HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD; or, A LADDER TO PRACTICAL SUCCESS. 

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by MAJOR A. R. CALHOUN. 

PUBLISHED BY THE CHRISTIAN HERALD, Louis KLOPSCH, Proprietor, BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 

Copyright 1895, BY LOUIS KLOPSCH. 

PRESS AND BINDERY OF HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO. , PHILADELPHIA. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

 I. What is Success?

 II. The Importance of Character

 III. Home Influences

 IV. Association

 V. Courage and Determined Effort

 VI. The Importance of Correct Habits

 VII. As to Marriage

 VIII. Education as Distinguished from Learning

 IX The Value of Experience

 X. Selecting a Calling

 XI. We Must Help Ourselves

 XII. Successful Farming

 XIII. As to Public Life

 XIV. The Need of Constant Effort

 XV. Some of Labor's Compensations

 XVI. Patience and Perseverance

 XVII. Success but Seldom Accidental

 XVIII. Cultivate Observation and Judgment

 XIX. Singleness of Purpose

 XX. Business and Brains

 XXI. Put Money in Thy Purse Honestly

 XXII. A Sound Mind in a Sound Body

 XXIII. Labor Creates the Only True Nobility

 XXIV. The Successful Man is Self-Made

 XXV. Unselfishness and Helpfulness

HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD

CHAPTER I

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

It has been said that "Nothing Succeeds Like Success. " What isSuccess? If we consult the dictionaries, they will give us theetymology of this much used word, and in general terms the meaningwill be "the accomplishment of a purpose. " But as the objects innearly every life differ, so success cannot mean the same thing toall men. 

The artist's idea of success is very different from that of thebusiness man, and the scientist differs from both, as does thestatesman from all three. We read of successful gamblers, burglars orfreebooters, but no true success was ever won or ever can be won thatsets at defiance the laws of God and man. 

To win, so that we ourselves and the world shall be the better forour having lived, we must begin the struggle, with a high purpose, keeping ever before our minds the characters and methods of the noblemen who have succeeded along the same lines. 

The young man beginning the battle of life should never lose sight ofthe fact that the age of fierce competition is upon us, and that thiscompetition must, in the nature of things, become more and moreintense. Success grows less and less dependent on luck and chance. Preparation for the chosen field of effort, an industry thatincreasing, a hope that never flags, a patience that never growsweary, a courage that never wavers, all these, and a trust in God, are the prime requisites of the man who would win in this age ofspecialists and untiring activity. 

The purpose of this work is not to stimulate genius, for genius islaw unto itself, and finds its compensation in its own originalproductions. Genius has benefited the world, without doubt, but toooften its life compensation has been a crust and a garret. Afterdeath, in not a few cases, the burial was through charity offriends, and this can hardly be called an adequate compensation, forthe memorial tablet or monument that commemorates a life ofprivation, if not of absolute wretchedness. 

It is, perhaps, as well for the world that genius is phenomenal; itis certainly well for the world that success is not dependent on it, and that every young man, and young woman too, blessed with goodhealth and a mind capable of education, and principles that are trueand abiding, can win the highest positions in public and privatelife, and dying leave behind a heritage for their children, and anexample for all who would prosper along the same lines. And all thiswith the blessed assurance of hearing at last the Master's words:"Well done, good and faithful servant!"

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might. " There is amanly ring in this fine injunction, that stirs like a bugle blast. "But what can my hands find to do? How can I win? Who will tell methe work for which I am best fitted? Where is the kindly guide whowill point out to me the life path that will lead to success?" Sofar as is possible it will be the purpose of this book to replyfully to these all important questions, and by illustration andexample to show how others in the face of obstacles that would seemappalling to the weak and timid, carefully and prayerfully preparedthemselves for what has been aptly called "the battle of life, " andthen in the language of General Jackson, "pitched in to win. "

A copy line, in the old writing books, reads, "Many men of manyminds. " It is this diversity of mind, taste and inclination thatopens up to us so many fields of effort, and keeps any one callingor profession from being crowded by able men. Of the incompetentsand failures, who crowd every field of effort, we shall have butlittle to say, for to "Win Success" is our watchword. 

What a great number of paths the observant young man sees before him!Which shall he pursue to find it ending in victory? Victory when thecurtain falls on this brief life, and a greater victory when thedeath-valley is crossed and the life eternal begins?

The learned professions have widened in their scope and number withinthe past thirty years. To divinity, law, and medicine, we can nowadd literature, journalism, engineering and all the sciences. Evenart, as generally understood, is now spoken of as a profession, andthere are professors to teach its many branches in all the greatuniversities. Any one of these professions, if carefully masteredand diligently pursued, promises fame, and, if not fortune, certainly a competency, for the calling that does not furnish acompetency for a man and his family, can hardly be called a success, no matter the degree of fame it brings. 

"Since Adam delved and Eve span, " agriculture has been the principaloccupation of civilized man. With the advance of chemistry, particularly that branch known as agricultural chemistry, farminghas become more of a science, and its successful pursuit demands notonly unceasing industry, but a high degree of trained intelligence. Of late years farming has rather fallen into disrepute withambitious young men, who long for the excitement and greateropportunities afforded by our cities; but success and happiness havebeen achieved in farming, and the opportunities for both willincrease with proper training and a correct appreciation of afarmer's life. 

"Business" is a very comprehensive word, and may properly embraceevery life-calling; but in its narrow acceptance it is applied totrade, commerce and manufactures. It is in these three lines ofbusiness that men have shown the greatest energy and enterprise, andin which they have accomplished the greatest material success. As aconsequence, eager spirits enter these fields, encouraged by theexamples of men who from small beginnings, and in the face ofobstacles that would have daunted less resolute men, became merchantprinces and the peers of earth's greatest. 

In the selection of your calling do not stand hesitating and doubtingtoo long. Enter somewhere, no matter how hard or uncongenial thework, do it with all your might, and the effort will strengthen youand qualify you to find work that is more in accord with yourtalents. 

Bear in mind that the first condition of success in every calling, isearnest devotion to its requirements and duties. This may seem soobvious a remark that it is hardly worth making. And yet, with allits obviousness the thing itself is often forgotten by the young. They are frequently loath to admit the extent and urgency ofbusiness claims; and they try to combine with these claims, devotionto some favorite, and even it may be conflicting, pursuit. Such apolicy invariably fails. We cannot travel every path. Success mustbe won along one line. You must make your business the one lifepurpose to which every other, save religion, must be subordinate. 

"Eternal vigilance, " it has been said, "is the price of liberty. "With equal truth it may be said, "Unceasing effort is the price ofsuccess. " If we do not work with our might, others will; and theywill outstrip us in the race, and pluck the prize from our grasp. "The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, "in the race of business or in the battle of professional life, butusually the swiftest wins the prize, and the strongest gains in thestrife. 

CHAPTER II

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER. 

That "Heaven helps those who help themselves, " is a maxim as true asit is ancient. The great and indispensable help to success ischaracter. 

Character is crystallized habit, the result of training andconviction. Every character is influenced by heredity, environmentand education; but these apart, if every man were not to a greatextent the architect of his own character, he would be a fatalist, anirresponsible creature of circumstances, which, even the skeptic mustconfess he is not. So long as a man has the power to change onehabit, good or bad, for another, so long he is responsible for hisown character, and this responsibility continues with life andreason. 

A man may be a graduate of the greatest university, and even a greatgenius, and yet be a most despicable character. Neither Peter Cooper, George Peabody nor Andrew Carnegie had the advantage of a collegeeducation, yet character made them the world's benefactors and morehonored than princes. 

"You insist, " wrote Perthes to a friend, "on respect for learned men. I say, Amen! But at the same time, don't forget that largeness ofmind, depth of thought, appreciation of the lofty, experience of theworld, delicacy of manner, tact and energy in action, love of truth, honesty, and amiability--that all these may be wanting in a man whomay yet be very learned. "

When someone in Sir Walter Scott's hearing made a remark as to thevalue of literary talents and accomplishments, as if they were aboveall things to be esteemed and honored, he observed, "God help us!What a poor world this would be if that were the true doctrine! Ihave read books enough, and observed and conversed with enough ofeminent and splendidly-cultured minds, too, in my time; but I assureyou, I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of the pooruneducated men and women, when exerting the spirit of severe, yetgentle heroism under difficulties and afflictions, or speaking theirsimple thoughts as to circumstances in the lot of friends andneighbors, than I ever yet met with out of the Bible. "

In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tellsso much as character--not brains so much as heart--not genius somuch as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated byjudgment. Hence there is no better provision for the uses of eitherprivate or public life, than a fair share of ordinary good senseguided by rectitude. Good sense, disciplined by experience andinspired by goodness, issued in practical wisdom. Indeed, goodnessin a measure implies wisdom--the highest wisdom--the union of theworldly with the spiritual. "The correspondences of wisdom andgoodness, " says Sir Henry Taylor, "are manifold; and that they willaccompany each other is to be inferred, not only because men'swisdom makes them good, but because their goodness makes them wise. "

The best sort of character, however, can not be formed withouteffort. There needs the exercise of constant self-watchfulness, self-discipline, and self-control. There may be much faltering, stumbling, and temporary defeat; difficulties and temptationsmanifold to be battled with and overcome; but if the spirit bestrong and the heart be upright, no one need despair of ultimatesuccess. The very effort to advance--to arrive at a higher standardof character than we have reached--is inspiring and invigorating;and even though we may fall short of it, we can not fail to beimproved by every honest effort made in an upward direction. 

"Instead of saying that man is the creature of circumstance, it wouldbe nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstance. It is character which builds an existence out of circumstance. Ourstrength is measured by our plastic power. From the same materialsone man builds palaces, another hovels; one warehouses, anothervillas. Bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks, until the architectcan make them something else. Thus it is that in the same family, inthe same circumstances, one man rears a stately edifice, while hisbrother, vacillating and incompetent, lives forever amid ruins; theblock of granite which was an obstacle on the pathway of the weak, becomes a stepping-stone on the pathway of the strong. "

When the elements of character are brought into action by determinatewill, and influenced by high purpose, man enters upon andcourageously perseveres in the path of duty, at whatever cost ofworldly interest, he may be said to approach the summit of hisbeing. He then exhibits character in its most intrepid form, andembodies the highest idea of manliness. The acts of such a manbecome repeated in the life and action of others. His very wordslive and become actions. Thus every word of Luther's rang throughGermany like a trumpet. As Richter said of him, "His words werehalf-battles. " And thus Luther's life became transfused into thelife of his country, and still lives in the character of modernGermany. 

Speaking of the courageous character of John Knox, Carlyle says, withcharacteristic force: "Honor to all the brave and true; everlastinghonor to John Knox, one of the truest of the true! That, in themoment while he and his cause, amid civil broils, in convulsion andconfusion, were still but struggling for life, he sent theschoolmaster forth to all comers, and said, 'Let the people be taught;'this is but one, and, indeed, an inevitable and comparativelyinconsiderable item in his great message to men. This message, inits true compass, was, 'Let men know that they are men; created byGod, responsible to God; whose work in any meanest moment of timewhat will last through eternity. '

. . . This great message Knox did deliver, with a man's voice andstrength, and found a people to believe him. Of such an achievement, were it to be made once only, the results are immense. Thought, insuch a country, may change its form, but cannot go out; the countryhas attained _majority_; thought, and a certain spiritual manhood, ready for all work that man can do, endures there. The Scotchnational, character originated in many circumstances; first of all, in the Saxon stuff there was to work on; but next, and beyond allelse except that, in the Presbyterian Gospel of John Knox. "

Washington left behind him, as one of the greatest treasures of hiscountry, the example of a stainless life--of a great, honest, pure, and noble character--a model for his nation to form themselves by inall time to come. And in the case of Washington, as in so many othergreat leaders of men, his greatness did not so much consist in hisintellect, his skill and his genius, as in his honor, his integrity, his truthfulness, his high and controlling sense of duty--in a word, in his genuine nobility of character. 

Men such as these are the true life-blood of the country to whichthey belong. They elevate and uphold it, fortify and ennoble it, andshed a glory over it by the example of life and character which theyhave bequeathed. "The names and memories of great men, " says an ablewriter, "are the dowry of a nation. Widowhood, overthrow, desertion, even slavery cannot take away from her this sacred inheritance . . . Whenever national life begins to quicken . . . The dead heroes risein the memories of men, and appear to the living to stand by insolemn spectatorship and approval. No country can be lost whichfeels herself overlooked by such glorious witnesses. They are thesalt of the earth, in death as well as in life. What they did once, their descendants have still and always a right to do after them;and their example lives in their country, a continual stimulant andencouragement for him who has the soul to adopt it. "

It would be well for every young man, eager for success and anxiousto form a character that will achieve it, to commit to memory theadvice of Bishop Middleton:

Persevere against discouragements. Keep your temper. Employ leisurein study, and always have some work in hand. Be punctual andmethodical in business, and never procrastinate. Never be in ahurry. Preserve self-possession, and do not be talked out of aconviction. Rise early, and be an economist of time. Maintaindignity without the appearance of pride; manner is something witheverybody, and everything with some. Be guarded in discourse, attentive, and slow to speak. Never acquiesce in immoral orpernicious opinions. 

Be not forward to assign reasons to those who have no right to ask. Think nothing in conduct unimportant or indifferent. Rather set thanfollow examples. Practice strict temperance; and in all yourtransactions remember the final account. 

CHAPTER III

HOME INFLUENCES. 

"A careful preparation is half the battle. " Everything depends on agood start and the right road. To retrace one's steps is to lose notonly time but confidence. "Be sure you are right then go ahead" wasthe motto of the famous frontiersman, Davy Crockett, and it is onethat every young man can adopt with safety. 

Bear in mind there is often a great distinction between character andreputation. Reputation is what the world believes us for the time;character is what we truly are. Reputation and character may be inharmony, but they frequently are as opposite as light and darkness. Many a scoundrel has had a reputation for nobility, and men of thenoblest characters have had reputations that relegated them to theranks of the depraved, in their day and generation. 

It is most desirable to have a good reputation. The good opinion ofour associates and acquaintances is not to be despised, but everyman should see to it that the reputation is deserved, otherwise hislife is false, and sooner or later he will stand discovered beforethe world. 

Sudden success makes reputation, as it is said to make friends; butvery often adversity is the best test of character as it is offriendship. 

It is the principle for which the soldier fights that makes him ahero, not necessarily his success. It is the motive that ennoblesall effort. Selfishness may prosper, but it cannot win the enduringsuccess that is based on the character with a noble purpose behindit. This purpose is one of the guards in times of trouble and thereason for rejoicing in the day of triumph. 

"Why should I toil and slave, " many a young man has asked, "when Ihave only myself to live for?" God help the man who has neithermother, sister nor wife to struggle for and who does not feel thattoil and the building up of character bring their own reward. 

The home feeling should be encouraged for it is one of the greatestincentives to effort. If the young man have not parents or brothersand sisters to keep, or if he find himself limited in his leisurehours to the room of a boarding house, then if he can at all affordit, he should marry a help-meet and found a home of his own. "I wasvery poor at the time, " said a great New York publisher, "butregarding it simply from a business standpoint, the best move I evermade in my life was to get married. Instead of increasing myexpense's as I feared, I took a most valuable partner into thebusiness, and she not only made a home for me, but she surrenderedto me her well-earned share of the profits. "

A wise marriage is most assuredly an influence that helps. Everyyoung man who loves his mother, if living, or reveres her memory ifdead, must recall with feelings of holy emotion, his own home. Blest, indeed is he, over whom the influence of a good homecontinues. 

Home is the first and most important school of character. It is therethat every civilized being receives his best moral training, or hisworst; for it is there that he imbibes those principles that endurethrough manhood and cease only with life. 

It is a common saying that "Manners make the man;" and there is asecond, that "Mind makes the man;" but truer than either is a third, that "Home makes the man. " For the home-training not only includesmanners and mind, but character. It is mainly in the home that theheart is opened, the habits are formed, the intellect is awakened, and character moulded for good or for evil. 

From that source, be it pure or impure, issue the principles andmaxims that govern society. Law itself is but the reflex of homes. The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of children in privatelife afterward issue forth to the world, and become its publicopinion; for nations are gathered out of nurseries, and they whohold the leading strings of children may even exercise a greaterpower than those who wield the reins of government. 

It is in the order of nature that domestic life should be preparatoryto social, and that the mind and character should first be formed inthe home. There the individuals who afterward form society are dealtwith in detail, and fashioned one by one. From the family they enterlife, and advance from boyhood to citizenship. Thus the home may beregarded as the most influential school of civilization. For, afterall, civilization mainly resolves itself into a question ofindividual training; and according as the respective members ofsociety are well or ill trained in youth, so will the communitywhich they constitute be more or less humanized and civilized. 

Thus homes, which are the nurseries of children who grow up into menand women, will be good or bad according to the power that governsthem. Where the spirit of love and duty pervades the home--wherehead and heart bear rule wisely there--where the daily life ishonest and virtuous--where the government is sensible, kind andloving, then may we expect from such a home an issue of healthy, useful, and happy beings, capable, as they gain the requisitestrength of following the footsteps of their parents, of walkinguprightly, governing themselves wisely, and contributing to thewelfare of those about them. 

On the other hand, if surrounded by ignorance, coarseness, andselfishness, they will unconsciously assume the same character, andgrow up to adult years rude, uncultivated, and all the moredangerous to society if placed amidst the manifold temptations ofwhat is called civilized life. "Give your child to be educated by aslave, " said an ancient Greek, "and, instead of one slave, you willthen have two. "

The child cannot help imitating what he sees. Everything is to him amodel--of manner, of gesture, of speech, of habit, of character. "For the child, " says Richter, "the most important era of life ischildhood, when he begins to color and mould himself bycompanionship with others. Every new educator effects less than hispredecessor; until at last, if we regard all life as an educationalinstitution, a circumnavigator of the world is less influenced byall the nations he has seen than by his nurse. "

No man can select his parents or make for himself the earlyenvironment that affects character so powerfully, but he can found ahome no matter how humble, at the outset, that will make his ownfuture secure, as well as the future of those for whose existence heis responsible. 

The poorest dwelling, presided over by a virtuous, thrifty, cheerful, and cleanly woman, may be the abode of comfort, virtue, andhappiness; it may be the scene of every ennobling relation in familylife; it may be endeared to a man by many delightful associations;furnishing a sanctuary for the heart, a refuge from the storms oflife, a sweet resting-place after labor, a consolation inmisfortune, a pride in prosperity, and a joy at all times. 

The good home is the best of schools, not only in youth but in age. There young and old best learn cheerfulness, patience, self-controland the spirit of service and of duty. Isaak Walton, speaking ofGeorge Herbert's mother, says she governed the family with judiciouscare, not rigidly nor sourly, "but with such a sweetness andcompliance with the recreations and pleasures of youth, as didincline them to spend much of their time in her company, which wasto her great content. "

The home is the true school of courtesy, of which woman is always thebest practical instructor. "Without woman, " says the Provencalproverb, "men were but ill-licked cubs. " Philanthropy radiates fromthe home as from a centre. "To love the little platoon we belong toin society, " said Burke "is the germ of all public affections. " Thewisest and the best have not been ashamed to own it to be theirgreatest joy and happiness to sit "behind the heads of the children"in the inviolable circle of home. A life of purity and duty there isnot the least effectual preparative for a life of public work andduty; and the man who loves his home will not the less fondly loveand serve his country. 

At an address before a girls' school in Boston, ex-President JohnQuincy Adams, then an old man, said with much feeling: "As a child Ienjoyed perhaps the greatest of blessings that can be bestowed uponman--that of a mother who was anxious and capable to form thecharacters of her children rightly. From her I derived whateverinstruction (religious especially and moral) has pervaded a longlife--I will not say perfectly, or as it ought to be; but I willsay, because it is only justice to the memory of her I revere, thatin the course of that life, whatever imperfection there has been ordeviation from what she taught me, the fault is mine and not hers. "

So much depends on the home, for it is the corner-stone of societyand good government, that it is to be regretted, for the sake ofyoung women, as well as of young men, that our modern life offers somany opportunities to neglect it. 

As the home affects the character entirely through the associations, it follows that the young man who has left his home behind himshould continue the associations whose memories comfort him. Heshould never go to a place for recreation where he would not bewilling and proud to take his mother on his arm. He should neverhave as friends men to whom he would not be willing, if need be, tointroduce his sister. 

These are among the influences that help to success. But associationis a matter of such great importance as to deserve fuller treatment. 

CHAPTER IV

ASSOCIATION. 

The old proverb, "Tell me your company and I will tell you what youare, " is as true to-day as when first uttered. In the preparationfor success, association is one of the most powerful factors, sopowerful, indeed, that if the associations are not of the rightkind, failure is inevitable. 

As one diseased sheep may contaminate a flock, so one evil associate--particularly if he be daring, may seriously injure the morals ofmany. Every young man can recall the evil influence of one bad boyon a whole school, but he cannot so readily point to the schoolmate, whose example and influence were for good; because goodness, thoughmore potent, never makes itself so conspicuous as vice. 

Criminals, preparing for the scaffold, have confessed that theirentrance into a life of crime began in early youth, when theaudacity of some unprincipled associate tempted them from the waysof innocence. Through all the years of life, even to old age, thelife and character are influenced by association. If this be true inthe case of the more mature and experienced, its force isintensified where the young, imaginative and susceptible, areconcerned. 

Man is said to be "an imitative animal. " This is certainly true as toearly education, and the tendency to imitate remains to a greater orless extent throughout life. Imitation is responsible for all thequeer changes of fashion; and the desire to be "in the swim, " as itis called, is entirely due to association. 

In school days, the influence of a good home may counteract theeffect of evil associates, whom the boy meets occasionally, but whenthe boy has grown to manhood, and finds himself battling with theworld, away from home and well-tried friends, it is then that he isin the greatest danger from pernicious associates. 

The young man who comes to the city to seek his fortune is more aptto be the victim of vile associates than the city raised youth whoseexperience of men is larger, and who is fortunate in hiscompanionship. The farmer's son, who finds himself for the firsttime in a great city--alone and comparatively friendless, appears tohimself to have entered a new world, as in truth he has. The crowdsof hurrying, well-dressed people impress him forcibly as comparedwith his own clumsy gait, and roughly clad figure. The noiseconfuses him. The bustle of commerce amazes him; and for the time heis as desolate in feeling as if he were in the centre of a desert, instead of in the throbbing heart of a great city. 

No matter how blessed with physical and mental strength the young manmay be, under these circumstances he is very apt, for the time atleast, to underestimate his own strength. He is powerfully impressedby what he deems the smartness or the superior manners of those whomhe meets in his boarding house, or with whom he is associated in hisbusiness, say in a great mercantile establishment. It requires agreat deal of moral courage for him to bear in a manly way theridicule, covert or open, of the companions who regard him as a"hay-seed" or a "greenhorn. " His Sunday clothes, which he wore withpride when he attended meeting with his mother, he is apt to regardwith a feeling of mortification; and, perhaps, he secretlydetermines to dress as well as do his companions when he has savedenough money. 

This is a crucial period in the life of every young man who isentering on a business career, and particularly so to him comingfrom the rural regions. He finds, perhaps, that his associates smokeor drink, or both; things which he has hitherto regarded withhorror. He finds, too, they are in the habit of resorting to placesof amusement, the splendor and mysteries of which arouse hiscuriosity, if not envy, as he hears them discussed. 

Before leaving home, and while his mother's arms were still abouthim, he promised her to be moral and industrious, to writeregularly, and to do nothing which she would not approve. If he hadthe right stuff in him, he would adhere manfully to the resolutionmade at the beginning; but, if he be weak or is tempted by falsepride, or a prurient curiosity to "see the town, " he is tottering onthe edge of a precipice and his failure, if not sudden, is sure tocome in time. 

Cities are represented to be centres of vice, and it cannot be deniedthat the temptations in such places are much greater than on a farmor in a quiet country village, but at the same time, cities arecentres of wealth and cultivation, places where philanthropy isalive and where organized effort has provided places of instructionand amusement for all young men, but particularly for that largeclass of youths who come from the country to seek their fortunes. Churches abound, and in connection with them there are societies ofyoung people, organized for good work, which are ever ready, withopen arms, to welcome the young stranger. Then, in all our citiesand towns, there are to be found, branches of that most admirableinstitution, the Young Men's Christian Association. Not only arethere companions to be met in these associations of the very bestkind, but the buildings are usually fitted up with appliances forthe improvement of mind and body. Here are gymnasiums, wherestrength and grace can be cultivated under the direction ofcompetent teachers. Here are to be found well organized libraries. Here, particularly in the winter season, there are classes where allthe branches of a high school are taught; and there are frequentlectures on all subjects of interest by the foremost teachers of theland. 

If the young man falls under these influences, and he will experiencenot the slightest difficulty in doing so; indeed, he will findfriendly hands extended to welcome and to help, the result on hischaracter must be most beneficial. The clumsiness of rural life willsoon depart; he will regard his home-made suit with as much pleasureas if it were made by a fashionable tailor, and he will soon learnto distinguish between the vicious and the virtuous, while heimitates the one and regards the other with indifference orcontempt. 

Next to the association of companions met in every day life nothingso powerfully influences the character of the young as associationwith good books, particularly those that relate to the lives of menwho have struggled up to honor from small beginnings. 

With such associations, and a capacity for honest persistent work, success is assured at the very threshold of effort. 

CHAPTER V

COURAGE AND DETERMINED EFFORT. 

Carlyle has said that the first requisite to success is carefully tofind your life work and then bravely to carry it out. No soldierever won a succession of triumphs, and no business man, no matterhow successful in the end, who did not find his beginning slow, arduous and discouraging. Courage is a prime essential toprosperity. The young man's progress may be slow in comparison withhis ambition, but if he keeps a brave heart and sticks persistentlyto it, he will surely succeed in the end. 

The forceful, energetic character, like the forceful soldier on thebattle-field, not only moves forward to victory himself, but hisexample has a stimulating influence on others. 

Energy of character has always a power to evoke energy in others. Itacts through sympathy, one of the most influential of humanagencies. The zealous, energetic man unconsciously carries othersalong with him. His example is contagious and compels imitation. Heexercises a sort of electric power, which sends a thrill throughevery fibre, flows into the nature of those about him, and makesthem give out sparks of fire. 

Dr. Arnold's biographer, speaking of the power of this kind exercisedby him over young men, says: "It was not so much an enthusiasticadmiration for true genius, or learning, or eloquence, which stirredthe heart within them; it was a sympathetic thrill, caught from aspirit that was earnestly at work in the world--whose work washealthy, sustained and constantly carried forward in the fear ofGod--a work that was founded on a deep sense of its duty and itsvalue. "

The beginner should carefully study the lives of men whose undauntedcourage has won in the face of obstacles that would cow weakernatures. 

It is in the season of youth, while the character is forming, thatthe impulse to admire is the greatest. As we advance in life wecrystallize into habit and "_Nil admirari_" too often becomes ourmotto. It is well to encourage the admiration of great characterswhile the nature is plastic and open to impressions; for if the goodare not admired--as young men will have their heroes of some sort--most probably the great bad may be taken by them for models. Hence italways rejoiced Dr. Arnold to hear his pupils expressing admirationof great deeds, or full of enthusiasm for persons or even scenery. 

"I believe, " said he, "that '_Nil admirari_' is the devil's favoritetext; and he could not choose a better to introduce his pupils intothe more esoteric parts of his doctrine. And therefore I have alwayslooked upon a man infected with the disorder of anti-romance as onewho has lost the finest part of his nature and his best protectionagainst everything low and foolish. "

Great men have evoked the admiration of kings, popes and emperors. Francis de Medicis never spoke to Michael Angelo without uncovering, and Julius III made him sit by his side while a dozen cardinals werestanding. Charles V made way for Titian; and one day when the brushdropped from the painter's hand, Charles stooped and picked it up, saying, "You deserve to be served by an emperor. "

Bear in mind that nothing so discourages or unfits a man for aneffort as idleness. "Idleness, " says Burton, in that delightful oldbook "The Anatomy of Melancholy, " "is the bane of body and mind, thenurse of naughtiness, the chief mother of all mischief, one of theseven deadly sins, the devil's cushion, his pillow and chiefreposal . . . An idle dog will be mangy; and how shall an idle personescape? Idleness of the mind is much worse than that of the body;wit, without employment, is a disease--the rust of the soul, aplague, a hell itself. As in a standing pool, worms and filthycreepers increase, so do evil and corrupt thoughts in an idleperson; the soul is contaminated . . . Thus much I dare boldly say:he or she that is idle, be they of what condition they will, neverso rich, so well allied, fortunate, happy--let them have all thingsin abundance, all felicity that heart can wish and desire, allcontentment--so long as he, or she, or they, are idle, they shallnever be pleased, never well in body or mind, but weary still, sickly still, vexed still, loathing still, weeping, sighing, grieving, suspecting, offended with the world, with every object, wishing themselves gone or dead, or else carried away with somefoolish fantasy or other. ". 

Barton says a great deal more to the same effect. 

It has been truly said that to desire to possess without beingburdened by the trouble of acquiring is as much a sign of weaknessas to recognize that everything worth having is only to be got bypaying its price is the prime secret of practical strength. Evenleisure cannot be enjoyed unless it is won by effort. If it have notbeen earned by work, the price has not been paid for it. 

But apart from the supreme satisfaction of winning, the effortrequired to accomplish anything is ennobling, and, if there were noother success it would be its own reward. 

"I don't believe, " said Lord Stanley, in an address to the young menof Glasgow, "that an unemployed man, however amiable and otherwiserespectable, ever was, or ever can be, really happy. As work is ourlife, show me what you can do, and I will show you what you are. Ihave spoken of love of one's work as the best preventive of merelylow and vicious tastes. I will go farther and say that it is thebest preservative against petty anxieties and the annoyances thatarise out of indulged self-love. Men have thought before now thatthey could take refuge from trouble and vexation by shelteringthemselves, as it wore, in a world of their own. The experiment hasoften been tried and always with one result. You cannot escape fromanxiety or labor--it is the destiny of humanity . . . Those whoshirk from facing trouble find that trouble comes to them. 

