A Fleece of Gold Five Lessons from the Fable of Jason and the Golden Fleece by Charles Stewart Given 1905 Second Edition Revised To my sonsKingsley and Gordon "Jason and his men seized the favorable moment of the rebound, plied their oars with vigor, and passed through in safety. " Contents Introduction I. The Ruling Element, "Jason and his men. " II. The Golden Quality, "They passed through. " III. The Messenger of Fate, "They seized the favourable moment. " IV. The Active Hand, "They plied their oars with vigor. " V. Ethics of Activity Foreword Among the smaller forces which operate upon the mind and tend towardstrengthening and exalting the best ideals, are little books like this. They are especially valuable when so much of the author's own experienceforms a thread upon which are suspended jewels of thought and illustrationserviceable to those who would see and know the best things. I have found these characteristics in this small volume, and gladlyrecommend it to all those who would become more familiar with what ourauthor calls "the key to that cabinet of character in which natureconceals not only the motive power of every-day life, but those latenttalents and energies that, through a knowledge of self, we can bring tobear upon our lives. " This book will help many who have smallopportunities in the form of time and money to expend in the use oflarger volumes. Charles Stewart Given Introduction The fable of Jason and the Golden Fleece is known to old and young theworld around. To the latter, perhaps, no other simple narrative inGreek mythology is more fascinating, nor holds a more valuable lessonif they will but seek to learn it. But especially to the boy or youngman of thoughtful mind does the glorious adventure appeal and make itslessons obvious. By way of refreshing the memory of those who were oncefamiliar with the myth, but who, in the practical school of experience, have lost the chord of their adventure-loving days; and also for those, perchance, who are not acquainted with the tale, a brief sketch willhere serve our purpose. In Thessaly dwell a king and a queen with their two children, a boy and agirl. The holy alliance between the two royal members of the householdbecomes disrupted, and Nephele, the good mother, appeals to Mercury, themessenger of the gods, to assist her in secretly placing the children outof reach of their father, the king. Mercury provides a ram with a goldenfleece, on which the boy and girl are placed. The shining creature springsinto the air, bearing its precious burden across the sea. Unfortunately, the girl falls from the ram's back and is drowned, but the boy is landedsafely on the other shore in the kingdom of Colchis. Here he sacrificesthe ram to Jupiter and presents the golden fleece to the king, who placesit in a consecrated grove under the care of a sleepless dragon. Now Jason is heir to the throne of Ęson, ruler of another kingdom inThessaly, from whence the royal children started on their adventurousjourney. Years have passed, however, since this remarkable incident, andJason, being now a young man and having been told the dramatic tale ofthe Golden Fleece, begins to think what a glorious adventure it would beto go in quest of the royal prize. Forthwith he makes preparations forthe expedition, and with a band of other lusty young heroes starts on asea voyage toward the land of the Colchian king. It is not withoutdifficulty, however, that they accomplish the voyage, for at the entranceof the Euxine Sea they encounter two floating islands, veritablemountains of rock, huge and shaggy, which, in their tossings andheavings, at intervals come together "crushing and grinding to atoms anyobject that might be caught between them. " But "_Jason and his men seizedthe favorable moment of the rebound, plied their oars with vigor andpassed through in safety_. " Approaching the royal palace Jason makes known his mission, whereuponthe king promises to relinquish the valuable possession if Jason willyoke to the plow two fire-breathing bulls and sow the teeth of thedragon. Apprehending that by this means the king seeks to destroy him, Jason pleads his cause to Medea, the king's daughter, who furnishes hima charm by which he can safely encounter the fiery breath of the beastsand the armed men that will spring up in the furrow where the dragon'steeth are sown. In his "Age of Fable, " Bullfinch gives us a graphic picture of the scene:"At the time appointed the people assembled at the grove of Mars, and theking assumed his royal seat, while the multitude covered the hill-sides. The brazen-footed bulls rushed in, breathing fire from their nostrils thatburned up the herbage as they passed. The sound was like the roar of afurnace, and the smoke like that of water upon quick-lime. Jason advancedboldly to meet them. His friends, the chosen heroes of Greece, trembled tobehold him. Regardless of the burning breath, he soothed their rage withhis voice, patted their necks with fearless hand, and adroitly slippedover them the yoke, and compelled them to drag the plow. The Colchianswere amazed; the Greeks shouted for joy. Jason next proceeded to sow thedragon's teeth and plow them in. And soon the crop of armed men sprang up, and, wonderful to relate! no sooner had they reached the surface than theybegan to brandish their weapons and rush upon Jason. The Greeks trembledfor their hero, and even she who had provided him a way of safety andtaught him how to use it, Medea herself, grew pale with fear. Jason for atime kept his assailants at bay with his sword and shield, till findingtheir numbers overwhelming, he resorted to the charm which Medea hadtaught him, seized a stone and threw it in the midst of his foes. Theyimmediately turned their arms against one another, and soon there was notone of the dragon's brood left alive. " Having complied with all the conditions set forth by the king, the victornow turns with eager step toward the grove of Mars, and seizing the goldenprize makes his way back to Thessaly, rejoicing in his glorious success. I The Ruling Element "Jason and His Men. " What constitutes a state? Not high-raised battlements 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. --Sir William Jones. The Young Man Jason has just stepped over the threshold into the glory of a rich youngmanhood. And he is careful to select for his expedition some of thechoicest heroes of Greece--young, brave, and strong. It has ever beenthus. Youth has always been synonymous with adventure. It is a conditionwhich seems inherent; nature instilling into the blood of her sons thevery spirit of discontent--of longing to push out from the commonplacescenes of childhood into broader domains of experience. The very books which most fascinate the boy are those which deal inthrilling tales of adventure. The wily and unscrupulous traffickers incheap literature have ever been awake to this fact, and theirhighly-colored productions have been flung from the vicious presses likelava from Pelée to pollute the minds of the young. Why is it that"Robinson Crusoe" and stories of this character hold such a charm foryoung people, lingering in their minds long after books of a profoundertype have been forgotten? It is the love of adventure. To what boy atschool does not the doleful history lesson assume a more brilliant aspectwhen the adventures of Columbus are taken up? His interest is awakened, his imagination inspired, and he is delighted, all because again thatchord in his nature has been struck--the love of adventure. Perhaps no other single painting in the art galleries at the World's Fairof 1893 attracted the attention of a greater number of people, norawakened in so many human breasts a feeling of such intense pathos asThomas Hovenden's painting on "Breaking Home Ties. " Here we have it oncemore, adventure--Jason setting off on his journey in search for the goldenfleece of fame and fortune. The narrow path that so long has led him outinto the silent acres--the fields that so many years have responded tohis toil--he has forsaken. The dull routine has ceased to inspire, thehome circle has become too narrow for his expanding soul. He has caught aglimpse of the glories of a new kingdom, and now he is going out torealize them. The young man has always been the _ruling element_ in every new departure. He has been the rock upon which the ages have been founded. In the wordsof another: "When the roll-call which men have written is read, it will befound that the young men have ruled the world. The oldest literatures havethis record. The patriarchs unfolded the careers of boys into the conquestof old age. Kingdom and empire rode upon the shoulders of young men, andtheir voices of enthusiasm and hope have sounded through many ablack-breasted midnight and trumpeted the dawn through skies of thickestdarkness. To causes that drooped they have come and added the raptures ofhope; to enterprises that were sickening and faint they have brought thebounding power of new enthusiasm. To the dead they have brought life. Everything from the foundation of the world has been crying for 'youngblood, ' and the armies of the advance have gained the day at the arrivalof 'recruits, ' whose hope and earnestness have never been defeated. Ageand experience put themselves upon dying pillows made by young hands; intoyoung palms and upon young ears falls the meaning of all the past; andthus God has written the natural dignity of the young man's life in theeternal statute book of the universe. " [Footnote: From "Young Men ofHistory, " by Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus. ] We have but to turn our gaze back over the centuries to find