a wolf with her +own young ones, and who actually took on all the characteristics of the +wolf,--walked on all fours, howled like a wolf, and ate like one. + +It does not take much to determine the lives of most of us. We +naturally follow the examples about us, and, as a rule, we rise or fall +according to the strongest current in which we live. The poet's "I am +a part of all that I have met" is not a mere poetic flight of fancy; it +is an absolute truth. Everything--every sermon or lecture or +conversation you have heard, every person who has touched your +life--has left an impress upon your character, and you are never quite +the same person after the association or experience. You are a little +different,--modified somewhat from what you were before,--just as +Beecher was never the same man after reading Ruskin. + +Some years ago a party of Russian workmen were sent to this country by +a Russian firm of shipbuilders, in order that they might acquire +American methods and catch the American spirit. Within six months the +Russians had become almost the equals of the American artisans among +whom they worked. They had developed ambition, individuality, personal +initiative, and a marked degree of excellence in their work. A year +after their return to their own country, the deadening, non-progressive +atmosphere about them had done its work. The men had lost the desire +to improve; they were again plodders, with no goal beyond the day's +work. The ambition aroused by stimulating environment had sunk to +sleep again. + +Our Indian schools sometimes publish, side by side, photographs of the +Indian youths as they come from the reservation and as they look when +they are graduated,--well dressed, intelligent, with the fire of +ambition in their eyes. We predict great things for them; but the +majority of those who go back to their tribes, after struggling awhile +to keep up their new standards, gradually drop back to their old manner +of living. There are, of course, many notable exceptions, but these +are strong characters, able to resist the downward-dragging tendencies +about them. + +If you interview the great army of failures, you will find that +multitudes have failed because they never got into a stimulating, +encouraging environment, because their ambition was never aroused, or +because they were not strong enough to rally under depressing, +discouraging, or vicious surroundings. Most of the people we find in +prisons and poor-houses are pitiable examples of the influence of an +environment which appealed to the worst instead of to the best in them. + +Whatever you do in life, make any sacrifice necessary to keep in an +ambition-arousing atmosphere, an environment that will stimulate you to +self-development. Keep close to people who understand you, who believe +in you, who will help you to discover yourself and encourage you to +make the most of yourself. This may make all the difference to you +between a grand success and a mediocre existence. Stick to those who +are trying to do something and to be somebody in the world,--people of +high aims, lofty ambition. Keep close to those who are +dead-in-earnest. Ambition is contagious. You will catch the spirit +that dominates in your environment. The success of those about you who +are trying to climb upward will encourage and stimulate you to struggle +harder if you have not done quite so well yourself. + +There is a great power in a battery of individuals who are struggling +for the achievement of high aims, a great magnetic force which will +help you to attract the object of your ambition. It is very +stimulating to be with people whose aspirations run parallel with your +own. If you lack energy, if you are naturally lazy, indolent, or +inclined to take it easy, you will be urged forward by the constant +prodding of the more ambitious. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE MAN WITH AN IDEA + +He who wishes to fulfil his mission must be a man of one idea, that is, +of one great overmastering purpose, over shadowing all his aims, and +guiding and controlling his entire life.--BATE. + +A healthful hunger for a great idea is the beauty and blessedness of +life.--JEAN INGELOW. + +A profound conviction raises a man above the feeling of ridicule.--J. +STUART MILL. + +Ideas go booming through the world louder than cannon. Thoughts are +mightier than armies. Principles have achieved more victories than +horsemen or chariots.--W. M. PAXTON. + + +"What are you bothering yourselves with a knitting machine for?" asked +Ari Davis, of Boston, a manufacturer of instruments; "why don't you +make a sewing-machine?" His advice had been sought by a rich man and +an inventor who had reached their wits' ends in the vain attempt to +produce a device for knitting woolen goods. "I wish I could, but it +can't be done." "Oh, yes it can," said Davis; "I can make one myself." +"Well," the capitalist replied, "you do it, and I'll insure you an +independent fortune." The words of Davis were uttered in a spirit of +jest, but the novel idea found lodgment in the mind of one of the +workmen who stood by, a mere youth of twenty, who was thought not +capable of a serious idea. + +But Elias Howe was not so rattle-headed as he seemed, and the more he +reflected, the more desirable such a machine appeared to him. Four +years passed, and with a wife and three children to support in a great +city on a salary of nine dollars a week, the light-hearted boy had +become a thoughtful, plodding man. The thought of the sewing-machine +haunted him night and day, and he finally resolved to produce one. + +After months wasted in the effort to work a needle pointed at both +ends, with the eye in the middle, that should pass up and down through +the cloth, suddenly the thought flashed through his mind that another +stitch must be possible, and with almost insane devotion he worked +night and day, until he had made a rough model of wood and wire that +convinced him of ultimate success. In his mind's eye he saw his idea, +but his own funds and those of his father, who had aided him more or +less, were insufficient to embody it in a working machine. But help +came from an old schoolmate, George Fisher, a coal and wood merchant of +Cambridge. He agreed to board Elias and his family and furnish five +hundred dollars, for which he was to have one-half of the patent, if +the machine proved to be worth patenting. In May, 1845, the machine +was completed, and in July Elias Howe sewed all the seams of two suits +of woolen clothes, one for Mr. Fisher and the other for himself. The +sewing outlasted the cloth. This machine, which is still preserved, +will sew three hundred stitches a minute, and is considered more nearly +perfect than any other prominent invention at its first trial. There +is not one of the millions of sewing-machines now in use that does not +contain some of the essential principles of this first attempt. + +When it was decided to try and elevate Chicago out of the mud by +raising its immense blocks up to grade, the young son of a poor +mechanic, named George M. Pullman, appeared on the scene, and put in a +bid for the great undertaking, and the contract was awarded to him. He +not only raised the blocks, but did it in such a way that business +within them was scarcely interrupted. All this time he was revolving +in his mind his pet project of building a "sleeping car" which would be +adopted on all railroads. He fitted up two old cars on the Chicago and +Alton road with berths, and soon found they would be in demand. He +then went to work on the principle that the more luxurious his cars +were, the greater would be the demand for them. After spending three +years in Colorado gold mines, he returned and built two cars which cost +$18,000 each. Everybody laughed at "Pullman's folly." But Pullman +believed that whatever relieved the tediousness of long trips would +meet with speedy approval, and he had faith enough in his idea to risk +his all in it. + +Pullman was a great believer in the commercial value of beauty. The +wonderful town which he built and which bears his name, as well as his +magnificent cars, is an example of his belief in this principle. He +counts it a good investment to surround his employees with comforts and +beauty and good sanitary conditions, and so the town of Pullman is a +model of cleanliness, order, and comfort. + +It has ever been the man with an idea, which he puts into practical +effect, who has changed the face of Christendom. The germ idea of the +steam engine can be seen in the writings of the Greek philosophers, but +it was not developed until more than two thousand years later. + +It was an English blacksmith, Newcomen, with no opportunities, who in +the seventeenth century conceived the idea of moving a piston by the +elastic force of steam; but his engine consumed thirty pounds of coal +in producing one horse power. The perfection of the modern engine is +largely due to James Watt, a poor, uneducated Scotch boy, who at +fifteen walked the streets of London in a vain search for work. A +professor in the Glasgow University gave him the use of a room to work +in, and while waiting for jobs he experimented with old vials for steam +reservoirs and hollow canes for pipes, for he could not bear to waste a +moment. He improved Newcomen's engine by cutting off the steam after +the piston had completed a quarter or a third of its stroke, and +letting the steam already in the chamber expand and drive the piston +the remaining distance. This saved nearly three-fourths of the steam. +Watt suffered from pinching poverty and hardships which would have +disheartened ordinary men; but he was terribly in earnest, and his +brave wife Margaret begged him not to mind her inconvenience, nor be +discouraged. "If the engine will not work," she wrote him while +struggling in London, "something else will. Never despair." + +"I had gone to take a walk," said Watt, "on a fine Sabbath afternoon, +and had passed the old washing-house, thinking upon the engine at the +time, when the idea came into my head that, as steam is an elastic +body, it would rush into a vacuum, and if a communication were made +between the cylinder and an exhausted vessel, it would rush into it, +and might be there condensed without cooling the cylinder." The idea +was simple, but in it lay the germ of the first steam engine of much +practical value. Sir James Mackintosh places this poor Scotch boy who +began with only an idea "at the head of all inventors in all ages and +all nations." + +See George Stephenson, working in the coal pits for sixpence a day, +patching the clothes and mending the boots of his fellow-workmen at +night, to earn a little money to attend a night school, giving the +first money he ever earned, $150, to his blind father to pay his debts. +People say he is crazy; his "roaring steam engine will set the house on +fire with its sparks"; "smoke will pollute the air"; "carriage makers +and coachmen will starve for want of work." For three days the +committee of the House of Commons plies questions to him. This was one +of them: "If a cow get on the track of the engine traveling ten miles +an hour, will it not be an awkward situation?" "Yes, very awkward, +indeed, for the coo," replied Stephenson. A government inspector said +that if a locomotive ever went ten miles an hour, he would undertake to +eat a stewed engine for breakfast. + +"What can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous than the prospect held +out of locomotives traveling twice as fast as horses?" asked a writer +in the English "Quarterly Review" for March, 1825. "We should as soon +expect the people of Woolwich to suffer themselves to be fired off upon +one of Congreve's rockets as to trust themselves to the mercy of such a +machine, going at such a rate. We trust that Parliament will, in all +the railways it may grant, _limit the speed to eight or nine miles an +hour_, which we entirely agree with Mr. Sylvester is as great as can be +ventured upon." This article referred to Stephenson's proposition to +use his newly invented locomotive instead of horses on the Liverpool +and Manchester Railroad, then in process of construction. + +The company decided to lay the matter before two leading English +engineers, who reported that steam would be desirable only when used in +stationary engines one and a half miles apart, drawing the cars by +means of ropes and pulleys. But Stephenson persuaded them to test his +idea by offering a prize of about twenty-five hundred dollars for the +best locomotive produced at a trial to take place October 6, 1829. + +On the eventful day, thousands of spectators assembled to watch the +competition of four engines, the "Novelty," the "Rocket," the +"Perseverance," and the "Sanspareil." The "Perseverance" could make +but six miles an hour, and so was ruled out, as the conditions called +for at least ten. The "Sanspareil" made an average of fourteen miles +an hour, but as it burst a water-pipe it lost its chance. The +"Novelty" did splendidly, but also burst a pipe, and was crowded out, +leaving the "Rocket" to carry off the honors with an average speed of +fifteen miles an hour, the highest rate attained being twenty-nine. +This was Stephenson's locomotive, and so fully vindicated his theory +that the idea of stationary engines on a railroad was completely +exploded. He had picked up the fixed engines which the genius of Watt +had devised, and set them on wheels to draw men and merchandise, +against the most direful predictions of the foremost engineers of his +day. + +In all the records of invention there is no more sad or affecting story +than that of John Fitch. Poor he was in many senses, poor in +appearance, poor in spirit. He was born poor, lived poor, and died +poor. If there ever was a true inventor, this man was one. He was one +of those eager souls that would coin their own flesh to carry their +point. He only uttered the obvious truth when he said one day, in a +crisis of his invention, that if he could get one hundred pounds by +cutting off one of his legs he would gladly give it to the knife. + +He tried in vain both in this country and in France to get money to +build his steamboat. He would say: "You and I will not live to see the +day, but the time will come when the steamboat will be preferred to all +other modes of conveyance, when steamboats will ascend the Western +rivers from New Orleans to Wheeling, and when steamboats will cross the +ocean. Johnny Fitch will be forgotten, but other men will carry out +his ideas and grow rich and great upon them." + +Poor, ragged, forlorn, jeered at, pitied as a madman, discouraged by +the great, refused by the rich, he kept on till, in 1790, he had the +first vessel on the Delaware that ever answered the purpose of a +steamboat. It ran six miles an hour against the tide, and eight miles +with it. + +At noon, on Friday, August 4, 1807, a crowd of curious people might +have been seen along the wharves of the Hudson River. They had +gathered to witness what they considered a ridiculous failure of a +"crank" who proposed to take a party of people up the Hudson River to +Albany in what he called a steam vessel named the _Clermont_. Did +anybody ever hear of such a ridiculous idea as navigating against the +current up the Hudson in a vessel without sails? "The thing will +'bust,'" says one; "it will burn up," says another, and "they will all +be drowned," exclaims a third, as he sees vast columns of black smoke +shoot up with showers of brilliant sparks. Nobody present, in all +probability, ever heard of a boat going by steam. It was the opinion +of everybody that the man who had tooled away his money and his time on +the _Clermont_ was little better than an idiot, and ought to be in an +insane asylum. But the passengers go on board, the plank is pulled in, +and the steam is turned on. The walking beam moves slowly up and down, +and the _Clermont_ floats out into the river. "It can never go up +stream," the spectators persist. But it did go up stream, and the boy, +who in his youth said there is nothing impossible, had scored a great +triumph, and had given to the world the first steamboat that had any +practical value. + +Notwithstanding that Fulton had rendered such great service to +humanity, a service which has revolutionized the commerce of the world, +he was looked upon by many as a public enemy. Critics and cynics +turned up their noses when Fulton was mentioned. The severity of the +world's censure, ridicule, and detraction has usually been in +proportion to the benefit the victim has conferred upon mankind. + +As the _Clermont_ burned pine wood, dense columns of fire and smoke +belched forth from her smoke-stack while she glided triumphantly up the +river, and the inhabitants along the banks were utterly unable to +account for the spectacle. They rushed to the shore amazed to see a +boat "on fire" go against the stream so rapidly with neither oars nor +sails. The noise of her great paddle-wheels increased the wonder. +Sailors forsook their vessels, and fishermen rowed home as fast as +possible to get out of the way of the fire monster. The Indians were +as much frightened as their predecessors were when the first ship +approached their hunting-ground on Manhattan Island. The owners of +sailing vessels were jealous of the _Clermont_, and tried to run her +down. Others whose interests were affected denied Fulton's claim to +the invention and brought suits against him. But the success of the +_Clermont_ soon led to the construction of other steamships all over +the country. The government employed Fulton to aid in building a +powerful steam frigate, which was called _Fulton the First_. He also +built a diving boat for the government for the discharge of torpedoes. +By this time his fame had spread all over the civilized world, and when +he died, in 1815, newspapers were marked with black lines; the +legislature of New York wore badges of mourning; and minute guns were +fired as the long funeral procession passed to old Trinity churchyard. +Very few private persons were ever honored with such a burial. + +True, Dr. Lardner had "proved" to scientific men that a steamship could +not cross the Atlantic, but in 1810 the _Savannah_ from New York +appeared off the coast of Ireland under sail and steam, having made +this "impossible" passage. Those on shore thought that a fire had +broken out below the decks, and a king's cutter was sent to her relief. +Although the voyage was made without accident, it was nearly twenty +years before it was admitted that steam navigation could be made a +commercial success in ocean traffic. + +As Junius Smith impatiently paced the deck of a vessel sailing from an +English port to New York, on a rough and tedious voyage in 1832, he +said to himself, "Why not cross the ocean regularly in steamships?" In +New York and in London a deaf ear was turned to any such nonsense. +Smith's first encouragement came from George Grote, the historian and +banker, who said the idea was practicable; but it was the same old +story,--he would risk no money in it. At length Isaac Selby, a +prominent business man of London, agreed to build a steamship of two +thousand tons, the _British Queen_. An unexpected delay in fitting the +engines led the projectors to charter the _Sirius_, a river steamer of +seven hundred tons, and send her to New York. Learning of this, other +parties started from Bristol four days later in the _Great Western_, +and both vessels arrived at New York the same day. Soon after Smith +made the round trip between London and New York in thirty-two days. + +What a sublime picture of determination and patience was that of +Charles Goodyear, of New Haven, buried in poverty and struggling with +hardships for eleven long years, to make India rubber of practical use! +See him in prison for debt; pawning his clothes and his wife's jewelry +to get a little money to keep his children (who were obliged to gather +sticks in the field for fire) from starving. Watch his sublime courage +and devotion to his idea, when he had no money to bury a dead child and +when his other five were near starvation; when his neighbors were +harshly criticizing him for his neglect of his family and calling him +insane. But, behold his vulcanized rubber; the result of that heroic +struggle, applied to over five hundred uses by 100,000 employees. + +What a pathetic picture was that of Palissy, plodding on through want +and woe to rediscover the lost art of enameling pottery; building his +furnaces with bricks carried on his back, seeing his six children die +of neglect, probably of starvation, his wife in rags and despair over +her husband's "folly"; despised by his neighbors for neglecting his +family, worn to a skeleton himself, giving his clothes to his hired man +because he could not pay him in money, hoping always, failing steadily, +until at last his great work was accomplished, and he reaped his reward. + +German unity was the idea engraven upon Bismarck's heart. What cared +this herculean despot for the Diet chosen year after year simply to +vote down every measure he proposed? He was indifferent to all +opposition. He simply defied and sent home every Diet which opposed +him. He could play the game alone. To make Germany the greatest power +in Europe, to make William of Prussia a greater potentate than Napoleon +or Alexander, was his all-absorbing purpose. It mattered not what +stood in his way, whether people, Diet, or nation; all must bend to his +mighty will. Germany must hold the deciding voice in the Areopagus of +the world. He rode roughshod over everybody and everything that stood +in his way, defiant of opposition, imperious, irrepressible! + +See the great Dante in exile, condemned to be burnt alive on false +charges of embezzlement. Look at his starved features, gaunt form, +melancholy, a poor wanderer; but he never gave up his idea; he poured +out his very soul into his immortal poem, ever believing that right +would at last triumph. + +Columbus was exposed to continual scoffs and indignities, being +ridiculed as a mere dreamer and stigmatized as an adventurer. The very +children, it is said, pointed to their foreheads as he passed, being +taught to regard him as a kind of madman. + +An American was once invited to dine with Oken, the famous German +naturalist. To his surprise, they had neither meats nor dessert, but +only baked potatoes. Oken was too great a man to apologize for their +simple fare. His wife explained, however, that her husband's income +was very small, and that they preferred to live simply in order that he +might obtain books and instruments for his scientific researches. + +Before the discovery of ether it often took a week, in some cases a +month, to recover from the enormous dose, sometimes five hundred drops +of laudanum, given to a patient to deaden the pain during a surgical +operation. Young Dr. Morton believed that there must be some means +provided by Nature to relieve human suffering during these terrible +operations; but what could he do? He was not a chemist; he did not +know the properties of chemical substances; he was not liberally +educated. + +Dr. Morton did not resort to books, however, nor did he go to +scientific men for advice, but immediately began to experiment with +well-known substances. He tried intoxicants even to the point of +intoxication, but as soon as the instruments were applied the patient +would revive. He kept on experimenting with narcotics in this manner +until at last he found what he sought in ether. + +What a grand idea Bishop Vincent worked out for the young world in the +Chautauqua Circle, Dr. Clark in his world-wide Christian Endeavor +movement, the Methodist Church in the Epworth League, Edward Everett +Hale in his little bands of King's Daughters and Ten Times One is Ten! +Here is Clara Barton who has created the Red Cross Society, which is +loved by all nations. She noticed in our Civil War that the +Confederates were shelling the hospital. She thought it the last touch +of cruelty to fight what couldn't fight back, and she determined to +have the barbarous custom stopped. Of course the world laughed at this +poor unaided woman. But her idea has been adopted by all nations; and +the enemy that aims a shot at the tent or building over which flies the +white flag with the red cross has lost his last claim to human +consideration. + +In all ages those who have advanced the cause of humanity have been men +and women "possessed," in the opinion of their neighbors. Noah in +building the ark, Moses in espousing the cause of the Israelites, or +Christ in living and dying to save a fallen race, incurred the pity and +scorn of the rich and highly educated, in common with all great +benefactors. Yet in every age and in every clime men and women have +been willing to incur poverty, hardship, toil, ridicule, persecution, +or even death, if thereby they might shed light or comfort upon the +path which all must walk from the cradle to the grave. In fact it is +doubtful whether a man can perform very great service to mankind who is +not permeated with a great purpose--with an overmastering idea. + +Beecher had to fight every step of the way to his triumph through +obstacles which would have appalled all but the greatest characters. +Oftentimes in these great battles for principle and struggles for +truth, he stood almost alone fighting popular prejudice, narrowness, +and bigotry, uncharitableness and envy even in his own church. But he +never hesitated nor wavered when he once saw his duty. There was no +shilly-shallying, no hunting for a middle ground between right and +wrong, no compromise on principles. He hewed close to the chalk line +and held his line plumb to truth. He never pandered for public favor +nor sought applause. Duty and truth were his goal, and he went +straight to his mark. Other churches did not agree with him nor his, +but he was too broad for hatred, too charitable for revenge, and too +magnanimous for envy. + +What tale of the "Arabian Nights" equals in fascination the story of +such lives as those of Franklin, of Morse, Goodyear, Howe, Edison, +Bell, Beecher, Gough, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Amos Lawrence, George +Peabody, McCormick, Hoe, and scores of others, each representing some +great idea embodied in earnest action, and resulting in an improvement +of the physical, mental, and moral condition of those around them? + +There are plenty of ideas left in the world yet. Everything has not +been invented. All good things have not been done. There are +thousands of abuses to rectify, and each one challenges the independent +soul, armed with a new idea. + +"But how shall I get ideas?" Keep your wits open! Observe! Study! +But above all, Think! and when a noble image is indelibly impressed +upon the mind--_Act_! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +DARE + +The Spartans did not inquire how many the enemy are, but where they +are.--AGIS II. + +What's brave, what's noble, let's do it after the high Roman fashion, +and make death proud to take us.--SHAKESPEARE. + +Let me die facing the enemy.--BAYARD. + +Who conquers me, shall find a stubborn foe.--BYRON. + + No great deed is done + By falterers who ask for certainty. + GEORGE ELIOT. + +Fortune befriends the bold.--DRYDEN. + +To stand with a smile upon your face against a stake from which you +cannot get away--that, no doubt, is heroic. But the true glory is +resignation to the inevitable. To stand unchained, with perfect +liberty to go away, held only by the higher claims of duty, and let the +fire creep up to the heart,--this is heroism.--F. W. ROBERTSON. + + +"Steady, men! Every man must die where he stands!" said Colin Campbell +to the Ninety-third Highlanders at Balaklava, as an overwhelming force +of Russian cavalry came sweeping down. "Ay, ay, Sir Colin! we'll do +that!" was the response from men, many of whom had to keep their word +by thus obeying. + +"Bring back the colors," shouted a captain at the battle of the Alma, +when an ensign maintained his ground in front, although the men were +retreating. "No," cried the ensign, "bring up the men to the colors." + +"To dare, and again to dare, and without end to dare," was Danton's +noble defiance to the enemies of France. "The Commons of France have +resolved to deliberate," said Mirabeau to De Breze, who brought an +order from the king for them to disperse, June 23, 1789. "We have +heard the intentions that have been attributed to the king; and you, +sir, who cannot be recognized as his organ in the National +Assembly,--you, who have neither place, voice, nor right to speak,--you +are not the person to bring to us a message of his. Go, say to those +who sent you that we are here by the power of the people, and that we +will not be driven hence, save by the power of the bayonet." + +When the assembled senate of Rome begged Regulus not to return to +Carthage to fulfil an illegal promise, he calmly replied: "Have you +resolved to dishonor me? Torture and death are awaiting me, but what +are these to the shame of an infamous act, or the wounds of a guilty +mind? Slave as I am to Carthage, I still have the spirit of a Roman. +I have sworn to return. It is my duty. Let the gods take care of the +rest." + +The courage which Cranmer had shown since the accession of Mary gave +way the moment his final doom was announced. The moral cowardice which +had displayed itself in his miserable compliance with the lust and +despotism of Henry VIII displayed itself again in six successive +recantations by which he hoped to purchase pardon. But pardon was +impossible; and Cranmer's strangely mingled nature found a power in its +very weakness when he was brought into the church of St. Mary at Oxford +on the 21st of March, to repeat his recantation on the way to the +stake. "Now," ended his address to the hushed congregation before +him,--"now I come to the great thing that troubleth my conscience more +than any other thing that ever I said or did in my life, and that is +the setting abroad of writings contrary to the truth; which here I now +renounce and refuse as things written by a hand contrary to the truth +which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death, to save my +life, if it might be. And, forasmuch as my hand offended in writing +contrary to my heart, my hand therefore shall be the first punished; +for if I come to the fire it shall be the first burned." "This was the +hand that wrote it," he again exclaimed at the stake, "therefore it +shall suffer first punishment"; and holding it steadily in the flame, +"he never stirred nor cried till life was gone." + +A woman's piercing shriek suddenly startled a party of surveyors at +dinner in a forest of northern Virginia on a calm, sunny day in 1750. +The cries were repeated in quick succession, and the men sprang through +the undergrowth to learn their cause. "Oh, sir," exclaimed the woman +as she caught sight of a youth of eighteen, but a man in stature and +bearing; "you will surely do something for me! Make these friends +release me. My boy,--my poor boy is drowning, and they will not let me +go!" "It would be madness; she will jump into the river," said one of +the men who was holding her; "and the rapids would dash her to pieces +in a moment!" Throwing off his coat, the youth sprang to the edge of +the bank, scanned for a moment the rocks and whirling currents, and +then, at sight of part of the boy's dress, plunged into the roaring +rapids. "Thank God, he will save my child!" cried the mother, and all +rushed to the brink of the precipice; "there he is! Oh, my boy, my +darling boy! How could I leave you?" + +But all eyes were bent upon the youth struggling with strong heart and +hope amid the dizzy sweep of the whirling currents far below. Now it +seemed as if he would be dashed against a projecting rock, over which +the water flew in foam, and anon a whirlpool would drag him in, from +whose grasp escape would seem impossible. Twice the boy went out of +sight, but he had reappeared the second time, although terribly near +the most dangerous part of the river. The rush of waters here was +tremendous, and no one had ever dared to approach it, even in a canoe, +lest he should be dashed to pieces. The youth redoubled his exertions. +Three times he was about to grasp the child, when some stronger eddy +would toss it from him. One final effort he makes; the child is held +aloft by his strong right arm; but a cry of horror bursts from the lips +of every spectator as boy and man shoot over the falls and vanish in +the seething waters below. + +"There they are!" shouted the mother a moment later, in a delirium of +joy. "See! they are safe! Great God, I thank Thee!" And sure enough, +they emerged unharmed from the boiling vortex, and in a few minutes +reached a low place in the bank and were drawn up by their friends, the +boy senseless, but still alive, and the youth almost exhausted. "God +will give you a reward," solemnly spoke the grateful woman. "He will +do great things for you in return for this day's work, and the +blessings of thousands besides mine will attend you." + +The youth was George Washington. + +"Your Grace has not the organ of animal courage largely developed," +said a phrenologist, who was examining Wellington's head. "You are +right," replied the Iron Duke, "and but for my sense of duty I should +have retreated in my first fight." That first fight, on an Indian +field, was one of the most terrible on record. + +When General Jackson was a judge and was holding court in a small +settlement, a border ruffian, a murderer and desperado, came into the +court-room with brutal violence and interrupted the court. The judge +ordered him to be arrested. The officer did not dare to approach him. +"Call a posse," said the judge, "and arrest him." But they also shrank +in fear from the ruffian. "Call me, then," said Jackson; "this court +is adjourned for five minutes." He left the bench, walked straight up +to the man, and with his eagle eye actually cowed the ruffian, who +dropped his weapons, afterwards saying, "There was something in his eye +I could not resist." + +One of the last official acts of President Carnot, of France, was the +sending of a medal of the French Legion of Honor to a little American +girl who lives in Indiana. While a train on the Pan Handle Railroad, +having on board several distinguished Frenchmen, was bound to Chicago +and the World's Fair, Jennie Carey, who was then ten years old, +discovered that a trestle was on fire, and that if the train, which was +nearly due, entered it a dreadful wreck would take place. Thereupon +she ran out upon the track to a place where she could be seen from some +little distance. Then she took off her red flannel skirt and, when the +train came in view, waved it back and forth across the track. It was +seen, and the train stopped. On board of it were seven hundred people, +many of whom must have suffered death but for Jennie's courage and +presence of mind. When they returned to France, the Frenchmen brought +the occurrence to the notice of President Carnot, and the result was +the sending of the medal of this famous French society, the purpose of +which is the honoring of bravery and merit, wherever they may be found. + +It was the heroic devotion of an Indian girl that saved the life of +Captain John Smith, when the powerful King Powhatan had decreed his +death. Ill could the struggling colony spare him at that time. + +On May 10, 1796, Napoleon carried the bridge at Lodi, in the face of +the Austrian batteries. Fourteen cannon--some accounts say +thirty--were trained upon the French end of the structure. Behind them +were six thousand troops. Napoleon massed four thousand grenadiers at +the head of the bridge, with a battalion of three hundred carbineers in +front. At the tap of the drum the foremost assailants wheeled from the +cover of the street wall under a terrible hail of grape and canister, +and attempted to pass the gateway to the bridge. The front ranks went +down like stalks of grain before a reaper; the column staggered and +reeled backward, and the valiant grenadiers were appalled by the task +before them. Without a word or a look of reproach, Napoleon placed +himself at their head, and his aides and generals rushed to his side. +Forward again, this time over heaps of dead that choked the passage, +and a quick run, counted by seconds only, carried the column across two +hundred yards of clear space, scarcely a shot from the Austrians taking +effect beyond the point where the platoons wheeled for the first leap. +So sudden and so miraculous was it all that the Austrian artillerists +abandoned their guns instantly, and instead of rushing to the front and +meeting the French onslaught, their supports fled in a panic. This +Napoleon had counted on in making the bold attack. The contrast +between Napoleon's slight figure and the massive grenadiers suggested +the nickname "Little Corporal." + +When Stephen of Colonna fell into the hands of base assailants, they +asked him in derision, "Where is now your fortress?" "Here," was his +bold reply, placing his hand upon his heart. + +After the Mexican War General McClellan was employed as a topographical +engineer in surveying the Pacific coast. From his headquarters at +Vancouver he had gone on an exploring expedition with two companions, a +soldier and a servant, when one evening he received word that the +chiefs of the Columbia River tribes desired to confer with him. From +the messenger's manner he suspected that the Indians meant mischief, +and so he warned his companions that they must be ready to leave camp +at a moment's notice. + +Mounting his horse, he rode boldly into the Indian village. About +thirty chiefs were holding council. McClellan was led into the circle, +and placed at the right hand of Saltese. He was familiar with the +Chinook jargon, and could understand every word spoken in the council. +Saltese made known the grievance of the tribes. Two Indians had been +captured by a party of white pioneers and hanged for theft. +Retaliation for this outrage seemed imperative. The chiefs pondered +long, but had little to say. McClellan had been on friendly terms with +them, and was not responsible for the forest executions, but still, he +was a white man, and the chiefs had vowed vengeance against the race. +The council was prolonged for hours before sentence was passed, and +then Saltese, in the name of the head men of the tribes, decreed that +McClellan should immediately be put to death. + +McClellan said nothing. He had known that argument and pleas for +justice or mercy would be of no avail. He sat motionless, apparently +indifferent to his fate. By his listlessness he had thrown his captors +off their guard. When the sentence was passed he acted like a flash. +Flinging his left arm around the neck of Saltese, he whipped out his +revolver and held it close to the chief's temple. "Revoke that +sentence, or I shall kill you this instant!" he cried, with his fingers +clicking the trigger. "I revoke it!" exclaimed Saltese, fairly livid +from fear. "I must have your word that I can leave this council in +safety." "You have the word of Saltese," was the quick response. + +McClellan knew how sacred was the pledge which he had received. The +revolver was lowered. Saltese was released from the embrace of the +strong arm. McClellan strode out of the tent with his revolver in his +hand. Not a hand was raised against him. He mounted his horse and +rode to his camp, where his two followers were ready to spring into the +saddle and to escape from the villages. He owed his life to his +quickness of perception, his courage, and to his accurate knowledge of +Indian character. + +In 1856, Rufus Choate spoke to an audience of nearly five thousand in +Lowell, Mass., in favor of the candidacy of James Buchanan for the +presidency. The floor of the great hall began to sink, settling more +and more as he proceeded with his address, until a sound of cracking +timber below would have precipitated a stampede with fatal results but +for the coolness of B. F. Butler, who presided. Telling the people to +remain quiet, he said that he would see if there were any cause for +alarm. He found the supports of the floor in so bad a condition that +the slightest applause would be likely to bury the audience in the +ruins of the building. Returning rather leisurely to the platform, he +whispered to Choate as he passed, "We shall all be in ---- in five +minutes"; then he told the crowd that there was no immediate danger if +they would slowly disperse. The post of danger, he added, was on the +platform, which was most weakly supported, therefore he and those with +him would be the last to leave. No doubt many lives were saved by his +coolness. + +Many distinguished foreign and American statesmen were present at a +fashionable dinner party where wine was freely poured, but Schuyler +Colfax, then vice-president of the United States, declined to drink +from a proffered cup. "Colfax dares not drink," sneered a Senator who +had already taken too much. "You are right," said the Vice-President, +"I dare not." + +When Grant was in Houston many years ago, he was given a rousing +reception. Naturally hospitable, and naturally inclined to like a man +of Grant's make-up, the Houstonites determined to go beyond any other +Southern city in the way of a banquet and other manifestations of their +good-will and hospitality. They made lavish preparations for the +dinner, the committee taking great pains to have the finest wines that +could be procured for the table that night. When the time came to +serve the wine, the headwaiter went first to Grant. Without a word the +general quietly turned down all the glasses at his plate. This +movement was a great surprise to the Texans, but they were equal to the +occasion. Without a single word being spoken, every man along the line +of the long tables turned his glasses down, and there was not a drop of +wine taken that night. + +Two French officers at Waterloo were advancing to charge a greatly +superior force. One, observing that the other showed signs of fear, +said, "Sir, I believe you are frightened." "Yes, I am," was the reply, +"and if you were half as much frightened, you would run away." + +"That's a brave man," said Wellington, when he saw a soldier turn pale +as he marched against a battery; "he knows his danger, and faces it." + +"There are many cardinals and bishops at Worms," said a friend to +Luther, "and they will burn your body to ashes as they did that of John +Huss." Luther replied: "Although they should make a fire that should +reach from Worms to Wittenberg, and that should flame up to heaven, in +the Lord's name I would pass through it and appear before them." He +said to another: "I would enter Worms though there were as many devils +there as there are tiles upon the roofs of the houses." Another man +said to him: "Duke George will surely arrest you." He replied: "It is +my duty to go, and I will go, though it rain Duke Georges for nine days +together." + +A Western paper recently invited the surviving Union and Confederate +officers to give an account of the bravest act observed by each during +the Civil War. Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson said that at a +dinner at Beaufort, S. C., where wine flowed freely and ribald jests +were bandied, Dr. Miner, a slight, boyish fellow who did not drink, was +told that he could not go until he had drunk a toast, told a story, or +sung a song. He replied: "I cannot sing, but I will give a toast, +although I must drink it in water. It is 'Our Mothers.'" The men were +so affected and ashamed that they took him by the hand and thanked him +for displaying such admirable moral courage. + +It takes courage for a young man to stand firmly erect while others are +bowing and fawning for praise and power. It takes courage to wear +threadbare clothes while your comrades dress in broadcloth. It takes +courage to remain in honest poverty when others grow rich by fraud. It +takes courage to say "No" squarely when those around you say "Yes." It +takes courage to do your duty in silence and obscurity while others +prosper and grow famous although neglecting sacred obligations. It +takes courage to unmask your true self, to show your blemishes to a +condemning world, and to pass for what you really are. + +It takes courage and pluck to be outvoted, beaten, laughed at, scoffed, +ridiculed, derided, misunderstood, misjudged, to stand alone with all +the world against you, but + + "They are slaves who dare not be + In the right with two or three." + + +"An honest man is not the worse because a dog barks at him." + +We live ridiculously for fear of being thought ridiculous. + + "Tis he is the coward who proves false to his vows, + To his manhood, his honor, for a laugh or a sneer." + + +The youth who starts out by being afraid to speak what he thinks will +usually end by being afraid to think what he wishes. + +How we shrink from an act of our own! We live as others live. Custom +or fashion, or your doctor or minister, dictates, and they in turn dare +not depart from their schools. Dress, living, servants, carriages, +everything must conform, or we are ostracized. Who dares conduct his +household or business affairs in his own way, and snap his fingers at +Dame Grundy? + +It takes courage for a public man not to bend the knee to popular +prejudice. It takes courage to refuse to follow custom when it is +injurious to his health and morals. How much easier for a politician +to prevaricate and dodge an issue than to stand squarely on his feet +like a man! + +As the strongest man has a weakness somewhere, so the greatest hero is +a coward somewhere. Peter was courageous enough to draw his sword to +defend his Master, but he could not stand the ridicule and the finger +of scorn of the maidens in the high priest's hall, and he actually +denied even the acquaintance of the Master he had declared he would die +for. + +Don't be like Uriah Heep, begging everybody's pardon for taking the +liberty of being in the world. There is nothing attractive in +timidity, nothing lovable in fear. Both are deformities and are +repulsive. Manly courage is always dignified and graceful. + +Bruno, condemned to be burned alive in Rome, said to his judge: "You +are more afraid to pronounce my sentence than I am to receive it." +Anne Askew, racked until her bones were dislocated, never flinched, but +looked her tormentor calmly in the face and refused to adjure her faith. + +"I should have thought fear would have kept you from going so far," +said a relative who found the little boy Nelson wandering a long +distance from home. "Fear?" said the future admiral, "I don't know +him." + +"To think a thing is impossible is to make it so." _Courage is +victory, timidity's defeat_. + +That simple shepherd-lad, David, fresh from his flocks, marching +unattended and unarmed, save with his shepherd's staff and sling, to +confront the colossal Goliath with his massive armor, is the sublimest +audacity the world has ever seen. + +"Dent, I wish you would get down and see what is the matter with that +leg there," said Grant, when he and Colonel Dent were riding through +the thickest of a fire that had become so concentrated and murderous +that his troops had all been driven back. "I guess looking after your +horse's legs can wait," said Dent; "it is simply murder for us to sit +here." "All right," said Grant; "if you don't want to see to it, I +will." He dismounted, untwisted a piece of telegraph wire which had +begun to cut the horse's leg, examined it deliberately, and climbed +into his saddle. "Dent," said he, "when you've got a horse that you +think a great deal of, you should never take any chances with him. If +that wire had been left there for a little time longer he would have +gone dead lame, and would perhaps have been ruined for life." + +Wellington said that at Waterloo the hottest of the battle raged round +a farmhouse, with an orchard surrounded by a thick hedge, which was so +important a point in the British position that orders were given to +hold it at any hazard or sacrifice. At last the powder and ball ran +short and the hedges took fire, surrounding the orchard with a wall of +flame. A messenger had been sent for ammunition, and soon two loaded +wagons came galloping toward the farmhouse. "The driver of the first +wagon, with the reckless daring of an English boy, spurred his +struggling and terrified horses through the burning heap; but the +flames rose fiercely round, and caught the powder, which exploded in an +instant, sending wagon, horses, and rider in fragments into the air. +For a instant the driver of the second wagon paused, appalled by his +comrade's fate; the next, observing that the flames, beaten back for +the moment by the explosion, afforded him one desperate chance, sent +his horses at the smoldering breach and, amid the deafening cheers of +the garrison, landed his terrible cargo safely within. Behind him the +flames closed up, and raged more fiercely than ever." + +At the battle of Friedland a cannon-ball came over the heads of the +French soldiers, and a young soldier instinctively dodged. Napoleon +looked at him and smilingly said: "My friend, if that ball were +destined for you, though you were to burrow a hundred feet under ground +it would be sure to find you there." + +When the mine in front of Petersburg was finished the fuse was lighted +and the Union troops were drawn up ready to charge the enemy's works as +soon as the explosion should make a breach. But seconds, minutes, and +tens of minutes passed, without a sound from the mine, and the suspense +became painful. Lieutenant Doughty and Sergeant Rees volunteered to +examine the fuse. Through the long subterranean galleries they hurried +in silence, not knowing but that they were advancing to a horrible +death. They found the defect, fired the train anew, and soon a +terrible upheaval of earth gave the signal to march to victory. + +At the battle of Copenhagen, as Nelson walked the deck slippery with +blood and covered with the dead, he said: "This is warm work, and this +day may be the last to any of us in a moment. But, mark me, I would +not be elsewhere for thousands." At the battle of Trafalgar, when he +was shot and was being carried below, he covered his face, that those +fighting might not know their chief had fallen. + +In a skirmish at Salamanca, while the enemy's guns were pouring shot +into his regiment, Sir William Napier's men became disobedient. He at +once ordered a halt, and flogged four of the ringleaders under fire. +The men yielded at once, and then marched three miles under a heavy +cannonade as coolly as if it were a review. + +Execute your resolutions immediately. Thoughts are but dreams until +their effects be tried. Does competition trouble you? work away; what +is your competitor but a man? _Conquer your place in the world_, for +all things serve a brave soul. Combat difficulty manfully; sustain +misfortune bravely; endure poverty nobly; encounter disappointment +courageously. The influence of the brave man is contagious and creates +an epidemic of noble zeal in all about him. Every day sends to the +grave obscure men who have only remained in obscurity because their +timidity has prevented them from making a first effort; and who, if +they could have been induced to begin, would in all probability have +gone great lengths in the career of usefulness and fame. "No great +deed is done," says George Eliot, "by falterers who ask for certainty." + +After the great inward struggle was over, and he had determined to +remain loyal to his principles, Thomas More walked cheerfully to the +block. His wife called him a fool for staying in a dark, damp, filthy +prison when he might have his liberty by merely renouncing his +doctrines, as some of the bishops had done. But Thomas More preferred +death to dishonor. + +His daughter showed the power of love to drive away fear. She remained +true to her father when all others, even her mother, had forsaken him. +After his head had been cut off and exhibited on a pole on London +Bridge, the poor girl begged it of the authorities, and requested that +it be buried in the coffin with her. Her request was granted, for her +death soon occurred. + +When Sir Walter Raleigh came to the scaffold he was very faint, and +began his speech to the crowd by saying that during the last two days +he had been visited by two ague fits. "If, therefore, you perceive any +weakness in me, I beseech you ascribe it to my sickness rather than to +myself." He took the ax and kissed the blade, and said to the sheriff: +"'T is a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases." + +Don't waste time dreaming of obstacles you may never encounter, or in +crossing bridges you have not reached. To half will and to hang +forever in the balance is to lose your grip on life. + +Abraham Lincoln's boyhood was one long struggle with poverty, with +little education, and no influential friends. When at last he had +begun the practice of law, it required no little courage to cast his +fortune with the weaker side in politics, and thus imperil what small +reputation he had gained. Only the most sublime moral courage could +have sustained him as President to hold his ground against hostile +criticism and a long train of disaster; to issue the Emancipation +Proclamation, to support Grant and Stanton against the clamor of the +politicians and the press. + +Lincoln never shrank from espousing an unpopular cause when he believed +it to be right. At the time when it almost cost a young lawyer his +bread and butter to defend the fugitive slave, and when other lawyers +had refused, Lincoln would always plead the cause of the unfortunate +whenever an opportunity presented. "Go to Lincoln," people would say, +when these hounded fugitives were seeking protection; "he's not afraid +of any cause, if it's right." + + Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, + Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to be just: + Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, + Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified. + LOWELL. + + +As Salmon P. Chase left the court room after an impassioned plea for +the runaway slave girl Matilda, a man looked at him in surprise and +said: "There goes a fine young fellow who has just ruined himself." +But in thus ruining himself Chase had taken the first important step in +a career in which he became Governor of Ohio, United States Senator +from Ohio, Secretary of the United States Treasury, and Chief Justice +of the United States Supreme Court. + +At the trial of William Penn for having spoken at a Quaker meeting, the +recorder, not satisfied with the first verdict, said to the jury: "We +will have a verdict by the help of God, or you shall starve for it." +"You are Englishmen," said Penn; "mind your privileges, give not away +your right." At last the jury, after two days and two nights without +food, returned a verdict of "Not guilty." The recorder fined them +forty marks apiece for their independence. + +What cared Christ for the jeers of the crowd? The palsied hand moved, +the blind saw, the leper was made whole, the dead spake, despite the +ridicule and scoffs of the spectators. + +What cared Wendell Phillips for rotten eggs, derisive scorn, and +hisses? In him "at last the scornful world had met its match." Were +Beecher and Gough to be silenced by the rude English mobs that came to +extinguish them? No! they held their ground and compelled unwilling +thousands to hear and to heed. Did Anna Dickinson leave the platform +when the pistol bullets of the Molly Maguires flew about her head? She +silenced those pistols by her courage and her arguments. + +What the world wants is a Knox, who dares to preach on with a musket +leveled at his head; a Garrison, who is not afraid of a jail, or a mob, +or a scaffold erected in front of his door. + +When General Butler was sent with nine thousand men to quell the New +York riots, he arrived in advance of his troops, and found the streets +thronged with an angry mob, which had already hanged several men to +lamp-posts. Without waiting for his men, Butler went to the place +where the crowd was most dense, overturned an ash barrel, stood upon +it, and began: "Delegates from Five Points, fiends from hell, you have +murdered your superiors," and the bloodstained crowd quailed before the +courageous words of a single man in a city which Mayor Fernando Wood +could not restrain with the aid of police and militia. + +"Our enemies are before us," exclaimed the Spartans at Thermopylae. +"And we are before them." was the cool reply of Leonidas. "Deliver +your arms," came the message from Xerxes. "Come and take them," was +the answer Leonidas sent back. A Persian soldier said: "You will not +be able to see the sun for flying javelins and arrows." "Then we will +fight in the shade," replied a Lacedemonian. What wonder that a +handful of such men checked the march of the greatest host that ever +trod the earth! + +"It is impossible," said a staff officer, when Napoleon gave directions +for a daring plan. "Impossible!" thundered the great commander, +"_impossible_ is the adjective of fools!" + +The courageous man is an example to the intrepid. His influence is +magnetic. Men follow him, even to the death. + +Men who have dared have moved the world, often before reaching the +prime of life. It is astonishing what daring to begin and perseverance +have enabled even youths to achieve. Alexander, who ascended the +throne at twenty, had conquered the known world before dying at +thirty-three. Julius Caesar captured eight hundred cities, conquered +three hundred nations, defeated three million men, became a great +orator and one of the greatest statesmen known, and still was a young +man. Washington was appointed adjutant-general at nineteen, was sent +at twenty-one as an ambassador to treat with the French, and won his +first battle as a colonel at twenty-two. Lafayette was made general of +the whole French Army at twenty. Charlemagne was master of France and +Germany at thirty. Galileo was but eighteen when he saw the principle +of the pendulum in the swing lamp in the cathedral at Pisa. Peel was +in Parliament at twenty-one. Gladstone was in Parliament before he was +twenty-two, and at twenty-four he was Lord of the Treasury. Elizabeth +Barrett Browning was proficient in Greek and Latin at twelve; De +Quincey at eleven. Robert Browning wrote at eleven poetry of no mean +order. Cowley, who sleeps in Westminster Abbey, published a volume of +poems at fifteen. Luther was but twenty-nine when he nailed his famous +thesis to the door of the bishop and defied the pope. Nelson was a +lieutenant in the British Navy before he was twenty. He was but +forty-seven when he received his death wound at Trafalgar. At +thirty-six, Cortez was the conqueror of Mexico; at thirty-two, Clive +had established the British power in India. Hannibal, the greatest of +military commanders, was only thirty when, at Cannae, he dealt an +almost annihilating blow at the republic of Rome, and Napoleon was only +twenty-seven when, on the plains of Italy, he outgeneraled and +defeated, one after another, the veteran marshals of Austria. + +Equal courage and resolution are often shown by men who have passed the +allotted limit of life. Victor Hugo and Wellington were both in their +prime after they had reached the age of threescore years and ten. +Gladstone ruled England with a strong hand at eighty-four, and was a +marvel of literary and scholarly ability. + +Shakespeare says: "He is not worthy of the honeycomb that shuns the +hive because the bees have stings." + + "The brave man is not he who feels no fear, + For that were stupid and irrational; + But he whose noble soul its fear subdues + And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from." + + +Many a bright youth has accomplished nothing of worth to himself or the +world simply because he did not dare to commence things. + +Begin! Begin! Begin!!! + + +Whatever people may think of you, do that which you believe to be +right. Be alike indifferent to censure or praise.--PYTHAGORAS. + + I dare to do all that may become a man: + Who dares do more is none. + SHAKESPEARE. + +For man's great actions are performed in minor struggles. There are +obstinate and unknown braves who defend themselves inch by inch in the +shadows against the fatal invasion of want and turpitude. There are +noble and mysterious triumphs which no eye sees, no renown rewards, and +no flourish of trumpets salutes. Life, misfortune, isolation, +abandonment, and poverty are battlefields which have their +heroes.--VICTOR HUGO. + +Quit yourselves like men.--1 SAMUEL iv. 9. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE WILL AND THE WAY + +"I will find a way or make one." + +Nothing is impossible to the man who can will.--MIRABEAU. + + The iron will of one stout heart shall make a thousand quail: + A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn the tide of battle, + And rally to a nobler strife the giants that had fled.--TUPPER. + +In the lexicon of youth which fate reserves for a bright manhood there +is no such word as fail.--BULWER. + +When a firm and decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how +the space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.--JOHN +FOSTER. + + +"As well can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky, as +bring the ocean to the wall of Leyden for your relief," was the +derisive shout of the Spanish soldiers when told that the Dutch fleet +would raise that terrible four months' siege of 1574. But from the +parched lips of William, tossing on his bed of fever at Rotterdam, had +issued the command: "_Break down the dikes: give Holland back to +ocean!_" and the people had replied: "Better a drowned land than a lost +land." They began to demolish dike after dike of the strong lines, +ranged one within another for fifteen miles to their city of the +interior. It was an enormous task; the garrison was starving; and the +besiegers laughed in scorn at the slow progress of the puny insects who +sought to rule the waves of the sea. But ever, as of old, Heaven aids +those who help themselves. On the first and second of October a +violent equinoctial gale rolled the ocean inland, and swept the fleet +on the rising waters almost to the camp of the Spaniards. The next +morning the garrison sallied out to attack their enemies, but the +besiegers had fled in terror under cover of the darkness. The next day +the wind changed, and a counter tempest brushed the water, with the +fleet upon it, from the surface of Holland. The outer dikes were +replaced at once, leaving the North Sea within its old bounds. When +the flowers bloomed the following spring, a joyous procession marched +through the streets to found the University of Leyden, in commemoration +of the wonderful deliverance of the city. + +At a dinner party given in 1837, at the residence of Chancellor Kent, +in New York City, some of the most distinguished men in the country +were invited, and among them was a young and rather melancholy and +reticent Frenchman. Professor Morse was also one of the guests, and +during the evening he drew the attention of Mr. Gallatin, then a +prominent statesman, to the stranger, observing that his forehead +indicated a great intellect. "Yes," replied Mr. Gallatin, touching his +own forehead with his finger, "there is a great deal in that head of +his: but he has a strange fancy. Can you believe it? He has the idea +that he will one day be the Emperor of France. Can you conceive +anything more absurd than that?" + +It did seem absurd, for this reserved Frenchman was then a poor +adventurer, an exile from his country, without fortune or powerful +connections, and yet, fourteen years later, his idea became a +fact,--his dream of becoming Napoleon III. was realized. True, before +he accomplished his purpose there were long, dreary years of +imprisonment, exile, disaster, and patient labor and hope, but he +gained his ambition at last. He was not scrupulous as to the means +employed to accomplish his ends, yet he is a remarkable example of what +pluck and energy can do. + +When Mr. Ingram, publisher of the "Illustrated London News," began life +as a newsdealer at Nottingham, England, he walked ten miles to deliver +a single paper rather than disappoint a customer. Does any one wonder +that such a youth succeeded? Once he rose at two o'clock in the +morning and walked to London to get some papers because there was no +post to bring them. He determined that his customers should not be +disappointed. This is the kind of will that finds a way. + +There is scarcely anything in all biography grander than the saying of +young Henry Fawcett, Gladstone's last Postmaster-General, to his +grief-stricken father, who had put out both his eyes by birdshot during +a game hunt: "Never mind, father, blindness shall not interfere with my +success in life." One of the most pathetic sights in London streets, +long afterward, was Henry Fawcett, M. P., led everywhere by a faithful +daughter, who acted as amanuensis as well as guide to her plucky +father. Think of a young man, scarcely on the threshold of active +life, suddenly losing the sight of both eyes and yet by mere pluck and +almost incomprehensible tenacity of purpose, lifting himself into +eminence in any direction, to say nothing of becoming one of the +foremost men in a country noted for its great men! + +The courageous daughter who was eyes to her father was herself a +marvelous example of pluck and determination. For the first time in +the history of Oxford College, which reaches back centuries, she +succeeded in winning the post which had only been gained before by +great men, such as Gladstone,--the post of senior wrangler. This +achievement had had no parallel in history up to that date, and +attracted the attention of the whole civilized world. Not only had no +woman ever held this position before, but with few exceptions it had +only been held by men who in after life became highly distinguished. + +"Circumstances," says Milton, "have rarely favored famous men. They +have fought their way to triumph through all sorts of opposing +obstacles." + +The true way to conquer circumstances is to be a greater circumstance +yourself. + +Yet, while desiring to impress in the most forcible manner possible the +fact that will-power is necessary to success, and that, other things +being equal, the greater the will-power, the grander and more complete +the success, we can not indorse the theory that there is nothing in +circumstances or environments, or that any man, simply because he has +an indomitable will, may become a Bonaparte, a Pitt, a Webster, a +Beecher, a Lincoln. We must temper determination with discretion, and +support it with knowledge and common sense, or it will only lead us to +run our heads against posts. We must not expect to overcome a stubborn +fact merely by a stubborn will. We only have the right to assume that +we can do anything within the limit of our utmost faculty, strength, +and endurance. Obstacles permanently insurmountable bar our progress +in some directions, but in any direction we may reasonably hope and +attempt to go we shall find that, as a rule, they are either not +insurmountable or else not permanent. The strong-willed, intelligent, +persistent man will find or make a way where, in the nature of things, +a way can be found or made. + +Every schoolboy knows that circumstances do give clients to lawyers and +patients to physicians; place ordinary clergymen in extraordinary +pulpits; place sons of the rich at the head of immense corporations and +large houses, when they have very ordinary ability and scarcely any +experience, while poor young men with unusual ability, good education, +good character, and large experience, often have to fight their way for +years to obtain even very mediocre situations; that there are thousands +of young men of superior ability, both in the city and in the country, +who seem to be compelled by circumstances to remain in very ordinary +positions for small pay, when others about them are raised by money or +family influence into desirable places. In other words, we all know +that the best men do not always get the best places; circumstances do +have a great deal to do with our position, our salaries, our station in +life. + +Every one knows that there is not always a way where there is a will; +that labor does not always conquer all things; that there are things +impossible even to him that wills, however strongly; that one can not +always make anything of himself he chooses; that there are limitations +in our very natures which no amount of will-power or industry can +overcome. + +But while it is true that the will-power can not perform miracles, yet +that it is almost omnipotent, and can perform wonders, all history goes +to prove. As Shakespeare says:-- + + Men at some time are masters of their fates; + The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, + But in ourselves, that we are underlings. + + +Show me a man who according to popular prejudice is a victim of bad +luck, and I will show you one who has some unfortunate crooked twist of +temperament that invites disaster. He is ill-tempered, conceited, or +trifling; lacks character, enthusiasm, or some other requisite for +success. + +Disraeli said that man is not the creature of circumstances, but that +circumstances are the creatures of men. + +Believe in the power of will, which annihilates the sickly, sentimental +doctrine of fatalism,--you must, but can't, you ought, but it is +impossible. + +Give me the man who faces what he must, + + "Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, + And grasps the skirts of happy chance, + And breasts the blows of circumstance, + And grapples with his evil star." + + +The indomitable will, the inflexible purpose, will find a way or make +one. There is always room for a man of force. + +"He who has a firm will," says Goethe, "molds the world to himself." +"People do not lack strength," says Victor Hugo, "they lack will." + +"He who resolves upon any great end, by that very resolution has scaled +the great barriers to it, and he who seizes the grand idea of +self-cultivation, and solemnly resolves upon it, will find that idea, +that resolution, burning like fire within him, and ever putting him +upon his own improvement. He will find it removing difficulties, +searching out, or making means; giving courage for despondency, and +strength for weakness." + +Nearly all great men, those who have towered high above their fellows, +have been remarkable above all things else for their energy of will. +Of Julius Caesar it was said by a contemporary that it was his activity +and giant determination, rather than his military skill, that won his +victories. The youth who starts out in life determined to make the +most of his eyes and let nothing escape him which he can possibly use +for his own advancement; who keeps his ears open for every sound that +can help him on his way, who keeps his hands open that he may clutch +every opportunity, who is ever on the alert for everything which can +help him to get on in the world, who seizes every experience in life +and grinds it up into paint for his great life's picture, who keeps his +heart open that he may catch every noble impulse, and everything which +may inspire him,--that youth will be sure to make his life successful; +there are no "ifs" or "ands" about it. If he has his health, nothing +can keep him from final success. + +No tyranny of circumstances can permanently imprison a determined will. + +The world always stands aside for the determined man. + +"The general of a large army may be defeated," said Confucius, "but you +can not defeat the determined mind of a peasant." + +The poor, deaf pauper, Kitto, who made shoes in the almshouse, and who +became the greatest of Biblical scholars, wrote in his journal, on the +threshold of manhood: "I am not myself a believer in impossibilities: I +think that all the fine stories about natural ability, etc., are mere +rigmarole, and that every man may, according to his opportunities and +industry, render himself almost anything he wishes to become." + +Lincoln is probably the most remarkable example on the pages of +history, showing the possibilities of our country. From the poverty in +which he was born, through the rowdyism of a frontier town, the +discouragement of early bankruptcy, and the fluctuations of popular +politics, he rose to the championship of union and freedom. + +Lincoln's will made his way. When his friends nominated him as a +candidate for the legislature, his enemies made fun of him. When +making his campaign speeches he wore a mixed jean coat so short that he +could not sit down on it, flax and tow-linen trousers, straw hat, and +pot-metal boots. He had nothing in the world but character and friends. + +When his friends suggested law to him, he laughed at the idea of his +being a lawyer. He said he had not brains enough. He read law +barefoot under the trees, his neighbors said, and he sometimes slept on +the counter in the store where he worked. He had to borrow money to +buy a suit of clothes to make a respectable appearance in the +legislature, and walked to take his seat at Vandalia,--one hundred +miles. + +See Thurlow Weed, defying poverty and wading through the snow two +miles, with rags for shoes, to borrow a book to read before the +sap-bush fire. See Locke, living on bread and water in a Dutch garret. +See Heyne, sleeping many a night on a barn floor with only a book for +his pillow. See Samuel Drew, tightening his apron string "in lieu of a +dinner." History is full of such examples. He who will pay the price +for victory need never fear final defeat. + +Paris was in the hands of a mob, the authorities were panic-stricken, +for they did not dare to trust their underlings. In came a man who +said, "I know a young officer who has the courage and ability to quell +this mob." "Send for him; send for him; send for him," said they. +Napoleon was sent for, came, subjugated the mob, subjugated the +authorities, ruled France and then conquered Europe. + +Success in life is dependent largely upon the will-power, and whatever +weakens or impairs it diminishes success. The will can be educated. +That which most easily becomes a habit in us is the will. Learn, then, +to will decisively and strongly; thus fix your floating life, and leave +it no longer to be carried hither and thither, like a withered leaf, by +every wind that blows. "It is not talent that men lack, it is the will +to labor; it is the purpose." + +It was the insatiable thirst for knowledge which held to his task, +through poverty and discouragement, John Leyden, a Scotch shepherd's +son. Barefoot and alone, he walked six or eight miles daily to learn +to read, which was all the schooling he had. His desire for an +education defied the extremest poverty, and no obstacle could turn him +from his purpose. He was rich when he discovered a little bookstore, +and his thirsty soul would drink in the precious treasures from its +priceless volumes for hours, perfectly oblivious of the scanty meal of +bread and water which awaited him at his lowly lodging. Nothing could +discourage him from trying to improve himself by study. It seemed to +him that an opportunity to get at books and lectures was all that any +man could need. Before he was nineteen, this poor shepherd boy with no +chance had astonished the professors of Edinburgh by his knowledge of +Greek and Latin. + +Hearing that a surgeon's assistant in the Civil Service was wanted, +although he knew nothing whatever of medicine, he determined to apply +for it. There were only six months before the place was to be filled, +but nothing would daunt him, and he took his degree with honor. Walter +Scott, who thought this one of the most remarkable illustrations of +perseverance, helped to fit him out, and he sailed for India. + +Webster was very poor even after he entered Dartmouth College. A +friend sent him a recipe for greasing his boots. Webster wrote and +thanked him, and added: "But my boots needs other doctoring, for they +not only admit water, but even peas and gravel-stones." Yet he became +one of the greatest men in the world. Sydney Smith said: "Webster was +a living lie, because no man on earth could be as great as he looked." +Carlyle said of him: "One would incline at sight to back him against +the world." + +What seemed to be luck followed Stephen Girard all his life. No matter +what he did, it always seemed to others to turn to his account. + +Being a foreigner, unable to speak English, short, stout, and with a +repulsive face, blind in one eye, it was hard for him to get a start. +But he was not the man to give up. He had begun as a cabin boy at +thirteen, and for nine years sailed between Bordeaux and the French +West Indies. He improved every leisure minute at sea, mastering the +art of navigation. + +At the age of eight he had first discovered that he was blind in one +eye. His father, evidently thinking that he would never amount to +anything, would not help him to an education beyond that of mere +reading and writing, but sent his younger brothers to college. The +discovery of his blindness, the neglect of his father, and the chagrin +of his brothers' advancement soured his whole life. + +When he began business for himself in Philadelphia, there seemed to be +nothing he would not do for money. He bought and sold anything, from +groceries to old junk; he bottled wine and cider, from which he made a +good profit. Everything he touched prospered. + +He left nothing to chance. His plans and schemes were worked out with +mathematical care. His letters written to his captains in foreign +ports, laying out their routes and giving detailed instructions, are +models of foresight and systematic planning. He never left anything of +importance to others. He was rigidly accurate in his instructions, and +would not allow the slightest departure from them. He used to say that +while his captains might save him money by deviating from instructions +once, yet they would cause loss in ninety-nine other cases. + +He never lost a ship, and many times that which brought financial ruin +to many others, as the War of 1812, only increased his wealth. +Everybody, especially his jealous brother merchants, attributed his +great success to his luck. While undoubtedly he was fortunate in +happening to be at the right place at the right time, yet he was +precision, method, accuracy, energy itself. What seemed luck with him +was only good judgment and promptness in seizing opportunities, and the +greatest care and zeal in improving them to their utmost possibilities. + +The mathematician tells you that if you throw the dice, there are +thirty chances to one against your turning up a particular number, and +a hundred to one against your repeating the same throw three times in +succession: and so on in an augmenting ratio. + +Many a young man who has read the story of John Wanamaker's romantic +career has gained very little inspiration or help from it toward his +own elevation and advancement, for he looks upon it as the result of +good luck, chance, or fate. "What a lucky fellow," he says to himself +as he reads; "what a bonanza he fell into!" But a careful analysis of +Wanamaker's life only enforces the same lesson taught by the analysis +of most great lives, namely, that a good mother, a good constitution, +the habit of hard work, indomitable energy, determination which knows +no defeat, decision which never wavers, a concentration which never +scatters its forces, courage which never falters, self-mastery which +can say No, and stick to it, strict integrity and downright honesty, a +cheerful disposition, unbounded enthusiasm in one's calling, and a high +aim and noble purpose insure a very large measure of success. + +Youth should be taught that there is something in circumstances; that +there is such a thing as a poor pedestrian happening to find no +obstruction in his way, and reaching the goal when a better walker +finds the drawbridge up, the street blockaded, and so fails to win the +race; that wealth often does place unworthy sons in high positions; +that family influence does gain a lawyer clients, a physician patients, +an ordinary scholar a good professorship; but that, on the other hand, +position, clients, patients, professorships, managers' and +superintendents' positions do not necessarily constitute success. He +should be taught that in the long run, as a rule, _the best man does +win the best place_, and that persistent merit does succeed. + +There is about as much chance of idleness and incapacity winning real +success or a high position in life, as there would be in producing a +"Paradise Lost" by shaking up promiscuously the separate words of +Webster's Dictionary, and letting them fall at random on the floor. +Fortune smiles upon those who roll up their sleeves and put their +shoulders to the wheel; upon men who are not afraid of dreary, dry, +irksome drudgery, men of nerve and grit who do not turn aside for dirt +and detail. + +The youth should be taught that "he alone is great, who, by a life +heroic, conquers fate"; that "diligence is the mother of good luck"; +that nine times out of ten what we call luck or fate is but a mere +bugbear of the indolent, the languid, the purposeless, the careless, +the indifferent; that, as a rule, the man who fails does not see or +seize his opportunity. Opportunity is coy, is swift, is gone, before +the slow, the unobservant, the indolent, or the careless can seize +her:-- + + "In idle wishes fools supinely stay: + Be there a will and wisdom finds a way." + + +It has been well said that the very reputation of being strong-willed, +plucky, and indefatigable is of priceless value. It often cows enemies +and dispels at the start opposition to one's undertakings which would +otherwise be formidable. + +It is astonishing what men who have come to their senses late in life +have accomplished by a sudden resolution. + +Arkwright was fifty years of age when he began to learn English grammar +and improve his writing and spelling. Benjamin Franklin was past fifty +before he began the study of science and philosophy. Milton, in his +blindness, was past the age of fifty when he sat down to complete his +world-known epic, and Scott at fifty-five took up his pen to redeem a +liability of $600,000. "Yet I am learning," said Michael Angelo, when +threescore years and ten were past, and he had long attained the +highest triumphs of his art. + +Even brains are second in importance to will. The vacillating man is +always pushed aside in the race of life. It is only the weak and +vacillating who halt before adverse circumstances and obstacles. A man +with an iron will, with a determination that nothing shall check his +career, is sure, if he has perseverance and grit, to succeed. We may +not find time for what we would like, but what we long for and strive +for with all our strength, we usually approximate, if we do not fully +reach. + +I wish it were possible to show the youth of America the great part +that the will might play in their success in life and in their +happiness as well. The achievements of will-power are simply beyond +computation. Scarcely anything in reason seems impossible to the man +who can will strong enough and long enough. + +How often we see this illustrated in the case of a young woman who +suddenly becomes conscious that she is plain and unattractive; who, by +prodigious exercise of her will and untiring industry, resolves to +redeem herself from obscurity and commonness; and who not only makes up +for her deficiencies, but elevates herself into a prominence and +importance which mere personal attractions could never have given her! +Charlotte Cushman, without a charm of form or face, climbed to the very +top of her profession. How many young men, stung by consciousness of +physical deformity or mental deficiencies, have, by a strong, +persistent exercise of will-power, raised themselves from mediocrity +and placed themselves high above those who scorned them! + +History is full of examples of men and women who have redeemed +themselves from disgrace, poverty, and misfortune by the firm +resolution of an iron will. The consciousness of being looked upon as +inferior, as incapable of accomplishing what others accomplish; the +sensitiveness at being considered a dunce in school, has stung many a +youth into a determination which has elevated him far above those who +laughed at him, as in the case of Newton, of Adam Clark, of Sheridan, +Wellington, Goldsmith, Dr. Chalmers, Curran, Disraeli and hundreds of +others. + +It is men like Mirabeau, who "trample upon impossibilities"; like +Napoleon, who do not wait for opportunities, but make them; like Grant, +who has only "unconditional surrender" for the enemy, who change the +very front of the world. + +"I can't, it is impossible," said a foiled lieutenant to Alexander. +"Be gone," shouted the conquering Macedonian, "there is nothing +impossible to him who will try." + +Were I called upon to express in a word the secret of so many failures +among those who started out in life with high hopes, I should say +unhesitatingly, they lacked will-power. They could not half will. +What is a man without a will? He is like an engine without steam, a +mere sport of chance, to be tossed about hither and thither, always at +the mercy of those who have wills. I should call the strength of will +the test of a young man's possibilities. Can he will strong enough, +and hold whatever he undertakes with an iron grip? It is the iron grip +that takes the strong hold on life. "The truest wisdom," said +Napoleon, "is a resolute determination." An iron will without +principle might produce a Napoleon; but with character it would make a +Wellington or a Grant, untarnished by ambition or avarice. + + "The undivided will + 'Tis that compels the elements and wrings + A human music from the indifferent air." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +ONE UNWAVERING AIM + + Life is an arrow--therefore you must know + What mark to aim at, how to use the bow-- + Then draw it to the head and let it go. + HENRY VAN DYKE. + +The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and to possess the +aptitude and perseverance to attain it.--GOETHE. + +"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." + +Let every one ascertain his special business and calling, and then +stick to it if he would be successful.--FRANKLIN. + + +"Why do you lead such a solitary life?" asked a friend of Michael +Angelo. "Art is a jealous mistress," replied the artist; "she requires +the whole man." During his labors at the Sistine Chapel, according to +Disraeli, he refused to meet any one, even at his own house. + +"This day we sailed westward, which was our course," were the simple +but grand words which Columbus wrote in his journal day after day. +Hope might rise and fall, terror and dismay might seize upon the crew +at the mysterious variations of the compass, but Columbus, unappalled, +pushed due west and nightly added to his record the above words. + +"Cut an inch deeper," said a member of the Old Guard to the surgeon +probing his wound, "and you will find the Emperor,"--meaning his heart. +By the marvelous power of concentrated purpose Napoleon had left his +name on the very stones of the capital, had burned it indelibly into +the heart of every Frenchman, and had left it written in living letters +all over Europe. France to-day has not shaken off the spell of that +name. In the fair city on the Seine the mystic "N" confronts you +everywhere. + +Oh, the power of a great purpose to work miracles! It has changed the +face of the world. Napoleon knew that there were plenty of great men +in France, but they did not know the might of the unwavering aim by +which he was changing the destinies of Europe. He saw that what was +called the "balance of power" was only an idle dream; that, unless some +master-mind could be found which was a match for events, the millions +would rule in anarchy. His iron will grasped the situation; and like +William Pitt, he did not loiter around balancing the probabilities of +failure or success, or dally with his purpose. There was no turning to +the right nor to the left; no dreaming away time, nor building +air-castles; but one look and purpose, forward, upward and onward, +straight to his goal. His great success in war was due largely to his +definiteness of aim. He always hit the bull's-eye. He was like a +great burning-glass, concentrating the rays of the sun upon a single +spot; he burned a hole wherever he went. After finding the weak place +in the enemy's ranks, he would mass his men and hurl them like an +avalanche upon the critical point, crowding volley upon volley, charge +upon charge, till he made a breach. What a lesson of the power +concentration there is in this man's life! + +To succeed to-day a man must concentrate all the faculties of his mind +upon one unwavering aim, and have a tenacity of purpose which means +death or victory. Every other inclination which tempts him from his +aim must be suppressed. + +A man may starve on a dozen half-learned trades or occupations; he may +grow rich and famous upon one trade thoroughly mastered, even though it +be the humblest. + +Even Gladstone, with his ponderous yet active brain, said he could not +do two things at once; he threw his entire strength upon whatever he +did. The intensest energy characterized everything he undertook, even +his recreation. If such concentration of energy is necessary for the +success of a Gladstone, what can we common mortals hope to accomplish +by "scatteration"? + +All great men have been noted for their power of concentration which +makes them oblivious of everything outside their aim. Victor Hugo +wrote his "Notre Dame" during the revolution of 1830, while the bullets +were whistling across his garden. He shut himself up in one room, +locking his clothes up in another, lest they should tempt him to go out +into the street, and spent most of that winter wrapped in a big gray +comforter, pouring his very life into his work. + +Abraham Lincoln possessed such power of concentration that he could +repeat quite correctly a sermon to which he had listened in his boyhood. + +A New York sportsman, in answer to an advertisement, sent twenty-five +cents for a sure receipt to prevent a shotgun from scattering, and +received the following: "Dear Sir: To keep a gun from scattering put in +but a single shot." + +It is the men who do one thing in this world who come to the front. +Who is the favorite actor? It is a Jefferson, who devotes a lifetime +to a "Rip Van Winkle," a Booth, an Irving, a Kean, who plays one +character until he can play it better than any other man living, and +not the shallow players who impersonate all parts. The great man is +the one who never steps outside of his specialty or dissipates his +individuality. It is an Edison, a Morse, a Bell, a Howe, a Stephenson, +a Watt. It is an Adam Smith, spending ten years on the "Wealth of +Nations." It is a Gibbon, giving twenty years to his "Decline and Fall +of the Roman Empire." It is a Hume, writing thirteen hours a day on +his "History of England." It is a Webster, spending thirty-six years +on his dictionary. It is a Bancroft, working twenty-six years on his +"History of the United States." It is a Field, crossing the ocean +fifty times to lay a cable, while the world ridicules. It is a Newton, +writing his "Chronology of Ancient Nations" sixteen times. + +A one-talent man who decides upon a definite object accomplishes more +than a ten-talent man who scatters his energies and never knows exactly +what he will do. The weakest living creature, by concentrating his +powers upon one thing, can accomplish something; the strongest, by +dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. + +A great purpose is cumulative; and, like a great magnet, it attracts +all that is kindred along the stream of life. + +[Illustration: Joseph Jefferson] + +A Yankee can splice a rope in many different ways; an English sailor +only knows one way, but that is the best one. It is the one-sided man, +the sharp-eyed man, the man of single and intense purpose, the man of +one idea, who cuts his way through obstacles and forges to the front. +The time has gone forever when a Bacon can span universal knowledge; or +when, absorbing all the knowledge of the times, a Dante can sustain +arguments against fourteen disputants in the University of Paris, and +conquer in them all. The day when a man can successfully drive a dozen +callings abreast is a thing of the past. Concentration is the keynote +of the century. + +Scientists estimate that there is energy enough in less than fifty +acres of sunshine to run all the machinery in the world, if it could be +concentrated. But the sun might blaze out upon the earth forever +without setting anything on fire; although these rays focused by a +burning-glass would melt solid granite, or even change a diamond into +vapor. There are plenty of men who have ability enough; the rays of +their faculties, taken separately, are all right, but they are +powerless to collect them, to bring them all to bear upon a single +spot. Versatile men, universal geniuses, are usually weak, because +they have no power to concentrate their talents upon one point, and +this makes all the difference between success and failure. + +Chiseled upon the tomb of a disappointed, heart-broken king, Joseph II. +of Austria, in the Royal Cemetery at Vienna, a traveler tells us, is +this epitaph: "Here lies a monarch who, with the best of intentions, +never carried out a single plan." + +Sir James Mackintosh was a man of remarkable ability. He excited in +every one who knew him the greatest expectations. Many watched his +career with much interest, expecting that he would dazzle the world; +but there was no purpose in his life. He had intermittent attacks of +enthusiasm for doing great things, but his zeal all evaporated before +he could decide what to do. This fatal defect in his character kept +him balancing between conflicting motives; and his whole life was +almost thrown away. He lacked power to choose one object and persevere +with a single aim, sacrificing every interfering inclination. He, for +instance, vacillated for weeks trying to determine whether to use +"usefulness" or "utility" in a composition. + +One talent utilized in a single direction will do infinitely more than +ten talents scattered. A thimbleful of powder behind a ball in a rifle +will do more execution than a carload of powder unconfined. The +rifle-barrel is the purpose that gives direct aim to the powder, which +otherwise, no matter how good it might be, would be powerless. The +poorest scholar in school or college often, in practical life, far +outstrips the class leader or senior wrangler, simply because what +little ability he has he employs for a definite object, while the +other, depending upon his general ability and brilliant prospects, +never concentrates his powers. + +It is fashionable to ridicule the man of one idea, but the men who have +changed the front of the world have been men of a single aim. No man +can make his mark on this age of specialties who is not a man of one +idea, one supreme air, one master passion. The man who would make +himself felt on this bustling planet, who would make a breach in the +compact conservatism of our civilization, must play all his guns on one +point. A wavering aim, a faltering purpose, has no place in the +twentieth century. "Mental shiftlessness" is the cause of many a +failure. The world is full of unsuccessful men who spend their lives +letting empty buckets down into empty wells. + +"Mr. A. often laughs at me," said a young American chemist, "because I +have but one idea. He talks about everything, aims to excel in many +things; but I have learned that, if I ever wish to make a breach, I +must play my guns continually upon one point." This great chemist, +when an obscure schoolmaster, used to study by the light of a pine knot +in a log cabin. Not many years later he was performing experiments in +electro-magnetism before English earls, and subsequently he was at the +head of one of the largest scientific institutes of this country. He +was the late Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, +Washington. + +We should guard against a talent which we can not hope to practise in +perfection, says Goethe. Improve it as we may, we shall always, in the +end, when the merit of the matter has become apparent to us, painfully +lament the loss of time and strength devoted to such botching. An old +proverb says: "The master of one trade will support a wife and seven +children, and the master of seven will not support himself." + +_It is the single aim that wins_. Men with monopolizing ambitions +rarely live in history. They do not focus their powers long enough to +burn their names indelibly into the roll of honor. Edward Everett, +even with his magnificent powers, disappointed the expectations of his +friends. He spread himself over the whole field of knowledge and +elegant culture; but the mention of the name of Everett does not call +up any one great achievement as does that of names like Garrison and +Phillips. Voltaire called the Frenchman La Harpe an oven which was +always heating, but which never cooked anything. Hartley Coleridge was +splendidly endowed with talent, but there was one fatal lack in his +character--he had no definite purpose, and his life was a failure. +Unstable as water, he could not excel. Southey, the uncle of +Coleridge, says of him: "Coleridge has two left hands." He was so +morbidly shy from living alone in his dreamland that he could not open +a letter without trembling. He would often rally from his purposeless +life, and resolve to redeem himself from the oblivion he saw staring +him in the face; but, like Sir James Mackintosh, he remained a man of +promise merely to the end of his life. + +The man who succeeds has a program. He fires his course and adheres to +it. He lays his plans and executes them. He goes straight to his +goal. He is not pushed this way and that every time a difficulty is +thrown in his path; if he can not get over it he goes through it. +Constant and steady use of the faculties under a central purpose gives +strength and power, while the use of faculties without an aim or end +only weakens them. The mind must be focused on a definite end, or, +like machinery without a balance-wheel, it will rack itself to pieces. + +This age of concentration calls, not for educated men merely, not for +talented men, not for geniuses, not for jacks-of-all-trades, but for +men who are trained to do one thing as well as it can be done. +Napoleon could go through the drill of his soldiers better than any one +of his men. + +_Stick to your aim_. The constant changing of one's occupation is +fatal to all success. After a young man has spent five or six years in +a dry goods store, he concludes that he would rather sell groceries, +thereby throwing away five years of valuable experience which will be +of very little use to him in the grocery business; and so he spends a +large part of his life drifting around from one kind of employment to +another, learning part of each but all of none, forgetting that +experience is worth more to him than money and that the years devoted +to learning his trade or occupation are the most valuable. +Half-learned trades, no matter if a man has twenty, will never give him +a good living, much less a competency, while wealth is absolutely out +of the question. + +How many young men fail to reach the point of efficiency in one line of +work before they get discouraged and venture into something else! How +easy to see the thorns in one's own profession or vocation, and only +the roses in that of another! A young man in business, for instance, +seeing a physician riding about town in his carriage, visiting his +patients, imagines that a doctor must have an easy, ideal life, and +wonders that he himself should have embarked in an occupation so full +of disagreeable drudgery and hardships. He does not know of the years +of dry, tedious study which the physician has consumed, the months and +perhaps years of waiting for patients, the dry detail of anatomy, the +endless names of drugs and technical terms. + +There is a sense of great power in a vocation after a man has reached +the point of efficiency in it, the point of productiveness, the point +where his skill begins to tell and brings in returns. Up to this point +of efficiency, while he is learning his trade, the time seems to have +been almost thrown away. But he has been storing up a vast reserve of +knowledge of detail, laying foundations, forming his acquaintances, +gaining his reputation for truthfulness, trustworthiness, and +integrity, and in establishing his credit. When he reaches this point +of efficiency, all the knowledge and skill, character, influence, and +credit thus gained come to his aid, and he soon finds that in what +seemed almost thrown away lies the secret of his prosperity. The +credit he established as a clerk, the confidence, the integrity, the +friendships formed, he finds equal to a large capital when he starts +out for himself and takes the highway to fortune; while the young man +who half learned several trades, got discouraged and stopped just short +of the point of efficiency, just this side of success, is a failure +because he didn't go far enough; he did not press on to the point at +which his acquisition would have been profitable. + +In spite of the fact that nearly all very successful men have made a +life-work of one thing, we see on every hand hundreds of young men and +women flitting about from occupation to occupation, trade to trade, in +one thing to-day and another to-morrow,--just as though they could go +from one thing to another by turning a switch, as though they could run +as well on another track as on the one they have left, regardless of +the fact that no two careers have the same gage, that every man builds +his own road upon which another man's engine can not run either with +speed or safety. This fickleness, this disposition to shift about from +one occupation to another, seems to be peculiar to American life, so +much so that, when a young man meets a friend whom he has not seen for +some time, the commonest question to ask is, "What are you doing now?" +showing the improbability or uncertainty that he is doing to-day what +he was doing when they last met. + +Some people think that if they "keep everlastingly at it" they will +succeed, but this is not always so. Working without a plan is as +foolish as going to sea without a compass. + +A ship which has broken its rudder in mid-ocean may "keep everlastingly +at it," may keep on a full head of steam, driving about all the time, +but it never arrives anywhere, it never reaches any port unless by +accident; and if it does find a haven, its cargo may not be suited to +the people, the climate, or conditions. The ship must be directed to a +definite port, for which its cargo is adapted, and where there is a +demand for it, and it must aim steadily for that port through sunshine +and storm, through tempest and fog. So a man who would succeed must +not drift about rudderless on the ocean of life. He must not only +steer straight toward his destined port when the ocean is smooth, when +the currents and winds serve, but he must keep his course in the very +teeth of the wind and the tempest, and even when enveloped in the fogs +of disappointment and mists of opposition. Atlantic liners do not stop +for fogs or storms; they plow straight through the rough seas with only +one thing in view, their destined port, and no matter what the weather +is, no matter what obstacles they encounter, their arrival in port can +be predicted to within a few hours. + +On the prairies of South America there grows a flower that always +inclines in the same direction. If a traveler loses his way and has +neither compass nor chart, by turning to this flower he will find a +guide on which he can implicitly rely; for no matter how the rains +descend or the winds blow, its leaves point to the north. So there are +many men whose purposes are so well known, whose aims are so constant, +that no matter what difficulties they may encounter, or what opposition +they may meet, you can tell almost to a certainty where they will come +out. They may be delayed by head winds and counter currents, but they +will _always head for the port_ and will steer straight towards the +harbor. You know to a certainty that whatever else they may lose, they +will not lose their compass or rudder. + +Whatever may happen to a man of this stamp, even though his sails may +be swept away and his mast stripped to the deck, though he may be +wrecked by the storms of life, the needle of his compass will still +point to the North Star of his hope. Whatever comes, his life will not +be purposeless. Even a wreck that makes its port is a greater success +than a full-rigged ship with all its sails flying, with every mast and +every rope intact, which merely drifts along into an accidental harbor. + +To fix a wandering life and give it direction is not an easy task, but +a life which has no definite aim is sure to be frittered away in empty +and purposeless dreams. "Listless triflers," "busy idlers," +"purposeless busy-bodies," are seen everywhere. A healthy, definite +purpose is a remedy for a thousand ills which attend aimless lives. +Discontent and dissatisfaction flee before a definite purpose. What we +do begrudgingly without a purpose becomes a delight with one, and no +work is well done nor healthily done which is not enthusiastically done. + +Mere energy is not enough; it must be concentrated on some steady, +unwavering aim. What is more common than "unsuccessful geniuses," or +failures with "commanding talents"? Indeed, the term "unrewarded +genius" has become a proverb. Every town has unsuccessful educated and +talented men. But education is of no value, talent is worthless, +unless it can do something, achieve something. Men who can do +something at everything and a very little at anything are not wanted in +this age. + +What this age wants is young men and women who can do one thing without +losing their identity or individuality, or becoming narrow, cramped, or +dwarfed. Nothing can take the place of an all-absorbing purpose; +education can not, genius can not, talent can not, industry can not, +will-power can not. The purposeless life must ever be a failure. What +good are powers, faculties, unless we can use them for a purpose? What +good would a chest of tools do a carpenter unless he could use them? A +college education, a head full of knowledge, are worth little to the +men who cannot use them to some definite end. + +The man without a purpose never leaves his mark upon the world. He has +no individuality; he is absorbed in the mass, lost in the crowd, weak, +wavering, and incompetent. + +"Consider, my lord," said Rowland Hill to the Prime Minister of +England, "that a letter to Ireland and the answer back would cost +thousands upon thousands of my affectionate countrymen more than a +fifth of their week's wages. If you shut the post-office to them, +which you do now, you shut out warm hearts and generous affections from +home, kindred, and friends." The lad learned that it cost to carry a +letter from London to Edinburgh, four hundred and four miles, one +eighteenth of a cent, while the government charged for a simple folded +sheet of paper twenty-eight cents, and twice as much if there was the +smallest inclosure. Against the opposition and contempt of the +post-office department he at length carried his point, and on January +10, 1840, penny postage was established throughout Great Britain. Mr. +Hill was chosen to introduce the system, at a salary of fifteen hundred +pounds a year. His success was most encouraging, but at the end of two +years a Tory minister dismissed him without paying for his services, as +agreed. The public was indignant, and at once contributed sixty-five +thousand dollars; and, at the request of Queen Victoria, Parliament +voted him one hundred thousand dollars cash, together with ten thousand +dollars a year for life. + +It is a great purpose which gives meaning to life; it unifies all our +powers, binds them together in one cable and makes strong and united +what was weak, separated, scattered. + +"Smatterers" are weak and superficial. Of what use is a man who knows +a little of everything and not much of anything? It is the momentum of +constantly repeated acts that tells the story. "Let thine eyes look +straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways +be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left." One +great secret of St. Paul's power lay in his strong purpose. Nothing +could daunt, nothing intimidate him. The Roman Emperor could not +muzzle him, the dungeon could not appall him, no prison suppress him, +obstacles could not discourage him. "This one thing I do" was written +all over his work. The quenchless zeal of his mighty purpose burned +its way down through the centuries, and its contagion will never cease +to fire the hearts of men. + +"Try and come home somebody," said his mother to Gambetta as she sent +him off to Paris to school. Poverty pinched this lad hard in his +little garret study and his clothes were shabby, but what of that? He +had made up his mind to get on in the world. For years he was chained +to his desk and worked like a hero. At last his opportunity came. +Jules Favre was to plead a great cause on a certain day; but, being +ill, he chose this young man, absolutely unknown, rough and uncouth, to +take his place. For many years Gambetta had been preparing for such an +opportunity, and he was equal to it. He made one of the greatest +speeches that up to that time had ever been made in France. That night +all the papers in Paris were sounding the praises of this ragged, +uncouth Bohemian, and soon all France recognized him as the Republican +leader. This sudden rise was not due to luck or accident. He had been +steadfastly working and fighting his way up against oppositions and +poverty for just such an occasion. Had he not been equal to it, it +would only have made him ridiculous. What a stride; yesterday, poor +and unknown, living in a garret; today, deputy-elect, in the city of +Marseilles, and the great Republican leader! + +When Louis Napoleon had been defeated at Sedan and had delivered his +sword to William of Prussia, and when the Prussian army was marching on +Paris, the brave Gambetta went out of the besieged city in a balloon +barely grazed by the Prussian guns, landed in Amiens, and by almost +superhuman skill raised three armies of 800,000 men, provided for their +maintenance, and directed their military operations. A German officer +said: "This colossal energy is the most remarkable event of modern +history, and will carry down Gambetta's name to remote posterity." +This youth who was poring over his books in an attic while other youths +were promenading the Champs Elysees, although but thirty-two years old, +was now virtually dictator of France, and the greatest orator in the +Republic. What a striking example of the great reserve of personal +power, which, even in dissolute lives, is sometimes called out by a +great emergency or sudden sorrow, and ever after leads the life to +victory! When Gambetta found that his first speech had electrified all +France, his great reserve rushed to the front; he was suddenly weaned +from dissipation, and resolved to make his mark in the world. Nor did +he lose his head in his quick leap into fame. He still lived in the +upper room in the musty Latin Quarter, and remained a poor man, without +stain of dishonor, though he might easily have made himself a +millionaire. When he died the "Figaro" said, "The Republic has lost +its greatest man." American boys should study this great man, for he +loved our country, and took our Republic as the pattern for France. + +There is no grander sight in the world than that of a young man fired +with a great purpose, dominated by one unwavering aim. He is bound to +win; the world stands to one side and lets him pass; it always makes +way for the man with a will in him. He does not have one-half the +opposition to overcome that the undecided, purposeless man has who, +like driftwood, runs against all sorts of snags to which he must yield +simply because he has no momentum to force them out of his way. What a +sublime spectacle it is to see a youth going straight to his goal, +cutting his way through difficulties, and surmounting obstacles which +dishearten others, as though they were but stepping-stones! Defeat, +like a gymnasium, only gives him new power; opposition only doubles his +exertions; dangers only increase his courage. No matter what comes to +him, sickness, poverty, disaster, he never turns his eye from his goal. + + + "_Duos qui sequitur lepores, neutrum capit._" + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +WORK AND WAIT + +What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we +already are; and what we are will be the result of previous years of +self-discipline.--H. P. LIDDON. + +I consider a human soul without education like marble in a quarry, +which shows none of its inherent beauties until the skill of the +polisher sketches out the colors, makes the surface shine, and +discovers every ornamental cloud, spot, and vein that runs throughout +the body of it.--ADDISON. + +Use your gifts faithfully, and they shall be enlarged; practise what +you know, and you shall attain to higher knowledge.--ARNOLD. + +Haste trips up its own heels, fetters and stops itself.--SENECA. + +The more you know, the more you can save yourself and that which +belongs to you, and do more work with less effort.--CHARLES KINGSLEY. + + +"I was a mere cipher in that vast sea of human enterprise," said Henry +Bessemer, speaking of his arrival in London in 1831. Although but +eighteen years old, and without an acquaintance in the city, he soon +made work for himself by inventing a process of copying bas-reliefs on +cardboard. His method was so simple that one could learn in ten +minutes how to make a die from an embossed stamp for a penny. Having +ascertained later that in this way the raised stamps on all official +papers in England could easily be forged, he set to work and invented a +perforated stamp which could not be forged nor removed from a document. +At the public stamp office he was told by the chief that the government +was losing 100,000 pounds a year through the custom of removing stamps +from old parchments and using them again. + +The chief also fully appreciated the new danger of easy counterfeiting. +So he offered Bessemer a definite sum for his process of perforation, +or an office for life at eight hundred pounds a year. Bessemer chose +the office, and hastened to tell the good news to a young woman with +whom he had agreed to share his fortune. In explaining his invention, +he told how it would prevent any one from taking a valuable stamp from +a document a hundred years old and using it a second time. + +"Yes," said his betrothed, "I understand that; but, surely, if all +stamps had a date put upon them they could not at a future time be used +without detection." + +This was a very short speech, and of no special importance if we omit a +single word of four letters; but, like the schoolboy's pins which saved +the lives of thousands of people annually by not getting swallowed, +that little word, by keeping out of the ponderous minds of the British +revenue officers, had for a long period saved the government the burden +of caring for an additional income of 100,000 pounds a year. And the +same little word, if published in its connection, would render +Bessemer's perforation device of far less value than a last year's +bird's nest. He felt proud of the young woman's ingenuity, and +promptly suggested the improvement at the stamp office. + +As a result his system of perforation was abandoned and he was deprived +of his promised office, the government coolly making use from that day +to this, without compensation, of the idea conveyed by that little +insignificant word. + +So Bessemer's financial prospects were not very encouraging; but, +realizing that the best capital a young man can have is a capital wife, +he at once entered into a partnership which placed at his command the +combined ideas of two very level heads. The result, after years of +thought and experiment, was the Bessemer process of making steel +cheaply, which has revolutionized the iron industry throughout the +world. His method consists simply in forcing hot air from below into +several tons of melted pig-iron, so as to produce intense combustion; +and then adding enough spiegel-eisen (looking-glass iron), an ore rich +in carbon, to change the whole mass to steel. + +He discovered this simple process only after trying in vain much more +difficult and expensive methods. + + "All things come round to him who will but wait." + + +The great lack of the age is want of thoroughness. How seldom you find +a young man or woman who is willing to take time to prepare for his +life work! A little education is all they want, a little smattering of +books, and then they are ready for business. + +"Can't wait" is characteristic of the century, and is written on +everything; on commerce, on schools, on society, on churches. Can't +wait for a high school, seminary, or college. The boy can't wait to +become a youth, nor the youth a man. Youth rush into business with no +great reserve of education or drill; of course they do poor, feverish +work, and break down in middle life, and many die of old age in the +forties. Everybody is in a hurry. Buildings are rushed up so quickly +that they will not stand, and everything is made "to sell." + +Not long ago a professor in one of our universities had a letter from a +young woman in the West, asking him if he did not think she could teach +elocution if she could come to the university and take twelve lessons. +Our young people of to-day are not willing to lay broad, deep +foundations. The weary years in preparatory school and college +dishearten them. They only want a "smattering" of an education. But +as Pope says,-- + + A little learning is a dangerous thing; + Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: + There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, + And drinking largely sobers us again. + + +The shifts to cover up ignorance, and "the constant trembling lest some +blunder should expose one's emptiness," are pitiable. Short cuts and +abridged methods are the demand of the hour. But the way to shorten +the road to success is to take plenty of time to lay in your reserve +power. Hard work, a definite aim, and faithfulness will shorten the +way. Don't risk a life's superstructure upon a day's foundation. + +Patience is Nature's motto. She works ages to bring a flower to +perfection. What will she not do for the greatest of her creation? +Ages and aeons are nothing to her; out of them she has been carving her +great statue, a perfect man. + +Johnson said a man must turn over half a library to write one book. +When an authoress told Wordsworth she had spent six hours on a poem, he +replied that he would have spent six weeks. Think of Bishop Hall +spending thirty years on one of his works! Owens was working on the +"Commentary to the Epistle to the Hebrews" for twenty years. Moore +spent several weeks on one of his musical stanzas which reads as if it +were a dash of genius. + +Carlyle wrote with the utmost difficulty and never executed a page of +his great histories till he had consulted every known authority, so +that every sentence is the quintessence of many books, the product of +many hours of drudging research in the great libraries. Today, "Sartor +Resartus" is everywhere. You can get it for a mere trifle at almost +any bookseller's, and hundreds of thousands of copies are scattered +over the world. But when Carlyle brought it to London in 1851, it was +refused almost contemptuously by three prominent publishers. At length +he managed to get it into "Fraser's Magazine," the editor of which +conveyed to the author the pleasing information that his work had been +received with "unqualified disapprobation." + +Henry Ward Beecher sent half a dozen articles to the publisher of a +religious paper to pay for his subscription, but they were respectfully +declined. The publishers of the "Atlantic Monthly" returned Miss +Alcott's manuscript, suggesting that she had better stick to teaching. +One of the leading magazines ridiculed Tennyson's first poems, and +consigned the young poet to temporary oblivion. Only one of Ralph +Waldo Emerson's books had a remunerative sale. Washington Irving was +nearly seventy years old before the income from his books paid the +expenses of his household. + +In some respects it is very unfortunate that the old system of binding +boys out to a trade has been abandoned. To-day very few boys learn any +trade. They pick up what they know, as they go along, just as a +student crams for a particular examination, just to "get through," +without any effort to see how much he may learn on any subject. + +Think of an American youth spending ten years with Da Vinci on the +model of an equestrian statue that he might master the anatomy of the +horse! Most young American artists would expect, in a quarter of that +time, to sculpture an Apollo Belvidere. + +A rich man asked Howard Burnett to do a little something for his album. +Burnett complied and charged a thousand francs. "But it took you only +five minutes," objected the rich man. "Yes, but it took me thirty +years to learn how to do it in five minutes." + +What the age wants is men who have the nerve and the grit to work and +wait, whether the world applaud or hiss; a Mirabeau, who can struggle +on for forty years before he has a chance to show the world his vast +reserve, destined to shake an empire; a Farragut, a Von Moltke, who +have the persistence to work and wait for half a century for their +first great opportunities; a Grant, fighting on in heroic silence, when +denounced by his brother generals and politicians everywhere; a Michael +Angelo, working seven long years decorating the Sistine Chapel with his +matchless "Creation" and the "Last Judgment," refusing all remuneration +therefor, lest his pencil might catch the taint of avarice; a Thurlow +Weed, walking two miles through the snow with rags tied around his feet +for shoes, to borrow the history of the French Revolution, and eagerly +devouring it before the sap-bush fire; a Milton, elaborating "Paradise +Lost" in a world he could not see; a Thackeray, struggling on +cheerfully after his "Vanity Fair" was refused by a dozen publishers; a +Balzac, toiling and waiting in a lonely garret; men whom neither +poverty, debt, nor hunger could discourage or intimidate; not daunted +by privations, not hindered by discouragements. It wants men who can +work and wait. + +When a young lawyer Daniel Webster once looked in vain through all the +law libraries near him, and then ordered at an expense of fifty dollars +the necessary books, to obtain authorities and precedents in a case in +which his client was a poor blacksmith. He won his case, but, on +account of the poverty of his client, only charged fifteen dollars, +thus losing heavily on the books bought, to say nothing of his time. +Years after, as he was passing through New York City, he was consulted +by Aaron Burr on an important but puzzling case then pending before the +Supreme Court. He saw in a moment that it was just like the +blacksmith's case, an intricate question of title, which he had solved +so thoroughly that it was to him now as simple as the multiplication +table. Going back to the time of Charles II he gave the law and +precedents involved with such readiness and accuracy of sequence that +Burr asked in great surprise if he had been consulted before in the +case. "Most certainly not," he replied, "I never heard of your case +till this evening." "Very well," said Burr, "proceed"; and, when he +had finished, Webster received a fee that paid him liberally for all +the time and trouble he had spent for his early client. + +Albert Bierstadt first crossed the Rocky Mountains with a band of +pioneers in 1859, making sketches for the paintings of Western scenes +for which he had become famous. As he followed the trail to Pike's +Peak, he gazed in wonder upon the enormous herds of buffaloes which +dotted the plains as far as the eye could reach, and thought of the +time when they would have disappeared before the march of civilization. +The thought haunted him and found its final embodiment in "The Last of +the Buffaloes" in 1890. To perfect this great work he had spent twenty +years. + +Everything which endures, which will stand the test of time, must have +a deep, solid foundation. In Rome the foundation is often the most +expensive part of an edifice, so deep must they dig to build on the +living rock. + +Fifty feet of Bunker Hill Monument is under ground; unseen and +unappreciated by those who tread about that historic shaft, but it is +this foundation, apparently thrown away, which enables it to stand +upright, true to the plumb-line through all the tempests that lash its +granite sides. A large part of every successful life must be spent in +laying foundation stones underground. Success is the child of drudgery +and perseverance and depends upon "knowing how long it takes to +succeed." + +Endurance is a much better test of character than any one act of +heroism, however noble. + +The pianist Thalberg said he never ventured to perform one of his +celebrated pieces in public until he had played it at least fifteen +hundred times. He laid no claim whatever to genius; he said it was all +a question of hard work. The accomplishments of such industry, such +perseverance, would put to shame many a man who claims genius. + +Before Edmund Kean would consent to appear in that character which he +acted with such consummate skill, The Gentleman Villain, he practised +constantly before a glass, studying expression for a year and a half. +When he appeared upon the stage, Byron, who went with Moore to see him, +said he never looked upon so fearful and wicked a face. As the great +actor went on to delineate the terrible consequences of sin, Byron +fainted. + +"For years I was in my place of business by sunrise," said a wealthy +banker who had begun without a dollar; "and often I did not leave it +for fifteen or eighteen hours." + +Patience, it is said, changes the mulberry leaf to satin. The giant +oak on the hillside was detained months or years in its upward growth +while its root took a great turn around some rock, in order to gain a +hold by which the tree was anchored to withstand the storms of +centuries. Da Vinci spent four years on the head of Mona Lisa, perhaps +the most beautiful ever painted, but he left therein an artistic +thought for all time. + +Said Captain Bingham: "You can have no idea of the wonderful machine +that the German army is and how well it is prepared for war. A chart +is made out which shows just what must be done in the case of wars with +the different nations, and every officer's place in the scheme is laid +out beforehand. There is a schedule of trains which will supersede all +other schedules the moment war is declared, and this is so arranged +that the commander of the army here could telegraph to any officer to +take such a train and go to such a place at a moment's notice." + +A learned clergyman was thus accosted by an illiterate preacher who +despised education: "Sir, you have been to college, I presume?" "Yes, +sir," was the reply. "I am thankful," said the former, "that the Lord +opened my mouth without any learning." "A similar event," retorted the +clergyman, "happened in Balaam's time." + +A young man just graduated told the President of Trinity College that +he had completed his education, and had come to say good-by. "Indeed," +said the President, "I have just begun my education." + +Many an extraordinary man has been made out of a very ordinary boy: but +in order to accomplish this we must begin with him while he is young. +It is simply astonishing what training will do for a rough, uncouth, +and even dull lad, if he has good material in him, and comes under the +tutelage of a skilled educator before his habits become fixed or +confirmed. + +Even a few weeks' or months' drill of the rawest and roughest recruits +in the late Civil War so straightened and dignified stooping and +uncouth soldiers, and made them manly, erect, and courteous in their +bearing, that their own friends scarcely knew them. If this change is +so marked in the youth who has grown to maturity, what a miracle is +possible in the lad who is taken early and put under a course of drill +and systematic training, both physical, mental, and moral! How often a +man who is in the penitentiary, in the poorhouse, or among the tramps, +or living out a miserable existence in the slums of our cities, rough, +slovenly, has slumbering within the rags possibilities which would have +developed him into a magnificent man, an ornament to the human race +instead of a foul blot and ugly scar, had he only been fortunate enough +early in life to have enjoyed the benefits of efficient and systematic +training! + +Laziness begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. Edison described +his repeated efforts to make the phonograph reproduce an aspirated +sound, and added: "From eighteen to twenty hours a day for the last +seven months I have worked on this single word 'specia.' I said into +the phonograph 'specia, specia, specia,' but the instrument responded +'pecia, pecia, pecia.' It was enough to drive one mad. But I held +firm, and I have succeeded." + +The road to distinction must be paved with years of self-denial and +hard work. + +Horace Mann, the great author of the common school system of +Massachusetts, was a remarkable example of that pluck and patience +which can work and wait. His only inheritance was poverty and hard +work. But he had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a +determination to get on in the world. He braided straw to earn money +to buy books for which his soul thirsted. + +Gladstone was bound to win. Although he had spent many years of +preparation for his life work, in spite of the consciousness of +marvelous natural endowments which would have been deemed sufficient by +many young men, and notwithstanding he had gained the coveted prize of +a seat in Parliament, yet he decided to make himself master of the +situation; and amid all his public and private duties, he not only +spent eleven terms more in the study of the law, but also studied Greek +constantly and read every well-written book or paper he could obtain, +so determined was he that his life should be rounded out to its fullest +measure, and that his mind should have broad and liberal culture. + +Ole Bull said: "If I practise one day, I can see the result; if I +practise two days, my friends can see it; if I practise three days, the +great public can see it." + +The habit of seizing every bit of knowledge, no matter how +insignificant it may seem at the time, every opportunity, every +occasion, and grinding them all up into experience, can not be +overestimated. You will find use for all of it. Webster once repeated +with effect an anecdote which he had heard fourteen years before, and +which he had not thought of in the meantime. It exactly fitted the +occasion. "It is an ill mason that rejects any stone." + +Webster was once urged to speak on a subject of great importance, but +refused, saying he was very busy and had no time to master the subject. +"But," replied his friend, "a very few words from you would do much to +awaken public attention to it." Webster replied, "If there be so much +weight in my words, it is because I do not allow myself to speak on any +subject until my mind is imbued with it." On one occasion Webster made +a remarkable speech before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard, when +a book was presented to him; but after he had gone, his "impromptu" +speech, carefully written out, was found in the book which he had +forgotten to take away. + +Demosthenes was once asked to speak on a great and sudden emergency, +but replied, "I am not prepared." In fact, it was thought by many that +Demosthenes did not possess any genius whatever, because he never +allowed himself to speak on any subject without thorough preparation. +In any meeting or assembly, when called upon, he would never rise, even +to make remarks, it was said, without previously preparing himself. + +Alexander Hamilton said, "Men give me credit for genius. All the +genius I have lies just in this: when I have a subject in hand I study +it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. I explore it in all its +bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort which I +make the people are pleased to call the fruit of genius; it is the +fruit of labor and thought." The law of labor is equally binding on +genius and mediocrity. + +Nelaton, the great surgeon, said that if he had four minutes in which +to perform an operation on which a life depended, he would take one +minute to consider how best to do it. + +"Many men," says Longfellow, "do not allow their principles to take +root, but pull them up every now and then, as children do flowers they +have planted, to see if they are growing." We must not only work, but +also wait. + +"The spruce young spark," says Sizer, "who thinks chiefly of his +mustache and boots and shiny hat, of getting along nicely and easily +during the day, and talking about the theater, the opera, or a fast +horse, ridiculing the faithful young fellow who came to learn the +business and make a man of himself because he will not join in wasting +his time in dissipation, will see the day, if his useless life is not +earlier blasted by vicious indulgences, when he will be glad to accept +a situation from the fellow-clerk whom he now ridicules and affects to +despise, when the latter shall stand in the firm, dispensing benefits +and acquiring fortune." + +"I have been watching the careers of young men by the thousand in this +busy city of New York for over thirty years," said Dr. Cuyler, "and I +find that the chief difference between the successful and the failures +lies in the single element of staying power. Permanent success is +oftener won by holding on than by sudden dash, however brilliant. The +easily discouraged, who are pushed back by a straw, are all the time +dropping to the rear--to perish or to be carried along on the stretcher +of charity. They who understand and practise Abraham Lincoln's homely +maxim of 'pegging away' have achieved the solidest success." + +The Duke of Wellington became so discouraged because he did not advance +in the army that he applied for a much inferior position in the customs +department, but was refused. Napoleon had applied for every vacant +position for seven years before he was recognized, but meanwhile he +studied with all his might, supplementing what was considered a +thorough military education by researches and reflections which in +later years enabled him easily to teach the art of war to veterans who +had never dreamed of his novel combinations. + +Reserves which carry us through great emergencies are the result of +long working and long waiting. Dr. Collyer declares that reserves mean +to a man also achievement,--"the power to do the grandest thing +possible to your nature when you feel you must, or some precious thing +will be lost,--to do well always, but best in the crisis on which all +things turn; to stand the strain of a long fight, and still find you +have something left, and so to never know you are beaten, because you +never are beaten." + +He only is independent in action who has been earnest and thorough in +preparation and self-culture. "Not for school, but for life, we +learn"; and our habits--of promptness, earnestness, and thoroughness, +or of tardiness, fickleness, and superficiality--are the things +acquired most readily and longest retained. + +To vary the language of another, the three great essentials to success +in mental and physical labor are Practice, Patience, and Perseverance, +but the greatest of these is Perseverance. + + + "Let us, then, be up and doing, + With a heart for any fate; + Still achieving, still pursuing, + Learn to labor and to wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE MIGHT OF LITTLE THINGS + + Think naught a trifle, though it small appear; + Small sands the mountain, moments make the year, + And trifles, life. + YOUNG. + +It is but the littleness of man that sees no greatness in +trifles.--WENDELL PHILLIPS. + +He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and +little.--ECCLESIASTICUS. + +The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.--EMERSON. + +Men are led by trifles.--NAPOLEON. + + "A pebble on the streamlet scant + Has turned the course of many a river." + +"The bad thing about a little sin is that it won't stay little." + + +"Arletta's pretty feet, glistening in the brook, made her the mother of +William the Conqueror," says Palgrave's "History of Normandy and +England." "Had she not thus fascinated Duke Robert the Liberal, of +Normandy, Harold would not have fallen at Hastings, no Anglo-Norman +dynasty could have arisen, no British Empire." + +We may tell which way the wind blew before the Deluge by marking the +ripple and cupping of the rain in the petrified sand now preserved +forever. We tell the very path by which gigantic creatures, whom man +never saw, walked to the river's edge to find their food. + +It was little Greece that rolled back the overflowing tide of Asiatic +luxury and despotism, giving instead to Europe and America models of +the highest political freedom yet attained, and germs of limitless +mental growth. A different result at Plataea would have delayed the +progress of the human race more than ten centuries. + +Among the lofty Alps, it is said, the guides sometimes demand absolute +silence, lest the vibration of the voice bring down an avalanche. + +The power of observation in the American Indian would put many an +educated man to shame. Returning home, an Indian discovered that his +venison, which had been hanging up to dry, had been stolen. After +careful observation he started to track the thief through the woods. +Meeting a man on the route, he asked him if he had seen a little, old, +white man, with a short gun, and with a small bobtailed dog. The man +told him he had met such a man, but was surprised to find that the +Indian had not even seen the one he described, and asked him how he +could give such a minute description of the man he had never seen. "I +knew the thief was a little man," said the Indian, "because he rolled +up a stone to stand on in order to reach the venison; I knew he was an +old man by his short steps; I knew he was a white man by his turning +out his toes in walking, which an Indian never does; I knew he had a +short gun by the mark it left on the tree where he had stood it up; I +knew the dog was small by his tracks and short steps, and that he had a +bob-tail by the mark it left in the dust where he sat." + +Two drops of rain, falling side by side, were separated a few inches by +a gentle breeze. Striking on opposite sides of the roof of a +court-house in Wisconsin, one rolled southward through the Rock River +and the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico; while the other entered +successively the Fox River, Green Bay, Lake Michigan, the Straits of +Mackinaw, Lake Huron, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, +Lake Erie, Niagara River, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, and +finally reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence. How slight the influence of +the breeze, yet such was the formation of the continent that a trifling +cause was multiplied almost beyond the power of figures to express its +momentous effect upon the destinies of these companion raindrops. Who +can calculate the future of the smallest trifle when a mud crack swells +to an Amazon and the stealing of a penny may end on the scaffold? The +act of a moment may cause a life's regret. A trigger may be pulled in +an instant, but the soul returns never. + +A spark falling upon some combustibles led to the invention of +gunpowder. A few bits of seaweed and driftwood, floating on the waves, +enabled Columbus to stay a mutiny of his sailors which threatened to +prevent the discovery of a new world. There are moments in history +which balance years of ordinary life. Dana could interest a class for +hours on a grain of sand; and from a single bone, such as no one had +ever seen before, Agassiz could deduce the entire structure and habits +of an animal which no man had ever seen so accurately that subsequent +discoveries of complete skeletons have not changed one of his +conclusions. + +A cricket once saved a military expedition from destruction. The +commanding officer and hundreds of his men were going to South America +on a great ship, and, through the carelessness of the watch, they would +have been dashed upon a ledge of rock had it not been for a cricket +which a soldier had brought on board. When the little insect scented +the land, it broke its long silence by a shrill note, and thus warned +them of their danger. + +By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation. A little boy +in Holland saw water trickling from a small hole near the bottom of a +dike. He realized that the leak would rapidly become larger if the +water were not checked, so he held his hand over the hole for hours on +a dark and dismal night until he could attract the attention of +passers-by. His name is still held in grateful remembrance in Holland. + +The beetling chalk cliffs of England were built by rhizopods, too small +to be clearly seen without the aid of a magnifying-glass. + +What was so unlikely as that throwing an empty wine-flask in the fire +should furnish the first notion of a locomotive, or that the sickness +of an Italian chemist's wife and her absurd craving for reptiles for +food should begin the electric telegraph. Madame Galvani noticed the +contraction of the muscles of a skinned frog which was accidentally +touched at the moment her husband took a spark from an electrical +machine. She gave the hint which led to the discovery of galvanic +electricity, now so useful in the arts and in transmitting vocal or +written language. + +"The fate of a nation," says Gladstone, "has often depended upon the +good or bad digestion of a fine dinner." + +A stamp act to raise 60,000 pounds produced the American Revolution, a +war that cost England 100,000,000 pounds. A war between France and +England, costing more than a hundred thousand lives, grew out of a +quarrel as to which of two vessels should first be served with water. +The quarrel of two Indian boys over a grasshopper led to the +"Grasshopper War." What mighty contests rise from trivial things! + +A young man once went to India to seek his fortune, but, finding no +opening, he went to his room, loaded his pistol, put the muzzle to his +head, and pulled the trigger. But it did not go off. He went to the +window to point it in another direction and try it again, resolved that +if the weapon went off he would regard it as a Providence that he was +spared. He pulled the trigger and it went off the first time. +Trembling with excitement he resolved to hold his life sacred, to make +the most of it, and never again to cheapen it. This young man became +General Robert Clive, who, with but a handful of European soldiers, +secured to the East India Company and afterwards to Great Britain a +great and rich country with two hundred millions of people. + +The cackling of a goose aroused the sentinels and saved Rome from the +Gauls, and the pain from a thistle warned a Scottish army of the +approach of the Danes. + +Henry Ward Beecher came within one vote of being elected superintendent +of a railway. If he had had that vote America would probably have lost +its greatest preacher. What a little thing fixes destiny! + +Trifles light as air often suggest to the thinking mind ideas which +have revolutionized the world. + +A famous ruby was offered to the English government. The report of the +crown jeweler was that it was the finest he had ever seen or heard of, +but that one of the "facets" was slightly fractured. That invisible +fracture reduced the value of the ruby thousands of dollars, and it was +rejected from the regalia of England. + +It was a little thing for the janitor to leave a lamp swinging in the +cathedral at Pisa, but in that steady swaying motion the boy Galileo +saw the pendulum, and conceived the idea of thus measuring time. + +"I was singing to the mouthpiece of a telephone," said Edison, "when +the vibrations of my voice caused a fine steel point to pierce one of +my fingers held just behind it. That set me to thinking. If I could +record the motions of the point and send it over the same surface +afterward, I saw no reason why the thing would not talk. I determined +to make a machine that would work accurately, and gave my assistants +the necessary instructions, telling them what I had discovered. That's +the whole story. The phonograph is the result of the pricking of a +finger." + +It was a little thing for a cow to kick over a lantern left in a +shanty, but it laid Chicago in ashes, and rendered homeless a hundred +thousand people. + +Some little weakness, some self-indulgence, a quick temper, want of +decision, are little things, you say, when placed beside great +abilities, but they have wrecked many a career. + +The Parliament of Great Britain, the Congress of the United States, and +representative governments all over the world have come from King John +signing the Magna Charta. + +Bentham says, "The turn of a sentence has decided many a friendship, +and, for aught we know, the fate of many a kingdom." Perhaps you +turned a cold shoulder but once, and made but one stinging remark, yet +it may have cost you a friend forever. + +The sight of a stranded cuttlefish led Cuvier to an investigation which +made him one of the greatest natural historians in the world. The web +of a spider suggested to Captain Brown the idea of a suspension bridge. + +A missing marriage certificate kept the hod-carrier of Hugh Miller from +establishing his claim to the Earldom of Crawford. The masons would +call out, "John, Yearl of Crawford, bring us anither hod o' lime." + +The absence of a comma in a bill which passed through Congress years +ago cost our government a million dollars. A single misspelled word +prevented a deserving young man from obtaining a situation as +instructor in a New England college. + +"I cannot see that you have made any progress since my last visit," +said a gentleman to Michael Angelo. "But," said the sculptor, "I have +retouched this part, polished that, softened that feature, brought out +that muscle, given some expression to this lip, more energy to that +limb, etc." "But they are trifles!" exclaimed the visitor. "It may be +so," replied the great artist, "but trifles make perfection, and +perfection is no trifle." That infinite patience which made Michael +Angelo spend a week in bringing out a muscle in a statue, with more +vital fidelity to truth, or Gerhard Dow a day in giving the right +effect to a dewdrop on a cabbage leaf, makes all the difference between +success and failure. + +The cry of the infant Moses attracted the attention of Pharoah's +daughter, and gave the Jews a lawgiver. A bird alighting on the bough +of a tree at the mouth of the cave where Mahomet lay hid turned aside +his pursuers, and gave a prophet to many nations. A flight of birds +probably prevented Columbus from discovering this continent. When he +was growing anxious, Martin Alonzo Pinzon persuaded him to follow a +flight of parrots toward the southwest; for to the Spanish seamen of +that day it was good luck to follow in the wake of a flock of birds +when on a voyage of discovery. But for his change of course Columbus +would have reached the coast of Florida. "Never," wrote Humboldt, "had +the flight of birds more important consequences." + +The children of a spectacle-maker placed two or more pairs of the +spectacles before each other in play, and told their father that +distant objects looked larger. From this hint came the telescope. + +Every day is a little life; and our whole life but a day repeated. +Those that dare lose a day are dangerously prodigal; those that dare +misspend it, desperate. What is the happiness of your life made up of? +Little courtesies, little kindnesses, pleasant words, genial smiles, a +friendly letter, good wishes, and good deeds. One in a million--once +in a lifetime--may do a heroic action. + +Napoleon was a master of trifles. To details which his inferior +officers thought too microscopic for their notice he gave the most +exhaustive consideration. Nothing was too small for his attention. He +must know all about the provisions, the horse fodder, the biscuits, the +camp kettles, the shoes. When the bugle sounded for the march to +battle, every officer had his orders as to the exact route which he +should follow, the exact day he was to arrive at a certain station, and +the exact hour he was to leave, and they were all to reach the point of +destination at a precise moment. It is said that nothing could be more +perfectly planned than his memorable march which led to the victory of +Austerlitz, and which sealed the fate of Europe for many years. He +would often charge his absent officers to send him perfectly accurate +returns, even to the smallest detail. "When they are sent to me, I +give up every occupation in order to read them in detail, and to +observe the difference between one monthly return and another. No +young girl enjoys her novel as much as I do these returns." Napoleon +left nothing to chance, nothing to contingency, so far as he could +possibly avoid it. Everything was planned to a nicety before he +attempted to execute it. + +Wellington, too, was "great in little things." He knew no such things +as trifles. While other generals trusted to subordinates, he gave his +personal attention to the minutest detail. The history of many a +failure could be written in three words, "Lack of detail." How many a +lawyer has failed from the lack of details in deeds and important +papers, the lack of little words which seemed like surplusage, and +which involved his clients in litigation, and often great losses! How +many wills are contested from the carelessness of lawyers in the +omission or shading of words, or ambiguous use of language! + +Not even Helen of Troy, it is said, was beautiful enough to spare the +tip of her nose; and if Cleopatra's had been an inch shorter Mark +Antony might never have become infatuated with her wonderful charms, +and the blemish would have changed the history of the world. Anne +Boleyn's fascinating smile split the great Church of Rome in twain, and +gave a nation an altered destiny. Napoleon, who feared not to attack +the proudest monarchs in their capitols, shrank from the political +influence of one independent woman in private life, Madame de Stael. + +Cromwell was about to sail for America when a law was passed +prohibiting emigration. At that time he was a profligate, having +squandered all his property. But when he found that he could not leave +England he reformed his life. Had he not been detained, who can tell +what the history of Great Britain would have been? + +From the careful and persistent accumulation of innumerable facts, each +trivial in itself, but in the aggregate forming a mass of evidence, a +Darwin extracts his law of evolution, and a Linnaeus constructs the +science of botany. A pan of water and two thermometers were the tools +by which Dr. Black discovered latent heat; and a prism, a lens, and a +sheet of pasteboard enabled Newton to unfold the composition of light +and the origin of colors. An eminent foreign savant called on Dr. +Wollaston, and asked to be shown over those laboratories of his in +which science had been enriched by so many great discoveries, when the +doctor took him into a little study, and, pointing to an old tea tray +on the table, on which stood a few watch glasses, test papers, a small +balance, and a blow-pipe, said, "There is my laboratory." A burnt +stick and a barn door served Wilkie in lieu of pencil and paper. A +single potato, carried to England by Sir Walter Raleigh in the +sixteenth century, has multiplied into food for millions, driving +famine from Ireland again and again. + +It seemed a small thing to drive William Brewster, John Robinson, and +the poor people of Austerfield and Scrooby into perpetual exile, but as +Pilgrims they became the founders of a mighty people. + +A few immortal sentences from Garrison and Phillips, a few poems from +Lowell and Whittier, and the leaven is at work which will not cease its +action until the whipping-post and bodily servitude are abolished +forever. + + "For want of a nail the shoe was lost, + For want of a shoe the horse was lost; + For want of a horse the rider was lost, and all," + +says Poor Richard, "for want of a horseshoe nail." + +A single remark dropped by an unknown person in the street led to the +successful story of "The Bread-winners." A hymn chanted by the +barefooted friars in the temple of Jupiter at Rome led to the famous +"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." + +"Words are things" says Byron, "and a small drop of ink, falling like +dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps +millions, think." + +"I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony"; such +were the words of ten ministers who in the year 1700 assembled at the +village of Branford, a few miles east of New Haven. Each of the worthy +fathers deposited a few books upon the table around which they were +sitting; such was the founding of Yale College. + +Great men are noted for their attention to trifles. Goethe once asked +a monarch to excuse him, during an interview, while he went to an +adjoining room to jot down a stray thought. Hogarth would make +sketches of rare faces and characteristics upon his finger-nails upon +the streets. Indeed, to a truly great mind there are no little things. +Trifles light as air suggest to the keen observer the solution of +mighty problems. Bits of glass arranged to amuse children led to the +discovery of the kaleidoscope. Goodyear discovered how to vulcanize +rubber by forgetting, until it became red hot, a skillet containing a +compound which he had before considered worthless. A ship-worm boring +a piece of wood suggested to Sir Isambard Brunel the idea of a tunnel +under the Thames at London. Tracks of extinct animals in the old red +sandstone led Hugh Miller on and on until he became the greatest +geologist of his time. Sir Walter Scott once saw a shepherd boy +plodding sturdily along, and asked him to ride. This boy was George +Kemp, who became so enthusiastic in his study of sculpture that he +walked fifty miles and back to see a beautiful statue. He did not +forget the kindness of Sir Walter, and, when the latter died, threw his +soul into the design of the magnificent monument erected in Edinburgh +to the memory of the author of "Waverley." + +A poor boy applied for a situation at a bank in Paris, but was refused. +As he left the door, he picked up a pin. The bank president saw this, +called the boy back, and gave him a situation from which he rose until +he became the greatest banker of Paris,--Laffitte. + +A Massachusetts soldier in the Civil War observed a bird hulling rice, +and shot it; taking its bill for a model, he invented a hulling machine +which has revolutionized the rice business. + +The eye is a perpetual camera imprinting upon the sensitive mental +plates and packing away in the brain for future use every face, every +tree, every plant, flower, hill, stream, mountain, every scene upon the +street, in fact, everything which comes within its range. There is a +phonograph in our natures which catches, however thoughtless and +transient, every syllable we utter, and registers forever the slightest +enunciation, and renders it immortal. These notes may appear a +thousand years hence, reproduced in our descendants, in all their +beautiful or terrible detail. + +"Least of all seeds, greatest of all harvests," seems to be one of the +great laws of nature. All life comes from microscopic beginnings. In +nature there is nothing small. The microscope reveals as great a world +below as the telescope above. All of nature's laws govern the smallest +atoms, and a single drop of water is a miniature ocean. + +The strength of a chain lies in its weakest link, however large and +strong all the others may be. We are all inclined to be proud of our +strong points, while we are sensitive and neglectful of our weaknesses. +Yet it is our greatest weakness which measures our real strength. + +A soldier who escapes the bullets of a thousand battles may die from +the scratch of a pin, and many a ship has survived the shocks of +icebergs and the storms of ocean only to founder in a smooth sea from +holes made by tiny insects. + +_Small things become great when a great soul sees them_. A single +noble or heroic act of one man has sometimes elevated a nation. Many +an honorable career has resulted from a kind word spoken in season or +the warm grasp of a friendly hand. + + It is the little rift within the lute + That by and by will make the music mute, + And, ever widening, slowly silence all. + TENNYSON. + + "It was only a glad 'good-morning,' + As she passed along the way, + But it spread the morning's glory + Over the livelong day." + + "Only a thought in passing--a smile, or encouraging word, + Has lifted many a burden no other gift could have stirred." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE SALARY YOU DO NOT FIND IN YOUR PAY ENVELOPE + +The quality which you put into your work will determine the quality of +your life. The habit of insisting upon the best of which you are +capable, of always demanding of yourself the highest, never accepting +the lowest or second best, no matter how small your remuneration, will +make all the difference to you between failure and success. + + +"If the laborer gets no more than the wages his employer offers him, he +is cheated; he cheats himself." + +A boy or a man who works simply for his salary, and is actuated by no +higher motive, is dishonest, and the one whom he most defrauds is +himself. He is cheating himself, in the quality of his daily work, of +that which all the after years, try as he may, can never give him back. + +If I were allowed but one utterance on this subject, so vital to every +young man starting on the journey of life, I would say: "Don't think +too much of the amount of salary your employer gives you at the start. +Think, rather, of the possible salary you can give yourself, in +increasing your skill, in expanding your experience, in enlarging and +ennobling yourself." A man's or a boy's work is material with which to +build character and manhood. It is life's school for practical +training of the faculties, stretching the mind, and strengthening and +developing the intellect, not a mere mill for grinding out a salary of +dollars and cents. + +Bismarck was said to have really founded the German Empire when working +for a small salary as secretary to the German legation in Russia; for +in that position he absorbed the secrets of strategy and diplomacy +which later were used so effectively for his country. He worked so +assiduously, so efficiently, that Germany prized his services more than +those of the ambassador himself. If Bismarck had earned only his +salary, he might have remained a perpetual clerk, and Germany a tangle +of petty states. + +I have never known an employee to rise rapidly, or even to get beyond +mediocrity, whose pay envelope was his goal, who could not see +infinitely more in his work than what he found in the envelope on +Saturday night. That is necessity; but the larger part of the real pay +of a real man's work is outside of the pay envelope. + +One part of this outside salary is the opportunity of the employee to +absorb the secrets of his employer's success, and to learn from his +mistakes, while he is being paid for learning his trade or profession. +The other part, and the best of all, is the opportunity for growth, for +development, for mental expansion; the opportunity to become a larger, +broader, more efficient man. + +The opportunity for growth in a disciplinary institution, where the +practical faculties, the executive faculties, are brought into +systematic, vigorous exercise at a definite time and for a definite +number of hours, is an advantage beyond computation. There is no +estimating the value of such training. It is the opportunity, my +employee friend, that will help you to make a large man of yourself, +which, perhaps, you could not possibly do without being employed in +some kind of an institution which has the motive, the machinery, the +patronage to give you the disciplining and training you need to bring +out your strongest qualities. And instead of paying for the +opportunity of unfolding and developing from a green, ignorant boy into +a strong, level-headed, efficient man, you are paid! + +The youth who is always haggling over the question of how many dollars +and cents he will sell his services for, little realizes how he is +cheating himself by not looking at the larger salary he can pay himself +in increasing his skill, in expanding his experience, and in making +himself a better, stronger, more useful man. + +The few dollars he finds in his pay envelope are to this larger salary +as the chips which fly from the sculptor's chisel are to the angel +which he is trying to call out of the marble. + +You can draw from the faithfulness of your work, from the grand spirit +which you bring to it, the high purpose which emanates from you in its +performance, a recompense so munificent that what your employer pays +you will seem insignificant beside it. He pays you in dollars; you pay +yourself in valuable experience, in fine training, in increased +efficiency, in splendid discipline, in self-expression, in character +building. + +Then, too, the ideal employer gives those who work for him a great deal +that is not found in the pay envelope. He gives them encouragement, +sympathy. He inspires them with the possibility of doing something +higher, better. + +How small and narrow and really blind to his own interests must be the +youth who can weigh a question of salary against all those privileges +he receives in exchange for the meager services he is able to render +his employer. + +Do not fear that your employer will not recognize your merit and +advance you as rapidly as you deserve. It he is looking for efficient +employees,--and what employer is not?