"The early teachers of Christianity ennobled the lot of toil by theirexample. 'He that will not work, ' said St. Paul, 'neither shall heeat;' and he glorified himself in that he had labored with his handsand had not been chargeable to any man. When St. Boniface landed inBritain, he came with a gospel in one hand, and a carpenter's rulein the other; and from England he afterward passed over intoGermany, carrying thither the art of building. Luther also, in themidst of a multitude of other employments, worked diligently for aliving, earning his bread by gardening, building, turning, and evenclock-making. "

Coleridge has truly observed, that "if the idle are described askilling time, the methodical man may be justly said to call it intolife and moral being, while he makes it the distinct object, notonly of the consciousness, but of the conscience. He organizes thehours and gives them a soul; and by that, the very essence of whichis to fleet and to have been, he communicates an imperishable andspiritual nature. Of the good and faithful servant, whose energiesthus directed are thus methodized, it is less truly affirmed that helives in time than that time lives in him. His days and months andyears, as the stops and punctual marks in the record of dutiesperformed, will survive the wreck of worlds, and remain extant whentime itself shall be no more. "

Washington, also, was an indefatigable man of business. From hisboyhood he diligently trained himself in habits of application, ofstudy and of methodical work. His manuscript school-books, which arestill preserved, show that, as early as the age of thirteen, heoccupied himself voluntarily, in copying out such things as forms ofreceipts, notes of hand, bills of exchange, bonds, indentures, leases, land warrants and other dry documents, all written out withgreat care. And the habits which lie thus early acquired were, in agreat measure the foundation of those admirable business qualitieswhich he afterward so successfully brought to bear in the affairs ofthe government. 

The man or woman who achieves success in the management of any greataffair of business is entitled to honor--it may be, to as much asthe artist who paints a picture, or the author who writes a book, orthe soldier who wins a battle. Their success may have been gained inthe face of as great difficulties, and after as great struggles; andwhere they have won their battle it is at least a peaceful one andthere is no blood on their hands. 

Courage, combined with energy and perseverance, will overcomedifficulties apparently insurmountable. It gives force and impulseto effort and does not permit it to retreat. Tyndall said ofFaraday, that "in his warm moments he formed a resolution and in hiscool ones he made that resolution good. " Perseverance, working inthe right direction, grows with time and when steadily practiced, even by the most humble, will rarely fail of its reward. Trusting inthe help of others is of comparatively little use. When one ofMichael Angelo's principal patrons died, he said: "I begin tounderstand the promises of the world are for the most part vainphantoms and that to confide in one's self and become something ofworth and value is the best and safest course. "

It ought to be a first principle, in beginning life to do withearnestness what we have got to do. If it is worth doing at all, itis worth doing earnestly. If it is to be done well at all it must bedone with purpose and devotion. 

Whatever may be our profession, let us mark all its bearings anddetails, its principles, its instruments, its applications. There isnothing about it should escape our study. There is nothing in iteither too high or too low for our observation and knowledge. Whilewe remain ignorant of any part of it, we are so far crippled in itsuse; we are liable to be taken at a disadvantage. This may be thevery point the knowledge of which is most needed in some crisis, andthose versed in it will take the lead, while we must be content tofollow at a distance. 

Our business, in short, must be the main drain of our intellectualactivities day by day. It is the channel we have chosen for themthey must follow in it with a diffusive energy, filling every nookand corner. This is a fair test of professional earnestness. When wefind our thoughts running after our business, and fixing themselveswith a familiar fondness upon its details, we may be pretty sure ofour way. When we find them running elsewhere and only resorting withdifficulty to the channel prepared for them, we may be equally surewe have taken a wrong turn. We cannot be earnest about anythingwhich does not naturally and strongly engage our thoughts. 

CHAPTER VI

THE IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT HABITS. 

As has been stated, habit is the basis of character. Habit is thepersistent repetition of acts physical, mental, and moral. No matterhow much thought and ability a young man may have, failure is sureto follow bad habits. While correct habits depend largely on self-discipline, and often on self-denial, bad habits, like perniciousweeds, spring up unaided and untrained to choke out the plants ofvirtue. It is easy to destroy the seed at the beginning, but itsgrowth is so rapid, that its evil effects may not be perceptibletill the roots have sapped every desirable plant about it. 

No sane youth ever started out with the resolve to be a thief, atramp, or a drunkard. Yet it is the slightest deviation from honestythat makes the first. It is the first neglect of a duty that makesthe second. And it is the first intoxicating glass that makes thethird. It is so easy not to begin, but the habit once formed and theman is a slave, bound with galling, cankering chains, and thestrength of will having been destroyed, only God's mercy can castthem off. 

Next to the moral habits that are the cornerstone of every worthycharacter, the habit of industry should be ranked. In "this day andgeneration, " there is a wild desire on the part of young men to leapinto fortune at a bound, to reach the top of the ladder of successwithout carefully climbing the rounds, but no permanent prosperitywas ever gained in this way. 

There have been men, who through chance, or that form of speculation, that is legalized gambling, have made sudden fortunes; but as a rulethese fortunes have been lost in the effort to double them by thequick and speculative process. 

Betters and gamblers usually die poor. But even where young men havemade a lucky stroke, the result is too often a misfortune. Theyneglect the necessary, persistent effort. The habit of industry isignored. Work becomes distasteful, and the life is wrecked, lookingfor chances that never come. 

There have been exceptional cases, where men of immoral habits, butwith mental force and unusual opportunities have won fortunes. Someof these will come to the reader's mind at once, but he will beforced to confess that he would not give up his manhood andcomparative poverty, in exchange for such material success. 

The best equipment a young man can have for the battle of life is aconscience void of offense, sound common sense, and good health. Toomuch importance cannot be attached to health. It is a blessing we donot prize till it is gone. Some are naturally delicate and some arenaturally strong, but by habit the health of the vigorous may beruined, and by opposite habits the delicate may be made healthfuland strong. 

No matter the prospects and promises of overwork, it is a species ofsuicide to continue it at the expense of health. Good men in everydepartment and calling, stimulated by zeal and an ambitioncommendable in itself, have worked till the vital forces wereexhausted, and so were compelled to stop all effort in the prime oflife and on the threshold of success. 

The best preservers of health are regularity in correct hygienichabits, and strict temperance. Alexander Stephens, of Georgia, it issaid contracted consumption when a child, and his friends did notbelieve he would live to manhood, yet by correct habits, he not onlylived the allotted time of the Psalmist, but he did an amount ofwork that would have been impossible to a much stronger man, withouthis method of life. 

It should not be forgotten that good health is quite as muchdependent on mental as on physical habits. Worry, sensitiveness, andtemper have hastened to the grave many an otherwise splendidcharacter. 

The man of business must needs be subject to strict rule and system. Business, like life, is managed by moral leverage; success in bothdepending in no small degree upon that regulation of temper andcareful self-discipline, which give a wise man not only a commandover himself, but over others. Forbearance and self-control smooththe road of life, and open many ways which would otherwise remainclosed. And so does self-respect; for as men respect themselves, sowill they usually, respect the personality of others. 

It is the same in politics as in business. Success in that sphere oflife is achieved less by talent than by temper, less by genius thanby character. If a man have not self-control, he will lack patience, be wanting in tact, and have neither the power of governing himselfnor managing others. When the quality most needed in a primeminister was the subject of conversation in the presence of Mr. Pitt, one of the speakers said it was "eloquence;" another said itwas "knowledge;" and a third said it was "toil. " "No, " said Pitt, "it is patience!" And patience means self-control, a quality inwhich he himself was superb. His friend George Rose has said of himthat he never once saw Pitt out of temper. 

A strong temper is not necessarily a bad temper. But the stronger thetemper, the greater is the need of self-discipline and self-control. Dr. Johnson says men grow better as they grow older, and improvewith experience; but this depends upon the width and depth andgenerousness of their nature. It is not men's faults that ruin themso much as the manner in which they conduct themselves after thefaults have been committed. The wise will profit by the sufferingthey cause, and eschew them for the future; but there are those onwhom experience exerts no ripening influence, and who only grownarrower and bitterer, and more vicious with time. 

What is called strong temper in a young man, often indicates a largeamount of unripe energy, which will expend itself in useful work ifthe road be fairly opened to it. It is said of Girard that when heheard of a clerk with a strong temper, he would readily take himinto his employment, and set him to work in a room by himself;Girard being of opinion that such persons were the best workers, andthat their energy would expend itself in work if removed from thetemptation of quarrel. 

There is a great difference between a strong temper, "a righteousindignation, " and that irritability that curses its possessor andall who come near him. 

Mr. Motley compares William the Silent to Washington, whom he in manyrespects resembled. The American, like the Dutch patriot, stands outin history as the very impersonation of dignity, bravery, purity, and personal excellence. His command over his feelings, even inmoments of great difficulty and danger, was such as to convey theimpression, to those who did not know him intimately, that he was aman of inborn calmness and almost impassiveness of disposition. YetWashington was by nature ardent and impetuous; his mildness, gentleness politeness, and consideration for others, were the resultof rigid self-control and unwearied self-discipline, which hediligently practiced even from his boyhood. His biographer says ofhim, that "his temperament was ardent, his passions strong, and, amidst the multiplied scenes of temptation and excitement throughwhich he passed, it was his constant effort, and ultimate triumph, to check the one and subdue the other. " And again: "His passionswere strong, and sometimes they broke out with vehemence, but he hadthe power of checking them in an instant. Perhaps self-control wasthe most remarkable trait of his character. It was in part theeffect of discipline; yet he seems by nature to have possessed thispower in a degree which has been denied to other men. "

The Duke of Wellington's natural temper, like that of Napoleon, wasstrong in the extreme and it was only by watchful self-control thathe was enabled to restrain it. He studied calmness and coolness inthe midst of danger, like any Indian chief. At Waterloo, andelsewhere, he gave his orders in the most critical moments withoutthe slightest excitement, and in a tone of voice almost more thanusually subdued. 

Abraham Lincoln in his early manhood was quick tempered andcombative, but he soon learned self-control and, as all know, becameas patient as he was forceful and sympathetic. "I got into the habitof controlling my temper in the Black Hawk war, " he said to ColonelForney, "and the good habit stuck to me as bad habits do to somany. "

Patience is a habit that pays for its own cultivation and thebiographies of earth's greatest men, prove that it was one of theirmost conspicuous characteristics. 

One who loves right can not be indifferent to wrong, or wrong-doing. If he feels warmly, he will speak warmly, out of the fullness of hisheart. We have, however, to be on our guard against impatient scorn. The best people are apt to have their impatient side, and often thevery temper which makes men earnest, makes them also intolerant. "Ofall mental gifts, the rarest is intellectual patience; and the lastlesson of culture is to believe in difficulties which are invisibleto ourselves. "

One of Burns' finest poems, written in his twenty-eighth year, isentitled "A Bard's Epitaph. " It is a description, by anticipation, of his own life. Wordsworth has said of it:

"Here is a sincere and solemn avowal; a public declaration from hisown will; a confession at once devout, poetical, and human; ahistory in the shape of a prophecy. " It concludes with these lines:

"Reader, attend--whether thy soul Soars fancy's flights beyond the pole, Or darkling grubs this earthly hole In low pursuit; Know--prudent, cautious self-control, Is Wisdom's root. "

Truthfulness is quite as much a habit and quite as amendable tocultivation as falsehood. Deceit may meet with temporary success, but he who avails himself of it can be sure that in the end his "sinwill find him out. " The credit of the truthful, reliable man standswhen the cash of a trickster might be doubted. "His word is as goodas his bond, " is one of the highest compliments that can be paid tothe business man. 

Be truthful not only in great things, but in all things. Theslightest deviation from this habit may be the beginning of a careerof duplicity, ending in disgrace. 

But truthfulness, like the other virtues, should not be regarded as atrade mark, a means to success. It brings its own reward in thenobility it gives the character. An exception might be made here asto that form of military deceit known as "stratagem, " but it is theduty of the enemy to expect it, and so guard against it. The word ofa soldier involves his honor, and if he pledges that word, to even afoeman, he will keep it with his life. 

Like our own Washington, Wellington was a severe admirer of truth. Anillustration may be given. When afflicted by deafness, he consulteda celebrated aurist, who, after trying all remedies in vain, determined, as a last resource, to inject into the ear a strongsolution of caustic. It caused the most intense pain, but thepatient bore it with his usual equanimity. The family physicianaccidentally calling one day, found the duke with flushed cheeks andblood-shot eyes, and when he rose he staggered about like a drunkenman. The doctor asked to be permitted to look at his ear, and thenhe found that a furious inflammation was going on, which, if notimmediately checked, must shortly reach the brain and kill him. Vigorous remedies were at once applied, and the inflammation waschecked. But the hearing of that ear was completely destroyed. Whenthe aurist heard of the danger his patient had run, through theviolence of the remedy he had employed, he hastened to Apsley Houseto express his grief and mortification; but the duke merely said:"Do not say a word more about it--you did all for the best. " Theaurist said it would be his ruin when it became known that he hadbeen the cause of so much suffering and danger to his grace. "Butnobody need know any thing about it: keep your own counsel, and, depend upon it, I won't say a word to any one. " "Then your gracewill allow me to attend you as usual, which will show the publicthat you have not withdrawn your confidence from me?" "No, " repliedthe duke, kindly but firmly; "I can't do that, for that would be alie. " He would not act a falsehood any more than he would speak one. 

But lying assumes many forms--such as diplomacy, expediency, andmoral reservation; and, under one guise or another, it is found moreor less pervading all classes of society. Sometimes it assumes theform of equivocation or moral dodging--twisting and so stating thethings said as to convey a false impression--a kind of lying which aFrenchman once described as "walking round about the truth. "

There are even men of narrow minds and dishonest natures, who pridethemselves upon their Jesuitical cleverness in equivocation, intheir serpent-wise shirking of the truth and getting out of moralbackdoors, in order to hide their real opinions and evade theconsequences of holding and openly professing them. Institutions orsystems based upon any such expedients must necessarily prove falseand hollow. "Though a lie be ever so well dressed, " says GeorgeHerbert, "it is ever overcome. " Downright lying, though bolder andmore vicious, is even less contemptible than such kind of shufflingand equivocation. 

CHAPTER VII

AS TO MARRIAGE. 

Mention has been made of the great influence on character of theright kind of a home, in childhood and youth. The right kind of ahome depends almost entirely on the right kind of a wife or mother. 

The old saying, "Marry in haste and repent at leisure, " will neverlose its force. "Worse than the man whose selfishness keeps him abachelor till death, is the young man, who, under an impulse heimagines to be an undying love, marries a girl as poor, weak, andselfish as himself. There have been cases where marriage under suchcircumstances has aroused the man to effort and made him, particularly if his wife were of the same character, but these areso exceptional as to form no guide for people of average commonsense. 

Again, there have been men, good men, whose lives measured by theordinary standards were successful, who never married; but those whohear or read of them, have the feeling that such careers wereincomplete. 

The most important voluntary act of every man and woman's life, ismarriage, and God has so ordained it. Hence it is an act whichshould be love-prompted on both sides, and only entered into afterthe most careful and prayerful deliberation. 

It is natural for young people of the opposite sex, who are muchthrown together, and so become in a way essential to each other'shappiness, to end by falling in love. It is said that "love isblind, " and the ancients so painted their mythological god, Cupid. It is very certain that the fascination is not dependent on thewill; it is a divine, natural impulse, which has for its purpose thecontinuance of the race. 

Here, then, in all its force, we see the influence of association, which has been already treated of. The young man whose associationsare of the right kind is sure to be brought into contact with thegood daughters of good mothers. With such association, love andmarriage should add to life's success and happiness, provided, always, that the husband's circumstances warrant him in establishingand maintaining a home. 

Granting, then, the right kind of a wife, and the ability to make ahome, the young man, with the right kind of stuff in him, takes agreat stride in the direction of success when he marries. 

No wise person will marry for beauty mainly. It may exercise apowerful attraction in the first place, but it is found to be ofcomparatively little consequence afterward. Not that beauty ofperson is to be underestimated, for, other things being equal, handsomeness of form and beauty of features are the outwardmanifestations of health. But to marry a handsome figure withoutcharacter, fine features unbeautified by sentiment or good nature, is the most deplorable of mistakes. As even the finest landscape, seen daily, becomes monotonous, so does the most beautiful face, unless a beautiful nature shines through it. The beauty of to-daybecomes commonplace to-morrow; whereas goodness, displayed throughthe most ordinary features, is perennially lovely. Moreover, thiskind of beauty improves with age, and time ripens rather thandestroys it. After the first year, married people rarely think ofeach other's features, whether they be classically beautiful orotherwise. But they never fail to be cognizant of each other'stemper. "When I see a man, " says Addison, "with a sour, rivetedface, I can not forbear pitying his wife; and when I meet with anopen, ingenuous countenance, I think of the happiness of hisfriends, his family, and his relations. "

Edmund Burke, the greatest of English statesmen, was especially happyin his marriage. He never ceased to be a lover, and long years afterthe wedding he thus describes his wife: "She is handsome; but it isa beauty not arising from features, from complexion, or from shape. She has all three in a high degree, but it is not by these shetouches the heart; it is all that sweetness of temper, benevolence, innocence, and sensibility, which a face can express, that forms herbeauty. She has a face that just raises your attention at firstsight; it grows on you every moment, and you wonder it did no morethan raise your attention at first. 

"Her eyes have a mild light, but they awe when she pleases; theycommand, like a good man out of office, not by authority, but byvirtue. 

"Her stature is not tall; she is not made to be the admiration ofeverybody, but the happiness of one. 

"She has all the firmness that does not exclude delicacy; she has allthe softness that does not imply weakness. 

"Her voice is a soft, low music--not formed to rule in publicassemblies, but to charm those who can distinguish a company from acrowd; it has this advantage--you must come close to her to hear it. 

"To describe her body describes her mind--one is the transcript ofthe other; her understanding is not shown in the variety of mattersit exerts itself on, but in the goodness of the choice she makes. 

"She does not display it so much in saying or doing striking things, as in avoiding such as she ought not to say or do. 

"No person of so few years can know the world better; no person wasever less corrupted by the knowledge of it. "

A man's real character will always be more visible in his householdthan anywhere else; and his practical wisdom will be betterexhibited by the manner in which he bears rule there than even inthe larger affairs of business or public life. His whole mind may bein his business; but, if he would be happy, his whole heart must bein his home. It is there that his genuine qualities most surelydisplay themselves--there that he shows his truthfulness, his love, his sympathy, his consideration for others, his uprightness, hismanliness--in a word, his character. If affection be not thegoverning principle in a household, domestic life may be the mostintolerable of despotisms. Without justice, also, there can beneither love, confidence, nor respect, on which all true domesticrule is founded. 

It is by the regimen of domestic affection that the heart of man isbest composed and regulated. The home is the woman's kingdom, herstate, her world--where she governs by affection, by kindness, bythe power of gentleness. There is nothing which so settles theturbulence of a man's nature as his union in life with a high-mindedwoman. There he finds rest, contentment, and happiness--rest ofbrain and peace of spirit. He will also often find in her his bestcounselor, for her instinctive tact will usually lead him right whenhis own unaided reason might be apt to go wrong. The true wife is astaff to lean upon in times of trial and difficulty; and she isnever wanting in sympathy and solace when distress occurs or fortunefrowns. In the time of youth, she is a comfort and an ornament ofman's life; and she remains a faithful helpmate in maturer years, when life has ceased to be an anticipation, and we live in itsrealities. 

Luther, a man full of human affection, speaking of his wife, said, "Iwould not exchange my poverty with her for all the riches of Croesuswithout her. " Of marriage he observed: "The utmost blessing that Godcan confer on a man is the possession of a good and pious wife, withwhom he may live in peace and tranquility--to whom he may confidehis whole possessions, even his life and welfare. " And again hesaid, "To rise betimes, and to marry young, are what no man everrepents of doing. "

Some persons are disappointed in marriage, because they expect toomuch from it; but many more because they do not bring into the co-partnership their fair share of cheerfulness, kindliness, forbearance, and common sense. Their imagination has perhapspictured a condition never experienced on this side of heaven; andwhen real life comes, with its troubles and cares, there is a suddenwaking-up as from a dream. 

We have spoken of the influence of a wife upon a man's character. There are few men strong enough to resist the influence of a lowercharacter in a wife. If she do not sustain and elevate what ishighest in his nature, she will speedily reduce him to her ownlevel. Thus a wife may be the making or the unmaking of the best ofmen. An illustration of this power is furnished in the life ofBunyan, the profligate tinker, who had the good fortune to marry, inearly life, a worthy young woman, of good parentage. 

On hearing of the death of his wife, the great explorer, Dr. Livingstone, wrote to a friend: "I must confess that this heavystroke quite takes the heart out of me. Every thing else that hashappened only made me more determined to overcome all difficulties;but after this sad stroke I feel crushed and void of strength. Onlythree short months of her society, after four years' separation! Imarried her for love, and the longer I lived with her I loved herthe more. A good wife, and a good, brave, kind-hearted mother wasshe, deserving all the praises you bestowed upon her at our partingdinner, for teaching her own and the native children, too, atKolobeng. I try to bow to the blow as from our Heavenly Father, whoorders all things for us . . . I shall do my duty still, but it iswith a darkened horizon that I again set about it. "

Besides being a helper, woman is emphatically a consoler. Hersympathy is unfailing. She soothes, cheers, and comforts. Never wasthis more true than in the case of the wife of Tom Hood, whosetender devotion to him, during a life that was a prolonged illness, is one of the most affecting things in biography. A woman ofexcellent good sense, she appreciated her husband's genius, and, byencouragement and sympathy, cheered and heartened him to renewedeffort in many a weary struggle for life. She created about him anatmosphere of hope and cheerfulness, and nowhere did the sunshine ofher love seem so bright as when lighting up the couch of her invalidhusband. 

Scott wrote beautifully and truthfully:

 "Oh, woman, in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, And variable as the shade By the light, quivering aspen made, When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou. "

CHAPTER VIII

EDUCATION AS DISTINGUISHED FROM LEARNING. 

Although not the same kind, there is as much difference betweeneducation and learning, as there is between character andreputation. 

Learning may be regarded as mental capital, in the way of accumulatedfacts. Education is the drawing out and development of the best thatis in the heart, the head, and the hand. 

The civilized world has a score of very learned men, to the one whomay be said to be thoroughly educated. The learned man may befamiliar with many languages, and sciences, and have all the factsof history and literature at his fingers' tip, and yet be ashelpless as an infant and as impractical as a fool. An educated man, a man with his powers developed by training, may know no languagebut his mother tongue, may be ignorant as to literature and art, andyet be well--yes, even superbly educated. 

The learned man's mind may be likened to a store house, or magazine, in which there are a thousand wonderful things, some of which he canmake of use in the battle of life. He resembles the miser who fillshis coffers with gold and keeps it out of circulation. Beyond theselfish joy of possession, his wealth is worthless, and itsacquisition has unfitted him for the struggle. The educated man, tocontinue the illustration, may not be rich, but he knows how to useevery cent he owns, and he places it where, under his energy, itwill grow into dollars. 

Far be it from us to underestimate the value of learning. Many of theworld's greatest men have been learned, but without exception suchmen have also been educated. They have been trained to make theirknowledge available for the benefit of themselves and their fellowmen. 

The athlete who develops his muscles to their greatest capacity ofstrength and flexibility, and this can only be done by observingstrictly the laws of health, is physically an educated man. Everymechanic whose hands and brain have been trained to the expertnessrequired by the master workman, is well-educated in his particularcalling. The man who is an expert accountant, or a trained civilengineer, may know nothing of the higher mathematical principles, but he is better educated than the scholar who has only atheoretical knowledge of all the mathematics that have ever beenpublished. 

The educated man is the man who can do something, and the quality ofhis work marks the degree of his education. One might be learned inlaw in a phenomenal way, and yet, unless he was educated, trained tothe practice, he would be beaten in the preparation of a case by alawyer's clerk. 

There are men who can write and talk learnedly on political economyand the laws of trade, and quote from memory all the statistics ofthe census library, and yet be immeasurably surpassed in practicalbusiness, by a young man whose college was the store, and whoseuniversity was the counting room. 

It should not be inferred from this that learning is not of thegreatest value, or that the facts obtained from the proper books areto be ignored. The best investment a young man can make is in goodbooks, the study of which broadens the mind, and the facts of whichequip him the better for his life calling. 

But books are not valuable only because of the available informationthey give; when they do not instruct, they elevate and refine. 

"Books, " said Hazlitt, "wind into the heart; the poet's verse slidesinto the current of our blood. We read them when young, we rememberthem when old. We read there of what has happened to others; we feelthat it has happened to ourselves. They are to be had everywherecheap and good. We breathe but the air of books. We owe everythingto their authors, on this side barbarism. "

A good book is often the best urn of a life, enshrining the bestthoughts of which that life was capable; for the world of a man'slife is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus thebest books are treasuries of good words and golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our abiding companions andcomforters. "They are never alone, " said Sir Philip Sidney, "thatare accompanied by noble thoughts. " The good and true thought may intime of temptation be as an angel of mercy, purifying and guardingthe soul. It also enshrines the germs of action, for good wordsalmost invariably inspire to good works. 

Thus Sir Henry Lawrence prized above all other compositionsWordsworth's "Character of the Happy Warrior, " which he endeavoredto embody in his own life. It was ever before him as an exemplar. Hethought of it continually, and often quoted it to others. Hisbiographer says, "He tried to conform his own life and to assimilatehis own character to it; and he succeeded, as all men succeed whoare truly in earnest. "

Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the mostlasting products of human effort. Temples crumble into ruin;pictures and statues decay; but books survive. Time is of no accountwith great thoughts, which are as fresh to-day as when they firstpassed through their authors' minds, ages ago. What was then saidand thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printedpage. The only effect of time has been to sift and winnow out thebad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what isreally good. 

To the young man, "thirsting for learning and hungering foreducation, " there are no books more helpful than the biographies ofthose whom it is well to imitate. Longfellow wisely says:

"Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, And departing leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time--

 Footprints which perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and ship-wrecked brother, Seeing, may take heart again. "

At the head of all biographies stands the Great Biography--the Bookof Books. And what is the Bible, the most sacred and impressive ofall books--the educator of youth, the guide of manhood, and theconsoler of age--but a series of biographies of great heroes andpatriarchs, prophets, kings and judges, culminating in the greatestbiography of all--the Life embodied in the New Testament? How muchhave the great examples there set forth done for mankind! How manyhave drawn from them their best strength, their highest wisdom, their best nurture and admonition! Truly does a great and deeplypious writer describe the Bible as a book whose words "live in theear like a music that never can be forgotten--like the sound ofchurch-bells which the convert hardly knows how he can forego. Itsfelicities often seem to be almost things rather than mere words. Itis part of the national mind, and the anchor of nationalseriousness. The memory of the dead passes into it. The potenttraditions of childhood are stereotyped in its verses. The power ofall the griefs and trials of man is hidden beneath its words. It isthe representative of his best moments; and all that has been abouthim of soft, and gentle, and pure, and penitent, and good, speaks tohim forever out of his English Bible. It is his sacred thing, whichdoubt has never dimmed and controversy never soiled. In the lengthand breadth of the land there is not an individual with one spark ofreligiousness about him whose spiritual biography is not in hisSaxon Bible. "

History itself is best studied in biography. Indeed, history isbiography--collective humanity as influenced and governed byindividual men. "What is all history, " says Emerson, "but the workof ideas, a record of the incomparable energy which his infiniteaspirations infuse into man? In its pages it is always persons wesee more than principles. Historical events are interesting to usmainly in connection with the feelings, the sufferings, andinterests of those by whom they are accomplished. In history we aresurrounded by men long dead, but whose speech and whose deedssurvive. We almost catch the sound of their voices; and what theydid constitutes the interest of history. We never feel personallyinterested in masses of men; but we feel and sympathize with theindividual actors, whose biographies afford the finest and most realtouches in all great historical dramas. "

As in portraiture, so in biography--there must be light and shade. The portrait-painter does not pose his sitter so as to bring out hisdeformities; nor does the biographer give undue prominence to thedefects of the character he portrays. Not many men are so outspokenas Cromwell was when he sat to Cooper for his miniature: "Paint meas I am, " said he, "wart and all. " Yet, if we would have a faithfullikeness of faces and characters, they must be painted as they are. "Biography, " said Sir Walter Scott, "the most interesting of everyspecies of composition, loses all its interest with me when theshades and lights of the principal characters are not accurately andfaithfully detailed. I can no more sympathize with a mere eulogistthan I can with a ranting hero on the stage. "

It is to be regretted that in this day the country is flooded withcheap, trashy fiction, the general tendency of which is not only noteducational, but is positively destructive. The desire to read thisstuff is as demoralizing as the opium habit. 

There are works of fiction, cheap and available, too, whose influenceis elevating, and some knowledge of which is essential to the youngman who is using his spare hours for the purpose of self-education. 

There is no room for doubt that the surpassing interest whichfiction, whether in poetry or prose, possesses for most minds arisesmainly from the biographic element which it contains. Homer's "Iliad"owes its marvelous popularity to the genius which its authordisplayed in the portrayal of heroic character. Yet he does not somuch describe his personages in detail as make them developthemselves by their actions. "There are in Homer, " said Dr. Johnson, "such characters of heroes and combination of qualities of heroes, that the united powers of mankind ever since have not produced anybut what are to be found there. "

The genius of Shakespeare, also, was displayed in the powerfuldelineation of character, and the dramatic evolution of humanpassions. His personages seem to be real--living and breathingbefore us. So, too, with Cervantes, whose Sancho Panza, thoughhomely and vulgar, is intensely human. The characters in Le Sage's"Gil Bias, " in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield, " and in Scott'smarvelous muster-roll, seem to us almost as real as persons whom wehave actually known; and De Foe's greatest works are but so manybiographies, painted in minute detail, with reality so apparentlystamped upon every page that it is difficult to believe his RobinsonCrusoe and Colonel Jack to have been fictitious persons instead ofreal ones. 

Then we have a fine American literature, which should be read afterthe history of the country is mastered, the stories of Cooper arefresh and invigorating, and those of Hawthorne are life studies andprose poems. Holmes, Lowell, Emerson, Bayard Taylor, and scores ofother American writers, whose pens have added lustre to the country, will well repay the reader. 