that it hasalways been the young man who has embarked in the world's greatenterprises. If we turn the pages of religious history we shall find thathe has been potent there. For when the stream of Hebrew destiny was to beturned, a young man, Joseph, who had been sold as a slave into Egypt, wasselected to accomplish it. And later young Saul of Kish while roamingthrough his father's fields was summoned to a throne. It was the youngshepherd boy--David--that was chosen "to keep the banner of Israel in thesky while the shadows hung black above the hills of Judah. " When thegospel was to be borne to the Gentiles the divine finger fell upon a youngtent-maker of Tarsus. Fourteen centuries later a miner's son, MartinLuther, won Germany for the Reformation, and John Wesley "while yet astudent in college" started his mighty world-famous movement. At fifteenJohn de Medici was a cardinal, and Bossuet was known by his eloquence; atsixteen Pascal wrote a great work. Ignatius Loyola before he was thirtybegan his pilgrimage, and soon afterward wrote his most famous books. Attwenty-two Savonarola was rousing the consciences of the Florentines, andat twenty-five John Huss was an enthusiastic champion of truth. But we see the young man standing before the footlights on the stage ofsecular history, too. At twelve Remenyi was making his violin tremulouswith melody, and Cęsar delivered an oration at Rome; at thirteen Henry M. Stanley was a teacher; at fourteen Demosthenes was known as an orator; atfifteen Robert Burns was a great poet, Rossini composed an opera, andLiszt was a wizard in music. At the age of sixteen Victor Hugo was knownthroughout France; at seventeen Mozart had made a name in Germany, andMichael Angelo was a rising star in Italy. At eighteen Marcus Aurelius wasmade a consul; at nineteen Byron was the "amazing genius" of his time; attwenty Raphael had finished some of his most famous paintings, Faraday wasattracting the attention of his country, and two years later was admittedto the Royal Institution of Great Britain. At twenty-one Alexander theGreat conquered the Persians, Beethoven was entrancing the world with hismusic, and William Wilberforce was in Parliament. At twenty-two WilliamPitt had entered Parliament, while William of Orange had received fromCharles V command of an army. At twenty-three William E. Gladstone haddenounced the Reform Bill at Oxford, and two years afterward became FirstJunior Lord of the Treasury, and Livingstone was exploring the continent. At twenty-four Sir Humphrey Davy was Professor of Chemistry in the RoyalInstitution, Dante, Ruskin, and Browning had become famous writers. Attwenty-five Hume had written his treatise on Human Nature, Galileo waslecturer of science at the University of Pisa, and Mark Antony was the"hero of Rome. " At twenty-six Sir Isaac Newton had made his greatestdiscoveries; at twenty-seven Don John of Austria had won Lepanto, andNapoleon was commander-in-chief of the army of Italy. At twenty-eightĘschylus was the peer of Greek tragedy, at twenty-nine Maurice of Saxonythe greatest statesman of the age, and at thirty Frederick the Great wasthe most conspicuous character of his day. At the same age Richelieu wasSecretary of State, and Cortez little older when he gazed on the "goldenCupolas" of Mexico. These are a few of the splendid names that illuminethe pages of history across the sea. But the young man has been no less potent in the affairs of our ownNation, which has always been conspicuous for its production of trulygreat men. The story is told that when one of England's great men wasvisiting Henry Clay, and the two were riding over the country, thedistinguished guest inquired of his host, "What do you raise on thesehills and in these beautiful valleys?" "Men, " was Clay's reply; and theEnglish patriot declared that this was the greatest crop to enrich acountry. We boast that we have given the world a full quota of reallygreat young men, some of them like Jason embarking on the sea of adventurewhile the dew of extreme youth is still on their brow. If we wend our wayback through the grand procession of events of but a single century wewill find extreme youth marking out the lines of progress and directingthe course of the nation in politics, in literature and religion. We would see William Prescott, a boy of twelve, diligently at work in theBoston Athenaeum, or Jonathan Edwards at thirteen entering Yale College, and while yet of a tender age shining in the horizon of Americanliterature; while the same age finds H. W. Longfellow writing for thePortland _Gazette_. At fourteen John Quincy Adams was private secretary toFrancis H. Dana, American Minister to Russia; at fifteen Benjamin Franklinwas writing for the _New England Courant_, and at an early age became anoted journalist. Benjamin West at sixteen had painted "The Death ofSocrates, " at seventeen George Bancroft had won a degree in history, Washington Irving had gained distinction as a writer. At eighteenAlexander Hamilton was famous as an orator, and one year later became alieutenant-colonel under Washington. At nineteen Washington himself was amajor, Nathan Hale had distinguished himself in the Revolution, Bryant hadwritten "Thanatopsis, " and Bayard Taylor was engaged in writing his firstbook, "Views Afoot. " At twenty Richard Henry Stoddard had found a place inthe leading periodicals of his day, John Jacob Astor was in business inNew York, and Jay Gould was president and general manager of a railroad. At twenty-one Edward Everett was professor of Greek Literature at Harvard, and James Russell Lowell had published a whole volume of his poems; attwenty-two Charles Sumner had attracted the attention of some of thefamous men of his day, William H. Seward had entered upon a brilliantpolitical career, while Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry D. Thoreau occupieda conspicuous place in literature. At twenty-three James Monroe was amember of the Executive Council, and one year later was elected toCongress; at twenty-four Thomas A. Edison and Richard Jordan Gatling wereinventors. At twenty-five John C. Calhoun made the famous speech that gavehim a seat in the Legislature, George William Curtis had traversed Italy, Germany, and the Orient and soon after became known by his books oftravel. At twenty-six Thomas Jefferson occupied a seat in the House ofBurgesses, John Quincy Adams was minister to The Hague; at twenty-sevenPatrick Henry was known as the "Orator of Nature, " and Robert Y. Hayne wasspeaker in the Legislature of South Carolina. At twenty-eight EdwardEverett Hale had found a place in the hearts and minds of the people, andat twenty-nine John Jay, youngest member of the Continental Congress, waschosen to draw up the address to the British Nation. These illustrious ones, who before their thirtieth year had written theirnames on the immortal banner of their country, are only a few which adornthe pages of our early history. Others of like purport might be addedindefinitely both from the early and the later life of our country. Andthere has been no time when the young man played so important a rōle inhuman affairs as he does to-day in the dawn of the twentieth century, when the heart and the mind, philanthropy and literature, virtue andtruth, science and art, capital and labor are the principal factors in theworld's progress. To refer to but a single instance in this period of ournational life, there is no greater statesman and patriot than our belovedPresident, Theodore Roosevelt, --a young man to whom we are proud to pointas a true type of American greatness and American manhood. Assumingcontrol of the Nation at such a critical moment in her history, when somany dangerous rocks lay in her course, tremendous, indeed, was theresponsibility thrust upon him. But by his inherent principle of rule, hisunquenchable patriotism, his indomitable purpose, and the imperiousness ofhis will, founded on a rich scholarship and a broad policy, he has spelledtriumph out of difficulty, and his name will go down in twentieth-centuryhistory an example of illustrious young manhood. The young man is emphatically the _ruling element_ in politics to-day. Itis estimated that a sufficient number of young men come of age every fouryears to control the issue of the Presidential election. Constitutingabout one-half of the present voting population, they hold far more thanthe balance of political power. It was Goethe who said that the destiny ofany nation at any given time depends on the opinions of the young men whoare under twenty-five years of age. And William E. Gladstone affirmed thatthe sum of the characters of this element constitute the character andstrength of any country. And when we consider the young man in his relation to all the aspects oflife--civic, commercial, industrial, and social--we must recognize him asthe _ruling element_. Like Jason, the young man of to-day is the hero toinvade the empire of thought and action in quest of the Fleece of Gold. "Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime; And departing leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time. " II The Golden Quality "They Passed Through. " To live content with small means: To seek elegance rather than luxury, and Refinement rather than fashion; To be worthy, not respectable, Wealthy, not rich; To study hard, think quietly, Talk gently, act frankly; To listen to stars and birds, to Babes and sages, with open heart; To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, Await occasions, hurry never, -- In a word, to let the spiritual, Unbidden and unconscious, Grow up through the common-- This is to be my symphony. --Channing. Success