--it will be to his own interest +to do so,--just as soon as it is profitable. W. Bourke Cockran, +himself a remarkable example of success, says: "The man who brings to +his occupation a loyal desire to do his best is certain to succeed. By +doing the thing at hand surpassingly well, he shows that it would be +profitable to employ him in some higher form of occupation, and, when +there is profit in his promotion, he is pretty sure to secure it." + +Do you think that kings of business like Andrew Carnegie, John +Wanamaker, Robert C. Ogden, and other lesser powers in the commercial +world would have attained their present commanding success had they +hesitated and haggled about a dollar or two of salary when they began +their life-work? If they had, they would now probably be working on +comparatively small salaries for other people. It was not salary, but +opportunity, that each wanted,--a chance to show what was in him, to +absorb the secrets of the business. They were satisfied with a dollar +or two apiece a week, hardly enough to live on, while they were +learning the lessons that made them what they are to-day. No, the boys +who rise in the world are not those who, at the start, split hairs +about salaries. + +Often we see bright boys who have worked, perhaps for years, on small +salaries, suddenly jumping, as if by magic, into high and responsible +positions. Why? Simply because, while their employers were paying +them but a few dollars a week, they were paying themselves vastly more +in the fine quality of their work, in the enthusiasm, determination, +and high purpose they brought to their tasks, and in increased insight +into business methods. + +Colonel Robert C. Clowry, president of the Western Union Telegraph +Company, worked without pay as a messenger boy for months for +experience, which he regarded as worth infinitely more than salary--and +scores of our most successful men have cheerfully done the same thing. + +A millionaire merchant of New York told me the story of his rise. "I +walked from my home in New England to New York," he said, "where I +secured a place to sweep out a store for three dollars and a half a +week. At the end of a year, I accepted an offer from the firm to +remain for five years at a salary of seven dollars and a half a week. +Long before this time had expired, however, I had a proposition from +another large concern in New York to act as its foreign representative +at a salary of three thousand dollars a year. I told the manager that +I was then under contract, but that, when my time should be completed, +I should be glad to talk with him in regard to his proposition." When +his contract was nearly up, he was called into the office of the head +of the house, and a new contract with him for a term of years at three +thousand dollars a year was proposed. The young man told his employers +that the manager of another house had offered him that amount a year or +more before, but that he did not accept it because he wouldn't break +his contract. They told him they would think the matter over and see +what they could do for him. Incredible as it may seem, they notified +him, a little later, that they were prepared to enter into a ten-year +contract with him at ten thousand dollars a year, and the contract was +closed. He told me that he and his wife lived on eight dollars a week +in New York, during a large part of this time, and that, by saving and +investments, they laid up $117,000. At the end of his contract, he was +taken into the firm as a partner, and became a millionaire. + +Suppose that this boy had listened to his associates, who probably said +to him, many times: "What a fool you are, George, to work here overtime +to do the things which others neglect! Why should you stay here nights +and help pack goods, and all that sort of thing, when it is not +expected of you?" Would he then have risen above them, leaving them in +the ranks of perpetual employees? No, but the boy who walked one +hundred miles to New York to get a job saw in every opportunity a great +occasion, for he could not tell when fate might be taking his measure +for a larger place. The very first time he swept out the store, he +felt within him the ability to become a great merchant, and he +determined that he would be. He felt that the opportunity was the +salary. The chance actually to do with his own hands the thing which +he wanted to learn; to see the way in which princely merchants do +business; to watch their methods; to absorb their processes; to make +their secrets his own,--this was his salary, compared with which the +three dollars and fifty cents looked contemptible. He put himself into +training, always looking out for the main chance. He never allowed +anything of importance to escape his attention. When he was not +working, he was watching others, studying methods, and asking questions +of everybody he came in contact with in the store, so eager was he to +learn how everything was done. He told me that he did not go out of +New York City for twelve years; that he preferred to study the store, +and to absorb every bit of knowledge that he could, for he was bound +some day to be a partner or to have a store of his own. + +It is not difficult to see a proprietor in the boy who sweeps the store +or waits on customers--if the qualities that make a proprietor are in +him--by watching him work for a single day. You can tell by the spirit +which he brings to his task whether there is in him the capacity for +growth, expansion, enlargement; an ambition to rise, to be somebody, or +an inclination to shirk, to do as little as possible for the largest +amount of salary. + +When you get a job, just think of yourself as actually starting out in +business for yourself, as really working for yourself. Get as much +salary as you can, but remember that that is a very small part of the +consideration. You have actually gotten an opportunity to get right +into the very heart of the great activities of a large concern, to get +close to men who do things; an opportunity to absorb knowledge and +valuable secrets on every hand; an opportunity to drink in, through +your eyes and your ears, knowledge wherever you go in the +establishment, knowledge that will be invaluable to you in the future. + +Every hint and every suggestion which you can pick up, every bit of +knowledge you can absorb, you should regard as a part of your future +capital which will be worth more than money capital when you start out +for yourself. + +Just make up your mind that you are going to be a sponge in that +institution and absorb every particle of information and knowledge +possible. + +Resolve that you will call upon all of your resourcefulness, your +inventiveness, your ingenuity, to devise new and better ways of doing +things; that you will be progressive, up-to-date; that you will enter +into your work with a spirit of enthusiasm and a zest which know no +bounds, and you will be surprised to see how quickly you will attract +the attention of those above you. + +This striving for excellence will make you grow. It will call out your +resources, call out the best thing in you. The constant stretching of +the mind over problems which interest you, which are to mean everything +to you in the future, will help you expand into a broader, larger, more +effective man. + +If you work with this spirit, you will form a like habit of accuracy, +of close observation; a habit of reading human nature; a habit of +adjusting means to ends; a habit of thoroughness, of system; _a habit +of putting your best into everything you do_, which means the ultimate +attainment of your maximum efficiency. In other words, if you give +your best to your employer, the best possible comes back to you in +skill, training, shrewdness, acumen, and power. + +Your employer may pinch you on salary, but he can not close your eyes +and ears; he can not shut off your perceptive faculties; he can not +keep you from absorbing the secrets of his business which may have been +purchased by him at an enormous cost of toil and sacrifice and even of +several failures. + +On the other hand, it is impossible for you to rob your employer by +clipping your hours, shirking your work, by carelessness or +indifference, without robbing yourself of infinitely more, of capital +which is worth vastly more than money capital--the chance to make a man +of yourself, the chance to have a clean record behind you instead of a +smirched one. + +If you think you are being kept back, if you are working for too small +a salary, if favoritism puts some one into a position above you which +you have justly earned, never mind, no one can rob you of your greatest +reward, the skill, the efficiency, the power you have gained, the +consciousness of doing your level best, of giving the best thing in you +to your employer, all of which advantages you will carry with you to +your next position, whatever it may be. + +Don't say to yourself, "I am not paid for doing this extra work; I do +not get enough salary, anyway, and it is perfectly right for me to +shirk when my employer is not in sight or to clip my hours when I can," +for this means a loss of self-respect. You will never again have the +same confidence in your ability to succeed; you will always be +conscious that you have done a little, mean thing, and no amount of +juggling with yourself can induce that inward monitor which says +"right" to the well-done thing and "wrong" to the botched work, to +alter its verdict in your favor. There is something within you that +you cannot bribe; a divine sense of justice and right that can not be +blindfolded. Nothing will ever compensate you for the loss of faith in +yourself. You may still succeed when others have lost confidence in +you, but never when you have lost confidence in yourself. If you do +not respect yourself; if you do not believe in yourself, your career is +at an end so far as its upward tendency is concerned. + +Then again, an employee's reputation is his capital. In the absence of +money capital, his reputation means everything. It not only follows +him around from one employer to another, but it also follows him when +he goes into business for himself, and is always either helping or +hindering him, according to its nature. + +Contrast the condition of a young man starting out for himself who has +looked upon his position as a sacred trust, a great opportunity, +backed, buttressed, and supported by a splendid past, an untarnished +reputation--a reputation for being a dead-in-earnest hard worker, +square, loyal, and true to his employer's interests--with that of +another young man of equal ability starting out for himself, who has +done just as little work for his salary as possible, and who has gone +on the principle that the more he could get out of an employer--the +more salary he could get with less effort--the shrewder, smarter man he +was. + +The very reputation of the first young man is splendid credit. He is +backed up by the good opinion of everybody that knows him. People are +afraid of the other: they can not trust him. He beat his employer, why +should not he beat others? Everybody knows that he has not been honest +at heart with his employer, not loyal or true. He must work all the +harder to overcome the handicap of a bad reputation, a smirched record. + +In other words, he is starting out in life with a heavy handicap, +which, if it does not drag him down to failure, will make his burden +infinitely greater, and success, even a purely commercial success, so +much the harder to attain. + +There is nothing like a good, solid, substantial reputation, a clean +record, an untarnished past. It sticks to us through life, and is +always helping us. We find it waiting at the bank when we try to +borrow money, or at the jobber's when we ask for credit. It is always +backing us up and helping us in all sorts of ways. + +Young men are sometimes surprised at their rapid advancement. They can +not understand it, because they do not realize the tremendous power of +a clean name, of a good reputation which is backing them. + +I know a young man who came to New York, got a position in a publishing +house at fifteen dollars a week, and worked five years before he +received thirty-five dollars a week. + +The other employees and his friends called him a fool for staying at +the office after hours and taking work home nights and holidays, for +such a small salary; but he told them that the opportunity was what he +was after, not the salary. + +His work attracted the attention of a publisher who offered him sixty +dollars a week, and very soon advanced him to seventy-five; but he +carried with him to the new position the same habits of painstaking, +hard work, never thinking of the salary, but _regarding the opportunity +as everything_. + +Employees sometimes think that they get no credit for trying to do more +than they are paid for; but here is an instance of a young man who +attracted the attention of others even outside of the firm he worked +for, just because he was trying to earn a great deal more than he was +paid for doing. + +The result was, that in less than two years from the time he was +receiving sixty dollars a week, he went to a third large publishing +house at ten thousand dollars a year, and also with an interest in the +business. + +The salary is of very little importance to you in comparison with the +reputation for integrity and efficiency you have left behind you and +the experience you have gained while earning the salary. These are the +great things. + +In olden times boys had to give years of their time in order to learn a +trade, and often would pay their employer for the opportunity. English +boys used to think it was a great opportunity to be able to get into a +good concern, with a chance to work without salary for years in order +to learn their business or trade. Now the boy is paid for learning his +trade. + +Many employees may not think it is so very bad to clip their hours, to +shirk at every opportunity, to sneak away and hide during business +hours, to loiter when out on business for their employer, to go to +their work in the morning all used up from dissipation; but often when +they try to get another place their reputation has gone before them, +and they are not wanted. + +Others excuse themselves for poor work on the ground that their +employer does not appreciate their services and is mean to them. A +youth might just as well excuse himself for his boorish manners and +ungentlemanly conduct on the ground that other people were mean and +ungentlemanly to him. + +My young friends, you have nothing to do with your employer's character +or his method of doing things. You may not be able to make him do what +is right, but you can do right yourself. You may not be able to make +him a gentleman, but you can be one yourself; and you can not afford to +ruin yourself and your whole future just because your employer is not +what he ought to be. No matter how mean and stingy he may be, your +opportunity for the time is with him, and it rests with you whether you +will use it or abuse it, whether you will make of it a stepping-stone +or a stumbling-block. + +The fact is that your present position, your way of doing your work, is +the key that will unlock the door above you. Slighted work, botched +work, will never make a key to unlock the door to anything but failure +and disgrace. + +There is nothing else so valuable to you as an opportunity to build a +name for yourself. Your reputation is the foundation for your future +success, and if you slip rotten hours, and slighted, botched work into +the foundation, your superstructure will topple. The foundation must +be clean, solid, and firm. + +The quality which you put into your work will determine the quality of +your life. The habit of insisting upon the best of which you are +capable, of always demanding of yourself the highest, never accepting +the lowest or second best, no matter how small your remuneration, will +make all the difference to you between mediocrity or failure, and +success. If you bring to your work the spirit of an artist instead of +an artisan, a burning zeal, an absorbing enthusiasm, these will take +the drudgery out of it and make it a delight. + +Take no chances of marring your reputation by the picayune and unworthy +endeavor "to get square" with a stingy or mean employer. Never mind +what kind of a man he is, resolve that you will approach your task in +the spirit of a master, that whether he is a man of high ideals or not, +you will be one. Remember that you are a sculptor and that every act +is a chisel blow upon life's marble block. You can not afford to +strike false blows which may mar the angel that sleeps in the stone. +Whether it is beautiful or hideous, divine or brutal, the image you +evolve from the block must stand as an expression of yourself, of your +ideals. Those who do not care how they do their work, if they can only +get through with it and get their salary for it, pay very dearly for +their trifling; they cut very sorry figures in life. Regard your work +as a great life school for the broadening, deepening, rounding into +symmetry, harmony, beauty, of your God-given faculties, which are uncut +diamonds sacredly intrusted to you for the polishing and bringing out +of their hidden wealth and beauty. Look upon it as a man-builder, a +character-builder, and not as a mere living-getter. Regard the +living-getting, money-making part of your career as a mere incidental +as compared with the man-making part of it. + +The smallest people in the world are those who work for salary alone. +The little money you get in your pay envelope is a pretty small, low +motive for which to work. It may be necessary to secure your bread and +butter, but you have something infinitely higher to satisfy than that; +that is, your sense of the right; the demand in you to do your level +best, to be a man, to do the square thing, the fair thing. These +should speak so loud in you that the mere bread-and-butter question +will be insignificant in comparison. + +Many young employees, just because they do not get quite as much salary +as they think they should, deliberately throw away all of the other, +larger, grander remuneration possible for them outside of their pay +envelope, for the sake of "getting square" with their employer. They +deliberately adopt a shirking, do-as-little-as-possible policy, and +instead of getting this larger, more important salary, which they can +pay themselves, they prefer the consequent arrested development, and +become small, narrow, inefficient, rutty men and women, with nothing +large or magnanimous, nothing broad, noble, progressive in their +nature. Their leadership faculties, their initiative, their planning +ability, their ingenuity and resourcefulness, inventiveness, and all +the qualities which make the leader, the large, full, complete man, +remain undeveloped. While trying to "get square" with their employer, +by giving him pinched service, they blight their own growth, strangle +their own prospects, and go through life half men instead of full +men--small, narrow, weak men, instead of the strong, grand, complete +men they might be. + +I have known employees actually to work harder in scheming, shirking, +trying to keep from working hard in the performance of their duties, +than they would have worked if they had tried to do their best, and had +given the largest, the most liberal service possible to their +employers. The hardest work in the world is that which is grudgingly +done. + +Start out with a tacit understanding with yourself that you will be a +man, that you will express in your work the highest thing in you, the +best thing in you. You can not afford to debase or demoralize yourself +by bringing out your mean side, the lowest and most despicable thing in +you. + +Never mind whether your employer appreciates the high quality of your +work or not, or thinks more of you for your conscientiousness, you will +certainly think more of yourself after getting the approval of that +still small voice within you which says "right" to the noble act. The +effort always to do your best will enlarge your capacity for doing +things, and will encourage you to push ahead toward larger triumphs. + +Everywhere we see people who are haunted by the ghosts of half-finished +jobs, the dishonest work done away back in their youth. These +covered-up defects are always coming back to humiliate them later, to +trip them up, and to bar their progress. The great failure army is +full of people who have tried to get square with their employers for +the small salary and lack of appreciation. + +No one can respect himself or have that sublime faith in himself which +makes for high achievement while he puts half-hearted, mean service +into his work. The man who has not learned to fling his whole soul +into his task, who has not learned the secret of taking the drudgery +out of his work by putting the best of himself into it, has not learned +the first principles of success or happiness. Let other people do the +poor jobs, the botched work, if they will. Keep your standard up. It +is a lofty ideal that redeems the life from the curse of commonness and +imparts a touch of nobility to the personality. + +No matter how small your salary, or how unappreciative your employer, +bring the entire man to your task; be all there; fling your life into +it with all the energy and enthusiasm you can muster. _Poor work +injures your employer a little, but it may ruin you_. Be proud of your +work and go to it every morning superbly equipped; go to it in the +spirit of a master, of a conqueror. Determine to do your level best +and never to demoralize yourself by doing your second best. + +Conduct yourself in such a way that you can always look yourself in the +face without wincing; then you will have a courage born of conviction, +of personal nobility and integrity which have never been tarnished. + +What your employer thinks of you, what the world thinks of you, is not +half as important as what you think of yourself. Others are with you +comparatively little through life. _You have to live with yourself day +and night through your whole existence, and you can not afford to tie +that divine thing in you to a scoundrel_. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +EXPECT GREAT THINGS OF YOURSELF + +"Why," asked Mirabeau, "should we call ourselves men, unless it be to +succeed in everything everywhere?" Nothing else will so nerve you to +accomplish great things as to believe in your own greatness, in your own +marvelous possibilities. Count that man an enemy who shakes your faith +in yourself, in your ability to do the thing you have set your heart upon +doing, for when your confidence is gone, your power is gone. Your +achievement will never rise higher than your self-faith. It would be as +reasonable for Napoleon to have expected to get his army over the Alps by +sitting down and declaring that the undertaking was too great for him, as +for you to hope to achieve anything significant in life while harboring +grave doubts and fears as to your ability. + +The miracles of civilization have been performed by men and women of +great self-confidence, who had unwavering faith in their power to +accomplish the tasks they undertook. The race would have been centuries +behind what it is to-day had it not been for their grit, their +determination, their persistence in finding and making real the thing +they believed in and which the world often denounced as chimerical or +impossible. + +There is no law by which you can achieve success in anything without +expecting it, demanding it, assuming it. There must be a strong, firm +self-faith first, or the thing will never come. There is no room for +chance in God's world of system and supreme order. Everything must have +not only a cause, but a sufficient cause--a cause as large as the result. +A stream can not rise higher than its source. A great success must have +a great source in expectation, in self-confidence, and in persistent +endeavor to attain it. No matter how great the ability, how large the +genius, or how splendid the education, the achievement will never rise +higher than the confidence. He can who thinks he can, and he can't who +thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law. + +It does not matter what other people think of you, of your plans, or of +your aims. No matter if they call you a visionary, a crank, or a +dreamer; you must believe in yourself. You forsake yourself when you +lose your confidence. Never allow anybody or any misfortune to shake +your belief in yourself. You may lose your property, your health, your +reputation, other people's confidence, even; but there is always hope for +you so long as you keep a firm faith in yourself. If you never lose +that, but keep pushing on, the world will, sooner or later, make way for +you. + +A soldier once took a message to Napoleon in such great haste that the +horse he rode dropped dead before he delivered the paper. Napoleon +dictated his answer and, handing it to the messenger, ordered him to +mount his own horse and deliver it with all possible speed. + +The messenger looked at the magnificent animal, with its superb +trappings, and said, "Nay, General, but this is too gorgeous, too +magnificent for a common soldier." + +Napoleon said, "Nothing is too good or too magnificent for a French +soldier." + +The world is full of people like this poor French soldier, who think that +what others have is too good for them; that it does not fit their humble +condition; that they are not expected to have as good things as those who +are "more favored." They do not realize how they weaken themselves by +this mental attitude of self-depreciation or self-effacement. They do +not claim enough, expect enough, or demand enough of or for themselves. + +You will never become a giant if you only make a pygmy's claim for +yourself; if you only expect small things of yourself. There is no law +which can cause a pygmy's thinking to produce a giant. The statue +follows the model. The model is the inward vision. + +Most people have been educated to think that it was not intended they +should have the best there is in the world; that the good and the +beautiful things of life were not designed for them, but were reserved +for those especially favored by fortune. They have grown up under this +conviction of their inferiority, and of course they will be inferior +until they claim superiority as their birthright. A vast number of men +and women who are really capable of doing great things, do small things, +live mediocre lives, because they do not expect or demand enough of +themselves. They do not know how to call out their best. + +One reason why the human race as a whole has not measured up to its +possibilities, to its promise; one reason why we see everywhere splendid +ability doing the work of mediocrity; is because people do not think half +enough of themselves. _We do not realize our divinity; that we are a +part of the great causation principle of the universe_. + +We do not think highly enough of our superb birthright, nor comprehend to +what heights of sublimity we were intended and expected to rise, nor to +what extent we can really be masters of ourselves. We fail to see that +we can control our own destiny: make ourselves do whatever is possible; +make ourselves become whatever we long to be. + +"If we choose to be no more than clods of clay," says Marie Corelli, +"then we shall be used as clods of clay for braver feet to tread on." + +The persistent thought that you are not as good as others, that you are a +weak, ineffective being, will lower your whole standard of life and +paralyze your ability. + +A man who is self-reliant, positive, optimistic, and undertakes his work +with the assurance of success, magnetizes conditions. He draws to +himself the literal fulfilment of the promise, "For unto every one that +hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance." + +There is everything in assuming the part we wish to play, and playing it +royally. If you are ambitious to do big things, you must make a large +program for yourself, and assume the part it demands. + +There is something in the atmosphere of the man who has a large and true +estimate of himself, who believes that he is going to win out; something +in his very appearance that wins half the battle before a blow is struck. +Things get out of the way of the vigorous, affirmative man, which are +always tripping the self-depreciating, negative man. + +We often hear it said of a man, "Everything he undertakes succeeds," or +"Everything he touches turns to gold." By the force of his character and +the creative power of his thought, such a man wrings success from the +most adverse circumstances. Confidence begets confidence. A man who +carries in his very presence an air of victory, radiates assurance, and +imparts to others confidence that he can do the thing he attempts. As +time goes on, he is reenforced not only by the power of his own thought, +but also by that of all who know him. His friends and acquaintances +affirm and reaffirm his ability to succeed, and make each successive +triumph easier of achievement than its predecessor. His self-poise, +assurance, confidence, and ability increase in a direct ratio to the +number of his achievements. As the savage Indian thought that the power +of every enemy he conquered entered into himself, so in reality does +every conquest in war, in peaceful industry, in commerce, in invention, +in science, or in art add to the conqueror's power to do the next thing. + +Set the mind toward the thing you would accomplish so resolutely, so +definitely, and with such vigorous determination, and put so much grit +into your resolution, that nothing on earth can turn you from your +purpose until you attain it. + +This very assertion of superiority, the assumption of power, the +affirmation of belief in yourself, the mental attitude that claims +success as an inalienable birthright, will strengthen the whole man and +give power to a combination of faculties which doubt, fear, and a lack of +confidence undermine. + +Confidence is the Napoleon of the mental army. It doubles and trebles +the power of all the other faculties. The whole mental army waits until +confidence leads the way. + +Even a race-horse can not win the prize after it has once lost confidence +in itself. Courage, born of self-confidence, is the prod which brings +out the last ounce of reserve force. + +The reason why so many men fail is because they do not commit themselves +with a determination to win at any cost. They do not have that superb +confidence in themselves which never looks back; which burns all bridges +behind it. There is just uncertainty enough as to whether they will +succeed to take the edge off their effort, and it is just this little +difference between doing pretty well and flinging all oneself, all his +power, into his career, that makes the difference between mediocrity and +a grand achievement. + +If you doubt your ability to do what you set out to do; if you think that +others are better fitted to do it than you; if you fear to let yourself +out and take chances; if you lack boldness; if you have a timid, +shrinking nature; if the negatives preponderate in your vocabulary; if +you think that you lack positiveness, initiative, aggressiveness, +ability; you can never win anything very great until you change your +whole mental attitude and learn to have great faith in yourself. Fear, +doubt, and timidity must be turned out of your mind. + +Your own mental picture of yourself is a good measure of yourself and +your possibilities. If there is no out-reach to your mind, no spirit of +daring, no firm self-faith, you will never accomplish much. + +A man's confidence measures the height of his possibilities. A stream +can not rise higher than its fountain-head. + +_Power is largely a question of strong, vigorous, perpetual thinking +along the line of the ambition, parallel with the aim--the great life +purpose. Here is where power originates._ + +The deed must first live in the thought or it will never be a reality; +and a strong, vigorous concept of the thing we want to do is a tremendous +initial step. A thought that is timidly born will be timidly executed. +There must be vigor of conception or an indifferent execution. + +All the greatest achievements in the world began in longing--in dreamings +and hopings which for a time were nursed in despair, with no light in +sight. This longing kept the courage up and made self-sacrifice easier +until the thing dreamed of--the mental vision--was realized. + +"According to your faith be it unto you." Our faith is a very good +measure of what we get out of life. The man of weak faith gets little; +the man of mighty faith gets much. + +The very intensity of your confidence in your ability to do the thing you +attempt is definitely related to the degree of your achievement. + +If we were to analyze the marvelous successes of many of our self-made +men, we should find that when they first started out in active life they +held the confident, vigorous, persistent thought of and belief in their +ability to accomplish what they had undertaken. Their mental attitude +was set so stubbornly toward their goal that the doubts and fears which +dog and hinder and frighten the man who holds a low estimate of himself, +who asks, demands, and expects but little, of or for himself, got out of +their path, and the world made way for them. + +We are very apt to think of men who have been unusually successful in any +line as greatly favored by fortune; and we try to account for it in all +sorts of ways but the right one. The fact is that their success +represents their expectations of themselves--the sum of their creative, +positive, habitual thinking. It is their mental attitude outpictured and +made tangible in their environment. They have wrought--created--what +they have and what they are out of their constructive thought and their +unquenchable faith in themselves. + +We must not only believe we can succeed, but _we must believe it with all +our hearts_. + +We must have a positive conviction that we can attain success. + +No lukewarm energy or indifferent ambition ever accomplished anything. +_There must be vigor in our expectation, in our faith_, in our +determination, in our endeavor. _We must resolve with the energy that +does things_. + +Not only must the desire for the thing we long for be kept uppermost, but +there must be strongly concentrated intensity of effort to attain our +object. + +As it is the fierceness of the heat that melts the iron ore and makes it +possible to weld it or mold it into shape; as it is the intensity of the +electrical force that dissolves the diamond--the hardest known substance; +so _it is the concentrated aim, the invincible purpose_, that wins +success. Nothing was ever accomplished by a half-hearted desire. + +Many people make a very poor showing in life, because there is no vim, no +vigor in their efforts. Their resolutions are spineless; there is no +backbone in their endeavor--no grit in their ambition. + +One must have that determination which never looks back and which knows +no defeat; that resolution which burns all bridges behind it and is +willing to risk everything upon the effort. When a man ceases to believe +in himself--gives up the fight--you can not do much for him except to try +to restore what he has lost--his self-faith--and to get out of his head +the idea that there is a fate which tosses him hither and thither, a +mysterious destiny which decides things whether he will or not. You can +not do much with him until he comprehends that _he is bigger than any +fate_; that he has within himself a power mightier than any force outside +of him. + +One reason why the careers of most of us are so pinched and narrow, is +because we do not have a large faith in ourselves and in our power to +accomplish. We are held back by too much caution. We are timid about +venturing. We are not bold enough. + +Whatever we long for, yearn for, struggle for, and hold persistently in +the mind, we tend to become just in exact proportion to the intensity and +persistence of the thought. _We think ourselves into smallness, into +inferiority by thinking downward_. We ought to think upward, then we +would reach the heights where superiority dwells. The man whose mind is +set firmly toward achievement does not appropriate success, _he is +success_. + +Self-confidence is not egotism. It is knowledge, and it comes from the +consciousness of possessing the ability requisite for what one +undertakes. Civilization to-day rests upon self-confidence. + +A firm self-faith helps a man to project himself with a force that is +almost irresistible. A balancer, a doubter, has no projectile power. If +he starts at all, he moves with uncertainty. There is no vigor in his +initiative, no positiveness in his energy. + +There is a great difference between a man who thinks that "perhaps" he +can do, or who "will try" to do a thing, and a man who "knows" he can do +it, who is "bound" to do it; who feels within himself a pulsating power, +an irresistible force, equal to any emergency. + +This difference between uncertainty and certainty, between vacillation +and decision, between the man who wavers and the man who decides things, +between "I hope to" and "I can," between "I'll try" and "I will"--this +little difference measures the distance between weakness and power, +between mediocrity and excellence, between commonness and superiority. + +The man who does things must be able to project himself with a mighty +force, to fling the whole weight of his being into his work, ever +gathering momentum against the obstacles which confront him; every issue +must be met wholly, unhesitatingly. He can not do this with a wavering, +doubting, unstable mind. + +The fact that a man believes implicitly that he can do what may seem +impossible or very difficult to others, shows that there is something +within him that makes him equal to the work he has undertaken. + +Faith unites man with the Infinite, and no one can accomplish great +things in life unless he works in oneness with the Infinite. When a man +lives so near to the Supreme that the divine Presence is felt all the +time, then he is in a position to express power. + +There is nothing which will multiply one's ability like self-faith. It +can make a one-talent man a success, while a ten-talent man without it +would fail. + +Faith walks on the mountain tops, hence its superior vision. It sees +what is invisible to those who follow in the valleys. + +It was the sustaining power of a mighty self-faith that enabled Columbus +to bear the jeers and imputations of the Spanish cabinet; that sustained +him when his sailors were in mutiny and he was at their mercy in a little +vessel on an unknown sea; that enabled him to hold steadily to his +purpose, entering in his diary day after day--"This day we sailed west, +which was our course." + +It was this self-faith which gave courage and determination to Fulton to +attempt his first trip up the Hudson in the _Clermont_, before thousands +of his fellow citizens, who had gathered to howl and jeer at his expected +failure. He believed he could do the thing he attempted though the whole +world was against him. + +What miracles self-confidence has wrought! What impossible deeds it has +helped to perform! It took Dewey past cannons, torpedoes, and mines to +victory at Manila Bay; it carried Farragut, lashed to the rigging, past +the defenses of the enemy in Mobile Bay; it led Nelson and Grant to +victory; it has been the great tonic in the world of invention, +discovery, and art; it has won a thousand triumphs in war and science +which were deemed impossible by doubters and the faint-hearted. + +Self-faith has been the miracle-worker of the ages. It has enabled the +inventor and the discoverer to go on and on amidst troubles and trials +which otherwise would have utterly disheartened them. It has held +innumerable heroes to their tasks until the glorious deeds were +accomplished. + +The only inferiority in us is what we put into ourselves. If only we +better understood our divinity we should all have this larger faith which +is the distinction of the brave soul. We think ourselves into smallness. +Were we to think upward we should reach the heights where superiority +dwells. + +Perhaps there is no other one thing which keeps so many people back as +their low estimate of themselves. They are more handicapped by their +limiting thought, by their foolish convictions of inefficiency, than by +almost anything else, for _there is no power in the universe that can +help a man do a thing when he thinks he can not do it_. Self-faith must +lead the way. You can not go beyond the limits you set for yourself. + +_It is one of the most difficult things to a mortal to really believe in +his own bigness_, in his own grandeur; to believe that his yearnings and +hungerings and aspirations for higher, nobler things have any basis in +reality or any real, ultimate end. But they are, in fact, the signs of +ability to match them, of power to make them real. They are the +stirrings of the divinity within us; the call to something better, to go +higher. + +No man gets very far in the world or expresses great power until +self-faith is born in him; until he catches a glimpse of his higher, +nobler self; until he realizes that his ambition, his aspiration, are +proofs of his ability to reach the ideal which haunts him. The Creator +would not have mocked us with the yearning for infinite achievement +without giving us the ability and the opportunity for realizing it, any +more than he would have mocked the wild birds with an instinct to fly +south in the winter without giving them a sunny South to match the +instinct. + +_The cause of whatever comes to you in life is within you_. There is +where it is created. The thing you long for and work for comes to you +because your thought has created it; because there is something inside +you that attracts it. It comes because there is an affinity within you +for it. _Your own comes to you; is always seeking you_. + +Whenever you see a person who has been unusually successful in any field, +remember that he has usually thought himself into his position; his +mental attitude and energy have created it; what he stands for in his +community has come from his attitude toward life, toward his fellow men, +toward his vocation, toward himself. Above all else, it is the outcome +of his self-faith, of his inward vision of himself; the result of his +estimate of his powers and possibilities. + +The men who have done the great things in the world have been profound +believers in themselves. + +If I could give the young people of America but one word of advice, it +would be this--"_Believe in yourself with all your might._" That is, +believe that your destiny is inside of you, that there is a power within +you which, if awakened, aroused, developed, and matched with honest +effort, will not only make a noble man or woman of you, but will also +make you successful and happy. + +All through the Bible we find emphasized the miracle-working power of +faith. Faith in himself indicates that a man has a glimpse of forces +within him which either annihilate the obstacles in the way, or make them +seem insignificant in comparison with his ability to overcome them. + +Faith opens the door that enables us to look into the soul's limitless +possibilities and reveals such powers there, such unconquerable forces, +that we are not only encouraged to go on, but feel a great consciousness +of added power because we have touched omnipotence, and gotten a glimpse +of the great source of things. + +Faith is that something within us which does not guess, but knows. It +knows because it sees what our coarser selves, our animal natures can not +see. It is the prophet within us, the divine messenger appointed to +accompany man through life to guide and direct and encourage him. It +gives him a glimpse of his possibilities to keep him from losing heart, +from quitting his upward life struggle. + +Our faith knows because it sees what we can not see. It sees resources, +powers, potencies which our doubts and fears veil from us. Faith is +assured, is never afraid, because it sees the way out; sees the solution +of its problem. It has dipped in the realms of our finer life our higher +and diviner kingdom. All things are possible to him who has faith, +because faith sees, recognizes the power that means accomplishment. If +we had faith in God and in ourselves we could remove all mountains of +difficulty, and our lives would be one triumphal march to the goal of our +ambition. + +If we had faith enough we could cure all our ills and accomplish the +maximum of our possibilities. + +Faith never fails; it is a miracle worker. It looks beyond all +boundaries, transcends all limitations, penetrates all obstacles and sees +the goal. + +It is doubt and fear, timidity and cowardice, that hold us down and keep +us in mediocrity--doing petty things when we are capable of sublime deeds. + +If we had faith enough we should travel Godward infinitely faster than we +do. + +The time will come when every human being will have unbounded faith and +will live the life triumphant. Then there will be no poverty in the +world, no failures, and the discords of life will all vanish. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE NEXT TIME YOU THINK YOU ARE A FAILURE + +If you made a botch of last year, if you feel that it was a failure, +that you floundered and blundered and did a lot of foolish things; if +you were gullible, made imprudent investments, wasted your time and +money, don't drag these ghosts along with you to handicap you and +destroy your happiness all through the future. + +Haven't you wasted enough energy worrying over what can not be helped? +Don't let these things sap any more of your vitality, waste any more of +your time or destroy any more of your happiness. + +There is only one thing to do with bitter experiences, blunders and +unfortunate mistakes, or with memories that worry us and which kill our +efficiency, and that is to _forget them, bury them_! + +To-day is a good time to "leave the low-vaulted past," to drop the +yesterdays, to forget bitter memories. + +Resolve that you will close the door on everything in the past that +pains and can not help you. Free yourself from everything which +handicaps you, keeps you back and makes you unhappy. Throw away all +useless baggage, drop everything that is a drag, that hinders your +progress. + +Enter upon to-morrow with a clean slate and a free mind. Don't be +mortgaged to the past, and never look back. + +There is no use in castigating yourself for not having done better. + +Form a habit of expelling from your mind thoughts or suggestions which +call up unpleasant subjects or bitter memories, and which have a bad +influence upon you. + +Every one ought to make it a life-rule to wipe out from his memory +everything that has been unpleasant, unfortunate. We ought to forget +everything that has kept us back, has made us suffer, has been +disagreeable, and never allow the hideous pictures of distressing +conditions to enter our minds again. There is only one thing to do +with a disagreeable, harmful experience, and that is--_forget it_! + +There are many times in the life of a person who does things that are +worth while when he gets terribly discouraged and thinks it easier to +go back than to push on. But _there is no victory in retreating_. We +should never leave any bridges unburned behind us, any way open for +retreat to tempt our weakness, indecision or discouragement. If there +is anything we ever feel grateful for, it is that we have had courage +and pluck enough to push on, to keep going when things looked dark and +when seemingly insurmountable obstacles confronted us. + +Most people are their own worst enemies. We are all the time +"queering" our life game by our vicious, tearing-down thoughts and +unfortunate moods. Everything depends upon our courage, our faith in +ourselves, in our holding a hopeful, optimistic outlook; and yet, +whenever things go wrong with us, whenever we have a discouraging day +or an unfortunate experience, a loss or any misfortune, we let the +tearing-down thought, doubt, fear, despondency, like a bull in a china +shop, tear through our mentalities, perhaps breaking up and destroying +the work of years of building up, and we have to start all over again. +We work and live like the frog in the well; we climb up only to fall +back, and often lose all we gain. + +One of the worst things that can ever happen to a person is to get it +into his head that he was born unlucky and that the Fates are against +him. There are no Fates, outside of our own mentality. We are our own +Fates. We control our own destiny. + +There is no fate or destiny which puts one man down and another up. +"It is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." He +only is beaten who admits it. The man is inferior who admits that he +is inferior, who voluntarily takes an inferior position because he +thinks the best things were intended for somebody else. + +You will find that just in proportion as you increase your confidence +in yourself by the affirmation of what you wish to be and to do, your +ability will increase. + +No matter what other people may think about your ability, never allow +yourself to doubt that you can do or become what you long to. Increase +your self-confidence in every possible way, and you can do this to a +remarkable degree by the power of self-suggestion. + +This form of suggestion--talking to oneself vigorously, +earnestly--seems to arouse the sleeping forces in the subconscious self +more effectually than thinking the same thing. + +There is a force in words spoken aloud which is not stirred by going +over the same words mentally. They sometimes arouse slumbering +energies within us which thinking does not stir up--especially if we +have not been trained to think deeply, to focus the mind closely. They +make a more lasting impression upon the mind, just as words which pass +through the eye from the printed page make a greater impression on the +brain than we get by thinking the same words; as seeing objects of +nature makes a more lasting impression upon the mind than thinking +about them. A vividness, a certain force, accompanies the spoken +word--especially if earnestly, vehemently uttered--which is not +apparent to many in merely thinking about what the words express. If +you repeat a firm resolve to yourself aloud, vigorously, even +vehemently, you are more likely to carry it to reality than if you +merely resolve in silence. + +We become so accustomed to our silent thoughts that the voicing of +them, the giving audible expression to our yearnings, makes a much +deeper impression upon us. + +The audible self-encouragement treatment may be used with marvelous +results in correcting our weaknesses; overcoming our deficiencies. + +Never allow yourself to think meanly, narrowly, poorly of yourself. +Never regard yourself as weak, inefficient, diseased, but as perfect, +complete, capable. Never even think of the possibility of going +through life a failure or a partial failure. Failure and misery are +not for the man who has seen the God-side of himself, who has been in +touch with divinity. They are for those who have never discovered +themselves and their God-like qualities. + +Stoutly assert that there is a place for you in the world, and that you +are going to fill it like a man. Train yourself to expect great things +of yourself. Never admit, even by your manner, that you think you are +destined to do little things all your life. + +It is marvelous what mental strength can be developed by the perpetual +affirmation of vigorous fitness, strength, power, efficiency; these are +thoughts and ideals that make a strong man. + +The way to get the best out of yourself is to put things right up to +yourself, handle yourself without gloves, and talk to yourself as you +would to a son of yours who has great ability but who is not using half +of it. + +When you go into an undertaking just say to yourself, "Now, this thing +is right up to me. I've got to make good, to show the man in me or the +coward. There is no backing out." + +You will be surprised to see how quickly this sort of self-suggestion +will brace you up and put new spirit in you. + +I have a friend who has helped himself wonderfully by talking to +himself about his conduct. When he feels that he is not doing all that +he ought to, that he has made some foolish mistake or has failed to use +good sense and good judgment in any transaction, when he feels that his +stamina and ambition are deteriorating, he goes off alone to the +country, to the woods if possible, and has a good heart-to-heart talk +with himself something after this fashion: + +"Now young man, you need a good talking-to, a bracing-up all along the +line. You are going stale, your standards are dropping, your ideals +are getting dull, and the worst of it all is that when you do a poor +job, or are careless about your dress and indifferent in your manner, +you do not feel as troubled as you used to. You are not making good. +This lethargy, this inertia, this indifference will seriously cripple +your career if you're not very careful. You are letting a lot of good +chances slip by you, because you are not as progressive and up-to-date +as you ought to be. + +"In short, you are becoming lazy. You like to take things easy. +Nobody ever amounts to much who lets his energies flag, his standards +droop and his ambition ooze out. Now, I am going to keep right after +you, young man, until you are doing yourself justice. This +take-it-easy sort of policy will never land you at the goal you started +for. You will have to watch yourself very closely or you will be left +behind. + +"You are capable of something much better than what you are doing. You +must start out to-day with a firm resolution to make the returns from +your work greater to-night than ever before. You must make this a +red-letter day. Bestir yourself; get the cobwebs out of your head; +brush off the brain ash. Think, think, think to some purpose! Do not +mull and mope like this. You are only half-alive, man; get a move on +you!" + +This young man says that every morning when he finds his standards are +down and he feels lazy and indifferent he "hauls himself over the +coals," as he calls it, in order to force himself up to a higher +standard and put himself in tune for the day. It is the very first +thing he attends to. + +He forces himself to do the most disagreeable tasks first, and does not +allow himself to skip hard problems. "Now, don't be a coward," he says +to himself. "If others have done this, you can do it." + +By years of stern discipline of this kind he has done wonders with +himself. He began as a poor boy living in the slums of New York with +no one to take an interest in him, encourage or push him. Though he +had little opportunity for schooling when he was a small boy, he has +given himself a splendid education, mainly since he was twenty-one. I +have never known any one else who carried on such a vigorous campaign +in self-victory, self-development, self-training, self-culture as this +young man has. + +At first it may seem silly to you to be talking to yourself, but you +will derive so much benefit from it that you will have recourse to it +in remedying all your defects. There is no fault, however great or +small, which will not succumb to persistent audible suggestion. For +example, you may be naturally timid and shrink from meeting people; and +you may distrust your own ability. If so, you will be greatly helped +by assuring yourself in your daily self-talks that you are not timid; +that, on the contrary, you are the embodiment of courage and bravery. +Assure yourself that there is no reason why you should be timid, +because there is nothing inferior or peculiar about you; that you are +attractive and that you know how to act in the presence of others. Say +to yourself that you are never again going to allow yourself to harbor +any thoughts of self-depreciation or timidity or inferiority; that you +are going to hold your head up and go about as though you were a king, +a conqueror, instead of crawling about like a whipped cur; you are +going to assert your manhood, your individuality. + +If you lack initiative, stoutly affirm your ability to begin things, +and to push them to a finish. And always put your resolve into action +at the first opportunity. + +You will be surprised to see how you can increase your courage, your +confidence, and your ability, if you will be sincere with yourself and +strong and persistent in your affirmations. + +I know of nothing so helpful for the timid, those who lack faith in +themselves, as the habit of constantly affirming their own importance, +their own power, their own divinity. The trouble is that we do not +think half enough of ourselves; do not accurately measure our ability; +do not put the right estimate upon our possibilities. We berate +ourselves, belittle, efface ourselves, because we do not see the +larger, diviner man in us. + +Try this experiment the very next time you get discouraged or think +that you are a failure, that your work does not amount to much--turn +about face. Resolve that you will go no further in that direction. +Stop and face the other way, and _go_ the other way. Every time you +think you are a failure, it helps you to become one, for your thought +is your life pattern and you can not get away from it. You can not get +away from your ideals, the standard which you hold for yourself, and if +you acknowledge in your thought that you are a failure, that you can't +do anything worth while, that luck is against you, that you don't have +the same opportunity that other people have---your convictions will +control the result. + +There are thousands of people who have lost everything they valued in +the world, all the material results of their lives' endeavor, and yet, +because they possess stout hearts, unconquerable spirits, a +determination to push ahead which knows no retreat, they are just as +far from real failure as before their loss; and with such wealth they +can never be poor. + +A great many people fail to reach a success which matches their ability +because they are victims of their moods, which repel people and repel +business. + +We avoid morose, gloomy people just as we avoid a picture which makes a +disagreeable impression upon us. + +Everywhere we see people with great ambitions doing very ordinary +things, simply because there are so many days when they do not "feel +like it" or when they are discouraged or "blue." + +A man who is at the mercy of a capricious disposition can never be a +leader, a power among men. + +It is perfectly possible for a well-trained mind to completely rout the +worst case of the "blues" in a few minutes; but the trouble with most +of us is that instead of flinging open the mental blinds and letting in +the sun of cheerfulness, hope, and optimism, we keep them closed and +try to eject the darkness by main force. + +The art of arts is learning how to clear the mind of its +enemies--enemies of our comfort, happiness, and success. It is a great +thing to learn to focus the mind upon the beautiful instead of the +ugly, the true instead of the false, upon harmony instead of discord, +life instead of death, health instead of disease. This is not always +easy, but it is possible to everybody. It requires only skilful +thinking, the forming of the right thought habits. + +The best way to keep out darkness is to keep the life filled with +light; to keep out discord, keep it filled with harmony; to shut out +error, keep the mind filled with truth; to shut out ugliness, +contemplate beauty and loveliness; to get rid of all that is sour and +unwholesome, contemplate all that is sweet and wholesome. Opposite +thoughts can not occupy the mind at the same time. + +No matter whether you feel like it or not, just affirm that you _must_ +feel like it, that you _will_ feel like it, that you _do_ feel like it, +that you are normal and that you are in a position to do your best. +Say it deliberately, affirm it vigorously and it will come true. + +The next time you get into trouble, or are discouraged and think you +are a failure, just try the experiment of affirming vigorously, +persistently, that all that is real _must_ be good, for God made all +that is, and whatever doesn't seem to be good is not like its creator +and therefore can not be real. Persist in this affirmation. You will +be surprised to see how unfortunate suggestions and adverse conditions +will melt away before it. + +The next time you feel the "blues" or a fit of depression coming on, +just get by yourself--if possible after taking a good bath and dressing +yourself becomingly--and give yourself a good talking-to. Talk to +yourself in the same dead-in-earnest way that you would talk to your +own child or a dear friend who was deep in the mire of despondency, +suffering tortures from melancholy. Drive out the black, hideous +pictures which haunt your mind. Sweep away all depressing thoughts, +suggestions, all the rubbish that is troubling you. Let go of +everything that is unpleasant; all the mistakes, all the disagreeable +past; just rise up in arms against the enemies of your peace and +happiness; summon all the force you can muster and drive them out. +Resolve that no matter what happens you are going to be happy; that you +are going to enjoy yourself. + +When you look at it squarely, it is very foolish--almost criminal--to +go about this beautiful world, crowded with splendid opportunities, and +things to delight and cheer us, with a sad, dejected face, as though +life had been a disappointment instead of a priceless boon. Just say +to yourself, "I am a man and I am going to do the work of a man. It's +right up to me and I am going to face the situation." + +Do not let anybody or anything shake your faith that you can conquer +all the enemies of your peace and happiness, and that you inherit an +abundance of all that is good. + +We should early form the habit of erasing from the mind all +disagreeable, unhealthy, death-dealing thoughts. We should start out +every morning with a clean slate. We should blot out from our mental +gallery all discordant pictures and replace them with the harmonious, +uplifting, life-giving ones. + +The next time you feel jaded, discouraged, completely played out and +"blue," you will probably find, if you look for the reason, that your +condition is largely due to exhausted vitality, either from overwork, +overeating, or violating in some way the laws of digestion, or from +vicious habits of some kind. + +The "blues" are often caused by exhausted nerve cells, due to +overstraining work, long-continued excitement, or over-stimulated +nerves from dissipation. This condition is caused by the clamoring of +exhausted nerve cells for nourishment, rest, or recreation. Multitudes +of people suffer from despondency and melancholy, as a result of a +run-down condition physically, due to their irregular, vicious habits +and a lack of refreshing sleep. + +When you are feeling "blue" or discouraged, get as complete a change of +environment as possible. Whatever you do, do not brood over your +troubles or dwell upon the things which happen to annoy you at the +time. Think the pleasantest, happiest things possible. Hold the most +charitable, loving thoughts toward others. Make a strenuous effort to +radiate joy and gladness to everybody about you. Say the kindest, +pleasantest things. You will soon begin to feel a wonderful uplift; +the shadows which darkened your mind will flee away, and the sun of joy +will light up your whole being. + +Stoutly, constantly, everlastingly affirm that you will become what +your ambitions indicate as fitting and possible. Do not say, "I shall +be a success sometime"; say, "I am a success. Success is my +birthright." Do not say that you are going to be happy in the future. +Say to yourself, "I was intended for happiness, made for it, and I am +happy now." + +If, however, you affirm, "I am health; I am prosperity; I am this or +that," but do not believe it, you will not be helped by affirmation. +_You must believe what you affirm and try to realise it_. + +Assert your actual possession of the things you need; of the qualities +you long to have. Force your mind toward your goal; hold it there +steadily, persistently, for this is the mental state that creates. The +negative mind, which doubts and wavers, creates nothing. + +"I, myself, am good fortune," says Walt Whitman. If we could only +realize that the very attitude of assuming that we are the real +embodiment of the thing we long to be or to attain, that we possess the +good things we long for, not that we possess all the qualities of good, +but that we are these qualities--with the constant affirming, "I myself +am good luck, good fortune; I am myself a part of the great creative, +sustaining principle of the universe, because my real, divine self and +my Father are one"--what a revolution would come to earth's toilers! + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +STAND FOR SOMETHING + +The greatest thing that can be said of a man, no matter how much he has +achieved, is that _he has kept his record clean_. + +Why is it that, in spite of the ravages of time, the reputation of +Lincoln grows larger and his character means more to the world every +year? It is because he kept his record clean, and never prostituted +his ability nor gambled with his reputation. + +Where, in all history, is there an example of a man who was merely +rich, no matter how great his wealth, who exerted such a power for +good, who was such a living force in civilization, as was this poor +backwoods boy? What a powerful illustration of the fact that +_character_ is the greatest force in the world! + +A man assumes importance and becomes a power in the world just as soon +as it is found that he stands for something; that he is not for sale; +that he will not lease his manhood for salary, for any amount of money +or for any influence or position; that he will not lend his name to +anything which he can not indorse. + +The trouble with so many men to-day is that they do not stand for +anything outside their vocation. They may be well educated, well up in +their specialties, may have a lot of expert knowledge, but they can not +be depended upon. There is some flaw in them which takes the edge off +their virtue. They may be fairly honest, but you cannot bank on them. + +It is not difficult to find a lawyer or a physician who knows a good +deal, who is eminent in his profession; but it is not so easy to find +one who is a man before he is a lawyer or a physician; whose name is a +synonym for all that is clean, reliable, solid, substantial. It is not +difficult to find a good preacher; but it is not so easy to find a real +man, sterling manhood, back of the sermon. It is easy to find +successful merchants, but not so easy to find men who put character +above merchandise. What the world wants is men who have principle +underlying their expertness--principle under their law, their medicine, +their business; men who stand for something outside of their offices +and stores; who stand for something in their community; whose very +presence carries weight. + +Everywhere we see smart, clever, longheaded, shrewd men, but how +comparatively rare it is to find one whose record is as clean as a +hound's tooth; who will not swerve from the right; who would rather +fail than be a party to a questionable transaction! + +Everywhere we see business men putting the stumbling-blocks of +deception and dishonest methods right across their own pathway, +tripping themselves up while trying to deceive others. + +We see men worth millions of dollars filled with terror; trembling lest +investigations may uncover things which will damn them in the public +estimation! We see them cowed before the law like whipped spaniels; +catching at any straw that will save them from public disgrace! + +What a terrible thing to live in the limelight of popular favor, to be +envied as rich and powerful, to be esteemed as honorable and +straightforward, and yet to be conscious all the time of not being what +the world thinks we are; to live in constant terror of discovery, in +fear that something may happen to unmask us and show us up in our true +light! But nothing can happen to injure seriously the man who lives +four-square to the world; who has nothing to cover up, nothing to hide +from his fellows; who lives a transparent, clean life, with never a +fear of disclosures. If all of his material possessions are swept away +from him, he knows that he has a monument in the hearts of his +countrymen, in the affection and admiration of the people, and that +nothing can happen to harm his real self because he has kept his record +clean. + +Mr. Roosevelt early resolved that, let what would come, whether he +succeeded in what he undertook or failed, whether he made friends or +enemies, he would not take chances with his good name--he would part +with everything else first; that he would never gamble with his +reputation; that he would keep his record clean. His first ambition +was to stand for something, to be a man. Before he was a politician or +anything else the man must come first. + +[Illustration: Theodore Roosevelt] + +In his early career he had many opportunities to make a great deal of +money by allying himself with crooked, sneaking, unscrupulous +politicians. He had all sorts of opportunities for political graft. +But crookedness never had any attraction for him. He refused to be a +party to any political jobbery, any underhand business. He preferred +to lose any position he was seeking, to let somebody else have it, if +he must get smirched in the getting it. He would not touch a dollar, +place, or preferment unless it came to him clean, with no trace of +jobbery on it. Politicians who had an "ax to grind" knew it was no use +to try to bribe him, or to influence him with promises of patronage, +money, position, or power. Mr. Roosevelt knew perfectly well that he +would make many mistakes and many enemies, but he resolved to carry +himself in such a way that even his enemies should at least respect him +for his honesty of purpose, and for his straightforward, "square-deal" +methods. He resolved to keep his record clean, his name white, at all +hazards. Everything else seemed unimportant in comparison. + +In times like these the world especially needs such men as Mr. +Roosevelt--men who hew close to the chalk-line of right and hold the +line plumb to truth; men who do not pander to public favor; men who +make duty and truth their goal and go straight to their mark, turning +neither to the right nor to the left, though a paradise tempt them. + +Who can ever estimate how much his influence has done toward purging +politics and elevating the American ideal. He has changed the +view-point of many statesmen and politicians. He has shown them a new +and a better way. He has made many of them ashamed of the old methods +of grafting and selfish greed. He has held up a new ideal, shown them +that unselfish service to their country is infinitely nobler than an +ambition for self-aggrandizement. American patriotism has a higher +meaning to-day, because of the example of this great American. Many +young politicians and statesmen have adopted cleaner methods and higher +aims because of his influence. There is no doubt that tens of +thousands of young men in this country are cleaner in their lives, and +more honest and ambitious to be good citizens, because here is a man +who always stands for the "square deal," for civic righteousness, for +American manhood. + +Every man ought to feel that there is something in him that bribery can +not touch, that influence can not buy; something that is not for sale; +something he would not sacrifice or tamper with for any price; +something he would give his life for if necessary. + +If a man stands for something worth while, compels recognition for +himself alone, on account of his real worth, he is not dependent upon +recommendations; upon fine clothes, a fine house, or a pull. He is his +own best recommendation. + +The young man who starts out with the resolution to make his character +his capital, and to pledge his whole manhood for every obligation he +enters into, will not be a failure, though he wins neither fame nor +fortune. No man ever really does a great thing who loses his character +in the process. + +No substitute has ever yet been discovered for honesty. Multitudes of +people have gone to the wall trying to find one. Our prisons are full +of people who have attempted to substitute something else for it. + +No man can really believe in himself when he is occupying a false +position and wearing a mask; when the little monitor within him is +constantly saying, "You know you are a fraud; you are not the man you +pretend to be." The consciousness of not being genuine, not being what +others think him to be, robs a man of power, honeycombs the character, +and destroys self-respect and self-confidence. + +When Lincoln was asked to take the wrong side of a case he said, "I +could not do it. All the time while talking to that jury I should be +thinking, 'Lincoln, you're a liar, you're a liar,' and I believe I +should forget myself and say it out loud." + +Character as capital is very much underestimated by a great number of +young men. They seem to put more emphasis upon smartness, shrewdness, +long-headedness, cunning, influence, a pull, than upon downright +honesty and integrity of character. Yet why do scores of concerns pay +enormous sums for the use of the name of a man who, perhaps, has been +dead for half a century or more? It is because there is power in that +name; because there is character in it; because it stands for +something; because it represents reliability and square dealing. Think +of what the name of Tiffany, of Park and Tilford, or any of the great +names which stand in the commercial world as solid and immovable as the +rock of Gibraltar, are worth! + +Does it not seem strange that young men who know these facts should try +to build up a business on a foundation of cunning, scheming, and +trickery, instead of building on the solid rock of character, +reliability, and manhood? Is it not remarkable that so many men should +work so hard to establish a business on an unreliable, flimsy +foundation, instead of building upon the solid masonry of honest goods, +square dealing, reliability? + +A name is worth everything until it is questioned; but when suspicion +clings to it, it is worth nothing. There is nothing in this world that +will take the place of character. There is no policy in the world, to +say nothing of the right or wrong of it, that compares with honesty and +square dealing. + +In spite of, or because of, all the crookedness and dishonesty that is +being uncovered, of all the scoundrels that are being unmasked, +integrity is the biggest word in the business world to-day. There +never was a time in all history when it was so big, and it is growing +bigger. There never was a time when character meant so much in +business; when it stood for so much everywhere as it does to-day. + +There was a time when the man who was the shrewdest and sharpest and +cunningest in taking advantage of others got the biggest salary; but +to-day the man at the other end of the bargain is looming up as never +before. + +Nathan Straus, when asked the secret of the great success of his firm, +said it was their treatment of the man at the other end of the bargain. +He said they could not afford to make enemies; they could not afford to +displease or to take advantage of customers, or to give them reason to +think that they had been unfairly dealt with,--that, in the long run, +the man who gave the squarest deal to the man at the other end of the +bargain would get ahead fastest. + +There are merchants who have made great fortunes, but who do not carry +weight among their fellow men because they have dealt all their lives +with inferiority. They have lived with shoddy and shams so long that +the suggestion has been held in their minds until their whole standards +of life have been lowered; their ideals have shrunken; their characters +have partaken of the quality of their business. + +Contrast these men with the men who stood for half a century or more at +the head of solid houses, substantial institutions; men who have always +stood for quality in everything; who have surrounded themselves not +only with ability but with men and women of character. + +We instinctively believe in character. We admire people who stand for +something; who are centered in truth and honesty. It is not necessary +that they agree with us. We admire them for their strength, the +honesty of their opinions, the inflexibility of their principles. + +The late Carl Schurz was a strong man and antagonized many people. He +changed his political views very often; but even his worst enemies knew +there was one thing he would never go back on, friends or no friends, +party or no party--and that was his devotion to principle as he saw it. +There was no parleying with his convictions. He could stand alone, if +necessary, with all the world against him. His inconsistencies, his +many changes in parties and politics, could not destroy the universal +admiration for the man who stood for his convictions. Although he +escaped from a German prison and fled his country, where he had been +arrested on account of his revolutionary principles when but a mere +youth, Emperor William the First had such a profound respect for his +honesty of purpose and his strength of character that he invited him to +return to Germany and visit him, gave him a public dinner, and paid him +great tribute. + +Who can estimate the influence of President Eliot in enriching and +uplifting our national ideas and standards through the thousands of +students who go out from Harvard University? The tremendous force and +nobility of character of Phillips Brooks raised everyone who came +within his influence to higher levels. His great earnestness in trying +to lead people up to his lofty ideals swept everything before it. One +could not help feeling while listening to him and watching him that +_there_ was a mighty triumph of character, a grand expression of superb +manhood. Such men as these increase our faith in the race; in the +possibilities of the grandeur of the coming man. We are prouder of our +country because of such standards. + +It is the ideal that determines the direction of the life. And what a +grand sight, what an inspiration, are those men who sacrifice the +dollar to the ideal! + +The principles by which the problem of success is solved are right and +justice, honesty and integrity; and just in proportion as a man +deviates from these principles he falls short of solving his problem. + +It is true that he may reach _something_. He may get money, but is +that success? The thief gets money, but does he succeed? Is it any +honester to steal by means of a long head than by means of a long arm? +It is very much more dishonest, because the victim is deceived and then +robbed--a double crime. + +We often receive letters which read like this: + +"I am getting a good salary; but I do not feel right about it, somehow. +I can not still the voice within me that says, 'Wrong, wrong,' to what +I am doing." + +"Leave it, leave it," we always say to the writers of these letters. +"Do not stay in a questionable occupation, no matter what inducement it +offers. Its false light will land you on the rocks if you follow it. +It is demoralizing to the mental faculties, paralyzing to the +character, to do a thing which one's conscience forbids." + +Tell the employer who expects you to do questionable things that you +can not work for him unless you can put the trade-mark of your manhood, +the stamp of your integrity, upon everything you do. Tell him that if +the highest thing in you can not bring success, surely the lowest can +not. You can not afford to sell the best thing in you, your honor, +your manhood, to a dishonest man or a lying institution. You should +regard even the suggestion that you might sell out for a consideration +as an insult. + +Resolve that you will not be paid for being something less than a man; +that you will not lease your ability, your education, your +inventiveness, your self-respect, for salary, to do a man's lying for +him; either in writing advertisements, selling goods, or in any other +capacity. + +Resolve that, whatever your vocation, you are going to stand for +something; that you are not going to be _merely_ a lawyer, a physician, +a merchant, a clerk, a farmer, a congressman, or a man who carries a +big money-bag; but that you are going to be a _man_ first, last, and +all the time. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +NATURE'S LITTLE BILL + + Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; + Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all. + FREDERICK VON LOGAU. + +Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, +therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do +evil.--ECCLESIASTES. + + Man is a watch, wound up at first but never + Wound up again: once down he's down forever. + HERRICK. + +Old age seizes upon an ill-spent youth like fire upon a rotten +house.--SOUTH. + +Last Sunday a young man died here of extreme old age at +twenty-five.--JOHN NEWTON. + +If you will not hear Reason, she'll surely rap your knuckles.--POOR +RICHARD'S SAYINGS. + + +"Oh! oh! ah!" exclaimed Franklin; "what have I done to merit these +cruel sufferings?" "Many things," replied the Gout; "you have eaten +and drunk too freely, and too much indulged those legs of yours in your +indolence." + +Nature seldom presents her bill on the day you violate her laws. But +if you overdraw your account at her bank, and give her a mortgage on +your body, be sure she will foreclose. She may loan you all you want; +but, like Shylock, she will demand the last ounce of flesh. She rarely +brings in her cancer bill before the victim is forty years old. She +does not often annoy a man with her drink bill until he is past his +prime, and then presents it in the form of Bright's disease, fatty +degeneration of the heart, drunkard's liver, or some similar disease. +What you pay the saloon keeper is but a small part of your score. + +We often hear it said that the age of miracles is past. We marvel that +a thief dying on the cross should appear that very day in Paradise; but +behold how that bit of meat or vegetable on a Hawarden breakfast table +is snatched from Death, transformed into thought, and on the following +night shakes Parliament in the magnetism and oratory of a Gladstone. +The age of miracles past, when three times a day right before our eyes +Nature performs miracles greater even than raising the dead? Watch +that crust of bread thrown into a cell in Bedford Jail and devoured by +a poor, hungry tinker; cut, crushed, ground, driven by muscles, +dissolved by acids and alkalies; absorbed and hurled into the +mysterious red river of life. Scores of little factories along this +strange stream, waiting for this crust, transmute it as it passes, as +if by magic, here into a bone cell, there into gastric juice, here into +bile, there into a nerve cell, yonder into a brain cell. We can not +trace the processes by which this crust arrives at the muscle and acts, +arrives at the brain and thinks. We can not see the manipulating hand +which throws back and forth the shuttle which weaves Bunyan's +destinies, nor can we trace the subtle alchemy which transforms this +prison crust into the finest allegory in the world, the Pilgrim's +Progress. But we do know that, unless we supply food when the stomach +begs and clamors, brain and muscle can not continue to act; and we also +know that unless the food is properly chosen, unless we eat it +properly, unless we maintain good digestion by exercise of mind and +body, it will not produce the speeches of a Gladstone or the allegories +of a Bunyan. + +Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Imagine a cistern which +would transform the foul sewage of a city into pure drinking water in a +second's time, as the black venous blood, foul with the ashes of +burned-up brain cells and debris of worn-out tissues, is transformed in +the lungs, at every breath, into pure, bright, red blood. Each drop of +blood from that magic stream of liquid life was compounded by a divine +Chemist. In it float all our success and destiny. In it are the +extensions and limits of our possibilities. In it are health and long +life, or disease and premature death. In it are our hopes and our +fears, our courage, our cowardice, our energy or lassitude, our +strength or weakness, our success or failure. In it are +susceptibilities of high or broad culture, or pinched or narrow +faculties handed down from an uncultured ancestry. From it our bones +and nerves, our muscles and brain, our comeliness or ugliness, all +come. In it are locked up the elements of a vicious or a gentle life, +the tendencies of a criminal or a saint. How important is it, then, +that we should obey the laws of health, and thus maintain the purity +and power of this our earthly River of Life! + +"We hear a great deal about the 'vile body,'" said Spencer, "and many +are encouraged by the phrase to transgress the laws of health. But +Nature quietly suppresses those who treat thus disrespectfully one of +her highest products, and leaves the world to be peopled by the +descendants of those who are not so foolish." + +Nature gives to him that hath. She shows him the contents of her vast +storehouse, and bids him take all he wants and be welcome. But she +will not let him keep for years what he does not use. Use or lose is +her motto. Every atom we do not utilize this great economist snatches +from us. + +If you put your arm in a sling and do not use it, Nature will remove +the muscle almost to the bone, and the arm will become useless, but in +exact proportion to your efforts to use it again she will gradually +restore what she took away. Put your mind in the sling of idleness, or +inactivity, and in like manner she will remove your brain, even to +imbecility. The blacksmith wants one powerful arm, and she gives it to +him, but reduces the other. You can, if you will, send all the energy +of your life into some one faculty, but all your other faculties will +starve. + +A young lady may wear tight corsets if she chooses, but Nature will +remove the rose from her cheek and put pallor there. She will replace +a clear complexion with muddy hues and sallow spots. She will take +away the elastic step, the luster from the eye. + +Don't expect to have health for nothing. Nothing in this world worth +anything can be had for nothing. Health is the prize of a constant +struggle. + +Nature passes no act without affixing a penalty for its violation. +Whenever she is outraged she will have her penalty, although it take a +life. + +A great surgeon stood before his class to perform a certain operation +which the elaborate mechanism and minute knowledge of modern science +had only recently made possible. With strong and gentle hand he did +his work successfully so far as his part of the terrible business went; +and then he turned to his pupils and said, "Two years ago a safe and +simple operation might have cured this disease. Six years ago a wise +way of life might have prevented it. We have done our best as the case +now stands, but Nature will have her word to say. She does not always +consent to the repeal of her capital sentences." Next day the patient +died. + +Apart from accidents, we hold our life largely at will. What business +have seventy-five thousand physicians in the United States? It is our +own fault that even one-tenth of them get a respectable living. What a +commentary upon our modern American civilization that three hundred and +fifty thousand people in this country die annually from absolutely +preventable diseases! Seneca said, "The gods have given us a long +life, but we have made it short." Few people know enough to become +old. It is a rare thing for a person to die of old age. Only three or +four out of a hundred die of anything like old age. But Nature +evidently intended, by the wonderful mechanism of the human body, that +we should live well up to a century. + +Thomas Parr, of England, lived to the age of one hundred and fifty-two +years. He was married when he was a hundred and twenty, and did not +leave off work until he was a hundred and thirty. The great Dr. Harvey +examined Parr's body, but found no cause of death except a change of +living. Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire, England, lived to be a hundred +and sixty-nine, and would probably have lived longer had not the king +brought him to London, where luxuries hastened his death. The court +records of England show that he was a witness in a trial a hundred and +forty years before his death. He swam across a rapid river when he was +a hundred. + +There is nothing we are more ignorant of than the physiology and +chemistry of the human body. Not one person in a thousand can +correctly locate important internal organs or describe their use in the +animal economy. + +What an insult to the Creator who fashioned them so wonderfully and +fearfully in His own image, that the graduates from our high schools +and even universities, and young women who "finish their education," +become proficient in the languages, in music, in art, and have the +culture of travel, but can not describe or locate the various organs or +functions upon which their lives depend! "The time will come," says +Frances Willard, "when it will be told as a relic of our primitive +barbarism that children were taught the list of prepositions and the +names of the rivers of Thibet, but were not taught the wonderful laws +on which their own bodily happiness is based, and the humanities by +which they could live in peace and goodwill with those about them." +Nothing else is so important to man as the study and knowledge of +himself, and yet he knows less of himself than he does of the beasts +about him. + +The human body is the great poem of the Great Author. Not to learn how +to read it, to spell out its meaning, to appreciate its beauties, or to +attempt to fathom its mysteries, is a disgrace to our civilization. + +What a price mortals pay for their ignorance, let a dwarfed, +half-developed, one-sided, short-lived nation answer. + +"A brilliant intellect in a sickly body is like gold in a spent +swimmer's pocket." + +Often, from lack of exercise, one side of the brain gradually becomes +paralyzed and deteriorates into imbecility. How intimately the +functions of the nervous organs are united! The whole man mourns for a +felon. The least swelling presses a nerve against a bone and causes +one intense agony, and even a Napoleon becomes a child. A corn on the +toe, an affection of the kidneys or of the liver, a boil anywhere on +the body, or a carbuncle, may seriously affect the eyes and even the +brain. The whole system is a network of nerves, of organs, of +functions, which are so intimately joined, and related in such close +sympathy, that an injury to one part is immediately felt in every other. + +Nature takes note of all our transactions, physical, mental, or moral, +and places every item promptly to our debit or credit. + +Let us take a look at a page in Nature's ledger:-- + + To damage to the heart in The "irritable heart," the + youth by immoderate athletics, "tobacco heart," a life of + tobacco chewing, cigarette promise impaired or blighted. + smoking, drinking strong tea + or coffee, rowing, running to + trains, overstudy, excitement, + etc. + + * * * * * * * * + + To one digestive apparatus Dyspepsia, melancholia, years + ruined, by eating hurriedly, by of misery to self, anxiety to + eating unsuitable or poorly one's family, pity and disgust + cooked food, by drinking ice of friends. + water when one is heated, + by swallowing scalding drinks, + especially tea, which forms + tannic acid on the delicate + lining of the stomach; or + by eating when tired or + worried, or after receiving bad + news, when the gastric juice + can not be secreted, etc. + + * * * * * * * * + + To one nervous system Years of weakness, disappointed + shattered by dissipation, abuses, ambition, hopeless inefficiency, + over-excitement, a fast life, _a burnt-out life_. + feverish haste to get riches or + fame, hastening puberty by + stimulating food, exciting life, + etc. + + * * * * * * * * + + To damage by undue mental Impaired powers of mind, + exertion by burning the softening of the brain, + "midnight oil," exhausting the blighted hopes. + brain cells faster than they + can be renewed. + + * * * * * * * * + + To overstraining the brain A disappointed ambition, a + trying to lead his class in life of invalidism. + college, trying to take a prize, + or to get ahead of somebody + else. + + * * * * * * * * + + To hardening the delicate A hardened brain, a hardened + and sensitive gray matter of conscience, a ruined + the brain and nerves, and home, Bright's disease, fatty + ruining the lining membranes of degeneration, nervous + the stomach and nervous degeneration, a short, + system by alcohol, opium, etc. useless, wasted life. + + * * * * * * * * + + By forced balances, here and Accounts closed. Physiological + there. and moral bankruptcy. + + +Sometimes two or three such items are charged to a single account. To +offset them, there is placed on the credit side a little feverish +excitement, too fleeting for calm enjoyment, followed by regret, +remorse, and shame. Be sure your sins will find you out. They are all +recorded. + + "The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices + Make instruments to scourge us." + + +It is a wonder that we live at all. We violate every law of our being, +yet we expect to live to a ripe old age. What would you think of a man +who, having an elegant watch delicately adjusted to heat and cold, +should leave it on the sidewalk with cases open on a dusty or a rainy +day, and yet expect it to keep good time? What would you think of a +householder who should leave the doors and windows of his mansion open +to thieves and tramps, to winds and dust and rain? + +What are our bodies but timepieces made by an Infinite Hand, wound up +to run a century, and so delicately adjusted to heat and cold that the +temperature will not vary half a degree between the heat of summer and +the cold of winter whether we live in the regions of eternal frost or +under the burning sun of the tropics? A particle of dust or the +slightest friction will throw this wonderful timepiece out of order, +yet we often leave it exposed to all the corroding elements. We do not +always keep open the twenty-five miles of ventilating pores in the skin +by frequent bathing. We seldom lubricate the delicate wheels of the +body with the oil of gladness. We expose it to dust and cinders, cold +and draughts, and poisonous gases. + +How careful we are to filter our water, air our beds, ventilate our +sleeping-rooms, and analyze our milk! We shrink from contact with +filth and disease. But we put paper colored with arsenic on our walls, +and daily breathe its poisonous exhalations. We frequent theaters +crowded with human beings, many of whom are uncleanly and diseased. We +sit for hours and breathe in upon fourteen hundred square feet of lung +tissue the heated, foul, and heavy air; carbonic acid gas from hundreds +of gas burners, each consuming as much oxygen as six people; air filled +with shreds of tissue expelled from diseased lungs; poisonous effluvia +exhaled from the bodies of people who rarely bathe, from clothing +seldom washed, fetid breaths, and skin disease in different stages of +development. For hours we sit in this bath of poison, and wonder at +our headache and lassitude next morning. + +We pour a glass of ice water into a stomach busy in the delicate +operation of digestion, ignorant or careless of the fact that it takes +half an hour to recover from the shock and get the temperature back to +ninety-eight degrees, so that the stomach can go on secreting gastric +juice. Then down goes another glass of water with similar results. + +We pour down alcohol which thickens the velvety lining of the stomach, +and hardens the soft tissues, the thin sheaths of nerves, and the gray +matter of the brain. We crowd meats, vegetables, pastry, +confectionery, nuts, raisins, wines, fruits, etc., into one of the most +delicately constructed organs of the body, and expect it to take care +of its miscellaneous and incongruous load without a murmur. + +After all these abuses we do not give the blood a chance to go to the +stomach and help it out of its misery, but summon it to the brain and +muscles, notwithstanding the fact that it is so important to have an +extra supply to aid digestion that Nature has made the blood vessels of +the alimentary canal large enough to contain several times the amount +in the entire body. + +Who ever saw a horse leave his oats and hay, when hungry, to wash them +down with water? The dumb beasts can teach us some valuable lessons in +eating and drinking. Nature mixes our gastric juice or pepsin and +acids in just the right proportion to digest our food, and keep it at +_exactly_ the right temperature. If we dilute it, or lower its +temperature by ice water, we diminish its solvent or digestive power, +and dyspepsia is the natural result. + +English factory children have received the commiseration of the world +because they were scourged to work fourteen hours out of the +twenty-four. But there is many a theoretical republican who is a +harsher taskmaster to his stomach than this; who allows it no more +resting time than he does his watch; who gives it no Sunday, no +holiday, no vacation in any sense, and who seeks to make his heart beat +faster for the sake of the exhilaration he can thus produce. + +Although the heart weighs a little over half a pound, yet it pumps +eighteen pounds of blood from itself, forcing it into every nook and +corner of the entire body, back to itself in less than two minutes. +This little organ, the most perfect engine in the world, does a daily +work equal to lifting one hundred and twenty-four tons one foot high, +and exerts one-third as much muscle power as does a stout man at hard +labor. If the heart should expend its entire force lifting its own +weight, it would raise itself nearly twenty thousand feet an hour, ten +times as high as a pedestrian can lift himself in ascending a mountain. +What folly, then, to goad this willing, hard-working slave to greater +exertions by stimulants! + +We must pay the penalty of our vocations. Beware of work that kills +the workman. Those who prize long life should avoid all occupations +which compel them to breathe impure air or deleterious gases, and +especially those in which they are obliged to inhale dust and filings +from steel and brass and iron, the dust in coal mines, and dust from +threshing machines. Stone-cutters, miners, and steel grinders are +short lived, the sharp particles of dust irritating and inflaming the +tender lining of the lung cells. The knife and fork grinders in +Manchester, England, rarely live beyond thirty-two years. Those who +work in grain elevators and those who are compelled to breathe chemical +poisons are short lived. + +Deep breathing in dusty places sends the particles of dust into the +upper and less used lobes of the lungs, and these become a constant +irritant, until they finally excite an inflammation, which may end in +consumption. All occupations in which arsenic is used shorten life. + +Dr. William Ogle, who is authority upon this subject, says, "Of all the +various influences that tend to produce differences of mortality in any +community, none is more potent than the character of the prevailing +occupations." Finding that clergymen and priests have the lowest +death-rate, he represented it as one hundred, and by comparison found +that the rate for inn and hotel servants was three hundred and +ninety-seven; miners, three hundred and thirty-one; earthenware makers, +three hundred and seventeen; file makers, three hundred; innkeepers, +two hundred and seventy-four; gardeners, farmers, and agricultural +laborers closely approximating the clerical standard. He gave as the +causes of high mortality, first, working in a cramped or constrained +attitude; second, exposure to the action of poisonous or irritating +substances; third, excessive work, mental or physical; fourth, working +in confined or foul air; fifth, the use of strong drink; sixth, +differences in liability to fatal accidents; seventh, exposure to the +inhalation of dust. The deaths of those engaged in alcoholic +industries were as one thousand five hundred and twenty-one to one +thousand of the average of all trades. + +It is very important that occupations should be congenial. Whenever +our work galls us, whenever we feel it to be a drudgery and +uncongenial, the friction grinds life away at a terrible rate. + +Health can be accumulated, invested, and made to yield its compound +interest, and thus be doubled and redoubled. The capital of health +may, indeed, be forfeited by one misdemeanor, as a rich man may sink +all his property in one bad speculation; but it is as capable of being +increased as any other kind of capital. + +One is inclined to think with a recent writer that it looks as if the +rich men kept out of the kingdom of heaven were also excluded from the +kingdom of brains. In New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago are +thousands of millionaires, some of them running through three or four +generations of fortune; and yet, in all their ranks, there is seldom a +man possessed of the higher intellectual qualities that flower in +literature, eloquence, or statesmanship. Scarcely one of them has +produced a book worth printing, a poem worth reading, or a speech worth +listening to. They are struck with intellectual sterility. They go to +college; they travel abroad; they hire the dearest masters; they keep +libraries among their furniture; and some of them buy works of art. +But, for all that, their brains wither under luxury, often by their own +vices or tomfooleries, and mental barrenness is the result. He who +violates Nature's law must suffer the penalty, though he have millions. +The fruits of intellect do not grow among the indolent rich. They are +usually out of the republic of brains. Work or starve is Nature's +motto; starve mentally, starve morally, even if you are rich enough to +prevent physical starvation. + +How heavy a bill Nature collects of him in whom the sexual instinct has +been permitted to taint the whole life with illicit thoughts and deeds, +stultifying the intellect, deadening the sensibilities, dwarfing the +soul! + + "I waive the quantum of the sin, + The hazard of concealing; + But och, it hardens all within, + And petrifies the feeling." + + +The sense of fatigue is one of Nature's many signals of danger. All we +accomplish by stimulating or crowding the body or mind when tired is +worse than lost. Insomnia, and sometimes even insanity, is Nature's +penalty for prolonged loss of sleep. + +One of the worst tortures of the Inquisition was that of keeping +victims from sleeping, often driving them to insanity or death. +Melancholy follows insomnia; insanity, both. To keep us in a healthy +condition, Nature takes us back to herself, puts us under the ether of +sleep, and keeps us there nearly one-third of our lives, while she +overhauls and repairs in secret our wonderful mechanism. She takes us +back each night wasted and dusty from the day's work, broken, scarred, +and injured in the great struggle of life. Each cell of the brain is +reburnished and refreshened; all the ashes or waste from the combustion +of the tissues is washed out into the blood stream, pumped to the +lungs, and thrown out in the breath; and the body is returned in the +morning as fresh and good as new. The American honey does not always +pay for the sting. + +Labor is the eternal condition on which the rich man gains an appetite +for his dinner, and the poor man a dinner for his appetite; but the +habit of constant, perpetual industry often becomes a disease. + +In the Norse legend, Allfader was not allowed to drink from Mirmir's +Spring, the fount of wisdom, until he had left his eye as a pledge. +Scholars often leave their health, their happiness, their usefulness +behind, in their great eagerness to drink deep draughts at wisdom's +fountain. Professional men often sacrifice everything that is valuable +in life for the sake of reputation, influence, and money. Business men +sacrifice home, family, health, happiness, in the great struggle for +money and power. The American prize, like the pearl in the oyster, is +very attractive, but is too often the result of disease. + +Charles Linnaeus, the great naturalist, so exhausted his brain by +over-exertion that he could not recognize his own work, and even forgot +his own name. Kirk White won the prize at Cambridge, but it cost him +his life. He studied at night and forced his brain by stimulants and +narcotics in his endeavor to pull through, but he died at twenty-four. +Paley died at sixty-two of overwork. He was called "one of the +sublimest spirits in the world." + +President Timothy Dwight of Yale College nearly killed himself by +overwork when a young man. When at Yale he studied nine hours, taught +six hours a day, and took no exercise whatever. He could not be +induced to stop until he became so nervous and irritable that he was +unable to look at a book ten minutes a day. His mind gave way, and it +was a long time before he fully recovered. + +Imagine the surprise of the angels at the death of men and women in the +early prime and vigor of life. Could we but read the notes of their +autopsies we might say less of mysterious Providence at funerals. They +would run somewhat as follows:-- + + +NOTES FROM THE ANGELS' AUTOPSIES. + +What, is it returned so soon?--a body framed for a century's use +returned at thirty?--a temple which was twenty-eight years in building +destroyed almost before it was completed? What have gray hairs, +wrinkles, a bent form, and death to do with youth? + +Has all this beauty perished like a bud just bursting into bloom, +plucked by the grim destroyer? Has she fallen a victim to +tight-lacing, over-excitement, and the gaiety and frivolity of +fashionable life? + +Here is an educated, refined woman who died of lung starvation. What a +tax human beings pay for breathing impure air! Nature provides them +with a tonic atmosphere, compounded by the divine Chemist, but they +refuse to breathe it in its purity, and so must pay the penalty in +shortened lives. They can live a long time without water, a longer +time without food, clothing, or the so-called comforts of life; they +can live without education or culture, but their lungs must have good, +healthful air-food twenty-four thousand times a day if they would +maintain health. Oh, that they would see, as we do, the intimate +connection between bad air, bad morals, and a tendency to crime! + +Here are the ruins of an idolized son and loving husband. Educated and +refined, what infinite possibilities beckoned him onward at the +beginning of his career! But the Devil's agent offered him +imagination, sprightliness, wit, eloquence, bodily strength, and +happiness in _eau de vie_, or "water of life," as he called it, at only +fifteen cents a glass. The best of our company tried to dissuade him, +but to no avail. The poor mortal closed his "bargain" with the +dramseller, and what did he get? A hardened conscience, a ruined home, +a diseased body, a muddled brain, a heartbroken wife, wretched +children, disappointed friends, triumphant enemies, days of remorse, +nights of anguish, an unwept deathbed, an unhonored grave. And only to +think that he is only one of many thousands! "What fools these mortals +be!" + +Did he not see the destruction toward which he was rushing with all the +feverish haste of slavish appetite? Ah, yes, but only when it was too +late. In his clenched hand, as he lay dead, was found a crumpled paper +containing the following, in lines barely legible so tremulous were the +nerves of the writer: "Wife, children, and over forty thousand dollars +all gone! I alone am responsible. All has gone down my throat. When +I was twenty-one I had a fortune. I am not yet thirty-five years old. +I have killed my beautiful wife, who died of a broken heart; have +murdered our children with neglect. When this coin is gone I do not +know how I can get my next meal. I shall die a drunken pauper. This +is my last money, and my history. If this bill comes into the hands of +any man who drinks, let him take warning from my life's ruin." + +What a magnificent specimen of manhood this would have been if his life +had been under the rule of reason, not passion! He dies of old age at +forty, his hair is gray, his eyes are sunken, his complexion sodden, +his body marked with the labels of his disease. A physique fit for a +god, fashioned in the Creator's image, with infinite possibilities, a +physiological hulk wrecked on passion's seas, and fit only for a danger +signal to warn the race. What would parents think of a captain who +would leave his son in charge of a ship without giving him any +instructions or chart showing the rocks, reefs, and shoals? Do they +not know that those who sleep in the ocean are but a handful compared +with those who have foundered on passion's seas? Oh, the sins of +silence which parents commit against those dearer to them than life +itself! Youth can not understand the great solicitude of parents +regarding their education, their associations, their welfare generally, +and the mysterious silence in regard to their physical natures. An +intelligent explanation, by all mothers to the daughters and by all +fathers to the sons, of the mysteries of their physical lives, when at +the right age, would revolutionize civilization. + +This young clergyman killed himself trying to be popular. This student +committed suicide by exhausting his brain in trying to lead his class. +This young lawyer overdrew his account at Nature's bank, and she +foreclosed by a stroke of paralysis. + +This merchant died at thirty-five by his own hand. His life was +slipping away without enjoyment. He had murdered his capacity for +happiness, and dug his own spiritual grave while making preparations +for enjoying life. This young society man died of nothing to do and +dissipation, at thirty. + +What a miserable farce the life of men and women seems to us! Time, +which is so precious that even the Creator will not give a second +moment until the first is gone, they throw away as though it were +water. Opportunities which angels covet they fling away as of no +consequence, and die failures, because they have "no chance in life." +Life, which seems so precious to us, they spurn as if but a bauble. +Scarcely a mortal returns to us who has not robbed himself of years of +precious life. Scarcely a man returns to us dropping off in genuine +old age, as autumn leaves drop in the forest. + +Has life become so cheap that mortals thus throw it away? + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +HABIT--THE SERVANT,--THE MASTER + +Habit, if wisely and skilfully formed, becomes truly a second +nature.--BACON. + + Habit, with its iron sinews, + Clasps and leads us day by day. + LAMARTINE. + +The chain of habit coils itself around the heart like a serpent, to +gnaw and stifle it.--HAZLITT. + +You can not, in any given case, by any sudden and single effort, will +to be true, if the habit of your life has been insincerity.--F. W. +ROBERTSON. + +It is a beautiful provision in the mental and moral arrangement of our +nature, that that which is performed as a duty may by frequent +repetition, become a habit; and the habit of stern virtue, so repulsive +to others, may hang around our neck like a wreath of flowers.--PAXTON +HOOD. + + +"When shall I begin to train my child?" asked a young mother of a +learned physician. + +"How old is the child?" inquired the doctor. + +"Two years, sir." + +"Then you have lost just two years," replied he, gravely. + +"You must begin with his grandmother," said Oliver Wendell Holmes, when +asked a similar question. + +"At the mouth of the Mississippi," says Beecher, "how impossible would +it be to stay its waters, and to separate from each other the drops +from the various streams that have poured in on either side,--of the +Red River, the Arkansas, the Ohio, and the Missouri,--or to sift, grain +by grain the particles of sand that have been washed from the +Alleghany, or the Rocky Mountains; yet how much more impossible would +it be when character is the river, and habits are the side-streams!" + +"We sow an act, we reap a habit; we sow a habit, we reap a character." + +While correct habits depend largely on self-discipline, and often on +self-denial, bad habits, like weeds, spring up, unaided and untrained, +to choke the plants of virtue and as with Canada thistles, allowed to +go to seed in a fair meadow, we may have "one day's seeding, ten years' +weeding." + +We seldom see much change in people after they get to be twenty-five or +thirty years of age, except in going further in the way they have +started; but it is a great comfort to think that, when one is young, it +is almost as easy to acquire a good habit as a bad one, and that it is +possible to be hardened in goodness as well as in evil. + +Take good care of the first twenty years of your life, and you may hope +that the last twenty will take good care of you. + +A writer on the history of Staffordshire tells of an idiot who, living +near a town clock, and always amusing himself by counting the hour of +the day whenever the clock struck, continued to strike and count the +hour correctly without its aid, when at one time it happened to be +injured by an accident. + +Dr. Johnson had acquired the habit of touching every post he passed in +the street; and, if he missed one, he was uneasy, irritable, and +nervous till he went back and touched the neglected post. + +"Even thought is but a habit." + +Heredity is a man's habit transmitted to his offspring. + +A special study of hereditary drunkenness has been made by Professor +Pellman of Bonn University, Germany. He thus traced the careers of +children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in all parts of the +present German Empire, until he was able to present tabulated +biographies of the hundreds descended from some original drunkard. +Notable among the persons described by Professor Pellman is Frau Ada +Jurke, who was born in 1740, and was a drunkard, a thief, and a tramp +for the last forty years of her life, which ended in 1800. Her +descendants numbered 834, of whom 709 were traced in local records from +youth to death. One hundred and six of the 709 were born out of +wedlock. There were 144 beggars, and 62 more who lived from charity. +Of the women, 181 led disreputable lives. There were in the family 76 +convicts, 7 of whom were sentenced for murder. In a period of some +seventy-five years, this one family rolled up a bill of costs in +almshouses, prisons, and correctional institutions amounting to at +least 5,000,000 marks, or about $1,250,000. + +Isaac Watts had a habit of rhyming. His father grew weary of it, and +set out to punish him, which made the boy cry out:-- + + "Pray, father, on me mercy take, + And I will no more verses make." + + +A minister had a bad habit of exaggeration, which seriously impaired +his usefulness. His brethren came to expostulate. With extreme +humiliation over this fault as they set it forth, he said, "Brethren, I +have long mourned over this fault, and I have shed _barrels of tears_ +because of it." They gave him up as incorrigible. + +Men carelessly or playfully get into habits of speech or act which +become so natural that they speak or act as they do not intend, to +their discomfiture. Professor Phelps told of some Andover students, +who, for sport, interchanged the initial consonants of adjacent words. +"But," said he, "retribution overtook them. On a certain morning, when +one of them was leading the devotions, he prayed the Lord to 'have +mercy on us, feak and weeble sinners.'" The habit had come to possess +him. + +Many speakers have undesirable habits of utterance or gesture. Some +are continually applying the hand to some part of the face, the chin, +the whiskers; some give the nose a peck with thumb and forefinger; +others have the habit characterized as,-- + + "Washing the hands with invisible soap + In a bowl of invisible water." + + +"We are continually denying that we have habits which we have been +practising all our lives," says Beecher. "Here is a man who has lived +forty or fifty years; and a chance shot sentence or word lances him, +and reveals to him a trait which he has always possessed, but which, +until now, he had not the remotest idea that he possessed. For forty +or fifty years he has been fooling himself about a matter as plain as +the nose on his face." + +Had the angels been consulted, whether to create man, with this +principle introduced, that, _if a man did a thing once, if would be +easier the second time, and at length would be done without effort_, +they would have said, "Create!" + +Remember that habit is an arrangement, a principle of human nature, +which we must use to increase the efficiency and ease of our work in +life. + +"Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful; make prudence +a habit, and reckless profligacy will be as contrary to the course of +nature in the child, or in the adult, as the most atrocious crimes are +to any of us." + +Out of hundreds of replies from successful men as to the probable cause +of failure, "bad habits" was in almost every one. + +How easy it is to be nobody; it is the simplest thing in the world to +drift down the stream, into bad company, into the saloon; just a little +beer, just a little gambling, just a little bad company, just a little +killing of time, and the work is done. + +New Orleans is from five to fifteen feet below high water in the +Mississippi River. The only protection to the city from the river is +the levee. In May, 1883, a small break was observed in the levee, and +the water was running through. A few bags of sand or loads of dirt +would have stopped the water at first; but it was neglected for a few +hours, and the current became so strong that all efforts to stop it +were fruitless. A reward of five hundred thousand dollars was offered +to any man who would stop it; but it was too late--it could not be done. + +Beware of "small sins" and "white lies." + +A man of experience says: "There are four good habits,--punctuality, +accuracy, steadiness, and dispatch. Without the first, time is wasted; +without the second, mistakes the most hurtful to our own credit and +interest, and those of others, may be committed; without the third, +nothing can be well done; and without the fourth, opportunities of +great advantage are lost, which it is impossible to recall." + +Abraham Lincoln gained his clear precision of statement of propositions +by practise, and Wendell Phillips his wonderful English diction by +always thinking and conversing in excellent style. + +"Family customs exercise a vast influence over the world. Children go +forth from the parent-nest, spreading the habits they have imbibed over +every phase of society. These can easily be traced to their sources." + +"To be sure, this is only a trifle in itself; but, then, the manner in +which I do every trifling thing is of very great consequence, because +it is just in these little things that I am forming my business habits. +I must see to it that I do not fail here, even if this is only a small +task." + +"A physical habit is like a tree grown crooked. You can not go to the +orchard, and take hold of a tree grown thus, and straighten it, and +say, 'Now keep straight!' and have it obey you. What can you do? You +can drive down a stake, and bind the tree to it, bending it back a +little, and scarifying the bark on one side. And if, after that, you +bend it back a little more every month, keeping it taut through the +season, and from season to season, at length you will succeed in making +it permanently straight. You can straighten it, but you can not do it +immediately; you must take one or two years for it." + +Sir George Staunton visited a man in India who had committed murder; +and in order not only to save his life, but what was of much greater +consequence to him, his caste, he had submitted to a terrible +penalty,--to sleep for seven years on a bed, the entire top of which +was studded with iron points, as sharp as they could be without +penetrating the flesh. Sir George saw him during the fifth year of his +sentence. His skin then was like the hide of a rhinoceros; and he +could sleep comfortably on his bed of thorns, and he said that at the +end of the seven years he thought he should use the same bed from +choice. What a vivid parable of a sinful life! Sin, at first a bed of +thorns, after a time becomes comfortable through the deadening of moral +sensibility. + +When the suspension bridge over Niagara River was to be erected, the +question was, how to get the cable over. With a favoring wind a kite +was elevated, which alighted on the opposite shores. To its +insignificant string a cord was attached, which was drawn over, then a +rope, then a larger one, then a cable; finally the great bridge was +completed, connecting the United States with Canada. + + First across the gulf we cast + Kite-borne threads till lines are passed, + And habit builds the bridge at last. + + +"Launch your bark on the Niagara River," said John B. Gough; "it is +bright, smooth, and beautiful, Down the stream you glide on your +pleasure excursion. Suddenly some one cries out from the bank, 'Young +men, ahoy!' 'What is it?' + +"'The rapids are below you.' 'Ha! ha! we have heard of the rapids, but +we are not such fools as to get there. If we go too fast, then we +shall up with the helm, and steer to the shore. Then on, boys, don't +be alarmed--there is no danger.' + +"'Young men, ahoy there!' 'What is it?' 'The rapids are below you!' +'Ha! ha! we will laugh and quaff. What care we for the future? No man +ever saw it. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. We will +enjoy life while we may, will catch pleasure as it flies. There's time +enough to steer out of danger.' + +"'Young men, ahoy!' 'What is it?' 'Beware! Beware! The rapids are +below you!' + +"Now you see the water foaming all around. See how fast you pass that +point! Up with the helm! Now turn! Pull hard! Quick, quick! Pull +for your lives! Pull till the blood starts from the nostrils, and the +veins stand like whip-cords upon the brow! Set the mast in the socket! +hoist the sail--ah! ah! it is too late! Shrieking, cursing, howling, +blaspheming, over you go. + +"Thousands go over the rapids every year, through the power of habit, +crying all the while, 'When I find out that it is injuring me, I will +give it up!'" + +A community is often surprised and shocked at some crime. The man was +seen on the street yesterday, or in his store, but he showed no +indication that he would commit such crime to-day. Yet the crime +committed to-day is but a regular and natural sequence of what the man +did yesterday and the day before. It was but a result of the fearful +momentum of all his past habits. + +A painter once wanted a picture of innocence, and drew from life the +likeness of a child at prayer. The little suppliant was kneeling by +his mother. The palms of his hands were reverently pressed together, +and his mild blue eyes were upturned with the expression of devotion +and peace. The portrait was much prized by the painter, who hung it up +on his wall, and called it "Innocence." Years passed away, and the +artist became an old man. Still the picture hung there. He had often +thought of painting a counterpart,--the picture of guilt,--but had not +found the opportunity. At last he effected his purpose by paying a +visit to a neighboring jail. On the damp floor of his cell lay a +wretched culprit heavily ironed. Wasted was his body, and hollow his +eyes; vice was visible in his face. The painter succeeded admirably; +and the portraits were hung side by side for "Innocence" and "Guilt." +The two originals of the pictures were discovered to be one and the +same person,--first, in the innocence of childhood! second, in the +degradation of guilt and sin and evil habits. + +Will-power can be so educated that it will focus the thought upon the +bright side of things, upon objects which lift and elevate. Habits of +contentment and goodness may be formed the same as any others. + +Walking upon the quarter-deck of a vessel, though at first intolerably +confining, becomes by custom so agreeable to a sailor that on shore he +often hems himself within the same bounds. Lord Kames tells of a man +who, having relinquished the sea for a country life, reared an +artificial mount, with a level summit, resembling a quarter-deck not +only in shape, but in size, where he generally walked. When Franklin +was superintending the erection of some forts on the frontier, as a +defense against the Indians, he slept at night in a blanket on a hard +floor; and, on his first return to civilized life, he could hardly +sleep in a bed. Captain Ross and his crew, having been accustomed, +during their polar wanderings, to lie on the frozen snow or a bare +rock, afterwards found the accommodations of a whaler too luxurious for +them, and the captain exchanged his hammock for a chair. + +Two sailors, who had been drinking, took a boat off to their ship. +They rowed but made no progress; and presently each began to accuse the +other of not working hard enough. Lustily they plied the oars, but +after another hour's work still found themselves no farther advanced. +By this time they had become tolerably sober; and one of them, looking +over the side, said to the other, "Why, Tom, we haven't pulled the +anchor up yet." And thus it is with those who are anchored to +something of which they are not conscious, perhaps, but which impedes +their efforts, even though they do their very best. + +"A youth thoughtless, when all the happiness of his home forever +depends on the chances or the passions of an hour!" exclaims Ruskin. +"A youth thoughtless, when his every act is a foundation-stone of +future conduct, and every imagination a fountain of life or death! Be +thoughtless in any after years, rather than now,--though, indeed, there +is only one place where a man may be nobly thoughtless,--his deathbed. +No thinking should ever be left to be done there." + +Sir James Paget tells us that a practised musician can play on the +piano at the rate of twenty-four notes a second. For each note a nerve +current must be transmitted from the brain to the fingers, and from the +fingers to the brain. Each note requires three movements of a finger, +the bending down and raising up, and at least one lateral, making no +less than seventy-two motions in a second, each requiring a distinct +effort of the will, and directed unerringly with a certain speed, and a +certain force, to a certain place. + +Some can do this easily, and be at the same time busily employed in +intelligent conversation. Thus, by obeying the law of habit until +repetition has formed a second nature, we are able to pass the +technique of life almost wholly over to the nerve centers, leaving our +minds free to act or enjoy. + +All through our lives the brain is constantly educating different parts +of the body to form habits which will work automatically from reflex +action, and thus is delegated to the nervous system a large part of +life's duties. This is nature's wonderful economy to release the brain +from the drudgery of individual acts, and leave it free to command all +its forces for higher service. + +Man's life-work is a masterpiece or a botch, according as each little +habit has been perfectly or carelessly formed. + +It is said that if you invite one of the devil's children to your home +the whole family will follow. So one bad habit seems to have a +relationship with all the others. For instance, the one habit of +negligence, slovenliness, makes it easier to form others equally bad, +until the entire character is honeycombed by the invasion of a family +of bad habits. + +A man is often shocked when he suddenly discovers that he is considered +a liar. He never dreamed of forming such a habit; but the little +misrepresentations to gain some temporary end, had, before he was aware +of it, made a beaten track in the nerve and brain tissue, until lying +has become almost a physical necessity. He thinks he can easily +overcome this habit, but he will not. He is bound to it with cords of +steel; and only by painful, watchful, and careful repetition of the +exact truth, with a special effort of the will-power at each act, can +he form a counter trunk-line in the nerve and brain tissue. Society is +often shocked by the criminal act of a man who has always been +considered upright and true. But, if they could examine the habit-map +in his nervous mechanism and brain, they would find the beginnings of a +path leading directly to his deed, in the tiny repetitions of what he +regarded as trivial acts. All expert and technical education is built +upon the theory that these trunk-lines of habit become more and more +sensitive to their accustomed stimuli, and respond more and more +readily. + +We are apt to overlook the physical basis of habit. Every repetition +of an act makes us more likely to perform that act, and discovers in +our wonderful mechanism a tendency to perpetual repetition, whose +facility increases in exact proportion to the repetition. Finally the +original act becomes voluntary from a natural reaction. + +It is cruel to teach the vicious that they can, by mere force of +will-power, turn "about face," and go in the other direction, without +explaining to them the scientific process of character-building, +through habit-formation. What we do to-day is practically what we did +yesterday; and, in spite of resolutions, unless carried out in this +scientific way, we shall repeat to-morrow what we have done to-day. +How unfortunate that the science of habit-forming is not known by +mothers, and taught in our schools, colleges, and universities! It is +a science compared with which other departments of education sink into +insignificance. The converted man is not always told that the great +battle is yet before him; that he must persistently, painfully, +prayerfully, and with all the will-power he possesses, break up the old +habits, and lay counter lines which will lead to the temple of virtue. +He is not told that, in spite of all his efforts, in some unguarded +moment, some old switch may be left open, some old desire may flash +along the line, and that, possibly before he is aware of it, he may +find himself yielding to the old temptation which he had supposed to be +conquered forever. + +An old soldier was walking home with a beefsteak in one hand and a +basket of eggs in the other, when some one yelled, "Halt! Attention!" +Instantly the veteran came to a stand; and, as his arms took the +position of "attention," eggs and meat went tumbling into the street, +the accustomed nerves responding involuntarily to the old stimulus. + +Paul evidently understood the force of habit. "I find, then," he +declares, "the law, that to me who would do good, evil is present. For +I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see a different +law in my members, warring against the law in my mind, and bringing me +into captivity, under the law of sin, which is in my members. O +wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this +death!" He referred to the ancient custom of binding a murderer face +to face with the dead body of his victim, until suffocated by its +stench and dissolution. + +"I would give a world, if I had it," said an unfortunate wretch, "to be +a true man; yet in twenty-four hours I may be overcome and disgraced +with a shilling's worth of sin." + + + "How shall I a habit break?" + As you did that habit make. + As you gathered, you must lose; + As you yielded, now refuse. + Thread by thread the strands we twist, + Till they bind us, neck and wrist; + Thread by thread the patient hand + Must untwine, ere free we stand; + As we builded, stone by stone, + We must toil unhelped, alone, + Till the wall is overthrown. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +THE CIGARETTE + +We are so accustomed to the sight and smell of tobacco that we entirely +overlook the fact that the tobacco of commerce in all its forms is the +product of a poisonous weed. It is first a narcotic and then an +irritant poison. It has its place in all toxicological classifications +together with its proper antidotes. + +Tobacco has not achieved its almost universal popularity without strong +opposition. In England King James launched his famous "Counterblaste" +against its use. In Turkey, where men and women are alike slaves to +its fascination, tobacco was originally forbidden under severe +penalties; the loss of the ears, the slitting of the nostrils and even +death itself being penalties imposed for the infraction of the law +forbidding the use of tobacco in any form. Since then pipes, cigars, +snuff and chewing tobacco have become popularized and tobacco in some +form or another is used by almost every nation. The last development +in the form of tobacco using was the cigarette rolled between the +fingers, and the worst form of the cigarette is the manufactured +article sold in cheap packages and freely used by boys who in many +cases have not reached their teens. + +The manufactured American cigarette seems to be especially deadly in +its effect. It is said to contain five and one-half per cent. of +nicotine, or more than twice as much as the Cuban-made cigarette +contains, and more than six times as much as is contained in the +Turkish cigarette. + +I am not going to quarrel with the use of tobacco in general by mature +men. He who has come to man's estate is free to decide for himself +whether he shall force a poison on his revolting stomach; for the +nausea that follows the first use of tobacco is the stomach's attempt +to eject the poison which has been absorbed from pipe, cigar, or +cigarette. The grown man, too, is able to determine whether he wants +to pay the tax which the use of tobacco levies upon his time, his +health, his income and his prosperity. The most that can be said of +the use of tobacco is that if habitual users of the narcotic weed are +successful in life they must be successful in spite of the use of +tobacco and not because of it; for it is opposed to both reason and +common sense that the habitual use of a poison in any form should +promote the development and exercise of the faculties whose energetic +use is essential to success. + +What I desire to do is to warn the boy, the growing youth, of the +baneful influence of the cigarette on minds yet unformed, on bodies yet +in process of development. + +The danger of the cigarette to the growing boy lies first in the fact +that it poisons the body. That it does not kill at the outset is due +to the fact that the dose is small and so slowly increased that the +body gradually accommodates itself to this poison as it does to +strychnine, arsenic, opium, and other poisons. But all the time there +is a slow but steady process of physical degeneration. The digestion +is affected, the heart is overtaxed, liver and bowels are deranged in +their functions, and as the poison spreads throughout the system there +is a gradual physical deterioration which is marked alike in the +countenance and in the carriage of the body. Any person who cares to +do so may prove for himself the poisonous nature of nicotine which is +derived from tobacco and taken into the system by those who chew or +smoke. + +Dr. J. J. Kellogg says: "A few months ago I had all the nicotine +removed from a cigarette, making a solution of it. I injected half the +quantity into a frog, with the effect that the frog died almost +instantly. The rest was administered to another frog with like effect. +Both frogs were full grown, and of average size. The conclusion is +evident that a single cigarette contains poison enough to kill two +frogs. A boy who smokes twenty cigarettes a day has inhaled enough +poison to kill forty frogs. Why does the poison not kill the boy? It +does tend to kill him. If not immediately, he is likely to die sooner +or later of weak heart, Bright's disease, or some other malady which +scientific physicians everywhere now recognize as a natural result of +chronic nicotine poisoning." + +A chemist, not long since, took the tobacco used in an average +cigarette and soaked it in several teaspoonfuls of water and then +injected a portion of it under the skin of a cat. The cat almost +immediately went into convulsions, and died in fifteen minutes. Dogs +have been killed with a single drop of nicotine. + +A single drop of nicotine taken from a seasoned pipe, and applied to +the tongue of a venomous snake has caused almost instant death. + +A Western farmer tried to rear a brood of motherless chickens in his +greenhouse. But the chickens did not thrive. They refused to eat; +their skins became dry and harsh; their feathers were ruffled; they +were feverish and drank constantly. Soon they began to die. As the +temperature and general condition of the greenhouse seemed to be +especially favorable to the rearing of chickens, the florist was +puzzled to determine the cause of their sickness and death. After a +careful study of the symptoms he found that the source of the trouble +arose from the fumes of the tobacco stems burned in the greenhouse to +destroy green flies and destructive plant parasites. Though the +chickens had always been removed from the greenhouse during the tobacco +fumigation and were not returned while any trace of smoke was apparent +to the human senses, it was evident that the soil, air, and leaves of +the plants retained enough of the poison to keep the chickens in a +condition of semi-intoxication. The conditions were promptly changed, +and the chickens removed to other quarters recovered rapidly and in a +short time were healthy and lively though they were stunted in growth +because of this temporary exposure to the effects of nicotine. The +symptoms in the chickens were almost identical with the symptoms of +nicotine poisoning in young boys, and the effects were relatively the +same. + +The most moderate use of the cigarette is injurious to the body and +mind of the youth; excessive indulgence leads inevitably to insanity +and death. + +A young man died in a Minnesota state institution not long ago, who, +five years before, had been one of the most promising young physicians +of the West. "Still under thirty years at the time of his commitment +to the institution," says the newspaper account of his story, "he had +already made three discoveries in nervous diseases that had made him +looked up to in his profession. But he smoked cigarettes,--smoked +incessantly. For a long time the effects of the habit were not +apparent on him. In fact, it was not until a patient died on the +operating table under his hands, and the young doctor went to pieces, +that it became known that he was a victim of the paper pipes. But then +he had gone too far. He was a wreck in mind as well as in body, and he +ended his days in a maniac's cell." + +Another unfortunate victim of the cigarette was, not long ago, taken to +the Brooklyn Hospital. He was a fireman on the railroad and was only +twenty-one years old. He said he began smoking cigarettes when a mere +boy. Before being taken to the hospital he smoked all night for weeks +without sleep. When in the hospital he recognized none, but called +loudly to everyone he saw to kill him. He would batter his head +against the wall in the attempt to commit suicide. At length he was +taken to the King's County Hospital in a strait jacket, where death +soon relieved him of his sufferings. + +Similar results are following the excessive use of cigarettes, every +day and in all sections of the country. + +"Died of heart failure" is the daily verdict on scores of those who +drop down at the desk or in the street. Can not this sudden taking +off, of apparently hale and sturdy men be related, oftentimes to the +heart weakness caused by the excessive use of tobacco and particularly +of cigarettes? + +Excessive cigarette smoking increases the heart's action very +materially, in some instances twenty-five or thirty beats a minute. +Think of the enormous amount of extra work forced upon this delicate +organ every twenty-four hours! The pulsations are not only greatly +increased but also very materially weakened, so that the blood is not +forced to every part of the system, and hence the tissues are not +nourished as they would be by means of fewer but stronger, more +vigorous pulsations. + +The indulgence in cigarettes stunts the growth and retards physical +development. An investigation of all the students who entered Yale +University during nine years shows that the cigarette smokers were the +inferiors, both in weight and lung capacity, of the non-smokers, +although they averaged fifteen months older. + +It has been said that the universal habit of smoking has made Germany +"a spectacled nation." Tobacco greatly irritates the eyes, and +injuriously affects the optic nerves. The eyes of boys who use +cigarettes to excess grow dull and weak, and every feature shows the +mark of the insidious poison. The face is pallid and haggard, the +cheeks hollow, the skin drawn, there is a loss of frankness of +expression, the eyes are shifty, the movements nervous and uncertain, +and all this is but preliminary to the ultimate degradation and loss of +self-respect which follow the victim of the cigarette habit, through +years of misery and failure. + +Side by side with physical deterioration there goes on a process of +moral degeneration which robs the cigarette smoking boy of refinement, +of manners. The moral depravity which follows cigarette habit is +appalling. Lying, cheating, swearing, impurity, loss of courage and +manhood, a complete dropping of life's standards, result from such +indulgence. + +Magistrate Crane, of New York City, says: "Ninety-nine out of a hundred +boys between the ages of ten and seventeen years who come before me +charged with crime have their fingers disfigured by yellow cigarette +stains--I am not a crank on this subject, I do not care to pose as a +reformer, but it is my opinion that cigarettes will do more than liquor +to ruin boys. When you have arraigned before you boys hopelessly deaf +through the excessive use of cigarettes, boys who have stolen their +sisters' earnings, boys who absolutely refuse to work, who do nothing +but gamble and steal, you can not help seeing that there is some direct +cause, and a great deal of this boyhood crime, is, in my mind, easy to +trace to the deadly cigarette. There is something in the poison of the +cigarette that seems to get into the system of the boy and to destroy +all moral fiber." + +He gives the following probable course of a boy who begins to smoke +cigarettes: "First, cigarettes. Second, beer and liquors. Third, +craps--petty gambling. Fourth, horse-racing--gambling on a bigger +scale. Fifth, larceny. Sixth, state prison." + +Another New York City magistrate says: "Yesterday I had before me +thirty-five boy prisoners. Thirty-three of them were confirmed +cigarette smokers. To-day, from a reliable source, I have made the +grewsome discovery that two of the largest cigarette manufacturers soak +their product in a weak solution of opium. The fact that out of +thirty-five prisoners thirty-three smoked cigarettes might seem to +indicate some direct connection between cigarettes and crime. And when +it is announced on authority that most cigarettes are doped with opium, +this connection is not hard to understand. Opium is like whisky,--it +creates an increasing appetite that grows with what it feeds upon. A +growing boy who lets tobacco and opium get a hold upon his senses is +never long in coming under the domination of whisky, too. Tobacco is +the boy's easiest and most direct road to whisky. When opium is added, +the young man's chance of resisting the combined forces and escaping +physical, mental, and moral harm is slim, indeed." + +I think the above statement regarding the use of opium by manufacturers +is exaggerated. Yet we know that young men of great natural ability, +everywhere, some of them in high positions, are constantly losing their +grip, deteriorating, dropping back, losing their ambition, their push, +their stamina, and their energy, because of the cigarette's deadly hold +upon them. + +Did you ever watch the gradual deterioration of the cigarette smoker, +the gradual withdrawal of manliness and character, the fading out of +purpose, the decline of ambition; the substitution of the beastly for +the manly, the decline of the divine and the ascendency of the brute? + +A very interesting study this, to watch the gradual withdrawal from the +face of all that was manly and clean, and all that makes for success. +We can see where purity left him and was gradually replaced by +vulgarity, and where he began to be cursed by commonness. + +We can see the point at which he could begin to do a bad job or a poor +day's work without feeling troubled about it. + +We can tell when he began to lose his great pride in his personal +appearance, when he began to leave his room in the morning and to go to +his work without being perfectly groomed. Only a little while before +he would have been greatly mortified to have been seen by his employers +and associates with slovenly dress; but now baggy trousers, unblackened +shoes, soiled linen, frayed neck-tie do not trouble him. + +He is not quite as conscientious about his work as he used to be. He +can leave a half-finished job, and cut his hours and rob his employer a +little here and there without being troubled seriously. He can write a +slipshod letter. He isn't particular about his spelling, punctuation, +or handwriting, as formerly. He doesn't mind a little deceit. + +Vulgarity no longer shocks him. He does not blush at the unclean test. +Womanhood is not as sacred to him as in his innocent days. He does not +reverence women as formerly; and he finds himself laughing at the +coarse jest and the common remarks about them among his associates, +when once he would have resented and turned away in disgust. + +Dr. Lewis Bremer, late physician at St. Vincent's Institute for the +Insane says, "Basing my opinion upon my experience gained in private +sanitariums and hospitals, I will broadly state that the boy who smokes +cigarettes at seven will drink whisky at fourteen, take morphine at +twenty-five, and wind up at thirty with cocaine and the rest of the +narcotics." + +The saddest effects of cigarette smoking are mental. The physical +signs of deterioration have their mental correspondencies. Sir William +Hamilton said: "There is nothing great in matter but man; there is +nothing great in man but mind." The cigarette smoker takes man's +distinguishing faculty and uncrowns it. He "puts an enemy in his mouth +to steal away his brains." + +Anything which impairs one's success capital, which cuts down his +achievement and makes him a possible failure when he might have been a +grand success, is a crime against him. Anything which benumbs the +senses, deadens the sensibilities, dulls the mental faculties, and +takes the edge off one's ability, is a deadly enemy, and there is +nothing else which effects all this so quickly as the cigarette. It is +said that within the past fifty years not a student at Harvard +University who used tobacco has been graduated at the head of his +class, although, on the average, five out of six use tobacco. + +The symptoms of a cigarette victim resembles those of an opium eater. +A gradual deadening, benumbing influence creeps all through the mental +and moral faculties; the standards all drop to a lower level; the whole +average of life is cut down, the victim loses that power of mental +grasp, the grip of mind which he once had. In place of his former +energy and vim and push, he is more and more inclined to take things +easy and to slide along the line of the least resistance. He becomes +less and less progressive. He dreams more and acts less. Hard work +becomes more and more irksome and repulsive, until work seems drudgery +to him. + +Professor William McKeever, of the Kansas Agricultural College, in the +course of his findings after an exhaustive study of "The Cigarette +Smoking Boy" presents facts which are as appalling as they are +undeniable: + +"For the past eight years I have been tracing out the cigarette boy's +biography and I have found that in practically all cases the lad began +his smoking habit clandestinely and with little thought of its +seriousness while the fond parents perhaps believed that their boy was +too good to engage in such practise. + +"I have tabulated reports of the condition of nearly 2,500 +cigarette-smoking schoolboys, and in describing them physically my +informants have repeatedly resorted to the use of such epithets as +'sallow,' 'sore-eyed,' 'puny,' 'squeaky-voiced,' 'sickly,' +'short-winded,' and 'extremely nervous.' In my tabulated reports it is +shown that, out of a group of twenty-five cases of young college +students, smokers, whose average age of beginning was 13, according to +their own admissions they had suffered as follows: Sore throat, four; +weak eyes, ten; pain in chest, eight; 'short wind,' twenty-one; stomach +trouble, ten; pain in heart, nine. Ten of them appeared to be very +sickly. The younger the boy, the worse the smoking hurts him in every +way, for these lads almost invariably inhale the fumes; and that is the +most injurious part of the practise." + +Professor McKeever made hundreds of sphygmograph records of boys +addicted to the smoking habit. Discussing what the records showed, he +says: + +"The injurious effects of smoking upon the boy's mental activities are +very marked. Of the many hundreds of tabulated cases in my possession, +several of the very youthful ones have been reduced almost to the +condition of imbeciles. Out of 2,336 who were attending public school, +only six were reported 'bright students.' A very few, perhaps ten, +were 'average,' and all the remainder were 'poor' or 'worthless' as +students. The average grades of fifty smokers and fifty non-smokers +were computed from the records of one term's work done in the Kansas +Agricultural college and the results favored the latter group with a +difference of 17.5 per cent. The two groups represented the same class +rank; that is, the same number of seniors, juniors, sophomores, and +freshmen." + +A thorough investigation of the effects of cigarette smoking on boys +has been carried on in one of the San Francisco schools for many +months. This investigation was ordered because a great many of the +boys were inferior to the girls, both mentally and morally. + +It was found that nearly three-fourths of the boys who smoked +cigarettes had nervous disorders, while only one of those who did not +smoke had any nervous symptoms. A great many of the cigarette smokers +had defective hearing, while only one of those who did not smoke was so +afflicted. A large percentage of the boys who smoked were defective in +memory, while only one boy who did not smoke was so affected. A large +portion of the boys who smoked were reported as low in deportment and +morals, while only a very small percentage of those who did not smoke +were similarly affected. It was found that the minds of many of the +cigarette smokers could not comprehend or grasp ideas as quickly or +firmly as those who did not smoke. Nearly all of the cigarette smokers +were found to be untidy and unclean in their personal appearance, and a +great many of them were truants; but among those who did not smoke not +a single boy had been corrected for truancy. Most of the smokers +ranked very low in their studies as compared with those who did not +smoke. Seventy-nine per cent. of them failed of promotion, while the +percentage of failure among those who did not smoke was exceedingly +small. + +Of twenty boy smokers who were under careful observation for several +months, nineteen stood below the average of the class, while only two +of those who did not smoke stood below. Seventeen out of the twenty +were very poor workers and seemed absolutely incapable of close or +continuous application to any of their studies. + +Professor Wilkinson, principal of a leading high school, says, "I will +not try to educate a boy with the cigarette habit. It is wasted time. +The mental faculties of the boy who smokes cigarettes are blunted." + +Another high school principal says, "Boys who smoke cigarettes are +always backward in their studies; they are filthy in their personal +habits, and coarse in their manners, they are hard to manage and dull +in appearance." + +It is apparent therefore that the cigarette habit disqualifies the +student mentally, that it retards him in his studies, dwarfs his +intellect, and leaves him far behind those of inferior mental equipment +who do not indulge in the injurious use of tobacco in any form. + +The mental, moral, and physical deterioration from the use of +cigarettes, has been noted by corporations and employers of labor +generally, until to-day the cigarette devotee finds himself barred from +many positions that are open to those of inferior capabilities, who are +not enslaved by the deadly habit. + +Cigarette smoking is no longer simply a moral question. The great +business world has taken it up as a deadly enemy of advancement, of +achievement. Leading business firms all over the country have put the +cigarette on the prohibited list. In Detroit alone, sixty-nine +merchants have agreed not to employ the cigarette user. In Chicago, +Montgomery Ward and Company, Hibbard, Spencer and Bartlett, and some of +the other large concerns have prohibited cigarette smoking among all +employees under eighteen years of age. Marshall Field and Company, and +the Morgan and Wright Tire Company have this rule: "No cigarettes can +be smoked by our employees." One of the questions on the application +blanks at Wanamaker's reads: "Do you use tobacco or cigarettes?" + +The superintendent of the Linden Street Railway, of St. Louis, says: +"Under no circumstances will I hire a man who smokes cigarettes. He is +as dangerous on the front of a motor as a man who drinks. In fact, he +is more dangerous; his nerves are apt to give way at any moment. If I +find a car running badly, I immediately begin to investigate to find if +the man smokes cigarettes. Nine times out of ten he does, and then he +goes, for good." + +The late E. H. Harriman, head of the Union Pacific Railroad system, +used to say that they "might as well go to a lunatic asylum for their +employees as to hire cigarette smokers." The Union Pacific Railroad +prohibits cigarette smoking among its employees. + +The New York, New Haven, and Hartford, the Chicago, Rock Island, and +Pacific, the Lehigh Valley, the Burlington, and many others of the +leading railroad companies of this country have issued orders +positively forbidding the use of cigarettes by employees while on duty. + +Some time ago, twenty-five laborers working on a bridge were discharged +by the roadmasters of the West Superior, Wisconsin Railroad because of +cigarette smoking. The Pittsburg and Western Railroad which is part of +the Baltimore and Ohio system, gave orders forbidding the use of +cigarettes by its employees on passenger trains and also notified +passengers that they must not smoke cigarettes in their coaches. + +In the call issued for the competitive examination for messenger +service in the Chicago Post-office, sometime since, seven hundred +applicants were informed that only the best equipped boys were wanted +for this service, and that under no circumstances would boys who smoked +cigarettes be employed. Other post-offices have taken a similar stand. + +If some one should present you with a most delicately adjusted +chronometer,--one which would not vary a second in a year--do you think +it would pay you to trifle with it, to open the case in the dust, to +leave it out in the rain overnight, or to put in a drop of glue or a +chemical which would ruin the delicacy of its adjustment so that it +would no longer keep good time? Would you think it wise to take such +chances? + +But the Creator has given you a matchless machine, so delicately and +wondrously made that it takes a quarter of a century to bring it to +perfection, to complete growth, and yet you presume to trifle with it, +to do all sorts of things which are infinitely worse than leaving your +watch open out of doors overnight, or even in water. + +The great object of the watch is to keep time. The supreme purpose of +this marvelous piece of human machinery is power. The watch means +nothing except time. If the human machinery does not produce power, it +is of no use. + +The merest trifle will prevent the watch from keeping time; but you +think that you can put anything into your human machinery, that you can +do all sorts of irrational things with it, and yet you expect it to +produce power--to keep perfect time. It is important that the human +machine shall be kept as responsive to the slightest impression or +influence as possible, and the brain should be kept clear so that the +thought may be sharp, biting, gripping, so that the whole mentality +will act with efficiency. And yet you do not hesitate to saturate the +delicate brain-cells with vile drinks, to poison them with nicotine, to +harden them with smoke from the vilest of weeds. You expect the man to +turn out as exquisite work, to do the most delicate things to retain +his exquisite sense of ability notwithstanding the hardening, the +benumbing influence of cigarette poisoning. + +Let the boy or youth who is tempted to indulge in the first cigarette +ask himself--Can I afford to take this enormous risk? Can I jeopardize +my health, my strength, my future, my all, by indulging in a practise +which has ruined tens of thousands of promising lives? + +Let the youth who is tempted say, "No! I will wait until mind and body +are developed, until I have reached man's estate before I will begin to +use tobacco." Experience proves that those who reach a robust manhood +are rarely willing to sacrifice health and happiness to the cigarette +habit. + +Many years ago an eminent physician and specialist in nervous diseases +put himself on record as holding the firm belief that the evil effects +of the use of tobacco were more lasting and far reaching than the +injurious consequences that follow the excessive use of alcohol. Apart +from affections of the throat and cancerous diseases of lips and tongue +which frequently affect smokers there is a physical taint which is +transmitted to offspring which handicaps the unfortunate infant "from +its earliest breath." + +The only salvation of the race, said this physician, lay in the fact +that women did not smoke. If they too acquired the tobacco habit +future generations would be stamped by the degeneracy and depravity +which follow the use of tobacco as surely as they follow the use of +alcohol. + +In view of these facts the increase of cigarette smoking among women +may well alarm those who have at heart the wellbeing of the rising +generation. So rapidly has this habit spread that fashionable hotels +and cafes are providing rooms for the especial use of those women who +like to indulge in an after-dinner cigarette. A noted restaurant in +New York recently added an annex to which ladies with their escorts +might retire and smoke. We often see women smoking in New York hotels +and restaurants. + +Not long ago the writer was a guest at a dinner and to his surprise +several ladies at the table lighted their cigarettes with as much +composure as if it were the most natural thing in the world. + +At a reception recently, I saw the granddaughter of one of America's +greatest authors smoking cigarettes. + +What a spectacle, to see a descendant so nearly removed from one of +Nature's grandest noblemen, a princely gentleman, smoking! And I said +to myself, "What would her grandfather think if he could see this?" + +On a train running between London and Liverpool, a compartment +especially reserved for women smokers has been provided. It is said +that three American women were the cause of this innovation. The +superintendent of one of our largest American railways says that he +would not be surprised if the American roads were compelled to follow +the lead of their English brethren. + +It is not unreasonable to suppose that this addiction to the use of +tobacco is in many cases inherited. A friend told me of a very +charming young woman who was passionately devoted to tobacco. At a +time when it was not usual for women to smoke in public her craving for +a cigarette was so strong that she could not deny herself the +indulgence. She said her father, a deacon in the church, had been an +inveterate smoker, and her love of tobacco dated back to her earliest +remembrance. Every woman should use the uttermost of her influence to +discourage the use of the cigarette and enlist the girls as well as +boys in her fight against the evil and injurious practise of cigarette +smoking. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE POWER OF PURITY + +Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.--SERMON ON THE +MOUNT. + + My strength is as the strength of ten + Because my heart is pure. + TENNYSON. + +Virtue alone raises us above hopes, fears, and chances.--SENECA. + + Even from the body's purity the mind + Receives a secret sympathetic aid. + THOMSON. + + +Purity is a broad word with a deep meaning. It denotes far more than +superficial cleanness. It goes below the surface of guarded speech and +polite manners to the very heart of being. "Out of the heart are the +issues of life." Make the fountain clean and the waters that flow from +it will be pure and limpid. Make the heart clean and the life will be +clean. + +Purity is defined as "free from contact with that which weakens, +impairs or pollutes." How forceful then is the converse of the +definition: Impurity weakens, impairs, and pollutes. It weakens both +mind and body. It impairs the health. It pollutes not only the +thoughts but the conduct which inevitably has its beginning and its end +in thought. + +Innocence is the state of natural purity. It was the state of Adam and +Eve in the Garden of Eden. When they sinned "they knew that they were +naked." They lost innocence never to regain it. But purity may be +attained. As an unclean garment may be washed, so the heart may be +purified and made clean. Ghosts of past impurities still may dog us, +but they are ghosts that may be laid with an imperative "Get thee +behind me, Satan." They are like the lions that affrighted Bunyan's +pilgrim--chained securely. They may roar and threaten, but they are +powerless if we deny their power. The man who is striving for purity +whole-heartedly is like one who sits safely in a guarded house. Old +memories of evil things like specters may peer in at the windows and +mow and gibber at him, but they can not touch him unless he gives them +power, unless he unlocks the door of his heart and bids them enter. + +As the lotus flower grows out of the mud, so may purity and beauty +spring up from even the vilest past if we but will it so. + +As purity is power so impurity is impotence, weakness, degeneracy. +Many a man goes on in an impure career thinking himself secure, +thinking his secret hidden. But impurity, like murder, will out. +There was a noted pugilist who was unexpectedly defeated in a great +ring battle. People said the fight was a "fake," that it was a "put up +job." But those who knew said "impurity." He had lived an evil, +debauched life for several years, and he went into the ring impaired in +strength, weakened by his transgressions of the law of pure living. +Purity is power; impurity is weakness. + +There is a saying of Scripture which is absolutely scientific: "Be sure +your sin will find you out." Note this; it is not that your sin will +be found out, but _your_ sin will find _you_ out. Sin recoils on the +sinner, and of all sins that surely find us out, the sins against +purity are the most certain to bring retribution. + +Young men do not think that listening to an off-color story, or +anything that is vulgar, can injure them much, and, for fear of +ridicule, they laugh when they hear anything of the kind, even when it +is repulsive to them, and when they loathe it. It is a rare thing for +a young man to express with emphasis his disapproval. To know life +properly is to know the best in it, not the worst. No one ever yet was +made stronger by his knowledge of impurity or experience in sin. + +_It is said that the mind's phonograph will faithfully reproduce a bad +story even up to the point of death_. Do not listen once. You can +never get the stain entirely out of your life. Your character will +absorb the poison. Impurity is especially fatal in its grip upon the +young, because of the vividness of the youthful imagination and the +facility with which insinuating suggestions enter the youthful thought. + +Our court records show that a very large percentage of criminals began +their downfall through the fatal contagion of impurity communicated +from various associations. + +Remember that you can not tell what may come to you in the future, what +honor or promotion; and you can not afford to take chances upon having +anything in your history which can come up to embarrass you or to keep +you back. A thing which you now look upon as a bit of pleasure may +come up in the future to hamper your progress. The thing you do to-day +while trying to have a good time may come up to block your progress +years afterwards. + +I know men who have been thrust into positions of honor and public +trust who would give anything in the world if they could blot out some +of the unclean experiences of their youth. Things in their early +history, which they had forgotten all about and which they never +expected to hear from again, are raked up when they become candidates +for office or positions of trust. These forgotten bits of so-called +pleasure loom up in after-life as insurmountable bars across their +pathway. + +I know a very rich young man who thought he was just having a good time +in his youth--sowing his wild oats--who would give a large part of his +vast wealth to-day if he could blot out a few years of his folly. + +It seems strange that men will work hard to build a reputation, and +then throw it all away by some weakness in their character. How many +men there are in this country with great brain power, men who are kings +in their specialties, men who have worked like slaves to achieve their +aims, whose reputations have been practically ruined by the flaw of +impurity! + +Character is a record of our thoughts and acts. That which we think +about most, the ideals and motives uppermost in our mind, are +constantly solidifying into character. What we are constantly thinking +about, and aiming toward and trying to obtain becomes a permanent part +of the life. + +The man whose thoughts are low and impure, very quickly gives this bent +and tendency to his character. + +The character levels itself with the thought, whether high or low. No +man can have a pure, clean character who does not habitually have pure, +clean thoughts. The immoral man is invariably an impure +thinker--whatever we harbor in the mind out-pictures itself in the body. + +In Eastern countries the leper is compelled to cry, "Unclean, unclean," +upon the approach of any one not so cursed. What a blessing to +humanity if our modern moral lepers were compelled to cry, "Unclean, +unclean," before they approach innocent victims with their deadly +contagion! + +About the vilest thing on earth is a human being whose character is so +tainted with impurity that he leaves the slimy trail of the serpent +wherever he goes. + +There never was a more beautiful and pathetic prayer than that of the +poor soiled, broken-hearted Psalmist in his hour of shame, "Create in +me a clean heart." "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, who +shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure +heart." There are thousands of men who would cut off their right hands +to-day to be free from the stain, the poison, of impurity. + +There can be no lasting greatness without purity. Vice honeycombs the +physical strength as well as destroys the moral fiber. Now and again +some man of note topples with a crash to sudden ruin. Yet the cause of +the moral collapse is not sudden. There has been a slow undermining of +virtue going on probably for years; then, in an hour when honor, truth, +or honesty is brought to a crucial test, the weakened character gives +way and there is an appalling commercial or social crash which often +finds an echo in the revolver shot of the suicide. + +Tennyson shows the effect of Launcelot's guilty love for Guinevere, in +the great knight's conscious loss of power. His wrongful passion +indirectly brought about the death of fair Elaine. He himself at times +shrank from puny men wont to go down before the shadow of his spear. +Like a scarlet blot his sin stains all his greatness, and he muses on +it remorsefully: + + "For what am I? What profits me my name + Of greatest knight? I fought for it and have it. + Pleasure to have it, none; to lose it pain; + Now grown a part of me: but what use in it? + To make men worse by making my sin known? + Or sin seem less, the sinner seeming great?" + + +Later when the knights of the Round Table joined in the search for the +Holy Grail, that lost sacred vessel, + + "The cup, the cup itself from which our Lord + Drank at the last sad supper with his own," + +Launcelot was overtaken by his sin and failed ignominiously. Only +Galahad the Pure was permitted to see the cup unsurrounded by a +blinding glory, a fearful splendor of watching eyes and guarding shapes. + +No one is quite the same in his own estimation when he has been once +guilty of contact with impurity. His self-respect has suffered a loss. +Something has gone out of his life. His own good opinion of himself +has suffered deterioration, and he can never face his life-task with +quite the same confidence again. Somehow he feels that the world will +know of his soul's debauch and judge him accordingly. + +There is nothing which will mar a life more quickly than the +consciousness of a soul-stain. The loss of self-respect, the loss of +character, is irreparable. + +We are beginning to find that there is an intimate connection between +absolute purity _of one's thought and life and his good health, good +thinking, and good work_, a very close connection between the moral +faculties and the physical health; that nothing so exhausts vitality +and vitiates the quality of work and ideals, so takes the edge off of +one's ambition, dulls the brain and aspiration, as impurity of thought +and life. It seems to blight all the faculties and to demoralize the +whole man, so that his efficiency is very much lessened. He does not +speak with the same authority. The air of the conqueror disappears +from his manner. He does not think so clearly; he does not act with so +great certainty, and his self-faith is lost, because confidence is +based upon self-respect, and he can no longer respect himself when he +does things which he would not respect in another. + +The fact that his impure acts are done secretly makes no difference. +No one can thoroughly respect himself when he does that which +demoralizes him, which is unbecoming a gentleman, no matter whether +other people know it or not. Impurity blights everything it touches. + +It is not enough to be thought pure and clean and sound. One must +actually _be_ pure and clean and sound morally, or his self-respect is +undermined. + +_Purity is power because it means integrity of thought, integrity of +conduct_. _It means wholeness_. The impure man can not be a great +power, because he can not thoroughly believe in himself when conscious +that he is rotten in any part of his nature. Impurity works like +leaven, which affects everything in a man. The very consciousness that +the impurity is working within him robs him of power. + +Apart from the moral side of this question, let us show how these +things affect one's success in life by sapping the energies, weakening +the nature, lowering one's standards, blurring one's ideals, +discouraging one's ambition, and lessening one's vitality and power. + +In the last analysis of success, the mainspring of achievement must +rest in the strength of one's vitality, for, without a stock of health +equal to great emergencies and persistent longevity, even the greatest +ambition is comparatively powerless. And there is nothing that will +sap the life-forces so quickly as dissipation and impure living. + +Is there anything truer than that "To be carnally minded is death?" If +the thought is carnal, the body must correspond, must express it in +some physical discord. + +Nothing else will destroy the very foundations of vitality quicker than +impurity of thought and animal self-indulgence. The ideals must be +kept bright and the ambition clean-cut. + +Purity of thought means that the mental processes are not clouded, +muddy, or clogged by brain ash from a dissipated life, from violation +of the laws of health. Pure thought comes from pure blood, and pure +blood from a clean, sane life. Purity signifies a great deal besides +freedom from sensual taint. It means saneness, purity, and quality. + +It has been characteristic of great leaders, men whose greatness has +stood the acid test of time, that they have been virtuous in conduct, +pure in thought. + +"I have such a rich story that I want to tell you," said an officer, +who one evening came into the Union camp in a rollicking mood. "There +are no ladies present, are there?" + +General Grant, lifting his eyes from the paper which he was reading, +and looking the officer squarely in the eye, said slowly and +deliberately: + +"No, but there are gentlemen present." + +"A great trait of Grant's character," said George W. Childs, "was his +purity. I never heard him express an impure thought, or make an +indelicate allusion in any way or shape. There is nothing I ever heard +him say that could not be repeated in the presence of women. If a man +was brought up for an appointment, and it was shown that he was an +immoral man, Grant would not appoint him, no matter how great the +pressure brought to bear." + +On one occasion, when Grant formed one of a dinner-party of Americans +in a foreign city, conversation drifted into references to questionable +affairs, when he suddenly rose and said, "Gentlemen, please excuse me, +I will retire." + +It is the glory of a man to have clean lips and a clean mind. It is +the glory of a woman not to know evil, even in her thoughts. + +Isaac Newton's most intimate friend in young manhood was a noted +foreign chemist. They were constant associates until one day the +Italian told an impure story, after which Newton never would associate +with him. + +"My extreme youth, when I took command of the army of Italy," said +Napoleon, "rendered it necessary that I should evince great reserve of +manners and the utmost severity of morals. This was indispensable to +enable me to sustain authority over men so greatly my superiors in age +and experience. I pursued a line of conduct in the highest degree +irreproachable and exemplary. In spotless morality I was a Cato, and +must have appeared such to all. I was a philosopher and a sage. My +supremacy could be retained only by proving myself a better man than +any other man in the army. Had I yielded to human weakness, I should +have lost my power." + +The military antagonist and conqueror of Napoleon, the Duke of +Wellington, was a man of simple life and austere virtue. When he was +laid to rest in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, "in streaming +London's central roar," the poet who wrote his funeral ode was able to +say of him: + + "Whatever record leap to light + He never shall be shamed." + + +The peril of impurity lies in the insidiousness of the poison. Just +one taint of impurity, one glance at a lewd picture, one hearing of an +unclean story may begin the fatal corruption of mind and heart. + + "It is the little rift within the lute + That by and by will make the music mute, + The little rift within the lover's lute + Or little pitted speck in garnered fruit + That rotting inward slowly molders all." + + +When Bunyan's pilgrim was assailed by temptation he stopped his ears +with his fingers and fled for his life. Let the young man who values +himself, who sets store upon health and has ambition to succeed in his +chosen career, be deaf to unclean speech and flee the companionship of +those who think and speak uncleanness. + +It is the experience of every man who has forsaken vice and turned his +feet into the paths of virtue that evil memories will, in his holiest +hours, leap upon him like a lion from ambush. Into the harmony of the +hymn he sings memory will interpolate unbidden, the words of some +sensual song. Pictures of his debauches, his past licentiousness, will +fill his vision, and the unhappy victim can only beat upon his breast +and cry, "Me miserable! Whither shall I flee?" This has been, through +all time, the experience of the men that have sought sanctity in +seclusion. The saints, the hermits in their caves, the monks in their +cells, could never escape the obsessions of memory which with horrible +realism and scorching vividness revived past scenes of sin. + +A boy once showed to another a book of impure words and pictures. He +to whom the book was shown had it in his hands only a few minutes. In +after-life he held high office in the church, and years and years +afterwards told a friend that he would give half he possessed had he +never seen it, because its impure images, at the most holy times, would +arise unbidden to his mind. + +Physicians tell us that every particle of the body changes in a very +few years; but no chemistry, human or divine, can entirely expunge from +the mind a bad picture. Like the paintings buried for centuries in +Pompeii, without the loss of tint or shade, these pictures are as +brilliant in age as in youth. + +Association begets assimilation. We can not mix with evil associations +without being contaminated; can not touch pitch without being defiled. +Impurity is especially fatal in its grip upon the young, because of the +vividness of the youthful imagination and the facility with which +insinuating suggestions enter the youthful thought. + +Indelible and satanic is the taint of the evil suggestive power which a +lewd, questionable picture or story leaves upon the mind. Nothing else +more fatally mars the ideals of life and lowers the standard of manhood +and womanhood. + +To read writers whose lines express the utmost possible impurity so +dexterously and cunningly that not a vulgar word is used, but rosy, +glowing, suggestive language--authors who soften evil and show +deformity with the tints of beauty--what is this but to take the feet +out of the straight road into the guiltiest path of seduction? + +Very few realize the power of a diseased imagination to ruin a precious +life. Perhaps the defect began in a little speck of taint. No other +faculty has such power to curse or bless mankind, to build up or tear +down, to ennoble or debauch, to make happy or miserable, or has such +power upon our destiny, as the imagination. + +Many a ruined life began its downfall in the dry rot of a perverted +imagination. How little we realize that by subtle, moral manufacture, +repeated acts of the imagination weave themselves into a mighty +tapestry, every figure and fancy of which will stand out in living +colors in the character-web of our lives, to approve or condemn us. + +In many cases where, for no apparent reason, one is making failure +after failure, never reaching, even approximately, the position which +was anticipated for him, if he would look frankly into his own heart, +and searchingly at his own secret habits, he would find that which, +hidden, like the worm at the heart of the rose, is destroying and +making impossible all that ennobles, beautifies, and enriches life. + +"I solemnly warn you," says Beecher, "against indulging a morbid +imagination. In that busy and mischievous faculty begins the evil. +Were it not for his airy imagination, man might stand his own +master,--not overmatched by the worst part of himself. But ah! these +summer reveries, these venturesome dreams, these fairy castles, builded +for no good purposes,--they are haunted by impure spirits, who will +fascinate, bewitch, and corrupt you. Blessed are the pure in heart. +Blessed art thou, most favored of God, whose THOUGHTS are chastened; +whose imagination will not breathe or fly in tainted air, and whose +path hath been measured by the golden reed of purity." + +To be pure in heart is the youth's first great commandment. Do not +listen to men who tell you that "vice is a necessity." Nothing is a +necessity that is wrong,--that debauches self-respect. "All wickedness +is weakness." Vice and vigor have nothing in common. Purity is +strength, health, power. + +Do not imagine that impurity can be hidden! One may as well expect to +have consumption or any other deadly disease, and to look and appear +healthy, as to be impure in thought and mind, and to look and appear +manly and noble souled. Character writes its record in the flesh. + +"No, no, these are not trifles," said George Whitefield, when a friend +asked why he was so particular to bathe frequently, and always have his +linen scrupulously clean; "a minister must be without spot, even in his +garments." Purity in a good man can not be carried too far. + +There is a permanency in the stamp left by the sins resulting from +impure thought that follows even to the grave. Diseases unnameable, +the consequences of the Scarlet Sin, the following after the "strange +woman," write their record in the very bones, literally fulfilling the +Scripture statement--"Their sins shall lie down with their bones in the +dust." + +We often detect in the eye and in the manner the black leper spots of +impurity long before the youth suspects they have ever been noticed. +When there is a scar or a stain upon one's self-respect it is bound to +appear on the surface sooner or later. What fearful blots and stains +are left on the characters of those who have to fight for a lifetime to +rid themselves of a blighting and contaminating influence, moral or +physical! + +Chemists tell us that scarlet is the only color which can not be +bleached. There is no known chemical which can remove it. So, +formerly, scarlet rags were made into blotting paper. When the sacred +writer wished to emphasize the power of Divine forgiveness, of Divine +love, he said: "Even though thy sins be as scarlet, they shall be made +white as wool!" It certainly takes omnipotent power to expunge +impurity from the mind. There is certainly one sin which only Divine +power can bleach out of the character--the sin of impurity. + +No man can think much of himself when he is conscious of impurity +anywhere in his life. And the very knowledge that one is absolutely +pure in his thought and clean in his life increases his self-respect +and his self-faith wonderfully. + +It is a terrible handicap to be conscious that, however much others may +think of us, we are foul inside, that our thoughts are vile. It does +not matter that our vicious acts are secret, we can not cover them. + +Whatever we have thought or done will outpicture itself in the +expression, in the bearing. It will be hung out upon the bulletin +board of the face and manner for the world to read. We instinctively +feel a person's reality; not what he pretends, but what he is, for we +radiate our reality, which often contradicts our words. + +There is only one panacea for impurity. Constant occupation and pure, +high thinking are absolutely necessary to a clean life. + +"I should be a poor counselor of young men," wrote a true friend of +youth, "if I taught you that purity is possible only by isolation from +the world. We do not want that sort of holiness which can thrive only +in seclusion; we want that virile, manly purity which keeps itself +unspotted from the world, even amid its worst debasements, just as the +lily lifts its slender chalice of white and gold to heaven, untainted +by the soil in which it grows, though that soil be the reservoir of +death and putrefaction." + +Impurity is the forfeiture of manliness. The true man must be +untarnished. James went so far as to declare that this is just what +religion is. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is +this * * to keep himself unspotted from the world." + +Every true man shrinks from uncleanness. He knows what it means. +Impurity makes lofty friendships impossible. It robs all of life's +intercourse of its freshness and its joyous innocence. It sullies all +beauty. It does these things chiefly because it separates men from God +and His vision. The best and holiest is barred to the stained man. +Impurity makes it impossible for him to appreciate what is pure and +fine, dulls his finer perceptions, and he is not given the place where +only pure and fine things are. + +[Illustration: Helen Keller] + +There can be no such thing as an impure gentleman. The two words +contradict each other. A gentleman must be pure. He need not have +fine clothes. He may have had few advantages. But he must be pure and +clean. And, if he have all outward grace and gift and be inwardly +unclean, though he may call himself a gentleman, he is a liar and a lie. + +O, young man, guard your heart-purity! Keep innocency! Never lose it; +if it be gone, you have lost from the casket the most precious gift of +God. The first purity of imagination, of thought, and of feeling, if +soiled, can be cleansed by no fuller's soap. If a harp be broken, art +may repair it; if a light be quenched, the flame may kindle it; but if +a flower be crushed, what art can repair it? If an odor be wafted +away, who can collect or bring it back? + +Parents are, in many cases, responsible for the impurity of their +children. Through a mistaken sense of delicacy, they allow the +awakened, searching mind of the child to get information concerning its +physical nature from the mind of some boy or girl no better taught than +itself, and so conceive wholly wrong and harmful ideas concerning +things of which it is vitally important that every human being should +at the outset of life have clear and adequate ideas. Such silence, +many times, is fatal, and always foolish, if not criminal. + +"I have noticed," says William Acton, "that all patients who have +confessed to me that they have practised vice, lamented that they were +not, when children, made aware of its consequences; and I have been +pressed over and over again to urge on parents, guardians, +schoolmasters, and others interested in the education of youth, the +necessity of giving to their charges some warning, some intimation, of +their danger. To parents and guardians I offer my earnest advice that +they should, by hearty sympathy and frank explanation, aid their +charges in maintaining pure lives." What stronger breastplate than a +heart untainted? + +A prominent writer says: "If young persons poison their bodies and +corrupt their minds with vicious courses, no lapse of time, after a +reform, is likely to restore them to physical soundness and the soul +purity of their earlier days." + +There is one idea concerning purity which should never have been +conceived, and, having been conceived, should be, once and forever, +eternally exploded. It is that purity is different in the different +sexes. + +It would be loosening the foundations of virtue to countenance the +notion that, because of a difference in sex, men are at liberty to set +morality at defiance, and to do with impunity that which, if done by a +woman, would stain her character for life. To maintain a pure and +virtuous condition of society, therefore, man as well as woman must be +virtuous and pure, both alike shunning all acts infringing on the +heart, character, and conscience,--shunning them as poison, which, once +imbibed, can never be entirely thrown out again. + +Is there any reason why a man should have any license to drag his +thoughts through the mud and filth any more than a woman? Is there any +sex in principle? Isn't a stain a blot upon a boy's character just as +bad as upon a girl's? If purity is so refining and elevating for one +sex, why should it not be for the other? + +It is incredible that a man should be socially ostracized for +comparatively minor offenses, yet be rotten with immorality and be +received into the best homes. But, if a woman makes the least false +step in this direction, she is not only ostracized but treated with the +utmost contempt, while the man who was the chief sinner in causing a +woman's downfall, society will pardon. + +To put it on the very lowest ground, I am certain that if young men +knew and realized the fearful risks to health that they take by +indulging in gross impurities they would put them by with a shudder of +disgust and aversion. It may very easily happen--it very often +actually does happen--that one single step from the path of purity +clouds a man's whole life with misery and unspeakable suffering; and +not only that, but even entails lifelong disease on children yet unborn. + +To return to its Maker at the close of life the marvelous body which He +gave us, scarred by a heedless life, with the heart rotten with +impurity, the imagination filled with vicious images, the character +honeycombed with vice, is a most ungrateful return for the priceless +life of opportunity. + +A mind retaining all the dew and freshness of innocence shrinks from +the very idea of impurity, the very suggestion of it, as if it were sin +to have even thought or heard of it, as if even the shadow of the evil +would leave some soil on the unsullied whiteness of the virgin mind. +"When modesty is once extinguished, it knows not a return." + + + + +CHAPTER L + +THE HABIT OF HAPPINESS + +The highest happiness must always come from the exercise of the best +thing in us. + +When you find happiness in anything but useful work, you will be the +first man or woman to make the discovery. + +If you take an inventory of yourself at the very outset of your career +you will find that you think you are going to find happiness in things +or in conditions. Most people think they are going to find the largest +part of their happiness in money, what money will buy or what it will +give them in the way of power, influence, comforts, luxuries. They +think they are going to find a great deal of their happiness in +marriage. How quickly they find that the best happiness they will ever +know is that which must be limited to their own capacity for enjoyment, +that their happiness can not come from anything outside of them but +must be developed from within. Many people believe they are going to +find much of their happiness in books, in travel, in leisure, in +freedom from the thousand and one anxieties and cares and worries of +business; but the moment they get in the position where they thought +they would have freedom many other things come up in their minds and +cut off much of the expected joy. When they get money and leisure they +often find that they are growing selfish, which cuts off a lot of their +happiness. No man able to work can be idle without feeling a sense of +guilt at not doing his part in the world, for every time he sees the +poor laboring people who are working for him, who are working +everywhere, he is constantly reminded of his meanness in shifting upon +others what he is able to do and ought to do himself. Idleness is the +last place to look for happiness. Idleness is like a stagnant pool. +The moment the water ceases to flow, to work, to do something, all +sorts of vermin and hideous creatures develop in it. It becomes torpid +and unhealthy giving out miasma and repulsive odors. In the same way +work is the only thing that will keep the individual healthy and +wholesome and clean. An idle brain very quickly breeds impurities. + +The married man quickly learns that his domestic happiness depends upon +what he himself contributes to the partnership, that he can not take +out a great deal without putting a great deal in, for selfishness +always reaps a mean, despicable harvest. It is only the generous giver +who gets much. There is nothing which will so shrivel up a man; and +contract his capacity for happiness as selfishness. It is always a +fatal blighter, blaster, disappointer. We must give to get, we must be +great before we can get great enjoyment; great in our motive, grand in +our endeavor, sublime in our ideas. + +It is impossible, absolutely unscientific, for a bad person to be truly +happy; just as impossible as it would be for one to be comfortable +while lying on a bed of nettles which are constantly pricking him. +There is no way under heaven by which a person can be really happy +without being good, clean, square, and true. This does not mean that a +person is happy because he does not use tobacco, drink, gamble, use +profane language or does not do other vicious things. Some of the +meanest, narrowest, most contemptible people in the world do none of +these things but they are uncharitable, jealous, envious, revengeful. +They stab you in the back, slander you, cheat you. They may be +cunning, underhanded, and yet have a fairly good standing in the +church. No person can be really happy who has a small, narrow, +bigoted, uncharitable mind or disposition. Generosity, charity, +kindness are absolutely essential to real happiness. Deceitful people +can not be happy; they can not respect themselves because they inwardly +despise themselves for deceiving you. A person must be open minded, +transparent, simple, in order to be really happy. A person who is +always covering up something, trying to keep things from you, +misleading you, deceiving you, can not get away from self-reproach, and +hence can not be really happy. + +Selfishness is a fatal enemy of happiness because no one ever does a +really selfish thing without feeling really mean, without despising +himself for it. I have never seen a strong young man sneak into a +vacant seat in a car and allow an old man or woman with a package or a +baby in her arms to stand, without looking as though he knew he had +done a mean, selfish thing. There is a look of humiliation in his +face. We are so constituted that we can not help condemning ourselves +for our mean or selfish acts. + +The liar is never really happy. He is always on nettles lest his +deceit betray him. He never feels safe. Dishonesty in all its phases +is fatal to happiness, for no dishonest person can get his +self-approval. Without this no happiness is possible. + +Before you can be really happy, my friend, you must be able to look +back upon a well-spent past, a conscientious, unselfish past. If not, +you will be haunted by demons which will destroy your happiness. If +you have been mean and selfish, greedy and dishonest with your +fellowmen, all sorts of horrible things will rise out of your money +pile to terrify and to make your happiness impossible. + +In other words, happiness is merely a result of the life work. It will +partake of the exact quality of the motive which you have put into your +life work. If these motives have been selfish, greedy, grasping, if +cunning and dishonesty have dominated in your career, your happiness +will be marred accordingly. + +You can not complain of your happiness, because it is your own child, +the product of your own brain, your own effort. It has been made up of +your motives, colored by your life aim. It exactly corresponds to the +cause which produced it. + +There is the greatest difference in the world between the happiness +which comes from a sweet, beautiful, unselfish, helpful, sympathetic, +industrious, honorable career, and the mean satisfaction which may grow +to be a part of your marked self if you have lived a selfish, grasping +life. + +What we call happiness is the harvest from our life sowing, our +habitual thought-sowing, deed-doing. If we have sown selfish, envious, +jealous, revengeful, hateful seeds, greedy, grasping seeds, we can not +expect a golden happiness harvest like that which comes from a clean +and unselfish, helpful sowing. + +If our harvest is full of the rank, poisonous weeds of jealousy, envy, +dishonesty, cunning, and cruelty, we have no one to blame but +ourselves, for we sowed the seed which produced that sort of a harvest. + +Somehow some people have an entirely wrong idea of what real happiness +is. They seem to think it can be bought, can be had by influence, that +it can be purchased by money; that if they have money they can get that +wonderful, mysterious thing which they call happiness. + +But happiness is a natural, faithful harvest from our sowing. It would +be as impossible for selfish seed, greed seed to produce a harvest of +contentment, of genuine satisfaction, of real joy, as for thistle seeds +to produce a harvest of wheat or corn. + +Whatever the quality of your enjoyment or happiness may be, you have +patterned it by your life motive by the spirit in which you have +worked, by the principles which have actuated you. + +A pretty different harvest, I grant, many of us must face, marred with +all sorts of hideous, poisonous weeds, but they are all the legitimate +product of our sowing. No one can rob us of our harvest or change it +very much. Every thought, every act, every motive, whether secret or +public, is a seed which no power on earth can prevent going to its +harvest of beauty or ugliness, honor or shame. Most people have an +idea that happiness is something that can be manufactured. They do not +realize that it can no more be manufactured than wheat or corn can be +manufactured. It must be grown, and the harvest will be like the seed. + +You, young man, make up your mind at the very outset of your career +that whatever comes to you in life, that whether you succeed or fail, +whether you have this or that, there is one thing you will have, and +that is a happy, contented mind, that you will extract your happiness +as you go along. You will not take the chances of picking up or +developing the happy habit after you get rich, for then you may be too +old. + +Most people postpone their enjoyment until they are disappointed to +find the power of enjoyment has largely gone by and that even if they +had the means they could not get anything like as much real happiness +out of it as they could have gotten as they went along when they were +younger. Take no chances with your happiness, or the sort of a life +that can produce it; whatever else you risk, do not risk this. Early +form the happy habit, the habit of enjoyment every day, no matter what +comes or does not come to you during the day. Pick crumbs of comfort +out of your situation, no matter how unpleasant or disagreeable. + +I know a man who, although poor, can manage to get more comfort out of +a real tough, discouraging situation than any one else I have ever +seen. I have often seen him when he did not have a dollar to his name, +with a wife to support; yet he was always buoyant, happy, cheerful, +consented. He would even make fun out of an embarrassing situation, +see something ludicrous in his extreme poverty. + +There have never been such conflicting estimates, such varying ideas, +regarding any state of human condition as to what constitutes +happiness. Many people think that it is purchasable with money, but +many of the most restless, discontented, unhappy people in the world +are rich. They have the means of purchasing what they _thought_ would +produce happiness, but the real thing eludes them. On the other hand, +some of the poorest people in the world are happy. The fact is that +there is no possible way of cornering or purchasing happiness for it is +absolutely beyond the reach of money. It is true, we can purchase a +few comforts and immunities from some annoyances and worries with money +which we can not get without it. On the other hand, the great majority +of people who have inherited money are positively injured by it, +because it often stops their own development by taking away the motive +for self-effort and self-reliance. + +When people get money they often stop growing because they depend upon +the money instead of relying upon their own inherent resources. + +Rich people suffer from their indulgences more than poor ones suffer +from their hardships. + +A great many rich people die with liver and kidney troubles which are +effected both by eating and drinking. The kidneys are very susceptible +to the presence of alcohol. If rich people try to get greater +enjoyment out of life than poor people by eating and drinking, they are +likely very quickly to come to grief. If they try to seek it through +the avenue of leisure they soon find that an idle brain is one of the +most dangerous things in the world--nothing deteriorates faster. The +mind was made for continual strong action, systematic, vigorous +exercise, and this is possible only when some dominating aim and a +great life purpose leads the way. + +No person can be really healthful whose mind is not usefully and +continually employed. So there is no possibility of finding real +happiness in idleness if we are able to work. Nature brings a +wonderful compensatory power to those who are crippled or sick or +otherwise disabled from working, but there is no compensation for +idleness in those who are able to work. Nature only gives us the use +of faculties we employ. "Use or lose" is her motto, and when we cease +to use a faculty or function it is gradually taken away from us, +gradually shrivels and atrophies. + +There is no satisfaction like that which comes from the steady, +persistent, honest, conscientious pursuit of a noble aim. There are a +multitude of evidences in man's very structure that his marvelous +mechanism was intended for action, for constant exercise, and that +idleness and stagnation always mean deterioration and death of power. +No man can remain idle without shrinking, shrivelling, constantly +becoming a less efficient man; for he can keep up only those faculties +and powers which he constantly employs, and there is no other possible +way. Nature puts her ban of deterioration and loss of power upon +idleness. We see these victims everywhere shorn of power--weak, +nerveless, backboneless, staminaless, gritless people, without +forcefulness, mere nonentities because they have ceased working. +Without work mental health is impossible and without health the fullest +happiness is impossible. + +It has been said that happiness is the most delusive thing that man +pursues. Yet why need it be a blind search? + +If we were to stop the first hundred people we meet on the street and +ask them what in their experience has given them the most happiness, +probably the answer of no two would be alike. + +How interesting and instructive it would be to give a thousand dollars +to each of these hundred people, and without their knowing it, follow +them and see what they would do with the money,--what it would mean to +them. + +To some poor youth hungry for an education, with no opportunity to gain +it, this money would mean a college education. Another would see in +his money a more comfortable home for his aged parents. To another +this money would suggest all sorts of dissipation. Some would see +books and leisure for self-improvement, a trip abroad. + +We all wear different colored glasses and no two see life with the same +tint. + +Some find their present happiness in coarse dissipation; others in a +quiet nook with a book. Some find their greatest happiness in friends, +in social intercourse; others seek happiness in roving over the earth, +always thinking that the greatest enjoyment is in another day, in +another place, a little further on, in the next room, or to-morrow, or +in another country. + +_To many people, happiness is never where they are, but almost anywhere +else_. + +Most people lose sight of the simplicity of happiness. They look for +it in big, complicated things. Real happiness is perfectly simple. In +fact, it is incompatible with complexity. Simplicity is its very +essence. + +I was dining recently with a particularly successful young man who is +trying very hard to be happy, but he takes such a complicated, +strenuous view of everything that his happiness is always flying from +him. He drives everything so fiercely, his life is so vigorous, so +complicated, that happiness can not find a home with him very long. +Nor does he understand why. He has money, health; but he always has +that restless far-away, absent-minded gaze into something beyond, and I +do not think he is ever really very happy. His whole manner of living +is extremely complex. He does not seem to know where to find +happiness. He has evidently mistaken the very nature of happiness. He +thinks it consists in making a great show, in having great possessions, +in doing things which attract a great deal of attention; but _happiness +would be strangled, suffocated in such an environment_. The essentials +of real happiness are few, simple, and close at hand. + +Happiness is made up of very simple ingredients. It flees from the +complex life. It evades pomp and show. The heart would starve amid +the greatest luxuries. + +Simple joys and the treasures of the heart and mind make happiness. + +Happiness has very little to do with material things. It is a mental +state of mind. Real permanent happiness can not be found in mere +temporary things, because its roots reach away down into eternal +principles. + +One of the most pathetic pictures in civilization is the great army of +men and women searching the world over for happiness, as though it +existed in things rather than in a state of mind. + +The people who have spent years and a fortune trying to find it look as +hungry and as lean of contentment and all that makes life desirable as +when they started out. Chasing happiness all over the world is about +as silly a business as any human being ever engaged in, for it was +never yet found by any pursuer. Yet happiness is the simplest thing in +the world. It is found in many a home with carpetless floors and +pictureless walls. It knows neither rank, station, nor color, nor does +it recognize wealth. It only demands that it live with a contented +mind and pure heart. It will not live with ostentation; it flees from +pretense; it loves the simple life; it insists upon a sweet, healthful, +natural environment. It hates the forced and complicated and formal. + +Real happiness flees from the things that pass away; it abides only in +principle, permanency. + +I have never seen a person who has lived a grasping, greedy, +money-chasing life, who was not disappointed at what money has given +him for his trouble. + +It is only in giving, in helping, that we find our quest. Everywhere +we go we see people who are disappointed, chagrined, shocked, to find +that what they thought would be the angel of happiness turned out to be +only a ghost. + +All the misery and the crime of the world rest upon the failure of +human beings to understand the principle that _no man can really be +happy until he harmonizes with the best thing in him, with the divine, +and not with the brute_. No one can be happy who tries to harmonize +his life with his animal instincts. _The God (the good) in him is the +only possible thing that can make him happy_. + +Real happiness can not be bribed by anything sordid or low. Nothing +mean or unworthy appeals to it. There is no affinity between them. +Founded upon principle, it is as scientific as the laws of mathematics, +and he who works his problem correctly will get the happiness answer. + +There is only one way to secure the correct answer to a mathematical +problem; and that is to work in harmony with mathematical laws. It +would not matter if half the world believed there was some other way to +get the answer, it would never come until the law was followed with the +utmost exactitude. + +It does not matter that the great majority of the human race believe +there is some other way of reaching the happiness goal. The fact that +they are discontented, restless, and unhappy shows that they are not +working their problem scientifically. + +We are all conscious that there is another man inside of us, that there +accompanies us through life a divine, silent messenger, that other, +higher, better self, which speaks from the depths of our nature and +which gives its consent, its "amen" to every right action, and condemns +every wrong one. + +Man is built upon the plan of honesty, of rectitude--the divine plan. +When he perverts his nature by trying to express dishonesty, chicanery, +and cunning, of course he can not be happy. + +The very essence of happiness is honesty, sincerity, truthfulness. He +who would have real happiness for his companion must be clean, +straightforward, and sincere. The moment he departs from the right she +will take wings and fly away. + +It is just as impossible for a person to reach the normal state of +harmony while he is practising selfish, grasping methods, as it is to +produce harmony in an orchestra with instruments that are all jangled +and out of tune. To be happy, we must be in tune with the infinite +within us, in harmony with our better selves. There is no way to get +around it. + +There is no tonic like that which comes from doing things worth while. +There is no happiness like that which comes from doing our level best +every day, everywhere; no satisfaction like that which comes from +stamping superiority, putting our royal trade-mark upon everything +which goes through our hands. + +Recently a rich young man was asked why he did not work. "I do not +have to," he said. "Do not have to" has ruined more young men than +almost anything else. The fact is, Nature never made any provision for +the idle man. Vigorous activity is the law of life; it is the saving +grace, the only thing that can keep a human being from retrograding. +Activity along the line of one's highest ambition is the normal state +of man, and he who tries to evade it pays the penalty in deterioration +of faculty, in paralysis of efficiency. Do not flatter yourself that +you can be really happy unless you are useful. Happiness and +usefulness were born twins. To separate them is fatal. + +It is as impossible for a human being to be happy who is habitually +idle as it is for a fine chronometer to be normal when not running. +The highest happiness is the feeling of wellbeing which comes to one +who is actively employed doing what he was made to do, carrying out the +great life-purpose patterned in his individual bent. The practical +fulfilling of the life-purpose is to man what the actual running and +keeping time are to the watch. Without action both are meaningless. + +Man was made to do things. Nothing else can take the place of +achievement in his life. Real happiness without achievement of some +worthy aim is unthinkable. One of the greatest satisfactions in this +world is the feeling of enlargement, of growth, of stretching upward +and onward. No pleasure can surpass that which comes from the +consciousness of feeling one's horizon of ignorance being pushed +farther and farther away--of making headway in the world--of not only +getting on, but also of getting up. + +Happiness is incompatible with stagnation. A man must feel his +expanding power lifting, tugging away at a lofty purpose, or he will +miss the joy of living. + +The discords, the bickerings, the divorces, the breaking up of rich +homes, and the resorting to all sorts of silly devices by many rich +people in their pursuit of happiness, prove that it does not dwell with +them, that happiness does not abide with low ideals, with selfishness, +idleness, and discord. It is a friend of harmony, of truth, of beauty, +of affection, of simplicity. + +Multitudes of men have made fortunes, but have murdered their capacity +for enjoyment in the process. How often we hear the remark, "He has +the money, but can not enjoy it." + +A man can have no greater delusion than that he can spend the best +years of his life coining all of his energies into dollars, neglecting +his home, sacrificing friendships, self-improvement, and everything +else that is really worth while, for money, and yet find happiness at +the end! + +The happiness habit is just as necessary to our best welfare as the +work habit, or the honesty or square-dealing habit. + +No one can do his best, his highest thing, who is not perfectly normal, +and happiness is a fundamental necessity of our being. It is an +indication of health, of sanity, of harmony. The opposite is a symptom +of disease, of abnormality. + +There are plenty of evidences in the human economy that we were +intended for happiness, that it is our normal condition; that +suffering, unhappiness, discontent, are absolutely foreign and abnormal +to our natures. + +There is no doubt that our life was intended to be one grand, sweet +song. We are built upon the plan of harmony, and every form of discord +is abnormal. + +There is something wrong when any human being in this world, tuned to +infinite harmonies and beauties that are unspeakable, is unhappy and +discontented. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +PUT BEAUTY INTO YOUR LIFE + +When the barbarians overran Greece, desecrated her temples, and +destroyed her beautiful works of art, even their savageness was +somewhat tamed by the sense of beauty which prevailed everywhere. They +broke her beautiful statues, it is true; but the spirit of beauty +refused to die, and it transformed the savage heart and awakened even +in the barbarian a new power. From the apparent death of Grecian art +Roman art was born. "Cyclops forging iron for Vulcan could not stand +against Pericles forging thought for Greece." The barbarian's club +which destroyed the Grecian statues was no match for the chisel of +Phidias and Praxiteles. + +"What is the best education?" some one asked Plato many centuries ago. +"It is," he replied, "that which gives to the body and to the soul all +the beauty and all the perfection of which they are capable." + +The life that would be complete; that would be sweet and sane, as well +as strong, must be ornamented, softened, and enriched by a love of the +beautiful. + +There is a lack in the make-up of a person who has no appreciation of +beauty, who does not thrill before a great picture or an entrancing +sunset, or a glimpse of beauty in nature. + +Savages have no appreciation of beauty. They have a passion for +adornment, but there is nothing to show that their esthetic faculties +are developed. They merely obey their animal instincts and passions. + +But as civilization advances ambition grows, wants multiply, and higher +and higher faculties show themselves, until in the highest expression +of civilization, we find aspiration and love of the beautiful most +highly developed. We find it manifested on the person, in the home, in +the environment. + +The late Professor Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard University, one of +the finest thinkers of his day, said that beauty has played an immense +part in the development of the highest qualities in human beings; and +that civilization could be measured by its architecture, sculpture, and +painting. + +What an infinite satisfaction comes from beginning early in life to +cultivate our finer qualities, to develop finer sentiments, purer +tastes, more delicate feelings, the love of the beautiful in all its +varied forms of expression! + +One can make no better investment than the cultivation of a taste for +the beautiful, for it will bring rainbow hues and enduring joys to the +whole life. It will not only greatly increase one's capacity for +happiness, but also one's efficiency. + +A remarkable instance of the elevating, refining influence of beauty +has been demonstrated by a Chicago school-teacher, who fitted up in her +school a "beauty corner" for her pupils. It was furnished with a +stained glass window, a divan covered with an Oriental rug, and a few +fine photographs and paintings, among which was a picture of the +Sistine Madonna. Several other esthetic trifles, artistically +arranged, completed the furnishings of the "beauty corner." The +children took great delight in their little retreat, especially in the +exquisite coloring of the stained glass window. Insensibly their +conduct and demeanor were affected by the beautiful objects with which +they daily associated. They became more gentle, more refined, more +thoughtful and considerate. A young Italian boy, in particular, who +had been incorrigible before the establishment of the "beauty corner," +became, in a short time, so changed and softened that the teacher was +astonished. One day she asked him what it was that made him so good +lately. Pointing to the picture of the Sistine Madonna the boy said, +"How can a feller do bad things when she's looking at him?" + +Character is fed largely through the eye and ear. The thousand voices +in nature of bird and insect and brook, the soughing of the wind +through the trees, the scent of flower and meadow, the myriad tints in +earth and sky, in ocean and forest, mountain and hill, are just as +important for the development of a real man as the education he +receives in the schools. If you take no beauty into your life through +the eye or the ear to stimulate and develop your esthetic faculties, +your nature will be hard, juiceless, and unattractive. + +Beauty is a quality of divinity, and to live much with the beautiful is +to live close to the divine. "The more we see of beauty everywhere; in +nature, in life, in man and child, in work and rest, in the outward and +the inward world, the more we see of God (good)." + +There are many evidences in the New Testament that Christ was a great +lover of the beautiful especially in nature. Was it not He who said: +"Consider the lilies of the field; they toil not, neither do they spin; +yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"? + +Back of the lily and the rose, back of the landscape, back of all +beautiful things that enchant us, there must be a great lover of the +beautiful and a great beauty-principle. Every star that twinkles in +the sky, every flower, bids us look behind it for its source, points us +to the great Author of the beautiful. + +The love of beauty plays a very important part in the poised, +symmetrical life. We little realize how much we are influenced by +beautiful people and things. We may see them so often that they become +common in our experience and fail to attract much of our conscious +attention, but every beautiful picture, every sunset and bit of +landscape, every beautiful face and form and flower, beauty in any +form, wherever we encounter it, ennobles, refines and elevates +character. + +There is everything in keeping the soul and mind responsive to beauty. +It is a great refreshener, recuperator, life-giver, health promoter. + +Our American life tends to kill the finer sentiments; to discourage the +development of charm and grace as well as beauty; it over-emphasizes +the value of material things and under-estimates that of esthetic +things, which are far more developed in countries where the dollar is +not the God. + +As long as we persist in sending all the sap and energy of our being +into the money-making gland or faculty and letting the social faculty, +the esthetic faculty, and all the finer, nobler faculties lie dormant, +and even die, we certainly can not expect a well-rounded and +symmetrical life, for only faculties that are used, brain cells that +are exercised, grow; all others atrophy. If the finer instincts in man +and the nobler qualities that live in the higher brain are +under-developed, and the coarser instincts which dwell in the lower +brain close to the brute faculties are over-developed, man must pay the +penalty of animality and will lack appreciation of all that is finest +and most beautiful in life. + +"The vision that you hold in your mind, the ideal that is enthroned in +your heart--this you will build your life by, this you will become." +It is the quality of mind, of ideals, and not mere things, that make a +man. + +It is as essential to cultivate the esthetic faculties and the heart +qualities as to cultivate what we call the intellect. The time will +come when our children will be taught, both at home and in school, to +consider beauty as a most precious gift, which must be preserved in +purity, sweetness, and cleanliness, and regarded as a divine instrument +of education. + +There is no investment which will give such returns as the culture of +the finer self, the development of the sense of the beautiful, the +sublime, and the true; the development of qualities that are crushed +out or strangled in the mere dollar-chaser. + +There are a thousand evidences in us that we were intended for temples +of beauty, of sweetness, of loveliness, of beautiful ideas, and not +mere storehouses for vulgar things. + +There is nothing which will pay so well as to train the finest and +truest, the most beautiful qualities in us in order that we may see +beauty everywhere and be able to extract sweetness from everything. + +Everywhere we go there are a thousand things to educate the best there +is in us. Every sunset, landscape, mountain, hill, and tree has +secrets of charm and beauty waiting for us. In every patch of meadow +or wheat, in every leaf and flower, the trained eye will see beauty +which would ravish an angel. The cultured ear will find harmony in +forest and field, melody in the babbling brook, and untold pleasure in +all Nature's songs. + +Whatever our vocation, we should resolve that we will not strangle all +that is finest and noblest in us for the sake of the dollar, but that +we will _put beauty into our life at every opportunity_. + +Just in proportion to your love for the beautiful will you acquire its +charms and develop its graces. The beauty thought, the beauty ideal, +will outpicture themselves in the face and manner. If you are in love +with beauty you will be an artist of some kind. Your profession may be +to make the home beautiful and sweet, or you may work at a trade; but +whatever your vocation, if you are in love with the beautiful, it will +purify your taste, elevate and enrich your life, and make you an artist +instead of a mere artisan. + +There is no doubt that in the future beauty will play an infinitely +greater part in civilized life than it has thus far. It is becoming +commercialized everywhere. The trouble with us is that the tremendous +material-prizes in this land of opportunity are so tempting that we +have lost sight of the higher man. We have developed ourselves along +the animal side of our nature; the greedy, grasping side. The great +majority of us are still living in the basement of our beings. Now and +then one rises to the drawing-room. Now and then one ascends to the +upper stories and gets a glimpse of the life beautiful, the life worth +while. + +There is nothing on earth that will so slake the thirst of the soul as +the beauty which expresses itself in sweetness and light. + +An old traveling man relates that once when on a trip to the West he +sat next to an elderly lady who every now and then would lean out of +the open window and pour some thick salt--it seemed to him--from a +bottle. When she had emptied the bottle she would refill it from a +hand-bag. + +A friend to whom this man related the incident told him he was +acquainted with the lady, who was a great lover of flowers and an +earnest follower of the precept: "Scatter your flowers as you go, for +you may never travel the same road again." He said she added greatly +to the beauty of the landscape along the railroads on which she +traveled, by her custom of scattering flower seeds along the track as +she rode. Many roads have thus been beautified and refreshed by this +old lady's love of the beautiful and her effort to scatter beauty +wherever she went. + +If we would all cultivate a love of the beautiful and scatter beauty +seeds as we go through life, what a paradise this earth would become! + +What a splendid opportunity a vacation in the country offers to put +beauty into the life; to cultivate the esthetic faculties, which in +most people are wholly undeveloped and inactive! To some it is like +going into God's great gallery of charm and beauty. They find in the +landscape, the valley, the mountains, the fields, the meadows, the +flowers, the streams, the brooks and the rivers, riches that no money +can buy; beauties that would enchant the angels. But this beauty and +glory can not be bought; they are only for those who can see them, +appreciate them--who can read their message and respond to their +affinity. + +Have you never felt the marvelous power of beauty in nature? If not, +you have missed one of the most exquisite joys in life. I was once +going through the Yosemite Valley, and after riding one hundred miles +in a stage-coach over rough mountain roads, I was so completely +exhausted that it did not seem as though I could keep my seat until we +traveled over the ten more miles which would bring us to our +destination. But on looking down from the top of the mountain I caught +a glimpse of the celebrated Yosemite Falls and the surrounding scenery, +just as the sun broke through the clouds; and there was revealed a +picture of such rare beauty and marvelous picturesqueness that every +particle of fatigue, brain-fag, and muscle weariness departed in an +instant. My whole soul thrilled with a winged sense of sublimity, +grandeur, and beauty, which I had never experienced before, and which I +never can forget. I felt a spiritual uplift which brought tears of joy +to my eyes. + +No one can contemplate the wonderful beauties of Nature and doubt that +the Creator must have intended that man, made in His own image and +likeness, should be equally beautiful. + +Beauty of character, charm of manner, attractiveness and graciousness +of expression, a godlike bearing, are our birthrights. Yet how ugly, +stiff, coarse, and harsh in appearance and bearing many of us are! No +one can afford to disregard his good looks or personal appearance. + +But if we wish to beautify the outer, we must first beautify the inner, +for every thought and every motion shapes the delicate tracings of our +face for ugliness or beauty. Inharmonious and destructive attitudes of +mind will warp and mar the most beautiful features. + +Shakespeare says: "God has given you one face and you make yourselves +another." The mind can make beauty or ugliness at will. + +A sweet, noble disposition is absolutely essential to the highest form +of beauty. It has transformed many a plain face. A bad temper, ill +nature, jealousy, will ruin the most beautiful face ever created. +After all, there is no beauty like that produced by a lovely character. +Neither cosmetics, massage, nor drugs can remove the lines of +prejudice, selfishness, envy, anxiety, mental vacillation that are the +results of wrong thought habits. + +Beauty is from within. If every human being would cultivate a gracious +mentality, not only would what he expressed be artistically beautiful, +but also his body. There would indeed be grace and charm, a +superiority about him, which would be even greater than mere physical +beauty. + +We have all seen even very plain women who, because of the charm of +their personality, impressed us as transcendently beautiful. The +exquisite soul qualities expressed through the body transformed it into +their likeness. A fine spirit speaking through the plainest body will +make it beautiful. + +Some one, speaking of Fanny Kemble, said: "Although she was very stout +and short, and had a very red face, yet she impressed me as the supreme +embodiment of majestic attributes. I never saw so commanding a +personality in feminine form. Any type of mere physical beauty would +have paled to insignificance by her side." + +Antoine Berryer says truly: "There are no ugly women. There are only +women who do not know how to look pretty." + +The highest beauty--beauty that is far superior to mere regularity of +feature or form--is within reach of everybody. It is perfectly +possible for one, even with the homeliest face, to make herself +beautiful by the habit of perpetually holding in mind the beauty +thought, not the thought of mere superficial beauty, but that of heart +beauty, soul beauty, and by the cultivation of a spirit of kindness, +hopefulness, and unselfishness. + +The basis of all real personal beauty is a kindly, helpful bearing and +a desire to scatter sunshine and good cheer everywhere, and this, +shining through the face, makes it beautiful. The longing and the +effort to be beautiful in character can not fail to make the life +beautiful, and since the outward is but an expression of the inward, a +mere outpicturing on the body of the habitual thought and dominating +motives, the face, the manners, and the bearing must follow the thought +and become sweet and attractive. If you hold the beauty thought, the +love thought, persistently in the mind, you will make such an +impression of harmony and sweetness wherever you go that no one will +notice any plainness or deformity of person. + +There are girls who have dwelt upon what they consider their +unfortunate plainness so long that they have seriously exaggerated it. +They are not half so plain as they think they are; and, were it not for +the fact that they have made themselves very sensitive and +self-conscious on the subject, others would not notice it at all. In +fact, if they could get rid of their sensitiveness and be natural, they +could, with persistent effort, make up in sprightliness of thought, in +cheerfulness of manner, in intelligence, and in cheery helpfulness, +what they lack in grace and beauty of face. + +We admire the beautiful face, the beautiful form, but we love the face +illumined by a beautiful soul. We love it because it suggests the +ideal of the possible perfect man or woman, the ideal which was the +Creator's model. + +It is not the outward form of our dearest friend, but our ideal of +friendship which he arouses or suggests in us that stirs up and brings +into exercise our love and admiration. The highest beauty does not +exist in the actual. It is the ideal, possible beauty, which the +person or object symbolizes or suggests, that gives us delight. + +Everyone should endeavor to be beautiful and attractive; to be as +complete a human being as possible. There is not a taint of vanity in +the desire for the highest beauty. + +The love of beauty that confines itself to mere external form, however, +misses its deepest significance. Beauty of form, of coloring, of light +and shade, of sound, make our world beautiful; yet the mind that is +warped and twisted can not see all this infinite beauty. It is the +indwelling spirit, the ideal in the soul, that makes all things +beautiful; that inspires and lifts us above ourselves. + +We love the outwardly beautiful, because we crave perfection, and we +can not help admiring those persons and things that most nearly embody +or measure up to our human ideal. + +But a beautiful character will make beauty and poetry out of the +prosiest environment, bring sunshine into the darkest home, and develop +beauty and grace amid the ugliest surroundings. + +What would become of us if it were not for the great souls who realize +the divinity of life, who insist upon bringing out and emphasizing its +poetry, its music, its harmony and beauty? + +How sordid and common our lives would become but for these +beauty-makers, these inspirers, these people who bring out all that is +best and most attractive in every place, every situation and condition! + +There is no accomplishment, no trait of character, no quality of mind, +which will give greater satisfaction and pleasure or contribute more to +one's welfare than an appreciation of the beautiful. How many people +might be saved from wrong-doing, even from lives of crime, by the +cultivation of the esthetic faculties in their childhood! A love of +the truly beautiful would save children from things which encoarsen and +brutalize their natures. It would shield them from a multitude of +temptations. + +Parents do not take sufficient pains to develop the love and +appreciation of beauty in their children. They do not realize that in +impressionable youth, everything about the home, even the pictures, the +paper on the wall, affect the growing character. They should never +lose an opportunity of letting their boys and girls see beautiful works +of art, hear beautiful music; they should make a practise of reading to +them or having them read very often some lofty poem, or inspirational +passages from some great writer, that will fill their minds with +thoughts of beauty, open their souls to the inflow of the Divine Mind, +the Divine Love which encompasses us round about. The influences that +moved our youth determine the character, the success and happiness of +our whole lives. + +Every soul is born responsive to the beautiful, but this instinctive +love of beauty must be fostered through the eye and the mind must be +cultivated, or it will die. The craving for beauty is as strong in a +child of the slums as in a favorite of fortune. "The physical hunger +of the poor, the yearning of their stomachs," says Jacob A. Riis, "is +not half so bitter, or so little likely to be satisfied as their +esthetic hunger, their starving for the beautiful." + +Mr. Riis has often tried to take flowers from his Long Island home to +the "poors" in Mulberry Street, New York. "But they never got there," +he says. "Before I had gone half a block from the ferry I was held up +by a shrieky mob of children who cried for the posies and would not let +me go another step till I had given them one. And when they got it +they ran, shielding the flower with the most jealous care, to some +place where they could hide and gloat over their treasure. They came +dragging big, fat babies and little weazened ones that they might get a +share, and the babies' eyes grew round and big at the sight of the +golden glory from the fields, the like of which had never come their +way. The smaller the baby, and the poorer, the more wistful its look, +and so my flowers went. Who could have said them no? + +"I learned then what I had but vaguely understood before, that there is +a hunger that is worse than that which starves the body and gets into +the newspapers. All children love beauty and beautiful things. It is +the spark of the divine nature that is in them and justifies itself! +To that ideal their souls grow. When they cry out for it they are +trying to tell us in the only way they can that if we let the slum +starve the ideal, with its dirt and its ugliness and its hard-trodden +mud where flowers were meant to grow, we are starving that which we +little know. A man, a human, may grow a big body without a soul; but +as a citizen, as a mother, he or she is worth nothing to the +commonwealth. The mark they are going to leave upon it is the black +smudge of the slum. + +"So when in these latter days we invade that slum to make homes there +and teach the mothers to make them beautiful; when we gather the +children into kindergartens, hang pictures in the schools; when we +build beautiful new schools and public buildings and let in the light, +with grass and flower and bird, where darkness and foulness were +before; when we teach the children to dance and play and enjoy +themselves--alas! that it should ever be needed--we are trying to wipe +off the smudge, and to lift the heavy mortgage which it put on the +morrow, a much heavier one in the loss of citizenship than any +community, even the republic, can long endure. We are paying arrears +of debt which we incurred by our sad neglect, and we could be about no +better business." + +There are many poor children in the slums of New York, Mr. Millionaire, +who could go into your drawing-room and carry away from its rich +canvases, its costly furnishings, a vision of beauty which you never +perceived in them because your esthetic faculties, your finer +sensibilities, were early stifled by your selfish pursuit of the dollar. + +The world is full of beautiful things, but the majority have not been +trained to discern them. We can not see all the beauty that lies +around us, because our eyes have not been trained to see it; our +esthetic faculties have not been developed. We are like the lady who, +standing with the great artist, Turner, before one of his wonderful +landscapes, cried out in amazement: "Why, Mr. Turner, I can not see +those things in nature that you have put in your picture." + +"Don't you wish you could, madam?" he replied. Just think what rare +treats we shut out of our lives in our mad, selfish, insane pursuit of +the dollar! Do you not wish that you could see the marvels that Turner +saw in a landscape, that Ruskin saw in a sunset? Do you not wish that +you had put a little more beauty into your life instead of allowing +your nature to become encoarsened, your esthetic faculties blinded and +your finer instincts blighted by the pursuit of the coarser things of +life, instead of developing your brute instincts of pushing, elbowing +your way through the world for a few more dollars, in your effort to +get something away from somebody else? + +Fortunate is the person who has been educated to the perception of +beauty; he possesses a heritage of which no reverses can rob him. Yet +it is a heritage possible to all who will take the trouble to begin +early in life to cultivate the finer qualities of the soul, the eye, +and the heart. "I am a lover of untainted and immortal beauty," +exclaims Emerson. "Oh, world, what pictures and what harmony are +thine!" + +A great scientist tells us that there is no natural object in the +universe which, if seen as the Master sees it, coupled with all its +infinite meaning, its utility and purpose, is not beautiful. Beauty is +God's handwriting. Just as the most disgusting object, if put under a +magnifying glass of sufficient power, would reveal beauties undreamed +of, so even the most unlovely environment, the most cruel conditions, +will, when viewed through the glass of a trained and disciplined mind, +show something of the beautiful and the hopeful. A life that has been +rightly trained will extract sweetness from everything; it will see +beauty everywhere. + +Situated as we are in a world of beauty and sublimity, we have no right +to devote practically all of our energies and to sap all our life +forces in the pursuit of selfish aims, in accumulating material wealth, +in piling up dollars. It is our duty to treat life as a glory, not as +a grind or a purely business transaction, dealing wholly with money and +bread-and-butter questions. Wherever you are, put beauty into your +life. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +EDUCATION BY ABSORPTION + +John Wanamaker was once asked to invest in an expedition to recover +from the Spanish Main doubloons which for half a century had lain at +the bottom of the sea in sunken frigates. + +"Young men," he replied, "I know of a better expedition than this, +right here. Near your own feet lie treasures untold; you can have them +all by faithful study. + +"Let us not be content to mine the most coal, to make the largest +locomotives, to weave the largest quantities of carpets; but, amid the +sounds of the pick, the blows of the hammer, the rattle of the looms, +and the roar of the machinery, take care that the immortal mechanism of +God's own hand--the mind--is still full-trained for the highest and +noblest service." + +The uneducated man is always placed at a great disadvantage. No matter +how much natural ability one may have, if he is ignorant, he is +discounted. It is not enough to possess ability, it must be made +available by mental discipline. + +We ought to be ashamed to remain in ignorance in a land where the +blind, the deaf and dumb, and even cripples and invalids, manage to +obtain a good education. + +Many youths throw away little opportunities for self-culture because +they cannot see great ones. They let the years slip by without any +special effort at self-improvement, until they are shocked in middle +life, or later, by waking up to the fact that they are still ignorant +of what they ought to know. + +Everywhere we go we see men and women, especially from twenty-five to +forty years of age, who are cramped and seriously handicapped by the +lack of early training. I often get letters from such people, asking +if it is possible for them to educate themselves so late in life. Of +course it is. There are so many good correspondence schools to-day, +and institutions like Chautauqua, so many evening schools, lectures, +books, libraries, and periodicals, that men and women who are +determined to improve themselves have abundant opportunities to do so. + +While you lament the lack of an early education and think it too late +to begin, you may be sure that there are other young men and young +women not very far from you who are making great strides in +self-improvement, though they may not have half as good an opportunity +for it as you have. + +The first thing to do is to make a resolution, strong, vigorous, and +determined, that you are going to be an educated man or woman; that you +are not going to go through life humiliated by ignorance; that, if you +have been deprived of early advantages, you are going to make up for +their loss. Resolve that you will no longer be handicapped and placed +at a disadvantage for that which you can remedy. + +You will find the whole world will change to you when you change your +attitude toward it. You will be surprised to see how quickly you can +very materially improve your mind after you have made a vigorous +resolve to do so. Go about it with the same determination that you +would to make money or to learn a trade. There is a divine hunger in +every normal being for self-expansion, a yearning for growth or +enlargement. Beware of stifling this craving of nature for +self-unfoldment. + +Man was made for growth. It is the object, the explanation, of his +being. To have an ambition to grow larger and broader every day, to +push the horizon of ignorance a little further away, to become a little +richer in knowledge, a little wiser, and more of a man--that is an +ambition worth while. It is not absolutely necessary that an education +should be crowded into a few years of school life. The best-educated +people are those who are always learning, always absorbing knowledge +from every possible source and at every opportunity. + +I know young people who have acquired a better education, a finer +culture, through a habit of observation, or of carrying a book in the +pocket to read at odd moments, or by taking courses in correspondence +schools, than many who have gone through college. Youths who are quick +to catch at new ideas, and who are in frequent contact with superior +minds, not only often acquire a personal charm, but even, to a +remarkable degree, develop mental power. + +The world is a great university. From the cradle to the grave we are +always in God's great kindergarten, where everything is trying to teach +us its lesson; to give us its great secret. Some people are always at +school, always storing up precious bits of knowledge. Everything has a +lesson for them. It all depends upon the eye that can see, the mind +that can appropriate. + +Very few people ever learn how to use their eyes. They go through the +world with a superficial glance at things; their eye pictures are so +faint and so dim that details are lost and no strong impression is made +on the mind. Yet the eye was intended for a great educator. The brain +is a prisoner, never getting out to the outside world. It depends upon +its five or six servants, the senses, to bring it material, and the +larger part of it comes through the eye. The man who has learned the +art of seeing things looks with his brain. + +I know a father who is training his boy to develop his powers of +observation. He will send him out upon a street with which he is not +familiar for a certain length of time, and then question him on his +return to see how many things he has observed. He sends him to the +show windows of great stores, to museums and other public places to see +how many of the objects he has seen the boy can recall and describe +when he gets home. The father says that this practise develops in the +boy a habit of _seeing_ things, instead of merely _looking_ at them. + +When a new student went to the great naturalist, Professor Agassiz of +Harvard, he would give him a fish and tell him to look it over for half +an hour or an hour, and then describe to him what he saw. After the +student thought he had told everything about the fish, the professor +would say, "You have not really seen the fish yet. Look at it a while +longer, and then tell me what you see." He would repeat this several +times, until the student developed a capacity for observation. + +If we go through life like an interrogation point, holding an alert, +inquiring mind toward everything, we can acquire great mental wealth, +wisdom which is beyond all material riches. + +Ruskin's mind was enriched by the observation of birds, insects, +beasts, trees, rivers, mountains, pictures of sunset and landscape, and +by memories of the song of the lark and of the brook. His brain held +thousands of pictures--of paintings, of architecture, of sculpture, a +wealth of material which he reproduced as a joy for all time. +Everything gave up its lesson, its secret, to his inquiring mind. + +The habit of absorbing information of all kinds from others is of +untold value. A man is weak and ineffective in proportion as he +secludes himself from his kind. There is a constant stream of power, a +current of forces running to and fro between individuals who come in +contact with one another, if they have inquiring minds. We are all +giving and taking perpetually when we associate together. The achiever +to-day must keep in touch with the society around him; he must put his +finger on the pulse of the great busy world and feel its throbbing +life. He must be a part of it, or there will be some lack in his life. + +A single talent which one can use effectively is worth more than ten +talents imprisoned by ignorance. Education means that knowledge has +been assimilated and become a part of the person. It is the ability to +express the power within one, to give out what one knows, that measures +efficiency and achievement. Pent-up knowledge is useless. + +People who feel their lack of education, and who can afford the outlay, +can make wonderful strides in a year by putting themselves under good +tutors, who will direct their reading and study along different lines. + +The danger of trying to educate oneself lies in desultory, +disconnected, aimless studying which does not give anything like the +benefit to be derived from the pursuit of a definite program for +self-improvement. A person who wishes to educate himself at home +should get some competent, well-trained person to lay out a plan for +him, which can only be effectively done when the adviser knows the +vocation, the tastes, and the needs of the would-be student. Anyone +who aspires to an education, whether in country or city, can find +someone to at least guide his studies; some teacher, clergyman, lawyer, +or other educated person in the community to help him. + +There is one special advantage in self-education,--you can adapt your +studies to your own particular needs better than you could in school or +college. Everyone who reaches middle life without an education should +first read and study along the line of his own vocation, and then +broaden himself as much as possible by reading on other lines. + +One can take up, alone, many studies, such as history, English +literature, rhetoric, drawing, mathematics, and can also acquire by +oneself, almost as effectively as with a teacher, a reading knowledge +of foreign languages. + +The daily storing up of valuable information for use later in life, the +reading of books that will inspire and stimulate to greater endeavor, +the constant effort to try to improve oneself and one's condition in +the world, are worth far more than a bank account to a youth. + +How many girls there are in this country who feel crippled by the fact +that they have not been able to go to college. And yet they have the +time and the material close at hand for obtaining a splendid education, +but they waste their talents and opportunities in frivolous amusements +and things which do not count in forceful character-building. + +It is not such a very great undertaking to get all the essentials of a +college course at home, or at least a fair substitute for it. Every +hour in which one focuses his mind vigorously upon his studies at home +may be as beneficial as the same time spent in college. + +Every well-ordered household ought to protect the time of those who +desire to study at home. At a fixed hour every evening during the long +winter there should be by common consent a quiet period for mental +concentration, for what is worth while in mental discipline, a quiet +hour uninterrupted by time-thief callers. + +In thousands of homes where the members are devoted to each other, and +should encourage and help each other along, it is made almost +impossible for anyone to take up reading, studying, or any exercise for +self-improvement. Perhaps someone is thoughtless and keeps +interrupting the others so that they can not concentrate their minds; +or those who have nothing in common with your aims or your earnest life +drop in to spend an evening in idle chatter. They have no ideals +outside of the bread-and-butter and amusement questions, and do not +realize how they are hindering you. + +There is constant temptation to waste one's evenings and it takes a +stout ambition and a firm resolution to separate oneself from a jolly, +fun-loving, and congenial family circle, or happy-hearted youthful +callers, in order to try to rise above the common herd of unambitious +persons who are content to slide along, totally ignorant of everything +but the requirements of their particular vocations. + +A habit of forcing yourself to fix your mind steadfastly and +systematically upon certain studies, even if only for periods of a few +minutes at a time, is, of itself, of the greatest value. This habit +helps one to utilize the odds and ends of time which are unavailable to +most people because they have never been trained to concentrate the +mind at regular intervals. + +A good understanding of the possibilities that live in spare moments is +a great success asset. + +The very reputation of always trying to improve yourself, of seizing +every opportunity to fit yourself for something better, the reputation +of being dead-in-earnest, determined to be somebody and to do something +in the world, would be of untold assistance to you. People like to +help those who are trying to help themselves. They will throw +opportunities in their way. Such a reputation is the best kind of +capital to start with. + +One trouble with people who are smarting under the consciousness of +deficient education is that they do not realize the immense value of +utilizing spare minutes. Like many boys who will not save their +pennies and small change because they can not see how a fortune could +ever grow by the saving, they can not see how a little studying here +and there each day will ever amount to a good substitute for a college +education. + +I know a young man who never even attended a high school, and yet +educated himself so superbly that he has been offered a professorship +in a college. Most of his knowledge was gained during his odds and +ends of time, while working hard at his vocation. Spare time meant +something to him. + +The correspondence schools deserve very great credit for inducing +hundreds of thousands of people, including clerks, mill operatives, and +employees of all kinds, to take their courses, and thus save for study +the odds and ends of time which otherwise would probably be thrown +away. We have heard of some most remarkable instances of rapid +advancement which these correspondence school students have made by +reason of the improvement in their education. Many students have +reaped a thousand per cent on their educational investment. It has +saved them years of drudgery and has shortened wonderfully the road to +their goal. + +Wisdom will not open her doors to those who are not willing to pay the +price in self-sacrifice, in hard work. Her jewels are too precious to +scatter before the idle, the ambitionless. + +The very resolution to redeem yourself from ignorance at any cost is +the first great step toward gaining an education. + +Charles Wagner once wrote to an American regarding his little boy, "May +he know the price of the hours. God bless the rising boy who will do +his best, for never losing a bit of the precious and God-given time." + +There is untold wealth locked up in the long winter evenings and odd +moments ahead of you. A great opportunity confronts you. What will +you do with it? + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +THE POWER OF SUGGESTION + +When plate-glass windows first came into use, Rogers, the poet, took a +severe cold by sitting with his back to what he supposed was an open +window in a dining-room but which was really plate-glass. All the time +he was eating he imagined he was taking cold, but he did not dare ask +to have the window closed. + +We little realize how much suggestion has to do with health. In +innumerable instances people have been made seriously ill, sometimes +fatally so, by others telling them how badly they looked, or suggesting +that they had inherited some fatal disease. + +A prominent New York business man recently told me of an experiment +which the friends of a robust young man made upon him. It was arranged +that, beginning in the morning, each one should tell him, when he came +to work, that he was not looking well, and ask him what the trouble +was. They were to say it in a way that would not arouse his +suspicions, and note the result. At one o'clock this vigorous young +man had been so influenced by the suggestion that he quit work and went +home, saying that he was sick. + +There have been many interesting experiments in the Paris hospitals +upon patients in a hypnotic trance, wounds being inflicted by mental +suggestion. While a cold poker was laid across their limbs, for +example, the subjects were told that they were being seared with a +red-hot iron, and immediately the flesh would have the appearance of +being severely burned. + +I have known patients to collapse completely at the sight of surgical +instruments in the operating room. I have heard them say that they +could actually feel the cutting of the knife long before they took the +anesthetic. + +Patients are often put to sleep by the injection into their arms of a +weak solution of salt and water, which they are led to think is +morphia. Every physician of large experience knows that he can relieve +or produce pain simply by suggestion. + +Many a physician sends patients to some famous resort not so much for +the waters or the air as for the miracle which the complete change of +thought effects. + +Even quacks and charlatans are able, by stimulating the hope of those +who are sick, to produce marvelous cures. + +The mental attitude of the nurse has much to do with the recovery of a +sick person. If she holds the constant suggestion that the patient +will recover; if she stoutly affirms it, it will be a wonderful +rallying help to the forces which make for life. If, on the other +hand, she holds the conviction that he is going to die, she will +communicate her belief, and this will consequently depress the patient. + +We are under the influence of suggestion every moment of our waking +lives. Everything we see, hear, feel, is a suggestion which produces a +result corresponding to its own nature. Its subtle power seems to +reach and affect the very springs of life. + +The power of suggestion on expectant minds is often little less than +miraculous. An invalid with a disappointed ambition, who thinks he has +been robbed of his chances in life and who has suffered for years, +becomes all wrought up over some new remedy which is advertised to do +marvels. He is in such an expectant state of mind that he is willing +to make almost any sacrifice to obtain the wonderful remedy; and when +he receives it, he is in such a receptive mood that he responds +quickly, and thinks it is the medicine which has worked the magic. + +Faith in one's physician is a powerful curative suggestion. Many +patients, especially those who are ignorant, believe that the physician +holds the keys of life and death. They have such implicit confidence +in him that what he tells them has powerful influence upon them for +good or ill. + +The possibilities of healing power in the affirmative suggestion that +the patient is going to get well are tremendous. The coming physician +will constantly reassure his patient verbally, often vehemently, that +he is absolutely bound to recover; he will tell him that there is an +omnipotent healing power within him, and that he gets a hint of this in +the power which heals a wound, and which refreshes, renews, and +recreates him during sleep. + +It is almost impossible for a patient to get well while people are +constantly reminding him how ill he looks. His will-power together +with all his physical recuperative forces could not counteract the +effect of the reiteration of the sick suggestion. + +Many a sick-room is made a chamber of horrors because of the depressing +suggestion which pervades it. Instead of being filled with sunshine, +good cheer, and encouragement, it is often darkened, God's beautiful +sunshine shut out; ventilation is poor; everybody has a sad, anxious +face; medicine bottles and surgical apparatus are spread about; +everything is calculated to engender disease rather than to encourage +health and inspire hope. Why, there is enough depressing suggestion in +such a place to make a perfectly well person ill! + +What people need is encouragement, uplift, hope. Their natural +resisting powers should be strengthened and developed. Instead of +telling a friend in trouble, despair, or suffering that you feel very +sorry for him, try to pull him out of his slough of despond, to arouse +the latent recuperative, restorative energies within him. Picture to +him his God image, his better self, which, because it is a part of the +great immortal principle, is never sick and never out of harmony, can +never be discordant or suffer. + +Right suggestion would prevent a great majority of our divorces. Great +infatuation for another has been overcome by suggestion in numerous +instances. Many women have been thus cured of a foolish love for +impossible men, as in the case of girls who have become completely +infatuated with the husband of a friend. Fallen women have been +entirely reclaimed, have been brought to see their better, finer, +diviner selves through the power of suggestion. + +The suggestion which comes from a sweet, beautiful, charming character +is contagious and sometimes revolutionizes a whole neighborhood. We +all know how the suggestion of heroic deeds, great records, has aroused +the ambitions and stirred the energies of others to do likewise. Many +a life has turned upon a few moments' conversation, upon a little +encouragement, upon the suggestion of an inspiring book. + +Many men who have made their impress upon history, who have left +civilization a little higher, accomplished what they did largely +because their ambition was aroused by suggestion; some book or some +individual gave them the first glimpse of their possibility and enabled +them to feel for the first time a thrill of the power within them. + +The suggestion of inferiority is one of the most difficult to overcome. +Who can ever estimate the damage to humanity and the lives wrecked +through it! I know men whose whole careers have been practically +ruined through the constant suggestion, while they were children, that +they would never amount to anything. + +This suggestion of inferiority has made them so timid and shy and so +uncertain of themselves that they have never been able to assert their +individuality. + +I knew a college student whose rank in his class entitled him to the +highest recognition, whose life was nearly ruined by suggestion; he +overheard some of his classmates say that he had no more dignity than a +goose, and always made a very poor appearance; that under no +circumstances would they think of electing him as class orator, because +he would make such an unfortunate impression upon an audience. He had +unusual ability, but his extreme diffidence, timidity, shyness, made +him appear awkward and sometimes almost foolish,--all of which he would +undoubtedly have overgrown, had he not overheard the criticism of his +classmates. He thought it meant that he was mentally inferior, and +this belief kept him back ever after. + +What a subtle power there is in the suggestion of the human voice! +What emotions are aroused in us by its different modulations! How we +laugh and cry, become indignant, revengeful, our feelings leaping from +one extreme to the other, according to the passion-freighted or +love-freighted words which reach our ear; how we sit spell-bound, with +bated breath, before the great orator who is playing upon the emotions +of his audience, as a musician plays upon the strings of his harp, now +bringing out tears, now smiles, now pathos, now indignation! The power +of his word-painting makes a wonderful impression. A thousand +listeners respond to whatever he suggests. + +The voice is a great betrayer of our feelings and emotions. It is +tender when conveying love to our friends; cold, selfish, and without a +particle of sympathy during business transactions when we are trying to +get the best of a bargain. + +How we are attracted by a gentle voice, and repulsed by one that is +harsh! We all know how susceptible even dogs and horses are to the +different modulations of the human voice. They know the tone of +affection; they are reassured and respond to it. But they are +stricken with fear and trembling at the profanity of the master's rage. + +Some natures are powerfully affected by certain musical strains; they +are immediately lifted out of the deepest depression and despondency +into ecstasy. Nothing has touched them; they have just merely felt a +sensation through the auditory nerve which aroused and awakened into +activity certain brain cells and changed their whole mental attitude. + +Music has a decided influence upon the blood pressure in the arteries, +and upon the respiration. We all know how it soothes, refreshes, and +rests us when jaded and worried. When its sweet harmonies fill the +soul, all cares, worries, and anxieties fly away. + +George Eliot, in "The Mill on the Floss," gives voice to what some of +us have often, doubtless, felt, when under its magic spell. "Certain +strains of music," she says, "affect me so strangely that I can never +hear them without changing my whole attitude of mind for a time, and if +the effect would last, I might be capable of heroism." + +Latimer, Ridley, and hundreds of others went to the stake actually +rejoicing, the spectators wondering at the smile of ineffable peace +which illumined their faces above the fierce glare of the flames, at +the hymns of praise and thanksgiving heard amid the roar of crackling +fagots. + +"No, we don't get sick," said an actor, "because we can't get sick. +Patti and a few other stars could afford that luxury, but to the +majority of us it is denied. It is a case of 'must' with us; and +although there have been times when, had I been at home, or a private +man, I could have taken to my bed with as good a right to be sick as +any one ever had, I have not done so, and have worn off the attack +through sheer necessity. It's no fiction that will power is the best +of tonics, and theatrical people understand that they must keep a good +stock of it always on hand." + +A tight-rope walker was so ill with lumbago that he could scarcely +move. But when he was advertised to appear, he summoned all his will +power, and traversed the rope several times with a wheelbarrow, +according to the program. When through he doubled up and had to be +carried to his bed, "as stiff as a frozen frog." + +Somewhere I have read a story of a poor fellow who went to hang +himself, but finding by chance a pot of money, he flung away the rope +and went hurriedly home. He who hid the gold, when he missed it, +hanged himself with the rope which the other man had left. Success is +a great tonic, and failure a great depressant. + +The successful attainment of what the heart longs for, as a rule, +improves health and happiness. Generally we not only find our treasure +where our heart is, but our health also. Who has not noticed men of +indifferent health, perhaps even invalids, and men who lacked energy +and determination, suddenly become roused to a realization of +unthought-of powers and unexpected health upon attaining some signal +success? The same is sometimes true of persons in poor health who have +suddenly been thrown into responsible positions by death of parents or +relatives, or who, upon sudden loss of property, have been forced to do +what they had thought impossible before. + +An education is a health tonic. Delicate boys and girls, whom parents +and friends thought entirely too slender to bear the strain, often +improve in health in school and college. Other things equal, +intelligent, cultured, educated people enjoy the best health. There is +for the same reason a very intimate relation between health and morals. +A house divided against itself can not stand. Intemperance, violation +of chastity, and vice of all kinds are discordant notes in the human +economy which tend to destroy the great harmony of life. The body is +but a servant of the mind. A well-balanced, cultured, and +well-disciplined intellect reacts very powerfully upon the physique, +and tends to bring it into harmony with itself. On the other hand, a +weak, vacillating, one-sided, unsteady, and ignorant mind will +ultimately bring the body into sympathy with it. Every pure and +uplifting thought, every noble aspiration for the good and the true, +every longing of the heart for a higher and better life, every lofty +purpose and unselfish endeavor, reacts upon the body, makes it +stronger, more harmonious, and more beautiful. + +"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The body is molded and +fashioned by the thought. If a young woman were to try to make herself +beautiful, she would not begin by contemplating ugliness, or dwelling +upon the monstrosities of vice, for their hideous images would be +reproduced in her own face and manners. Nor would she try to make +herself graceful by practising awkwardness. We can never gain health +by contemplating disease any more than we can reach perfection by +dwelling upon imperfection, or harmony through discord. + +We should _keep a high ideal of health and harmony constantly before +the mind_; and we should fight every discordant thought and every enemy +of harmony as we would fight a temptation to crime. _Never affirm or +repeat about your health what you do not wish to be true_. Do not +dwell upon your ailments nor study your symptoms. Never allow yourself +to think that you are not complete master of yourself. Stoutly affirm +your own superiority over bodily ills, and do not acknowledge yourself +the slave of an inferior power. + +The mind has undoubted power to preserve and sustain physical youth and +beauty, to keep the body strong and healthy, to renew life, and to +preserve it from decay, many years longer than it does now. The +longest lived men and women have, as a rule, been those who have +attained great mental and moral development. They have lived in the +upper region of a higher life, beyond the reach of much of the jar, the +friction, and the discords which weaken and shatter most lives. + +Many nervous diseases have been cured by music, while others have been +greatly retarded in their development by it. Anything which keeps the +mind off our troubles tends to restore harmony throughout the body. + +It is a great thing to form a habit, acquire a reputation, of always +talking up and never down, of seeing good things and never bad, of +encouraging and never discouraging, and of always being optimistic +about everything. + +"Send forth loving, stainless, and happy thoughts, and blessings will +flow into your hands; send forth hateful, impure, and unhappy thoughts, +and curses will rain down upon you and fear and unrest will wait upon +your pillow." + +There is no one principle that is abused to-day in the business world +more than the law of suggestion. Everywhere in this country we see the +pathetic victims of those who make a business of overpowering and +controlling weaker minds. Thus is suggestion carried even to the point +of hypnotism as is illustrated by unscrupulous salesmen and promoters. + +If a person steals the property of another he is imprisoned, but if he +hypnotizes his victim by projecting his own strong trained thought into +the innocent, untrained, unsuspecting victim's mind, overcomes his +objections, and induces him voluntarily to buy the thing he does not +want and can not afford to buy, perhaps impoverishing himself for years +so that he and his family suffer for the necessities of life, no law +can stop him. It would be better and should be considered less +criminal for a man to go into a home and steal articles of value than +to overpower the minds of the heads of poor families and hypnotize them +into signing contracts for what they have really no right and are not +able to buy. + +Solicitors often command big salaries because of their wonderful +personal magnetism and great powers of persuasion. The time will come +when many of these "marvelous persuaders," with long heads cunningly +trained, traveling about the country, hypnotizing their subjects and +robbing them of their hard-earned money, will be regarded as criminals. + +On the other hand, suggestion is used for practical good in business +life. + +It is now a common practise in many concerns to put in the hands of +their employees inspiring books and to republish in pamphlet form +special articles from magazines and periodicals which are calculated to +stir the employees to new endeavor, to arouse them to greater action +and make them more ambitious to do bigger things. Schools of +salesmanship are using very extensively the psychology of business and +are giving all sorts of illustrations which will spur men to greater +efficiency. + +The up-to-date merchant shows his knowledge of the power of suggestion +for customers by his fascinating show-windows and display of +merchandise. + +The restaurant keeper knows the power of suggestion of delicious viands +upon the appetite, and we often see tempting dishes and articles of +food displayed in the window or in the restaurant where the eye will +carry the magic suggestion to the brain. + +A person who has been reared in luxury and refinement would be so +affected by the suggestion of uncleanliness and disorderliness in a +cheap Bowery eating-place that he would lose the keenest appetite. If, +however, the same food, cooked in the same way, could be transferred to +one of the luxurious Broadway restaurants and served upon delicate +china and spotless linen with entrancing music, the entire condition +would be reversed. The new suggestion would completely reverse the +mental and physical conditions. + +The suggestion of the ugly suspicions of a whole nation so overpowered +Dreyfus during his trial that it completely neutralized his +individuality, overbalanced his consciousness of innocence. His whole +manner was that of a guilty person, so that many of his friends +actually believed him guilty. After the verdict, in the presence of a +vast throng which had gathered to see him publicly disgraced, when his +buttons and other insignia of office were torn from his uniform, his +sword taken from him and broken, and the people were hissing, jeering, +and hurling all sorts of anathemas at him, no criminal could have +exhibited more evidence of guilt. The radiations of the guilty +suggestion from millions of people completely over-powered his own +mentality, his individuality, and, although he was absolutely innocent, +his appearance and manner gave every evidence of the treason he was +accused of. + +There is no suggestion so fatal, so insinuating, as that of impurity. +Vast multitudes of people have fallen victims to this vicious, subtle, +fatal poison. + +Who can depict the tragedies which have been caused by immoral, impure +suggestion conveyed to minds which were absolutely pure, which have +never before felt the taint of contamination? The subtle poisoning +infused through the system makes the entrance of the succeeding vicious +suggestions easier and easier, until finally the whole moral system +becomes saturated with the poison. + +There is a wonderful illustration of the power of suggestion in the +experience of what are called the Stigmatists. These nuns who for +years concentrated all of their efforts in trying to live the life that +Christ did, to enter into all of His sufferings, so completely +concentrated all of their energies upon the Christ suffering, and so +vividly pictured the wounds in their imaginations, that their thought +really changed the chemical and physical structure of the tissues and +they actually reproduced the nail marks in the hands and feet and the +spear wound as in the side of the crucified Christ. + +These nuns devoted their lives to this reproduction of the physical +evidences of the crucifixion. The fixing of the mind for a long period +of time upon the wounds of the hands, feet, and the side, were so +vivid, so concentrated, that the picture was made real in their own +flesh. In addition to the mental picturing, they kept constantly +before them the physical picture of the crucified Christ, which made +their mental picture all the more vivid and concentrated. The +religious ecstasy was so intense that they could actually see Christ +being crucified, and this mental attitude was outpictured in the flesh. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +THE CURSE OF WORRY + +This monster dogs us from the cradle to the grave. There is no +occasion so sacred but it is there. Unbidden it comes to the wedding +and the funeral alike. It is at every reception, every banquet; it +occupies a seat at every table. + +No human intellect can estimate the unutterable havoc and ruin wrought +by worry. It has ever forced genius to do the work of mediocrity; it +has caused more failures, more broken hearts, more blasted hopes, than +any other one cause since the dawn of the world. + +_Did you ever hear of any good coming to any human being from worry_? +Did it ever help anybody to better his condition? Does it not +always--everywhere--do just the opposite by impairing the health, +exhausting the vitality, lessening efficiency? + +What have not men done under the pressure of worry! They have plunged +into all sorts of vice; have become drunkards, drug fiends; have sold +their very souls in their efforts to escape this monster. + +Think of the homes which it has broken up; the ambitions it has ruined; +the hopes and prospects it has blighted! Think of the suicide victims +of this demon! If there is any devil in existence, is it not worry, +with all its attendant progeny of evils? + +Yet, in spite of all the tragic evils that follow in its wake, a +visitor from another world would get the impression that worry is one +of our dearest, most helpful friends, so closely do we hug it to +ourselves and so loath are we to part from it. + +Is it not unaccountable that people who know perfectly well that +success and happiness both depend on keeping themselves in condition to +get the most possible out of their energies should harbor in their +minds the enemy of this very success and happiness? Is it not strange +that they should form this habit of anticipating evils that will +probably never come, when they know that anxiety and fretting will not +only rob them of peace of mind and strength and ability to do their +work, but also of precious years of life? + +No man can utilize his normal power who dissipates his nervous energy +in useless anxiety. Nothing will sap one's vitality and blight one's +ambition or detract from one's real power in the world more than the +worrying habit. + +Work kills no one, but worry has killed vast multitudes. It is not the +doing things which injures us so much as the dreading to do them--not +only performing them mentally over and over again, but anticipating +something disagreeable in their performance. + +Many of us approach an unpleasant task in much the same condition as a +runner who begins his start such a long distance away that by the time +he reaches his objective point--the ditch or the stream which is to +test his agility--he is too exhausted to jump across. Worry not only +saps vitality and wastes energy, but it also seriously affects the +quality of one's work. It cuts down ability. A man can not get the +highest quality of efficiency into his work when his mind is troubled. +The mental faculties must have perfect freedom before they will give +out their best. A troubled brain can not think clearly, vigorously, +and logically. The attention can not be concentrated with anything +like the same force when the brain cells are poisoned with anxiety as +when they are fed by pure blood and are clean and unclouded. The blood +of chronic worriers is vitiated with poisonous chemical substances and +broken-down tissues, according to Professor Elmer Gates and other noted +scientists, who have shown that the passions and the harmful emotions +cause actual chemical changes in the secretions and generate poisonous +substances in the body which are fatal to healthy growth and action. + +One of the worst forms of worry is the brooding over failure. It +blights the ambition, deadens the purpose and defeats the very object +the worrier has in view. + +Some people have the unfortunate habit of brooding over their past +lives, castigating themselves for their shortcomings and mistakes, +until their whole vision is turned backward instead of forward, and +they see everything in a distorted light, because they are looking only +on the shadow side. + +The longer the unfortunate picture which has caused trouble remains in +the mind, the more thoroughly it becomes imbedded there, and the more +difficult it is to remove it. + +Are we not convinced that a power beyond our control runs the universe, +that every moment of worry detracts from our success capital and makes +our failure more probable; that every bit of anxiety and fretfulness +leaves its mark on the body, interrupts the harmony of our physical and +mental well-being, and cripples efficiency, and that this condition is +at war with our highest endeavor? + +Is it not strange that people will persist in allowing little worries, +petty vexations, and unnecessary frictions to grind life away at such a +fearful rate that old age stares them in the face in middle life? Look +at the women who are shriveled and shrunken and aged at thirty, not +because of the hard work they have done, or the real troubles they have +had, but because of habitual fretting, which has helped nobody, but has +brought discord and unhappiness to their homes. + +Somewhere I read of a worrying woman who made a list of possible +unfortunate events and happenings which she felt sure would come to +pass and be disastrous to her happiness and welfare. The list was +lost, and to her amazement, when she recovered it, a long time +afterwards, she found that not a single unfortunate prediction in the +whole catalogue of disasters had been realized. + +Is not this a good suggestion for worriers? Write down everything +which you think is going to turn out badly, and then put the list +aside. You will be surprised to see what a small percentage of the +doleful things ever come to pass. + +It is a pitiable thing to see vigorous men and women, who have +inherited godlike qualities and who bear the impress of divinity, +wearing anxious faces and filled with all sorts of fear and +uncertainty, worrying about yesterday, to-day, to-morrow--everything +imaginable. + +"Fear runs like a baleful thread through the whole web of life from +beginning to end," says Dr. Holcomb. "We are born into the atmosphere +of fear and dread, and the mother who bore us had lived in the same +atmosphere for weeks and months before we were born. We are afraid of +our parents, afraid of our teachers, afraid of our playmates, afraid of +ghosts, afraid of rules and regulations and punishments, afraid of the +doctor, the dentist, the surgeon. Our adult life is a state of chronic +anxiety, which is fear in a milder form. We are afraid of failure in +business, afraid of disappointments and mistakes, afraid of enemies, +open or concealed; afraid of poverty, afraid of public opinion, afraid +of accidents, of sickness, of death, and unhappiness after death. Man +is like a haunted animal from the cradle to the grave, the victim of +real or imaginary fears, not only his own, but those reflected upon him +from the superstitions, self-deceptions, sensory illusions, false +beliefs, and concrete errors of the whole human race, past and present." + +Most of us are foolish children, afraid of our shadows, so handicapped +in a thousand ways that we can not get efficiency into our life work. + +A man who is filled with fear is not a real man. He is a puppet, a +mannikin, an apology of a man. + +Quit fearing things that may never happen, just as you would quit any +bad practise which has caused you suffering. Fill your mind with +courage, hope, and confidence. + +Do not wait until fear thoughts become intrenched in your mind and your +imagination. Do not dwell upon them. Apply the antidote instantly, +and the enemies will flee. There is no fear so great or intrenched so +deeply in the mind that it can not be neutralized or entirely +eradicated by its opposite. The opposite suggestion will kill it. + +Once Dr. Chalmers was riding on a stage-coach beside the driver, and he +noticed that John kept hitting the off leader a severe crack with his +whip. When he asked him why he did this, John answered: "Away yonder +there is a white stone; that off leader is afraid of that stone; so by +the crack of my whip and the pain in his legs I want to get his mind +off from it." Dr. Chalmers went home, elaborated the idea, and wrote +"The Expulsive Power of a New Affection." You must drive out fear by +putting a new idea into the mind. + +Fear, in any of its expressions, like worry or anxiety, can not live an +instant in your mind in the presence of the opposite thought, the image +of courage, fearlessness, confidence, hope, self-assurance, +self-reliance. Fear is a consciousness of weakness. It is only when +you doubt your ability to cope with the thing you dread that fear is +possible. Fear of disease, even, comes from a consciousness that you +will not be able to successfully combat it. + +During an epidemic of a dreaded contagious disease, people who are +especially susceptible and full of fear become panic-stricken through +the cumulative effect of hearing the subject talked about and discussed +on every hand and the vivid pictures which come from reading the +newspapers. Their minds (as in the case of yellow fever) become full +of images of the disease, of its symptoms--black vomit, delirium,--and +of death, mourning, and funerals. + +If you never accomplish anything else in life, get rid of worry. There +are no greater enemies of harmony than little anxieties and petty +cares. Do not flies aggravate a nervous horse more than his work? Do +not little naggings, constantly touching him with the whip, or jerking +at the reins, fret and worry him much more than the labor of drawing +the carriage? + +It is the little pin-pricks, the petty annoyances of our everyday life, +that mar our comfort and happiness and rob us of more strength than the +great troubles which we nerve ourselves to meet. It is the perpetual +scolding and fault-finding of an irritable man or woman which ruins the +entire peace and happiness of many a home. + +The most deplorable waste of energy in human life is caused by the +fatal habit of anticipating evil, of fearing what the future has in +store for us, and under no circumstances can the fear or worry be +justified by the situation, for it is always an imaginary one, utterly +groundless and without foundation. + +What we fear is invariably something that has not yet happened. It +does not exist; hence is not a reality. If you are actually suffering +from a disease you have feared, then fear only aggravates every painful +feature of your illness and makes its fatal issue more probable. + +The fear habit shortens life, for it impairs all the physiological +processes. Its power is shown by the fact that it actually changes the +chemical composition of the secretions of the body. Fear victims not +only age prematurely but they also die prematurely. All work done when +one is suffering from a sense of fear or foreboding has little +efficiency. Fear strangles originality, daring, boldness; it kills +individuality, and weakens all the mental processes. Great things are +never done under a sense of fear of some impending danger. Fear always +indicates weakness, the presence of cowardice. What a slaughterer of +years, what a sacrificer of happiness and ambitions, what a miner of +careers this monster has been! The Bible says, "A broken spirit drieth +the bones." It is well known that mental depression--melancholy--will +check very materially the glandular secretions of the body and +literally dry up the tissues. + +Fear depresses normal mental action, and renders one incapable of +acting wisely in an emergency, for no one can think clearly and act +wisely when paralyzed by fear. + +When a man becomes melancholy and discouraged about his affairs, when +he is filled with fear that he is going to fail, and is haunted by the +specter of poverty and a suffering family, before he realizes it, he +attracts the very thing he dreads, and the prosperity is crushed out of +his business. But he is a _mental_ failure first. + +If, instead of giving up to his fear, a man would _persist in keeping +prosperity in his mind_, assume a hopeful, optimistic attitude, and +would conduct his business in a systematic, economical, far-sighted +manner, actual failure would be comparatively rare. But when a man +becomes discouraged, when he loses heart and grip, and becomes +panic-stricken and a victim of worry, he is not in a position to make +the effort which is absolutely necessary to bring victory, and there is +a shrinkage all along the line. + +There is not a single redeeming feature about worry or any of its +numerous progeny. It is always, everywhere, an unmitigated curse. +Although there is no reality in fear, no truth behind it, yet +everywhere we see people who are slaves to this monster of the +imagination. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +TAKE A PLEASANT THOUGHT TO BED WITH YOU + +Shut off your mental steam when you quit work. Lock up your business +when you lock up your office or factory at night. Don't drag it into +your home to mar your evening or to distress your sleep. + +You can not afford to allow the enemies of your peace and happiness to +etch their black pictures deeper and deeper into your consciousness. + + +Many people lie down to sleep as the camels lie down in the desert, +with their packs still on their backs. They do not seem to know how to +lay down their burdens, and their minds go on working a large part of +the night. If you are inclined to worry during the night, to keep your +mental faculties on the strain, taut, it will be a good plan for you to +have a bow in your bedroom and unstring it every night as a reminder +that you should also unstring your mind so that it will not lose its +springing power. The Indian knows enough to unstring his bow just as +soon as he uses it so that it will not lose its resilience. + +If a man who works hard all day uses his brain a large part of the +night, doing his work over and over again, he gets up in the morning +weary, jaded. Instead of having a clear, vigorous brain capable of +powerfully focusing his mind, he approaches his work with all his +standards down, and with about as much chance of winning as a race +horse who has been driven all night before a contest would have. Not +even a man with the will of a Napoleon could win out under such +conditions. + +It is of the utmost importance to stop the grinding, rasping process in +the brain at night and to keep from wearing life away and wasting one's +precious vitality. + +Many people become slaves to night worry. They get into a chronic +habit of thinking after they retire--especially of contemplating their +troubles and trials,--and it is a very difficult habit to break. + +It is fundamental to sound health to make it a rule never to discuss +business troubles and things that vex and irritate one at night, +especially just before retiring, for whatever is dominant in the mind +when one falls asleep continues its influence on the nervous structure +long into the night. + +Some people age more at night than during the daytime, when, it would +appear, if they must worry at all, the reverse ought to be true. When +hard at work during the day they do not have much time to think of +their ailments, their business troubles, their misfortunes. But when +they retire, the whole brood of troubling thoughts and worry ghosts +fill the mind with horrors. They grow older instead of younger, as +they would under the influence of sound, refreshing sleep. + +Mental discord saps vitality, lessens courage, shortens life. It does +not pay to indulge in violent temper, corroding thoughts, mental +discord in any form. Life is too short, too precious, to spend any +part of it in such unprofitable, soul-racking, health-destroying +business. The imagination is particularly active at night, and all +unpleasant, disagreeable things seem a great deal worse then than in +the day, because in the silence and darkness imagination magnifies +everything. We have all dreamed of the evening's experience, after we +went to sleep: perhaps it is the refrain of a song or the intense +situation in a play which we live over again. This shows how powerful +impressions are; how important it is never to retire to rest in a fit +of temper, or in an ugly, unpleasant mood. We should get ourselves +into mental harmony, should become serene and quiet before retiring, +and, if possible, lie down smiling, no matter how long it may take to +secure this condition. Never retire with a frown on your brow; with a +perplexed, troubled, vexed expression. Smooth out the wrinkles; drive +away all the enemies of your peace of mind, and never allow yourself to +go to sleep with critical, cruel, jealous thoughts toward any one. + +It is bad enough to feel inimical toward others when under severe +provocation or in a hot temper, but you certainly can not afford +deliberately to continue this state of mind after the provocation has +ceased. The wear and tear upon your nervous system and your health +takes too much out of you. + +Be at peace with all the world at least once every twenty-four hours. +You can not afford to allow the enemies of your happiness and your +manhood or womanhood to etch their miserable images deeper and deeper +into your life and character as you sleep. + +Many of us with crotchety, sour dispositions and quick tempers +sometimes have very hard work to be decent in our treatment of others. +But we can, at least when we are alone, and away from the people who +nettle and antagonize us, forget injuries, quit harboring unpleasant +thoughts and hard feelings toward others. + +It is a great thing to form a habit of forgetting and forgiving before +going to sleep, of clearing the mind of all happiness and success +enemies. If we have been impulsive, foolish, or wicked during the day +in our treatment of others; if we have been holding a vicious, ugly, +revengeful, jealous attitude toward others, it is a good time to wipe +off the slate and start anew. It is a blessed thing to put into +practise St. Paul's exhortation to the Ephesians: "Let not the sun go +down upon your wrath." + +If you wish to wake up feeling refreshed and renewed, you simply must +retire in a happy, forgiving, cheerful mood. If you go to sleep in an +ugly mood or while worrying or depressed, you will wake up tired, +exhausted and with no elasticity or spring in your brain or buoyancy in +your spirits, for the blood poisoned by worry, by discordant mood, is +incapable of refreshing the brain. + +If you have a grudge against another, forget it, wipe it out, erase it +completely, and substitute a charitable love thought, a kindly, +generous thought, before you fall asleep. If you make a habit of +clearing the mind every night of its enemies, of driving them all out +before you go to sleep, your slumber will be undisturbed by hideous +dreams and you will rise refreshed, renewed. + +Clean your mental house before retiring. Throw out everything that +causes you pain, everything that is disagreeable, undesirable; all +unkind thoughts of anger, hatred, jealousy, all selfish, uncharitable +thoughts. Do not allow them to print their black hideous pictures upon +your mind. And when you have let go of all the rubbish and have swept +and dusted and garnished your mind, fill it full of the pleasantest, +sweetest, happiest, most helpful, encouraging, uplifting +thought-pictures possible. + +An evening-happiness bath ought to be the custom in every home. A bath +of love and good-will toward every living creature is more important +than a water bath. + +We should fall asleep in the most cheerful, the happiest possible frame +of mind. Our minds should be filled with lofty thoughts--with thoughts +of love and of helpfulness--thoughts which will continue to create that +which is helpful and uplifting, which will renew the soul and help us +to awake in the morning refreshed and in superb condition for the day's +work. + +If you have any difficulty in banishing unpleasant or torturing +thoughts, force yourself to read some good, inspiring book--something +that will smooth out your wrinkles and put you in a happy mood; +something that will make you see the real grandeur and beauty of life; +something that will make you feel ashamed of petty meannesses and +narrow, uncharitable thoughts. + +After a little practise, you will be surprised to see how quickly and +completely you can change your whole mental attitude so that you will +face life the right way before you fall asleep. + +You will be surprised also to find how wonderfully serene, calm, +refreshed, and rejuvenated you will be when you wake in the morning, +and how much easier it will be to start right, and wear a smile that +won't come off during the day, than it was when you went to bed in an +ill-humored, worrying or ugly mood, or full of ungenerous, uncharitable +thoughts. + +Unless you tune your mind to harmony for sleep, there will be a +constant strain upon the nervous system. Even if you do manage to go +to sleep with a troubled mind, the brain keeps on working and you will +wake up exhausted. + +We should take special pains to erase the memory of all unfortunate +experiences of the day, all domestic business or professional troubles +and anxieties, in order to retire in a placid, peaceful, harmonious +state of mind; not only because of the necessity of rising refreshed +and invigorated in the morning, but because the character and the +disposition are affected by the condition of the mind upon falling +asleep. Mental discords not only prevent sound sleep but also leave in +the blood poisonous waste from the chemical changes which in turn dulls +and impairs the brain action. + +Many business men suffer so much torture at night that some of them +actually dread to retire because of the long, tedious, wakeful hours. +Financial troubles are particularly exaggerated at night; and even many +optimists suffer more or less from pessimism then. + +Business men ought to know how to turn off brain power when they are +not using it. They would not think of leaving or closing their +factories at night without turning off the machinery power. Why should +they then attempt to go to sleep without turning off their mental +power? It is infinitely important to one's health to turn off mental +power when not actually using it to produce something. + +When you get through your regular day's work, why allow your precious +energy to dribble away in little worries? Why carry your business +home, take it to bed with you, and waste your life forces in +ineffective thinking? Why permit a great leakage of mental energy and +a waste of life-force? You must learn to shut off mental steam when +you quit work. + +Many men use up almost as much mental energy in the evening and in a +restless night as during their actual work in the day. + +Refresh, renew, rejuvenate yourself by play and pleasant recreation. +Play as hard as you work; have a jolly good time, and then you will get +that refreshing, invigorating sleep which gives an overplus of energy, +a buoyancy of spirit which will make you eager to plunge into the next +day's work. + +No matter how tired or busy you are, or how late you retire, make it a +rule never to go to sleep without erasing every unfortunate impression, +every disagreeable experience, every unkind thought, every particle of +envy, jealousy, and selfishness, from the mind. _Just imagine that the +words "harmony," "good cheer," and "good will to every living creature" +are written all over your sleeping room in letters of light_. + +People who have learned the art of putting themselves into harmony with +all the world before they retire, of never harboring a thought of +jealousy, hatred, envy, revenge, or ill-will of any kind against any +human being, get a great deal more out of sleep and retain their youth +much longer and are much more efficient than those who have the habit +of reviewing their disagreeable experiences and thinking about all +their troubles and trials in the night. + +Make it a rule to put the mind into harmony and a good-will attitude +when retiring, and you will be surprised to see how much fresher, +younger, stronger and more normal you will become. + +I know people whose lives have been completely revolutionized by this +experiment of putting themselves in tune before going to sleep. +Formerly they were in the habit of retiring in a bad mood; tired, +discouraged over anticipated evils and all sorts of worries and +anxieties. They would worry over the bad things in their business, the +unfortunate conditions in their affairs, and their mistakes, and would +discuss their misfortunes at night with their wives. The result was +that their minds were in an upset condition when they fell asleep, and +these melancholy, black, ugly pictures, so exaggerated in awful +vividness in the stillness, became etched deeper and deeper into their +minds, and they awoke in the morning weary and exhausted, instead of +feeling, as every one should, like a newly-made creature with fresh +ambition and invigorated determination. + +Form the habit of making a call upon the Great Within of you before +retiring. Leave the message of up-lift, of self-betterment, +self-enlargement, which you yearn for and long to realize but do not +know how to bring about. Registering this call, this demand for +something higher and nobler, in your subconsciousness, _putting it +right up to yourself_, will work like a leaven during the night; and +after a while all the building forces within you will help to unite in +furthering your aim; in helping you to realize your vision. + +There are marvelous possibilities for health building, success +building, happiness building, in the preparation of the mind before +going to sleep by impressing, declaring, picturing as vividly as +possible our ideals of ourselves, what we would like to become and what +we long to accomplish. You will be surprised to see how quickly that +wonderful force in your subjective self will begin to shape the +pattern, to copy the model which you thus give it. In these great +interior creative, restorative forces lies the great secret of life. +Blessed is he who findeth it. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +THE CONQUEST OF POVERTY + +No one can become prosperous while he really expects or half expects to +remain poor. We tend to get what we expect, and to expect nothing is +to get nothing. + +When every step you take is on the road to failure, how can you hope to +arrive at the success goal? + +Prosperity begins in the mind and is impossible while the mental +attitude is hostile to it. It is fatal to work for one thing and to +expect something else, because everything must be created mentally +first and is bound to follow its mental pattern. + + +Most people do not face life in the right way. They neutralize a large +part of their effort because their mental attitude does not correspond +with their endeavor, so that while working for one thing they are +really expecting something else. They discourage, drive away, the very +thing they are pursuing by holding the wrong mental attitude towards +it. They do not approach their work with that assurance of victory +which attracts, which forces results, that determination and confidence +which knows no defeat. + +To be ambitious for wealth and yet always expecting to be poor, to be +always doubting your ability to get what you long for, is like trying +to reach East by traveling West. There is no philosophy which will +help a man to succeed when he is always doubting his ability to do so, +and thus attracting failure. + +The man who would succeed must think success, must think upward. He +must think progressively, creatively, constructively, inventively, and, +above all, optimistically. + +You will go in the direction in which you face. If you look towards +poverty, towards lack, you will go that way. If, on the other hand, +you turn squarely around and refuse to have anything to do with +poverty,--to think it,--live it, or recognize it--you will then begin +to make progress towards the goal of plenty. + +As long as you radiate doubt and discouragement, you will be a failure. +If you want to get away from poverty, you must keep your mind in a +productive, creative condition. In order to do this you must think +confident, cheerful, creative thoughts. The model must precede the +statue. _You must see a new world before you can live in it_. + +If the people who are down in the world, who are side-tracked, who +believe that their opportunity has gone forever, that they can never +get on their feet again, only knew the power of reversal of their +thought, they could easily get a new start. + +If you would attract good fortune you must get rid of doubt. As long +as that stands between you and your ambition, it will be a bar that +will cut you off. You must have faith. No man can make a fortune +while he is convinced that he can't. The "I can't" philosophy has +wrecked more careers than almost anything else. Confidence is the +magic key that unlocks the door of supply. + +I never knew a man to be successful who was always talking about +business being bad. The habit of looking down, talking down, is fatal +to advancement. + +The Creator has bidden every man to look up, not down. He made him to +climb, not to grovel. _There is no providence which keeps a man in +poverty, or in painful or distressing circumstances_. + +The Creator never put vast multitudes of people on this earth to +scramble for a limited supply, as though He were not able to furnish +enough for all. There is nothing in this world which men desire and +struggle for, and that is good for them, of which there is not enough +for everybody. + +Take the thing we need most--food. We have not begun to scratch the +possibilities of the food supply in America. + +The State of Texas could supply food, home, and luxuries to every man, +woman, and child on this continent. As for clothing, there is material +enough in the country to clothe all its inhabitants in purple and fine +linen. We have not begun yet to touch the possibilities of our +clothing and dress supply. The same is true of all of the other +necessities and luxuries. We are still on the outer surface of +abundance, a surface covering kingly supplies for every individual on +the globe. + +[Illustration: William McKinley] + +When the whale ships in New Bedford Harbor and other ports were rotting +in idleness, because the whale was becoming extinct, Americans became +alarmed lest we should dwell in darkness; but the oil wells came to our +rescue with abundant supply. And then, when we began to doubt that +this source would last, Science gave us the electric light. + +There is building material enough to give every person on the globe a +mansion finer than any that a Vanderbilt or Rothschild possesses. It +was intended that we should all be rich and happy; that we should have +an abundance of all the good things the heart can crave. We should +live in the realization that there is an abundance of power where our +present power comes from, and that we can draw upon this great source +for as much as we can use. + +There is something wrong when the children of the King of kings go +about like sheep hounded by a pack of wolves. There is something wrong +when those who have inherited infinite supply are worrying about their +daily bread; are dogged by fear and anxiety so that they can not take +any peace; that their lives are one battle with want; that they are +always under the harrow of worry, always anxious. There is something +wrong when people are so worried and absorbed in making a living that +they can not make a life. + +We were made for happiness, to express joy and gladness, to be +prosperous. The trouble with us is that we do not trust the law of +infinite supply, but close our natures so that abundance cannot flow to +us. In other words, we do not obey the law of attraction. We keep our +minds so pinched and our faith in ourselves so small, so narrow, that +we strangle the inflow of supply. Abundance follows a law as strict as +that of mathematics. If we obey it, we get the flow; if we strangle +it, we cut it off. The trouble is not in the supply; there is +abundance awaiting everyone on the globe. + +Prosperity begins in the mind, and is impossible with a mental attitude +which is hostile to it. We can not attract opulence mentally by a +poverty-stricken attitude which is driving away what we long for. It +is fatal to work for one thing and to expect something else. No matter +how much one may long for prosperity, a miserable, poverty-stricken, +mental attitude will close all the avenues to it. The weaving of the +web is bound to follow the pattern. Opulence and prosperity can not +come in through poverty-thought and failure-thought channels. They +must be created mentally first. We must think prosperity before we can +come to it. + +How many take it for granted that there are plenty of good things in +this world for others, comforts, luxuries, fine houses, good clothes, +opportunity for travel, leisure, but not for them! They settle down +into the conviction that these things do not belong to them, but are +for those in a very different class. + +But why are you in a different class? Simply because you think +yourself into another class; think yourself into inferiority; because +you place limits for yourself. You put up bars between yourself and +plenty. You cut off abundance, make the law of supply inoperative for +you, by shutting your mind to it. _And by what law can you expect to +get what you believe you can not get_? _By what philosophy can you +obtain the good things of the world when you are thoroughly convinced +that they are not for you_? + +_One of the greatest curses of the world is the belief in the necessity +of poverty_. Most people have a strong conviction that some must +necessarily be poor; that they were made to be poor. But there was no +poverty, no want, no lack, in the Creator's plan for man. There need +not be a poor person on the planet. The earth is full of resources +which we have scarcely yet touched. We have been poor in the very +midst of abundance, simply because of our own blighting limiting +thought. + +We are discovering that thoughts are things, that they are incorporated +into the life and form part of the character, and if we harbor the fear +thought, the lack thought, if we are afraid of poverty, of coming to +want, this poverty thought, fear thought incorporates itself in the +very life texture and makes us the magnet to attract more poverty like +itself. + +It was not intended that we should have such a hard time getting a +living, that we should just manage to squeeze along, to get together a +few comforts, to spend about all of our time making a living instead of +making a life. The life abundant, full, free, beautiful, was intended +for us. + +Let us put up a new image, a new ideal of plenty, of abundance. Have +we not worshiped the God of poverty, of lack, of want, about long +enough? Let us hold the thought that God is our great supply, that if +we can keep in tune, in close touch with Him, so that we can feel our +at-one-ness with Him, the great Source of all supply, abundance will +flow to us and we shall never again know want. + +There is nothing which the human race lacks so much as unquestioned, +implicit confidence in the divine source of all supply. We ought to +stand in the same relation to the Infinite Source as the child does to +its parents. The child does not say, "I do not dare eat this food for +fear that I may not get any more." It takes everything with absolute +confidence and assurance that all its needs will be supplied, that +there is plenty more where these things came from. + +We do not have half good enough opinions of our possibilities; do not +expect half enough of ourselves; we do not demand half enough, hence +the meagerness, the stinginess of what we actually get. We do not +demand the abundance which belongs to us, hence the leanness, the lack +of fulness, the incompleteness of our lives. We do not demand royally +enough. We are content with too little of the things worth while. _It +was intended that we should live the abundant life_, that we should +have plenty of everything that is good for us. No one was meant to +live in poverty and wretchedness. _The lack of anything that is +desirable is not natural to the constitution of any human being_. + +Erase all the shadows, all the doubts and fears, and the suggestions of +poverty and failure from your mind. When you have become master of +your thought, when you have once learned to dominate your mind, you +will find that things will begin to come your way. Discouragement, +fear, doubt, lack of self-confidence, are the germs which have killed +the prosperity and happiness of tens of thousands of people. + +Every man must play the part of his ambition. If you are trying to be +a successful man you must play the part. If you are trying to +demonstrate opulence, you must play it, not weakly, but vigorously, +grandly. You must feel opulent, you must think opulence, you must +appear opulent. Your bearing must be filled with confidence. You must +give the impression of your own assurance, that you are large enough to +play your part and to play it superbly. Suppose the greatest actor +living were to have a play written for him in which the leading part +was to represent a man in the process of making a fortune--a great, +vigorous, progressive character, who conquered by his very presence. +Suppose this actor, in playing the part, were to dress like an +unprosperous man, walk on the stage in a stooping, slouchy, slipshod +manner, as though he had no ambition, no energy or life, as though he +had no real faith that he could ever make money or be a success in +business; suppose he went around the stage with an apologetic, +shrinking, skulking manner, as much as to say, "Now, I do not believe +that I can ever do this thing that I have attempted; it is too big for +me. Other people have done it, but I never thought that I should ever +be rich or prosperous. Somehow good things do not seem to be meant for +me. I am just an ordinary man, I haven't had much experience and I +haven't much confidence in myself, and it seems presumptuous for me to +think I am ever going to be rich or have much influence in the world." +What kind of an impression would he make upon the audience? Would he +give confidence, would he radiate power or forcefulness, would he make +people think that that kind of a weakling could create a fortune, could +manipulate conditions which would produce money? Would not everybody +say that the man was a failure? Would they not laugh at the idea of +his conquering anything? + +_Poverty itself is not so bad as the poverty thought_. _It is the +conviction that we are poor and must remain so that is fatal_. It is +the attitude of mind that is destructive, the facing toward poverty, +and feeling so reconciled to it that one does not turn about face and +struggle to get away from it with a determination which knows no +retreat. + +If we can conquer _inward poverty_, we can soon conquer poverty of +outward things, for, when we change the mental attitude, the physical +changes to correspond. + +Holding the poverty thought, keeps us in touch with poverty-stricken, +poverty-producing conditions; and the constant thinking of poverty, +talking poverty, living poverty, makes us mentally poor. This is the +worst kind of poverty. + +We can not travel toward prosperity until the mental attitude faces +prosperity. As long as we look toward despair, we shall never arrive +at the harbor of delight. + +The man who persists in holding his mental attitude toward poverty, or +who is always thinking of his hard luck and failure to get on, can by +no possibility go in the opposite direction, where the goal of +prosperity lies. + +There are multitudes of poor people in this country who are _half +satisfied to remain in poverty_, and who have ceased to make a +desperate struggle to rise out of it. They may work hard, but they +have lost the hope, the expectation of getting an independence. + +Many people keep themselves poor by fear of poverty, allowing +themselves to dwell upon the possibility of coming to want, of not +having enough to live upon, by allowing themselves to dwell upon +conditions of poverty. + +When you make up your mind that you are done with poverty forever; that +you will have nothing more to do with it; that you are going to erase +every trace of it from your dress, your personal appearance, your +manner, your talk, your actions, your home; that you are going to show +the world your real mettle; that you are no longer going to pass for a +failure; that you have set your face persistently toward better +things--a competence, an independence--and that nothing on earth can +turn you from your resolution, you will be amazed to find what a +reenforcing power will come to you, what an increase of confidence, +reassurance, and self-respect. + +Resolve with all the vigor you can muster that, since there are plenty +of good things in the world for everybody, you are going to have your +share, without injuring anybody else or keeping others back. It was +intended that you should have a competence, an abundance. It is your +birthright. You are success organized, and constructed for happiness, +and you should resolve to reach your divine destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +A NEW WAY OF BRINGING UP CHILDREN + + "Only a thought, but the work it wrought + Could never by tongue or pen be taught, + But it ran through a life like a thread of gold, + And the life bore fruit a hundredfold." + + +Not long ago there was on exhibition in New York a young horse which +can do most marvelous things; and yet his trainer says that only five +years ago he had a very bad disposition. He was fractious, and would +kick and bite, but now instead of displaying his former viciousness, he +is obedient, tractable, and affectionate. He can readily count and +reckon up figures, can spell many words, and knows what they mean. + +In fact this horse seems to be capable of learning almost anything. +Five years of kindness have completely transformed the vicious yearling +colt. He is very responsive to kindness, but one can do nothing with +him by whipping or scolding him. His trainer says that in all the five +years he has never touched him with a whip but once. + +I know a mother of a large family of children who has never whipped but +one of them, and that one only once. + +When her first child was born people said she was too good-natured to +bring up children, that she would spoil them, as she would not correct +or discipline them, and would do nothing but love them. But this love +has proved the great magnet which has held the family together in a +marvelous way. Not one of those children has gone astray. They have +all grown up manly and womanly, and love has been wonderfully developed +in their natures. Their own affection responded to the mother's love +and has become their strongest motive. To-day all her children look +upon "Mother" as the grandest figure in the world. She has brought out +the best in them because she saw the best in them. The worst did not +need correcting or repressing, because the expulsive power of a +stronger affection drove out of the nature or discouraged the +development of vicious tendencies which, in the absence of a great +love, might have become dominant and ruined the life. + +Love is a healer, a life-giver, a balm for our hurts. All through the +Bible are passages which show the power of love as a healer and +life-lengthener. "With long life will I satisfy him," said the +Psalmist, "because he hath set his love upon me." + +When shall we learn that the great curative principle is love, that +love heals because it is harmony? There can be no discord where it +reigns. Love is serenity, is peace and happiness. + +Love is the great disciplinarian, the supreme harmonizer, the true +peacemaker. It is the great balm for all that blights happiness or +breeds discontent, a sovereign panacea for malice, revenge, and all the +brutal propensities. As cruelty melts before kindness, so the evil +passions and their antidote in sweet charity and loving sympathy. + +The mother is the supreme shaper of life and destiny. + +Many a mother's love for her children has undoubtedly stayed the +ravages of some fatal disease. Her conviction that she was necessary +to them and her great love for them have braced her, and have enabled +her to successfully cope with the enemies of her life for a long time. + +One mother I know seems to have the magical art of curing nearly all +the ills of her children by love. If any member of the family has any +disagreeable experience, is injured or pained, hurt or unhappy, he +immediately goes to the mother for the universal balm, which heals all +troubles. + +This mother has a way of drawing the troubled child out of discord into +the zone of perpetual harmony. If he is swayed by jealousy, hatred, or +anger, she applies the love solvent, the natural antidote for these +passion poisons. She knows that scolding a child when he is already +suffering more than he can bear is like trying to put out a fire with +kerosene. + +Our orphan asylums give pathetic illustration of how quickly the child +mind matures and ages prematurely without the uplift and enrichment of +the mother love, the mother sympathy,--parental protection and home +influence. + +It is well known that children who lose their parents and are adopted +by their grandparents and live in the country, where they do not have +an opportunity to mingle much with other children, adopt the manners +and mature vocabulary of their elders, for they are very imitative, and +become little men and women before they are out of their youth. + +Think of a child reared in the contaminating atmosphere of the slums, +where everything is dripping with suggestions of vulgarity and +wickedness of every description! Think of his little mind being filled +with profanity, obscenity, and filth of all kinds! Is it any wonder +that he becomes so filled with vicious, criminal suggestions that he +tends to become like his environment? + +Contrast such a child with one that is brought up in an atmosphere of +purity, refinement, and culture, and whose mind is always filled with +noble, uplifting suggestions of the true, the beautiful, and the +lovely. What a difference in the chances of these two children, and +without any special effort or choice of their own! One mind is trained +upward, towards the light, the other downward, towards darkness. + +What chance has a child to lead a noble life when all his first +impressionable years are saturated with the suggestion of evil, when +jealousy and hatred, revenge, quarreling and bickering, all that is low +and degrading, fill his ears and eyes? + +How important it is that the child should only hear and see and be +taught that which will make for beauty and for truth, for loveliness +and grandeur of character! + +We ought to have a great deal of charity for those whose early lives +have been soaked in evil, criminal, impurity thoughts. + +The minds of children are like the sensitive plates of a photographer, +recording every thought or suggestion to which they are exposed. These +early impressions make up the character and determine the future +possibility. + +If you would encourage your child and help him to make the most of +himself, inject bright, hopeful, optimistic, unselfish pictures into +his atmosphere. To stimulate and inspire his confidence and +unselfishness means growth, success, and happiness for him in his +future years, while the opposite practice may mean failure and misery. + +It is of infinitely more importance to hold the right thought towards a +child, the confident, successful, happy, optimistic thought, than to +leave him a fortune without this. With his mind properly trained he +could not fail, could not be unhappy, without reversing the whole +formative process of his early life. + +Keep the child's mind full of harmony, of truth, and there will be no +room for discord, for error. + +It is cruel constantly to remind children of their deficiencies or +peculiarities. Sensitive children are often seriously injured by the +suggestion of inferiority and the exaggeration of defects which might +have been entirely overcome. This everlasting harping against the bad +does not help the child half as much as keeping his little mind full of +the good, the beautiful, and the true. The constant love suggestion, +purity suggestion, nobility suggestion will so permeate the life after +a while that there will be nothing to attract the opposite. It will be +so full of sunshine, so full of beauty and love, that there will be +little or no place for their opposites. + +The child's self-confidence should be buttressed, braced, and +encouraged in every possible way; not that he should be taught to +overestimate his ability and his possibilities, but the idea that he is +God's child, that he is heir to an Infinite inheritance, magnificent +possibilities, should be instilled into the very marrow of his being. + +A great many boys, especially those who are naturally sensitive, shy, +and timid, are apt to suspect that they lack the ability which others +have. It is characteristic of such youths that they distrust their own +ability and are very easily discouraged or encouraged. It is a sin to +shake or destroy a child's self-confidence, to reflect upon his ability +or to suggest that he will never amount to much. These discouraging +words, like initials cut in the sapling, grow wider and wider with the +years, until they become great ugly scars in the man. + +Most parents do not half realize how impressionable children are, and +how easily they may be injured or ruined by discouragement or ridicule. +Children require a great deal of appreciation, praise, and +encouragement. They live upon it. It is a great tonic to them. On +the other hand, they wither very quickly under criticism, blame, or +depreciation. Their sensitive natures can not stand it. It is the +worst kind of policy to be constantly blaming, chiding them, and +positively cruel, bordering on criminality even, to suggest to them +that they are mentally deficient or peculiar, that they are stupid and +dull, and that they will probably never amount to anything in the world. + +How easy it is for a parent or teacher to ruin a child's constructive +ability, to change a naturally, positive creative mind to a negative, +non-producing one, by chilling the child's enthusiasm, by projecting +into his plastic mind the idea that he is stupid, dull, lazy, a +"blockhead" and good-for-nothing; that he will never amount to +anything; that it is foolish for him to try to be much, because he has +not the ability or physical stamina to enable him to accomplish what +many others do. Such teaching would undermine the brightest intellect. + +I have known of an extremely sensitive, timid boy who had a great deal +of natural ability, but who developed very slowly, whose whole future +was nearly ruined by his teacher and parents constantly telling him +that he was stupid and dull, and that he probably never would amount to +anything. A little praise, a little encouragement, would have made a +superb man of this youth, because he had the material for the making of +one. But he actually believed that he was not up to the ordinary +mental standard; he was thoroughly convinced that he was mentally +deficient, and this conviction never entirely left him. + +We are beginning to discover that it is much easier to attract than to +coerce. Praise and encouragement will do infinitely more for children +than threats and punishment. The warm sunshine is more than a match +for the cold, has infinitely more influence in developing the bud, the +blossom, and the fruit than the wind and the tempest, which suppress +what responds voluntarily to the genial influence of the sun's rays. + +We all know how boys will work like troopers under the stimulus of +encouragement and praise. Many parents and teachers know this, and how +fatal the opposite policy is. But unfortunately a great majority do +not appreciate the magic of praise and appreciation. + +Pupils will do anything for a teacher who is always kind, considerate, +and interested in them; but a cross, fractious, nagging one so arouses +their antagonism that it often proves a fatal bar to their progress. +There must be no obstruction, no ill-feeling between the teacher and +the pupil, if the best results are to be obtained. + +Many parents are very much distressed by the waywardness of their +children; but this waywardness is often more imaginary than real. A +large part of children's pranks and mischief is merely the outcome of +exuberant youthful spirits, which must have an outlet, and if they are +suppressed, their growth is fatally stunted. They are so full of life, +energy, and so buoyant that they can not keep still. They _must_ do +_something_. Give them an outlet for their animal spirits. Love is +the only power that can regulate and control them. + +Do not try to make men of your boys or women of your girls. It is not +natural. Love them. Make home just as happy a place as possible, and +give them rein, freedom. Encourage them in their play, for they are +now in their fun age. Many parents ruin the larger, completer, fuller +development of their children by repressing them, destroying their +childhood, their play days, by trying to make them adults. There is +nothing sadder in American life than the child who has been robbed of +its childhood. + +Children are little animals, sometimes selfish, often cruel, due to the +fact that some parts of their brain develop faster than others, so that +their minds are temporarily thrown out of balance, sometimes even to +cruel or criminal tendencies, but later the mind becomes more +symmetrical and the vicious tendencies usually disappear. Their moral +faculties and sense of responsibility unfold more slowly than other +traits, and of course, they will do mischievous things; but it is a +fatal mistake to be always suppressing them. They must give out their +surplus energy in some way. Encourage them to romp. Play with them. +It will keep you young, and will link them to you with hooks of steel. +Do not be afraid of losing your dignity. If you make home the +happiest, most cheerful place on earth for your children, if you love +them enough, there is little danger of their becoming bad. + +Thousands of parents by being so severe with their children, scolding +and criticizing them and crushing their childhood, make them secretive +and deceitful instead of open and transparent, and estrange them and +drive them away from home. + +A man ought to look back upon the home of his childhood as the Eden of +his life, where love reigned, instead of as a place where a long-faced +severity and harshness ruled, where he was suppressed and his +fun-loving spirits snuffed out. + +Every mother, whether she realizes it or not, is constantly using the +power of suggestion in rearing her children, healing all their little +hurts. She kisses the bumps and bruises and tells the child all is +well again, and he is not only comforted, but really believes that the +kiss and caress have magic to cure the injury. The mother is +constantly antidoting and neutralizing the child's little troubles and +discords by giving the opposite thought and applying the love-elixir. + +It is possible, through the power of suggestion, to develop in children +faculties upon which health, success, and happiness depend. Most of us +know how dependent our efficiency is upon our moods, our courage, hope. +If the cheerful, optimistic faculties were brought out and largely +developed in childhood, it would change our whole outlook upon life, +and we would not drag through years of half-heartedness, +discouragement, and mental anguish, our steps dogged by fear, +apprehension, anxiety, and disappointment. + +One reason why we have such poor health is because we have been steeped +in poor-health thought from infancy. We have been saturated with the +idea that pain, physical suffering, and disease, are a part of life; +necessary evils which can not be avoided. We have had it so instilled +into us that robust health is the exception and could not be expected +to be the rule that we have come to accept this unfortunate condition +of things as a sort of fate from which we can not hope to get away. + +The child hears so much sick talk, is cautioned so much about the +dangers of catching all sorts of diseases, that he grows up with the +conviction that physical discords, aches, pains, all discomfort and +suffering, are a necessary part of his existence, that at any time +disease is liable to overtake him and ruin his happiness and thwart his +career. + +Think of what the opposite training would do for the child; if he were +taught that health is the ever-lasting fact and that disease is but the +manifestation of the absence of harmony! Think what it would mean to +him if he were trained to believe that abounding health, rich, full, +complete, instead of sickness, that certainty instead of uncertainty +were his birthright! Think what it would mean for him to _expect_ this +during all his growing years, instead of building into his +consciousness the opposite, instead of being saturated with the sick +thought and constantly being cautioned against disease and the danger +of contracting it! + +The child should be taught that God never created disease, and never +intended that we should suffer; that we were made for abounding health +and happiness, made for enjoyment not for pain--made to be happy, not +miserable, to express harmony, not discord. + +Children are extremely credulous. They are inclined to believe +everything that an adult tells them, especially the nurse, the father +and mother, and their older brothers and sisters. Even the things that +are told them in jest they take very seriously; and their imaginations +are so vivid and their little minds so impressionable that they magnify +everything. They are often punished for telling falsehoods, when the +fault is really due to their excessively active imagination. + +Many ignorant or thoughtless parents and nurses constantly use fear as +a means of governing children. They fill their little minds full of +all sorts of fear stories and terror pictures which may mar their whole +lives. They often buy soothing syrups and all sorts of sleeping +potions to prevent the little ones from disturbing their rest at night, +or to keep them quiet and from annoying them in the day time, and thus +are liable to stunt their brain development. + +Even if children were not seriously injured by fear, it would be wicked +to frighten them, for it is wrong to deceive them. If there is +anything in the world that is sacred to the parent or teacher, it is +the unquestioned confidence of children. + +I believe that the beginnings of deterioration in a great many people +who go wrong could be traced to the forfeiting of the children's +respect and confidence by the parents and teachers. We all know from +experience that confidence once shaken is almost never entirely +restored. Even when we forgive, we seldom forget; the suspicion often +remains. There should never be any shadows between the child and his +parents and teachers. He should always be treated with the utmost +frankness, transparency, sincerity. The child's respect is worth +everything to his parents. Nothing should induce them to violate it or +to shake it. It should be regarded as a very sacred thing, a most +precious possession. + +Think of the shock which must come to a child when he grows up and +discovers that those he has trusted implicitly and who seemed almost +like gods to him have been deceiving him for years in all sorts of ways! + +I have heard mothers say that they dreaded to have their children grow +up and discover how they had deceived them all through their childhood; +to have them discover that they had resorted to fear, superstition, and +all sorts of deceits in order to govern or influence them. + +Whenever you are tempted to deceive a child again, remember that the +time will come when _he will understand_, and that he will receive a +terrible shock when he discovers that you, up to whom he has looked +with such implicit trust, such simple confidence, have deceived him. + +Parents should remember that every distressing, blood-curdling story +told to a child, every superstitious fear instilled into his young +life, the mental attitude they bear towards him, the whole treatment +they accord him, are making phonographic records in his nature which +will be reproduced with scientific exactness in his future life. + +Whatever you do, never punish a child when he is suffering with fear. +It is a cruel thing to punish children the way most mothers and +teachers do, anyway; but to punish a child when he is already quivering +with terror is extremely distressing, and to whip a child when you are +angry is brutal. Many children never quite forget or forgive a parent +or teacher for this cruelty. + +Parents, teachers, friends often put a serious stumbling-block in the +way of a youth by suggesting that he ought to study for the ministry, +or the law; to be a physician, an engineer, or enter some other +profession or business for which he may be totally unfitted. I know a +man whose career was nearly ruined by the suggestion of his grandmother +when he was a child that she would educate him for the church, and that +it was her wish for him to become a clergyman. + +It was not that she saw in the little child any fitness for this holy +office, but because _she wanted a clergyman in the family_, and she +often reminded him that he must not disappoint her. The boy, who +idolized his grandmother, pondered this thought until he became a young +man. The idea possessed him so strongly that every time he tried to +make a choice of a career the picture of a clergyman rushed first to +his mind, and, although he could see no real reason why he should +become a clergyman, the suggestion that he ought to worked like leaven +in his nature and kept him from making any other choice until too late +to enable him to succeed to any great extent. + +I know a most brilliant and marvelously fascinating woman who is +extremely ambitious to make a name for herself, but she is almost +totally lacking in her ability to apply herself, even in the line where +her talent is greatly marked. She seems to be abundantly endowed in +every faculty and quality except this. Now, if her parents had known +the secret of correcting mental deficiencies, building up weak +faculties, this girl could have been so trained that she would probably +have had a great career and made a world-wide name for herself. + +I have in mind another woman, a most brilliant linguist, who speaks +fluently seven languages. She is a most fascinating conversationalist +and impresses one as having read everything, but, although in good +health, she is an object of charity to-day, simply because she has +never developed her practical faculties at all, and this because she +was never trained to work, to depend upon herself even in little things +when she was a child. She was fond of her books, was a most brilliant +scholar, but never learned to be practical or to do anything herself. +Her self-reliance and independence were never developed. All of her +early friends predicted a brilliant future for her, but because of the +very consciousness of possessing so many brilliant qualities and of the +fact that she was flattered during all her student life and not obliged +to depend upon herself for anything, she continued to exercise her +strong scholarship faculties only, little dreaming that the neglect to +develop her weaker ones would wreck her usefulness and her happiness. + +It is not enough to possess ability. We must be able to use it +effectively, and whatever interferes with its activity to that extent +kills efficiency. There are many people who are very able in most +qualities and yet their real work is seriously injured and often +practically ruined, or they are thrown into the mediocre class, owing +to some weakness or deficiency which might have been entirely remedied +by cultivation and proper training in earlier life. + +I know a man of superb ability in nearly every respect who is so timid +and shy that he does not dare push himself forward or put himself in +the position of greatest advantage, does not dare _begin_ things. +Consequently his whole life has been seriously handicapped. + +If children could only be taught to develop a positive, creative mind, +it would be of infinitely more value and importance to them than +inheriting a fortune with a non-productive one. Youths should be +taught that the most valuable thing to learn in life next to integrity +is how to build their minds up to the highest possible producing point, +the highest possible state of _creative efficiency_. + +The most important part of the education of the future will be to +increase the chances of success in life and lessen the danger of +failure and the wrecking of one's career by building up weak and +deficient faculties, correcting one-sided tendencies, so that the +individual will become more level-headed, better balanced, and have a +more symmetrical mind. + +Many students leave school and college knowing a great deal, but +without a bit of improvement in their self-confidence, their initiative +ability. They are just as timid, shy, and self-depreciatory as before +entering. + +Now, what advantage is it to send a youth out into the world with a +head full of knowledge but without the confidence or assurance to use +it effectively, or the ability to grapple with life's problems with +that vigor and efficiency which alone can bring success? + +It is an unpardonable reflection upon a college which turns out youths +who dare not say their souls are their own, who have not developed a +vigorous self-confidence, assurance, and initiative. Hundreds of +students are turned out of our colleges every year who would almost +faint away if they were suddenly called upon to speak in public, to +read a resolution, or even to put a motion. + +The time will come when an education will enable a youth while upon his +feet in public to express himself forcefully, to use the ability he has +and summon his knowledge quickly. He will be so trained in +self-control, in self-confidence, in level-headedness, that he will not +be thrown off his guard in an emergency. The future education will +mean that what the student knows will be _available_, that he can +utilize it at will, that he will be trained to use it _efficiently_. + +Many of our graduates leave college every year as weak and inefficient +in many respects as when they began their education. What is education +for if it is not to train the youth to be the master of his faculties, +master of every situation, able to summon all of his reserves of +knowledge and power at will? + +A college graduate, timid, stammering, blushing, and confused, when +suddenly called upon to use his knowledge whether in public or +elsewhere, ought to be an unknown thing. Of what use is education +which can not be summoned at will? Of what good are the reserves of +learning which can not be marshaled quickly when we need them, which do +not help one to be master of himself and the situation, whatever it may +be? + +The time will come when no child will be allowed to grow up without +being taught to believe in himself, to have great confidence in his +ability. This will be a most important part of his education, for if +he believes in himself _enough_, he will not be likely to allow a +single deficient faculty or weakness to wreck his career. + +He should be reared in the conviction that he was sent into this world +with a mission and that he is going to deliver it. + +Every youth should be taught that it was intended he should fill a +place in the world which no one else can fill; that he should expect to +fill it, and train himself for it; taught that he was made in the +Creator's image, that in the truth of his being he is divine, perfect, +immortal, and that the image of God can not fail. He should be taught +to think grandly of himself, to form a sublime estimate of his +possibilities and of his future. This will increase his self-respect +and self-development in well-proportioned living. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +THE HOME AS A SCHOOL OF GOOD MANNERS + +Not long ago I visited a home where such exceptionally good breeding +prevailed and such fine manners were practised by all the members of +the family, that it made a great impression upon me. + +This home is the most remarkable school of good manners, refinement, +and culture generally, I have ever been in. The parents are bringing +up their children to practise their best manners on all occasions. +They do not know what company manners mean. + +The boys have been taught to treat their sisters with as much deference +as though they were stranger guests. The politeness, courtesy, and +consideration which the members of this family show toward one another +are most refreshing and beautiful. Coarseness, gruffness, lack of +delicacy find no place there. + +Both boys and girls have been trained from infancy to make themselves +interesting, and to entertain and try to make others happy. + +The entire family make it a rule to dress before dinner in the evening, +just as they would if special company were expected. + +Their table manners are specially marked. At table every one is +supposed to be at his best, not to bring any grouch, or a long or sad +face to it, but to contribute his best thought, his wittiest sayings, +to the conversation. Every member of the family is expected to do his +best to make the meal a really happy occasion. There is a sort of +rivalry to see who can be the most entertaining, or contribute the +spiciest bits of conversation. There is no indication of dyspepsia in +this family, because every one is trained to laugh and be happy +generally, and laughter is a fatal enemy of indigestion. + +The etiquette of the table is also strictly observed. Every member of +the family tries to do just the proper thing and always to be mindful +of others' rights. Kindness seems to be practised for the joy of it, +not for the sake of creating a good impression on friends or +acquaintances. There is in this home an air of peculiar refinement +which is very charming. The children are early taught to greet callers +and guests cordially, heartily, in real Southern, hospitable fashion, +and to make them feel that they are very welcome. They are taught to +make every one feel comfortable and at home, so that there will be no +sense of restraint. + +As a result of this training the children have formed a habit of good +behavior and are considered an acquisition to any gathering. They are +not embarrassed by the awkward slips and breaks which are so mortifying +to those who only wear their company manners on special occasions. + +A stranger would almost think this home was a school of good breeding, +and it is a real treat to visit these people. It is true the parents +in this family have the advantage of generations of fine breeding and +Southern hospitality back of them, which gives the children a great +natural advantage. There is an atmosphere of chivalry and cordiality +in this household which is really refreshing. + +Many parents seem to expect that their children will pick up their good +manners outside of the home, in school, or while visiting. This is a +fatal mistake. Every home should be a school of good manners and good +breeding. The children should be taught that there is nothing more +important than the development of an interesting personality, an +attractive presence, and an ability to entertain with grace and ease. +They should be taught that the great object of life is to develop a +superb personality, a noble manhood and womanhood. + +There is no art like that of a beautiful behavior, a fine manner, no +wealth greater than that of a pleasing personality. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +MOTHER + +"All that I am or hope to be," said Lincoln, after he had become +President, "I owe to my angel mother." + +"My mother was the making of me," said Thomas Edison, recently. "She +was so true, so sure of me; and I felt that I had some one to live for; +some one I must not disappoint." + +"All that I have ever accomplished in life," declared Dwight L. Moody, +the great evangelist, "I owe to my mother." + +"To the man who has had a good mother, all women are sacred for her +sake," said Jean Paul Richter. + +The testimony of great men in acknowledgment of the boundless debt they +owe to their mothers would make a record stretching from the dawn of +history to to-day. Few men, indeed, become great who do not owe their +greatness to a mother's love and inspiration. + +How often we hear people in every walk of life say, "I never could have +done this thing but for my mother. She believed in me, encouraged me +when others saw nothing in me." + +"A kiss from my mother made me a painter," said Benjamin West. + +A distinguished man of to-day says: "I never could have reached my +present position had I not known that my mother expected me to reach +it. From a child she made me feel that this was the position she +expected me to fill; and her faith spurred me on and gave me the power +to attain it." + +Everything that a man has and is he owes to his mother. From her he +gets health, brain, encouragement, moral character, and all his chances +of success. + +"In the shadow of every great man's fame walks his mother," says +Dorothy Dix. "She has paid the price of his success. She went down +into the Valley of the Shadow to give him life, and every day for years +and years thereafter she toiled incessantly to push him on toward his +goal. + +"She gave the labor of her hands for his support; she poured into him +ambition when he grew discouraged; she supplemented his weakness with +her strength; she filled him with her hope and faith when his own +failed. + +"At last he did the Big Thing, and people praised him, and acclaimed +him, and nobody thought of the quiet, insignificant little woman in the +background, who had been the real power behind the throne. Sometimes +even the king himself forgets who was the kingmaker." + +Many a man is enjoying a fame which is really due to a self-effacing, +sacrificing mother. People hurrah for the governor, or mayor, or +congressman, but the real secret of his success is often tucked away in +that little unknown, unappreciated, unheralded mother. His education +and his chance to rise may have been due to her sacrifices. + +It is a strange fact that our mothers, the molders of the world, should +get so little credit and should be so seldom mentioned among the +world's achievers. The world sees only the successful son; the mother +is but a round in the ladder upon which he has climbed. Her name or +face is seldom seen in the papers; only her son is lauded and held up +to our admiration. Yet it was that sweet, pathetic figure in the +background that made his success possible. + +The woman who merits the greatest fame is the woman who gives a +brilliant mind to the world. The mothers of great men and women +deserve just as much honor as the great men and women themselves, and +they will receive it from the better understanding of the coming days. + +"A wife may do much toward polishing up a man and boosting him up the +ladder, but unless his mother first gave him the intellect to +scintillate and the muscles to climb with, the wife labors in vain," +continues Dorothy Dix, in the _Evening Journal_. + +"You can not make a clod shine. You can not make a mollusk aspire. +You must have the material to work with, to produce results. + +"By the time a man is married his character is formed, and he changes +very little. His mother has made him; and no matter how hard she +tries, there is very little that his wife can do toward altering him. + +"It is not the philosophies, the theories, the code of ethics that a +man acquires in his older years that really influence him. It is the +things that he learned at his mother's knee, the principles that she +instilled in him in his very cradle, the taste and habits that she +formed, the strength and courage that she breathed into him. + +"It is the childish impressions that count. It is the memory of +whispered prayers, of bedtime stories, of old ideals held unfalteringly +before a boy's gaze; it is half-forgotten songs, and dim visions of +heroes that a mother taught her child to worship, that make the very +warp and woof of the soul. + +"It is the pennies, that a mother teaches a boy to save and the +self-denial that she inculcates in doing it, that form the real +foundation of the fortune of the millionaire. + +"It is the mother that loves books, and who gives her sons her love of +learning, who bestows the great scholars, the writers, and orators, on +the world. + +"It is the mother that worships science, who turns the eyes of the +child upon her breast up to the wonder of the stars, and who teaches +the little toddler at her side to observe the marvel of beast, and +bird, and flower, and all created things, whose sons become the great +astronomers and naturalists, and biologists." + +The very atmosphere that radiates from and surrounds the mother is the +inspiration and constitutes the holy of holies of family life. + +"In my mother's presence," said a prominent man, "I become for the time +transformed into another person." + +How many of us have felt the truth of this statement! How ashamed we +feel when we meet her eyes, that we have ever harbored an unholy +thought, or dishonorable suggestion! It seems impossible to do wrong +while under that magic influence. What revengeful plans, what thoughts +of hatred and jealousy, have been scattered to the four winds while in +the mother's presence! Her children go out from communion with her +resolved to be better men, nobler women, truer citizens. + +"How many of us have stood and watched with admiration the returning +victor of some petty battle, cheering until we were hoarse, exhausting +ourselves with the vehemence of our enthusiasm," says a writer, "when +right beside us, possibly touching our hand, was one greater than he? +One whose battle has not been petty--whose conflict has not been of +short duration, but has for us fought many a severe fight. + +"When we had the scarlet fever or diphtheria and not one would come +near us, who held the cup of cold water to our fever-parched lips? Who +bent over us day and night and fought away with almost supernatural +strength the greatest of all enemies--death? The world's greatest +heroine--Mother! Who is it that each Sunday dinner-time chose the neck +of the chicken that we might have the juicy wing or breast or leg? Who +is it stays home from the concert, the social, the play, that we may go +with the others and not be stinted for small change? Who is it +crucifies her love of pretty clothes, her desire for good things, her +longing for pleasure that we may have all these? Who is it? Mother!" + +The greatest heroine in the world is the mother. No one else makes +such sacrifices, or endures anything like the suffering that she +uncomplainingly endures for her children. + +What is the giving of one's life in battle or in a wreck at sea to save +another, in comparison with the perpetual sacrifice of many mothers of +a living death lasting for half a century or more? How the world's +heroes dwindle in comparison with the mother heroine! There is no one +in the average family, the value of whose services begins to compare +with those of the mother, and yet there is no one who is more generally +neglected or taken advantage of. She must remain at home evenings, and +look after the children, when the others are out having a good time. +Her cares never cease. She is responsible for the housework, for the +preparation of meals; she has the children's clothes to make or mend, +there is company to be entertained, darning to be done, and a score of +little duties which must often be attended to at odd moments, snatched +from her busy days, and she is often up working at night, long after +every one else in the house is asleep. + +No matter how loving or thoughtful the father may be, the heavier +burdens, the greater anxieties, the weightier responsibilities of the +home, of the children, usually fall on the mother. Indeed, the very +virtues of the good mother are a constant temptation to the other +members of the family, especially the selfish ones, to take advantage +of her. They seem to take it for granted that they can put all their +burdens on the patient, uncomplaining mother; that she will always do +anything to help out, and to enable the children to have a good time; +and in many homes, sad to say, the mother, just because of her +goodness, is shamefully imposed upon and neglected. "Oh, mother won't +mind, mother will stay at home." How often we hear remarks like this +from thoughtless children! + +It is always the poor mother on whom the burden falls; and the pathetic +thing is that she rarely gets much credit or praise. + +Many mothers in the poor and working classes practically sacrifice all +that most people hold dearest in life for their children. They +deliberately impair their health, wear themselves out, make all sorts +of sacrifices, to send a worthless boy to college. They take in +washing, go out house-cleaning, do the hardest and most menial work, in +order to give their boys and girls an education and the benefit of +priceless opportunities that they never had; yet, how often, they are +rewarded only with total indifference and neglect! + +Some time ago I heard of a young girl, beautiful, gay, full of spirit +and vigor, who married and had four children. Her husband died +penniless, and the mother made the most heroic efforts to educate the +children. By dint of unremitting toil and unheard of sacrifices and +privations she succeeded in sending the boys to college and the girls +to a boarding-school. When they came home, pretty, refined girls and +strong young men, abreast with all the new ideas and tastes of their +times, she was a worn-out, commonplace old woman. They had their own +pursuits and companions. She lingered unappreciated among them for two +or three years, and then died, of some sudden failure of the brain. +The shock of her fatal illness woke them to consciousness of the truth. +They hung over her, as she lay prostrate, in an agony of grief. The +oldest son, as he held her in his arms, cried: "You have been a good +mother to us!" Her face brightened, her eyes kindled into a smile, and +she whispered: "You never said so before, John." Then the light died +out, and she was gone. + +Many men spend more money on expensive caskets, flowers, and emblems of +mourning than they ever spent on their poor, loving, self-sacrificing +mothers for many years while alive. Men who, perhaps, never thought of +carrying flowers to their mothers in life, pile them high on their +coffins. + +Who can ever depict the tragedies that have been enacted in the hearts +of American mothers, who have suffered untold tortures from neglect, +indifference, and lack of appreciation? + +What a pathetic story of neglect many a mother's letters from her +grown-up children could tell! A few scraggy lines, a few sentences now +and then, hurriedly written and mailed--often to ease a troubled +conscience--mere apologies for letters, which chill the mother heart. + +I know men who owe their success in life to their mother; who have +become prosperous and influential, because of the splendid training of +the self-sacrificing mother, and whose education was secured at an +inestimable cost to her, and yet they seldom think of carrying to her +flowers, confectionery, or little delicacies, or of taking her to a +place of amusement, or of giving her a vacation or bestowing upon her +any of the little attentions and favors so dear to a woman's heart. +They seem to think she is past the age for these things, that she no +longer cares for them, that about all she expects is enough to eat and +drink, and the simplest kind of raiment. + +These men do not know the feminine heart which never changes in these +respects, except to grow more appreciative of the little attentions, +the little considerations, and thoughtful acts which meant so much to +them in their younger days. + +Not long ago I heard a mother, whose sufferings and sacrifices for her +children during a long and trying struggle with poverty should have +given her a monument, say, that she guessed she'd better go to an old +ladies' home and end her days there. What a picture that was! An aged +woman with white hair and a sweet, beautiful face; with a wonderful +light in her eye; calm, serene, and patient, yet dignified, whose +children, all of whom are married and successful, made her feel as if +she were a burden! They live in luxurious homes, but have never +offered to provide a home for the poor, old rheumatic mother, who for +so many years slaved for them. They put their own homes, stocks, and +other property in their wives' names, and while they pay the rent of +their mother's meagerly furnished rooms and provide for her actual +needs, they apparently never think what joy it would give her to own +her own home, and to possess some pretty furnishings, and a few +pictures. + +In many cases men through thoughtlessness do not provide generously for +their mothers even when well able to. They seem to think that a mother +can live most anywhere, and most anyway; that if she has enough to +supply her necessities she is satisfied. Just think, you prosperous +business men, how you would feel if the conditions were reversed, if +you were obliged to take the dependent, humiliating position of your +mother! + +Whatever else you are obliged to neglect, take no chances of giving +your mother pain by neglecting her, and of thus making yourself +miserable in the future. + +The time may come when you will stand by her bedside, in her last +sickness, or by her coffin, and wish that you had exchanged a little of +your money for more visits and more attentions and more little presents +to your mother; when you will wish that you had cultivated her more, +even at the cost of making a little less money. + +There is no one else in this world who can take your mother's place in +your life. And there is no remorse like that which comes from the +remembrance of ill-treating, abusing, or being unkind to one's mother. +These things stand out with awful vividness and terrible clearness when +the mother is gone forever from sight, and you have time to contrast +your treatment with her long suffering, tenderness, and love, and her +years of sacrifice for you. + +One of the most painful things I have ever witnessed was the anguish of +a son who had become wealthy and in his prosperity neglected the +mother, whose sacrifices alone had made his success possible. He did +not take the time to write to her more than twice a year, and then only +brief letters. He was too busy to send a good long letter to the poor +old lonely mother back in the country, who had risked her life and +toiled and sacrificed for years for him! Finally, when he was summoned +to her bedside in the country, in her last sickness, and realized that +his mother had been for years without the ordinary comforts of life, +while he had been living in luxury, he broke down completely. And +while he did everything possible to alleviate her suffering, in the few +last days that remained to her on earth, and gave her an imposing +burial, what torture he must have suffered, at this pitiful picture of +his mother who had sacrificed everything for him! + +"The regrets for thoughtless acts and indifference to admonitions now +felt and expressed by many living sons of dead mothers will, in time, +be felt and expressed by the living sons of living mothers," says +Richard L. Metcalfe, in the "Commoner." "The boys of to-day who do not +understand the value of the mother's companionship will yet sing--with +those who already know--this song of tribute and regret: + + "'The hours I spent with thee, dear heart, + Are as a string of pearls to me; + I count them over, every one apart, + My rosary. + + "'Each hour a pearl, each pearl a prayer, + To still a heart in absence wrung; + I tell each bead unto the end, and there + A cross is hung. + + "'O memories that bless--and burn! + Oh mighty gain and bitter loss! + I kiss each bead and strive at last to learn + To kiss the cross, + Sweet heart, + To kiss the cross.'" + + +No man worthy of the name ever neglects or forgets his mother. + +I have an acquaintance, of very poor parentage, who had a hard struggle +to get a start in the world; but when he became prosperous and built +his beautiful home, he finished a suite of rooms in it especially for +his mother, furnished them with all conveniences and comforts possible, +and insisted upon keeping a maid specially for her. Although she lives +with her son's family, she is made to feel that this part of the great +home is her own, and that she is as independent as though she lived in +her own house. Every son should be ambitious to see his mother as well +provided for as his wife. + +Really great men have always reverenced and cared tenderly for their +mothers. President McKinley provided in his will that, first of all, +his mother should be made comfortable for life. + +The first act of Garfield, after he was inaugurated President, was to +kiss his aged mother, who sat near him, and who said this was the +proudest and happiest moment of her life. + +Ex-President Loubet of France, even after his elevation to the +presidency, took great pride in visiting his mother, who was a humble +market gardener in a little French village. A writer on one occasion, +describing a meeting between this mother and her son, says: "Her noted +son awaited her in the market-place, as she drove up in her little cart +loaded with vegetables. Assisting his mother to alight, the French +President gave her his arm and escorted her to her accustomed seat. +Then holding over her a large umbrella, to shield her from the +threatening weather, he seated himself at her side, and mother and son +enjoyed a long talk together." + +I once saw a splendid young college graduate introduce his poor, +plainly dressed old mother to his classmates with as much pride and +dignity as though she was a queen. Her form was bent, her hands were +calloused, she was prematurely old, and much of this deterioration was +caused by all sorts of drudgery to help her boy to pay his college +expenses. + +I have seen other college men whose mothers had made similar +sacrifices, and who were ashamed to have them attend their graduating +exercises, ashamed to introduce them to their classmates. + +Think of the humiliation and suffering of the slave mother, who has +given all the best of her life to a large family, battling with poverty +in her efforts to dignify her little home, and to give her children an +education, when she realizes that she is losing ground intellectually, +yet has no time or strength for reading, or self-culture, no +opportunity for broadening her mental outlook by traveling or mingling +with the world! But this is nothing compared to the anguish she +endures, when, after the flower of her youth is gone and there is +nothing left of her but the ashes of a burned-out existence, the shreds +of a former superb womanhood, she awakes to the consciousness that her +children are ashamed of her ignorance and desire to keep her in the +background. + +From babyhood children should be taught to look up to, not down on +their mother. For that reason she should never appear before them in +slovenly raiment, nor conduct herself in any way that would lessen +their respect. She should keep up her intellectual culture that they +may not advance beyond her understanding and sympathies. + +No matter how callous or ungrateful a son may be, no matter how low he +may sink in vice or crime, he is always sure of his mother's love, +always sure of one who will follow him even to his grave, if she is +alive and can get there; of one who will cling to him when all others +have fled. + +It is forever true, as Kipling poignantly expresses it in his beautiful +verses on "Mother Love": + + "'If I were hanged on highest hill, + Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! + I know whose love would follow still, + Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! + + "'If I were drowned in the deepest sea, + Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! + I know whose tears would come down to me, + Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! + + "'If I were cursed of body and soul, + Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! + I know whose prayer's would make me whole! + Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!'" + + +One of the saddest sights I have ever seen was that of a poor, old, +broken-down mother, whose life had been poured into her children, +making a long journey to the penitentiary to visit her boy, who had +been abandoned by everybody but herself. Poor old mother! It did not +matter that he was a criminal, that he had disgraced his family, that +everybody else had forsaken him, that he had been unkind to her--the +mother's heart went out to him just the same. She did not see the +hideous human wreck that crime had made. She saw only her darling boy, +the child that God had given her, pure and innocent as in his childhood. + +Oh, there is no other human love like this, which follows the child +from the cradle to the grave, never once abandons, never once forsakes +him, no matter how unfortunate or degenerate he may become. + +"So your best girl is dead," sneeringly said a New York magistrate to a +young man who was arrested for attempting suicide. "Who was she?" +Without raising his eyes, the unfortunate victim burst into tears and +replied, "She was my mother!" The smile vanished from the magistrate's +face and, with tears in his eyes, he said, "Young man, go and try to be +a good man, for your mother's sake." How little we realize what +tragedy may be going on in the hearts of those whom we sneeringly +condemn! + +What movement set on foot in recent years, deserves heartier support +than that for the establishment of a national Mothers' Day? + +The day set apart as Mothers' Day by those who have inaugurated this +movement is _the second Sunday in May_. Let us unite in doing all we +can to make it a real Mothers' Day, by especially honoring our mothers; +in the flesh, those of us who are so fortunate as to have our mothers +with us; in the spirit, those who are not so fortunate. + +If away from her, write a good, loving letter, or telephone or +telegraph to the best mother who ever lived--your mother. Send her +some flowers, an appropriate present; go and spend the day with her, or +in some other way make her heart glad. Show her that you appreciate +her, and that you give her credit for a large part of your success. + +Let us do all we can to make up for past neglect of the little-known, +half-appreciated, unheralded mothers who have had so little credit in +the past, and are so seldom mentioned among the world's achievers, by +openly, and especially in our hearts, paying our own mothers every +tribute of honor, respect, devotion, and gratitude that love and a +sense of duty can suggest. Let us acknowledge to the world the great +debt we owe them by wearing, every one of us, boy and girl, man and +woman, on Mothers' Day, a white carnation--the flower chosen as the +symbol and emblem of motherhood. + +Happily chosen emblem! What could more fittingly represent motherhood +with its whiteness symbolizing purity; its lasting qualities, +faithfulness; its fragrance, love; its wide field of growth, charity; +its form, beauty! + +What an impressive and beautiful tribute to motherhood it would be for +a whole nation to unite one day in wearing its chosen emblem, and in +song and speech, and other appropriate exercises, to honor its mothers! + + + + +CHAPTER LX + +WHY SO MANY MARRIED WOMEN DETERIORATE + +A woman writes me: "You would laugh if you knew the time I have had in +getting the dollar which I enclose for your inspiring magazine. I would +get a pound less of butter, a bar less of soap. I never have a cent of +my own. Do you think it wrong of me to deceive my husband in this way? +I either have to do this or give up trying at all." + +There are thousands of women who work harder than their husbands and +really have more right to the money, who are obliged to practise all +sorts of deceit in order to get enough to buy clothing and other things +essential to decent living. + +The difficulty of extracting money from an unwilling husband has been the +beginning of thousands of tragedies. The majority of husbands are +inclined to exert a censorship over their wives' expenditures. I have +heard women say that they would go without necessary articles of clothing +and other requirements just as long as possible and worry for days and +weeks before they could summon courage to ask for money, because they +dreaded a scene and the consequent discord in the home. Many women make +it a rule never to ask for money, except when the husband is leaving the +house and in a hurry to get away. The disagreeable scene is thus cut as +short as possible, as he has not time then to go into all the details of +his wife's alleged extravagances and find out what has become of every +cent of the money given her on some similar previous occasion. + +The average man does not begin to realize how it humiliates his wife to +feel that she must ask him for fifty cents, a dollar, or five dollars +every time she needs it, and to tell him just exactly what she is going +to do with it, and then perhaps be met with a sharp reproof for her +extravagance of foolish expenditures. + +Men who are extremely kind and considerate with their wives in most +things are often contemptibly mean regarding money matters. Many a man +who is generous with his tips and buys expensive cigars and orders costly +lunches for himself and friends at the club because he wants to be +considered a "good fellow," will go home at night and bicker with his +wife over the smallest expenditure, destroying the whole peace of the +household, when perhaps she does not spend as much upon herself as he +does for cigars and drink. + +Why is it that men are so afraid to trust their wives with money when +they trust them implicitly with everything else, especially as women are +usually much more economical than men would be in managing the home and +providing for the children? A large part of the friction in the average +home centers around money matters and could be avoided by a simple, +definite understanding between husband and wife, and a business +arrangement of household finances. A regular advance to the wife for the +household and a certain sum for personal use which she need not account +for, would do more to bring about peace and harmony in the majority of +homes than almost anything else. + +To be a slave to the home, as many women are, and then to be obliged to +assume the attitude of a beggar for every little bit of money she needs +for herself, or to have to give an accounting for every cent she spends +and tell her lord and master what she did with her last money before she +can get any more, is positively degrading. + +When the husband gets ready to regard his wife as an equal partner in the +marriage firm instead of as an employee with one share in a +million-dollar company, or as merely a housekeeper; when he is willing to +regard his income as much his wife's as his own and not put her in the +position of a beggar for every penny she gets; when he will grant her the +same privileges he demands for himself; when he is willing to allow his +wife to live her own life in her own way without trying to "boss" her, we +shall have more true marriages, happier homes, a higher civilization. + +Some one says that a man is never so happy as when he has a few dollars +his wife knows nothing about. And there is a great deal of truth in it. +Men who are perfectly honest with their wives about most things are often +secretive about money matters. They hoodwink them regarding their +incomes and especially about any ready cash they have on hand. + +No matter how much the average man may think of his wife, or how +considerate he may be in other matters, he rarely considers that she has +the same right to his cash that he has, although he may be boasting to +outsiders of her superior management in matters of economy. He feels +that he is the natural guardian of the money, as he makes it; that he has +a little more right to it than has his wife, and that he must protect it +and dole it out to her. + +What disagreeable experiences, unfortunate bickerings, misunderstandings +and family prejudice could be avoided if newly-married women would insist +upon having a certain proportion of the income set aside for the +maintenance of the home and for their own personal needs, without the +censorship of their husbands and without being obliged to give an +itemized account of their expenditures! + +It is a rare thing to find a man who does not waste ten times as much +money on foolish things as does his wife, and yet he would make ten times +the talk about his wife's one-tenth foolishness as his own ten-tenths. + +On the other hand, thousands of women, starving for affection, protest +against their husband's efforts to substitute money for it--to satisfy +their cravings, their heart-hunger, with the things that money can buy. + +It is an insult to womanhood to try to satisfy her nature with material +things, while the affections are famishing for genuine sympathy and love, +for social life, for contact with the great, throbbing world outside. +Women do admire beautiful things; but there is something they admire +infinitely more. Luxuries do not come first in any real woman's desires. +She prefers poverty with love to luxury with an indifferent or loveless +husband. + +How gladly would these women whose affections are blighted by cold +indifference or the unfaithfulness of their husbands, exchange their +liberal allowance, their luxuries, for genuine sympathy and affection! + +One of the most pathetic spectacles in American life is that of the +faded, outgrown wife, standing helpless in the shadow of her husband's +prosperity and power, having sacrificed her youth, beauty, and +ambition--nearly everything that the feminine mind holds dear--to enable +an indifferent, selfish, brutish husband to get a start in the world. + +It does not matter that in her unselfish effort to help him she burned up +much of her attractiveness over the cooking stove; that she lost more of +it at the washtub, in scrubbing and cleaning, and rearing and caring for +their children during the slavery of her early married life; it does not +matter how much she suffered during those terrible years of poverty and +privation. Just as soon as the selfish husband begins to get prosperous, +finds that he is succeeding, feels his power, he often begins to be +ashamed of the woman who has given up everything to make his success +possible. + +It is a sad thing to see any human being whose life is blighted by the +lack of love; but it is doubly pathetic to see a woman who has given +everything to the man she loved and who gets in return only her board and +clothes and an allowance, great or small. + +Some men seem to think that the precept, "Man does not live by bread +alone," was not meant to include woman. They can not understand why she +should not be happy and contented if she has a comfortable home and +plenty to eat and wear. They would be surprised to learn that many a +wife would gladly give up luxuries and live on bread and water, if she +could only have her husband's sympathy in her aspirations, his help and +encouragement in the unfolding of her stifled talents. + +I know a very able, promising young man who says that if he had had a +rich father he never would have developed his creative power; that his +ambition would have been strangled; that it was the desperate struggle to +make a place for himself in the world that developed the real man in him. + +This young man married a poor girl who had managed by the hardest kind of +work and sacrifice to pay her way through college. She had just begun to +develop her power, to feel her wings, when her husband caged her in his +home, took away her highest incentive for self-development. He said that +a man who could not support a wife without her working had no business to +marry. He dressed his wife like a queen; gave her horses and carriages +and servants. But all the time he was discouraging her from developing +her self-reliance, taking away all motives for cultivating her +resourcefulness and originality. + +At first the wife was very eager to work. Her ambition rebelled against +the gilded chains by which she was bound. She was restless, nervous, and +longed to use her powers to do something for herself and the world. + +But her husband did not believe in a woman doing the things she wished to +do. He wanted his wife to look pretty and fresh when he returned from +his business at night; to keep young and to shine in society. He was +proud of her beauty and vivacity. He thought he loved her, but it was a +selfish love, for real love has a tender regard for a person's highest +good, for that person's sake. + +Gradually the glamour of society, the lethe of a luxurious life, +paralyzed her ambition, which clamored less and less peremptorily for +recognition, until at length she subsided into a life of almost total +inaction. + +Multitudes of women in this country to-day are vegetating in luxurious +homes, listless, ambitionless, living narrow, superficial, rutty lives, +because the spur of necessity has been taken away from them; because +their husbands, who do not want them to work, have taken them out of an +ambition-arousing environment. + +But a life of leisure is not the only way of paralyzing the development +of a wife's individuality. It can be done just as effectively by her +becoming a slave of her family. I believe that the average wife is +confined to her home a great deal too much. + +Many women do not seem to have any existence outside of the little home +orbit; do not have any special interests or pleasures to speak of apart +from their husbands. They have been brought up to think that wives have +very little purpose in life other than to be the slaves and playthings of +their lords and masters, to bear and bring up children, and to keep +meekly in the background. + +The wife who wishes to hold her husband's affection, if he is ambitious, +must continue to grow, must keep pace with him mentally. She must make a +continual investment in self-improvement and in intellectual charm so +that her mental growth will compensate for the gradual loss of physical +charm. She must keep her husband's admiration, and if he is a +progressive man he is not likely to admire a wife who stands still +mentally. Admiration is a very important part of love. + +You may be very sure that if you have an ambitious husband you must do +something to keep up with him besides lounging, idling about the home, +reading silly novels, dressing stylishly and waiting for him to return at +night. If he sees that your sun rises and sets in him, that you have +little interest outside, that you are not broadening and deepening your +life in other ways by extending your interests, reaching out for +self-enlargement, self-improvement, he will be disappointed in you, and +this will be a great strain upon his love. + +It is impossible for a girl who has had only a little schooling to +appreciate the transforming power that comes from liberal education and +broad culture. For the sake of her husband and children and her own +peace of mind and satisfaction, she should try to improve herself in +every possible way. Think of what it means to be able to surround one's +home with an atmosphere of refinement, culture and superior intelligence! +The quality of one's own ideals has a great deal to do with the quality +of the ideals of one's family. + +Even considered alone from the standpoint of self-protection, as a +safeguard, a woman ought to get a liberal education; a college education, +if possible. The conditions of home life in this country are such that +it is very difficult for the wife to keep up with her husband's growth, +to keep pace with him, because he is constantly in an ambition-arousing, +stimulating environment. Unless she is unusually ambitious and has great +power of application and concentration and plenty of leisure, she is +likely to drop behind her husband. + +As a rule, the husband has infinitely more to encourage and stimulate him +than has the wife. Success itself is a tremendous tonic. The +consciousness of perpetual triumph, of conquering things, is a great +stimulus. + +It is true that women have developed more admirable and loving qualities +in their home life than have men; but during all these centuries, while +women have been shut up in the home, men have been touching hands with +the great, busy world, absorbing knowledge of human nature and broadening +their minds by coming into contact with men and things. They have +developed independence, stamina, strength, by being compelled to solve +the larger, more practical problems of life. + +The business man and the professional man are really in a perpetual +school, a great practical university. The strenuous life, however +dangerous, is essentially educative. The man has the incalculable +advantage of a great variety of experiences and of freshness of view. He +is continually coming in contact with new people, new things, being +molded by a vast number of forces in the busy world which never touch the +wife. + +If women, equally with men, do not continue to grow and expand after +marriage, how can we expect race improvement? Woman must ascend to +higher, wider planes, or both man and woman must descend. "Male and +female created He them." There is no separating them; they must rise or +fall together. + + "The woman's cause is man's; they rise or sink + Together, dwarfed or godlike, bond or free." + + +Many a man has tired of his wife because she has not kept pace with him; +because, instead of growing broader and keener as the years pass, she has +become narrow. It never occurs to him that the fault may be wholly his +own. In the early years of their married life he perhaps laughed at her +"dreams," as he called her longings for self-improvement. He +discouraged, if he did not actually oppose, every effort she made to grow +to the full stature of her womanhood. His indifference or hostility +quenched the hopes she had indulged before marriage. The bitterness of +her disappointment crushed her spirit. She lost her buoyancy and +enthusiasm and gradually sank to the level of a household drudge. And +the husband wonders what has changed the joyous, high-spirited girl he +married into the dull, apathetic woman who now performs her duties like +an automaton. + +There are to-day thousands of wives doing the work of ordinary +housemaids, who, putting it on a low standard, are smothering ability to +earn perhaps more money than the men who enslave them, if they only had +an opportunity to unfold the powers which God has given them; but they +have been brought up from infancy to believe that marriage is the only +real career for a woman, that these longings and hungerings for +self-expression are to be smothered, covered up by the larger duties of a +wife and mother. + +If the husbands could change places with their wives for a year, they +would feel the contracting, narrowing influence in which the average wife +lives. Their minds would soon cease to reach out, they would quickly +feel the pinching, paralyzing effect of the monotonous existence, of +doing the same things every day, year in and year out. The wives, on the +other hand, would soon begin to broaden out. Their lives would become +richer, fuller, more complete, from contact with the world, from the +constant stretching of their minds over large problems. + +I have heard men say that remaining in the home on Sundays or holidays +just about uses them up; that it is infinitely harder and more trying +than the same time spent in their occupations, and that while they love +their children their incessant demands, the noise and confusion would +drive them to drink if they had to bear it all the time. Strong men +admit that they can not stand these little nerve-racking vexations of the +home. Yet they wonder why the wife and mother is nervous, and seem to +think that she can bear this sort of thing three hundred and sixty-five +days in the year without going away and getting relief for a half-dozen +days during the whole time. Few men would exchange places with their +wives. Their hours are shorter, and when their day's work is done, it is +done, while a wife and mother not only works all day, but is also likely +to be called during the night. If any one is disturbed in the night by +the children, it is the mother; rarely the father. + +How long would men continue to conduct their business offices or +factories with the primitive, senseless methods in vogue in the average +kitchen to-day? Man puts all his inventiveness, his ingenuity, in +improving methods, in facilitating his business and getting the drudgery +out of his work in his office and factory, but the wife and mother still +plods along in an ill-fitted kitchen and laundry. And yet our greatest +modern inventor has said that the cares of the home could be reduced to a +minimum and the servant problem solved if the perfectly practicable +devices, for lightening household labor were adopted in the home! + +"But," many of our men readers will say, "is there any profession in the +world grander than that of home making? Can anything be more +stimulating, more elevating, than home making and the rearing of +children? How can such a vocation be narrowing or monotonous?" + +Of course it is grand. There is nothing grander in the universe than the +work of a true wife, a noble mother. But it would require the +constitution of a Hercules, an infinitely greater patience than that of a +Job, to endure such work with almost no change or outside variety, year +in and year out, as many wives and mothers do, without breaking down. + +The average man does not appreciate how almost devoid of incentives to +broadmindedness, to many-sidedness, to liberal growth, the home life of +many women is. + +There is a disease called arrested development, in which the stature of +the adult remains that of a child, all physical growth and expansion +having stopped. + +One of the most pitiable phases of American life and one of the most +discouraging elements in our civilization is the suppressed wife who is +struggling with arrested development after marriage. + +I have known of beautiful young wives who went to their husbands with the +same assurance of confidence and trust as to their hopes and ambitions +with which a child would approach its mother, only to meet with a brutal +rebuff for even venturing to have an ambition which did not directly +enhance the husband's comfort or convenience in his home. + +It is a strange fact that most men think that when a woman marries she +goes to her new home with as rigid vows as the monks take on entering the +monastery, or the nuns the convent, and they regard the suggestion of a +career for her, which does not directly bear upon the home, as domestic +treason. + +There are some women, especially sensitive ones, who would never again +tell their husbands of their hopes and aspirations after they had been +laughed at and ridiculed a few times, but would be forever silent, even +when the canker of bitter disappointment was consuming them. + +Suppose a girl has the brains and the ability of a George Eliot and she +marries a young business man who thinks that writing articles or books or +devoting a large part of her time to music is all nonsense; that her +place is at home, taking care of it and bringing up her children, and +denies her the right to exercise her talent. How would he like to have +the conditions reversed? It is true that woman is peculiarly fitted for +the home, and every normal woman should have a home of her own, but her +career should not be confined or limited to it any more than a man's. I +do not see why she should not be allowed to live the life normal to her; +why she should be denied the right of self-expression, any more than the +man. And I regard that man as a tyrant who tries to cramp her in the +natural expression of her ambition or sneers at, nags, and criticizes her +for seeking to bring out, to unfold, the sacred thing which the Creator +has given her. This is one of her inalienable rights which no man should +dare interfere with. If he does, he deserves the unhappiness which is +likely to come to his home. + +A wife should neither be a drudge nor a dressed-up doll; she should +develop herself by self-effort, just as her husband develops himself. +She should not put herself in a position where her inventiveness, +resourcefulness, and individuality will be paralyzed by lack of motive. + +We hear a great deal about the disinclination of college girls to marry. +If this is a fact, it is largely due to the unfairness of men. The more +education girls get, the more they will hesitate to enter a condition of +slavery, even under the beautiful guise of home. + +Is it any wonder that so many girls refuse to marry, refuse to take +chances of suppressing the best thing in them? Is it any wonder that +they protest against putting themselves in a position where they will not +be able to deliver to the world the sacred message which the Creator has +given them? + +I believe in marriage, but I do not believe in that marriage which +paralyzes self-development, strangles ambition, discourages evolution and +self-growth, and which takes away the life purpose. + +To be continually haunted by the ghosts of strangled talents and +smothered faculties prevents real contentment and happiness. Many a home +has been made miserable, not because the husband was not kind and +affectionate, not because there was not enough to eat and to wear, but +because the wife was haunted with unrealized hopes and disappointed +ambitions and expectations. + +Is there anything more pitiful than such a stifled life with its crushed +hopes? Is there anything sadder than to go through life conscious of +talents and powers which we can not possibly develop; to feel that the +best thing in us must be strangled for the want of opportunity, for the +lack of appreciation even by those who love us best; to know that we can +never by any possibility reach our highest expression, but must live a +sordid life when under different conditions a higher would be possible? + +A large part of the marital infelicity about which we hear so much comes +from the husband's attempt to cramp his wife's ambition and to suppress +her normal expression. A perversion of native instinct, a constant +stifling of ambition, and the longing to express oneself naturally, +gradually undermine the character and lead to discontentment and +unhappiness. A mother who is cramped and repressed transmits the seeds +of discontent and one-sided tendencies to her children. + +The happiest marriages are those in which the right of husband and wife +to develop broadly and naturally along individual lines has been +recognized by each. The noblest and most helpful wives and mothers are +those who develop their powers to their fullest capacity. + +Woman is made to admire power, and she likes to put herself under the +domination of a masterful man and rest in his protection. But it must be +a _voluntary_ obedience which comes from admiration of original force, of +sturdy, rugged, masculine qualities. + +The average man can not get away from the idea of his wife's service to +him personally; that she is a sort of running mate, not supposed to win +the race, but to help to pull him along so that _he_ will win it. He can +not understand why she should have an ambition which bears no direct +relation to his comfort, his well-being, his getting on in the world. + +The very suggestion of woman's inferiority, that she must stand in the +man's shadow and not get ahead of him, that she does not have quite the +same rights in anything that he has, the same property rights, the same +suffrage rights; in other words, the whole suggestion of woman's +inferiority, has been a criminal wrong to her. Many women who are +advocating woman's suffrage perhaps would not use the ballot if they had +it. Their fight is one for freedom to do as they please, to live their +own lives in their own way. The greatest argument in the woman's +suffrage movement is woman's protest against unfair, unjust treatment by +men. Man's opposition to woman suffrage is merely a relic of the +old-time domestic barbarism. It is but another expression of his +determination to "boss" everybody and everything about him. + +The time will come when men will be ashamed that they ever opposed +woman's suffrage. Think of a man considering it right and just for his +most ignorant workman to have an equal vote with himself on public +matters and yet denying the right to his educated wife and daughters! + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +THRIFT + +"Mony a mickle makes a muckle."--SCOTCH PROVERB. + +"A penny saved is a penny earned."--ENGLISH SAYING. + +"Beware of little extravagances; a small leak will sink a big +ship."--FRANKLIN. + +"No gain is more certain than that which proceeds from the economical use +of what we have."--LATIN PROVERB. + +"Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can."--JOHN WESLEY. + +"All fortunes have their foundation laid in economy."--J. G. HOLLAND. + + +In the philosophy of thrift, the unit measure of prosperity is always the +smallest of coins current. Thrift is measured not by the pound but by +the penny, not by the dollar but by the cent. Thus any person in receipt +of an income or salary however small finds it in his power to practise +thrift and to lay the foundation of prosperity. + +The word thrift in its origin means the grasping or holding fast the +things that we have. It implies economy, carefulness, as opposed to +waste and extravagance. It involves self-denial and frugal living for +the time being, until the prosperity which grows out of thrift permits +the more liberal indulgence of natural desires. + +One of the primary elements of thrift is to spend less than you earn, to +save something however small from the salary received, to lay aside at +regular intervals when possible some part of the money earned or made, in +provision for the future. + +"Every boy should realize, in starting out, that he can never accumulate +money unless he acquires the habit of saving," said Russell Sage. "Even +if he can save only a few cents at the beginning, it is better than +saving nothing at all; and he will find, as the months go on, that it +becomes easier for him to lay by a part of his earnings. It is +surprising how fast an account in a savings bank can be made to grow, and +the boy who starts one and keeps it up stands a good chance of enjoying a +prosperous old age. Some people who spend every cent of their income on +their living expenses are always bewailing the fact that they have never +become rich. They pick out some man who is known to have made a fortune +and speak of him as being 'lucky.' There is practically no such thing as +luck in business, and the boy who depends upon it to carry him through is +very likely not to get through at all. The men who have made a success +of their lives are men who started out right when they were boys. They +studied while at school, and when they went to work, they didn't expect +to be paid wages for loafing half the time. They weren't always on the +lookout for an 'easy snap' and they forged ahead, not waiting always for +the opportunities that never came, and bewailing the supposed fact that +times are no longer what they used to be." + +"A young man may have many friends," says Sir Thomas Lipton, "but he will +find none so steadfast, so constant, so ready to respond to his wants, so +capable of pushing him ahead, as a little leather-covered book, with the +name of a bank on the cover. Saving is the first great principle of +success. It creates independence, it gives a young man standing, it +fills him with vigor, it stimulates him with proper energy; in fact, it +brings to him the best part of any success,--happiness and contentment." + +It is estimated that if a man will begin at twenty years of age to lay by +twenty-six cents every working day, investing at seven per cent. compound +interest, he will at seventy years of age have amassed thirty-two +thousand dollars. + +"Economy is wealth." This proverb has been repeated to most of us until +we are either tired of it or careless of it, but it is well to remember +that a saying becomes a proverb because of its truth and significance. +Many a man has proved that if economy is not actual wealth, it is, in +many cases, potentially so. + +Professor Marshall, the noted English economist, estimates that +$500,000,000 is spent annually by the British working classes for things +that do nothing to make their lives nobler or happier. At a meeting of +the British Association, the president, in an address to the economic +section, expressed his belief that the simple item of food-waste alone +would justify the above-mentioned estimate. One potent cause of waste +to-day is that very many of the women do not know how to buy +economically, and are neither passable cooks nor good housekeepers. +Edward Atkinson estimated that in the United States the waste from bad +cooking alone is over a hundred million dollars a year! + +"Provided he has some ability and good sense to start with, is thrifty, +honest, and economical," said Philip D. Armour, "there is no reason why +any young man should not accumulate money and attain so-called success in +life." When asked to what qualities he attributed his own success, Mr. +Armour said: "I think that thrift and economy had much to do with it. I +owe much to my mother's training and to a good line of Scotch ancestors, +who have always been thrifty and economical." + +"A young man should cultivate the habit of always saving something," said +the late Marshall Field, "however small his income." It was by living up +to this principle that Mr. Field became the richest and most successful +merchant in the world. When asked by an interviewer, whom I sent to him +on one occasion, what he considered the turning point in his career, he +answered, "Saving the first five thousand dollars I ever had, when I +might just as well have spent the modest salary I made. Possession of +that sum, once I had it, gave me the ability to meet opportunities. That +I consider the turning point." + +The first savings prove the turning point in many a young man's career. +But it is true that the lack of thrift is one of the greatest curses of +modern civilization. Extravagance, ostentatious display, a desire to +outshine others, is a vice of our age, and especially of our country. +Some one has said that "investigation would place at the head of the list +of the cause of poverty, wastefulness inherited from wasteful parents." + +"If you know how to spend less than you get," said Franklin, "you have +the philosopher's stone." The great trouble with many young people is +that they do not acquire the saving habit at the start, and never find +the "philosopher's stone." They don't learn to spend less than they get. +If they learned that lesson in time, they would have little difficulty in +making themselves independent. It is this first saving that counts. + +John Jacob Astor said it cost him more to get the first thousand dollars +than it did afterwards to get a hundred thousand; but if he had not saved +the first thousand, he would have died poor. + +"The first thing that a man should learn to do," says Andrew Carnegie, +"is to save his money. By saving his money he promotes thrift,--the most +valued of all habits. Thrift is the great fortune-maker. It draws the +line between the savage and the civilized man. Thrift not only develops +the fortune, but it develops, also, the man's character." + +The savings bank is one of the greatest encouragements to thrift, because +it pays a premium on deposits in the form of interest on savings. One of +the greatest benefits ever extended by this government to its citizens is +the opening of Postal Savings Banks where money can be deposited with +absolute security against loss, because the Federal Government would have +to fail before the bank could fail. The economies which enable a man to +start a savings account are not usually pinching economies, not the +stinting of the necessaries of life, but merely the foregoing of selfish +pleasures and indulgences which not only drain the purse but sap the +physical strength and undermine the health of brain and body. + +The majority of people do not even try to practise self-control; are not +willing to sacrifice present enjoyment, ease, for larger future good. +They spend their money at the time for transient gratification, for the +pleasure of the moment, with little thought for to-morrow, and then they +envy others who are more successful, and wonder why they do not get on +better themselves. They store up neither money nor knowledge for the +future. The squirrels know that it will not always be summer. They +store food for the winter, which their instinct tells them is coming; but +multitudes of human beings store nothing, consume everything as they go +along, so that when sickness or old age come, there is no reserve, +nothing to fall back upon. They have sacrificed their future for the +present. + +The facility with which loose change slips away from these people is most +insidious and unaccountable. I know young men who spend more for +unnecessary things, what they call "incidentals"--cigars, drinks, all +sorts of sweets, soda-water and nick-nacks of various kinds--than for +their essentials, board, clothes, rooms. Then they wonder where all +their money goes to, as they never keep any account of it, and rarely +restrain a desire. They do not realize it when they fling out a nickel +here and a dime there, pay a quarter for this and a quarter for that; but +in a week it counts up, and in a year it amounts to a large sum. + +"He never lays up a cent" is an expression which we hear every day +regarding those who earn enough to enable them to save a competence. + +A short time ago, a young man in New York complained to a friend of +poverty and his inability to save money. + +"How much do you spend for luxuries?" asked the friend. + +"Luxuries!" answered the young man, "if by luxuries you mean cigars and a +few drinks, I don't average,--including an occasional cigar or a glass of +light wine for a friend,--over six dollars a week. Most of the boys +spend more, but I make it a rule to be moderate in my expenditures." + +"Ten years ago," declared the friend, "I was spending about the same +every week for the same things, and paying thirty dollars a month for +five inconvenient rooms up four flights of stairs. I had just married +then, and one day I told my wife that I longed to have her in a place +befitting her needs and refinement. 'John,' was her reply, 'If you love +me well enough to give up two things which are not only useless, but +extremely harmful to you, we can, for what those things alone cost, own a +pretty home in ten years.' + +"She sat down by me with a pencil and paper, and in less than five +minutes had demonstrated that she was right. You dined with me in the +suburbs the other day, and spoke of the beauty and convenience of our +cottage. That cottage cost three thousand dollars, and every dollar of +it was my former cigar and drink money. But I gained more than a happy +wife and pretty home by saving; I gained self-control, better health, +self-respect, a truer manhood, a more permanent happiness. I desire +every young man who is trying to secure pleasure through smoking and +drinking, whether moderately or immoderately, to make use of his +judgment, and pencil and paper, and see if he is not forfeiting in a +number of directions far more than he is gaining." + +There is an impressive fact in the Gospel story of the Prodigal Son. The +statement "he wasted his substance in riotous living" means more than +that he wasted his funds. It implies that he wasted _himself_. And the +most serious phase of all waste is not the waste of substance but the +waste of self, of one's energy, capital, the lowering of morals, the +undermining of character, the loss of self-respect which thrift +encourages and promotes. + +Thrift is not only one of the foundation-stones of a fortune, but also +one of character. The habit of thrift improves the quality of the +character. + +The saving of money usually means the saving of a man. It means cutting +off indulgences or avoiding vicious habits which are ruinous. It often +means health in the place of dissipation. It often means a clear instead +of a cloudy and muddled brain. + +Furthermore, the saving habit indicates an ambition to get on and up in +the world. It develops a spirit of independence, of self-reliance. A +little bank account or an insurance policy indicates a desire to improve +one's condition, to look up in life. It means hope, it means ambition, a +determination to "make good." + +People believe in the young man, who, without being mean or penurious, +saves a part of his income. It is an indication of many sterling +qualities. Business men naturally reason that if a young man is saving +his money, he is also saving his energy, his vitality, from being wasted, +that he is looking up in the world, and not down; that he is longheaded, +wise; that he is determined not to sacrifice the larger gain of the +future for the gratification of the hour. + +A snug little bank account will add to your self-respect and +self-confidence, because it shows that you have practicability, a little +more independence. You can look the world in the face with a little more +assurance, you can stand a little more erect and face the future with +more confidence, if you know that there stands between yourself and want +a little ready money or a safe investment of some kind. + +The very consciousness that there is something back of you that will +prove a barrier to the wolf which haunts so many human beings, and which +is a terror and an efficiency destroyer to so many, will strengthen and +buttress you at every point. It will relieve you from worry and anxiety +about the future; it will unlock your faculties, release them from the +restraint and suppression which uncertainty, fear, and doubt impose, and +leave you free to do your best work. + +Another great aid and incentive to thrift is the life insurance policy. +"Primarily devised for the support of widows and orphans, life insurance +practise has been developed so as to include the secure investment of +surplus earnings in conjunction with the insurance of a sum payable at +death." + +I am a great believer in the efficiency of savings-banks as character +builders; but life insurance has some greater advantages, especially in +furnishing that imperious "must," that spur of necessity so important as +a motive to most people. + +People can put money into savings-banks when they get it, provided some +stronger desire does not overcome the inclination; but they feel that +they _must_ pay their insurance premium. + +Then again, money obtainable just by signing the name is so easily +withdrawn for spending in all sorts of ways. This is one reason why I +often recommend life insurance to young people as a means of saving. It +has been of untold value as an object-lesson of the tremendous +possibilities in acquiring the saving habit. + +I believe that life insurance is doing a great deal to induce the habit +of saving. When a young man on a salary or a definite income takes out +an insurance policy he has a definite aim. He has made up his mind +positively to save so much money every year from his income to pay his +premium. Then it is easier for him to say "No," to the hundred-and-one +alluring temptations to spend his money for this and that. He can say +"No," then with emphasis, because he knows he must keep up his insurance. + +An insurance policy has often changed the habits of an entire family from +thriftlessness and spendthrift tendencies to thrift and order. The very +fact that a certain amount must be saved from the income every week, or +every month, or every year, has often developed the faculty of prudence +and economy of the entire household. Everybody is cautioned to be +careful because the premium must be paid. And oftentimes it is the first +sign of a program or order,--system in the home. + +The consciousness of a sacred obligation to make payments on that which +means protection for those dear to you often shuts out a great deal of +foolishness, and cuts out a lot of temptation to spend money for +self-gratification and to cater to one's weak tendencies. + +The life insurance policy has thus proved to be a character insurance as +well, an insurance against silly expenditures, an insurance against one's +own weak will power, or vicious, weak tendencies; a real protection +against one's self, one's real enemy. + +Among the sworn enemies of thrift may be named going into debt, borrowing +money, keeping no itemized account of daily expenditures, and buying on +the instalment plan. That great English preacher Spurgeon said that +debt, dirt, and the devil made up the trinity of evil. And debt can +discount the devil at any time for possibilities of present personal +torment. The temptations to go into debt are increasing rapidly. On +every hand in the cities one may read such advertisements as "We Trust +You," "Your Credit is Good With Us," and with these statements come +offers of clothing, furniture, and what not "on easy payments." But as +the Irishman remarked after an experience with the instalment purchase of +furniture: "Onaisy payments they sure are." As a matter of fact, the +easy payments take all the ease and comfort out of life--they are easy +only for the man who receives them. + +Beware of the delusions of buying on the instalment plan. There are +thousands of poor families in this country who buy organs and sets of +books and encyclopedias, lightning rods, farming implements, and all +sorts of things which they might get along without, because they can pay +for them a little at a time. In this way, they keep themselves poor. +They are always pinching, sacrificing, to save up for the agent when he +comes around to collect. + +All through the South there are poor homes of both colored and white +families, where there are not sufficient cooking utensils and knives, +forks, and spoons to enable the members to eat with comfort, and yet you +will find expensive things in their homes which they have bought on the +instalment plan, and which keep them poor for years trying to pay for +them. + +As far as borrowing money is concerned the bitter experience of countless +men and women is crystallized in that old saying: "He that goes a +borrowing goes a sorrowing." There is a world of safety for the man who +follows Shakespeare's advice: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." + +It is sometimes said flippantly that "poverty is no disgrace but it's +mighty uncomfortable." And yet poverty is often a real disgrace. People +born to poverty may rise above it. People who have poverty thrust upon +them may overcome it. In this great land of abundance and opportunity +poverty is in most cases a disgrace and a reproach. + +Dr. Johnson said to Boswell, "I admonish you avoid poverty, the +temptation and worry it breeds." There is something humiliating in being +poor. The very consciousness that we have _nothing to show for our +endeavor_ besides a little character and the little we have done, is +anything but encouraging. Somehow, we feel that we have not amounted to +much, and we know the world looks upon us in the same way if we have not +managed to accumulate something. It is a reflection upon our business +ability, upon our judgment, upon our industry. It is not so much for the +money, as for what it means to have earned and saved money; it is the +idea of thrift. If we have not been thrifty, if we have not saved +anything, the world will look upon us as good for nothing, as partial +failures, as either lazy, slipshod, or extravagant. They regard us as +either not having been able to make money, or if we have, not being able +to save it. + +But let it be remembered that thrift is not parsimony not miserliness. +It often means very liberal spending. It is a perpetual protest against +putting the emphasis on the wrong thing. + +No one should make the mistake of economizing to the extent of planting +seeds, and then denying liberal nourishment to the plants that grow from +them; of conducting business without advertising; or of saving a little +extra expense by pinching on one's table or dress. "A dollar saved is a +dollar earned," but a dollar spent well and liberally is often several +dollars earned. A dollar saved is often very many dollars lost. The +progressive, generous spirit, nowadays, will leave far behind the plodder +that devotes time to adding pennies that could be given to making dollars. + +The only value a dollar has is its buying power. "No matter how many +times it has been spent, it is still good." Hoarded money is of no more +use than gold so inaccessible in old Mother Earth that it will never feel +the miner's pick. There is plenty in this world, if we keep it moving +and keep moving after it. Imagine everybody in the world stingy, living +on the principle of "We can do without that," or "Our grandfathers got +along without such things, and I guess I can." What would become of our +parks, grand buildings, electrical improvements; of music and art? What +would become of labor that nurses a tree from a forest to a piano or a +palace car? What would become of those dependent upon the finished work? +What would happen, what panic would follow, if everybody turned stingy, +is indefinable. + +"So apportion your wants that your means may exceed them," says Bulwer. +"With one hundred pounds a year I may need no man's help; I may at least +have 'my crust of bread and liberty.' But with five thousand pounds a +year, I may dread a ring at my bell; I may have my tyrannical master in +servants whose wages I can not pay; my exile may be at the fiat of the +first long-suffering man who enters judgement against me; for the flesh +that lies nearest my heart, some Shylock may be dusting his scales and +whetting his knife. Every man is needy who spends more than he has; no +man is needy who spends less. I may so ill manage that, with five +thousand a year, I purchase the worst evils of poverty,--terror and +shame; I may so well manage my money that, with one hundred pounds a +year, I purchase the best blessings of wealth,--safety and respect." + + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +A COLLEGE EDUCATION AT HOME + +"Tumbling around in a library" was the phrase Oliver Wendell Holmes used +in describing in part his felicities in boyhood. One of the most +important things that wise students get out of their schooldays is a +familiarity with books in various departments of learning. The ability +to pick out from a library what is needed in life is of the greatest +practical value. It is like a man selecting his tools for intellectual +expansion and social service. "Men in every department of practical +life," says President Hadley of Yale, "men in commerce, in +transportation, or in manufactures--have told me that what they really +wanted from our colleges was men who have this selective power of using +books efficiently. The beginnings of this kind of knowledge are best +learned in any home fairly well furnished with books." + +Libraries are no longer a luxury, but a necessity. A home without books +and periodicals and newspapers is like a house without windows. Children +learn to read by being in the midst of books; they unconsciously absorb +knowledge by handling them. No family can now afford to be without good +reading. + +Children who are well supplied with dictionaries, encyclopedias, +histories, works of reference, and other useful books, will educate +themselves unconsciously, and almost without expense, and will learn many +things of their own accord in moments which would otherwise be wasted; +and which, if learned in schools, academies, or colleges, would cost ten +times as much as the expense of the books would be. Besides, homes are +brightened and made attractive by good books, and children stay in such +pleasant homes; while those whose education has been neglected are +anxious to get away from home, and drift off and fall into all manner of +snares and dangers. + +It is astonishing how much a bright child will absorb from being brought +up in the atmosphere of good books, being allowed to constantly use them, +to handle them, to be familiar with their bindings and titles. It is a +great thing for children to be brought up in the atmosphere of books. + +Many people never make a mark on a book, never bend down a leaf, or +underscore a choice passage. Their libraries are just as clean as the +day they bought them, and, often, their minds are just about as clean of +information. Don't be afraid to mark your books. Make notes in them. +They will be all the more valuable. One who learns to use his books in +early life, grows up with an increasing power for effective usefulness. + +It is related that Henry Clay's mother furnished him with books by her +own earnings at the washtub. + +Wear threadbare clothes and patched shoes if necessary, but do not pinch +or economize on books. If you can not give your children an academic +education you can place within their reach a few good books which will +lift them above their surroundings, into respectability and honor. + +Is not one's early home the place where he should get his principal +training for life? It is here we form habits which shape our careers, +and which cling to us as long as we live. It is here that regular, +persistent mental training should fix the life ever after. + +I know of pitiable cases where ambitious boys and girls have longed to +improve themselves, and yet were prevented from doing so by the +pernicious habits prevailing in the home, where everybody else spent the +evenings talking and joking, with no effort at self-improvement, no +thought of higher ideals, no impulse to read anything better than a +cheap, exciting story. The aspiring members of the family were teased +and laughed at until they got discouraged and gave up the struggle. + +If the younger ones do not want to read or study themselves, they will +not let anybody else so inclined do so. Children are naturally +mischievous, and like to tease. They are selfish, too, and can not +understand why anyone else should want to go off by himself to read or +study when they want him to play. + +Were the self-improvement habit once well established in a home, it would +become a delight. The young people would look forward to the study hour +with as much anticipation as to playing. + +Were it possible for every family that squanders precious time, to spend +an evening in such a home, it would be an inspiration. A bright, alert, +intelligent, harmonious atmosphere so pervades a self-improving home that +one feels insensibly uplifted and stimulated to better things. + +I know a New England family in which all the children and the father and +mother, by mutual consent, set aside a portion of each evening for study +or some form of self-culture. After dinner, they give themselves +completely to recreation. They have a regular romp and play, and all the +fun possible for an hour. Then when the time comes for study, the entire +house becomes so still that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone is in +his place reading, writing, studying, or engaged in some form of mental +work. No one is allowed to speak or disturb anyone else. If any member +of the family is indisposed, or for any reason does not feel like +working, he must at least keep quiet and not disturb the others. There +is perfect harmony and unity of purpose, an ideal condition for study. +Everything that would scatter the efforts or cause the mind to wander, +all interruptions that would break the continuity of thought, is +carefully guarded against. More is gained in one hour of close, +uninterrupted study, than in two or three broken by many interruptions, +or weakened by mind wandering. + +Sometimes the habits of a home are revolutionized by the influence of one +resolute youth who declares himself, taking a stand and announcing that, +as for himself, he does not propose to be a failure, that he is going to +take no chances as to his future. The moment he does this, he stands out +in strong contrast with the great mass of young people who are throwing +away their opportunities and have not grit and stamina enough to do +anything worth while. + +The very reputation of always trying to improve yourself in every +possible way, of being dead in earnest, will attract the attention of +everybody who knows you, and you will get many a recommendation for +promotion which never comes to those who make no special effort to climb +upward. + +There is a great deal of time wasted even in the busiest lives, which, if +properly organized, might be used to advantage. + +Many housewives who are so busy from morning to night that they really +believe they have no time for reading books, magazines, or newspapers +would be amazed to find how much they would have if they would more +thoroughly systematize their work. Order is a great time saver, and we +certainly ought to be able to so adjust our living plan that we can have +a fair amount of time for self-improvement, for enlarging life. Yet many +people think that their only opportunity for self-improvement depends +upon the time left after everything else has been attended to. + +What would a business man accomplish if he did not attend to important +matters until he had time that was not needed for anything else? The +good business man goes to his office in the morning and plunges right +into the important work of the day. He knows perfectly well that if he +attends to all the outside matters, all the details and little things +that come up, sees everybody that wants to see him, and answers all the +questions people want to ask, that it will be time to close his office +before he gets to his main business. + +Most of us manage somehow to find time for the things we love. If one is +hungry for knowledge, if one yearns for self-improvement, if one has a +taste for reading, he will make the opportunity. + +Where the heart is, there is the treasure. Where the ambition is, there +is time. + +It takes not only resolution but also determination to set aside +unessentials for essentials, things pleasant and agreeable to-day for the +things that will prove best for us in the end. There is always +temptation to sacrifice future good for present pleasure; to put off +reading to a more convenient season, while we enjoy idle amusements or +waste the time in gossip or frivolous conversation. + +The greatest things of the world have been done by those who systematized +their work, organized their time. Men who have left their mark on the +world have appreciated the preciousness of time, regarding it as the +great quarry. + +If you want to develop a delightful form of enjoyment, to cultivate a new +pleasure, a new sensation which you have never before experienced, begin +to read good books, good periodicals, regularly every day. Do not tire +yourself by trying to read a great deal at first. Read a little at a +time, but read some every day, no matter how little. If you are faithful +you will soon acquire a taste for reading--the reading habit; and it +will, in time, give you infinite satisfaction, unalloyed pleasure. + +In a gymnasium, one often sees lax, listless people, who, instead of +pursuing a systematic course of training to develop all the muscles of +the body, flit aimlessly from one thing to another, exercising with +pulley-weights for a minute or two, taking up dumb-bells and throwing +them down, swinging once or twice on parallel bars, and so frittering +away time and strength. Far better it would be for such people to stay +away from a gymnasium altogether, for their lack of purpose and +continuity makes them lose rather than gain muscular energy. A man or +woman who would gather strength from gymnastic exercise must set about it +systematically and with a will. He must put mind and energy into the +work, or else continue to have flabby muscles and an undeveloped body. + +[Illustration: Julia Ward Howe] + +The physical gymnasium differs only in kind from the mental one. +Thoroughness and system are as necessary in one as in the other. It is +not the tasters of books--not those who sip here and there, who take up +one book after another, turn the leaves listlessly and hurry to the +end,--who strengthen and develop the mind by reading. + +To get the most from your reading you must read with a purpose. To sit +down and pick up a book listlessly, with no aim except to pass away time, +is demoralizing. It is much as if an employer were to hire a boy, and +tell him he could start when he pleased in the morning, work when he felt +like it, rest when he wanted to, and quit when he got tired! + +Never go to a book you wish to read for a purpose, if you can possibly +avoid it, with a tired, jaded mentality. If you do, you will get the +same in kind from it. Go to it fresh, vigorous, and with active, never +passive, faculties. This practise is a splendid and effective cure for +mind-wandering, which afflicts so many people, and which is encouraged by +the multiplicity of and facility of obtaining reading matter at the +present day. + +What can give greater satisfaction than reading with a purpose, and that +consciousness of a broadening mind that follows it, and growth, of +expansion, of enriching the life, the consciousness that we are pushing +ignorance, bigotry, and whatever clouds the mind and hampers progress a +little further away from us? + +The kind of reading that counts, that makes mental fiber and stamina is +that upon which the mind is concentrated; approaching a book with all +one's soul intent upon its contents. + +How few people ever learn to concentrate their attention. Most of us +waste a vast amount of precious time dawdling and idling. We sit or +stand over our work without thinking. Our minds are blank much of the +time. + +Passive reading is even more harmful in its effects than desultory +reading. It no more strengthens the brain than sitting down in a +gymnasium develops the body. The mind remains inactive, in a sort of +indolent revery, wandering here and there, without focusing anywhere. +Such reading takes the spring and snap out of the mental faculties, +weakens the intellect, and makes the brain torpid and incapable of +grappling with great principles and difficult problems. + +What you get out of a book is not necessarily what the author puts into +it, but what you bring to it. If the heart does not lead the head; if +the thirst for knowledge, the hunger for a broader and deeper culture, +are not the motives for reading, you will not get the most out of a book. +But, if your thirsty soul drinks in the writer's thought as the parched +soil absorbs rain, then your latent possibilities and the potency of your +being, like delayed germs and seeds in the soil, will spring forth into +new life. + +When you read, read as Macaulay did, as Carlyle did, as Lincoln did--as +did every great man who has profited by his reading--with your whole soul +absorbed in what you read, with such intense concentration that you will +be oblivious of everything else outside of your book. + +"Reading furnishes us only with the materials of knowledge," said John +Locke; "it is thinking that makes what we read ours." + +In order to get the most out of books, the reader must be a thinker. The +mere acquisition of facts is not the acquisition of power. To fill the +mind with knowledge that can not be made available is like filling our +houses with furniture and bric-a-brac until we have no room to move about. + +Food does not become physical force, brain, or muscle until it has been +thoroughly digested and assimilated, and has become an integral part of +the blood, brain, and other tissues. Knowledge does not become power +until digested and assimilated by the brain, until it has become a part +of the mind itself. + +If you wish to become intellectually strong, after reading with the +closest attention, form this habit: frequently close your book and sit +and think, or stand and walk and think--but think, contemplate, reflect. +Turn what you have read over and over in your mind. + +It is not yours until you have assimilated it by your thought. When you +first read it, it belongs to the author. It is yours only when it +becomes an integral part of you. + +Many people have an idea that if they keep reading everlastingly, if they +always have a book in their hands at every leisure moment, they will, of +necessity, become full-rounded and well-educated. + +But they might just as well expect to become athletes by eating at every +opportunity. It is even more necessary to think than to read. Thinking, +contemplating what we have read, is what digestion and assimilation are +to the food. + +Some of the biggest fools I know are always cramming themselves with +knowledge. But they never think. When they get a few minutes' leisure +they grab a book and go to reading. In other words, they are always +eating intellectually, but never digesting their knowledge or +assimilating it. + +I know a young man who has formed such a habit of reading that he is +almost never without a book, a magazine, or a paper. He is always +reading at home, on the cars, at the railway stations, and he has +acquired a vast amount of knowledge. He has a perfect passion for +knowledge, and yet his mind seems to have been weakened by this perpetual +brain stuffing. + +By every reader let Milton's words be borne in mind: + + "Who reads + Incessantly, and to his reading brings not + A spirit and judgment equal or superior, . . . + Uncertain and unsettled still remains, + Deep versed in books and shallow in himself, + Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys + And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge, + As children gathering pebbles on the shore." + + +When Webster was a boy, books were scarce, and so precious that he never +dreamed that they were to be read only once, but thought they ought to be +committed to memory, or read and re-read until they became a part of his +very life. + +Elizabeth Barrett Browning says, "We err by reading too much, and out of +proportion to what we think. I should be wiser, I am persuaded, if I had +not read half as much; should have had stronger and better exercised +faculties, and should stand higher in my own appreciation." + +Those who live more quietly do not have so many distracting influences, +and consequently think more deeply and reflect more than others. They do +not read so much but they are better readers. + +You should bring your mind to the reading of a book, or to the study of +any subject, as you take an ax to the grindstone; not for what you get +from the stone, but for the sharpening of the ax. + +The greatest advantage of books does not always come from what we +remember of them, but from their suggestiveness, their character-building +power. + +"It is not in the library, but in yourself," says Fr. Gregory, "in your +self-respect and your consciousness of duty nobly done--that you are to +find the 'Fountain of Youth,' the 'Elixir of Life,' and all the other +things that tend to preserve life's freshness and bloom. + +"It is a grand thing to read a good book--it is a grander thing to live a +good life--and in the living of such life is generated the power that +defies age and its decadence." + +It is not the ability, the education, the knowledge that one has that +makes the difference between men. The mere possession of knowledge is +not always the possession of power; knowledge which has not become a part +of yourself, knowledge which can not swing into line in an emergency is +of little use, and will not save you at the critical moment. + +To be effective, a man's education must become a part of himself as he +goes along. All of it must be worked up into power. A little practical +education that has become a part of one's being and is always available, +will accomplish more in the world than knowledge far more extensive that +can not be utilized. + +No one better illustrates what books will do for a man, and what a +thinker will do with his books, than Gladstone, who was always far +greater than his career. He rose above Parliament, reached out beyond +politics, and was always growing. He had a passion for intellectual +expansion. His peculiar gifts undoubtedly fitted him for the church, or +he would have made a good professor at Oxford or Cambridge. But, +circumstances led him into the political arena, and he adapted himself +readily to his environment. He was an all round well read man, who +thought his way through libraries and through life. + +One great benefit of a taste for reading, and access to the book world, +is the service it renders as a diversion and a solace. + +What a great thing to be able to get away from ourselves, to fly away +from the harassing, humiliating, discouraging, depressing things about +us, to go at will to a world of beauty, joy, and gladness! + +If a person is discouraged or depressed by any great bereavement or +suffering, the quickest and the most effective way of restoring the mind +to its perfect balance, to its normal condition, is to immerse it in a +sane atmosphere, an uplifting, encouraging, inspiring atmosphere, and the +most good in the world is found in the best books. I have known people +who were suffering under the most painful mental anguish, from losses and +shocks which almost unbalanced their minds, to be completely +revolutionized in their mental state by the suggestive power which came +from becoming absorbed in a great book. + +Everywhere we see rich old men sitting around the clubs, smoking, looking +out of the windows, lounging around hotels, traveling about, uneasy, +dissatisfied, not knowing what to do with themselves, because they had +never prepared for this part of their lives. They put all their energy, +ambition, everything into their vocation. + +I know an old gentleman who has been an exceedingly active business man. +He has kept his finger upon the pulse of events. He has known what has +been going on in the world during his whole active career. And he is now +as happy and as contented as a child in his retirement, because he has +always been a great reader, a great lover of his kind. + +People who keep their minds bent in one direction too long at a time soon +lose their elasticity, their mental vigor, freshness, spontaneity. + +If I were to quote Mr. Dooley, it would be:--"Reading is not thinking; +reading is the next thing this side of going to bed for resting the mind." + +To my own mind, however, I would rather cite that versatile Englishman, +Lord Rosebery. In a speech at the opening of a Carnegie library at West +Calder, Midlothian, he made a characteristic utterance upon the value of +books, saying in substance: + +"There is, however, one case in which books are certainly an end in +themselves, and that is to refresh and to recruit after fatigue. When +the