Good books are among the best of companions; and, by elevating thethoughts and aspirations, they act as preservatives against lowassociations. "A natural turn for reading and intellectualpursuits, " says Thomas Hood, "probably preserved me from the moralship-wreck so apt to befall those who are deprived in early life oftheir parental pilotage. My books kept me from the ring, the dogpit, the tavern, the saloon. The closet associate of Pope andAddison, the mind accustomed to the noble though silent discourse ofShakespeare and Milton, will hardly seek or put up with low companyand slaves. "

It has been truly said that the best books are those which mostresemble good actions. They are purifying, elevating, andsustaining; they enlarge and liberalize the mind; they preserve itagainst vulgar worldliness; they tend to produce high-mindedcheerfulness and equanimity of character; they fashion, and shape, and humanize the mind. In the Northern universities, the schools inwhich the ancient classics are studied are appropriately styled "TheHumanity Classes. "

Erasmus, the great scholar, was even of opinion that books were thenecessaries of life, and clothes the luxuries; and he frequentlypostponed buying the latter until he had supplied himself with theformer. His greatest favorites were the writings of Cicero, which hesays he always felt himself the better for reading. "I can never, "he says, "read the works of Cicero on 'Old Age, ' or 'Friendship, ' orhis 'Tusculan Disputations, ' without fervently pressing them to mylips, without being penetrated with veneration for a mind littleshort of inspired by God himself. "

It is unnecessary to speak of the enormous moral influence whichbooks have exercised upon the general civilization of mankind, fromthe Bible downward. They contain the treasured knowledge of thehuman race. They are the record of all labors, achievements, speculations, successes, and failures, in science, philosophy, religion, and morals. They have been the greatest motive-powers inall times. "From the Gospel to the Contrat Social, " says De Bonald, "it is books that have made revolutions. " Indeed, a great book isoften a greater thing than a great battle. Even works of fictionhave occasionally exercised immense power on society. 

Bear in mind that it is not all we eat that nourishes, but what wedigest. The learned man is a glutton as to books, but the educatedman knows that, no matter how much is read, benefit is only derivedfrom the thoughts that develop our own thoughts and strengthen ourown minds. 

CHAPTER IX

THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE. 

"What experience have you had?" This is apt to be the first questionput by an employer to the applicant for a place, be he mechanic, clerk, or laborer. If you need a doctor, you would prefer to trustyour case to a man of experience, rather than to one fresh from amedical college. Apart from the established reputation, that comesonly with time, and natural abilities which count for much, theprincipal difference between men in every calling is the differencein their experiences. 

If this experience is so essential, we must regard as wanting injudgment the young man, who, after a short service, imagines he isas well qualified to conduct the business as his superior in place. No amount of natural ability, and no effort of energy can compensatefor the training that comes from experience. Indeed, it is onlyafter we have studied and tested ourselves, and overestimated ourtalents to our injury, more than once, that experience gives us aproper estimate of our own strength and weakness. 

Contact with others is requisite to enable a man to know himself. Itis only by mixing freely in the world that one can form a properestimate of his own capacity. Without such experience, one is apt tobecome conceited, puffed up, and arrogant; at all events, he willremain ignorant of himself, though he may heretofore have enjoyed noother company. 

Swift once said: "It is an uncontroverted truth, that no man evermade an ill-figure who understood his own talents, nor a good onewho mistook them. " Many persons, however, are readier to takemeasure of the capacity of others than of themselves. "Bring him tome, " said a certain Dr. Tronchin, of Geneva, speaking of Rousseau--"bring him to me that I may see whether he has got anything inhim!"--the probability being that Rousseau, who knew himself better, was much more likely to take measure of Tronchin than Tronchin wasto take measure of him. 

A due amount of self-knowledge is, therefore, necessary for those whowould _be_ anything or _do_ anything in the world. It is also one ofthe first essentials to the formation of distinct personalconvictions. Frederick Perthes once said to a young friend, "Youknow only too well what you _can_ do; but till you have learned whatyou _can not_ do, you will neither accomplish anything of moment norknow inward peace. "

Any one who would profit by experience will never be above askinghelp. He who thinks himself already too wise to learn of others, will never succeed in doing anything either good or great. We haveto keep our minds and hearts open, and never be ashamed to learn, with the assistance of those who are wiser and more experienced thanourselves. 

The man made wise by experience endeavors to judge correctly of thethings which come under his observation and form the subject of hisdaily life. What we call common sense is, for the most part, but theresult of common experience wisely improved. Nor is great abilitynecessary to acquire it, so much as patience, accuracy, andwatchfulness. 

The results of experience are, of course, only to be achieved byliving; and living is a question of time. The man of experiencelearns to rely upon time as his helper. "Time and I against anytwo, " was a maxim of Cardinal Mazarin. Time has been described as abeautifier and as a consoler; but it is also a teacher. It is thefood of experience, the soil of wisdom. It may be the friend or theenemy of youth; and time will sit beside the old as a consoler or asa tormentor, according as it has been used or misused, and the pastlife has been well or ill spent. 

"Time, " says George Herbert, "is the rider that breaks youth. " To theyoung, how bright the new world looks!--how full of novelty, ofenjoyment, of pleasure! But as years pass, we find the world to be aplace of sorrow as well as of joy. As we proceed through life, manydark vistas open upon us--of toil, suffering, difficulty, perhapsmisfortune and failure. Happy they who can pass through and amidstsuch trials with a firm mind and pure heart, encountering trialswith cheerfulness, and standing erect beneath even the heaviestburden!

Thomas A. Edison, the great inventor, in speaking of his success tothe writer, said:

"I had when I started out all the patience and perseverance that Ihave now, but I lacked the experience. Seeing that I had only tenweeks' regular schooling in all my life, I can say with truth thatexperience has been my school and my only one. 

"Many believe that my life has been a success from the start, and Ido not try to undeceive them, but as a matter of fact my failureshave exceeded my successes as one hundred to one; but even theexperience of these failures has been in itself an educator and hasenabled me not to repeat them. "

The brave man will not be baffled, but tries and tries again until hesucceeds. The tree does not fall at the first stroke, but only byrepeated strokes and after great labor. We may see the visiblesuccess at which a man has arrived, but forget the toil andsuffering and peril through which it has been achieved. For the samereason, it is often of advantage for a man to be under the necessityof having to struggle with poverty and conquer it. "He who hasbattled, " says Carlyle, "were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than he who could stay athome from the battle, concealed among the provision wagons, or evenrest unwatchfully 'abiding by the stuff. '"

Scholars have found poverty tolerable compared with the privation ofintellectual food. Riches weigh much more heavily upon the mind. "Icannot but choose say to Poverty, " said Richter, "Be welcome! Sothat thou come not too late in life. " Poverty, Horace tells us, drove him to poetry and poetry introduced him to Varus and Virgiland Maecenas. "Obstacles, " says Michelet, "are great incentives. Ilived for whole years upon a Virgil and found myself well off. "

Many have to make up their minds to encounter failure again and againbefore they succeed; but if they have pluck, the failure will onlyserve to rouse their courage and stimulate them to renewed efforts. Talma, the greatest of actors, was hissed off the stage when hefirst appeared on it. Lacordaire, one of the greatest preachers ofmodern times, only acquired celebrity after repeated failures. Montalembert said of his first public appearance in the church ofSt. Roch: He failed completely, and, on coming out, every one said, "Though he may be a man of talent he will never be a preacher. "Again and again he tried, until he succeeded, and only two yearsafter his _debut_, Lacordaire was preaching in Notre Dame toaudiences such as few French orators have addressed since the timeof Bossuet and Massilon. 

When Mr. Cobden first appeared as a speaker at a public meeting inManchester, he completely broke down and the chairman apologized forhis failure. Sir James Graham and Mr. Disraeli failed and werederided at first, and only succeeded by dint of great labor andapplication. At one time Sir James Graham had almost given up publicspeaking in despair. He said to his friend Sir Francis Baring: "Ihave tried it every way--extempore, from notes, and committing itall to memory--and I can't do it. I don't know why it is, but I amafraid I shall never succeed. " Yet by dint of perseverance, Graham, like Disraeli, lived to become one of the most effective andimpressive of parliamentary speakers. 

In every field of effort success has only come after many trials. Morse with his telegraph and Howe with his sewing machine lived inpoverty and met with many disappointments before the world came toappreciate the value of their great inventions. 

It can be said with truth that these great men could have avoidedmuch of their trouble if they had had the necessary experience. Butparticularly in the two cases cited before, the inventions were newto the world and it needed that the world should have the experienceof their utility as well as the inventors. 

Science also has had its martyrs, who have fought their way to lightthrough difficulty, persecution and suffering. We need not refer tothe cases of Bruno, Galileo and others, persecuted because of thesupposed heterodoxy of their views. But there have been otherunfortunates among men of science, whose genius has been unable tosave them from the fury of their enemies. Thus Bailly, thecelebrated French astronomer (who had been mayor of Paris) andLavoisier, the great chemist, were both guillotined in the firstFrench Revolution. When the latter, after being sentenced to deathby the Commune, asked for a few days' respite to enable him toascertain the result of some experiments he had made during hisconfinement, the tribunal refused his appeal, and ordered him forimmediate execution, one of the judges saying that "the Republic hasno need of philosophers. " In England also, about the same time, Dr. Priestley, the father of modern chemistry, had his house burned overhis head and his library destroyed, amidst the shouts of "Nophilosophers!" and he fled from his native country to lay his bonesin a foreign land. 

Courageous men have often turned enforced solitude to account inexecuting works of great pith and moment. It is in solitude that thepassion for spiritual perfection best nurses itself. The soulcommunes with itself in loneliness until its energy often becomesintense. But whether a man profits by solitude or not will mainlydepend upon his own temperament, training and character. While, in alarge-natured man, solitude will make the pure heart purer, in thesmall-natured man it will only serve to make the hard heart stillharder; for though solitude may be the nurse of great spirits, it isthe torment of small ones. 

Not only have many of the world's greatest benefactors, men whoselives history now records the most successful, had not only tocontend with poverty, but it was their misfortune to bemisunderstood and to be regarded as criminals. Many a great reformerin religion, science, and government has paid for his opinions byimprisonment. Speaking of these great men, a prominent Englishwriter says: Prisons may have held them, but their thoughts were notto be confined by prison walls. They have burst through and defiedthe power of their persecutors. It was Lovelace, a prisoner, whowrote:

"Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for a hermitage. "

It was a saying of Milton that, "who best can suffer, best can do. "The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has beendone amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggledagainst the tide and reached the shore exhausted, only to grasp thesand and expire. They have done their duty and been content to die. But death hath no power over such men; their hallowed memories stillsurvive to soothe and purify and bless us. "Life, " said Goethe, "tous all is suffering. Who save God alone shall call us to ourreckoning? Let not reproaches fall on the departed. Not what theyhave failed in, nor what they have suffered, but what they havedone, ought to occupy the survivors. "

Thus, it is not ease and facility that try men and bring out the goodthat is in them, so much as trial and difficulty. Adversity is thetouchstone of character. As some herbs need to be crushed to giveforth their sweetest odor, so some natures need to be tried bysuffering to evoke the excellence that is in them. Hence trialsoften unmask virtues and bring to light hidden graces. 

Suffering may be the appointed means by which the higher nature ofman is to be disciplined and developed. Assuming happiness to be theend of being, sorrow may be the indispensable condition throughwhich it is to be reached. Hence St. Paul's noble paradoxdescriptive of the Christian life--"As chastened, and not killed; assorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; ashaving nothing, and yet possessing all things. "

Even pain is not all painful. On one side it is related to suffering, and on the other to happiness. For pain is remedial as well assorrowful. Suffering is a misfortune as viewed from the one side, and a discipline as viewed from the other. But for suffering, thebest part of many men's natures would sleep a deep sleep. Indeed, itmight almost be said that pain and sorrow were the indispensableconditions of some men's success, and the necessary means to evokethe highest development of their genius. Shelley has said of poets:

"Most wretched men are cradled into poetry by wrong, They learn in suffering what they teach in song. "

But the young man meeting with disappointments, as he is sure to doin the beginning of his career, particularly if he be dependent onhimself, should take comfort from the thought that others who haverisen to success have had to travel the same hard road; and such menhave confessed that these trials, these bitter experiences, were themost valuable of their lives. 

Life, all sunshine without shade, all happiness without sorrow, allpleasure without pain, were not life at all--at least not humanlife. Take the lot of the happiest--it is a tangled yarn. It is madeup of sorrows and joys; and the joys are all the sweeter because ofthe sorrows; bereavements and blessings, one following another, making us sad and blessed by turns. Even death itself makes lifemore loving; it binds us more closely together while here. Dr. Thomas Browne has argued that death is one of the necessaryconditions of human happiness, and he supports his argument withgreat force and eloquence. But when death comes into a household, wedo not philosophize--we only feel. The eyes that are full of tearsdo not see; though in course of time they come to see more clearlyand brightly than those that have never known sorrow. 

There is much in life that, while in this state, we can nevercomprehend. There is, indeed, a great deal of mystery in life--muchthat we see "as in a glass darkly. " But though we may not apprehendthe full meaning of the discipline of trial through which the besthave to pass, we must have faith in the completeness of the designof which our little individual lives form a part. 

We have each to do our duty in that sphere of life in which we havebeen placed. Duty alone is true; there is no true action but in itsaccomplishment. Duty is the end and aim of the highest life; thetruest pleasure of all is that derived from the consciousness of itsfulfillment. Of all others, it is the one that is most thoroughlysatisfying, and the least accompanied by regret and disappointment. In the words of George Herbert, the consciousness of duty performed"gives us music at midnight. "

And when we have done our work on earth--of necessity, of labor, oflove, or of duty--like the silk-worm that spins its little cocoonand dies, we too depart. But, short though our stay in life may be, it is the appointed sphere in which each has to work out the greataim and end of his being to the best of his power; and when that isdone, the accidents of the flesh will affect but little theimmortality we shall at last put on. 

CHAPTER X

SELECTING A CALLING. 

In reading the lives of great men, one is struck with a veryimportant fact: that their success has been won in callings forwhich in early manhood they had no particular liking. Necessity orchance has, in many cases, decided what their life-work should be. But even where the employment was at first uncongenial, a strictsense of duty and a strong determination to master the difficult andto like the disagreeable, conquered in the end. 

In these days of fierce competition, no matter how ardent the desirefor fame, he is a dreamer who loses sight of the monetary returns ofhis life-efforts. 

There have been a few men whose wants were simple, and these wantsguarded against by a certain official income, who could afford toignore gain and to work for the truths of science or the good ofhumanity. The great English chemist Faraday was of this class. Onceasked by a friend why he did not use his great abilities andadvantages to accumulate a fortune, he said: "My dear fellow, Ihaven't time to give to money making. "

It is, perhaps, to be regretted that in nearly every case the effortsof to-day, whether in commerce, trade, or science, have for theirpurpose the making of fortunes. Nor should this spirit be condemned, for fortune in the hands of the right men is a blessing to the worldand particularly to those who are more improvident. 

Peter Cooper, Stephen Girard, George Peabody, and many other eminentAmericans who made their way to great wealth from comparativepoverty, used that wealth to enable young men, starting life as theydid, to achieve the same success without having to encounter thesame obstacles. 

It is a well-known fact that boys who live near the sea have anintense yearning to become sailors. Every healthy boy has a longingto be a soldier, and he takes the greatest delight in toy militaryweapons. 

Our ideals for living, particularly when they are the creations of ayouthful imagination, are but seldom safe guides for our matureyears. The fairy stories that delighted our childhood and theromances that fired our youth, are found but poor guides to success, when the great life-battle is on us. 

It is a mistake for parents and guardians to say that this boy orthat girl shall follow out this or that life-calling, without anyregard to the tastes, or any consideration of the natural capacity. It is equally an error, because the boy or girl may like this orthat branch of study more than another, to infer that this indicatesa talent for that subject. Arithmetic is but seldom as popular withyoung people as history, simply because the latter requires lessmental effort to master it. The world is full of professionalincompetents--creatures of circumstances very often, but morefrequently their life-failure is due to the whims of ambitiousparents. 

While the child and even the young man are but seldom the best judgesof what a life-calling should be, yet the observant parent andteacher can discover the natural inclination, and by encouragement, develop this inclination. 

As the wrecks on sandy beaches and by rock-bound shores, warn thecareful mariner from the same fate, so the countless wrecks whichthe young man sees on every hand, increasing as he goes throughlife, should warn him from the same dangers. 

It is stated, on what seems good authority, that ninety-five percentof the men who go into business for themselves, fail at some time. It would be an error, however, to infer from this that the failureswere due to a mistaken life-calling. They have been due rather tounforeseen circumstances, over-confidence, or the desire to succeedtoo rapidly. Benefiting by these reverses, a large percent of thefailures have entered on the life-struggle again and won. 

In the early days of the world's history, the callings or fields ofeffort were necessarily limited to the chase, herding oragriculture. In those times, the toiler had not only to work for thesupport of himself and family, but he had also to be a warrior, trained to the use of arms, and ready to defend the products of hislabor from the theft of robber neighbors. 

In this later and broader day, civilization has opened up thousandsof avenues of effort that were unknown to our less fortunateancestors. 

While the world is filled with human misfits, round pegs in squareholes and square pegs in round holes, the choice of callings has sospread with the growth of civilization, that every young man whoreasons for himself and studies his own powers, can with more orless certainty find out his calling, and pursue it with a successentirely dependent on his own fitness and energy. 

In a general way, the great fields of human effort, at this time, maybe divided into three classes. First, the so-called "learnedprofessions"--journalism, theology, medicine and law. Second, thecallings pertaining to public life, such as politics, military, science, and education. Third, those vocations that pertain toproduction, like agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. 

But apart from the callings selected, it should be kept carefully inmind that, no matter the business, success is dependent entirely onthe man. 

Business is the salt of life, which not only gives a grateful smackto it, but dries up those crudities that would offend, preservesfrom putrefaction, and drives off all those blowing flies that wouldcorrupt it. Let a man be sure to drive his business rather than letit drive him. When a man is but once brought to be driven, hebecomes a vassal to his affairs. Reason and right give the quickestdispatch. All the entanglements that we meet with arise from theirrationality of ourselves or others. With a wise and honest man abusiness is soon ended, but with a fool and knave there is noconclusion, and seldom even a beginning. 

Having decided on a calling, bear ever in mind that faith andtrustfulness lie at the foundation of trade and commercialintercourse, and business transactions of every kind. A community ofknown swindlers and knaves would try in vain to avail themselves ofthe advantages of traffic, or to gain access to those circles wherehonor and honesty are indispensable passports. Hence the value whichis attached, by all right-minded men, to purity of purpose andintegrity of character. A man may be unfortunate, he may be poor andpenniless; but if he is known to possess unbending integrity, anunwavering purpose to do what is honest and just, he will havefriends and patrons whatever may be the embarrassments andexigencies into which he is thrown. The poor man may thus possess acapital of which none of the misfortunes and calamities of life candeprive him. We have known men who have been suddenly reduced fromaffluence to penury by misfortunes, which they could neither foreseenor prevent. A fire has swept away the accumulations of years;misplaced confidence, a flood, or some of the thousand casualties towhich commercial men are exposed, have stripped them of theirpossessions. To-day they have been prosperous, to-morrow everyprospect is blighted, and everything in its aspect is dark anddismal. Their business is gone, their property is gone, and theyfeel that all is gone; but they have a rich treasure which the firecannot consume, which the flood cannot carry away. They haveintegrity of character, and this gives them influence, raises upfriends, and furnishes them with means to start afresh in the worldonce more. Young men, especially, should be deeply impressed withthe vast importance of cherishing those principles, and ofcultivating those habits, which will secure for them the confidenceand esteem of the wise and good. Let it be borne in mind that nobrilliancy of genius, no tact or talent in business, and no amountof success, will compensate for duplicity, shuffling, and trickery. There may be apparent advantage in the art and practice ofdissimulation, and in violating those great principles which lie atthe foundation of truth and duty; but it will at length be seenthat a dollar was lost where a cent was gained; that presentsuccesses are outweighed, a thousand-fold, by the pains andpenalties which result from loss of confidence and loss ofreputation. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds ofyoung men to abstain from every course, from every act, which shockstheir moral sensibilities, wounds their conscience, and has atendency to weaken their sense of honor and integrity. 

CHAPTER XI

WE MUST HELP OURSELVES. 

To the young man of the right kind, the inheritance of a fortune, orthe possession of influential friends, may be great advantages, butmore frequently they are hindrances. To win you must fight foryourself, and the effort will give you strength. 

The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in theindividual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes thetrue source of national vigor and strength. Help from without isoften enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariablyinvigorates. Whatever is done _for_ men or classes, to a certainextent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing forthemselves; and where men are subjected to over-guidance and over-government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparativelyhelpless. 

The privileges of a superior education, like the inheritance of afortune, depends upon the man. It should encourage those who haveonly themselves and God to look to for support, to remember thatself-education is the best education, and that some of the greatestmen have had few or no school advantages. 

Daily experience shows that it is energetic individualism whichproduces the most powerful effects upon the life and action ofothers, and really constitutes the best practical education. Schools, academies, and colleges give but the merest beginnings ofculture in comparison with it. Far more influential is the life-education daily given in our homes, in the streets, behind counters, in workshops, at the loom and the plough, in counting-houses andmanufactories, and in the busy haunts of men. This is that finishinginstruction as members of society, which Schiller designated "theeducation of the human race, " consisting in action, conduct, self-culture, self-control--all that tends to discipline a man truly, andfit him for the proper performance of the duties and business oflife--a kind of education not to be learned from books, or acquiredby any amount of mere literary training. With his usual weight ofwords Bacon observes, that "Studies teach not their own use; butthat is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation;"a remark that holds true of actual life, as well as of thecultivation of the intellect itself. For all experience serves toillustrate and enforce the lesson, that a man perfects himself bywork more than by reading--that it is life rather than literature, action rather than study, and character rather than biography, whichtend perpetually to renovate mankind. 

No matter how humble your calling in life may be, take heart from thefact that many of the world's greatest men have had no superioradvantages. Lincoln studied law lying on his face before a log-fire;General Garfield drove a mule on a canal tow-path in his boyhood, and George Peabody, owing to the poverty of his family, was anerrand boy in a grocery store at the age of eleven. 

Great men of science, literature, and art--apostles of great thoughtsand lords of the great heart--have belonged to no exclusive class orrank in life. They have come alike, from colleges, workshops, andfarm-houses--from the huts of poor men and the mansions of the rich. Some of God's greatest apostles have come from "the ranks. " Thepoorest have sometimes taken the highest places, nor havedifficulties apparently the most insuperable proved obstacles intheir way. Those very difficulties, in many instances, would evenseem to have been their best helpers, by evoking their powers oflabor and endurance, and stimulating into life faculties which mightotherwise have lain dormant. The instances of obstacles thussurmounted, and of triumphs thus achieved, are indeed so numerous asalmost to justify the proverb that "with will one can do anything. "

If we took to England, the mother country, a land where theadvantages are not nearly so great as in this and the difficultiesgreater, we shall find noble spirits rising to usefulness andeminence in the face of difficulties equally great. 

Shoemakers have given us Sir Cloudesley Shovel the great admiral, Sturgeon the electrician, Samuel Drew the essayist, Gifford theeditor of the _Quarterly Review_, Bloomfield the poet, and WilliamCarey the missionary; whilst Morrison, another laborious missionary, was a maker of shoe-lasts. Within the last few years, a profoundnaturalist has been discovered in the person of a shoemaker atBanff, named Thomas Edwards, who, while maintaining himself by histrade, has devoted his leisure to the study of natural science inall its brandies, his researches in connection with the smallercrustaceae having been rewarded by the discovery of a new species, to which the name of "Praniza Edwardsii" has been given bynaturalists. 

Nor have tailors been undistinguished. John Stow, the historian, worked at the trade during some part of his life. Jackson, thepainter, made clothes until he reached manhood. The brave Sir JohnHawkswood, who so greatly distinguished himself at Poictiers, andwas knighted by Edward III for his valor, was in early lifeapprenticed to a London tailor. Admiral Hobson, who broke the boomat Vigo in 1702, belonged to the same calling. He was working astailor's apprentice near Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, when thenews flew through the village that a squadron of men-of-war wassailing off the island. He sprang from the shopboard, and ran downwith his comrades to the beach, to gaze upon the glorious sight. Theboy was suddenly inflamed with the ambition to be a sailor; andspringing into a boat, he rowed off to the squadron, gained theadmiral's ship, and was accepted as a volunteer. Years after, hereturned to his native village full of honors, and dined off baconand eggs in the cottage where he had worked as an apprentice. 

Oliver Goldsmith was regarded as a dunce in his school days, andDaniel Webster was so dull as a school-boy as not to indicate in anyway the great abilities he was to display. 

Humbert was a scapegrace when a youth; at sixteen he ran away fromhome and was by turns servant to a tradesman at Nancy, a workman atLyons, and a hawker of rabbit-skins. In 1792, he enlisted as avolunteer and in a year he was general of brigade. Kleber, Lefebvre, Suchet, Victor, Lannes, Soult, Massena, St. Cyr, D'Erlon, Murat, Augereau, Bessieres and Ney, all rose from the ranks. In some casespromotion was rapid, in others it was slow. St. Cyr, the son of atanner of Toul, began life as an actor, after which he enlisted inthe chasseurs and was promoted to a captaincy within a year. Victor, Due de Belluno, enlisted in the artillery in 1781: during the eventspreceding the Revolution he was discharged; but immediately on theoutbreak of war he re-enlisted, and in the course of a few monthshis intrepidity and ability secured his promotion as adjutant-majorand chief of battalion. Murat was the son of a village innkeeper inPerigord, where he looked after the horses. He first enlisted in aregiment of chasseurs, from which he was dismissed forinsubordination; but again, enlisting he shortly rose to the rank ofcolonel. Ney enlisted at eighteen in a hussar regiment and graduallyadvanced step by step; Kleber soon discovered his merits, surnaminghim "The Indefatigable, " and promoted him to be adjutant-generalwhen only twenty-five. 

General Christopher Carson, or "Kit" Carson as he is known to theworld, although strictly temperate in his life and as gentle as ablue-eyed child in his manner, ran away from his home in Missouri tothe Western wilds, when he was a boy of fourteen. His father wantedhim to be a farmer, but Providence had greater if not nobler usesfor him. Out in the Rocky Mountains--then a wilderness--he learnedthe Indian languages, and became as familiar with every trail andpass as the red men. 

It was the knowledge gained in those early days that enabled KitCarson to carry succor to Fremont's men perishing in the mountains. Not only did Carson bring food to the dying men, but when they werestrong enough to move he guided them to a place of safety. 

This truly great man averted many an Indian war, and did as much forthe settlement and civilization of the West as any man of his day--more, indeed. In the days of secession he was a patriot, and thoughhe might have grown rich at the expense of the Government, hepreferred to die a poor and honored man. 

Admiral Farragut, although born in East Tennessee, went into theUnited States Navy at the early age of eleven. He was the youngestmidshipman in the service. "Before I had reached the age ofsixteen, " he says, "I prided myself on my profanity, and could drinkwith the strongest. "

One morning on recovering from a debauch he reviewed the situationand saw the shoals ahead. Then and there he fell on his knees andasked God to help him. From that day on he gave up tobacco, liquor, and profanity, devoted himself to the study of his profession, andso became the greatest Admiral of modern times. "The canal boatcaptains, when I was a boy, " said General Garfield, "were a profane, carousing, ignorant lot, and, as a boy, I was eager to imitate them. But my eyes were opened before I contracted their habits, and I leftthem. "

John B. Gough is an example of such a change of life that shouldencourage every young man who has made a mis-step. 

Among like men of the same class may be ranked the late RichardCobden, whose start in life was equally humble. The son of a smallfarmer at Midhurst in Sussex, he was sent at an early age to Londonand employed as a boy in a warehouse in the City. He was diligent, well-conducted, and eager for information. His master, a man of theold school, warned him against too much reading; but the boy went onin his own course, storing his mind with the wealth found in books. He was promoted from one position of trust to another, became atraveler for his house, secured a large connection, and eventuallystarted in business as a calico-printer at Manchester. Taking aninterest in public questions, more especially in popular education, his attention was gradually drawn to the subject of the Corn Laws, to the repeal of which he may be said to have contributed more thanall the rest of Parliament. 

It would be a mistake, however, to judge from this that all theworld's greatest men, started life poor, or that some men of wealthand prominent family have not contributed their share, and have not, by reason of that wealth, sedulously followed a useful life-calling. 

Riches are so great a temptation to ease and self-indulgence, towhich men are by nature prone, that the glory is all the greater ofthose who, born to ample fortunes, nevertheless take an active partin the work of their generation--who "scorn delights and livelaborious days. "

It was a fine thing said of a subaltern officer in the Peninsularcampaigns, observed trudging along through mud and mire by the sideof his regiment, "There goes 15, 000 pounds a year!" and in our ownday, the bleak slopes of Sebastopol and the burning soil of Indiahave borne witness to the like noble self-denial and devotion on thepart of the richer classes; many a gallant and noble fellow, of rankand estate, having risked his life, or lost it, in one or other ofthose fields of action, in the service of his country. 

Nor have the wealthier classes been undistinguished in the morepeaceful pursuits of philosophy and science. Take, for instance, thegreat names of Bacon, the father of modern philosophy, and ofWorcester, Boyle, Cavendish, Talbot and Rosse in science. The lastnamed may be regarded as the great mechanic of the peerage; a manwho, if he had not been born a peer, would probably have taken thehighest rank as an inventor. So thorough was his knowledge of smith-work that he is said to have been pressed on one occasion to acceptthe foremanship of a large workshop, by a manufacturer to whom hisrank was unknown. The great Rosse telescope, of his own fabrication, is certainly the most extraordinary instrument of the kind that hasyet been constructed. 

We are apt to think that the wealthy classes in America are addictedto idleness, but, in proportion to their number, they are asusefully industrious as those who are forced to work for a living. The Adams family, of Massachusetts, for more than a century, hasbeen even more distinguished for statesmanship and intellect thanfor great wealth. The Vanderbilts have all been hard workers andable business men. George Gould seems to be quite as great afinancier as his remarkable father. The Astors are distinguished fortheir literary ability; William Waldorf Astor and his cousin, JohnJacob, are authors of great merit. The Lees, of Virginia, have everbeen distinguished for energy, intellect, and a capacity for hardwork. And so we might cite a hundred examples to prove that even inAmerica, want is not the greatest incentive to effort. 

The indefatigable industry of Lord Brougham has become almostproverbial. His public labors extended over a period of upward ofsixty years, during which he ranged over many fields--of law, literature, politics, and science--and achieved distinction in themall. How he contrived it, has been to many a mystery. Once, when SirSamuel Romilly was requested to undertake some new work, he excusedhimself by saying that he had no time; "but, " he added, "go with itto that fellow Brougham, he seems to have time for everything. " Thesecret of it was, that he never left a minute unemployed; withal hepossessed a constitution of iron. When arrived at an age at whichmost men would have retired from the world to enjoy their hard-earned leisure, perhaps to doze away their time in an easy chair, Lord Brougham commenced and prosecuted a series of elaborateinvestigations as to the laws of Light, and he submitted the resultsto the most scientific audiences that Paris and London could muster. About the same time, he was passing through the press his admirablesketches of the "Men of Science and Literature of the Reign ofGeorge III, " and taking his full share of the law business and thepolitical discussions in the House of Lords. Sydney Smith oncerecommended him to confine himself to only the transaction of somuch business as three strong men could get through. But such wasBrougham's love of work--long become a habit--that no amount ofapplication seems to have been too great for him; and such was hislove of excellence that it has been said of him that if his stationin life had been only that of a shoeblack, he would never haverested satisfied until he had become the best shoeblack in England. 