In every land and in every age since the curtain first rose on the world'sgreat drama men have been in quest of the Fleece of Gold. The onwardprogress of the race since our rude forefathers from the leaves of thetree formed their clothes, and in the somber depths of the primeval forestconstructed their habitation, is due to an insatiable desire to possessthe coveted prize. Hanging before man's gaze in the consecrated borders ofhis existence, it has inspired him to greater usefulness. He has builtships and traversed the seas, invented machines, reared cities, andestablished laws. In science and art and literature he has vied with hisfellow-man and given a mighty impulse to civilization, all for the Fleeceof Gold--success. The world worships at the shrine of success. It regards it as man'sgreatest attribute. And whether we find it in secular affairs, substantiated by material grandeur, or in the mysterious realms of theinner life characterized by the serene consciousness of truth, it mustever be the goal of human aspiration. It is the thought of some day having their efforts crowned that causes menhotly to pursue the phantom or the reality of their lives. This aspirationkeeps the torch of hope ablaze in the midnight darkness, and the spiritsbuoyed under the noon-day glare, while men forge on to the goal. Thesurging throngs of a great city, the active hands and brains in thebee-hives of industry and the many places of business, the vast army ofseekers after knowledge in the schools and colleges throughout the land, the men of fame in the halls of Congress molding the affairs of theNation, the countless army tilling the fields under the open sky, thelegions in the dark caves of earth searching for treasure--all are seekingto enter the golden gate of success. Said Mr. A. B. Farquhar in a baccalaureate address to the students ofMcDonough College: "Success colors everything. It is the essence of allexcellencies, the latent power which compels the favor of fortune andsubjugates fate. The world worships success regardless of how acquired;makes it a standard for judging men, an indispensable credential for allapproval. If a man succeeds he is held to be wise, even though mediocre;if he fails, whatever his learning and intrinsic merit, little regard ispaid to him. Success gilds and glorifies a multitude of blunders andlittlenesses, and people are thought merely to exist who do not keepthemselves on the road leading to it. In view of all this, it is no wonderthat we see all humanity looking earnestly toward success and moving witheager step in search of it. "Success is essentially the accomplishment of one's desires and purposes, the realization of one's ideals. But this definition does not necessarilyimply a high state of being. As I sit by my window writing, the hoarsecry of a rag-man and the mournful strains of a hand-organ come to my ears. That able-bodied Greek, who is so lavish with his 'music, ' and therag-man, who is buying what the other is distributing freely, both are inquest of the same thing--'success. '" Alas! the world too often measures success by false standards--worshipsthe Golden Fleece, forgetting the high purpose it might be made to serve;so dazzled by means that ends become oblivious. The spirit of the age isto pay homage to great riches. The finely attired custodian of a money bagtoo often is regarded as an exponent of success. On this point we shouldguard ourselves, first ascertaining if the gorgeous equipage is the"genuine fleece, " or only a sham intended to deceive. A mansion on avaluable corner lot does not constitute the "golden quality, " nor does amillion dollars in bank epitomize its character. Its language is notspoken in the dialect of Wall Street or of wheat pits. Gold, grain, stocks, and bonds and estates too often mean the perversion of thosequalities most valuable to human life. Realty is not the prime issue oflife, but _reality_. If that which a man gets in his pay envelope, howeverlucrative that may be, constituted his only reward, his effort would bemiserably compensated. The man who has spent his life like a scaraboid beetle rolling up money, without due regard for the common virtues of life, has not left"footprints on the sands of time, " but only a zigzag trail along thehighway over which he has journeyed. He has not achieved success in thathe has accumulated riches without a corresponding accumulation of"wealth. " To seek a purely selfish and material success is to defeat thevery purpose of one's existence--"life, liberty, and the pursuit ofhappiness. " In the very conquest for this baser type a man blights hissensibilities, minifies his present enjoyment, and destroys his prospectfor a full measure of happiness by and by. With but one interest hishappiness is insecure; for when that fails or ceases to satisfy he hasnothing on which to rely. Midas craves for gold, and when he gets it hissenses become as metallic as the object of his affection. Therefore, if weare of this type, simply seeking the Golden Fleece for what it will net usin dollars and cents, we are not on the road leading to success. Forsuccess does not consist in the acquisition of the material, so much as ina mental discipline that seeks objectively to subordinate intrinsic value. We must confess, however, that the age in which we live is one of brickand mortar; that materialism and not ęstheticism reigns over us. Thebook-keeper's pen has usurped the office of the artist's brush and thecarpenter's chisel that of the sculptor. Intrinsic worth anddividend-paying value holds sway, and even the gift-horse is looked in themouth while the priceless motive that prompted its giving is forgotten. The commercial spirit which pervades the atmosphere of modern times isdisintegrating the sublimer side of human life. The gilded god ofmaterialism is lavishing its blessings in the realm of science andinvention and commercial enterprise, at the expense of aestheticism, tillto-day there are thousands of artisans to every artist. We have anabundance of stone masons, but few Phidiases or Angelos; hundreds of organgrinders, but few Beethovens or Webers or Bachs; a full quota of menengrossed in the cold calculus of business, but a scarcity of Homers orDantes or Virgils. Speaking of this material aspect of our epoch and how it is likely to beregarded in the future, when the paradise of ideal living is regained, amodern writer says: "Will not the intense preoccupation of materialproduction, the hurry and strain of our cities, the draining of life intoone channel, at the expense of breadth, richness, and beauty, appear asmad as the Crusades, and perhaps of a lower type of madness? Couldanything be more indicative of a slight but general insanity than theaspect of the crowd on the streets of Chicago?" Why is it that the poemsthat have lived for centuries, and the masterpieces of the world's greatpainters and sculptors are not being equaled in the dawn of the twentiethcentury? The answer lies in the widespread devotion to realism instead ofidealism. The immortals have joined the mortals in search for the Fleeceof Gold. And Wordsworth's oft-quoted lines were never more applicable tous than now: The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending we lay waste our powers. All the capital in the universe does not stand for success unless there isset over against it the wealth of soul which Marcus Aurelius, that greatapostle of plain living and high thinking, ever set forth as an antidoteto the treadmill grind of commercial life. Shakespeare struck the keynoteof this lofty conception of life, and pronounced a never-dying eulogy uponthe supreme dignity of character when he said: "Who steals my purse steals trash; . .. But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed. " Wealth of soul is incomparably better than all that can be obtained frompomp and luxury. Charlemagne is said to have worn in his crown a nailtaken from the cross on which the Savior was crucified. He wore it amongthe jewels of his diadem as a reminder that there existed a tendererrelation in life than kingdoms and material splendor. Thus in the crown ofour success, if we would make it truly great, we must place the sublimerelements of our being. As the ivy softens the roughness of the mountainside and the unsightly ruin, so will the aesthetic mellow and subdue theintense commercialism with which we are surrounded. Without this qualityour success becomes like the fabled apples on the brink of the DeadSea--fair without, but ashes within. If the avenue to success lay in one direction only--that of accumulating afortune, little incentive would be felt by those in the lower walks oflife. Moreover, if it were possible for all men to become millionaires, the very organization of human society would become disrupted; for whothen would till the soil, run the factories, clean the streets? Nature hasbeen wise in the distribution of her talents. Anticipating the havoc ofendowing all mankind with equal powers, she established a wide diversityin the range of human ability. To one she has given the gift of sagacityto achieve success in the world of trade; to another mechanical skill tocreate the ideals of inventive genius into reality; to another the highlyartistic sense, and withholding these higher attributes from still others, she has chosen to endow them with a wealth of muscular force that thephysical requirements of organized human effort might be made effective. So that any way we choose to look at this question we must concede thattemporal wealth does not constitute the broadest idea of success, nor iscapable in itself of producing it. Even failure may be