object is to refresh and to exalt, to lose the cares of this world in +the world of imagination, then the book is more than a means. It is an +end in itself. It refreshes, exalts, and inspires the man. From any +work, manual or intellectual, the man with a happy taste for books comes +in tired and soured and falls into the arms of some great author, who +raises him from the ground and takes him into a new heaven and a new +earth, where he forgets his bruises and rests his limbs, and he returns +to the world a fresh and happy man." + +"Who," asks Professor Atkinson, "can overestimate the value of good +books, those strips of thought, as Bacon so finely calls them, voyaging +through seas of time, and carrying their precious freight so safely from +generation to generation? Here are finest minds giving us the best +wisdom of present and past ages; here are the intellects gifted far +beyond ours, ready to give us the results of lifetimes of patient +thought, imaginations open to the beauty of the universe." + +The lover of good books can never be very lonely; and, no matter where he +is, he can always find pleasant and profitable occupation and the best of +society when he quits work. + +Who can ever be grateful enough for the art of printing; grateful enough +to the famous authors who have put their best thoughts where we can enjoy +them at will? There are some advantages of intercourse with great minds +through their books over meeting them in person. The best of them live +in their books, while their disagreeable peculiarities, their +idiosyncrasies, their objectionable traits are eliminated. In their +books we find the authors at their best. Their thoughts are selected, +winnowed in their books. Book friends are always at our service, never +annoy us, rasp or nettle us. No matter how nervous, tired, or +discouraged one may be, they are always soothing, stimulating, uplifting. + +We may call up the greatest writer in the middle of the night when we can +not sleep, and he is just as glad to see us as at any other time. We are +not excluded from any nook or corner in the great literary world; we can +visit the most celebrated people that ever lived without an appointment, +without influence, without the necessity of dressing or of observing any +rules of etiquette. We can drop in upon a Milton, a Shakespeare, an +Emerson, a Longfellow, a Whittier without a moment's notice and receive +the warmest welcome. + +"You get into society, in the widest sense," says Geikie, "in a great +library, with the huge advantage of needing no introductions, and not +dreading repulses. From that great crowd you can choose what companions +you please, for in the silent levees of the immortals there is no pride, +but the highest is at the service of the lowest, with a grand humility. +You may speak freely with any, without a thought of your inferiority; for +books are perfectly well bred, and hurt no one's feelings by any +discriminations." + +"It is not the number of books," says Professor William Mathews, "which a +young man reads that makes him intelligent and well informed, but the +number of well-chosen ones that he has mastered, so that every valuable +thought in them is a familiar friend." + +It is only when books have been read and reread with ever deepening +delight, that they are clasped to the heart, and become what Macaulay +found them to be, the old friends who are never found with new faces, who +are the same to us in our wealth and in our poverty, in our glory and in +our obscurity. No one gets into the inmost heart of a beautiful poem, a +great history, a book of delicate humor, or a volume of exquisite essays, +by reading it once or twice. He must have its precious thoughts and +illustrations stored in the treasure-house of memory, and brood over them +in the hours of leisure. + +"A book may be a perpetual companion. Friends come and go, but the book +may beguile all experiences and enchant all hours." + +"The first time," says Goldsmith, "that I read an excellent book, it is +to me just as if I had gained a new friend; when I read over a book I +have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one." + +"No matter how poor I am," says William Ellery Channing, "no matter +though the prosperous of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling; +if the sacred writers will enter and take up their abode under my +roof--if Milton will cross my threshold to sing to me of Paradise; and +Shakespeare to open to me the worlds of imagination and the workings of +the human heart,--I shall not pine for want of intellectual +companionship, though excluded from what is called the best society in +the place where I live." + +"Books," says Milton, "do preserve as in a violl, the purest efficacie +and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. A good Booke is +the pretious life-blood of a master spirit, imbalm'd and treasur'd up on +purpose to a Life beyond Life." + +"A book is good company," said Henry Ward Beecher. "It comes to your +longing with full instruction, but pursues you never. It is not offended +at your absent-mindedness, nor jealous if you turn to other pleasures, of +leaf, or dress, or mineral, or even of books. It silently serves the +soul without recompense, not even for the hire of love. And yet more +noble, it seems to pass from itself, and to enter the memory, and to +hover in a silvery transformation there, until the outward book is but a +body and its soul and spirit are flown to you, and possess your memory +like a spirit." + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +DISCRIMINATION IN READING + +A few books well read, and an intelligent choice of those few,--these +are the fundamentals for self-education by reading. + +If only a few well chosen, it is better to avail yourself of choices +others have already made--old books, the standard works tested by many +generations of readers. If only a few, let them be books of highest +character and established fame. Such books are easily found even in +small public libraries. + +For the purpose of this chapter, which is to aid in forming a taste for +reading, there should be no confusion of choice by naming too many +books of one author. If you read one and like it, you can easily find +another. + +It is a cardinal rule that if you do not like a book, do not read it. +What another likes, you may not. Any book list is suggestive; it can +be binding only on those who prize it. Like attracts like. + +Did you ever think that the thing you are looking for is looking for +you; that it is the very law of affinities to get together? + +If you are coarse in your tastes, vicious in your tendencies, you do +not have to work very hard to find coarse vicious books; they are +seeking you by the very law of attraction. + +One's taste for reading is much like his taste for food. Dull books +are to be avoided, as one refuses food disagreeable to him; to someone +else the book may not be dull, nor the food disagreeable. Whole +nations may eat cabbage, or stale fish, while I like neither. +Ultimately, therefore, every reader must make his own selection, and +find the book that finds him. Any one not a random reader will soon +select a short shelf of books that he may like better than a longer +shelf that exactly suits some one else. Either will be a shelf of good +books, neither a shelf of the best books, since if best for you or me, +they may not be best for everybody. + +A most learned man in India, in turning the leaves of a book, as he +read, felt a little prick in his finger; a tiny snake dropped out and +wriggled out of sight. The pundit's finger began to swell, then his +arm; and in an hour, he was dead. + +Who has not noticed in the home a snake in a book that has changed the +character of a boy through its moral poison so that he was never quite +the same again? + +How well did Carlyle divide books into sheep and goats. + +It is probable that the careers of the majority of criminals in our +prisons to-day might have been vastly different if the character of +their reading when young had been different; had it been up-lifting, +wholesome, instead of degrading. + +"Christian Endeavor" Clark read a notice conspicuously posted in a +large city:--"All boys should read the wonderful story of the desperado +brothers of the Western plains, whose strange and thrilling adventures +of successful robbery and murder have never before been equaled. Price +five cents." The next morning, Dr. Clark read in a newspaper of that +city that seven boys had been arrested for burglary, and four stores +broken into by the "gang." One of the ringleaders was only ten years +old. At their trial, it appeared that each had invested five cents in +the story of border crime. "Red-eyed Dick, the Terror of the Rockies," +or some such story has poisoned many a lad's life. A seductive, +demoralizing book destroys the ambition unless for vicious living. All +that was sweet, beautiful, and wholesome in the character before seems +to vanish, and everything changes after the reading of a single bad +book. It has aroused the appetite for more forbidden pleasures, until +it crowds out the desire for everything better, purer, healthier. +Mental dissipation from this exciting literature, often dripping with +suggestiveness of impurity, giving a passport to the prohibited; this +is fatal to all soundness of mind. + +A lad once showed to another a book full of words and pictures of +impurity. He only had it in his hands a few moments. Later in life he +held high office in the church, and years afterward told a friend that +he would have given half he possessed had he never seen it. + +Light, flashy stories, with no intention in them, seriously injured the +mind of a brilliant young lady, I once knew. Like the drug fiend whose +brain has been stupefied, her brain became completely demoralized by +constant mental dissipation. Familiarity with the bad, ruins the taste +for the good. Her ambition and ideas of life became completely +changed. Her only enjoyment was the excitement of her imagination +through vicious books. + +Nothing else will more quickly injure a good mind than familiarity with +the frivolous, the superficial. Even though they may not be actually +vicious, the reading of books which are not true to life, which carry +home no great lesson, teach no sane or healthful philosophy, but are +merely written to excite the passions, to stimulate a morbid curiosity, +will ruin the best of minds in a very short time. It tends to destroy +the ideals and to ruin the taste for all good reading. + +Read, read, read all you can. But never read a bad book or a poor +book. Life is too short, time too precious, to spend it in reading +anything but the best. + +Any book is bad for you, the reading of which takes away your desire +for a better one. + +Many people still hold that it is a bad thing for the young to read +works of fiction. They believe that young minds get a moral twist from +reading that which they know is not true, the descriptions of mere +imaginary heroes and heroines, and of things which never happened. +Now, this is a very narrow, limited view of a big question. These +people do not understand the office of the imagination; they do not +realize that many of the fictitious heroes and heroines that live in +our minds, even from childhood's days, are much more real in their +influence on our lives than some of those that exist in flesh and blood. + +Dickens' marvelous characters seem more real to us than any we have +ever met. They have followed millions of people from childhood to old +age, and influenced their whole lives for good. Many of us would look +upon it as a great calamity to have these characters of fiction blotted +out of our memory and their influence taken out of our lives. + +Readers are sometimes so wrought up by a good work of fiction, their +minds are raised to such a pitch of courage and daring, all their +faculties so sharpened and braced, their whole nature so stimulated, +that they can for the time being attempt and accomplish things which +were impossible to them without the stimulus. + +This, it seems to me, is one of the great values of fiction. If it is +good and elevating, it is a splendid exercise of all the mental and +moral faculties; it increases courage; it rouses enthusiasm; it sweeps +the brain-ash off the mind, and actually strengthens its ability to +grasp new principles and to grapple with the difficulties of life. + +Many a discouraged soul has been refreshened, re-invigorated, has taken +on new life by the reading of a good romance. I recall a bit of +fiction, called "The Magic Story," which has helped thousands of +discouraged souls, given them new hope, new life, when they were ready +to give up the struggle. + +The reading of good fiction is a splendid imagination exerciser and +builder. It stimulates it by suggestions, powerfully increases its +picturing capacity, and keeps it fresh and vigorous and wholesome, and +a wholesome imagination plays a very great part in every sane and +worthy life. It makes it possible for us to shut out the most +disagreeable past, to shut out at will all hideous memories of our +mistakes, failures, and misfortunes; it helps us to forget our trouble +and sorrows, and to slip at will into a new, fresh world of our own +making, a world which we can make as beautiful, as sublime, as we wish. +The imagination is a wonderful substitute for wealth, luxuries, and for +material things. No matter how poor we may be, or how unfortunate, we +may be bedridden even, we can by its aid travel round the world, visit +its greatest cities, and create the most beautiful things for ourselves. + +Sir John Herschel tells an amusing anecdote illustrating the pleasure +derived from a book, not assuredly of the first order. In a certain +village the blacksmith had got hold of Richardson's novel "Pamela, or +Virtue Rewarded," and used to sit on his anvil in the long summer +evenings and read it aloud to a large and attentive audience. It is by +no means a short book, but they fairly listened to it all. "At length, +when the happy turn of fortune arrived, which brings the hero and +heroine together, and sets them living long and happily according to +the most approved rules, the congregation were so delighted as to raise +a great shout, and, procuring the church keys, actually set the parish +bells ringing." + +"It all comes back to us now," said the brilliant editor of the +"Interior" not long ago, "that winter evening in the old home. The +curtains are down, the fire is sending out a cheerful warmth and the +shaded lamps diffusing a well-tempered radiance. The lad of fifteen is +bent over a borrowed volume of sea tales. For hours he reads on, +oblivious of all surroundings, until parental attention is drawn toward +him by the unusual silence. The boy is seen to be trembling from head +to foot with suppressed excitement. A fatherly hand is laid upon the +volume, closing it firmly, and the edict is spoken, 'No more novels for +five years.' And the lad goes off to bed, half glad, half grieved, +wondering whether he has found fetters or achieved freedom. + +"In truth he had received both; for that indiscriminating command +forbade to him during a formative period of his life works which would +have kindled his imagination, enriched his fancy, and heightened his +power of expression; but if it closed to him the Garden of Hesperides, +it also saved him from a possible descent to the Inferno; it made +heroes of history, not demigods of mythology, his companions, and +reserved to maturer years those excursions in the literature of the +imagination which may lead a young man up to heaven or as easily drag +him down to hell. + +"The boy who is permitted to saturate his mind with stories of 'battle, +murder, and sudden death,' is fitting himself, as the records of our +juvenile courts show, for the penitentiary or perhaps the gallows. No +man can handle pitch without defilement. We may choose our books, but +we can not choose their effects. We may plant the vine or sow the +thistle, but we can not command what fruit each shall bear. We may +loosely select our library, but by and by it will fit us close as a +glove. + +"There was never such a demand for fiction as now, and never larger +opportunities for its usefulness. Nothing has such an attraction for +life as life. But what the heart craves is not 'life as it is.' It is +life as it ought to be. We want not the feeble but the forceful; not +the commonplace but the transcendent. Nobody objects to the 'purpose +novel' except those who object to the purpose. Dealing as it does in +the hands of a great master, with the grandest passions, the most +tender emotions, the divinest hopes, it can portray all these spiritual +forces in their majestic sweep and uplift. And as a matter of history, +we have seen the novel achieve in a single generation the task at which +the homily had labored ineffectively for a hundred years. Realizing +this, it is safe to say that there is not a theory of the philosopher, +a hope of the reformer, or a prayer of the saint which does not +eventually take form in a story. The novel has wings, while logic +plods with a staff. In the hour it takes the metaphysician to define +his premises, the story-teller has reached the goal--and after him +tumbles the crowd tumultuous." + +With the assistance of Rev. Dr. E. P. Tenney, I venture upon the +following lists of books in various lines of reading: + +_Fiction_ + +"The Arabian Nights Entertainment." + +"Stories from the Arabian Nights" (Riverside School Library), contains +many of the more famous stories. 50 c. + +Irving Bachelder's [Transcriber's note: "Bacheller"?] "Eben Holden," is +a good book. 400,000 copies were sold. + +J. M. Barrie's "Little Minister," a story of Scottish life, is very +bright reading. + +Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," is one of the most famous of allegories. + +Cervantes' "Don Quixote" is so widely known that any well-read man +should know it. Its humor never grows old. + +Ralph Connor's three books,--"The Man from Glengarry," "Black Rock," +and "The Sky Pilot,"--have sold 400,000 copies. + +Of George W. Cable's books, "The Cavalier," and "Old Creole Days" are +among the best. + +Dinah Mulock Craik's "John Halifax, Gentleman," is of rare merit. + +C. E. Craddock's (pseudonym), "In the Tennessee Mountains" is +entertaining. A powerful story of mountain-life. + +Of F. Marion Crawford's stories, among the best are "Mr. Isaacs" and +"A Roman Singer." + +Alexander Dumas' "Count of Monte Christo" [Transcriber's note: +"Cristo"?] is a world-famous romance. + +Of George Eliot, "Silas Marner" is the best of the short stories, and +"Romola" the best of the long. "Adam Bede" ranks barely second to +"Silas Marner." + +Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" remains a classic among earlier English +novels. + +Edward Everett Hale's "Man without a Country" will be read as long as +the American flag flies. + +Hawthorne's "Mosses from an Old Manse" are stories of unique interest, +and "The Scarlet Letter" is known to all well-read people. + +Of Rudyard Kipling, read "Kim," and "The Man Who Would be King." + +Pierre Loti's "Iceland Fisherman" is translated by A. F. de Koven. +McClurg, $1.00. + +S. Weir Mitchell's "Hugh Wynne" sold 125,000 copies. + +Thomas Nelson Page's "Gordon Keith" sold 200,000 copies. + +If you read only one of Walter Scott's novels, take "Ivanhoe," or "The +Talisman." Five more of those most read are likely to follow. + +Henryk Sienkiewicz's "Quo Vadis" is most notable. + +Robert L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island," and "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. +Hyde," and "The Merry Men and Other Tales," are fair examples of the +charm and insight of this author. + +He who reads Frank Stockton's "Rudder Grange" is likely to read more of +this author's books. + +Mrs. H. B. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is still one of the great +stories of the world. + +Of Mark Twain, "Huckleberry Finn," "The Innocents Abroad," and the +"Story of Joan of Arc" are representative volumes. + +Miss Warner's "Wide, Wide World" is unique in American fiction. + +John Watson's "Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush," sold 200,000 copies in +America. + +Lew Wallace's "Ben Hur" is the greatest of scriptural romances. + + +Thirty-eight books by twenty-eight authors. It would have been easier +to name a hundred authors and two hundred books. + +I will add from "The Critic" a list whose sales have reached six +figures:-- + +_Books of Every-day Life_ + + "David Harum," by Westcott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727,000 + "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," by Alice Hegan Rice 345,000 + "The Virginian," by Owen Wister . . . . . . . . . . . 250,000 + "Lovey Mary," by Alice Hegan Rice . . . . . . . . . . 188,000 + "The Birds' Christmas Carol," by Mrs. Wiggin . . . . . 100,000 + "The Story of Patsy," by Mrs. Wiggin . . . . . . . . . 100,000 + "The Leopard's Spots," by Thomas G. Dixon, Jr. . . . 125,000 + +_Romantic_ + + "Richard Carvel," by Winston Churchill . . . . . . . . 400,000 + "The Crisis," by Winston Churchill . . . . . . . . . . 400,000 + "Graustark," by G. B. McCutcheon . . . . . . . . . . . 300,000 + "The Eternal City," by Hall Caine . . . . . . . . . . 175,000 + "Dorothy Vernon," by Charles Major . . . . . . . . . . 150,000 + "The Manxman," by Hall Caine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113,000 + "When Knighthood Was in Flower," by Charles Major . . 400,000 + "To Have and to Hold," by Miss Johnston . . . . . . . 300,000 + "Audrey," by Miss Johnston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165,000 + "The Helmet of Navarre," by Bertha Runkle . . . . . . 100,000 + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +READING A SPUR TO AMBITION + +The great use in reading is for self-discovery. Inspirational, +character-making, life-shaping books are the main thing. + +Cotton Mather's "Essay to Do Good" influenced the whole career of +Benjamin Franklin. + +There are books that have raised the ideals and materially influenced +entire nations. + +Who can estimate the value of books that spur ambition, that awaken +slumbering possibilities? + +Are we ambitious to associate with people who inspire us to nobler +deeds? Let us then read uplifting books, which stir us to make the +most of ourselves. + +We all know how completely changed we sometimes are after reading a +book which has taken a strong, vigorous hold upon us. + +Thousands of people have found themselves through the reading of some +book, which has opened the door within them and given them the first +glimpse of their possibilities. I know men and women whose whole lives +have been molded, the entire trend of their careers completely changed, +uplifted beyond their dreams by the books they have read. + +When Senator Petters of Alabama went to California on horseback in +1849, he took with him a Bible, Shakespeare, and Burns's poems. He +said that those books read and thought about, on the great plains, +forever after spoiled him for reading poorer books. "The silence, the +solitude," he said, "and the strange flickering light of the camp fire, +seemed to bring out the tremendous significance of those great books; +and I treasure them to-day as my choicest possessions." + +Marshall Field and other proprietors of the great business houses of +Chicago petitioned the school authorities for improved instruction +along moral lines, affirming that the boys needed religious ideas to +make them more reliable in business affairs. + +It has been said by President White of Cornell that,--"The great thing +needed to be taught in this country is _truth, simple ethics, the +distinction between right and wrong_. Stress should be laid upon _what +is best in biography_, upon _noble deeds and sacrifices_, especially +those which show that the greatest man is not the greatest orator, or +the tricky politician. They are a curse; what we need is _noble men_. +National loss comes as the penalty for frivolous boyhood and girlhood, +that gains no moral stamina from wholesome books." + +If youths learn to feed on the thoughts of the great men and women of +all times, they will never again be satisfied with the common or low; +they will never again be satisfied with mediocrity; they will aspire to +something higher and nobler. + +A day which is passed without treasuring up some good thought is not +well spent. Every day is a leaf in the book of life. Do not waste a +day any more than you would tear out leaves from the book of life. + +The Bible, such manuals as "Daily Strength for Daily Needs," such books +as Professor C. C. Everett's "Ethics for Young People"; Lucy Elliott +Keeler's "If I Were a Girl Again"; "Beauty through Hygiene," by Dr. +Emma F. Walker, such essays as Robert L. Stevenson's "Gentlemen" (in +his "Familiar Studies of Men and Books") Munger's "On the Threshold"; +John Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies"--these are the books that make young +men and maidens so trustworthy that the Marshall Fields and John +Wanamakers want their aid in the conduct of great business concerns. +Blessed are they who go much farther in later years, and who become +familiar with those + + "Olympian bards who sang + Divine ideas below, + Which always find us young + And always keep us so." + + +The readers who do not know the Concord philosopher Emerson, and the +great names of antiquity, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Plato, have +yet great pleasures to come. + +Aside from reading fiction, books of travel are of the best for mental +diversion; then there are Nature Studies, and Science and Poetry,--all +affording wholesome recreation, all of an uplifting character, and some +of them opening up study specialties of the highest order, as in the +great range of books classified as Natural Science. + +The reading and study of poetry is much like the interest one takes in +the beauties of natural scenery. Much of the best poetry is indeed a +poetic interpretation of nature. Whittier and Longfellow and Bryant +lead their readers to look on nature with new eyes, as Ruskin opened +the eyes of Henry Ward Beecher. + +A great deal of the best prose is in style and sentiment of a true +poetic character, lacking only the metrical form. To become familiar +with Tennyson and Shakespeare, and the brilliant catalogue of British +poets is in itself a liberal education. Rolfe's Shakespeare is in +handy volumes, and so edited as to be of most service. Palgrave's +"Golden Treasury" of the best songs and lyrical poems in the English +language was edited with the advice and collaboration of Tennyson. His +"Children's Treasury" of lyrical poetry is most attractive. Emerson's +Parnassus, and Whittier's "Three Centuries of Song" are excellent +collections of the most famous poems of the ages. + +Of Books of Travel, here are a dozen titles, where one might easily +name twelve hundred:-- + +Edmondo de Amicis,--"Holland and Its People," and his "Constantinople." + +Frank T. Bullen's "Cruise of the Cachelot Round the World After Sperm +Wales." + +J. M. Hoppin's "Old England." + +Clifton Johnson, "Among English Hedgerows." + +W. D. Howell's "Venetian Life"; "Italian Journeys." + +Irving's "Sketch Book," and the "Alhambra." + +Henry James, "Portraits of Places." + +Arthur Smith's "Chinese Characteristics," and especially his "Village +Life in China." + + +It would be impossible to list books more interesting and more useful +than most fiction, which may be called Nature Studies. + +I will name a few books that will certainly incite the reader to search +for more:-- + +Ernest Ingersoll's "Book of the Ocean." + +Professor E. S. Holder's "The Sciences," a reading book for children. + +Jean Mace's "History of a Mouthful of Bread." + +E. A. Martin's "Story of a Piece of Coal." + +Professor Charles A. Young's "The Sun," revised edition 1895. + +Serviss' "Astronomy with an Opera-Glass," "Pleasures of the Telescope," +"The Skies and the Earth." + +Thoreau's "Walden; or Life in the Woods." + +Mrs. F. T. Parsons' (Smith) Dana. "According to Seasons"; talks about +the flowers in the order of their appearance in the woods and fields. +Describes wild flowers in order of blooming, with information about +their haunts and habits. Also, by the same author, "How to Know the +Wild Flowers". Describes briefly more than 400 varieties common east +of Chicago, grouping them by color. + +Seton-Thompson's "Wild Animals I have Known"; of which 100,000 copies +have been sold. + +F. A. Lucas' "Animals of the Past" + +Bradford Towey's "Birds in the Bush," and "Everyday Birds." + +President D. S. Jordan's "True Tales of Birds and Beasts." + +D. L. Sharp's "A Watcher in the Woods." + +W. H. Gibson's "Sharp Eyes." + +M. W. Morley's "The Bee-people." + + +Never before was a practical substitute for a college education at home +made so cheap, so easy, and so attractive. Knowledge of all kinds is +placed before us in a most attractive and interesting manner. The best +of the literature of the world is found to-day in thousands of American +homes where fifty years ago it could only have been obtained by the +rich. + +What a shame it is that under such conditions as these an American +should grow up ignorant, should be uneducated in the midst of such +marvelous opportunities for self-improvement! Indeed, most of the best +literature in every line to-day appears in the current periodicals, in +the form of short articles. Many of our greatest writers spend a vast +amount of time in the drudgery of travel and investigation in gathering +material for these articles, and the magazine publishers pay thousands +of dollars for what a reader can get for ten or fifteen cents. Thus +the reader secures for a trifle in periodicals or books the results of +months and often years of hard work and investigation of our greatest +writers. + +A New York millionaire,--a prince among merchants,--took me over his +palatial residence on Fifth Avenue, every room of which was a triumph +of the architect's, of the decorator's, and of the upholsterer's art. +I was told that the decorations of a single sleeping-room had cost ten +thousand dollars. On the walls were paintings secured at fabulous +prices, and about the rooms were pieces of massive and costly +furniture, and draperies representing a small fortune, and carpets on +which it seemed almost sacrilege to tread covered the floors. But +there was scarcely a book in the house. He had expended a fortune for +physical pleasures, comforts, luxury, and display. It was pitiful to +think of the physical surfeit and mental starvation of the children of +such a home as that. When I went out, he told me that he came to the +city a poor boy, with all his worldly possessions done up in a little +red bandana. "I am a millionaire," he said, "but I want to tell you +that I would give half I have to-day for a decent education." + +Many a rich man has confessed to confidential friends and his own heart +that he would give much of his wealth,--all, if necessary,--to see his +son a manly man, free from the habits which abundance has formed and +fostered till they have culminated in sin and degradation and perhaps +crime; and has realized that, in all his ample provision, he has failed +to provide that which might have saved his son and himself from loss +and torture,--good books. + +There is a wealth within the reach of the poorest mechanic and +day-laborer in this country that kings in olden times could not +possess, and that is the wealth of a well-read, cultured mind. In this +newspaper age, this age of cheap books and periodicals, there is no +excuse for ignorance, for a coarse, untrained mind. To-day no one is +so handicapped, if he have health and the use of his faculties, that he +can not possess himself of wealth that will enrich his whole life, and +enable him to converse and mingle with the most cultured people. No +one is so poor but that it is possible for him to lay hold of that +which will broaden his mind, which will inform and improve him, and +lift him out of the brute stage of existence into their god-like realm +of knowledge. + +"No entertainment is so cheap as reading," says Mary Wortley Montague; +"nor any pleasure so lasting." Good books elevate the character, +purify the taste, _take the attractiveness out of low pleasures_, and +lift us upon a higher plane of thinking and living. + +"A great part of what the British spend on books," says Sir John +Lubbock, "they save in prisons and police." + +It seems like a miracle that the poorest boy can converse freely with +the greatest philosophers and scientists, statesmen, warriors, authors +of all time with little expense, that the inmates of the humblest cabin +may follow the stories of the nations, the epochs of history, the story +of liberty, the romance of the world, and the course of human progress. + +Have you just been to a well educated sharp-sighted employer to find +work? You did not need to be at any trouble to tell him the names of +the books you have read, because they have left their indelible mark +upon your face and your speech. Your pinched, starved vocabulary, your +lack of polish, your slang expressions, tell him of the trash you have +given your precious time to. He knows that you have not rightly +systemized your hours. He knows that thousands of young men and women +whose lives are crowded to overflowing with routine work and duties, +manage to find time to keep posted on what is going on in the world, +and for systematic, useful reading. + +Carlyle said that a collection of books is a university. What a pity +that the thousands of ambitious, energetic men and women who missed +their opportunities for an education at the school age, and feel +crippled by their loss, fail to catch the significance of this, fail to +realize the tremendous cumulative possibilities of that great +life-improver that admirable substitute for a college or university +education--reading. + +"Of the things which man can do or make here below," it was said by the +sage of Chelsea, "by far the most momentous, wonderful, and worthy, are +the things we call Books! Those poor bits of rag-paper with black ink +on them; from the Daily Newspaper to the sacred Hebrew Book, what have +they not done, what are they not doing?" + +President Schurmann of Cornell, points with pride to a few books in his +library which he says he bought when a poor boy by going many a day +without his dinner. + +The great German Professor Oken was not ashamed to ask Professor +Agassiz to dine with him on potatoes and salt, that he might save money +for books. + +King George III, used to say that lawyers do not know so much more law +than other people; but they know better where to find it. + +A practical working knowledge of how to find what is in the book world, +relating to any given point, is worth a vast deal from a financial +point of view. And by such knowledge, one forms first an acquaintance +with books, then friendship. + +"When I consider," says James Freeman Clarke, "what some books have +done for the world, and what they are doing, how they keep up our hope, +awaken new courage and faith, soothe pain, give an ideal of life to +those whose homes are hard and cold, bind together distant ages and +foreign lands, create new worlds of beauty, bring down truths from +heaven,--I give eternal blessings for this gift." + + +For the benefit of the younger readers we give below a list of forty +juveniles. + +Aesop's "Fables." + +Louise M. Alcott's "Little Women," "Little Men," which stood at the top +of a list of books chosen in eleven thousand elementary class-rooms in +New York. + +T. B. Aldrich's "Story of a Bad Boy." + +Anderson's "Fairy Tales." + +Amelia E. Barr's "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," a book for girls. + +"Black Beauty." + +E. S. Brooks, "True Story of General Grant." + +Bulfinch's "Children's Lives of Great Men," "Age of Chivalry," and "Age +of Fable." + +Bullen's "Log of a Sea Waif." + +Burnett's "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and "Sara Crewe," the latter a book +for girls. + +Butterworth's "Zig-Zag Journeys." + +Carleton Coffin's, "Boys' of '76." + +Eva Lovett Carson's "The Making of a Girl." + +Ralph Connor's "Gwen," a book for girls. + +Louis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," and "Through the Looking Glass." + +Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast." + +"De Amicin's Cuore," which has sold 200,000 in Italy. + +DeFoe's "Robinson Crusoe." + +Mary Mapes Dodge, "Hans Brinker," or "The Silver Skates," "Life in +Holland." + +Eugene Field's "A Little Book of Profitable Tales." It has sold +200,000 copies. + +Grimm's "Fairy Tales." + +Habberton's "Helen's Babies." + +E. E. Hale's "Boy Heroes." + +Chandler Harris' "Little Mr. Thimblefinger and His Queer Country; What +the Children Saw and Heard There." Fantastic tale interweaving negro +animal stories and other Georgia folklore with modern inventions. "Mr. +Rabbit At Home"; sequel to "Little Mr. Thimblefinger and His Queer +Country." Animal stories told to children. + +Charles Kingsley's "Water Babies." + +Kipling's "Jungle Books," which have sold 175,000 copies. + +Knox's "Boy Travelers." + +Lanier's "Boy Froissart," and "Boy's King Arthur." + +Edward Lear's "Nonsense Books." + +Mabie's "Norse Stories." + +Samuel's "From the Forecastle to the Cabin." The experiences of the +author who ran away from home and shipped as cabin boy; points out +dangers that beset a seafaring life. + +Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney's "Faith Gartney's Girlhood." + +Kate Douglas Wiggin's "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm." + + +Not long ago President Eliot of Harvard College aroused widespread +controversy over his selection of a library of books, which might be +contained on a five-foot shelf. We append his selections as indicative +of the choice of a great scholar and educator. + +The following sixteen titles may be had in Everyman's Library, cloth +350. net per volume; leather 70 c. net per volume: + +_President Eliot's Five-Foot Shelf_ + +Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. + +Sir Thomas Browne's "Religio Medici." + +"Confessions of St. Augustine." + +Shelley's "The Cenci" (contained in volume two of the complete works). + +Emerson's "English Traits," and "Representative Men." + +Emerson's Essays. + +Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." + +Bacon's Essays. + +Walton's "Complete Angler." + +Milton's Poems. + +Goethe's "Faust." + +Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus." + +Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations." + +Browning's "Blot on the Scutcheon" (contained in volume one of the +poems). + +Dante's "Divine Comedy." + +Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." + +Thomas A. Kempis' "Imitation of Christ." + +Burns's "Tam O'Shanter." + +Dryden's "Translation of the Aeneid." + +Walton's Lives of Donne, and Herbert. + +Ben Johnson's "Volpone." + +Smith's "Wealth of Nations." + +Plutarch's "Lives." + +Letters of Pliny. + +Cicero's Select Letters. + +Plato's "Phaedrus." + +Epictetus' Discourses. + +Socrates' "Apology and Crito." + +Beaumont and Fletcher's "Maid's Tragedy." + +Milton's Tractate on Education. + +Bacon's "New Atlantis." + +Darwin's "Origin of Species." + +Webster's "Duchess of Malfi." + +Dryden's "All for Love." + +Thomas Middleton's "The Changeling." + +John Woolman's Journal. + +"Arabian Nights." + +Tennyson's "Becket." + +Penn's "Fruits of Solitude." + +Milton's "Areopagitica." + + +The following list of books is offered as suggestive of profitable +lines of reading for all classes and tastes: + +_Books on Nature_ + +Thoreau's, "Cape Cod," "Maine Woods," "Excursions." + +Burroughs' "Ways of Nature," "Wake Robin," "Signs and Seasons," +"Pepacton." + +Jefferies' "Life of the Fields," "Wild Life in a Southern Country," and +"Idylls of Field and Hedgerow." + +Lubbock's "Beauties of Nature." + +Maeterlinck's "Life of the Bee." + +Thompson's "My Winter Garden." + +Warner's "My Summer in a Garden." + +Van Dyke's "Little Rivers," "Fisherman's Luck." + +White's "The Forest." + +Mrs. Wright's "Garden of a Commuter's Wife." + +Wordsworth's and Bryant's Poems. + + +_Novels Descriptive of American Life_ + +Simms' "The Partisan." + +Cooper's "The Spy." + +Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables." + +Cable's "Old Creole Days," "The Grandissimes." + +Howells' "The Rise of Silas Lapham." + +Howells' "A Hazard of New Fortunes." + +Eggleston's "A Hoosier Schoolmaster." + +Bret Harte's "Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Stories." + +Mary Hallock Foote's "The Led-Horse Claim." + +Octave Thanet's "Heart of Toil," "Stories of a Western Town." + +Wister's "The Virginian," "Lady Baltimore." + +E. Hopkinson Smith's "The Fortune of Oliver Horn." + +Thomas Nelson Page's "Short Stories," and "Red Rock." + +Mrs. Delands' "Old Chester Tales." + +J. L. Allen's "Flute and Violin," "The Choir Invisible." + +Frank Norris' "The Octopus," "The Pit" + +Garland's "Main Traveled Roads." + +Miss Jewett's "Country of the Pointed Firs," "The Tory Lover." + +Miss Wilkins' "New England Nun," "Pembroke." + +Churchill's "The Crisis," "Coniston," "Mr. Crewe's Career." + +Brander Matthews' "His Father's Son." + +S. Weir Mitchell's "Hugh Wynne." + +Fox's "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come." + +Mrs. Wharton's "The House of Mirth." + +Robert Grant's "Unleavened Bread." + +Robert Herrick's "The Common Lot," "The Memoirs of an American Citizen." + +Grace E. King's "Balcony Stories." + + +_Books Which Interpret American Ideals_ + +Emerson's Addresses and Essays. + +Lowell's Essay on Democracy. + +Lincoln's Inaugural Addresses. + +Booker T. Washington's "Up from Slavery." + +Jacob Riis' "The Making of An American." + +Higginson's "The New World and the New Book." + +Brander Matthews' "Introduction to American Literature." + +Whittier's "Snow-Bound." + +Louise Manley's "Southern Literature." + +Thomas Nelson Page's "The Old South." + +E. J. Turner's "The Rise of the New West" + +Churchill's "The Crossing." + +James Bryce's "American Commonwealth." + + +_Some of the Best Biographies_ + +"Life of Sir Walter Scott," Lockhart. + +"Life of Frederick the Great," Carlyle. + +"Alfred Lord Tennyson," by his son. + +"Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley," by his son. + +Plutarch's "Lives." + +"Lives of Seventy of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and +Architects," Vasari. + +"Cicero and His Friends," Boissier. + +"Life of Samuel Johnson," Boswell. + +Autobiography of Leigh Hunt. + +"Memoirs of My Life and Writings," Gibbon. + +Autobiography of Martineau. + +"Life of John Sterling," Carlyle. + +"Life and Times of Goethe," Grimm. + +"Life and Letters of Macaulay," Trevelyan. + +"Life of Charles James Fox," Trevelyan. + +"Life of Carlyle," Froude. + +Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography. + +Boswell's "Johnson." + +Trevelyan's "Life of Macaulay." + +Carlyle's, "Frederick the Great." + +Stanley's, "Thomas Arnold." + +Hughes', "Alfred the Great." + +Mrs. Kingsley's, "Charles Kingsley." + +Lounsbury's, "Cooper." + +Greenslet's, "Lowell," and "Aldrich." + +Mims', "Sidney Lanier." + +Wister's, "Seven Ages of Washington." + +Grant's Autobiography. + +Morley's, "Chatham." + +Harrison's, "Cromwell." + +W. Clark Russell's, "Nelson." + +Morse's, "Benjamin Franklin." + + +_Twenty-four American Biographies_ + +"Abraham Lincoln," Schurz. + +"Life of George Washington," Irving. + +"Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect," Eliot. + +"Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife," Hawthorne. + +"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow," Higginson. + +"James Russell Lowell," Greenslet. + +"Life of Francis Parkman," Farnham. + +"Edgar Alien Poe," Woodberry. + +Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson. + +"Walt Whitman," Perry. + +"Life and Letters of Whittier," Pickard. + +"James Russell Lowell and His Friends," Hale. + +"George Washington," Wilson. + +Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. + +"Story of My Life," Helen Keller. + +"Autobiography of a Journalist," Stillman. + +"Autobiography of Seventy Years," Hoar. + +"Life of Thomas Bailey Aldrich," Greenslet. + +"Life of Alice Freeman Palmer," Palmer. + +"Personal Memoirs," Grant. + +"Memoirs," Sherman. + +"Memoirs of Ralph Waldo Emerson," Cabot. + +"Sidney Lanier," Mims. + +"Life of J. Fenimore Cooper," Lounsbury. + + +The books enumerated have been selected as examples of the best in +their respective classes. Even those books of fiction chosen, +primarily, for entertainment, are instructive and educational. Whether +the reader's taste runs to history, biography, travel, nature study, or +fiction, he may select any one of the books named in these respective +classifications and be assured of possessing a volume worthy of reading +and ownership. + +It is the author's hope and desire that the list of books he has given, +limited as it is, may prove of value to those seeking self-education, +and that the books may encourage the disheartened, stimulate ambition, +and serve as stepping stones to higher ideals and nobler purposes in +life. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +WHY SOME SUCCEED AND OTHERS FAIL + +Life's highway is strewn with failures, just as the sea bed is strewn +with wrecks. + +A large percentage of those who embark in commercial undertakings fail, +according to the records of commercial agencies. + +Why do men fail? Why do adventures into business, happily launched, +terminate in disastrous wreck? + +Why do the few succeed and the many fail? Some failures are relative +and not absolute; a partial success is achieved; a success that goes +limping along through life; but the goal of ambition is unreached, the +heart's desire unattained. + +There are so many elements that enter into business that it is +impossible to more than indicate them. Health, natural aptitude, +temperament, disposition, a right start and in the right place, +hereditary traits, good judgment, common sense, level-headedness, etc., +are all factors which enter into one's chance of success in life. The +best we can do in one chapter is to hang out the red flag over the +dangerous places; to chart the rocks and shoals, whereon multitudes of +vessels, which left the port of youth with flying colors, favoring +breezes and every promise of a successful voyage, have been wrecked and +lost. + +The lack of self-confidence and lack of faith in one's ideas in one's +mission in life have caused innumerable failures. + +People who don't get on and who don't know why, do not realize the +power of trifles to mar a career, what little things are killing their +business or injuring their profession; do not realize how little things +injure their credit; such as the lack of promptness in paying bills, or +meeting a note at the bank. + +Many men fail because they thought they had the field and were in no +danger from competition, so that the heads of the firm took it easy, or +because some enterprising up-to-date, progressive young man came to +town, and, before they realized it, took their trade away from them, +because they got into a rut, and didn't keep up-to-date stock and an +attractive store. + +They don't realize what splendid salesmen, an attractive place of +business, up-to-date methods, and courteous treatment of customers mean. + +Men often fail because they do not realize that creeping paralysis, +caused by dry rot, is gradually strangling their business. Many +business men fail because they dare not look their business conditions +in the face when things go wrong, and do not adopt heroic methods, but +continue to use palliatives, until the conditions are beyond cure, even +with a surgeon's knife. + +Lots of men fail because they don't know how to get rid of deadwood in +their establishment, or retain non-productive employees, who with +slip-shod methods, and indifference drive away more business than the +proprietors can bring in by advertising. + +Many other men fail because they tried bluff in place of capital, and +proper training, or because they didn't keep up with the times. + +Lots of young people fail to get ahead and plod along in mediocrity +because they never found their place. They are round pegs in square +holes. Others are not capable of coping with antagonism. Favoritism +of proprietors and managers has killed many a business. A multitude of +men fail to get on because they take themselves too seriously. They +deliver their goods in a hearse, employ surly, unaccommodating clerks. +Bad business manners have killed many a business. Slave-driving +methods, inability to get along with others, lack of system, defective +organizing ability, have cut short many a career. + +A great many men are ruined by "side-lines" things outside their +regular vocation. Success depends upon efficiency, and efficiency is +impossible without intense, persistent concentration. Many traveling +men think that they can pick up a little extra money and increase their +income by taking up some "side-line." But it is always the small man, +never the big one, who has a "side-line." Many of these men remain +small, and are never able to rise to a big salaried position because +they split up their endeavor, dissipate their energy. "Side-lines" are +dangerous because they divert the mind, scatter effort, and nothing +great can be accomplished without _intense concentration_. + +Many people are always driving success away from them by their +antagonistic manner, and their pessimistic thought. _They work for one +thing, but expect something else_. They don't realize that their +mental attitude must correspond with their ambition; that if they are +working hard to get on, they must expect prosperity, and not kill their +prospects by their adverse mental attitude--their doubts and fears. + +Lots of men are ruined by "a sure thing," an inside tip, buying stocks +on other people's judgment. + +Many people fail because they lose their grit after they fail, or when +they get down, they don't know how to get up. Many are victims of +their moods, slaves of despondency. Courage and an optimistic outlook +upon life are imperative to the winner. Fear is fatal to success. +Many a young man fails because he can not multiply himself in others, +can not delegate his work, is lost in detail. Other men fail in an +attempt to build up a big business; their minds are not trained to +grasp large subjects, to generalize, to make combinations; they are not +self-reliant, depending upon other people's judgment and advice. + +Many a man who works hard himself, does not know how to handle men, and +does not know how to use other people's brains. + +Thousands of youths fail to get on because they never fall in love with +their work. Work that is drudgery never succeeds. + +Fifty years ago, a stable-boy cleaned the horses of a prosperous hotel +proprietor, who drove into Denver for supplies. That boy became +Governor of Colorado, and later the hotel-keeper, with shattered +fortunes, was glad to accept a place as watchman at the hand of the +former stable-boy. + +Life is made up of such contrasts. Every successful man, in whatever +degree and in whatever line, has, at every step of his life, been on +seemingly equal terms with hundreds of his fellows who, later, reached +no such measure of success as he. Every miserable failure has had at +some time as many chances, and at least as much possibility of +cultivating the same qualities, as the successful people have had at +some time in their lives. + +Since humble birth and handicaps of every sort and degree have not +prevented success in the determined man; since want has often spurred +to needed action and obstacles but train to higher leaping, why should +men fail? What causes the failures and half-successes that make up the +generality of mankind? + +The answer is manifold, but its lesson is plain. As one writer has +expressed it, "_Every mainspring of success is a mainspring of failure, +when wound around the wrong way._" Every opportunity for advancement, +for climbing for success, is just as much an opportunity for failure. +Every success quality can be turned to one's disadvantage through +excessive development or wrong use. No matter how broad and strong the +dike may be, if a little hole lets the water through, ruin and disaster +are sure. Possession of almost all the success-qualities may be +absolutely nullified by one or two faults or vices. Sometimes one or +two masterful traits of character will carry a person to success, in +spite of defects that are a serious clog. + +The numerous failures who wish always to blame their misfortunes upon +others, or upon external circumstances, find small comfort in +statistics compiled by those who have investigated the subject. In +analyzing the causes of business failure in a recent year +_Bradstreet's_ found that seven-tenths were due to faults of those +failing, and only three-tenths to causes entirely beyond their control. +Faults causing failure, with per cent. of failures caused by each, are +given as follows: incompetence, 19 per cent.; inexperience, 7.8 per +cent.; lack of capital, 30.3 per cent.; unwise granting of credit, 3.6 +per cent.; speculation, 2.3 per cent. It may be explained that "lack +of capital" really means attempting to do too much with inadequate +capital. This is a purely commercial analysis of purely commercial +success. Character delinquencies must be read between the lines. + +Forty successful men were induced, not long ago, to answer in detail +the question, "What, in your observation, are the chief causes of the +failure in life of business or professional men?" The causes +attributed by these representative men were as follows: + +Bad habits; bad judgment; bad luck; bad associates; carelessness of +details; constant assuming of unjustifiable risks; desire to become +rich too fast; drinking; dishonest dealings; desire of retrenchment; +dislike to say no at the proper time; disregard of the Golden Rule; +drifting with the tide; expensive habits of life; extravagance: envy; +failure to appreciate one's surroundings; failure to grasp one's +opportunities; frequent changes from one business to another; fooling +away of time in pursuit of a so-called good time, gambling; +inattention; incompetent assistants; incompetency; indolence; jealousy. +Lack of attention to business; of application; of adaptation; of +ambition; of business methods; of capital; of conservatism; of close +attention to business; of confidence in self; of careful accounting; of +careful observation; of definite purpose; of discipline in early life; +of discernment of character; of enterprise; of energy; of economy; of +faithfulness; of faith in one's calling; of industry; of integrity; of +judgment; of knowledge of business requirements; of manly character; of +natural ability; of perseverance; of pure principles; of proper +courtesy toward people; of purpose; of pluck; of promptness in meeting +business engagements; of system. Late hours; living beyond one's +income; leaving too much to one's employees; neglect of details; no +inborn love for one's calling; over-confidence in the stability of +existing conditions; procrastination; speculative mania; selfishness; +self-indulgence in small vices; studying ease rather than vigilance; +social demoralization; thoughtless marriages; trusting one's work to +others; undesirable location; unwillingness to pay the price of +success; unwillingness to bear early privations; waste; yielding too +easily to discouragement. + +Surely, here is material enough for a hundred sermons if one cared to +preach them. Without attempting to discuss all these causes of +failure, some few may be profitably examined. + +No youth can hope to succeed who is timid, who lacks faith in himself, +who has not the courage of his convictions, and who always seeks for +certainty before he ventures. "Self-distrust is the cause of most of +our failures," said one. "In the assurance of strength there is +strength, and they are the weakest, however strong, who have no faith +in themselves or their powers." + +"The ruin which overtakes so many merchants," said another, "is due, +not so much to their lack of business talent, as to their lack of +business nerve. How many lovable persons we see in trade, endowed with +brilliant capacities, but cursed with yielding dispositions--who are +resolute in no business habits and fixed in no business principles--who +are prone to follow the instincts of a weak good nature, against the +ominous hints of a clear intelligence; now obliging this friend by +indorsing an unsafe note, and then pleasing that neighbor by sharing +his risk in a hopeless speculation, and who, after all the capital they +have earned by their industry and sagacity has been sunk in benevolent +attempts to assist blundering or plundering incapacity, are doomed, in +their bankruptcy, to be the mark of bitter taunts from growling +creditors and insolent pity from a gossiping public." + +Scattering one's forces has killed many a man's success. Withdrawal of +the best of yourself from the work to be done is sure to bring final +disaster. Every particle of a man's energy, intellect, courage, and +enthusiasm is needed to win success in one line. Draw off part of the +supply of any one or all of these, and there is danger that what is +left will not suffice. A little inattention to one's business at a +critical point is quite sufficient to cause shipwreck. The pilot who +pays attention to a pretty passenger is not likely to bring his ship to +port. Attractive side issues, great schemes, and flattering promises +of large rewards, too often lure the business or professional man from +the safe path in which he may plod on to sure success. Many a man +fails to become a great man, by splitting into several small ones, +choosing to be a tolerable Jack-at-all-trades, rather than to be an +unrivalled specialist. + +Lack of thoroughness is another great cause of failure. The world is +overcrowded with men, young and old, who remain stationary, filling +minor positions, and drawing meager salaries, simply because they have +never thought it worth while to achieve mastery in the pursuits they +have chosen to follow. + +Lack of education has caused many failures; if a man has success +qualities in him, he will not long lack such education as is absolutely +necessary to his success. He will walk fifty miles if necessary to +borrow a book, like Lincoln. He will hang by one arm to a street lamp, +and hold his book with the other, like a certain Glasgow boy. He will +study between anvil blows, like Elihu Burritt; he will do some of the +thousand things that other noble strugglers have done to fight against +circumstances that would deprive them of what they hunger for. + +"The five conditions of failure," said H. H. Vreeland, president of the +Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York, "may be roughly +classified thus: first, laziness, and particularly mental laziness; +second, lack of faith in the efficiency of work; third, reliance on the +saving grace of luck; fourth, lack of courage, initiative and +persistence: fifth, the belief that the young man's job affects his +standing, instead of the young man's affecting the standing of his job." + +Look where you will, ask of whom you will, and you will find that not +circumstances, but personal qualities, defects and deficiencies, cause +failures. This is strongly expressed by a wealthy manufacturer who +said: "Nothing else influences a man's career in life so much as his +disposition. He may have capacity, knowledge, social position, or +money to back him at the start; but it is his disposition that will +decide his place in the world at the end. Show me a man who is, +according to popular prejudice, a victim of bad luck, and I will show +you one who has some unfortunate, crooked twist of temperament that +invites disaster, He is ill-tempered, or conceited, or trifling, or +lacks enthusiasm." + +There are some men whose failure to succeed in life is a problem to +others, as well as to themselves. They are industrious, prudent, and +economical; yet after a long life of striving, old age finds them still +poor. They complain of ill luck, they say fate is against them. But +the real truth is that their projects miscarry, because they mistake +mere activity for energy. Confounding two things essentially +different, they suppose that if they are always busy, they must of +necessity be advancing their fortunes; forgetting that labor +misdirected is but a waste of activity. + +The worst of all foes to success is sheer, downright laziness. There +is no polite synonym for laziness. Too many young men are afraid to +work. They are lazy. They aim to find genteel occupations, so that +they can dress well, and not soil their clothes, and handle things with +the tips of their fingers. They do not like to get their shoulders +under the wheel, and they prefer to give orders to others, or figure as +masters, and let some one else do the drudgery. There is no place in +this century for the lazy man. He will be pushed to the wall. Labor +ever will be the inevitable price for everything that is valuable. + +A metropolitan daily newspaper not long ago invited confessions by +letter from those who felt that their lives had been failures. The +newspaper agreed not to disclose the name or identity of any person +making such a confession, and requested frank statements. Two +questions were asked: "Has your life been a failure? Has your business +been a failure?" + +Some of the replies were pitiable in the extreme. + +Some attributed their failures to a cruel fate which seemed to pursue +them and thwart all their efforts, some to hereditary weaknesses, +deformities, and taints, some to a husband or a wife, others to +"inhospitable surroundings," and "cruel circumstances." + +It is worthy of note that not one of these failures mentioned laziness +as a cause. + +Here are some of the reasons they did give: + +"J. P. T." considered that his life was a failure from too much genius. +He said he thought he could do anything, and therefore he couldn't wait +to graduate from college, but left and began the practise of law, was +principal of an academy, overworked himself, and had too many irons in +the fire. He failed, he said, from dissipating his energies, and +having too much confidence in men. + +"Rutherford," said he had four chances to succeed in life, but lost +them all. The first cause of his failure was lack of perseverance. He +tired of the sameness and routine of his occupation. His second +shortcoming was too great liberality, too much confidence in others. +Third, economy was not in his dictionary. Fourth, "I had too much +hope, even in the greatest extremities." Fifth, "I believed too much +in friends and friendships. I couldn't read human nature, and did not +make allowance enough for mistakes." Sixth, "I never struck my +vocation." Seventh, "I had no one to care for, to spur me on to do +something in the world. I am seventy years old, never drank, never had +bad habits, always attended church. But I am as poor as when I started +for myself." + +"G. C. S." failed dismally. "My weakness was building air-castles. I +had a burning desire to make a name in the world, and came to New York +from the country. Rebuffed, discouraged, I drifted. I had no heart +for work. I lacked ability and push, without which no life can be a +success." + +"Lacked ability and push."--Push _is_ ability. Laziness is lack of +push. Nothing can take the place of push. Push means industry and +endurance and everlasting stick-to-it-ive-ness. + +"A somewhat varied experience of men has led me, the longer I live," +said a great man, "to set less value on mere cleverness; to attach more +and more importance to industry and physical endurance." + +Goethe said that industry is nine-tenths of genius, and Franklin that +diligence is the mother of good luck. A thousand other tongues and +pens have lauded work. Idleness and shiftlessness may be set down as +causing a large part of the failures of the world. + +On every side we see persons who started out with good educations and +great promise, but who have gradually "gone to seed." Their early +ambition oozed out, their early ideals gradually dropped to lower +standards. Ambition is a spring that sets the apparatus going. All +the parts may be perfect, but the lack of a spring is a fatal defect. +Without wish to rise, desire to accomplish and to attain, no life will +succeed largely. + +"Chief among the causes which bring positive failure or a disappointing +portion of half success to thousands of honest strugglers is +vacillation," said Thomas B. Bryan. + +Many a business man has made his fortune by promptly deciding at some +nice juncture to expose himself to a considerable risk. Yet many +failures are caused by ill-advised changes and causeless vacillation of +purpose. The vacillating man, however strong in other respects, is +always pushed aside in the race of life by the determined man, the +decisive man, who knows what he wants to do and does it; even brains +must give way to decision. One could almost say that no life ever +failed that was steadfastly devoted to one aim, if that aim were not in +itself unworthy. + +I am a great believer in a college education, but a great many college +graduates have made failures of their lives who might have succeeded +had they not gone to college, because they depended upon theoretical, +impractical knowledge to help them on, and were not willing to begin at +the bottom after graduation. + +On every hand we see men who did well in college, but who do very +poorly in life. They stood high in their classes, were conscientious, +hard workers, but somehow when they get out into life, they do not seem +able to catch on. They are not practical. It would be hard to tell +why they never get ahead, but there seems to be something lacking in +their make-up, some screw loose somewhere. These brilliant graduates, +but indifferently successful men, are often enigmas to themselves. +They don't understand why they don't get on. + +There is no doubt that ill-health is often the cause of failure, but +this is often due to a wrong mental attitude, wrong thinking. The +pessimistic, discouraged mental attitude is very injurious to good +health. Worry, fear, anxiety, jealousy, extreme selfishness, poison +the system, so that it does not perform its functions perfectly, and +will cause much ill-health. + +A complete reversal of the mental attitude would bring robust health to +multitudes of those who suffer from "poor health." If people would +only think right, and live right, ill-health would be very rare. A +wrong mental attitude is the cause of a large part of physical +weakness, disease, and suffering. + +It has been said that the two chief factors of success are industry and +health. But the history of human triumphs over difficulties shows that +the sick, the crippled, the deformed, have often outrun the strong and +hale to the goal of success, in spite of tremendous physical handicaps. +Many such instances are cited in other chapters of this volume. + +Where men have built an abiding success, industry and perseverance have +proven the foundation stone? of their great achievements. Every man +may lay this foundation and build on it for himself. Whatever a man's +natural advantages may be, great or small, industry and perseverance +are his, if he chooses. By the exercise of these qualities he may +rise, as others have done, to success, if like Palissy he + + "Labors and endures and waits + And what he can not find creates." + + +WHEN IS SUCCESS A FAILURE? + +When you are doing the lower while the higher is possible. + +When you are not a cleaner, finer, larger man on account of your +life-work. + +When you live only to eat, drink, have a good time, and accumulate +money. + +When you do not carry a higher wealth in your character than in your +pocketbook. + +When your highest brain cells have been crowded out of business by +greed. + +When it has made conscience an accuser, and shut the sunlight out of +your life. + +When all sympathy has been crushed out by selfish devotion to your +vocation. + +When the attainment of your ambition has blighted the aspirations and +crushed the hopes of others. + +When you plead that you never had time to cultivate your friendships, +politeness, or good manners. + +When you have lost on your way your self-respect, your courage, your +self-control, or any other quality of manhood. + +When you do not overtop your vocation; when you are not greater as a +man than as a lawyer, a merchant, a physician, or a scientist. + +When you have lived a double life and practised double-dealing. + +When it has made you a physical wreck--a victim of "nerves" and moods. + +When the hunger for more money, more land, more houses and bonds has +grown to be your dominant passion. + +When it has dwarfed you mentally and morally, and robbed you of the +spontaneity and enthusiasm of youth. When it has hardened you to the +needs and sufferings of others, and made you a scorner of the poor and +unfortunate. + +When there is a dishonest or a deceitful dollar in your possession; +when your fortune spells the ruin of widows and orphans, or the +crushing of the opportunities of others. + +When your absorption in your work has made you practically a stranger +to your family. + +When you go on the principle of getting all you can and giving as +little as possible in return. + +When your greed for money has darkened and cramped your wife's life, +and deprived her of self-expression, of needed rest and recreation, or +amusement of any kind. + +When the nervous irritability engendered by constant work, without +relaxation, has made you a brute in your home and a nuisance to those +who work for you. + +When you rob those who work for you of what is justly their due, and +then pose as a philanthropist by contributing a small fraction of your +unjust gains to some charity or to the endowment of some public +institution. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI + +RICH WITHOUT MONEY + +Let others plead for pensions; I can be rich without money, by +endeavoring to be superior to everything poor. I would have my +services to my country unstained by any interested motive.--LORD +COLLINGWOOD. + +I ought not to allow any man, because he has broad lands, to feel that +he is rich in my presence. I ought to make him feel that I can do +without his riches, that I can not be bought,--neither by comfort, +neither by pride,--and although I be utterly penniless, and receiving +bread from him, that he is the poor man beside me.--EMERSON. + +He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth +of nature.--SOCRATES. + + My crown is in my heart, not on my head, + Nor decked with diamonds and Indian stones, + Nor to be seen: my crown is called content; + A crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy. + SHAKESPEARE. + + +Many a man is rich without money. Thousands of men with nothing in +their pockets are rich. + +A man born with a good, sound constitution, a good stomach, a good +heart and good limbs, and a pretty good head-piece is rich. + +Good bones are better than gold, tough muscles than silver, and nerves +that carry energy to every function are better than houses and land. + +"Heart-life, soul-life, hope, joy, and love, are true riches," said +Beecher. + +Why should I scramble and struggle to get possession of a little +portion of this earth? This is my world now; why should I envy others +its mere legal possession? It belongs to him who can see it, enjoy it. +I need not envy the so-called owners of estates in Boston or New York. +They are merely taking care of my property and keeping it in excellent +condition for me. For a few pennies for railroad fare whenever I wish +I can see and possess the best of it all. It has cost me no effort, it +gives me no care; yet the green grass, the shrubbery, and the statues +on the lawns, the finer sculptures and the paintings within, are always +ready for me whenever I feel a desire to look upon them. I do not wish +to carry them home with me, for I could not give them half the care +they now receive; besides, it would take too much of my valuable time, +and I should be worrying continually lest they be spoiled or stolen. I +have much of the wealth of the world now. It is all prepared for me +without any pains on my part. All around me are working hard to get +things that will please me, and competing to see who can give them the +cheapest. The little that I pay for the use of libraries, railroads, +galleries, parks, is less than it would cost to care for the least of +all I use. Life and landscape are mine, the stars and flowers, the sea +and air, the birds and trees. What more do I want? All the ages have +been working for me; all mankind are my servants. I am only required +to feed and clothe myself, an easy task in this land of opportunity. + +A millionaire pays a big fortune for a gallery of paintings, and some +poor boy or girl comes in, with open mind and poetic fancy, and carries +away a treasure of beauty which the owner never saw. A collector +bought at public auction in London, for one hundred and fifty-seven +guineas, an autograph of Shakespeare; but for nothing a schoolboy can +read and absorb the riches of "Hamlet." + +"Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough +to cover." "A man may as soon fill a chest with grace, or a vessel +with virtue," says Phillips Brooks, "as a heart with wealth." + +Shall we seek happiness through the sense of taste or of touch? Shall +we idolize our stomachs and our backs? Have we no higher missions, no +nobler destinies? Shall we "disgrace the fair day by a pusillanimous +preference of our bread to our freedom"? + +What does your money say to you: what message does it bring to you? +Does it say to you, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die"? +Does it bring a message of comfort, of education, of culture, of +travel, of books, of an opportunity to help your fellow-men or is the +message "More land, more thousands and millions"? What message does it +bring you? Clothes for the naked, bread for the starving, schools for +the ignorant, hospitals for the sick, asylums for the orphans, or of +more for yourself and none for others? Is it a message of generosity +or of meanness, breadth or narrowness? Does it speak to you of +character? Does it mean a broader manhood, a larger aim, a nobler +ambition, or does it cry, "More, more, more"? + +Are you an animal loaded with ingots, or a man filled with a purpose? +He is rich whose mind is rich, whose thought enriches the intellect of +the world. + +A sailor on a sinking vessel in the Caribbean Sea eagerly filled his +pockets with Spanish dollars from a barrel on board while his +companions, about to leave in the only boat, begged him to seek safety +with them. But he could not leave the bright metal which he had so +longed for and idolized, and when the vessel went down he was prevented +by his very riches from reaching shore. + +"Who is the richest of men?" asked Socrates. "He who is content with +the least, for contentment is nature's riches." + +In More's "Utopia" gold was despised. Criminals were forced to wear +heavy chains of it, and to have rings of it in their ears; it was put +to the vilest uses to keep up the scorn of it. Bad characters were +compelled to wear gold head-bands. Diamonds and pearls were used to +decorate infants, so that the youth would discard and despise them. + +"Ah, if the rich were as rich as the poor fancy riches!" exclaims +Emerson. + +In excavating Pompeii a skeleton was found with the fingers clenched +round a quantity of gold. A man of business in the town of Hull, +England, when dying, pulled a bag of money from under his pillow, which +he held between his clenched fingers with a grasp so firm as scarcely +to relax under the agonies of death. + + "Oh! blind and wanting wit to choose, + Who house the chaff and burn the grain; + Who hug the wealth ye cannot use, + And lack the riches all may gain." + + +Poverty is the want of much, avarice the want of everything. + +A poor man while scoffing at the wealthy for not enjoying themselves +was met by a stranger who gave him a purse, in which he was always to +find a ducat. As fast as he took one out another was to drop in, but +he was not to begin to spend his fortune until he had thrown away the +purse. He took ducat after ducat out, but continually procrastinated +and put off the hour of enjoyment until he had got "a little more," and +died at last counting his millions. + +A beggar was once met by Fortune, who promised to fill his wallet with +gold, as much as he might desire, on condition that whatever touched +the ground should turn at once to dust. The beggar opened his wallet, +asked for more and yet more, until the bag burst. The gold fell to the +ground, and all was lost. + +When the steamer _Central America_ was about to sink, the stewardess, +having collected all the gold she could from the staterooms, and tied +it in her apron, jumped for the last boat leaving the steamer. She +missed her aim, fell into the water and the gold carried her down head +first. + +Franklin said money never made a man happy yet; there is nothing in its +nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. +Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one. A great bank account can +never make a man rich. It is the mind that makes the body rich. No +man is rich, however much money or land he may possess, who has a poor +heart. If that is poor, he is poor indeed, though he own and rule +kingdoms. He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to +what he has. + +Some men are rich in health, in constant cheerfulness, in a mercurial +temperament which floats them over troubles and trials enough to sink a +shipload of ordinary men. Others are rich in disposition, family, and +friends. There are some men so amiable that everybody loves them; so +cheerful that they carry an atmosphere of jollity about them. + +The human body is packed full of marvelous devices, of wonderful +contrivances, of infinite possibilities for the happiness and +enrichment of the individual. No physiologist, inventor, nor scientist +has ever been able to point out a single improvement, even in the +minutest detail, in the mechanism of the human body. No chemist has +ever been able to suggest a superior combination in any one of the +elements which make up the human structure. + +[Illustration: Mark Twain] + +One of the first great lessons of life is to learn the true estimate of +values. As the youth starts out in his career all sorts of wares will +be imposed upon him and all kinds of temptations will be used to induce +him to buy. His success will depend very largely upon his ability to +estimate properly, not the apparent but the real value of everything +presented to him. Vulgar Wealth will flaunt her banner before his +eyes, and claim supremacy over everything else. A thousand different +schemes will be thrust into his face with their claims for superiority. +Every occupation and vocation will present its charms and offer its +inducements in turn. The youth who would succeed must not allow +himself to be deceived by appearance, but must place the emphasis of +life upon the right thing. + +Raphael was rich without money. All doors opened to him, and he was +more than welcome everywhere. His sweet spirit radiated sunshine +wherever he went. + +Henry Wilson, the sworn friend of the oppressed, whose one question, as +to measures or acts, was ever "Is it right; will it do good?" was rich +without money. So scrupulous had this Natick cobbler been not to make +his exalted position a means of worldly gain, that when he came to be +inaugurated as Vice-President of the country, he was obliged to borrow +of his fellow-senator, Charles Sumner, one hundred dollars to meet the +necessary expenses of the occasion. + +Mozart, the great composer of the "Requiem," left barely enough money +to bury him, but he has made the world richer. + +A rich mind and noble spirit will cast over the humblest home a +radiance of beauty which the upholsterer and decorator can never +approach. Who would not prefer to be a millionaire of character, of +contentment, rather than possess nothing but the vulgar coins of a +Croesus? Whoever uplifts civilization, though he die penniless, is +rich, and future generations will erect his monument. + +An Asiatic traveler tells us that one day he found the bodies of two +men laid upon the desert sand beside the carcass of a camel. They had +evidently died from thirst, and yet around the waist of each was a +large store of jewels of different kinds, which they had doubtless been +crossing the desert to sell in the markets of Persia. + +The man who has no money is poor, but one who has nothing but money is +poorer. He only is rich who can enjoy without owning; he is poor who +though he have millions is covetous. There are riches of intellect, +and no man with an intellectual taste can be called poor. He is rich +as well as brave who can face compulsory poverty and misfortune with +cheerfulness and courage. + +We can so educate the will power that it will focus the thoughts upon +the bright side of things, and upon objects which elevate the soul, +thus forming a habit of happiness and goodness which will make us rich. +The habit of making the best of everything and of always looking on the +bright side is a fortune in itself. + +He is rich who values a good name above gold. Among the ancient Greeks +and Romans honor was more sought after than wealth. Rome was imperial +Rome no more when the imperial purple became an article of traffic. + +Diogenes was captured by pirates and sold as a slave. His purchaser +released him, giving him charge of his household and of the education +of his children. Diogenes despised wealth and affectation, and lived +in a tub. "Do you want anything?" asked Alexander the Great, greatly +impressed by the abounding cheerfulness of the philosopher under such +circumstances. "Yes," replied Diogenes, "I want you to stand out of my +sunshine and not take from me what you can not give me." "Were I not +Alexander," exclaimed the great conqueror, "I would be Diogenes." + +"Do you know, sir," said a devotee of Mammon to John Bright, "that I am +worth a million sterling?" "Yes," said the irritated but calm-spirited +respondent, "I do; and I know that it is all you are worth." + +What power can poverty have over a home where loving hearts are beating +with a consciousness of untold riches of the head and heart? + +St. Paul was never so great as when he occupied a prison cell under the +streets of Rome; and Jesus Christ reached the height of His success +when, smitten, spat upon, tormented, and crucified, He cried in agony, +and yet with triumphant satisfaction, "It is finished." + +Don't start out in life with a false standard; a truly great man makes +official position and money and houses and estates look so tawdry, so +mean and poor, that we feel like sinking out of sight with our cheap +laurels and our gold. + +One of the great lessons to teach in this century of sharp competition +and the survival of the fittest is how to be rich without money and to +learn how to live without success according to the popular standard. + +In the poem, "The Changed Cross," a weary woman is represented as +dreaming that she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of +divers shapes and sizes. The most beautiful one was set in jewels of +gold. It was so tiny and exquisite that she changed her own plain +cross for it, thinking she was fortunate in finding one so much lighter +and lovelier. But soon her back began to ache under the glittering +burden, and she changed it for another, very beautiful and entwined +with flowers. But she soon found that underneath the flowers were +piercing thorns which tore her flesh. At last she came to a very plain +cross without jewels, without carving, and with only the word, "Love," +inscribed upon it. She took this one up and it proved the easiest and +best of all. She was amazed, however, to find that it was her old +cross which she had discarded. + +It is easy to see the jewels and the flowers in other people's crosses, +but the thorns and heavy weight are known only to the bearers. How +easy other people's burdens seem to us compared with our own! We do +not realize the secret burdens which almost crush the heart, nor the +years of weary waiting for delayed success--the aching hearts longing +for sympathy, the hidden poverty, the suppressed emotion in other lives. + +William Pitt, the Great Commoner, considered money as dirt beneath his +feet compared with the public interest and public esteem. His hands +were clean. + +The object for which we strive tells the story of our lives. Men and +women should be judged by the happiness they create in those around +them. Noble deeds always enrich, but millions of mere dollars may +impoverish. _Character is perpetual wealth_, and by the side of him +who possesses it the millionaire who has it not seems a pauper. + +Invest in yourself, and you will never be poor. Floods can not carry +your wealth away, fire can not burn it, rust can not consume it. + +"If a man empties his purse into his head," says Franklin, "no man can +take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best +interest." + + Howe'er it be, it seems to me, + 'Tis only noble to be good. + Kind hearts are more than coronets, + And simple faith than Norman blood. + TENNYSON. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pushing to the Front, by Orison Swett Marden + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUSHING TO THE FRONT *** + +***** This file should be named 21291.txt or 21291.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/9/21291/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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