Chapter XII

SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 

According to Holy Writ, man's first calling was agriculture, or, perhaps, horticulture would better express it. Adam was placed inthe Garden to till and care for it; and even after he was drivenfrom that blissful abode and compelled to live by the sweat of hisbrow, he had to go back to the earth from which his body was made tosustain the life breathed into it by Jehovah. But the young men ofto-day, and it is much to be regretted, regard farming life withmore and more disfavor. To be sure, the greatest fortunes have notbeen accumulated in farming, but this book will not haveaccomplished its purpose if it has failed to pint out that lives canbe eminently successful without the accumulation of great wealth. 

Before proceeding further, let us state a truth which will beconvincing to every reader who knows anything at all about thecareers of successful men. It is not a little remarkable that themost successful preachers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, andmechanics have had their earliest training on the farm. 

As we have before said, the successful life is the one that ishappiest and most useful in itself, and which produces happiness andusefulness in others. And as the majority of workers in mostcivilized lands are directly connected with agriculture, and as allsustenance for our daily lives, and all wealth, save the limitedamount that comes from the sea, is directly traceable to the land, it follows that agriculture is the most important of all callings--and I would say the most honorable, were it not that every calling ishonorable that requires for its success energy, industry, intelligence, and honesty. 

The United States, above all countries in the world at this time, indeed, above all countries of which history furnishes any record, has been more dependent for its growth and success on agriculturethan on any other vocation. While our manufacturing enterprises rankus next to England among the world's manufacturing producers, yetmore than nine-tenths of our export trade with foreign countries isin agricultural products, such as: wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco, andbeef and pork, which, under the present system of farming, are asmuch agricultural productions as the grain on which the ox and thehog are fattened. 

In agriculture, or farming, is included the bulk of the balance oflabor not covered by the building and mechanical trades, and theemployments growing out of and connected with them. 

Good farming is dependent on good machinery, including tools, and ongood buildings. Doubtless, in its infancy, neither was used, eventhe hoe and hut being unknown. Among the first records of producingfrom the soil, to be found in any detail, is the raising of corn inChaldea and Egypt. Sowing seed in the valley of the Nile, andturning on the swine to tread it into the soil, was one of themethods in use, and every process of planting and harvesting was ofthe simplest. As population grew more dense, and other climates andsoils were occupied, better processes were developed, and morevaried were the productions. Animal power and rude tools weregradually brought into use, and about 1000 years before Christ "aplow with a beam, share and handles" is mentioned. Then agricultureis spoken of as being in a flourishing condition, and artificialdrainage was resorted to. Grecian farming in the days of itsprosperity attained, in some districts, a creditable advancement, and the implements in use were, in principle, similar to many ofmodern construction. Horses, cattle, swine, sheep, and poultry werebred and continually improved by importations from other countries. Manuring of the fields was practiced; ground was often plowed threetimes before seeding; and sub-soiling and other mixings of soilswere in some cases employed. A great variety of fruit wassuccessfully cultivated, and good farming was a source of pride tothe people. The Romans considered it, as Washington did, the mosthonorable and useful occupation. Each Roman citizen was allotted apiece of land of from five to fifty acres by the government, and inafter times, when annexations were made, up to five hundred acreswere allotted. The land was generally closely and carefullycultivated, and the most distinguished citizens considered it theirgreatest compliment to be called good farmers. The Roman Senate hadtwenty-eight books, written by a Carthaginian farmer, translated forthe use of the people. The general sentiment among the moreintelligent was to hold small farms and till them well; to protecttheir fields from winds and storms, and to defer building orincurring avoidable expense until fully able. 

Thirteen centuries were required to improve upon the plowing of two-thirds of an acre, which in Roman parlance was a _jugarum_, necessitating the labor of two days. The eighteenth century madegreat improvements in the modes of farming, especially in the matterof tools, machinery, and farm literature; while this century hasmade marked progress in the raising and harvesting of crops, buildings for farm purposes, and a remarkable improvement in horses, cattle, and other farm stock. Salt was found to be a fertilizer, andvegetation proven to be more beneficial on land in summer thanleaving it bare and unoccupied, as had formerly been the theory. Manures were found to be of increased value when mixed, and guanoswere introduced. 

The Germans and French began improvement in farming before theEnglish, and have well sustained it. 

Since the primitive years of the Untied States, her agriculture hasattained unparalleled growth, and remains her chief pride andrevenue. Those were the years that tried the farmers' souls. Theyhad everything to learn; forests to clear off; seeds andconveniences to secure; roads to open; new grounds to cultivate;buildings to erect, and hostile Indians to watch and fight. SouthCarolina was the first State to organize an agricultural society, which was accomplished in 1784. Now nearly all the counties of everyState have similar organizations, besides those of the Statesthemselves. That they are materially and socially beneficial isunquestioned, barring the effect of horse-racing and its bettingaccompaniment. 

Among the more valuable auxiliaries of the farmer are theagricultural journals of the country, for which hundreds ofthousands of dollars are annually expended. With few exceptions theyfill the measure of their publication, and the information theyfurnish, if properly and judiciously used, can have none but ahealthy effect. While nine out of every ten farmers doubtless do notdo all, nor as well as they know, the benefit and incitement ofknowing more can but be beneficial. It is as a bill of fare at aneating-house--while the consumption of every article named thereinwould be death, the large selection at hand renders possible awholesome meal. 

Mr. Joshua Hill in his work entitled "Thought and Thrift"--which, bythe way, would be more valuable if less partisan--has this to say inconnection with the business and courage required in agriculture:

"Neglect of aid that may be had in procuring the best results oflabor, and inattention in applying it, are faults possessed by many. Every man is by nature possessed of abilities of some sort; and ifhe has found the right way to use them, he alone is to blame if hedoes not properly apply them with a view to their highest and bestresults. There is no use for a rule if there be no measures to take;thee is no use for a reason if men do not heed it. Human experiencesare full of wise counsel for those who desire to learn and do so;but for those who close their eyes and wait for results withouteffort, the records containing them would just as well never havebeen written. There is an absolutely fixed law of nature that deniesto man anything that he does not receive from some kind of labor, except to such as live by favor and robbery, and not by work. Thereare many examples of those who are said to 'live by their wits, ' butthe problem as to how it is done may never be solved. Nor does itneed to be solved, as no man should justly expect to enjoy anythingwhich has not been procured by his own labor. Those who mostappreciated the comforts of life are those who create them forthemselves. In knowing how what we have is obtained, lies its chiefvalue to us. Men naturally take pride in the possession of atreasure in proportion to the trouble involved in securing it. Whoever would thrive in his farming must bend his whole will andpurpose to it. Nothing which can be done to-day should be put offtill to-morrow. To-morrow may never come, and should it come, maynot changed conditions and difficulties render set tasks impossible?Under some circumstances men trust to fortune, without seriouserrors, in postponing the execution of appointed tasks. The maximthat 'procrastination is the thief of time' points a moral impliedin itself, and is unquestionably true in a majority of instances. Men of business are often careful in some matters, to the neglect ofothers more important. Different men have different methods ofbusiness, which, considering differences of constitution and mannerof application, is only natural; not dangerous, but ratherbeneficial. No two men go to work in the same way, notwithstandingthey may have both learned of the same teacher, or been instructedupon the same principle. The greater trouble lies in improperapplication and inattention to details. Trifles make up the sum oflife, as cents make dollars. An overanxious man, he who makes greathaste to be rich, seldom prospers long in any undertaking. Possibilities, not probabilities, should be the guide. A sanguinedisposition may or may not be useful in business. Disappointmentoften follows sanguine hopes. A good business man calculatesclosely; does not allow anticipation to run away with his judgment, nor imagine that any good result can follow a false move. 

"For these reasons, the farmer needs to think and to reason more; toattend more strictly to business rules and methods, and to exercisea greater courage and persistency in applying them. 'Work while itis day, ' says the Scriptures, 'for the night cometh when no man canwork. ' Command the present moment that shakes gold from its wings. That the future may bring bread for his family, the farmer sows seedin confidence, and awaits the harvest in hope. But if he fails to dowhat is necessary to a proper yield from his crop, he has made afailure of the talents committed to him. Men must acknowledge theresponsibility that rest upon them, and meet it with that truecourage which directs them aright. The lack of knowledge does notimply lack of ability to think and to reason. All men, unless ofidiotic, impaired, or diseased minds, are possessed of the facultyof reason, and should use it for the purpose for which it was given--to supply needed helps to our temporal existence. From thought comesability, and from ability system, courage, attention, application, the most valuable aids to every man of business. 

"But in farming as in every other calling the first great requisiteis self-reliance. The man who depends upon his neighbors, as Aesopillustrates in one of his fables, never has his work done. But whenhe says that he will do it himself on a certain day, then it isprudent for the bird that has been nesting in his grainfield tochange her habitation. "

CHAPTER XIII

AS TO PUBLIC LIFE. 

The relations of the citizen to the state, and of the state to thecitizen, are reciprocal. Every man who becomes a member of anestablished government, whether it be voluntary, as where an oath ofallegiance is taken to obey the laws, or involuntary, as by birth, which is the case of a majority of all citizens, he surrenderscertain natural rights in consideration of the protection which thegovernment throws about him. 

In a state of nature, man is free to do as he pleases, without anyrecognition of the rights of others; and his power to have his ownway is entirely dependent on the physical strength and courage whichhe has to enforce it. This is why, in a savage state, war is thealmost constant business of the men, and the strongest and thebravest of the lawless mob, tribe, or clan usually becomes leader. 

When through either of these agencies a man finds himself a member ofan established government, he owes to that government implicitobedience to its laws, in consideration of the protection to lifeand property which that government throws about him. 

In consideration of the protection which the banded many, known asthe state, gives to the individual, the individual pledges implicitobedience to the laws of the state. 

Horace says : _Dulci et decorum est pro patria mori_--meaning that itis brave and right to die for one's country. Old Dr. Sam Johnson, like his successor, Carlyle, was apt to sneer at the granderimpulses of humanity. He said on one occasion: "Patriotism is thelast resort of a scoundrel. " And yet we know that the noblestcharacters of all history have been the men who felt, with Horace, that it was noble to die for one's country. 

Americans, perhaps more than any other people in the world at thistime, have an intense appreciation of this spirit of patriotism. From the days of the Revolution to the present time, our mostprominent and most respected characters have been the men who, inthe forum or in the field, have devoted their lives to thepreservation and elevation of the Republic. 

Public life has its rewards, but they rarely come to the honest manin the form of dollars. Franklin, Jackson, Taylor, Jolinson, Grant, Garfield, and Lincoln were all the sons of poor men, and they diedpoor themselves; but who can say that their lives were not grandlysuccessful. 

An interest in politics should be the duty of everyone, but the youngman who enters public life for the sake of the money he mayaccumulate from office, starts out as a traitor to his country andan ingrate to his fellows. 

Public life should be an unselfish life. The service of the publicrequires the strongest bodies, the clearest brains, and the puresthearts, and the man who devotes his life to this great purpose mustfind his reward in a duty well performed, rather than in thefinancial emoluments of office. 

Duty is the spirit of patriotism, and while this spirit should runthrough every act in every calling, it must particularly distinguishthe man who has entered the public service as a soldier or civilofficial. It is duty that leads the soldier to face hardships anddeath without flinching, and the same high impulse should stimulatethe conduct where there is no physical danger. 

Samuel Smiles, to whom we are indebted for much that is valuable inthis work, has the following to say in this connection about duty:

"Duty is a thing that is due, and must be paid by every man who wouldavoid present discredit and eventual moral insolvency. It is anobligation--a debt--which can only be discharged by voluntary effortand resolute action in the affairs of life. 

"Duty embraces man's whole existence. It begins in the home, wherethere is the duty which children owe to their parents on the one-hand, and the duty which parents owe to their children on the other. There are, in like manner, the respective duties of husbands andwives, of masters and servants; while outside the home there are theduties which men and women owe to each other as friends andneighbors, as employers and employed, as governors and governed. 

"'Render, therefore, ' says St. Paul, 'to all their dues: tribute towhom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honorto whom honor. Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for hethat loveth another hath fulfilled the law. '

"Thus duty rounds the whole of life, from our entrance into it untilour exit from it--duty to superiors, duty to inferiors, and duty toequals--duty to man, and duty to God. Wherever there is power to useor to direct, there is duty. For we are but as stewards, appointedto employ the means entrusted to us for our own and for others'good. 

"The abiding sense of duty is the very crown of character. It is theupholding law of man in his highest attitudes. Without it, theindividual totters and falls before the first puff of adversity ortemptation; whereas, inspired by it, the weakest becomes strong andfull of courage. 'Duty, ' says Mrs. Jameson, 'is the cement whichbinds the whole moral edifice together; without which, all power, goodness, intellect, truth, happiness, love itself, can have nopermanence; but all the fabric of existence crumbles away from underus, and leaves us at last sitting in the midst of a ruin, astonishedat our own desolation. '

"Duty is based upon a sense of justice--justice inspired by love, which is the most perfect form of goodness. Duty is not a sentiment, but a principle pervading the life: and it exhibits itself inconduct and in acts, which are mainly determined by man's conscienceand free will. "

Sir John Packington, one of England's most famous men, said inspeaking of his public life:

"I am indebted for whatever measure of success I have attained in mypublic life, to a combination of moderate abilities with honesty ofintention, firmness of purpose, and steadiness of conduct. If I wereto offer advice to any young man anxious to make himself useful inpublic life, I would sum up the results of my experience in threeshort rules--rules so simple that any man may act upon them. Myfirst rule will be, leave it to others to judge of what duties youare capable, and for what position you are fitted; but never refuseto give your services in whatever capacity it my be the opinion ofothers who are competent to judge that you may benefit yourneighbors and your country. My second rule is, when you agree toundertake public duties, concentrate every energy and faculty inyour possession with the determination to discharge those duties tothe best of your ability. Lastly, I would counsel you that, indeciding on the line which you will take in public affairs, youshould be guided in your decision by that which, after maturedeliberation, you believe to be right, and not by that which, in thepassing hour, may happen to be fashionable or popular. "

Another author equally eminent writes in the same vein:

"The first great duty of every citizen is that of an abiding love forhis country. This is one of the native instincts of the noble heart. History tells of many a devoted hero, reared under an oppressivedespotism, and groaning under unjust exactions, with little in thecharacter of his ruler to excite anything like generous enthusiasm, who yet has shed his blood and given up his treasures in willingsacrifice for his country's good. In a country such as this we livein, it is the duty of every man to be a patriot, and to love andserve it with an affection that is commensurate both with thepriceless cost of her liberties, and the greatness of her civil andreligious privileges. Indeed, however it may be in other lands, inthis one the youth may be said to draw in the love of country withhis native air; and it is justly taken for granted that all willseek and maintain her interests, as that the child shall love itsmother, on whose bosom it has been cradled, and of whose life it isa part. 

"In no other country more than this is it important that all shouldrightly understand and faithfully fulfill the duties of citizenship. While ignorance is the natural stronghold of tyranny, knowledge isthe very throne of civil liberty. It is the interest of despotism tofoster a blind, unreasoning obedience to arbitrary law; but where, as with us, almost the humblest has a voice in the administration ofpublic affairs, more depends upon the enlightened sentiments of themasses than upon even the skill of temporary rulers, or thecharacter of existing laws. "

A generation ago, when the integrity of the Union was threatened, therich and the poor, the young and the old, particularly in what wereknown as the Free States, gave up all for the defense of theRepublic. It should be said, in justice to those who fought on theopposite side, that no matter how much mistaken, they were in theirown hearts as honest, and by their heroic sacrifices provedthemselves to be as brave and unselfish, as the gallant men who wonin the appeal to arms. 

If to-day the honor or the integrity of the Republic were assailed, every man capable of bearing arms, irrespective of the pastdifferences of themselves or their fathers, would answer thecountry's call in teeming millions, and prove the truth of the Latinpoet's adage, that it is right and noble to die for ones country. 

A manly people should cultivate a manly spirit, and be prepared, ifneed be, to defend their rights by force, but in the better day, whose light is coming, we believe that nobler and more equitablemeans of adjusting internal and international differences can befound than by an appeal to arms. 

Believing then that every young man who is worthy his Americancitizenship would willingly risk his life in defense of his nation'sflag--which, after all, is simply the emblem of what his nationstands for--he should be willing, if duty requires it, to serve hiscountry with equal fidelity in times of peace. 

It is to be regretted that men of the stamp of those who gave theirlives or risked them and have poured out their wealth with unstintedhand when the life of the Republic was in danger, should, in days ofpeace, regard "politics"--which means an interest in public affairs--with something like contempt. 

It may be argued that politics has fallen into the hands of a roughand unprincipled class, who make it a profession for the sake of thegain it offers. To a certain extent this is true; but the men whoare responsible for this state of affairs are not the professionalpoliticians, but the good citizens, who are in the majority, and whocould control, if they would, but who unpatriotically neglect theirduty to the public, or ignore it in the presence of their individualinterests. 

One of the best signs of the times is the fact that civil service hascome into our politics to stay. Through this service, the youngaspirant for office, irrespective of his politics, stands anexamination before impartial commissioners, and is rated accordingto his qualifications. Once he enters the public service, he cannotbe discharged except for incapacity, and this must be proven beforea proper tribunal. 

The rewards of public office, excepting in a few cases where thepositions depend upon the votes of the people, are never great. And, unfortunately, under our system the aspirant for an elective officeusually spends as much as the office will pay him during his term, if he depends upon its honest emoluments. 

But to the young man who is not ambitious and who will livecontentedly a life of routine with a limited compensation, a publiclife has many advantages. The salary continues, irrespective of theweather or seasons, and there is connected with the place a certainrespect. No matter how humble the position of a man in the publicservice, a certain dignity must always attach to him who is at oncea servant and a representative of the people. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE NEED OF CONSTANT EFFORT. 

It matters not what talent or genius a man may possess, no naturalgift can compensate for hard, persistent toil. The Romans had amaxim as true to-day as it was when first uttered: "_Labor omniavincit_, " Toil conquers all things. The earliest Christians lived incommunities and had all things in common. One of their precepts--a precept up to which all lived--was: "_Laborare est orare_, " To workis to pray. 

Someone has said that the difference between the genius and theordinary man is that the genius has a tireless capacity for patient, hard work, while the other regards effort as a painful exaction, andis ever looking forward to the time when he can rest. 

It is encouraging to know that the world's hardest workers have livedthe longest lives. In this alone, labor is its own reward; butenduring success never came to a poor man without an unflaggingpatience and an unceasing toil. 

Honorable industry, says one, travels the same road with duty; andProvidence has closely linked both with happiness. The gods, saysthe poet, have placed labor and toil on the way leading to theElysian fields. Certain it is that no bread eaten by man is so sweetas that earned by his own labor, whether bodily or mental. By laborthe earth has been subdued, and man redeemed from barbarism; nor hasa single step in civilization been made without it. Labor is notonly a necessity and a duty, but a blessing; only the idler feels itto be a curse. The duty of work is written on the thews and musclesof the limbs, the mechanism of the hand, the nerves and lobes of thebrain--the sum of whose healthy action is satisfaction andenjoyment. In the school of labor is taught the best practicalwisdom; nor is a life of manual employment, as we shall hereafterfind, incompatible with high mental culture. 

Hugh Miller, than whom none knew better the strength and the weaknessbelonging to the lot of labor, stated the result of his experienceto be, that work, even the hardest, is full of pleasure andmaterials for self-improvement. He held honest labor to be the bestof teachers, and that the school of toil is the nobles of schools--save only the Christian one; that it is a school in which the abilityof being useful is imparted, the spirit of independence learned, andthe habit of persevering effort acquired. He was even of opinion thatthe training of the mechanic--by exercise which it gives to hisobservant faculties, from his daily dealing with things actual andpractical, and the close experience of life which he acquires--betterfits a man for picking his way along the journey of life, and is morefavorable to his growth as a man, emphatically speaking, than thetraining afforded by any other condition. 

Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, was one of the mostindustrious of men; and the story of his life proves, what allexperience confirms, that it is not the man of the greatest naturalvigor and capacity who achieves the highest results, but he whoemploys his powers with the greatest industry and the most carefullydisciplined skill--the skill that comes by labor, application, andexperience. Many men in his time knew far more than Watt, but nonelabored so assiduously as he did to turn all that he did know touseful practical purposes. He was, above all things, most perseveringin the pursuit of facts. He cultivated carefully that habit of activeattention on which all the higher working qualities of the mindmainly depend. Indeed, Mr. Edgeworth entertained the opinion that thedifference of intellect in men depends more upon the earlycultivation of this _habit of attention_, than upon any greatdisparity between the powers of one individual and another. 

Arkwright, one of the world's greatest mechanics, and the inventor ofthe spinning jenny, was famed for his unceasing industry. 

Like most of our great mechanicians, he sprang from the ranks. He wasborn in Preston in 1732. His parents were very poor, and he was theyoungest of thirteen children. He was never at school; the onlyeducation he received he gave to himself; and to the last he was onlyable to write with difficulty. When a boy, he was apprenticed to abarber, and after learning the business, he set up for himself inBolton, where he occupied an underground cellar, over which he put upthe sign, "come to the subterraneous barber--he shaves for a penny. "The other barbers found their customers leaving them, and reducedtheir prices to his standard, when Arkwright, determined to push histrade, announced his determination to give "A clean shave for a half-penny. "

At the close of his life, John Jacob Astor was the wealthiest man inthe United States, and the immense fortune he left has been largelyincreased through his wise investments and the habits of businesswhich he seems to have transmitted with his fortune to hisdescendants. 

His life is a most interesting one, particularly to the young man whostands facing the world without friends or fortune to aid him. Butyoung Astor had one quality to start with, a quality which successnever lessened, and that was the capacity for unceasing industry. 

He was born of peasant parents in the village of Waldorf, near thegreat university town of Heidelberg in Germany. When sixteen years ofage he was crowded out of the hive by increasing brothers andsisters, and without education or experience, he started out to makehis way in the world. 

In the days of his great prosperity, he used to tell, with delightmingled with sadness, of the day when he left father, and mother, andhome, which he was never to see together again. He used to say: "Ihad only two dollars in my pocket, and all my clothes were tied up ina handkerchief fastened at the end of a stick. When I had climbed thehigh hill above the village, I sat down to rest my heart rather thanmy feet, and to look back at the loved scenes of my childhood. Beforeleaving home it was decided that I should make my way to London--thenthe city of promise to many young Germans. While I sat there, I madethree resolutions, which during my life I have never broken. I hadnever gambled, but I had known others to do so, and my first resolvewas not to follow their example. The second resolution was to bestrictly honest in all my dealings, and this I have tried to adhereto. The third resolution was quite as important as the other twotogether; it was that so long as God gave me health and strength Ishould be unceasingly industrious. "

John Jacob Astor, as a man, faithfully carried out the resolutions hemade as a boy, and the world knows the consequences. 

When the impartial historian comes to write the life of HoraceGreeley, no matter how much he may object to his policies andpolitics, he will give him credit for honesty, courage, perseverance, and an industry that knew no fatigue. 

While barely in his teens, young Greeley, whose father was making adesperate effort to support a large family on a poor farm in NewHampshire, started in to work for himself. His early educationconsisted of a few winter terms in a common school. Before he wasseventeen he had learned the printer's trade, and then resolved notonly to support himself, but to help his parents. Realizing his wantof education, he devoted every minute he could spare from work orsleep to study. 

Speaking of these early days, Mr. Greeley said:

"There was many a heavy load placed on my shoulders, but I staggeredon and bore it as best I could. Many an uncongenial task was forcedupon me, but I can honestly say I never shirked it. If I havesucceeded in my chosen profession, it has not been due to my earlyadvantages, for I had none, but to my strong belief that patientindustry would triumph in the end. "

When Horace Greeley was twenty years of age he was working in aprinting office in Erie, Pennsylvania, and determined to better hisfortunes by coming to New York. He had saved up one hundred andtwenty dollars, and of this he sent one hundred to his father, andwith the rest he turned his face to the great city, about six hundredmiles away. He traveled the entire distance on foot, and reached NewYork with fifteen dollars, the whole trip having cost him but five. 

Poorly clad, tall, gawky, and green-looking, he entered the citywhere he had neither friend nor acquaintance. For weeks he trampedthe streets, looking vainly for work, his cash gradually growingless, but his spirits never failing. At length he found employment athis trade, where his integrity and unceasing industry soon made himconspicuous. Step by step, he worked his way up, never forgetting thepoor family in Vermont, till at length he was able to establish the_New York Tribune_, which survives as a monument of his perseveranceand industry. Although his early training was so defective, he gaveevery spare minute to study, and with such success that he became notonly a great leader, but one of the most perfect masters of theEnglish language. His name will long live after many writers andstatesmen of greater pretensions are forgotten. 

As an example of what perseverance, fortitude and energy will do, Horace Greeley's story of his own life should be studied by everyambitious young man. 

Horace Greelev never laid claim to physical courage, but he had thathigher courage and industry without which enduring success isimpossible. In speaking of this admirable quality, a famous authorsays:

"The greater part of the courage that is needed in the world is notof an heroic kind. Courage may be displayed in everyday life as wellas on historic fields of action. There needs, for example, the commoncourage to be honest--the courage to resist temptation--the courageto speak the truth--the courage to be what we really are, and not topretend to be what we are not--the courage to live honestly withinour own means, and not dishonestly upon the means of others. 

"A great deal of the unhappiness, and much of the vice, of the worldis owing to weakness and indecision of purpose--in other words, tolack of courage and want of industry. Men may know what is right, andyet fail to exercise the courage to do it; they may understand theduty they have to do, but will not summon up the requisite resolutionto perform it. The weak and undisciplined man is at the mercy ofevery temptation; he cannot say no, ' but falls before it. And if hiscompanionship be bad, he will be all the easier led away by badexample into wrong-doing. 

"Nothing can be more certain than that the character can only besustained and strengthened by its own energetic action. The will, which is the central force of character, must be trained to habits ofdecision--otherwise it will neither be able to resist evil nor tofollow good. Decision gives the power of standing firmly, when toyield, however slightly, might be only the first step in a downhillcourse to ruin. 

"Calling upon others for help in forming a decision is worse thanuseless. A man must so train his habits as to rely upon his ownpowers and depend upon his own courage in moments of emergency. Plutarch tells of a king of Macedon who, in the midst of an action, withdrew into the adjoining town under pretence of sacrificing toHercules; whilst his opponent Emilius, at the same time that heimplored the Divine aid, sought for victory sword in hand, and wonthe battle. And so it ever is in the actions of daily life. 

"Many are the valiant purposes formed, that end merely in words;deeds intended, that are never done; designs projected, that arenever begun; and all for want of a little courageous decision. Betterfar the silent tongue but the eloquent deed. For in life, and inbusiness, dispatch is better than discourse; and the shortest of allis _Doing_. 'In matters of great concern, and which must be done, 'says Tillotson, 'there is no surer argument of a weak mind thanirresolution--to be undetermined when the case is so plain and thenecessity so urgent. To be always intending to live a new life, butnever to find time to set about it--this is as if a man should putoff eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to another, untilhe is starved and destroyed. '"

CHAPTER XV

SOME OF LABOR'S COMPENSATIONS. 

Although it is better for every young man, if possible, to adhere toone thing, yet, as we shall see when we come to treat of the life ofthat remarkable man Peter Cooper, change does not necessarily meanvacillation. For the mere sake of consistency a man would be foolishwho neglected a good chance to succeed in another field. Edisonstarted life as a newsboy, but it would be folly to say that heshould have stuck to that very respectable, but not usually lucrativeoccupation. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, was an artist tillmiddle life. Alexander T. Stewart and James Gordon Bennett, the one amost successful journalist, and the other the greatest merchant ofhis day, began life as school-teachers. And so we might continue thelist; but even these examples do not warrant the belief that a changeof calling is necessary to success, but rather that the change mayincrease the chances. As a rule, however, the changes have beenforced by unforeseen circumstances, of which these strong men werequick to see the advantages. 

In beginning the life journey, as in starting out on a day's journey, it is of great importance to have a destination in view. In everyeffort there should be kept in mind the end to be attained--an idealto achieve which every faculty must be enlisted. 

Men whose lives have been eminently successful tell us that theirgreatest reward was not found in the accomplishment of their lifepurpose, but in the slow, but certain advance made from day to day. 

The joy of travel does not lie in reaching the destination, but inthe companions met with on the journey, the changing scenery throughwhich the traveler passes, and even the inconveniences that break upthe monotony of the ordinary routine life. It is so with our life-work. The cradle and the grave mark the beginning and the end of thejourney, but the joy of living lies in the varied incident and effortto be met with between the two. 

It is well for us that this is so; well for us that we do not have towait for the reward till the end comes. 

We may, as in the cases named, change our means of travel, but solong as success is our purpose, it matters not so much what variationwe may make in the route, when we seek to attain it. 

The old-fashioned country school debating societies had one subjectthat never lost its popularity, and on which the rural oratorsexhausted their eloquence and ingenuity: "Resolved, that there ismore happiness in participation than in anticipation. " We doubt ifany debating society ever settled the question, in a way that wouldbe acceptable to all. As a rule the younger people decided, irrespective of the argument, that participation was the mostdesirable; but the older people wisely shook their heads and took theother side of the case. 

Often when the end has been gained, it has been discovered that thereward was not worth the effort, and that the full compensation wasgained in the peace, the regular habits, the health, and the sense ofduty well-performed which kept up the hope and the strength duringthe long years of toil. 

There is a temperance in eating, as well as in drinking; even honestlabor when carried to an excess that impairs the powers of mind andbody, may be classed with intemperance; indeed, it should be a partof every young man's course of self-study to learn his own physicaland mental limitations. 

There is everything in knowing how to work, and in learning when torest. One of the rewards of judicious labor, and by no means theleast of them is--health. Health is not only essential to thehappiness of ourselves and of those with whom we come into contact, but no permanent success can be won without it. 