an element of a glorious success. The volcano thatpours its vengeance upon the fair plantation below, leaving wreck and ruinin its path, bestows a wealth of sulphur which plays an important part inthe world of commerce. The same frost that kills the harvest of a seasonalso destroys the locust, preserving the harvests of a century. The deathof the cocoon is the production of the silk, and the failure of thecaterpillar the birth of the butterfly. If the boy Newton had not failedutterly on the farm, he would never have been started in college to becomethe mighty man of science. The fall of Rome meant the rise of the GermanEmpire. "All men, " says Frederick Arnold, "need through errors attain totruth, through struggles to victory, through regrets to that sorrow whichis a very source of life. Men must rise in an ever-ascending scale, likethe ladder of St. Augustine, by which men, through stepping-stones oftheir dead selves rise to higher things; or those steps of Alciphron, which crumbled away into nothingness as fast as each foot-fall leftthem. " Thus our very failures we may overrule and convert intostepping-stones to success. Lifted to a loftier sphere, to a noblerexperience, we are apt to receive greater benefit than though we escapeddisappointment and rejoiced in easy fruition. Success does not consist in not encountering difficulties, but inovercoming them. If Jason is to have the golden fleece he must passbetween the dangerous rocks, he must encounter the dragon, yoke to theplow the fire-breathing bulls, and subdue a regiment of armed men. IfJoseph had not been Egypt's prisoner, he would never have been Egypt'sgovernor. If Millet had not passed through the valley of sorrow, he couldnever have painted the "Angelus. " The Restoration in England that gaveCharles II a throne, drove Milton into absolute seclusion, and the lasttwelve years of his life were passed in enforced isolation. But thisblind, deserted, broken-hearted, but illustrious scholar and poet, conquered despair, triumphed over every misfortune, and gave to the worldthose three great poems which have made his name immortal. Even poverty, which has been a hardship to the individual, has proved a boon to himselfand to the cause of humanity. Science teaches us that ordinary mud has init elements which, arranged according to the higher laws of nature, produce the opal, the sapphire, and the diamond. Likewise does historyteach us that from the morass of poverty the commonest types of men havepassed from stage to stage through the refining processes of experiencetill they have dazzled the world with their magnificence. Whether it be aslave like Ęsop, a beggar like Homer, a peasant like Raphael, or amarble-cutter like Socrates, we see them at last wearing the diadem of abrilliant success. In fact, the foremost in all nations and in all branches have, as a rule, risen from the ranks of the poor and lowly. Shakespeare held horses for afew pennies a night in front of a London theater, and later did menialservice back of the scenes. Disraeli was an office boy, Carlyle astone-mason's attendant, and Ben Jonson was a bricklayer. Morrison andCarey were shoemakers, Franklin was a printer's apprentice, Burns acountry plowman, Stephenson a collier, Faraday a bookbinder, Arkwright abarber, and Sir Humphrey Davy a drug clerk. Demosthenes was the son of acutler, Verdi the son of a baker, Blackstone the son of a draper, andLuther was the son of a miner. Butler was a farmer, Hugh Miller astone-cutter, Abraham Lincoln a rail-splitter, and James Garfield was acanal boy. One-half of the Presidents of the United States were leftorphans at an early age, left to make their way through the world alone. History reveals clearly that it has been not the sons of the rich, butthe sons of poverty that have "compelled the favor of fortune andsubjugated fate. " Neither rank nor genius nor any other natural endowment forms the onlytrue basis of success. A right disposition, a desire and determination, founded on the sub-structure of right purpose, to cope with the problemsthat confront you, constitute the real basis of achievement. In short, theonly demands which success makes of you is that you act with the most ofyourself, bringing all your faculties to bear upon what you have to do;instilling your best effort into the infinite detail that goes to make upthe great finality of your life. To this end, the systematic developmentof the whole man, body, mind, and soul, in such a manner as to bring youinto right relation with things as they are and ought to be, is theparamount question. In fact, education is the only passport to success. I do not mean thateducation that is restricted to institutions of learning. These, whilepossessing a decided advantage, by no means have a monopoly of learning. Genius finds opportunity in the great laboratories of nature. Every manhas within himself an educational organization presided over by a fullfaculty; and nature's wonderful book is ever open to him, if only he willlay hold upon the lessons it would teach him. This type of education whichis the drawing out toward all things the latent forces from within, andthe broadening out for greater usefulness, means the acquisition ofability to meet every emergency and the establishment of high ideals. Moreover, in the race for success, the proper nourishment of the brain isan essential part of self-development. The brain is substantially thegreat artist that creates our ideals in life. And yet we forget sometimesthat it is the master of our destiny; and allow it to sink into that dullapathy so fatal to our hopes and aims. It would almost seem, indeed, as ifa kind of fatality clung to some men in the way in which they neglect thissupreme faculty of their being. You possess the power to use your brain asyou choose; but not the right, morally, for society demands of you a highstandard of thinking, since it is the only rational basis for a freegovernment. Thus it is as much your duty properly to nourish your brain asto give proper care to the body. In the rigid economy of modern life we should use extreme care in theselection of our reading. Our best interests demand more of us than agormandizing of newspapers or ephemeral reading of any kind. Far be itfrom me to disparage that great organ of the times--the newspaper, whichis a source of keen delight and benefit to us all, and almost the onlysource of instruction to thousands of the race. But we should be judiciousin this, and not allow transitional matter to monopolize our time. "Readnot the times, read the eternities, " cried Thoreau. The shelves of ourhome and public libraries are filled with priceless volumes yet unread byus. And he who is not cultivating a taste for good wholesome reading ismissing one of the highest enjoyments of life as well as minimizing hischances for success. We should ever be exploring new regions of thought. And in the extreme activity of this electric age we shall be obliged totake snap shots at our reading--on the street car, in the lunch room, anywhere we find it possible to peruse a single page. If we look into the lives of some of the illustrious ones we shall findthat they obtained knowledge under the greatest disadvantages. We seeLincoln reading his favorite volumes by the dim light of a pineknot blaze;or Burritt poring over his books at the forge; or Garfield gazing intentlyat the pages while riding a mule on the banks of a canal. Wesley likewisediligently searched the Scriptures while riding horseback over thecountry; William Cobbett learned grammar while a common soldier on themarch; and we are told that Alexander the Great, each night on retiring, would place his favorite book, the "Iliad, " under his pillow and duringhis waking moments would peruse its pages. But the high intellectual plane of present-day civilization demands moreof us than the world demanded then, when the avenues to honor and to powerlay over fields of conquest, and the passport to favor was the sword. Thecomplex problems of today call for a more thorough cultivation of ourmental powers, which, to bring into play upon the multifarious concerns ofour life, is the object of broad education. A well cultivated mind makes aman monarch of all that he surveys; and no one can be said to be trulysuccessful who has not invaded the empire of thought in search for theimperishable Fleece of Gold. Success, then, in the highest sense, is a full realization of the highestwealth of body, mind, and soul. And while it does not disparage materialaggrandizement, it makes it subservient, ever looking to an equalizationof the greater revenues of life. Like truth it consists in a rightproportion of things; and like character, is inherent in the nature of theindividual. Success must embrace all the cardinal virtues. It must arisefrom the harmonious and fullest use of all the faculties. In its essence, it is the aggregate of those things which we have acquired, and which weare putting to a wise and useful purpose. The way of life is strewn withthose who have done fairly well. Excellence is the golden quality to seek. Success, like a commodity, has its price, and he who would have it must bewilling to pay. You can not buy it on a bargain counter; it is a stapleproduct and demands full value--the sublimest qualities of your being. "In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such words as--fail. " III The Messenger of Fate "They Seized the Favorable Moment. " Take all reasonable advantage of that which the present may offer you. .. . It is the only time which is ours. Yesterday is buried forever, and to-morrow we may never see. --Victor Hugo. Master of human destinies am I; Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait, Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate Deserts and seas remote, and passing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late I knock unbidden once at every gate; If sleeping wake; if feasting, rise before I turn away. It is the hour of fate, And they who follow me reach every state Mortals desire and conquer every foe Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate, Condemned to failure, penury, and woe, Seek me in vain and uselessly implore; I answer not and I return no more. --John J. Ingalls. Opportunity The famous statue, "Take Time by the Forelock, " was a masterpiece ofGreek sculpture. A noted Athenian orator, Callistratus, has given us apicture of the work of art: "Opportunity was a boy in the flower of hisyouth, handsome in mien, his hair fluttering at the caprice of the wind, leaving his locks disheveled. Like Dionysius, his forehead shone withgrace, and his cheeks glowed with splendor. With winged feet to indicateswiftness, he stood upon a sphere, resting upon the tips of his toes asif ready for flight. His hair fell in thick curls from his brow, easy totake hold upon. But upon the back of his head there were only thebeginnings of hairy growths, and, when he had once passed, it was notpossible to seize him. " An ancient legend gives us a more vivid idea of the significance ofthe statue: "Who art thou?" "Time, the all-subduer. " "Why standest thou on tiptoe?" "I speed ever. " "Why hast thou double wings on each foot?" "I fly with the wind. " "But why is thy hair over thine eye?" "To be grasped by him who meets me. " "The back of thy head, why is it bald?" "When once I have rushed by, with winged feet, one can never grasp mefrom behind. " In its literal significance, however, opportunity means something either"in front of the door" or "outside of the harbor. " For when the word firstcrept into common speech it created two pictures, --that of a ship withsails unfurled, riding at anchor, ready to start upon her unknown voyage, with just a moment to spare to catch her before the sails are bent; or thepicture of a veiled figure standing for an instant at the door of one'slife, knocking with sharp, swift strokes and then, if no answer comes, passing away into the darkness, refusing to be recalled. In all the vocabulary of human speech no other word rings with truereloquence, or speaks with greater triumph, than that oneword, --opportunity. Born in the primeval forest of man's firstdwelling-place, it has marked the central path of civilization and hewnits way to the front with unerring stroke. The finger of destiny everpoints back to this factor in human life as the primal element in allachievement, the forerunner of all success. Without it human geniuswould die, man's talent and skill waste away, and the hope of the racewould vanish. Opportunity is the good angel that reveals the true issues of life, unfolding the bud of possibility into the full-blown flower of progress. It is the remorseless foe of sleepy monotony, awakening the passions inthe soul, rousing our powers to action. At the door of your life and minecomes this silent, veiled figure, its hands laden with wealth, knockingfor admission. But, alas! it has been too often with us as George Eliotwith such tragic pathos has put it: "The golden moments in the stream oflife rush past us and we see nothing but sand. The angels come to visit usand we know them only when they are gone. " There has been no period of time since God whirled out of chaos thisuniverse of wonders whose every moment did not hold for some one, somewhere, some kind of opportunity. Man is the only creature under heaventhat has been privileged to walk with his face skyward to gaze upon thestars, to behold the opportunities of life as they surge along hispathway. In her wisdom, nature has given our eyes the power of both thetelescope and the microscope, that we may see our opportunities afar andrightly discern them when they come within our reach. Do not regard your opportunities as mere visages floating in the horizonof your life, or autumn leaves driven by the winds of chance across yourpath. Every opportunity far from being a thing of chance, is a product ofdefinite causes. Opportunity is unrealized possibility supplemented byconditions favorable for the execution of a purpose. And the power lieswithin you to create circumstances. That skillful artist, the human brain, draws a mental picture--an idea, the judgment approves, the will rendersa decision to create that idea into actual being; in other words, gives ita soul, and then we have opportunity made real by the process of acreative force. We are apt to regard this quality in our existence as a somewhatsuperhuman term, an abstraction beyond the realm of common life, or atmost an asset within the reach of a favored few; whereas it is a commonattribute playing a potential part in our every-day activities. In itsvery nature opportunity is democratic and goes, like a wayfarer, knockingat the gates of every man's life. This messenger of fate, however, will not knock at the door of that manwho is unable to meet the demands it would make upon him. It everrecognizes the eternal fitness of things, since it looks to its ownpromotion as well as the promotion of him who seeks to embrace it. Opportunity, then, is not opportunity at all if a man is not equal to it. When the steam engine lay in its elementary state in the great laboratoryof nature, it was an opportunity for James Watt; and by his accepting it, opportunity realized its own fulfillment, became its own blessing and ablessing to all mankind. The unskilled laborer who dug out the ore couldnot claim this opportunity because he was not equal to its requirements. Moreover, every man is himself an opportunity of infinite greatness. Andhe who depends upon the world alone to furnish him opportunities isdestined to meet with failure. Self-reliance is the passport tosuccess. The man who is continually bemoaning a lack of opportunityacknowledges his own lack of resources--is wanting in creative force. Every golden moment is an opportunity for him to step out from theshadows into the sunshine. Optimism sees opportunity in the ordinaryjog-trot of daily duty. One of the most valuable assets which we can possess is the ability tomold from the adverse circumstances about us our opportunities. And "awise man, " says Bacon, "will make more opportunities than he finds. " WhenMichael Angelo takes the castaway rock which he finds in his path andcarves from it "The Young David;" when Herschel at the midnight hour, after playing his violin for a living, goes out and studies the star-litskies, the field of his immortal conquest; when Elihu Burritt, working atthe forge, grapples with mathematics, and masters several languages; whenobstacles are overcome, and adversity yields to the invincible wills ofmen, then has opportunity by this self-made principle been hewn out ofthe very stumbling blocks which were in the way. Every man is a treasury of untold wealth. He is not great merely for whathe is, but for the greatness of his possibility--that undreamed grandeurwhich opportunity is ever seeking to reveal. True greatness does notemanate from the power of genius so much as it does from the wisediscrimination which we exercise in the choice of our opportunities, andthe intelligence with which we lay hold upon them. It is a fine art inlife to know just the thing to do, and the opportune moment for doing it. Eternal vigilance is the price we must pay, and the constant whetting ofour faculties. Our life is a succession of opportunities. Yet however numerous they maybe, or however bright, they are not availing until placed into thecrucible of experience. Gold, silver, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds--allthe precious jewels imbedded in the treasure-house of nature, becomevaluable to us only when we dig them out, polish and shape them for ouruse. Likewise our opportunities enrich us only as we reach out after themand make them an abiding element in our life. But to know one's opportunity when he sees it, is the secret of life'sgreat problem. "Know thy opportunity, " is the motto of Pittacus ofMitylene, one of the seven wise men. It is inscribed in the temple ofApollo at Delphi. And each day, in the temple of our memory, we shouldwrite it anew. For the practical question is not whether we are making themost of our opportunities, but whether we are conscious of them at all. Moreover, to know them _instantly_ as well as to know them instinctivelyis essential to our well-being. When Victor Hugo charges us to take allreasonable advantage of that which the present offers, he reveals the truecharacter of opportunity. It lives only in the present tense, it knows noto-morrows, and makes a record of the yesterdays only when it has foundlodgment in our lives. Suppose DeWitt Clinton, denounced and ridiculed, had been led into thebelief that his idea was a mere phantom, a mystic nightmare, the ErieCanal would not be a reality. Suppose Robert Fulton had accepted theissuing vapor of the tea-kettle as a mere phenomenon without seeking in itthe opportunity for a mighty purpose; suppose that Cyrus W. Field orMarconi, or Edison or Ericsson, or the hundreds of others who by theirinventive genius have been a blessing to mankind, had been contented withsimply dreaming of the stupendous undertakings which they achieved! It is the man who knows his opportunities when he sees them, who gripsthem as they pass, who stands at the door of his activities ready towelcome and turn to good account each new opportunity that comes, that