Benjamin Franklin, himself a model of industry and of good health, even in old age, says:

"I have always worked hard, but I have regarded as sinful the hasteand toil that sap the health. There is reason why disease shouldseize on the idler, but the industrious man, whose toil is well-regulated, should have no occasion for a physician, unless in case ofaccident. Labor, like virtue, is its own reward. "

In looking over the callings of people who have retained all theirpowers to an age so long beyond the allotted time as to seemphenomenal, there is not one case that we can recall where the lifehas not been distinguished for temperance, orderliness, andpersistent but temperate industry. 

The health that waits upon labor is among its best results, as itmust continue to be among its greatest blessings. More particularlyis health to be derived from out-door employment, as life on the farmand an active participation in its many and varied labors. Physicalexercise is essential to health, under any and all circumstances, whether it be in the nature of labor or recreation. It must be bornein mind, however, that in labor are to be found the surestcorrectives of many abuses of health, as bringing into playinfluences of the more satisfactory sort upon the mind as consideredin contrast to idleness. Idleness is the parent of many vices, someone says, and it is true. The freedom from the annoying reflectionthat one is making no use of physical or mental abilities to secureprotection from want and suffering, sweetens labor and gives it avalue which all true men must appreciate and carefully consider. Howoften have the wearied journalist and accountant, tired out in bodyand mind at the desk of unremitting application, found, in the lifeand labor of the farm and shop, relief and a return to the blessingsof health. There are other occupations and employments just asnecessary, but many of them are pursued under considerations notleading to, but rather away from, health. Any one, however, may takefrom business enough time for rest and healthful exercise. It is inpurifying and driving away from man the tendencies to evil that, inidleness, prey too continually and strongly upon him, and which hecannot long successfully resist, that labor possesses its greatestbenefit. The atmosphere of diligent labor usefully directed is alwaysof a healthy nature. Into it cannot enter the many foes that assailthe idle, who have not the shield of protection that labor gives toall who enter its hallowed gateway. Labor dignifies and ennobles whenin moderation; it permits the enjoyment of comforts and luxuries, andgives to home its sacred charm; it dashes away the bitter cup ofpoverty, and gives instead the nourishing and acceptable food ofcontentment; it dispels dread conceits of coming evil, and dries thetears of the afflicted. Labor is man's heaven-born heritage inexchange for the curse of disobedience, and yet men are ungratefuland disposed to quarrel with their truest friends. What truer andbetter friend can anyone possess than useful labor, the key thatunlocks the casket of wisdom and exposes to our startled gaze thetreasures that lie within? For every honest and determined end oflabor there is sure reward. "There is no reward without toil" is aproverb as old as history and as true to-day as when it first foundlodgment in the minds and hearts of men. The faithful servant oflabor hears in every blow he strikes the sure sound of the powercommitted to him and which will bring him the fine gold of meritedapproval. 

The health in labor, considered in all of the relations attaching toit, further brings a comfort and satisfaction which cannot be toohighly estimated. The surest remedy that can be applied, when men aresuffering from defeat in business and the attendant consequences, isrenewed and persistent labor. Who can measure the value of labor? Itis a possession that cannot be stolen, and only ceases to serve whenmen, from exhausted energies or enfeebled age, can no longer commandit. From the beginning to the end of life it waits upon us, andwhoever will use it will not be deprived of its wonderful andmagnificent bounties. 

As labor is man's greatest blessing, so is indolence his greatestcurse. As labor is health, so indolence is disease. Man in acondition of idleness is about as useless a thing as is to be foundin nature. He prefers to live by some one else's labor. The worldowes him a living and he manages somehow to get it. But he is anindustrious collector, although he would walk a mile to get aroundwork. He attaches himself, like the mistletoe, to whoever willsupport him. He is a true parasite. His tongue has but little end toit. It wags from morning to night; invents seemingly plausibletheories of work, but never attempts them. He is full of advice toall who will listen. Can such a man be healthy? He _cannot_ enjoygood health because he is too lazy to do so. No way has as yet beenfound to make him healthy and put him to work. He cannot be got ridof. People who labor and who are compelled to help this poor creaturedo not make much effort to turn him in the direction of labor. Theyare too busy to take any account of him; so he is left to his miseryand poverty. He has not a grain of independence in his wholecomposition. He pines and dies at last, and the world is better forhis being out of it. But like mushrooms, these people spring up. Manyinfest our large cities, and these are dignified by the citydirectories as "floating population. " The term is very nearlycorrect; they float for a time upon the current, until borne away toanother port where there is better and safer anchorage. Where freelunches are abundant there the idler may be found. For this privilegehe is sometimes obliged to do a little work. But how it grieves him!His whole aim is to get drink, a little food, and less clothing. Heof course, uses tobacco; but this he must obtain in some way thatdoes not call for money, for of that he has none and never can have, unless he go to work--and this is highly improbable. He has got tothat point that he cannot work. He is too unhealthy and his influenceis corrupting. Nobody will give him employment, so he must keep on tothe end of the chapter. An even more disgusting specimen is the idlerwho develops into a sneakthief and the more genteel sort of gentry--gamblers and workers of chances. These are, perhaps, to be includedin the list of those who live by their wits and not by any kind oflabor. 

If there is any worse disease than idleness, it has not yet beendiscovered. Good and true men, who value the rewards of labor, lookupon idleness with a dread that equals that of yellow fever; for itis more general in its effects and more to be detested. While theremay sometimes be luck in leisure, indolence never pays. 

But the effects of persistent, systematic effort are not confined toourselves; the example is contagious and acts as a guide and astimulus to others in the life battle. The good done and the helpgiven to friends in this way are incalculable, and are not the leastof the rewards labor bestows before the end is attained. 

Dr. Miller in his able work "The Building of Character, " says veryaptly in this connection:

"We all need human friendship. We need it especially in our times ofdarkness. He does not well, he lives not wisely, who in the days ofprosperity neglects to gather about his life a few loving friends, who will be a strength to him in the days of stress and need. "

There is a time to show sympathy, when it is golden; when this timehas passed, and we have only slept meanwhile, we may as well sleepon. You did not go near your friend when he was fighting his battlealone. You might have helped him then. What use is there in yourcoming to him now, when he has conquered without your aid? You paidno attention to your neighbor when he was bending under life's loads, and struggling with difficulties, obstacles, and adversities. You lethim alone then. You never told him that you sympathized with him. Younever said a brave, strong word of cheer to him in those days. Younever even scattered a handful of flowers on his hard path. Now thathe is dead and lying in his coffin, what is the use in your standingbeside his still form, and telling the people how nobly he battled, how heroically he lived; and speaking words of commendation? No, no;having let him go on, unhelped, uncheered, unencouraged, through thedays when he needed so sorely your warm sympathy, and craved sohungrily your cheer, you may as well sleep on and take your rest, letting him alone unto the end. Nothing can be done now. Too laggardare the feet that come with comfort when the time for comfort ispast. 

"Ah! woe for the word that is never said Till the ear is deaf to hear;And woe for the lack to the fainting head Of the ringing shout of cheer;Ah! woe for the laggard feet that tread In the mournful wake of the bier. A pitiful thing the gift to-day That is dross and nothing worth, Though if it had come but yesterday, It had brimmed with sweet the earth;A fading rose in a death-cold hand, That perished in want and dearth. "

Shall we not take our lesson from the legend of the robin thatplucked a thorn from the Savior's brow, and thus sought to lessen hispain, rather than from the story of the disciples, who slept andfailed to give the help which the Lord sought from their love? Thuscan we strengthen those whose burdens are heavy, and whose strugglesand sorrows are sore. 

All noble effort, as Sarah K. Bolton beautifully expresses it, is itsown reward:

"I like the man who faces what he mustWith step triumphant and a heart of cheer;Who fights the daily battle without fear;Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trustThat God is God; that, somehow, true and just, His plans work out for mortals; not a tearIs shed when fortune, which the world holds dear, Falls from his grasp. Better, with love, a crust, Than living in dishonor; envies notNor loses faith in man; but does his best, Nor ever murmurs at his humbler lot;But with a smile and words of hope, gives zestTo every toiler. He alone is greatWho, by a life heroic, conquers fate. "

"After I have completed an invention, " says Thomas A. Edison, "I seemto lose interest in it. One might think that the money value of aninvention constituted its reward to the man who loves his work. But, speaking for myself, I can honestly say this is not so. Life wasnever so full of joy to me, as when a poor boy I began to think outimprovements in telegraphy, and to experiment with the cheapest andcrudest appliances. But, now that I have all the appliances I need, and am my own master, I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and somy reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success. "

Mr. Gladstone, the great English statesman, and though nearing fourscore and ten, still one of the most industrious of men, says:

"I have found my greatest happiness in labor. I early formed thehabit of industry, and it has been its own reward. The young are aptto think that rest means a cessation from all effort, but I havefound the most perfect rest in changing effort. If brain-weary overbooks and study, go out into the blessed sunlight and the pure air, and give heartfelt exercise to the body. The brain will soon becomecalm and rested. The efforts of nature are ceaseless. Even in oursleep, the heart throbs on. If these great forces ceased for aninstant death would follow. I try to live close to nature, and toimitate her in my labors. The compensation is sound sleep, awholesome digestion, and powers that are kept at their best; and thisI take it is the chief reward of industry. "

"If I ever get time from work, " said Horace Greeley one day, "I'll goa-fishing, for I was fond of it when a boy. " But he never wenta-fishing, never indulged in a healthful change of exercise, and theresult was a mind thrown out of balance, and death in the prime oflife. We all need a restful change at times. 

CHAPTER XVI

PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE. 

If great success were possible only to men of great talents, thenthere would be but little success in the world. 

It has been said that talent is quite as much the ability to stick toa thing, as the aptitude to do it better than another. "I will fightit out on this line, if it takes all summer. " This statement ofGeneral Grant does not indicate the man of genius, but it does showthe man of indomitable perseverance, a perseverance to which he owedall his success, for it is well known that he was a very modest, andby no means a brilliant man. The key to his character waspertinacity: the secret of his success was perseverance. 

"I will to-day thrash the Mexicans, or die a-trying!" was what SamHouston said to an aide, the morning of the battle of San Jacinto. And he won. 

The soldier who begins the battle in doubt is half beaten in advance. 

The man who loses heart after one failure is a fool to make abeginning. 

There is a great deal in good preparation, but there is a great dealmore in heroic perseverance. The man who declines to make a beginningtill everything he thinks he may need is ready for his hand, is veryapt to make a failure. The greatest things have been achieved by thesimplest means. It is the ceaseless chopping that wears away thestone. The plodder may be laughed at, and the brilliant man whoaccomplishes great things at a leap admired; but we all remember thefable of the tortoise and the hare; the latter, confident of herpowers, stopped to rest; the former, aware of his limitations, persevered and toiled laboriously on--and he won the race. 

We do not wish to be understood as underestimating genius. We believein it; but one of its strongest characteristics is perseverance, andthe next is its capacity to accomplish great results with thesimplest means. 

"Easy come, easy go. " Those things that are acquired without mucheffort, are usually appreciated according to the effort expended. Determination has a strong _will_; stubbornness has a strong _won't_. The one is characterized by perseverance, and it builds up; theother, having no purpose but blind self, ends in destruction. 

It is a fact at once remarkable and encouraging that no man of greatgenius who has left his mark on his times, ever believed that hissuccess was due to gifts that lifted him above his fellows. The meansby which he rose were within the reach of all, and perseverance was aprime requisite. 

The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of everyday, with its cares, necessities, and duties, affords ample opportunityfor acquiring experience of the best kind; and its most beaten pathsprovide the true worker with abundant scope for effort and room forself-improvement. The road of human welfare lies along the oldhighway of steadfast well-doing; and they who are the mostpersistent, and work in the truest spirit, will usually be the mostsuccessful. 

Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is notso blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will findthat fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the windsand waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit ofeven the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualitiesare found the most useful--such as common sense, attention, application, and perseverance. Genius may not be necessary, thougheven genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of theseordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among the leastbelievers in the power of genius, and as worldly wise and perseveringas successful men of the commoner sort. Some have even defined geniusto be only common sense intensified. A distinguished teacher andpresident of a college spoke of it as the power of making efforts. John Foster held it to be the power of lighting one's own fire. Buffon said of genius, "It is patience. "

Newton's was unquestionably a mind of the very highest order, andyet, when asked by what means he had worked out his extraordinarydiscoveries, he modestly answered, "By always thinking unto them. " Atanother time he thus expressed his method of study: "I keep thesubject continually before me, and wait till the first dawnings openslowly by little and little into a full and clear light. " It was inNewton's case as in every other, only by diligent application andperseverance that his great reputation was achieved. Even hisrecreation consisted in change of study, laying down one subject totake up another. To Dr. Bentley he said: "If I have done the publicany service, it is due to nothing but industry and patient thought. "So Kepler, another great philosopher, speaking of his studies and hisprogress, said: "As in Virgil, 'Fama mobilitate viget, vires acquiriteundo, ' so it was with me, that the diligent thought on these thingswas the occasion of still further thinking; until at last I broodedwith the whole energy of my mind upon the subject. "

The extraordinary results effected by dint of sheer industry andperseverance, have led many distinguished men to doubt whether thegift of genius be so exceptional an endowment as it is usuallysupposed to be. Thus Voltaire held that it is only a very slight lineof separation that divides the man of genius from the man of ordinarymould. Beccaria was even of opinion that all men might be poets andorators, and Reynolds that they might be painters and sculptors. Ifthis were really so, that stolid Englishman might not have been sovery far wrong after all, who, on Canova's death, inquired of hisbrother whether it was "his intention to carry on the business!"Locke, Helvetuis, and Diderot believed that all men have an equalaptitude for genius, and that what some are able to effect, under thelaws which regulate the operations of the intellect, must also bewithin the reach of others who, under like circumstances, applythemselves to like pursuits. But while admitting to the fullestextent the wonderful achievements of labor, and recognizing the factthat men of the most distinguished genius have invariably been foundthe most indefatigable workers, it must nevertheless be sufficientlyobvious that, without the original endowment of heart and brain, noamount of labor, however well applied, could have produced aShakespeare, a Newton, a Beethoven, or a Michael Angelo. 

Dalton, the chemist, repudiated the notion of his being a "genius"attributing everything which he had accomplished to simple industryand perseverance. John Hunter said of himself, "My mind is like abeehive; but full as it is of buzz and apparent confusion, it is yetfull of order and regularity, and food collected with incessantindustry from the choicest stores of nature. " We have, indeed, but toglance at the biographies of great men to find that the mostdistinguished inventors, artists, thinkers, and workers of all kinds, owe their success, in a great measure, to their indefatigableindustry and application. They were men who turned all things togood--even time itself. Disraeli, the elder, held that the secret ofsuccess consisted in being master of your subject, such mastery beingattainable only through continuous application and study. Hence ithappens that the men who have most moved the world have not been somuch men of genius, strictly so called, as men of intent mediocreabilities and untiring perseverance; not so often the gifted, ofnaturally bright and shining qualities, as those who have appliedthemselves diligently to their work, in whatsoever line that mightlie. "Alas!" said a widow, speaking of her brilliant but carelessson, "he has not the gift of continuance. " Wanting in perseverance, such volatile natures are outstripped in the race of life by thediligent and even the dull. 

Hence, a great point to be aimed at is to get the working qualitywell trained. When that is done, the race will be found comparativelyeasy. We must repeat and again repeat: facility will come with labor. Not even the simplest art can be accomplished without it; and whatdifficulties it is found capable of achieving! It was by earlydiscipline and repetition that the late Sir Robert Peel cultivatedthose remarkable, though still mediocre, powers, which rendered himso illustrious an ornament of the British senate. When a boy atDrayton Manor, his father was accustomed to set him up at table topractice speaking extempore; and he early accustomed him to repeat asmuch of the Sunday's sermon as he could remember. Little progress wasmade at first, but by steady perseverance that habit of attentionbecame powerful, and the sermon was at length repeated almostverbatim. When afterward replying in succession to the arguments ofhis parliamentary opponents--an art in which he was perhapsunrivaled--it was little surmised that the extraordinary power ofaccurate remembrance which he displayed on such occasions had beenoriginally trained under the discipline of his father in the parishchurch of Drayton. 

It is indeed marvelous what continuous application will effect in thecommonest of things. It may seem a simple affair to play upon aviolin; yet what a long and laborious practice it requires! Giardinisaid to a youth who asked him how long it would take to learn it, "Twelve hours a day for twenty years together. "

Progress, however, of the best kind is comparatively slow. Greatresults cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied toadvance in life as we walk, step by step. De Maistre says that "Toknow _how to wait_ is the great secret of success. " We must sowbefore we can reap, and often have to wait long, content meanwhile tolook patiently forward in hope: the fruit best worth waiting foroften ripening the slowest. But "time and patience, " says the Easternproverb, "change the mulberry leaf to satin. "

To wait patently, however, men must work cheerfully. Cheerfulness isan excellent working quality, imparting great elasticity to thecharacter. As a bishop has said, "Temper is nine-tenths ofChristianity;" so are cheerfulness and diligence nine-tenths ofpractical wisdom. They are the life and soul of success, as well asof happiness; perhaps the very highest pleasure in life consisting inclear, brisk, conscious working; energy, confidence, and every othergood quality mainly depending upon it. Sydney Smith, when laboring asa parish priest at Foston-le-Clay, in Yorkshire--though he did notfeel himself to be in his proper element--went cheerfully to work inthe firm determination to do his best. "I am resolved, " he said, "tolike it, and reconcile myself to it, which is more manly than tofeign myself above it, and to send up complaints by the post of beingthrown away, and being desolate, and such like trash. " So Dr. Hook, when leaving Leeds for a new sphere of labor, said, "Wherever I manybe, I shall, by God's blessing, do with my might what my hand findethto do; and if I do not fined work, I shall make it. "

Laborers for the public good especially have to work long andpatiently, often uncheered by the prospect of immediate recompense orresult. The seeds they sow sometimes lie hidden under the winter'ssnow, and before the spring comes the husbandman may have gone to hisrest. It is not every public worker who, like Rowland Hill, sees hisgreat idea bring forth fruit in his lifetime. Adam Smith sowed theseeds of a great social amelioration in that dingy old University ofGlasgow, where he so long labored, and laid the foundations of his"Wealth of Nations;" but seventy years passed before his work boresubstantial fruits, nor indeed are they all gathered in yet. 

Nothing can compensate for the loss of hope in a man: it entirelychanges the character. "How can I work--how can I be happy, " said agreat but miserable thinker, "when I have lost all hope?" One of themost cheerful and courageous, because one of the most hopeful ofworkers, was Carey, the missionary. When in India, it was no uncommonthing for him to weary out three pundits, who officiated as hisclerks in one day, he himself taking rest only in change ofemployment. Carey, the son of a shoemaker, was supported in hislabors by Ward, the son of a carpenter, and Marsham, the son of aweaver. By their labors a magnificent college was erected atSerampore; sixteen flourishing stations were established; the Biblewas translated into sixteen languages, and the seeds were sown of abeneficent moral revolution in British India. Carey was never ashamedof the humbleness of his origin. On one occasion, when at theGovernor-General's table, he overheard an officer opposite him askinganother, loud enough to be heard, whether Carey had not once been ashoemaker: "No, sir, " exclaimed Carey immediately; "only a cobbler. "An eminently characteristic anecdote has been told of hisperseverance as a boy. When climbing a tree one day, his foot slippedand he fell to the ground, breaking his leg by the fall. He wasconfined to his bed for weeks, but when he recovered and was able towalk without support, the very first thing he did was to go and climbthat tree. Carey had need of this sort of dauntless courage for thegreat missionary work of his life, and nobly and resolutely he didit. 

It was a maxim of Dr. Young, the philosopher, that "Any man can dowhat any other man has done;" and it is unquestionable that hehimself never recoiled from any trials to which he determined tosubject himself. It is related of him, that the first time he mounteda horse he was in company with the grandson of Mr. Barclay, of Ury, the well-known sportsman. When the horseman who preceded them leapeda high fence, Young wished to imitate him, but fell off his horse inthe attempt. Without saying a word, he remounted, made a secondeffort, and was again unsuccessful, but this time he was not thrownfarther than on to the horse's neck, to which he clung. At the thirdtrial he succeeded, and cleared the fence. 

The story of Timour, the Tartar, learning a lesson of perseveranceunder adversity from the spider is well know. Not less interesting isthe anecdote of Audubon, the American ornithologist, as related byhimself: "An accident, " he says, "which happened to two hundred of myoriginal drawings, nearly put a stop to my researches in ornithology. I shall relate it, merely to show how far enthusiasm--for by no othername can I call my perseverance--may enable the preserver of natureto surmount the most disheartening difficulties. I left the villageof Henderson, in Kentucky, situated on the banks of the Ohio, where Iresided for several years, to proceed to Philadelphia on business. Ilooked to my drawings before my departure, placed them carefully in awooden box, and gave them in charge of a relative, with injunctionsto see that no injury should happen to them. My absence was ofseveral months; and when I returned, after having enjoyed thepleasures of home for a few days, I inquired after my box, and what Iwas pleased to call my treasure. The box was produced and opened;but, reader, feel for me--a pair of Norway rats had taken possessionof the whole, and reared a young family among the gnawed bits ofpaper, which, but a month previous, represented nearly a thousandinhabitants of air! The burning heat which instantly rushed throughmy brain was too great to be endured without affecting my wholenervous system. I slept for several nights, and the days passed likedays of oblivion--until the animal powers being recalled into actionthrough the strength of my constitution, I took up my gun, mynotebook and my pencils, and went forth to the woods as gayly as ifnothing had happened. I felt pleased that I might now make betterdrawings than before; and ere a period not exceeding three years hadelapsed, my portfolio was again filled. "

The accidental destruction of Sir Isaac Newton's papers, by hislittle dog "Diamond" upsetting a lighted taper upon his desk, bywhich the elaborate calculations of many years were in a momentdestroyed, is a well-known anecdote, and need not be repeated: it issaid that the loss caused the philosopher such profound grief that itseriously injured his health, and impaired his understanding. Anaccident of a somewhat similar kind happened to the manuscript of Mr. Carlyle's first volume of his "French Revolution. " He had lent themanuscript to a literary neighbor to peruse. By some mischance, ithad been left lying on the parlor floor, and become forgotten. Weeksran on, and the historian sent for his work, the printers being loudfor "copy. " Inquiries were made, and it was found that the maid-of-all-work, finding what she conceived to be a bundle of waste paperon the floor, had used it to light the kitchen and parlor fires with!Such was the answer returned to Mr. Carlyle; and his feelings can beimagined. There was, however, no help for him but to set resolutelyto work to rewrite the book; and he turned to it and did it. He hadno draft and was compelled to rake up from his memory, facts, ideas, and expressions which had been long since dismissed. The compositionof the book in the first instance had been a work of pleasure; therewriting of it a second time was one of pain and anguish almostbeyond belief. That he persevered and finished the volume under suchcircumstances, affords an instance of determination of purpose whichhas seldom been surpassed. 

There is no walk in life, in which success has been won, that has notits brilliant examples of the achievements of perseverance. Theliterary life, in which all who read are interested, has manyillustrations of this. No great career affords stronger proof of thisthan that of the great Sir Walter Scott, who, delighting his owngeneration, must be honored by all the generations that follow. 

His admirable working qualities were trained in a lawyer's office, where he pursued for many years a sort of drudgery scarcely abovethat of a copying clerk. His daily dull routine made his evenings, which were his own, all the ore sweet; and he generally devoted themto reading and study. He himself attributed to his prosaic officediscipline that habit of steady, sober diligence, in which mereliterary men are so often found wanting. As a copying clerk he wasallowed 3_d. _ for every page containing a certain number of words; andhe sometimes, by extra work, was able to copy as many as 120 pages intwenty-four hours, thus earning some 30_s. _; out of which he wouldoccasionally purchase an odd volume, otherwise beyond his means. 

During his after-life Scott was wont to pride himself upon being aman of business, and he averred, in contradiction to what he calledthe cant of sonneteers, that there was no necessary connectionbetween genius and an aversion or contempt for the common duties oflife. On the contrary, he was of opinion that to spend some fairportion of every day in any matter-of-fact occupation was good forthe higher faculties themselves in the upshot. While afterward actingas clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, he performed hisliterary work chiefly before breakfast, attending the court duringthe day, where he authenticated registered deeds and writings ofvarious kinds. "On the whole, " says Lockhart, "it forms one of themost remarkable features in his history, that throughout the mostactive period of his literary career, he must have devoted a largeproportion of his hours, during half at least of every year, to theconscientious discharge of professional duties. " It was a principleof action which he laid down for himself, that he must earn hisliving by business, and not by literature. On one occasion he said, "I determined that literature should be my staff, not my crutch, andthat the profits of my literary labor, however convenient otherwise, should not, if I could help it, become necessary to my ordinaryexpenses. "

His punctuality was one of the most carefully cultivated of hishabits, otherwise it had not been possible for him to get through soenormous an amount of literary labor. He mad it a rule to answerevery letter received by him on the same day, except where inquiryand deliberation were requisite. Nothing else could have enabled himto keep abreast with the flood of communications that poured in uponhim and sometimes put his good-nature to the severest test. It washis practice to rise by five o'clock and light his own fire. Heshaved and dressed with deliberation, and was seated at his desk bysix o'clock, with his papers arranged before him in the most accurateorder, his works of reference marshaled round him on the floor, whileat least one favorite dog lay watching his eye, outside the line ofbooks. Thus by the time the family assembled for breakfast, betweennine and ten, he had done enough--to use his own words--to break theneck of a day's work. But with all his diligent and indefatigableindustry, and his immense knowledge, the result of may years' patientlabor, Scott always spoke with the greatest diffidence of his ownpowers. On one occasion he said, "Throughout every part of my careerI have felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance. "

But perseverance and effort do not always mean successful work. Freeman Hunt distinguishes admirably between activity and energy inthe following statement, which it would be well to remember:

"There are some men whose failure to succeed in life is a problem toothers, as well as to themselves. They are industrious, prudent, andeconomical; yet, after a long life of striving, old age finds themstill poor. They complain of ill-luck; they say fate is against them. But the real truth is that their projects miscarry because theymistake mere activity for energy. Confounding two things essentiallydifferent, they suppose that if they are always busy, they must of anecessity be advancing their fortune; forgetting that labormisdirected is but a waste of activity. "

"The person who would succeed in life is like a marksman firing at atarget--if his shot misses the mark, it is but a waste of powder; tobe of any service at all, it must tell in the bull's eye or near it. So, in the great game of life, what a man does must be made to count, or it had almost as well be left undone. 

"The idle warrior, cut from a block of wood, who fights the air onthe top of a weather-cock, instead of being made to turn some machinecommensurate with his strength, is not more worthless than the merelyactive man who, though busy from sunrise to sunset, dissipates hislabor on trifles, when he ought skillfully to concentrate it on somegreat end. 

"Every person knows some one in his circle of acquaintance who, though always active, has this want of energy. The distemper, if wemay call it such, exhibits itself in various ways. In some cases, theman has merely an executive faculty when he should have a directingone; in other words, he makes a capital clerk for himself, when heought to do the thinking work for the establishment. In other cases, what is done is either not done at the right time, or not in theright way. Sometimes there is no distinction made between objects ofdifferent magnitudes, and as much labor is bestowed on a trivialaffair as on a matter of great moment. 

"Energy, correctly understood, is activity proportioned to the end. The first Napoleon would often, when in a campaign, remain for dayswithout undressing himself, now galloping from point to point, nowdictating dispatches, now studying maps and directing operations. Buthis periods of repose, when the crisis was over, were generally asprotracted as his previous exertions had been. He has been known tosleep for eighteen hours without waking. Second-rate men, slaves oftape and routine, while they would fall short of the superhumanexertions of the great emperor, would have considered themselves lostbeyond hope if they imitated what they call his indolence. They arecapital illustrations of activity, keeping up their monotonous jog-trot for ever; while Napoleon, with his gigantic industry, alternating with such apparent idleness, is an example of energy. 

"We do not mean to imply that chronic indolence, if relievedoccasionally by spasmodic fits of industry, is to be recommended. Menwho have this character run into the opposite extreme of that whichwe have been stigmatizing, and fail as invariably of securing successin life. To call their occasional periods of application energy, would be a sad misnomer. Such persons, indeed, are but civilizedsavages, so to speak; vagabonds at heart in their secret hatred ofwork, and only resorting to labor occasionally, like the wild Indianwho, after lying for weeks about his hut, is roused by sheer hungerto start on a hunting excursion. Real energy is persevering, steady, disciplined. It never either loses sight of the object to beaccomplished, or intermits its exertions while there is a possibilityof success. Napoleon on the plains of Champagne, sometimes fightingtwo battles in one day, first defeating the Russians and then turningon the Austrians, is an illustration of this energy. The Duke ofBrunswick, idling away precious time when he invaded France at theoutbreak of the first Revolution, is an example of the contrary. Activity beats about a cover like an untrained dog, never lighting onthe covey. Energy goes straight to the bird at once and captures it. "

CHAPTER XVII

SUCCESS BUT SELDOM ACCIDENTAL. 

A man may leap into sudden fortune at a bound, and without effort orforesight, but it is doubtful if any great permanent success ever wasthe outcome of blind chance. 

The old adage, "Trust to luck, " like many other adages that time haskept in unmerited circulation, is a bad one. The man who trusts toluck for his clothing is apt to wear rags, and he who depends on itfor food is sure to go hungry. 

We hear a great deal about the wonderful things that have been doneby chance, but we seldom take the time to examine them. We read thatsir Isaac Newton, sitting in his garden one day, "Chanced to see anapple fall to the ground, " and this set him to thinking, and hediscovered the laws of gravitation. New, ever since the first applefell from the first tree in Eden, men have been watching that verycommonplace occurrence. We might extend the field so as to embraceoranges, coconuts and all the fruits and nuts which, in every landand through all the long centuries of man's existence, have beenfalling to the ground--not by chance, however, yet they set no men tothinking, simply because not one of the millions of men who "chanced"to see the incident, "chanced" to have the reasoning powers of thegreat English scientist. If the apple, instead of falling to theground, had shot up, without visible cause, to the sky, then thedullest observer would have wondered, even if he did not attempt tofind an explanation. The falling of the apple in Newton's garden wasnot a chance, but an ordinary incident, which was made much of in themind of an extraordinary man. 

Watt "chanced" to see the lid of the kettle in his mother's kitchenlifted by the steam within, and this incident we are asked to believewas the origin of the engine invented by that great man. If no oneelse had ever witnessed a like phenomenon, then we might give someconsideration to the element of chance. It was in the brain of Watt, and not in the lifting of the kettle lid, that the steam engine wasborn. There are no accidents in the progress of science. 

In the same way, we are asked to believe that Galileo discovered thetelescope, Whitney the cotton gin, and Howe the sewing machine. 

But there have been some curious cases of chance fortune. A man outhunting in California made a mis-step and was plunged into a deepgulch in the Sierra Nevada. His gun was broken and he was sorelybruised, but he was more that repaid for the accident by thediscovery of a rich gold mine at the bottom. 

What would you think of the man, who, because of this, shouldshoulder a gun and go into the mountains, hoping to be precipitatedinto a gulch full of gold. If he started out for this purpose, ofcourse, the element of chance would be eliminated, and yet that manwould show just as much good sense as do the thousands who go throughlife--trusting to luck, and hoping for a miracle that never comes. 

Success may be unforeseen, but it is a rare thing for it to come tothe man who has not been preparing for it. 

Lord Bacon well says: "Neither the naked hand nor the understanding, left to itself, can do much; the work is accomplished by instrumentsand helps, of which the need is not less for the understanding thanthe hand. "

The Romans had a saying which is as true to-day as when firstuttered: "Opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald; if youseize her by the forelock, you may hold her, but if suffered toescape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again. "

Accident does very little toward the production of any great resultin life. Though sometimes what is called "a happy hit" may be made bya bold venture, the common highway of steady industry and applicationis the only safe road to travel. It is said of the landscape painter, Wilson, that when he had nearly finished a picture in a tame, correctmanner, he would step back from it, his pencil fixed at the end of along stick, and after gazing earnestly on the work, he would suddenlywalk up and by a few bold touches give a brilliant finish to thepainting. But it will not do for everyone who would produce aneffect, to throw his brush at the canvas in the hope of producing apicture. The capability of putting in these last vital touches isacquired only by the labor of a life; and the probability is, thatthe artist who has not carefully trained himself beforehand, inattempting to produce a brilliant effect at a dash, will only producea blotch. 

Sedulous attention and painstaking industry always mark the trueworker. The greatest men are not those who "despise the day of smallthings, " but those who improve them the most carefully. MichaelAngelo was one day explaining to a visitor at his studio what he hadbeen doing to a statue since a previous visit. "I have retouched thispart--polished that--softened this feature--brought out that muscle--given some expression to this lip, and more energy to that limb. ""But these are trifles, " remarked the visitor. "It may be so, "replied the sculptor, "but recollect that trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle. " So it was said of Nicolas Poussin, thepainter, that the rule of his conduct was, that "whatever was worthdoing at all was worth doing well;" and when asked, late in life, byhis friend Vigneul de Marville, by what means he had gained so high areputation among the painters of Italy, Poussin emphaticallyanswered, "Because I have neglected nothing. "

Although there are discoveries which are said to have been made byaccident, if carefully inquired into it will be found that there hasreally been very little that was accidental about them. For the mostpart, these so-called accidents, have only been opportunities, carefully improved by genius. The brilliantly colored soap-bubblesblown through a common tobacco-pipe--though "trifles light as air" inmost eyes--suggested to Dr. Young his beautiful theory of"interferences, " and led to his discovery relating to the diffractionof light. Although great men are popularly supposed only to deal withgreat things, men such as Newton and Young were ready to detect thesignificance of the most familiar and simple facts; their greatnessconsisting mainly in their wise interpretation of them. 

The difference between men consists, in a great measure, in theintelligence of their observation. The Russian proverb says of thenonobservant man, "He goes through the forest and sees no firewood. ""The wise man's eyes are in his head, " says Solomon, "but the foolwalketh in darkness. " "Sir, " said Johnson on one occasion, to a finegentleman just returned from Italy, "some men would learn more in theHampstead stage than others in the tour of Europe. " It is the mindthat sees as well as the eye. Where unthinking gazers observenothing, men of intelligent vision penetrate into the very fibre ofthe phenomena presented to them, attentively noting differences, making comparisons and recognizing their underlying idea. Many beforeGalileo had seen a suspended weight swing before their eyes with ameasured beat, but he was the first to detect the value of the fact. One of the vergers in the cathedral at Pisa, after replenishing withoil a lamp which hung from the roof, left it swinging to and fro; andGalileo, then a youth of only eighteen, noting it attentively, conceived the idea of applying it to the measurement of time. Fiftyyears of study and labor, however, elapsed before he completed theinvention of his Pendulum--the importance of which, in themeasurement of time and in astronomical calculations, can scarcely beoverrated. In like manner, Galileo, having casually heard that oneLippershey, a Dutch spectacle-maker, had presented to Count Mauriceof Nassau an instrument by means of which distant objects appearednearer to the beholder, addressed himself to the cause of such aphenomenon, which led to the invention of the telescope and provedthe beginning of the modern science of astronomy. Discoveries such asthese could never have been made by a negligent observer, or by amere passive listener. 

While Captain (afterward Sir Samuel) Brown was occupied in studyingthe construction of bridges, with the view of contriving one of acheap description to be thrown across the Tweed near which he lived, he was walking in his garden one dewy autumn morning, when he saw atiny spider's net suspended across his path. The idea immediatelyoccurred to him, that a bridge of iron ropes or chains might beconstructed in like manner, and the result was the invention of hissuspension bridge. So James Watt, when consulted about the mode ofcarrying water by pipes under the Clyde, along the unequal bed of theriver, turned his attention one day to the shell of a lobsterpresented at table; and from that model he invented an iron tube, which, when laid down, was found effectually to answer the purpose. Sir Isambard Brunel took his first lessons in forming the ThamesTunnel from the tiny shipworm: he saw how the little creatureperforated the wood with its well-armed head, first in one directionand then in another, till the archway was complete, and then daubedover the roof and sides with a kind of varnish; and by copying thiswork exactly on a large scale, Brunel was at length enabled toconstruct his shield and accomplish his great engineering work. 

It is the intelligent eye of the careful observer which gives theseapparently trivial phenomena their value. So trifling a matter as thesight of seaweed floating past his ship, enabled Columbus to quellthe mutiny which arose amongst his sailors at not discovering land, and to assure them that the eagerly sought New World was not far off. 

It is the close observation of little things which is the secret ofsuccess in business, in art, in science, and in every pursuit inlife. Human knowledge is but an accumulation of small facts, made bysuccessive generations of men, the little bits of knowledge andexperience carefully treasured up by them growing at length into amighty pyramid. Though many of these facts and observations seemed inthe first instance to have but slight significance, they are allfound to have their eventual uses, and to fit into their properplaces. Even many speculations seemingly remote, turn out to be thebasis of results the most obviously practical. In the case of theconic sections discovered by Apollonius Pergaeus, twenty centurieselapsed before they were made the basis of astronomy--a science whichenables the modern navigator to steer his way through unknown seasand traces for him in the heavens an unerring path to his appointedhaven. And had not mathematicians toiled for so long, and, touninstructed observers, apparently so fruitlessly, over the abstractrelations of lines and surfaces, it is probably that but few of ourmechanical inventions would have seen the light. 

When Franklin made his discovery of the identity of lightning andelectricity, it was sneered at, and people asked, "Of what use isit?" To which his reply was, "What is the use of a child? It maybecome a man!" When Galvani discovered that a frog's leg twitchedwhen placed in contact with different metals, it could scarcely havebeen imagined that so apparently insignificant a fact could have ledto important results. Yet therein lay the germ of the electrictelegraph, which binds the intelligence of continents together, and, probably before many years have elapsed will "put a girdle round theglobe. " So, too, little bits of stone and fossil, dug out of theearth, intelligently interpreted, have issued in the science ofgeology and the practical operations of mining, in which largecapitals are invested and vast numbers of persons profitablyemployed. 

The gigantic machinery employed in pumping our mines, working ourmills and manufactories, and driving our steamships and locomotives, in like manner depends for its supply of power upon so slight anagency as little drops of water expanded with heat--that familiaragency called steam, which we see issuing from that common tea-kettlespout, but which, when pent up within an ingeniously contrivedmechanism, displays a force equal to that of millions of horses, andcontains a power to rebuke the waves and set even the hurricane atdefiance. The same power at work within the bowels of the earth hasbeen the cause of those volcanoes and earthquakes which have playedso mighty a part in the history of the globe. 

This art of seizing opportunities and turning even accidents toaccount, bending them to some purpose, is a great secret of success. Dr. Johnson has defined genius to be "a mind of large general powersaccidentally determined in some particular direction. " Men who areresolved to find a way for themselves, will always find opportunitiesenough; and if they do not lie ready to their hand, they will makethem. It is not those who have enjoyed the advantages of colleges, museums, and public galleries, that have accomplished the most forscience and art; nor have the greatest mechanics and inventors beentrained in mechanics' institutes. Necessity, oftener than facility, has been the mother of invention; and the most prolific school of allhas been the school of difficulty. Some of the very best workmen havehad the most indifferent tools to work with. But it is not tools thatmake the workman, but the trained skill and perseverance of the manhimself. Indeed it is proverbial that the bad workman never yet had agood tool. Some one asked Opie by that wonderful process he mixed hiscolors. "I mix them with my brains, sir, " was his reply. It is thesame with every workman who would excel. Ferguson made marvelousthings--such as his wooden clock, that accurately measured the hours--by means of a common penknife, a tool in everybody's hand; but theneverybody is not a Ferguson. A pan of water and two thermometers werethe tools by which Dr. Black discovered latent heat; and a prism, alens and a sheet of pasteboard enable Newton to unfold thecomposition of light and the origin of colors. An eminent foreign_savant_ once called upon Dr. Wollaston, and requested to be shownover his laboratories, in which science had been enriched by so manyimportant discoveries, when the doctor took him into a little study, and, pointing to an old tea-tray on the table, containing a fewwatch-glasses, test-papers, a small balance, and a blowpipe, said, "There is all the laboratory I have!"

Stothard learnt the art of combining colors by closely studyingbutterflies' wings: he would often say that no one knew what he owedto those tiny insects. A burnt stick and a barn door served Wilkie inlieu of pencil and canvas. Bewiek first practiced drawing on thecottage walls of his native village, which he covered with hissketches in chalk; and Benjamin Watt made his first brushes out ofthe cat's tail. Ferguson laid himself down in the fields at night ina blanket, and made a map of the heavenly bodies by means of a threadwith small beads on it stretched between his eye and the stars. Franklin first robbed the thundercloud of its lightning by means of akite made with two cross-sticks and a silk handkerchief. Watt madehis first model of the condensing steam-engine out of an oldanatomist's syringe, used to inject the arteries previous todissection. Gifford worked his first problems in mathematics, when acobbler's apprentice, upon small scraps of leather, which he beatsmooth for the purpose; whilst Rittenhouse, the astronomer, firstcalculated eclipses on his plow handle. 

The most ordinary occasions will furnish a man with opportunities orsuggestions for improvement, if he be but prompt to take advantage ofthem. Professor Lee was attracted to the study of Hebrew by finding aBible in that tongue in a synagogue, while working as a commoncarpenter at the repair of the benches. He became possessed with adesire to read the book in the original, and, buying a cheap second-hand copy of a Hebrew grammar, he set to work and learned thelanguage for himself. As Edmund Stone said to the Duke of Argyle, inanswer to his grace's inquiry how he, a poor gardener's boy, hadcontrived to be able to read Newton's Principia in the Latin, "Oneneeds only to know the twenty-four letters of the alphabet in orderto learn everything else that one wishes. " Application andperseverance, and the diligent improvement of opportunities, will dothe rest. 

The attention of Dr. Priestley, the discoverer of so many gases, wasaccidentally drawn to the subject of chemistry through his living inthe neighborhood of a brewery. When visiting the place one day, henoted the peculiar appearances attending the extinction of lightedchips in the gas floating over the fermented liquor. He was fortyyears old at the time, and knew nothing of chemistry. He consultedbooks to ascertain the cause, but they told him little, for as yetnothing was known on the subject. Then he began to experiment, withsome rude apparatus of his own contrivance. The curious results ofhis first experiments led to others, which in his hands shortlybecame the science of pneumatic chemistry. About the same time, Scheele was obscurely working in the same direction in a remoteSwedish village; and he discovered several new gases, with no moreeffective apparatus at his command than a few apothecaries' vials andpigs' bladders. 

Sir Humphry Davy, when an apothecary's apprentice, performed hisfirst experiments with instruments of the rudest description. Heextemporized the greater part of them himself, out of the motleymaterials which chance threw in his way--to pots and pans of thekitchen, and the vials and vessels of his master's surgery. Ithappened that a French ship was wrecked off the Land's End, and thesurgeon escaped, bearing with him his case of instruments, amongstwhich was an old-fashioned clyster apparatus; this article hepresented to Davy, with whom he had become acquainted. Theapothecary's apprentice received it with great exultation, andforthwith employed it as a part of a pneumatic apparatus which hecontrived, afterward using it to perform the duties of an air-pump inone of his experiments on the nature and sources of heat. 

In like manner, professor Faraday, Sir Humphry Davy's scientificsuccessor, made his first experiments in electricity by means of anold bottle, while he was still a working bookbinder. And it is acurious fact, that Faraday was first attracted to the study ofchemistry by hearing one of Sir Humphry Davy's lectures on thesubject at the Royal Institution. A gentleman, who was a member, calling one day at the shop where Faraday was employed in bindingbooks, found him pouring over the article "Electricity, " in anencyclopedia placed in his hands to bind. The gentleman, having madeinquiries, found that the young bookbinder was curious about suchsubjects, and gave him an order of admission to the RoyalInstitution, where he attended a course of four lectures delivered bySir Humphry. He took notes of them, which he showed to the lecturer, who acknowledged their scientific accuracy, and was surprised wheninformed of the humble position of the reporter. Faraday thenexpressed his desire to devote himself to the prosecution of chemicalstudies, from which Sir Humphry at first endeavored to dissuade him:but the young man persisting, he was at length taken into the RoyalInstitution as an assistant; and eventually the mantle of thebrilliant apothecary's boy fell upon the worthy shoulders of theequally brilliant bookbinder's apprentice. 

The words which Davy entered in his notebook, when about twenty yearsof age, working in Dr. Beddoes' laboratory at Bristol, were eminentlycharacteristic of him: "I have neither riches, nor power, nor birthto recommend me; yet if I live I trust I shall not be of less serviceto mankind and my friends, than if I had been born with all theseadvantages. " Davy possessed the capability, as Faraday did, ofdevoting the whole power of his mind to the practical andexperimental investigation of a subject in all its bearings; and sucha mind will rarely fail, by dint of mere industry and patientthinking, in producing results of the highest order. Coleridge saidof Davy: "There is an energy and elasticity in his mind, whichenables him to seize on and analyze all questions, pushing them totheir legitimate consequences. Every subject in Davy's mind has theprinciple of vitality. Living thoughts spring up like turf under hisfeet. " Davy, on his part said of Coleridge, whose abilities hegreatly admired: "With the most exalted genius, enlarged views, sensitive heart, and enlightened mind, he will be the victim of awant of order, precision, and regularity. "

It is not accident, then, that helps a man in the world so much aspurpose and persistent industry. To the feeble, the sluggish andpurposeless, the happiest accidents will avail nothing--they passthem by, seeing no meaning in them. But it is astonishing how muchcan be accomplished if we are prompt to seize and improve theopportunities for action and effort which are constantly presentingthemselves. Watt taught himself chemistry and mechanics while workingat his trade of a mathematical instrument maker, at the same timethat he was learning German from a Swiss dyer. Stephenson taughthimself arithmetic and mensuration while working as an engine-man, during the night shifts; and when he could snatch a few moments inthe intervals allowed for meals during the day, he worked his sumswith a bit of chalk upon the sides of the colliery wagons. Dalton'sindustry was the habit of his life. He began from his boyhood, for hetaught a little village school when he was only about twelve yearsold--keeping the school in winter, and working upon his father's farmin summer. He would sometimes urge himself and companions to study bythe stimulus of a bet, though bred a Quaker; and on one occasion byhis satisfactory solution of a problem, he won as much as enabled himto buy a winter's store of candles. He continued his meteorologicalobservations until a day or two before he died--having made andrecorded upward of 200, 000 in the course of his life. 

With perseverance, the very odds, and ends of time may be worked upinto results of the greatest value. An hour in every day withdrawnfrom frivolous pursuits would, if profitably employed, enable aperson of ordinary capacity to go far toward mastering a science. Itwould make an ignorant man a well-informed one in less than tenyears. Time should not be allowed to pass without yielding fruits, inthe form of something learnt worthy of being known, some goodprinciple cultivated, or some good habit strengthened. Dr. Mason Goodtranslated Lucretuis while riding in his carriage in the streets ofLondon, going the round of his patients. Dr. Darwin composed nearlyall his works in the same way while driving about in his "sulky" fromhouse to house in the country ==writing down his thoughts on littlescraps of paper, which he carried about with him for the purpose. Hale wrote his "Contemplations" while traveling on circuit. Dr. Burney learnt French and Italian while traveling on horseback fromone musical pupil to another in the course of his profession. KirkeWhite learnt Greek while walking to and fro from a lawyer's office;and we personally know a man of eminent position who learnt Latin andFrench while going messages as an errand-boy. 

Hugh Miller was a busy man of observant faculties, who studiedliterature as well as science, with zeal and success. The book inwhich he has told the story of his life("My Schools andSchoolmasters"), is extremely interesting, and calculated to beeminently useful. It is the history of the formation of a truly noblecharacter in the humblest condition of life, and inculcates mostpowerfully the lessons of self-help, self-respect, and self-dependence. While Hugh was but a child, his father, who was a sailor, was drowned at sea, and he was brought up by his widowed mother. Hehad a school training after a sort, but his best teachers were theboys with whom he played, the men amongst whom he lived. He read muchand miscellaneously, and picked up odd sorts of knowledge from manyquarters--from workmen, carpenters, fishermen and sailors, and aboveall, from the old boulders strewed along the shores of the CromartyFirth. With a big hammer which had belonged to his great-grandfather, an old buccaneer, the boy went about chipping the stones, andaccumulating specimens of mica, porphyry, garnet, and such like. Sometimes he had a day in the woods, and there, too, the boy'sattention was excited by the peculiar geological curiosities whichcame in his way. While searching among the rocks on the beach, he wassometimes asked, in irony, by the farm-servants who came to loadtheir carts with sea-weed, whether he "was gettin' siller in thestanes, " but was so unlucky as never to be able to answer in theaffirmative. When of a suitable age he was apprenticed to the tradeof his choice--that of a working stone-mason; and he began hislaboring career in a quarry looking out upon the Cromarty Firth. Thisquarry proved one of his best schools. The remarkable geologicalformations which it displayed awakened his curiosity. The bar ofdeep-red stone beneath, and the bar of pale-red clay above, werenoted by the young quarryman, who even in such unpromising subjects, found matter of observation and reflection. Where other men sawnothing, he detected analogies, differences, and peculiarities whichset him a-thinking. He simply kept his eyes and his mind open; wassober, diligent and persevering; and this was the secret of hisintellectual growth. 

His curiosity was excited and kept alive by the curious organicremains, principally of old and extinct species of fishes, ferns, andammonites, which were revealed along the coast by the washings of thewaves, or were exposed by the stroke of his mason's hammer. He neverlost sight of the subject, but went on accumulating observations andcomparing formations, until at length, many years afterward, when nolonger a working mason, he gave to the world his highly interestingwork on the "Old Red Sandstone, " which at once established hisreputation as a scientific geologist. But this work was the fruit oflong years of patient observation and research. As he modestly statesin his autobiography, "The only merit to which I lay claim in thecase is that of patient research--a merit in which whoever wills mayrival or surpass me; and this humble faculty of patience, whenrightly developed, may lead to more extraordinary development ofideas than even genius itself. "

"Chance, " said an old Vermont farmer, "is like going into a fieldwith a pail, and waiting for a cow to come to you and back up to bemilked. "

"Shun delays, they breed remorse; Take thy time while time is lent thee;Creeping snails have weakest force, Fly their fault, lest thou repent thee; Good is best when sooner wrought, Ling'ring labors come to nought. 

"Hoist up sail while gale doth last, Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure!Seek not time when time is past, Sober speed is wisdom's leisure; After-wits are dearly bought, Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought. 

"Time wears all his locks before, Take thou hold upon his forehead;When he flees he turns no more, And behind his scalp is naked. Works adjourn'd have many stays, Long demurs breed new delays. "

CHAPTER XVIII

CULTIVATE OBSERVATION AND JUDGMENT. 

"Look before you leap, " old Commodore Vanderbilt used to say. "I likeactive men, but I have no use for the fellow who is so much inearnest that he goes off half-cocked. " We all know the danger of agun that goes off half-cocked, but it is not so apt to bring disasteras is the man who goes off without due preparation. 

It is fortunate for us that we cannot see into the future, but theFather who has kept from us the gift of prophecy has blessed us witha foresight and judgment that enable us to see pretty accurately whatmust be the inevitable consequence of certain acts. 

The power to observe carefully and judge accurately is a rare gift, but it is one that can be cultivated. The ancients had a motto "Knowthyself, " and the great poet Pope tells us that "the proper study ofmankind is man. " A knowledge of human nature is invaluable in everylife-calling that brings us into contact with our fellows, and thiscan be gained only by careful observation. 

Stephen Girard attributed much of his success to his "ability to readmen at a glance. " And so carefully did the great merchant prince, Alexander T, Stewart, study this, that it is said he rarely made amistake in the character of a man he took into his employ. 

Cultivate observation. Oliver Wendell Holmes maintained that all thedifference in men, no matter their callings, lay in the difference oftheir ability to observe and draw proper conclusions from theirobservations. Professor Huxley says that "observation is the basis ofall our scientific knowledge. " And Andrew Carnegie attributes hisgreat success to his cultivation of this faculty. 

Every young man, ambitious to win--and what young man worthy the nameis not?--should have a standard of excellence for himself, and thenhe should carefully study and observe the methods of the men who headmires or with whom he is brought into contact. It is the ability todo this that constitutes the difference between the man drudge andthe man anxious to assume greater responsibilities by mastering hisnecessary duties. 

In a lecture to young men on this subject, Henry Ward Beecher said:

"The young should begin life with a standard of excellence beforethem, to which they should readily conform themselves. There shouldbe a fixed determination to make the best of one's self, in whatevercircumstances we may be placed. Let the young man determine thatwhatever he undertakes he will do well; that he will make himselfmaster of the business upon which he enters, and always preparehimself for advancement by becoming worthy of it. It is notopportunity of rising which is wanting, so much as the ability torise. It is not the patronage of friends and the outward helps offortune, to which the prominent men of our country owe theirelevation, either in wealth or influence, so much as to their ownvigorous and steady exertions. We hear a great many complaints, bothamong young men and old, of the favoritism of fortune, and thepartiality of the world; but observation leads us to believe that, toa very great extent, those who deserve promotion obtain it. Those whoare worthy of confidence will have confidence reposed in them. Thosewho give evidence of ability and industry will find opportunityenough for their exercise. "

Take a familiar illustration. A young man engages in some business, and is, in ever respect, a beginner in life. A common education isall that he possesses. He knows almost nothing of the world, and verylittle of the occupation on which he has entered. He performs hisduty from day to day sufficiently well, and does what he is expectedto do. But it does not enter into his mind to do anything beyond whatis required, nor to enlarge his capacities by reading or reflection. He is, at the best, a steady plodding man, who will go forward, if atall, very slowly, and will rise, if at all, to no great elevation. Heis not the sort of person who is looked for to occupy a higherposition. One opportunity of advancement after another may comedirectly within his reach, and he asks the influence of friends tohelp him to secure it. They give their aid feebly, because they haveno great hopes of success, and are not confident of their ownrecommendation. As a matter of course, some one else, more competentor more in earnest, steps in before him, and then we hear renewedcomplaints of favoritism and injustice. Such a one may say in hisdefense that he has been guilty of no dereliction of duty; that nofault has been found with him, and that, therefore, he was entitledto advancement. But this does not follow. Something more that thatmay reasonably be required. To bestow increased confidence, werequire the capacity and habit of improvement in those whom weemploy. The man who is entitled to rise is one who is alwaysenlarging his capacity, so that he is evidently able to do more thathe is actually doing. 

In every department of business, whether mechanical or mercantile, orwhatever it may be, there is a large field of useful knowledge whichshould be carefully explored. An observing eye and an inquiring mindwill always find enough for examination and study. It may not seem tobe of immediate use--it may have nothing to do with this week's orthis year's duty--yet it is worth knowing. The mind gains greaterskillfulness by the intelligence which directs it. 

The result is all the difference between a mere drudge and anintelligent workman; between the mere salesman or clerk and theenterprising merchant; between the obscure and pettifogging lawyerand the sagacious, influential counselor. It is the differencebetween one who deserves to be, and will be, stationary in the world, and one who, having determined to make the best of himself, willcontinually rise in influence and true respectability. This wholedifference we may see every day among those who have enjoyed nearlyequal opportunities. We may allow something for what are called theaccidents of social influence, and the turns of fortune. But, afterall fair allowance has been made, we shall find that the great causeof difference is in the men themselves. Let the young man who isbeginning life put away from him all notions of advancement withoutdesert. A man of honorable feelings will not even desire it. He willever shrink from engaging in duties which he is not able fairly toperform. He will, first of all, secure to himself the capacity ofperforming them, and then he is ready for them whenever they come. 

Without observation and judgment there can be no permanent advance. Without observation, experience has no value, and the passing yearsadd nothing to our fund of useful knowledge. Judgment is the abilityto weigh these observations, and use them for our own protection oradvancement. 

Not only in business, but in science and art, observation and goodjudgment are necessary. Excellence in art, as in everything else, canonly be achieved by dint of painstaking labor and a close observationof those whom we regard as our superiors. There is nothing lessaccidental than the painting of a fine picture, or the chiseling of anoble statue. Every skilled touch of the artist's brush or chisel, though guided by genius, is the product of unremitting study. SirJoshua Reynolds was such a believer in the force of industry, that heheld that artistic excellence, "however expressed by genius, taste, or the gift of heaven may be acquired. " Writing to Barry he said, "Whoever is resolved to excel in painting, or indeed any other art, must bring all his mind to bear upon that one object from the momentthat he rises till he goes to bed. " And on another occasion he said, "Those who are resolved to excel must go to their work, willing orunwilling, morning, noon, and, night: they will find it no play, butvery hard labor. " But although diligent application is no doubtabsolutely necessary for the achievement of the highest distinctionin art, it is equally true that, without the inborn genius, no amountof mere industry, however well applied, will make an artist. The giftcomes by nature, but is perfected by self-culture, which is of moreavail that all the imparted learning of the schools. But even geniuswithout good judgment may be an unbroken steed without a bridle. 

All great artists and authors have been famed for their powers ofobservation; indeed, it is claimed that it is this power thatdistinguishes them from other men. 

No matter how generous nature has been in bestowing the gift ofgenius, the pursuit of art is nevertheless a long and continuouslabor. Many artists have been precocious, but without diligence theirprecocity would have come to nothing. The anecdote related of West iswell known. When only seven years old, struck with the beauty of thesleeping infant of his eldest sister, whilst watching by its cradle, he ran to seek some paper, and forthwith drew its portrait in red andblack ink. The little incident revealed the artist in him, and it wasfound impossible to draw him from his bent. West might have been agreater painter had he not been injured by too early success: hisfame, though great, was not purchased by study, trials anddifficulties, and it has not been enduring. 

Richard Wilson, when a mere child, indulged himself with tracingfigures of men and animals on the walls of his father's house with aburnt stick. He first directed his attention to portrait painting;but when in Italy, calling one day at the house of Zucarelli, andgrowing weary with waiting, he began painting the scene on which hisfriend's chamber window looked. When Zucarelli arrived, he was socharmed with the picture that he asked if Wilson had not studiedlandscape, to which he replied that he had not. "Then I advise you, "said the other, "to try; for you are sure of great success. " Wilsonadopted the advice, studied and worked hard, and became the firstgreat English landscape painter. 

Sir Joshua Reynolds, when a boy, forgot his lessons, and tookpleasure only in drawing, for which his father was accustomed torebuke him. The boy was destined for the profession of physic, buthis strong instinct for art could not be repressed, and he became apainter. Gainsborough went sketching, when a schoolboy, in the woodsof Sudbury, and at twelve he was a confirmed artist; he was a keenobserver and a hard worker--no picturesque feature of any scene hehad once looked upon escaping his diligent pencil. William Blake, ahosier's son, employed himself in drawing designs on the backs of hisfather's shop-bills, and making sketches on the counter. Edward Bird, when a child only three or four years old, would mount a chair anddraw figures on the walls, which he called French and Englishsoldiers. A box of colors was purchased for him, and his father, desirous of turning his love of art to account, put him apprentice toa maker of teatrays! Out of this trade he gradually raised himself, by study and labor, to the rank of a Royal Academician. 

Hogarth, though a very dull boy at his lessons, took pleasure inmaking drawings of the letters of the alphabet, and his schoolexercises were more remarkable for the ornaments with which heembellished them, than for the matter of the exercises themselves. Inthe latter respect he was beaten by all the blockheads of the school, but in his adornments he stood alone. His father put him apprenticeto a silversmith, where he learnt to draw, and also to engrave spoonsand forks with crests and ciphers. From silver-chasing he went on toteach himself engraving on copper, principally griffins and monstersof heraldry, in the course of which practice he became ambitious todelineate the varieties of human character. The singular excellencewhich he reached in this art was mainly the result of carefulobservation and study. He had the gift, which he sedulouslycultivated, of committing to memory the precise features of anyremarkable face, and afterward reproducing them on paper; but if anysingularly fantastic form or odd face came in his way, he would makea sketch of it on the spot upon his thumbnail, and carry it home toexpand at his leisure. Everything fantastical and original had apowerful attraction for him, and he wandered into many out-of-the-wayplaces for the purpose of meeting with character. By this carefulstoring of his mind, he was afterward enabled to crowd an immenseamount of thought and treasure observation into his works. Hence itis that Hogarth's pictures are so truthful a memorial of thecharacter, the manners, and even the very thoughts of the times inwhich he live. True painting, he himself observed, can only be learntin one school, and that is kept by Nature. But he was not a highlycultivated man, except in his own walk. His school education had beenof the slenderest kind, scarcely even perfecting him in the art ofspelling; his self-culture did the rest. For a long time he was invery straitened circumstances, but nevertheless worked on with acheerful heart. Poor though he was, he contrived to live within hissmall means, and he boasted with becoming pride, that he was "apunctual paymaster. " When he had conquered all his difficulties andbecome a famous and thriving man, he loved to dwell upon his earlylabors and privations, and to fight over again the battle which endedso honorably to him as a man and so gloriously as an artist. "Iremember the time, " said he on one occasion, "when I have gonemoping into the city with scarce a shilling, but as soon as I havereceived ten guineas there for a plate, I have returned home, put onmy sword, and sallied out with all the confidence of a man who hadthousands in his pockets. "

Perhaps there is no living man of eminence who so well and forciblyillustrates these qualities of judgment and observation as thatgreatest of living American inventors, Thomas A. Edison. 