isthe typically successful man. Many young men have had noble ideas, backedby strong convictions, but failing to "strike while the iron was hot, "have let their convictions die, the mental picture of their ideals vanish, and to their sorrow have seen them wrought by another into reality. And below this class of men we will find a lower type--the man who isalways waiting for something to turn up, and always missing it when itdoes. This is the man whom Dickens has immortalized in fiction in thefamiliar figure of Micawber. This class, however, is unmistakablydiminishing in our day, but still there are many who seem to come justshort of the prizes of life. They are always just too late for theopportunity that should have brought them fame and fortune. Shakespeare has aptly portrayed that supreme moment in life which we callopportunity: "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 the annals of human experience are filled and overflowing withachievements--examples of opportunities that were laid hold upon at justthe critical moment of the tide. When the armies of Saul and Goliath were encamped in the valley of Elah, an opportunity was given to every soldier in Israel to meet the Philistinegiant, but the youthful shepherd, David, alone accepted it, and his namehas been praised for thirty centuries. An unlettered girl, a peasant in France, saw an opportunity to save theglory of her country, and with a courage that baffles human understandingJoan of Arc went forth to conquer. When George III of England ascended the throne and began to oppress theColonists, an opportunity was created for the American people to act. Withsublime patriotism they arose to the occasion in defense of their rights, and historians allude to the inspiring event as the opening scene in theRevolution. And when, by a stroke of diplomacy, Thomas Jefferson purchased fromNapoleon Bonaparte the Louisiana Territory, one million square miles, or over six hundred millions of acres, for two cents and a half anacre, an opportunity was seized whose benefit to the American Nation noone can estimate. But if you would know a grand hero in whose life opportunity shone likeMars, read the life of Ulysses S. Grant--the man out of whose veryfailures evolved a most brilliant success. When, standing with leadenheart in the little store at Galena, the opportunity for a military lifecame knocking at the door, he welcomed it. For when morning broke on the12th of April, 1861, and the first guns of the Civil War roared uponSumter, Grant marched to the front, and soon became a brigadier-general"The spur of disappointed hopes, the fire of his ambition, and the ironwill that lay back of many of his failures--all the qualities latent inthe man of coming greatness, sprang into mighty being. " A gigantic opportunity next confronted him, for yonder on the banks ofthe Cumberland frowned the massive walls of Fort Donelson. Behind themBuckner's gray legions stood ready for action. It was the hour of fate. Grant pressed on, the Confederates surrendered the stronghold, and thefirst Union victory was won. Shiloh and Vicksburg, Cold Harbor andPetersburg, Richmond and Appomattox, and many other glorious victoriestell the story of opportunities masterfully grasped. Our country is the land of "the golden fleece, " and wherever you may be inits vast domain, you are the one who must answer for yourself thestupendous question--"To what height shall I attain?" You are like the manin the "Arabian Nights" dropped into a valley filled with diamonds. It iswithin your power to select that which is most valuable for yourenrichment. There are splendid opportunities on every hand, and whetheryou shall grasp them or let them go, remains alone for you to determine. The door of opportunity for the highest development of every individual, in every phase of life, is ever open. Every golden moment holds somethingof value for the earnest seeker, just as every flower holds in its bosom atreasure for the thrifty bee. No one of us may ever have such splendidopportunities as did the illustrious ones to whom we owe our presentinheritance. But at the threshold of our lives will ever come the veiledfigure with its gifts, and, however modest may be the treasures which itbrings, if we accept them and turn to good account all that they hold ofvalue to us, our reward will be truly great. "Pull many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. " IV The Active Hand "They Plied Their Oars With Vigor" "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. " "Count that day lost whose low descending sun Views from thy hand no worthy action done. " The Individual Problem With steady, even, and vigorous stroke the young heroes from Hellas plytheir oars, and the blue waters of the Euxine are flecked with foam. Hereis an ideal picture. A band of enterprising young men, alert, active, ambitions--a scene typical of the highest conception of life. It has everbeen scenes like this that have challenged the admiration of the world. And the plaudits of men and of angels attend the young man today who has aworthy object in view, who believes in himself, and bends to the oars withmight and main. An "active hand" symbolizes usefulness and thrift. Has it ever occurredto you what a wonderful piece of mechanism is that hand with which Naturehas equipped you for seizing the oars of life's activities? Galen, thefamous anatomist, after a prolonged study of the human hand, conceivingit to be the proximate instrument of the soul, was forced to renounceatheism, to acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. Scientistsregard the human hand as being the most remarkable organ, not vital, inthe whole animal kingdom. It is conceded to be, also, the most pronounced physical characteristicdifferentiating man from the lower animals. The chimpanzee and thegorilla, closely allied to the human species in many respects, arenoticeably deficient in the use of their modified hands; being able tograsp things only in a cumbersome way. The squirrel handles a nut withagility, the beaver builds his dam, and likewise do many other animalsaccomplish much with certain deftness. But the grace, suppleness, andprecision, so characteristic of the human hand, are lacking. Only in mandoes the organ attain perfection. He alone enjoys the distinction of beingable to manipulate thumb and forefinger in combination, enabling him toattain a high degree of skill. The hand is the organ of the fifth and last sense, and the only one of thefive which is active. When the other organs of sense fail it comes totheir rescue--the blind man reads with his hand and the dumb man speakswith it. Being an active organ it gives expression to man's capabilities:Put a sword into it and it will fight, a plow and it will till, a harp andit will play, a brush and it will paint. The invention of every machine conceives its first principles in thestructure of the human hand; and every working part of that machine bearsa relation in its function to a corresponding part in the mechanism of thehand. In fact, physics teaches us that the hand is a combination of thesix mechanical powers--the lever, the wedge, the wheel and axle, thepulley, the screw, and the inclined plane. But the mechanical effect isalways depreciated. In manufacture hand-made goods excel those made bymachine. In art the exquisite hand-painting surpasses the lithograph. Nomechanical device, however efficacious, can produce symphonies or picturesor works of any kind with the high degree of excellence of which the handis capable. But aside from its mechanical functions, this wonderful organ is arevelation of the secrets of human nature. Graphology enables us to readthe character of a person in the hand-writing which he produces. Ages andages ago the Hindus read the hand itself as the physical expression of theinner man; they read character by the science of palmistry as we read itby that of physiognomy; and some profess to translate the delicate tracerytoday into language that speaks clearly of both past and future. The handis the expression of dishonesty when it steals, of charity when it gives, of anger when it smites, of love when it caresses. And one has called itthe key to that cabinet of character in which Nature conceals, not onlythe motive power of every-day life, but those latent talents and energiesthat, by the knowledge of self, we can bring to bear upon our lives. So that this member of our physical organization holds an office ofsupreme dignity and importance in the issues of our lives. It is thismarvel of mechanism, overruled and directed by the higher power ofintellect, which elevates man to his high position. And, whether it be thehand of the galley slave, or the hand that sways the scepter over anempire, the supreme purpose is revealed-they are alike designed to be theinstruments of usefulness and power. Even the brain cannot ignore the relative importance of the hand. Itcannot say to the hand: "I have no need of thee. " The captain cannot manhis ship without the aid of subordinates. Neither can the brain pilot usthrough the activities of life without the aid of hands. A brilliant mindis a priceless possession; but all the mental acumen of the universe isnot availing unless supplemented by those inferior officers--the hands. The clothes which you wear once were on the back of a sheep grazing onsome distant hillside. The chair in which you sit once swayed in theforest midst the soughing winds. The pen with which I am writing once wasimbedded deep in some far-away mountain range. But that occult genius--thehuman brain, conceived the idea of creating that wool, and wood, and oreinto a higher