Mr. Edison, as we have already stated, had only a few weeks at schoolin his whole life. He was born in the upper part of New York State in1847. His parents were poor, and early in life, to use his ownexpressive words, he "had to start out and hustle. " One would thinkthat selling newspapers on a railroad train was not a calling thatafforded any educational advantages, but to the man of observationthere is no position in life, whether in the busy haunts of men orthe silence of the wilderness, that is not replete with valuableinformation if we but know where to look for it, and have thejudgment to use it after it is obtained. 

Through the favor of the telegraph operator, whose child's life hehad saved when the little one was nearly under the wheels of a train, young Edison was enabled to study telegraphy. During thisapprenticeship, if such it may be called, the boy not only learnedhow to send and receive a message, so as to fit himself for theposition of operator, but he learned all about the mechanism and thebatteries of the instrument he operated. 

"Nothing escaped Tom Edison's observation, " said a man who knew himat this time. "He saw everything, and he not only saw it, but he setabout learning its whys and wherefores, and he stuck at it till hehad learned all there was to be learned about it. "

Said another friend, "I've known Edison since he was a boy offourteen, and of my own knowledge I can say he never spent an idleday in his life. Often when he should have been asleep I have knownhim to sit up half the night reading. He did not take to novels orwild Western adventures, but read works on mechanics, chemistry andelectricity, and he mastered them, too. But in addition to hisreading, which he could only indulge at odd hours, he carefullycultivated his wonderful powers of observation, till at length, whenhe was not actually asleep, it may be said he was learning all thetime. Schools and colleges are all very well, but Mr. Edison's careergoes to show that a man may become famous, prosperous, and welleducated, if he has the necessary capacity for observing andweighing. "

Another illustrious example of the same kind is the late George W. Childs, of Philadelphia. He was born in Baltimore, Md. , in 1829, andat the age of twelve he had to begin the battle of life by taking theposition of errand boy in a book store. "I had no schooling, " hesaid, when speaking of his early struggles, "but I had a quenchlessthirst for information. I had no tine to read the books I had tohandle and carry sometimes in a wheelbarrow, but I kept my eyes andears open. I studied the binding and manufacture, though I had notthe slightest idea of the contents; and from these early observationsI made up my mind that one day I would become a publisher on my ownaccount. "

How successfully Mr. Childs did this, we all know. While yet in histeens, he made his way, without money or friends, to Philadelphia, and found a place in a book store, where the same method of educationby observation was continued. 

The first time he saw a copy of the Philadelphia _Ledger_, a timewhen he had scarcely the penny to spare that bought it, he made uphis mind that one day he would own that paper--and he carried out hisresolution. 

So excellent was his judgment that not only publishers, but statesmenand bankers sought it. From the humblest beginnings George W. Childsrose up and up till the greatest men of two continents rejoiced inhis friendship, and his name was on the lips of all who admire anoble life devoted to philanthropic deeds. 

Our American biographies are full of examples of self-taught men--menwho have become educated through observation, and great through goodjudgment and increasing effort, but there are not many of them thatcommend themselves so warmly to the heart as the life of the good, wise, and generous George W. Childs. 

CHAPTER XIX

SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 

We have all heard of the "Jack of all trades, and master of none. "Such men never win, though they may excite the admiration of thecurious by their impractical versatility. 

In early times, even in the early settlement of our own country, itwas necessary for not only men, but women also, to be many-sided intheir capacity for work; but the world's swift advance has made thisunnecessary. A farmer can now buy shoes cheaper than he could makethem at home, and the farmer's wife has no longer to learn the art ofspinning and weaving. 

A French philosopher in speaking of this subject says: "It is well toknow something about everything, and everything about something. "That is general information is always useful, but special informationis essential to special success. 

The field of learning is too vast to be carefully gone over in onelifetime, and the business world is too extensive to permit any manto become acquainted with all its topography. A man may do a numberof things fairly well, but he can do only one thing very well. 

Often versatility instead of being a blessing is an injury. A few menlike Michael Angelo in art, Benjamin Franklin in science and letters, and Peter Cooper in various departments of manufacture have succeededin everything they undertook, but to hold these up as examples to befollowed would be to make a rule of an exception. 

Singleness of purpose is one of the prime requisites of success. Fortune is jealous, and refuses to be approached from all sides bythe same suitor. 

We have known men of marked ability, but want of purpose, who studiedfor the ministry and failed; who then studied law--and failed. Afterthis they tried medicine and journalism, only to fail in each;whereas, had they stuck resolutely to one thing success would nothave been uncertain. 

A young man may not be able at the very start to hit upon thevocation for which he is best adapted, but should he find it, he willsee that his ability to avail himself of its advantages will dependlargely on the energy and singleness of purpose displayed in the workfor which he had no liking. 

There is a famous speech recorded of an old Norseman, thoroughlycharacteristic of the Teuton. "I believe neither in idols nordemons, " said he; "I put my sole trust in my own strength of body andsoul. " The ancient crest of a pickaxe with the motto of "Either Iwill find a way or make one, " was an expression of the same sturdyindependence which to this day distinguishes the descendants of theNorthmen. Indeed, nothing could be more characteristic of theScandinavian mythology, than that it had a god with a hammer. A man'scharacter is seen in small matters; and from even so slight a test asthe mode in which a man wields a hammer, his energy may in somemeasure be inferred. Thus an eminent Frenchman hit off in a singlephrase the characteristic quality of the inhabitants of a particulardistrict, in which a friend of his proposed to settle and buy land. "Beware, " said he, "of making a purchase there; I know the men ofthat Department; the pupils who come from it to our veterinary schoolat Paris _do not strike hard upon the anvil_; they want energy; andyou will not get a satisfactory return on any capital you may investthere. "

Hugh Miller said the only school in which he was properly taught was"that world-wide school in which toil and hardship are the severe butnoble teachers. " He who allows his application to falter, or shirkshis work on frivolous pretexts, is on the sure road to ultimatefailure. Let any task be undertaken as a thing not possible to beevaded, and it will soon come to be performed with alacrity andcheerfulness. Charles IX of Sweden was a firm believer in the powerof will, even in youth. Laying his hand on the head of his youngestson when engaged on a difficult task, he exclaimed, "He _shall_ doit! he _shall_ do it!" The habit of application becomes easy in time, like every other habit. Thus persons with comparatively moderatepowers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly andindefatigably to one thing at a time. Fowell Buxton placed hisconfidence in ordinary means and extraordinary application; realizingthe Scriptural injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do itwith thy might;" and he attributed his own success in life to hispractice of "being a whole man to one thing at a time. "

"Where there is a will there is a way, " is an old and true saying. Hewho resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scalesthe barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To think we areable, is almost to be so--to determine upon attainment is frequentlyattainment itself. Thus, earnest resolution has often seemed to haveabout it almost a savor of omnipotence. The strength of Suwarrow'scharacter lay in his power of willing, and, like most resolutepersons, he preached it up as a system. "You can only half will, " hewould say to people who failed. Like Richelieu and Napoleon, he wouldhave the word "impossible" banished from the dictionary. "I don'tknow, " "I can't, " and "impossible, " were words which he detestedabove all others. "Learn! Do! Try!" he would exclaim. His biographerhas said of him, that he furnished a remarkable illustration of whatmay be effected by the energetic development and exercise offaculties the germs of which at least are in every human heart. 

One of Napoleon's favorite maxims was, "The truest wisdom is aresolute determination. " His life, beyond most others, vividly showedwhat a powerful and unscrupulous will could accomplish. He threw hiswhole force of body and mind direct upon his work. Imbecile rulersand the nations they governed went down before him in succession. Hewas told that the Alps stood in the way of his armies. "There shallbe no Alps, " he said, and the road across the Simplon wasconstructed, through a district formerly almost inaccessible. "Impossible, " said he, "is a word only to be found in the dictionaryof fools. " He was a man who toiled terribly; sometimes employing andexhausting four secretaries at a time. He spared no one, not evenhimself. His influence inspired other men, and put a new life intothem. "I made my generals out of mud" he said. But all was of noavail; for Napoleon's intense selfishness was his ruin, and the ruinof France, which he left a prey to anarchy. 

Before the man resolutely impelled to action by singleness ofpurpose, every obstacle disappears as he approaches, and every lessonof experience becomes the stepping-stone to further victories in thesame direction. 

It is this singleness of purpose, this absorption in a great life-work, that nerves our missionaries in their exile. A splendid exampleof this is presented in the career of the great missionary andexplorer, Dr. Livingstone. 

He has told the story of his life in that modest and unassumingmanner which is so characteristic of the man himself. His ancestorswere poor but honest Highlanders, and it is related of one of them, renowned in his district for wisdom and prudence, that when on hisdeath-bed, he called his children round him and left them thesewords, the only legacy he had to bequeath: "In my lifetime, " said he, "I have searched most carefully through all the traditions I couldfind of our family, and I never could discover that there was adishonest man among our forefathers; if, therefore, any of you, orany of your children, should take to dishonest ways, it will not bebecause it runs in our blood; it does not belong to you: I leave thisprecept with you--Be honest. " At the age of ten, Livingstone was sentto work in a cotton factory near Glasgow as a "piecer. " With part ofhis first week's wages he bought a Latin grammar, and began to learnthat language, pursuing the study for years at a night-school. Hewould sit up conning his lessons till twelve or later, when not sentto bed by his mother, for he had to be up and at work in the factoryevery morning by six. In this way he plodded through Virgil andHorace, also reading extensively all books, excepting novels, thatcame in his way, but more especially scientific works and books oftravels. He occupied his spare hours, which were but few, in thepursuit of botany, scouring the neighborhood to collect plants. Heeven carried on his reading amidst the roar of the factory machinery, so placing the book upon the spinning-jenny which he worked, that hecould catch sentence after sentence as he passed it. In this way thepersevering youth acquired much useful knowledge; and as he grewolder, the desire possessed him of becoming a missionary to theheathen. With this object he set himself to obtain a medicaleducation, in order the better to be qualified for the work. Heaccordingly economized his earnings, and saved as much money asenabled him to support himself while attending the Medical and Greekclasses as well as the Divinity Lectures, at Glasgow, for severalwinters, working as a cotton-spinner during the remainder of eachyear. He thus supported himself, during his college career, entirelyby his own earnings as a factory workman, never having received afarthing of help from any other source. "Looking back now, " hehonestly said, "at that life of toil, I cannot but feel thankful thatit formed such a material part of my early education; and, were itpossible, I should like to begin life over again in the same lowlystyle, and to pass through the same hardy training. " At length hefinished his medical curriculum, wrote his Latin thesis, passed hisexaminations, and was admitted a licentiate of the Faculty ofPhysicians and Surgeons. At first he thought of going to China, butthe war then waging with that country prevented his following out theidea; and having offered his services to the London MissionarySociety, he was by them sent out to Africa, which he reached in 1840. He had intended to proceed to China by his own efforts; and he saysthe only pang he had in going to Africa at the charge of the LondonMissionary Society was, because "it was not quite agreeable to oneaccustomed to worked his own way to become, in a manner, dependentupon others. " Arrived in Africa, he set to work with great zeal. Hecould not brook the idea of merely entering upon the labors ofothers, but cut out a large sphere of independent work, preparinghimself for it by undertaking manual labor in building and otherhandicraft employment, in addition to teaching, which, he says, "mademe generally as much exhausted and unfit for study in the evenings asever I had been when a cotton-spinner. " Whilst laboring amongst theBechuanas, he dug canals, built houses, cultivated fields, rearedcattle, and taught the natives to work as well as to worship. When hefirst started with a party of them on foot upon a long journey, heoverheard their observations upon his appearance and powers. "He isnot strong, " said they; "he is quite slim, and only appears stoutbecause he puts himself into those bags (trousers): he will soonknock up. " This caused the missionary's Highland blood to rise, andmade him despise the fatigue of keeping them all at the top of theirspeed for days together, until he heard them expressing properopinions of his pedestrian powers. What he did in Africa, and how heworked, may be learnt from his own "Missionary Travels, " one of themost fascinating books of its kind that has ever been given to thepublic. One of his last known acts is thoroughly characteristic ofthe man. The "Birkenhead" steam launch, which he took out with him toAfrica, having proved a failure, he sent home orders for theconstruction of another vessel at an estimated cost of 2, 000 pounds. This sum he proposed to defray out of the means which he had set asidefor his children, arising from the profits of his books of travel. "The children must make it up themselves, " was in effect his expressionin sending home the order for the appropriation of the money. 

The career of John Howard was throughout a striking illustration ofthe same power of patient purpose. His sublime life proved that evenphysical weakness could remove mountains in the pursuit of an endrecommended by duty. The idea of ameliorating the condition ofprisoners engrossed his whole thoughts, and possessed him like apassion; and no toil, or danger, nor bodily suffering could turn himfrom that great object of his life. Though a man of no genius and butmoderate talent, his heart was pure and his will was strong. Even inhis own time he achieved a remarkable degree of success; and hisinfluence did not die with him, for it has continued powerfully toaffect not only the legislation of his own country, but of allcivilized nations, down to the present hour. 

Horace Mann, famous as a teacher and reformer in his day, was urgedby his friends in Ohio to go to Congress. He replied: "I have a greatdeal of respect for men in public life, but I have more respect formy on life-work. If I know anything, it is the science or art ofteaching, and to this work, please God, I shall devote the whole ofmy life. " And he kept his word. 

Singleness of purpose implies firmness, for in this day of change andspeculation, the young man who has saved up a little money, hopingone day to go into business for himself, will find on every handtemptations to invest in enterprises of which he knows nothing. Herehis resolution will be tested. Remember there is no element of humancharacter so potential for weal or woe as firmness. To the merchantand the man of business it is all-important. Before its irresistibleenergy the most formidable obstacles become as cobweb barriers in itspath. Difficulties, the terror of which causes the timid and pamperedsons of luxury to shrink back with dismay, provoke from the man alofty determination only a smile. The whole history of our race--allnature, indeed--teems with examples to show what wonders may beaccomplished by resolute perseverance and patient toil. 

It is related of Tamerlane, the terror of whose arms spread throughall the Eastern nations, and whom victory attended at almost everystep, that he once learned from an insect a lesson of perseverance, which had a striking effect on his future character and success. 

When closely pursued by his enemies, as a contemporary writer tellsthe incident, he took refuge in some old ruins, where left to hissolitary musings, he espied an ant tugging and striving to carry asingle grain of corn. His unavailing efforts were repeated sixty-ninetimes, and at each brave attempt, as soon as he reached a certainpoint of projection, he fell back with his burden, unable to surmountit; but the seventieth time he bore away his spoil in triumph, andleft the wondering hero reanimated and exulting in the hope of futurevictory. 

How pregnant the lesson this incident conveys! How many thousandinstances there are in which inglorious defeat ends the career of thetimid and desponding, when the same tenacity of purpose would crownit with triumphant success. 

Resolution is almost omnipotent. It was well observed by a heathenmoralist, that it is not because things are difficult that we darenot undertake them. Be, then, bold in spirit. Indulge no doubts. Shakespeare says truly and wisely--

 "Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. "

In the practical pursuit of our high aim, let us never lose sight ofit in the slightest instance; for it is more by a disregard of smallthings, than by open and flagrant offenses, that men come short ofexcellence. There is always a right and a wrong; and, if you everdoubt, be sure you take not the wrong. Observe this rule, and everyexperience will be to you a means of advancement. 

CHAPTER XX

BUSINESS AND BRAINS. 

Many, prompted no doubt by a feeling of envy, are apt to sneer at theculture and mental ability of the men who have won in business. "Dumbluck, " "mean plodding, " "the robbery of employees, " these and otherreasons are assigned by the unreasoning and uncharitable for theprosperity of men who won with fewer advantages than themselves. 

Every student of the world's progress knows that business men havedone even more than great authors for the advance of civilization. And we all know, though the world is apt to kneel to military idols, that inventors have done far more than have soldiers for the good ofhumanity. 

The man who succeeds in commerce, trade, or manufactures, therebyshows a foresight and executive ability that would surely havecommanded success in any other calling. Men who know books andnothing else are apt to imagine that the merchant, whose life isdevoted to facts, figures, and results, must by reason of that bewanting in the higher intellectual faculties. Nor is this beliefwholly confined to authors in America. 

Hazlitt, in one of his clever essays, represents the man of businessas a mean sort of person put in a go-cart, yoked to a trade orprofession; alleging that all he has to do is, not to go out of thebeaten track, but merely to let his affairs take their own course. "The great requisite, " he says, "for the prosperous management ofordinary business is the want of imagination, or of any ideas butthose of custom and interest on the narrowest scale. " but nothingcould be more one-sided, and in effect untrue, than such adefinition. Of course, there are narrow-minded men of business, asthere are narrow-minded scientific men, literary men and legislators;but there are also business men of large and comprehensive minds, capable of action on the very largest scale. As Burke said in hisspeech on the India bill, he knew statesmen who were peddlers, andmerchants who acted in the spirit of statesmen. 

If we take into account the qualities necessary for the successfulconduct of any important undertaking--that it requires specialaptitude, promptitude of action on emergencies, capacity fororganizing the labor often of large numbers of men, great tact andknowledge of human nature, constant self-culture, and growingexperience in the practical affairs of life--it must, we think, beobvious that the school of business is by no means so narrow as somewriters would have us believe. Mr. Helps spoke much nearer the truthwhen he said that consummate men of business are as rare almost asgreat poets--rarer, perhaps, than veritable saints and martyrs. Indeed, of no other pursuit can it so emphatically be said, as ofthis, that "business makes men. "

It has, however, been a favorite fallacy with dunces in all timesthat men of genius are unfitted for business, as well as thatbusiness occupations unfit men for the pursuits of genius. Theunhappy youth who committed suicide a few years since because he hadbeen "born to be a man and condemned to be a grocer, " proved by theact that his soul was not equal even to the dignity of grocer. For itis not the calling that degrades the man, but the man that degradesthe calling. All work that brings honest gain is honorable, whetherit be of hand or mind. The fingers may be soiled, yet the heartremain pure; for it is not material so much as moral dirt thatdefiles--greed far more than grime, and vice than verdigris. 

The greatest have not disdained to labor honestly and usefully for aliving, though at the same time aiming after higher things. Thales, the first of the seven sages; Solon, the second founder of Athens, and Hyperates, the mathematician, were all traders. Plato, called theDivine by reason of the excellence of his wisdom, defrayed histraveling expenses in Egypt by the profits derived from the oil whichhe sold during his journey. Spinoza maintained himself by polishingglasses while he pursued his philosophical investigations. Linnaeus, the great botanist, prosecuted his studies while hammering leatherand making shoes. Shakespeare was the successful manager of atheatre--perhaps priding himself more upon his practical qualities inthat capacity than on his writing of plays and poetry. Pope was ofopinion that Shakespeare's principal object in cultivating literaturewas to secure an hones independence. Indeed, he seems to have beenaltogether indifferent to literary reputation. It is not known thathe superintended the publication of a single play, or even sanctionedthe printing of one; and the chronology of his writings is still amystery. It is certain, however, that he prospered in his business, and realized sufficient to enable him to retire upon a competency tohis native town of Stratford-upon-Avon. 

Chaucer was in early life a soldier, and afterward an effectiveCommissioner of Customs, and Inspector of Woods and Crown Lands. Spenser was secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, was afterwardSheriff of Cork, and is said to have been shrewd and attentive inmatters of business. Milton, originally a schoolmaster, was elevatedto the post of Secretary to the Council of State during theCommonwealth; and the extant Order-book of the Council, as well asmany of Milton's letters which are preserved, give abundant evidenceof his activity and usefulness in that office. Sir Isaac Newtonproved himself an efficient Master of the Mint, the new coinage of1694 having been carried on under his immediate personalsuperintendence. Cowper prided himself upon his business punctuality, though he confessed that he "never knew a poet, except himself, thatwas punctual in anything. " But against this we may set the lives ofWordsworth and Scott--the former a distributor of stamps, the lattera clerk to the Court of Session--both of whom, though great poets, were eminently punctual and practical men of business. David Ricardo, amidst the occupations of his daily business as a London stock-jobber, in conducting which he acquired an ample fortune, was able toconcentrate his mind upon his favorite subject--on principles ofpolitical economy; for he united in himself the sagacious commercialman and the profound philosopher. Baily, the eminent astronomer, wasanother stock-broker; and Allen, the chemist, was a silkmanufacturer. 

We have abundant illustrations, in our own day, of the fact, that thehighest intellectual power is not incompatible with the active andefficient performance of routine duties. Grote, the great historianof Greece, was a London banker. And it is said that when John StuartMill, one of the greatest modern thinkers, retired from theExaminer's office of an important company, he carried with him theadmiration and esteem of his fellow-officers, not on account of hishigh views of philosophy, but because of the high standard ofefficiency which he had established in his office, and the thoroughlysatisfactory manner in which he had conducted the business of hisdepartment. 

The path of success in business is usually the path of common sense. Patient labor and application are as necessary here as in theacquisition of knowledge or the pursuit of science. The old Greekssaid, "To become an able man in any profession, three things arenecessary--nature, study, and practice. " In business, practice, wisely and diligently improved, is the great secret of success. Somemay make what are called "lucky hits, " but like money earned bygambling, such "hits" may only serve to lure one to ruin. Bacon wasaccustomed to say that it was in business as in ways--the nearest waywas commonly the foulest, and that if a man would go the fairest wayhe must go somewhat about. The journey may occupy a longer time, butthe pleasure of the labor involved by it, and the enjoyment of theresults produced, will be more genuine and unalloyed. To have a dailyappointed task of even common drudgery to do makes the rest of lifefeel all the sweeter. 

One of the best illustrations we know of, of great natural abilitieswinning great success in mechanical fields is the career of the nowfamous Andrew Carnegie, of Pennsylvania. 

This remarkable man was born in Scotland in 1835. When ten years ofage, his parents, who were poor, moved to Pittsburg. Then, as now, there were excellent public schools in the "Smoky City, " but youngCarnegie was not able to avail himself of their advantages, as hedesired to do. While still in his teens he found employment inrunning a stationary engine. He did his work well, and every momentnot required by his engine was devoted to study. 

Before the youth had seen a practical keyboard, he had mastered theprinciples of telegraphy, and succeeded, by reason of the knowledgeobtained in this way, in getting a position as an operator. At thattime all messages were read from rolls of paper, on which the Morsecharacters were indented; but Andrew Carnegie, while still undertwenty-one, was the first operator in the world to demonstrate, thatto a skillful man the roll was unnecessary. He learned to read bysound then, as all operators do now. What scholar will say that ahigh order of intellect was not involved in this achievement?

"Hard work, close observation, strict economy, and the determinationto give my employer the best that was in me, without regard to thecompensation, these were my impelling motives in those early days, and to these I attribute all the prosperity with which Heaven hasblessed me. " This is what Mr. Carnegie says of himself, and his wordsare full of encouragement and inspiration to the young man who hasthe same obstacles to overcome. 

"It is not what you make, but what you save that brings wealth. " Mr. Carnegie discovered this early in life, and while he helped hisparents like a dutiful son, he never spent an unnecessary cent onhimself. 

"I was too busy working and studying to contract the habits that makesuch inroads on the health and pockets of young men, " says Mr. Carnegie, "and this helped me in many ways. "

While still young he had an opportunity to invest his savings in thefirst sleeping car, invented by Woodruff, and out of this he got hisfirst good start. 

Active, industrious, and quick to foresee results, he took aninterest in the oil discoveries of Pennsylvania, and with suchsuccess that from the profits he was enabled to organize the greatestseries of rolling mills and foundries in the world. 

Mr. Carnegie is still in the prime of life. He has spent severalfortunes in good works, and is still a very rich as he is certainly ahighly honored man. But the point we wish to make is that Mr. Carnegie is a fine example of the high order of intellect necessaryfor the greatest success in the business world. 

Although self-educated, Mr. Carnegie is an author of world-widereputation. His work "Triumphant Democracy" is splendid vindicationof the institutions of his adopted country. "He knows more aboutbooks, " says one who knows Mr. Carnegie well, "than half the authors, and he can find himself in no society where he does not find himselfthe peer of the best. "

Those who fail in life are, however, very apt to assume a tone ofinjured innocence, and conclude to hastily that everybody exceptingthemselves has had a hand in their personal misfortunes. An eminentwriter lately published a book, in which he described his numerousfailures in business, naively admitting, at the same time, that hewas ignorant of the multiplication-table; and he came to theconclusion that the real cause of his ill-success in life was themoney-worshiping spirit of the age. Lamartine also did not hesitateto profess his contempt for arithmetic; but, had it been less. Probably we should not have witnessed the unseemly spectacle of theadmirers of that distinguished personage engaged in collectingsubscriptions for his support in his old age. 

Again, some consider themselves born to ill-luck, and make up theirminds that the world invariably goes against them without any faulton their own part. We have heard of a person of this sort who went sofar as to declare his belief that if he had been a hatter, peoplewould have been born without heads! There is, however, a Russianproverb which says that Misfortune is next door to Stupidity; and itwill often be found that men who are constantly lamenting their ill-luck, are in some way reaping the consequences of their own neglect, mismanagement, improvidence, or want of application. Dr. Johnson, whocame up to London with a single guinea in his pocket, and who onceaccurately described himself in his signature to a letter addressedto a noble lord, as Impransus, or Dinnerless, has honestly said, "Allthe complaints which are made of the world are unjust; I never knew aman of merit neglected; it was generally by his own fault that hefailed of success. "

Did you ever think of the intellectual qualifications essential tothe successful business man? No? well, it would be very difficult toname such a qualification which the business man cannot makeavailable. 

Attention, application, accuracy, method, punctuality and dispatch, are the principal qualities required for the efficient conduct ofbusiness of any sort. These, at first sight, may appear to be smallmatters; and yet they are of essential importance to human happiness, well-being, and usefulness. They are little things, it is true; buthuman life is made up of comparative trifles. It is the repetition oflittle acts which constitutes not only the sum of human character, but which determines the character of nations. And where men ornations have broken down, it will almost invariably be found thatneglect of little things was the rock on which they split. Everyhuman being has duties to be performed, and, therefore, has need ofcultivating the capacity for doing them; whether the sphere of actionbe the management of a household, the conduct of a trade orprofession, or the government of a nation. 

In addition to the ordinary working qualities, the business man ofthe highest class requires quick perception and firmness in theexecution of his plans. Tact is also important; and though this ispartly the gift of nature, it is yet capable of being cultivated anddeveloped by observation and experience. Men of this quality arequick to see the right mode of action, and if they have decision ofpurpose, are prompt to carry out their undertakings to a successfulissue. These qualities are especially valuable, and indeedindispensable, in those who direct the action of other men on a largescale, as for instance, in the case of the commander of an army inthe field. It is not merely necessary that the general should begreat as a warrior, but also as a man of business. He must possessgreat tact, much knowledge of character, and ability to organize themovements of a large mass of men, whom he has to feed, clothe, andfurnish with whatever may be necessary in order that they may keepthe field and win battles. In these respects Napoleon and Wellingtonwere both first-rate men of business. 

Not only does business require the highest order of intellect, butsuccessful business men, particularly in America, have been thepatrons of the arts and sciences and the founders of great schools. The prosperity of Princeton is largely due to Marquand and Bonner. The great Cooper Institute for the free education of poor boys andgirls, in the applied arts and sciences, will endure as long as NewYork city, as a monument to the intellectual forethought and noblemunificence of Peter Cooper. Girard College, in Philadelphia, whichyearly sends out hundreds of young men--orphans on entrance, butadmirable fitted to work their way in life--is a refutation of thecharge that successful business men do not appreciate culture. 

Lehigh University was founded by Judge Asa Packer, of Mauch Chunk, who began life as a canal-boat man. Lafayette College, Easton, pointswith pride to Pardee Hall, the gift of a man who began the life-battle without money or friends. Vanderbilt University, StanfordUniversity, and scores of great schools go to prove that the greatbusiness men who endowed them, were not indifferent to culture andthe needs of higher education. 

Yes, business requires brains, and the better the brains and the morethorough their training, the greater the assurance of success. 

CHAPTER XXI

PUT MONEY IN THY PURSE HONESTLY. 

"How a man uses money--makes it, saves it, and spends it--is perhapsone of the best tests of practical wisdom, " says Mr. Smiles. Althoughmoney ought by no means to be regarded as a chief end of man's life, neither is it a trifling matter, to be held in philosophic contempt, representing, as it does, to so large an extent, the means ofphysical comfort and social well-being. Indeed, some of the finestqualities of human nature are intimately related to the right use ofmoney; such as generosity, honesty, justice, and self-sacrifice; aswell as the practical virtues of economy and providence. On the otherhand, there are their counterparts of avarice, fraud, injustice, andselfishness, as displayed by the inordinate lovers of gain; and thevices of thriftlessness, extravagance, and improvidence, on the partof those who misuse and abuse the means entrusted to them. "So that, "as is wisely observed by Henry Taylor in his thoughtful "Notes fromLife, " "an right measure and manner of getting, saving, spending, giving, taking, lending, borrowing, and bequeathing, would almostargue a perfect man. "

Comfort in worldly circumstances is a condition which every man isjustified in striving to attain by all worthy means. It secures thatphysical satisfaction which is necessary for the culture of thebetter part of his nature; and enables him to provide for those ofhis own household, without which, says the apostle, a man is "worsethan an infidel. " Nor ought the duty to be any the less pleasing tous, that the respect which our fellow-men entertain for us in noslight degree depends upon the manner in which we exercise theopportunities which present themselves for our honorable advancementin life. The very effort required to be made to succeed in life withthis object, is of itself an education: stimulating a man's sense ofself-respect, bringing out his practical qualities, and disciplininghim in the exercise of patience, perseverance, and such like virtues. The provident and careful man must necessarily be a thoughtful man, for he lives not merely for the present, but with provident forecastmakes arrangements for the future. He must also be a temperate man, and exercise the virtue of self-denial, than which nothing is so muchcalculated to give strength to the character. John Sterling saystruly, that "the worst education which teaches self-denial, is betterthan the best which teaches everything else and not that. " The Romansrightly employed the same word (virtus) to designate courage, whichis in a physical sense what the other is in moral; the highest virtueof all being victory over ourselves. 