state of usefulness, and at this juncture was compelled toacknowledge the infinite necessity of a co-worker; hence, the brainemploys the hand as an external agent to put into force the impressionswhich it--the brain--receives from the phenomena of nature. Moreover, the law of your growth is contingent upon the exercise of thesefaculties. The brain is the judicial function and the hand the executive. Together these two powers qualify you for the master-workman. If you allowthem to exist in the passive sense, you become an apathetic segment inthe midst of a great world pulsing with life around you. You merely addone to the population, instead of counting for a potential and energizinginfluence. If you lift the weight of a clock the smallest fraction of aninch, the mechanism will cease to operate. And the relaxation of your willfrom the great obligation of life will cause your powers to atrophy andimproperly to perform their work. With Browning, "Man was made to grow, not stop. " Activity and not atrophy is the law of life. Action is the expression ofthat vital force called energy, and energy moves the world. The keynote ofthe natural world is action: the earth revolves, the river moves in itscourse, the tempest rages, the mountain acts from volcanic phenomena, vegetation grows, etc. In every tiny seed lies concealed this mysteriousforce--only a spark of life which, encouraged by nature, springs into awaving harvest. This very quality is synonymous with the reality of life. The human mindostensibly has an aversion to lifelessness. We turn instinctively fromthe dead and withered branch to the blossoming flower; from the stagnantpool to the dashing cataract, and every healthy mind finds delight insuch terms as vim, vigor, energy, and activity, which are the chiefnatural characteristics of the human hand. Demosthenes on being askedwhat is the first element in oratory, replied, "Action:" when asked tostate the second element, he replied "Action, " and when questioned as tothe third, he made the same reply. Action, first, last, and all the time, is the great principle of life and progress. Without it the most perfectengine, gigantic in proportions and costly in equipment, is a deadthing, valueless as the formless mass of ore it once was. But thatmarvelous product of man's hand and brain, plus steam, becomes averitable giant of power. Now this same law applies in relation to our bodies in general. Action isan essential as seen in the beating heart, the throbbing pulse, thecoursing blood, and various other functions. In fact, the body is theengine that runs the machinery of our lives. Generating energy and storingit up, it gives impetus to all that we achieve. With all its mysteries, beauty, and strength, this human organism is worthless, a burden tosociety unless vitalized with that majestic force that makes manindustrious. In the words of a great man, "Nature fits all her children with somethingto do. " The first man on earth was a gardener. Milton hears Adamconversing with Eve thus: "Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity, And the regard of Heaven on all his ways; While other animals inactive range, And of their doings God takes no account. To-morrow ere fresh morning streaks the east With first approach of light, we must be ris'n And at our pleasant labor, to reform Yon flowery arbors, yonder alleys green. " Work is the great law of life. "No man, " says Lowell, "is born into theworld whose work is not born with him. There is always work and tools towork withal, for those who will; and blessed are the horny hands of toil. "True work, the judicious employment of our powers for the accomplishmentof the noblest object in life, is the only thing that will satisfy thewaiting capacity of men and women. Neither gold nor scholarship nor anyother acquisition can meet the requirement like the application of one'sself to some kind of work. Work is a tonic which exuberates mentally, morally, and physically the man who wisely adjusts himself to it. And hewho is able to work and refuses is out of harmony with nature. The cardinal question of life is that of achievement. In every humanbeing there is the desire to rise to something great. The mostthoughtless boy on the street looks serious as the Presidential carriagerolls past. In the deep recesses of his nature there is kindled by thespectacle a momentary yearning for fame--he would like to be Presidentsome day. Likewise does every man, when he seriously views the pageantryof life's ideals and purposes, have aspiration, for such is the naturalstate of man. The allurements of a passive life are known to them only who have noknowledge of the charms of an active life. Leisure is found only in thedictionary of the slothful. Dionysius is asked if he is at leisure, andrebukes the question, saying, "God forbid that it should ever befall me. "The indulgence in the activities of life comprises not only ultimateaccomplishment, but is productive of present enjoyment as well. And notinfrequently does the pursuit of an object give more pleasure than thepossession of it. Expectation often outshines experience. Therefore, allshould cultivate a taste for work, which, through the alchemy ofinfluence, transmutes duty into privilege. Moreover, it is fundamental in the law of success that one's pursuit mustbe congenial if he is to excel. On the contrary, however, lassitude cannot be condoned if we find ourselves engaged in uncongenial employment. Nokind of work, to the man who possesses dominion over his feelings and hisfaculties, is painful but proceeds with pleasure when once the habit ofindustry is acquired. Our efforts should not be casual, but causal. He who does most and does itwell, becomes most. Horatius received as much land as he could plow aroundin a day. And you and I get each day just as much as, by putting our handto the plow of activity, we are able to encompass by faithful plodding. Hard work is the price of all that is valuable. All the great strides inthe world's achievements were made possible only by forced activity andprolonged effort. Spontaneity is a foreign element in the process ofhealthy and rugged development. The spider spins its web and the morningbespangles it with dew, creating a thing of beauty, but valueless. Itwould require the entire existence of several hundred silkworms to producean equal amount of silk fabric. The mushroom grows up in a night, and diesin the glare of the morning sun; while the oak, struggling through theyears, battling with the elements, lives a perpetual blessing to man. It is the intense struggle with the problems of life that produces inmen the sturdy qualities. The short cuts to fame are few and notabiding. Success is not reached by a thornless path, but is attained bythe path of plain, hard work. All things come to him who waits. Such isthe very essence of an idle doctrine! All things come to him who works. Walter Scott working tirelessly in the attic while his companions belowcarouse the night away; Thoreau banishing himself into the lonelyforest that he might prepare for larger usefulness; Dryden, "thinkingon for a fortnight in a perfect frenzy;" Heyne, the German scholar, allowing himself "no more than two nights of weekly rest" for sixmonths, that he might finish a course in Greek; Reynolds, the greatestportrait painter of England, applying his brush for thirty-six hourswithout stopping; Balzac, determined to be a king in literature, fighting his way with eternal diligence; William Pitt spurningdifficulty and "trampling upon impossibility;" Elihu Burritt grapplingwith mathematics at the forge; or Isaac Newton turning his back upon alife of ease and setting off to college, where "the midnight wind sweptover his papers the ashes of his long extinguished fire. " Theseexamples and thousands of others remind us that "Heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight; But they while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night. " They had brains and hands too active, ambitions too aggressive, aspirations too lofty for a quiet existence, and they pressed their wayonward and upward till they stood near the summit of a lofty ideal. When Xerxes, that great Persian monarch, seated upon a throne of ivory andgold, viewed for the last time the magnificent array of his armies and hisfleets, we read that he buried his face in his hands and wept, because hehad reached the zenith of his glory; his ambition had been spent, his workhad come to an end. And more desolate should be the man to-day who doesnot feel the passion of an earnest life, who does not yearn for some nobleactivity. He who sits with folded arms in the craft of civilization to beborne idly along while others ply the oars, must soon part company withthe brave, loyal sons of activity to launch his idle bark in the deadwaters of life, where the currents never come and the winds of energy arenever felt. "At the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought; On its sounding anvil shaped, Each burning deed and thought. " V Ethics of Activity "The busy world shoves angrily aside The man who stands with arms akimbo set, Till the occasion tells him what to do; And he who waits to have his task marked out. Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. " --James Russell Lowell. A Man's Relation to Society This question of activity is a twofold problem. In the preceding chapterwe viewed it from the standpoint of the individual--as if he were the soleoccupant of the boat, rowing toward a purely selfish end; going, as itwere, in quest of the prize of life for purely personal aggrandizement. Whereas, strictly speaking, no man exists in a purely individualisticsense. He can not regard himself as separable from a social whole. Everyindividual is a vital element of an organized force working toward amutual end. You are an integral factor, so to speak, of the socialproblem, but your value is determined by your relation to other quantifiesin the complex system with which you are identified. As a segregated unit, you diminish in value. A combination of diverse and multi-form contributions assimilated from acomplex human life, your being looks to many sources for its development;from the lowest phase of experience to the highest. These influences youmust acknowledge as emanating from a social system--influences which youare totally powerless, alone, to exert upon yourself. For instance, a mancan not be his own educator in all that the term implies--he can not makehis own books, print his own newspapers; if he could he would have to lookoutside of himself for the data necessary for his use. In other words, noman lives to himself alone. He can no more be separated from the socialorder of things and retain character value, than any one of a hundredsquare inches of canvas in an oil painting, separated from the rest, wouldconstitute a picture. A single note in a musical composition, howeverexquisite the piece may be, has comparatively little value taken byitself; only when it assumes relationship with other notes and becomesgoverned by the law of harmony, does it fulfill its mission and become avaluable factor. Then, as units of a social whole, we have obligations other than thoseaffecting "individual" problems. Society has a rightful claim upon everyone of its members. "You are not your own, you are bought with a price, "is true in a larger sense than a merely Scriptural one. For what onebecomes is really, as already stated, but the effect of combinedinfluences brought to bear upon one's life by the forces of human society. Therefore, society expects us to reciprocate, and is just in its claim;just as parents are entitled to the high esteem and reciprocation of theiroffspring. It demands of each one of us all that we are capable ofproducing, exacting the highest order of service as well. The paying oftaxes does not placate the demands which society makes upon you. Itdemands yourself--body, mind, and soul--not in a passive sense, but inactive relationship to your environment. And every man is morally boundto respect the claims thus made upon him. The highest socialistic conception is not that which contemplates anequitable distribution of property and labor. But assuming a more rationalground, it believes in equal rights to all; is based upon a rightproportion of motives rather than upon the equalization of propertyconsiderations. It is both humanitarian and utilitarian. It seeks its ownprincipally, yet is generous in the ulterior aim. This is the idealrelation between the individual and the social order. The greatest dutyconfronting each one in the world, and the one which all should earnestlyembrace, is the duty of making the most of one's self with the ulteriorview of contributing the largest measure of usefulness to his fellow-men. On the other hand, to employ an extreme example--and yet it is shown bystatistics that there are one hundred thousand tramps and vagrants in thiscountry--the man who folds his arms and defiantly proclaimes that theworld owes him a living, mutinies against the sacred order ofthings--"fouls his own nest, " as it were. To that man society replies: "Ifany man is not willing to work, neither let him eat. " And this is thedominant note of the twentieth century as truly as it was in the firstwhen spoken by the Roman philosopher. To harbor the doctrine that theworld owes every man a living, not only discounts the character value ofthe individual, but has a reflex action on the entire social organism. Just as one wheel out of play in the mechanism of a watch throws theentire works out of order, or one team in a procession halting the wholetrain behind it, the individual failing to do his part affects theequilibrium of the whole. Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo and died inexile, a prisoner at St. Helena, because one of his marshals, failing tocomply with orders, arrived too late with re-enforcements. Remember thatyou have an important part to perform, that, as in mathematics, you are aquantity so connected with another quantity that if any alteration be madein the former there will be a consequent alteration in the latter. In the busy hive of twentieth-century civilization scant space has beenprovided for drones. The drone is a minus quantity in the problem of life;instead of adding to the common weal, he is ever subtracting from it. Likean owl he sits in the gloom of indolence hooting at the caravan of events. The eye of the world is quick to observe the man who is resting on hisoars. A more graphic picture of the man who is ever magnifying the world'sduty to him, and minimizing his duty to the world, could not be paintedthan that one which James Russell Lowell has penned: "The busy world shoves angrily aside The man who stands with arms akimbo set. " The world has but one duty to this man, namely, to dispel the cloud fromhis vision and arouse him to worthy action. To contend that the world owes every man a living would be aspreposterous as to assert that the government owes every citizen under theflag a pension. The world owes no man anything except that for which hepays a just equivalent. Every man is indebted to the world; he owes it allhis best possessions--his talent, time, and effort. And the individual whoattempts to throw off this yoke of duty is violating one of nature's greatlaws. Even the lower forms of life afford example of this supreme law. Solomon startles the sluggard with his sharp admonition to betake himselfto the ant. And Sir John Lubbock points men to the insect world to learnreal diligence and thrift. Individual stagnation means public pollution. The man who arms himselfwith a "rake, " ever reaching out after something without giving anequivalent, instead of championing the "hoe, " determined to exercise hisfaculties in the interests of humanity, becomes hostile to the noblestsentiment and the highest aims of society; as in the case of the trampsmentioned above who are a national menace, Idleness breeds vice. Industryenhances the virtues. When a man ceases to work he retrogrades; he becomesa stranger to lofty ideals and wholesome activities. The man with anambition ever finds himself in the ascendency; while he who deplores theexercise of his powers, avoiding work as he would a powder magazine or apest, is in the descendency toward a state of groveling and low ideals. And the difference between these two men marks the difference betweensuccess and failure. We are ever obligated to a great duty, namely, to reach the maximum of ourpossibilities. Our greatest prerogative in the economy of life is the wisehusbanding of resources, and the skillful marshaling of our forces on thefield of common duty. The great duty of leading a useful life confronts usalways. We can by no stratagem, whatsoever, escape its presence. We everhear its voice calling after us, and can no more flee from it than we canflee from the voice of conscience. Like Poe's raven, it sets up a neverceasing appeal at the door of our lives. Prudence forbids that we turn ourback on this duty of self-devotion. For as Michael Angelo saw in the blockof marble the hidden angel, a wise man sees in duty an infiniteopportunity. Galileo was so absorbed in his pursuit that he forgot personal comfort andeven personal safety, and lost his eyesight in quest of the mountains inthe moon, the rings around Saturn and the "star-heaps" in the sky. Andwhen that distinguished man of science, Professor Agassiz, was invited tolecture at a great price, his reply was, "I have no time to make money. "Likewise did the great Spurgeon, when offered almost fabulous prices tocross the Atlantic and lecture, refuse because of a zealous devotion tothe purpose of his life. And every one should learn that the thorough andfaithful performance of duty is the first essential of a worthy life. Every human soul was made with some design, invested with the possibilityof a useful life, a noble destiny. Whether it be the mercenary Greekvending his wares on the street corner, or the roaming Italian with hisharp strapped over his shoulder, or the dissolute man behind prison barspaying the penalty of misspent days--all are invested with latent powerand talent to fill a loftier place in the world. But, unfortunately, whilemost men have the desire, not all have the determination to rise above theordinary and the common state in which they find themselves. This is adeplorable condition, seriously detracting from the sum of humangreatness. Every man has been called for dominion. Each, in the divine plan, is to bea ruler in the universe, not a "mollusk with aimless revery;" he is to bea man with vitality, not "dead matter known only as avoirdupois. " By thismeasure a man is not worth so much as a sheep which furnishes twosubstantial commodities--food and clothing. Minus the attributes whichqualify him for a high rank, man is a being with a buried talent, only aunit in the great world around him. Plus these attributes, no system ofmathematics can compute his worth. "Let me but do my work from day to day, In field or forest, at the desk or loom, In roaring market place, or tranquil room; Let me but find it in my heart to say, When vagrant wishes beckon me astray, 'This is my work; my blessing not my doom; Of all who live I am the one by whom This work can best be done in the right way. '"