Hence the lesson of self-denial--the sacrificing of a presentgratification for a future good--is one of the last that is learnt. Those classes which work the hardest might naturally be expected tovalue the most the money which they earn. Yet the readiness withwhich so many are accustomed to eat up and drink up their earnings asthey go, renders them, to a great extent, dependent upon the frugal. 

Men of business are accustomed to quote the maxim that "Time ismoney;" but it is more; the proper improvement of it is self-culture, self-improvement, and growth of character. An hour wasted daily ontrifles or in indolence, would, if devoted to self-improvement, makean ignorant man wise in a few years, and, employed in good works, would make his life fruitful, and death a harvest of worthy deeds. Fifteen minutes a day devoted to self-improvement, will be felt atthe end of the year. Good thoughts and carefully gathered experiencetake up no room, and may be carried about as our companionseverywhere, without cost or encumbrance. An economical use of time isthe true mode of securing leisure: it enables us to get throughbusiness and carry it forward, instead of being driven by it. On theother hand, the miscalculation of time involves us in perpetualhurry, confusion, and difficulties; and life becomes a mere shuffleof expedients, usually followed by disaster. Nelson once said, "I oweall my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hourbefore my time. "

Some take no thought of the value of money until they have come to anend of it, and many do the same with their time. The hours areallowed to flow by unemployed, and then when life is fast waning, they bethink themselves of the duty of making a wiser use of it. Butthe habit of listlessness and idleness may already have becomeconfirmed, and they are unable to break the bonds with which theyhave permitted themselves to become bound. Lost wealth may bereplaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health bytemperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever. 

A proper consideration of the value of time will also inspire habitsof punctuality. "Punctuality, " said Louis XIV, "is the politeness ofkings. " It is also the duty of gentlemen, and the necessity of men ofbusiness. Nothing begets confidence in a man sooner than the practiceof this virtue, and nothing shakes confidence sooner than the want ofit. He who holds to his appointment and does not keep you waiting forhim, shows that he has regard for your time as well as for his own. Thus punctuality is one of the modes by which we testify our personalrespect for those whom we are called upon to meet in the business oflife. It is also conscientiousness, in a measure; for an appointmentis a contract, expressed or implied, and he who does not keep itbreaks faith, as well as dishonestly uses other people's time, andthus inevitably loses character. We naturally come to the conclusionthat the person who is careless about time is careless aboutbusiness, and that he is not the one to be trusted with thetransaction of matters of importance. When Washington's secretaryexcused himself for the lateness of his attendance and laid the blameupon his watch, his master quietly said, "Then you must get anotherwatch, or I another secretary. "

The person who is negligent of time and its employment is usuallyfound to be a general disturber of others' peace and serenity. It waswittily said by Lord Chesterfield of the old Duke of Newcastle--"HisGrace loses an hour in the morning, and is looking for it all therest of the day. " Everybody with whom the unpunctual man has to do isthrown from time to time into a state of fever: he is systematicallylate; regular only in his irregularity. He conducts his dawdling asif upon system; arrives at his appointment after time; gets to therailway station after the train has started; posts his letter whenthe box has closed. Thus business is thrown into confusion, andeverybody concerned is put out of temper. 

To secure independence, the practice of simple economy is all that isnecessary. Economy requires neither superior courage nor eminentvirtue; it is satisfied with ordinary energy, and the capacity ofaverage minds. Economy, at bottom, is but the spirit of order appliedin the administration of domestic affairs: it means management, regularity, prudence, and the avoidance of waste. The spirit ofeconomy was expressed by our Divine Master in the words, "Gather upthe fragments that remain, so that nothing may be lost. " Hisomnipotence did not disdain the small things of life; and even whilerevealing His infinite power to the multitude, he taught the pregnantlesson of carefulness, of which all stand so much in need. 

Economy also means to power of resisting present gratification forthe purpose of securing a future good, and in this light itrepresents the ascendancy of reason over the animal instincts. It isaltogether different from penuriousness: for it is economy that canalways best afford to be generous. It does not make money an idol, but regards it as a useful agent. As Dean Swift observes, "we mustcarry money in the head, not in the heart. " Economy may be styled thedaughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the mother ofLiberty. It is eminently conservative--conservative of character, ofdomestic happiness, and social well-being. It is, in short, theexhibition of self-help in one of its best forms. 

Francis Horner's father gave him this advice on entering life:"Whilst I wish you to be comfortable in every respect, I cannot toostrongly inculcate economy. It is a necessary virtue to all; andhowever the shallow part of mankind may despise it, it certainlyleads to independence, which is a grand object to every man of a highspirit. "

Every man ought to contrive to live within his means. This practiceis of the very essence of honesty. For if a man does not managehonestly to live within his own means, he must necessarily be livingdishonestly upon the means of somebody else. Those who are carelessabout personal expenditure, and consider merely their owngratification, without regard for the comfort of others, generallyfind out the real uses of money when it is too late. Though by naturegenerous, these thriftless persons are often driven in the end to dovery shabby things. They waste their money as they do their time;draw bills upon the future; anticipate their earnings; and are thusunder the necessity of dragging after them a load of debts andobligations, which seriously affect their actions as free andindependent men. 

It was a maxim of Lord Bacon, that when it was necessary toeconomize, it was better to look after petty savings than to descendto petty gettings. The loose cash which many persons throw awayuselessly, and worse, would often form a basis of fortune andindependence for life. These wasters are their own worst enemies, though generally found amongst the ranks of those who rail a theinjustice of "the world. " But if a man will not be his own friend, how can he expect that others will be. Orderly men of moderate meanshave always something left in their pockets to help others; whereas, your prodigal and careless fellows who spend all, never find anopportunity for helping anybody. It is poor economy, however, to be ascrub. Narrow-mindedness in living and in dealing is generally short-sighted, and leads to failure. Generosity and liberality, likehonesty, always prove the best policy after all. Though Jenkinson, inthe "Vicar of Wakefield, " cheated his kind-hearted neighborFlamborough in one way or another every year, "Flamborough, " said he, "has been regularly growing in riches, while I have come to povertyand a jail. " And practical life abounds in cases of brilliant resultsfrom a course of generous and honest policy. 

The proverb says that "an empty bag cannot stand upright;" neithercan a man who is in debt. It is also difficult for a man who is indebt to be truthful; hence, it is said that lying rides on debt'sback. The debtor has to frame excuses to his creditor for postponingpayment of the money he owes him, and probably also to contrivefalsehoods. It is easy enough for a man who will exercise a healthyresolution, to avoid incurring the first obligation; but the facilitywith which that has been incurred often becomes a temptation to asecond; and very soon the unfortunate borrower becomes so entangledthat no late exertion of industry can set him free. The first step indebt is like the first step in falsehood; almost involving thenecessity of proceeding in the same course, debt following debt, aslie follows lie. Haydon, the painter, dated his decline fro the dayon which he first borrowed money. He realized the truth of theproverb, "Who goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing. " The significantentry in his diary is: "Here began debt and obligation, out of whichI have never been and never shall be extricated as long as I live. "His autobiography shows but too painfully how embarrassment in moneymatters produces poignant distress of mind, utter incapacity forwork, and constantly recurring humiliations. The written advice whichhe gave to a youth when entering the navy was as follows: "Neverpurchase any enjoyment if it cannot be procured without borrowing ofothers. Never borrow money; it is degrading. I do not say never lend, but never lend if by lending you render yourself unable to pay whatyou owe; but under any circumstances never borrow. " Fichte, the poorstudent, refused to accept even presents from his still poorerparents. 

Dr. Johnson held that early debt is ruin. His words on the subjectare weighty, and worthy of being held in remembrance. "Do not, " saidhe, "accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; youwill find it a calamity. Poverty takes away so many means of doinggood, and produces so much inability to resist evil, both natural andmoral, that it is by all virtuous means to be avoided. . . . Let itbe your first care, then, not to be in any man's debt. Resolve not tobe poor; whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy tohuman happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and makes somevirtues impracticable and others extremely difficult. Frugality isnot only the basis of quiet, but of beneficence. No man can helpothers that wants help himself; we must have enough before we have tospare. "

It is the bounden duty of every man to look his affairs in the face, and to keep an account of his incomings and outgoings in moneymatters. The exercise of a little simple arithmetic in this way willbe found of great value. Prudence requires that we shall pitch ourscale of living a degree below our means, rather than up to them. Butthis can only be done by carrying out faithfully a plan of living bywhich both ends may be made to meet. John Locke strongly advised thiscourse: "Nothing, " said he, "is likelier to keep a man within compassthan having constantly before his eyes the state of his affairs in aregular course of account. " The Duke of Wellington kept an accuratedetailed account of all the moneys received and expended by him. "Imake a point, " said he to Mr. Gleig, "of paying my own bills, and Iadvise every one to do the same; formerly I used to trust aconfidential servant to pay them, but I was cured of that folly byreceiving one morning, to my great surprise, duns of a year or two'sstanding. The fellow had speculated with my money, and left my billsunpaid. " Talking of debt, his remark was, "It makes a slave of a man. I have often known what it was to be in want of money, but I nevergot into debt. " Washington was as particular as Wellington was, inmatters of business detail; and it is a remarkable fact, that he didnot disdain to scrutinize the smallest outgoings of his household--determined as he was to live honestly within his means--even whenholding the high office of President of the United States. 

There is a dreadful ambition abroad for being "genteel. " We keep upappearances, too often at the expense of honesty; and though we maynot be rich yet we must seem to be so. We must be "respectable, "though only in the meanest sense--in mere vulgar outward show. Wehave not the courage to go patiently onward in the condition of lifein which it has pleased God to call us; but must needs live in somefashionable state to which we ridiculously please to call ourselves, and to gratify the vanity of that unsubstantial genteel world ofwhich we form a part. There is a constant struggle and pressure forfront streets in the social amphitheatre; in the midst of which allnoble self-denying resolve is trodden down, and many fine natures areinevitably crushed to death. What waste, what misery, what bankruptcycome from all this ambition to dazzle others with the glare ofapparent worldly success, we need not describe. 

The young man, as he passes through life, advances through a longline of tempters ranged on either side of him; and the inevitableeffect of yielding is degradation in a greater or a less degree. Contact with them tends insensibly to draw away from him some portionof the divine electric element with which his nature is charged; andhis only mode of resisting them is to utter and act out his "No"manfully and resolutely. He must decide at once, not waiting todeliberate and balance reasons; for the youth, like "the woman whodeliberates, is lost. " Many deliberate, without deciding; but "not toresolve, _is_ to resolve. " A perfect knowledge of man is in theprayer, "Lead us not into temptation. " But temptation will come totry the young man's strength; and once yielded to, the power toresist grows weaker and weaker. Yield once, and an element of virtuehas gone. Resist manfully, and the first decision will give strengthfor life; repeated it will become a habit. It is in the outworks ofthe habits formed in early life that the real strength of the defensemust lie; for it has been wisely ordained that the machinery of moralexistence should be carried on principally through the medium of thehabits, so as to save the wear and tear of the great principleswithin. It is good habits which insinuate themselves into thethousand inconsiderable acts of life, that really constitute by farthe greater part of man's moral conduct. 

Many popular books have been written for the purpose of communicatingto the public the grand secret of making money. But there is nosecret whatever about it, as the proverbs of every nation abundantlytestify. "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care ofthemselves. " "Diligence is the mother of good luck. " "No pains, nogains. " "No sweat, no sweet. " "Work and thou shalt have. " "The worldis his who has patience and industry. " "Better go to bed supperlessthan rise in debt. " Such are specimens of the proverbial philosophy, embodying the hoarded experience of many generations, as to the bestmeans of thriving in the world. They were current in people's mouthslong before books were invented; and like other popular proverbs theywere the first codes of popular morals. Moreover, they have stood thetest of time, and the experience of every day still bears witness totheir accuracy, force, and soundness. The Proverbs of Solomon arefull of wisdom as to the force of industry, and the use and abuse ofmoney: "He that is slothful in work is brother to him that is a greatwaster. " "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and bewise. " Poverty, says the preacher, shall come upon the idler, "as onethat traveleth, and want as an armed man;" but of the industrious andupright, "the hand of the diligent maketh rich. " "the drunkard andthe glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a manwith rags. " "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shallstand before kings. " But above all, "It is better to get wisdom thangold; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that maybe desired are not to be compared to it. "

Simple industry and thrift will go far toward making any person ofordinary working faculty comparatively independent in his means. Evena working man may be so, provided he will carefully husband hisresources, and watch the little outlets of useless expenditure. Apenny is a very small matter, yet the comfort of thousands offamilies depends upon the proper spending and saving of pennies. If aman allows the little pennies, the results of his hard work, to slipout of his fingers--some to the beer-shop, some this way and somethat--he will find that his life is little raised above one of mereanimal drudgery. On the other hand, if he take care of the pennies--putting some weekly into a benefit society or an insurance fund, others into a savings' bank, and confiding the rest to his wife to becarefully laid out, with a view to the comfortable maintenance andeducation of his family--he will soon find that this attention tosmall matters will abundantly repay him, in increasing means, growingcomfort at home, and a mind comparatively free from fears as to thefuture. And if a working man have high ambition and possess richnessin spirit--a kind of wealth which far transcends all mere worldlypossessions--he may not help himself, but be a profitable helper ofothers in his path through life. 

While credit is the soul of trade, improperly used it is the death ofbusiness. No man should run into debt for a luxury, and every prudentman will have money in his purse for life's necessities. Remember, the man who is in debt without seeing his way out is a slave. Speaking of this Jacob Abbott says:

"There is, perhaps, nothing which so grinds the human soul, andproduces such an insupportable burden of wretchedness anddespondency, as pecuniary pressure. Nothing more frequently drivesmen to suicide; and there is, perhaps, no danger to which men in anactive and enterprising community are more exposed. Almost all areeagerly reaching forward to a station in life a little above whatthey can well afford, or struggling to do a business a little moreextensive than they have capital or steady credit for; and thus theykeep, all through life, _just above_ their means--and just above, nomatter by how small an excess, is inevitable misery. 

"Be sure, then, if your aim is happiness, to bring down, at allhazards, your style of living, and your responsibilities of business, to such a point that you shall easily be able to reach it. Do this, Isay, at all hazards. If you cannot have money enough for your purposein a house with two rooms, take a house with one. It is your onlychance for happiness. For there is such a thing as happiness in asingle room, with plain furniture and simple fare; but there is nosuch thing as happiness with responsibilities which cannot be met, and debts increasing without any prospect of their discharge. "

"After I had earned my first thousand dollars by the hardest kind ofwork, " said Commodore Vanderbilt, "I felt richer and happier thanwhen I had my first million. I was out of debt, every dollar washonestly mine, and I saw my way to success. "

CHAPTER XXII

A SOUND MIND IN A SOUND BODY. 

Gibons, the historian, says: "Every person has two educations--onewhich he receives from others, and one, the most important, which hegives to himself. "

"The best part of every man's education, " said Sir Walter Scott, "isthat which he gives to himself. " The late Sir Benjamin Brodiedelighted to remember this saying, and he used to congratulatehimself on the fact that professionally he was self-taught. But thisis necessarily the case with all men who have acquired distinction inletters, science, or art. The education received at school or collegeis but a beginning, and is valuable mainly inasmuch as it trains themind and habituates it to continuous application and study. Thatwhich is put into us by others is always far less ours than thatwhich we acquire by our own diligent and persevering effort. Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession--a propertyentirely our own. A greater vividness and permanency of impression issecured; and facts thus acquired become registered in the mind in away that mere imparted information can never effect. This kind ofself-culture also calls forth power and cultivates strength. Thesolution of one problem helps the mastery of another; and thusknowledge is carried into faculty. Our own active effort is theessential thing; and no facilities, no books, no teachers, no amountof lessons learnt by rote, will enable us to dispense with it. 

The best teachers have been the readiest to recognize the importanceof self-culture, and of stimulating the student to acquire knowledgeby the active exercise of his own faculties. They have relied moreupon _training_ than upon _telling_, and sought to make their pupilsthemselves active parties to the work in which they were engaged;thus making teaching something far higher than the mere passivereception of the scraps and details of knowledge. This was the spiritin which the great Dr. Arnold worked; he strove to teach his pupilsto rely upon themselves, and develop their powers by their own activeefforts, himself merely guiding, directing, stimulating, andencouraging them. "I would far rather, " he said, "send a boy to VanDiemen's Laud, where he must work for his bread, than send him toOxford to live in luxury, without any desire in his mind to availhimself of his advantages. " "If there be one thing on earth, " heobserved on another occasion, "which is truly admirable, it is to seeGod's wisdom blessing an inferiority of natural powers, when theyhave been honestly, truly, and zealously cultivated. " Speaking of apupil of this character, he said, "I would stand to that man hat inhand. " Once at Laleham, when teaching a rather dull boy, Arnold spokesomewhat sharply to him, on which the pupil looked up in his face andsaid, "Why do you speak angrily, sir? _indeed_, I am doing the best Ican. " Years afterward, Arnold used to tell the story to his children, and added, "I never felt so much ashamed in my life--that look andthat speech I have never forgotten. "

From the numerous instances already cited of men of humble stationwho have risen to distinction in science and literature, it will beobvious that labor is by no means incompatible with the highestintellectual culture. Work in moderation is healthy as well asagreeable to the human constitution. Work educates the body, as studyeducates the mind; and that is the best state of society in whichthere is some work for every man's leisure, and some leisure forevery man's work. Even the leisure classes are in a measure compelledto work, sometimes as a relief from _ennui_, but in most cases togratify and instinct which they cannot resist. Some go fox-hunting inthe English counties, others grouse shooting on the Scotch hills, while many wander away every summer to climb mountains inSwitzerland. Hence the boating, running, cricketing, and athleticsports of the public schools in which our young men at the same timeso healthfully cultivate their strength both of mind and body. It issaid that the Duke of Wellington, when once looking on at the boysengaged in their sports in the playground at Eton, where he had spentmany of his own younger days, made the remark, "It was there that thebattle of Waterloo was won!"

Daniel Malthus urged his son when at college to be most diligent inthe cultivation of knowledge, but he also enjoined him to pursuemanly sports as the best means of keeping up the full working powerof his mind, as well as of enjoying the pleasures of intellect. "Every kind of knowledge, " said he, "every acquaintance with natureand art, will amuse and strengthen your mind, and I am perfectlypleased that cricket should do the same by your arms and legs; I loveto see you excel in exercises of the body, and I think myself thatthe better half, and so much the most agreeable part, of thepleasures of the mind is best enjoyed while one is upon one's legs. "But a still more important use of active employment is that referredto by the great divine, Jeremy Taylor. "Avoid idleness, " he says, "and fill up all the spaces of they time with severe and usefulemployment; for lust easily creeps in at those emptinesses where thesoul is unemployed and the body is at ease; for no easy, healthful, idle person was ever chaste, if he could be tempted; but of allemployments bodily labor is the most useful, and of the greatestbenefit for driving away the devil. "

Practical success in life depends more upon physical health than isgenerally imagined. Hodson, of Hodson's Horse, writing home to afriend in England, said, "I believe if I get on well in India, itwill be owing, physically speaking, to a sound digestion. " Thecapacity for continuous working in any calling must necessarilydepend in a great measure upon this; and hence the necessity forattending to health, even as a means of intellectual labor. It isperhaps to the neglect of physical exercise that we find amongststudents so frequent a tendency toward discontent, unhappiness, inaction, and reverie--displaying itself in contempt for real lifeand disgust at the beaten tracks of men--a tendency which in Englandhas been called Byronism, and in Germany Wertherism. Dr. Channingnoted the same growth in our land, which led him to make the remark, that "too many of our young men grow up in a school of despair. " Theonly remedy for this green-sickness in youth is physical exercise--action, work and bodily occupation. 

The use of early labor in self-imposed mechanical employments may beillustrated by the boyhood of Sir Isaac Newton. Though comparativelya dull scholar, he was very assiduous in the use of his saw, hammer, and hatchet--"knocking and hammering in his lodging room"--makingmodels of windmills, carriages, and machines of all sorts; and as hegrew older, he took delight in making little tables and cupboards forhis friends. Smeaton, Watt, and Stephenson were equally handy withtools when mere boys; and but for such kind of self-culture in theiryouth it is doubtful whether they would have accomplished so much intheir manhood. Such was also the early training of the greatinventors and mechanics described in the preceding pages, whosecontrivance and intelligence were practically trained by the constantuse of their hands in early life. Even where men belonging to themanual labor class have risen above it, and become more purelyintellectual laborers, they have found the advantages of their earlytraining in their later pursuits. Elihu Burritt says he found hardlabor _necessary_ to enable him to study with effect; and more thanonce he gave up school teaching and study, and taking to his leatherapron again, went back to his blacksmith's forge and anvil for thehealth of his body and mind's sake. 

The training of young men in the use of tools would at the same timethat it educated them in "common things, " teach them the use of theirhands and arms, familiarize them with healthy work, exercise theirfaculties upon things tangible and actual, give them some practicalacquaintance with mechanics, impart to them the ability of beinguseful, and implant in them the habit of persevering physical effort. This is an advantage which the working classes, strictly so called, certainly possess over the leisure classes--that they are in earlylife under the necessity of applying themselves laboriously to somemechanical pursuit or other--thus acquiring manual dexterity, and theuse of their physical powers. The chief disadvantage attached to thecalling of the laborious classes is, not that they are employed inphysical work, but that they are too exclusively so employed, oftento the neglect of their moral and intellectual faculties. While theyouths of the leisure classes, having been taught to associate laborwith servility, have shunned it, and been allowed to grow uppractically ignorant, the poorer classes, confining themselves withinthe circle of their laborious callings, have been allowed to grow up, in a large proportion of cases, absolutely illiterate. It seems, possible, however, to avoid both these evils by combining physicaltraining or physical work with intellectual culture; and there arevarious signs abroad which seem to mark the gradual adoption of thishealthier system of education. 

The success of even professional men depends in no slight degree ontheir physical health; and a public writer has gone so far as to saythat "the greatness of our great men is quite as much a bodily affairas a mental one. " A healthy breathing apparatus is as indispensableto the successful lawyer or politician as a well-cultured intellect. The thorough aeration of his blood by free exposure to a largebreathing surface in the lungs is necessary to maintain that vitalpower on which the vigorous working of the brain in so large ameasure depends. The lawyer has to climb the heights of hisprofession through close and heated courts, and the political leaderhas to bear the fatigue and excitement of long and anxious debates ina crowded House. Hence the lawyer in full practice and theparliamentary leader in full work are called upon to display powersof physical endurance and activity even more extraordinary than thoseof the intellect--such powers as have been exhibited in so remarkablea degree by Brougham, Lyndhurst and Campbell; by Peel, Graham andPalmerston--all full-chested men. 

Though Sir Walter Scott, when at Edinburgh College, went by the nameof "The Greek Blockhead, " he was, notwithstanding his lameness, aremarkably healthy youth; he could spear a salmon with the bestfisher on the Tweed, and ride a wild horse with any hunter in Yarrow. When devoting himself in after life to literary pursuits, Sir Walternever lost his taste for field sports, but while writing "Waverley"in the morning he would in the afternoon course hares. ProfessorWilson was a very athlete, as great at throwing the hammer as in hisflights of eloquence and poetry; and Burns, when a youth, wasremarkable chiefly for his leaping, putting, and wrestling. Some ofthe greatest divines were distinguished in their youth for theirphysical energies. Isaac Barrow, when at the Charterhouse School, wasnotorious for his pugilistic encounters, in which he got many abloody nose; Andrew Fuller, when working as a farmer's lad at Soham, was chiefly famous for his skill in boxing; and Adam Clarke, when aboy, was only remarkable for the strength displayed by him in"rolling large stones about"--the secret, possibly, of some of thepower which he subsequently displayed in rolling forth large thoughtsin his manhood. 

While it is necessary, then, in the first place to secure this solidfoundation of physical health, it must also be observed that thecultivation of the habit of mental application is quite indispensablefor the education of the student. The maxim that "labor conquers allthings" holds especially true in the case of the conquest ofknowledge. The road into learning is alike free to all who will givethe labor and the study requisite to gather it; nor are there anydifficulties so great that the student of resolute purpose may notsurmount and overcome them. It was one of the characteristicexpressions of Chatterton, that God had sent his creatures into theworld with arms long enough to reach anything if they chose to be atthe trouble. In study, as in business, energy is the great thing. There must be "fervet opus;" we must not only strike the iron whileit is hot, but strike it till it is made hot. It is astonishing howmuch may be accomplished in self-culture by the energetic and thepersevering, who are careful to avail themselves of opportunities, and use up the fragments of spare time which the idle permit to runto waste. Thus Ferguson learnt astronomy from the heavens whilewrapped in a sheepskin on the highland hills. Thus Stone learntmathematics while working as a journeyman gardener; thus Drew studiedthe highest philosophy in the intervals of cobbling shoes; and thusMiller taught himself geology while working as a day laborer in aquarry. 

Sir Joshua Reynolds, as we have already observed, was so earnest abeliever in the force of industry that he held that all men mightachieve excellence if they would but exercise the power of assiduousand patient working. He held that drudgery lay on the road to genius, and that there was no limit to the proficiency of an artist exceptthe limit of his own painstaking. He would not believe in what iscalled inspiration, but only in study and labor. "Excellence, " hesaid, "is never granted to man but as the reward of labor. If youhave great talents, industry will improve them; if you have butmoderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. Nothing isdenied to well-directed labor; nothing is to be obtained without it. "Sir Fowell Buxton was an equal believer in the power of study; and heentertained the modest idea that he could do as well as other men ifhe devoted to the pursuit double the time and labor that they did. Heplaced his great confidence in ordinary means and extraordinaryapplication. 

"I have known several men in my life, " says Dr. Ross, "who may berecognized in days to come as men of genius, and they were allplodders, hard-working _intent_ men. Genius is known by its works;genius without works is a blind faith, a dumb oracle. But meritoriousworks are the result of time and labor, and cannot be accomplished byintention or by a wish . . . Every great work is the result of vastpreparatory training. Facility comes by labor. Nothing seems easy, not even walking, that was not difficult at first. The orator whoseeye flashes instantaneous fire, and whose lips pour out a flood ofnoble thoughts, startling by their unexpectedness and elevating bytheir wisdom and truth, has learned his secret by patient repetition, and after many bitter disappointments. "

Thoroughness and accuracy are two principal points to be aimed at instudy. Francis Horner, in laying down rules for the cultivation ofhis mind, placed great stress upon the habit of continuousapplication to one subject for the sake of mastering it thoroughly;he confined himself with this object to only a few books, andresisted with the greatest firmness "every approach to a habit ofdesultory reading. " The value of knowledge to any man consists, notin its quantity, but mainly in the good uses to which he can applyit. Hence a little knowledge of an exact and perfect character isalways found more valuable for practical purposes than any extent ofsuperficial learning. 

It is not the quantity of study that one gets through, or the amountof reading, that makes a wise man; but the appositeness of the studyto the purpose for which it is pursued; the concentration of themind, for the time being, on the subject under consideration; and thehabitual discipline by which the whole system of mental applicationis regulated. Abernethy was even of opinion that there was a point ofsaturation in his own mind, and that if he took into it somethingmore than it could hold, it only had the effect of pushing somethingelse out. Speaking of the study of medicine, he said: "If a man has aclear idea of what he desires to do, he will seldom fail in selectingthe proper means of accomplishing it. "

The most profitable study is that which is conducted with a definiteaim and object. By thoroughly mastering any given branch of knowledgewe render it more available for use at any moment. Hence it is notenough merely to have books, or to know where to read for informationas we want it. Practical wisdom, for the purposes of life, must becarried about with us, and be ready for use at call. It is notsufficient that we have a fund laid up at home, but not a farthing inthe pocket: we must carry about with us a store of the current coinof knowledge ready for exchange on all occasions, else we arecomparatively helpless when the opportunity for using it occurs. 

Decision and promptitude are as requisite in self-culture as inbusiness. The growth of these qualities may be encouraged byaccustoming young people to rely upon their own resources, leavingthem to enjoy as much freedom of action in early life as ispracticable. Too much guidance and restraint hinder the formation ofhabits of self-help. They are like bladders tied under the arms ofone who has not taught himself to swim. Want of confidence is perhapsa greater obstacle to improvement than is generally imagined. It hasbeen said that half the failures in life arise from pulling in one'shorse while he is leaping. Dr. Johnson was accustomed to attributehis success to confidence in his own powers. True modesty is quitecompatible with a true estimate of one's own merits, and does notdemand the abnegation of all merit. Though there are those whodeceive themselves by putting a false figure before their ciphers, the want of confidence, the want of faith in one's self, andconsequently the want of promptitude in action, is a defect ofcharacter which is found to stand very much in the way of individualprogress; and the reason why so little is done, is generally becauseso little is attempted. 

There is usually no want of desire on the part of most persons toarrive at the results of self-culture, but there is a great aversionto pay the inevitable price for it, of hard work. Dr. Johnson heldthat "impatience of study was the mental disease of the presentgeneration;" and the remark is still applicable. We may not believethat there is a royal road to learning, but we seem to believe veryfirmly in the "popular" one. In education, we invent labor-savingprocesses, seek short cuts to science, learn French and Latin "intwelve lessons, " or "without a master. " We resemble the lady offashion, who engaged a master to teach her on condition that he didnot plague her with verbs and participles. We get our smattering ofscience in the same way; we learn chemistry by listening to a shortcourse of lectures enlivened by experiments, and when we have inhaledlaughing-gas, seen green water turned to red, and phosphorus burnt inoxygen, we have got our smattering, of which the most that can besaid is, that though it may be better than nothing, it is yet goodfor nothing. Thus we often imagine we are being educated while we areonly being amused. 

The facility with which young people are thus induced to acquireknowledge, without study and labor, is not education. It occupies butdoes not enrich the mind. It imparts a stimulus for the time, andproduces a sort of intellectual keenness and cleverness; but, withoutan implanted purpose and a higher object that mere pleasure, it willbring with it no solid advantage. In such cases knowledge producesbut a passing impression; a sensation, gut no more; it is, in fact, the merest epicurism of intelligence--sensuous, but certainly notintellectual. Thus the best qualities of many minds, those which areevoked by vigorous effort and independent action, sleep a deep sleep, and are often never called to life, except by the rough awakening ofsudden calamity or suffering, which, in such cases comes as ablessing, if it serves to rouse up a courageous spirit that, but forit, would have slept on. 

Accustomed to acquire information under the guise of amusement, youngpeople will soon reject that which is presented to them under theaspect of study and labor. Learning their knowledge and science insport, they will be too apt to make sport of both; while the habit ofintellectual dissipation, thus engendered, cannot fail, in course oftime, to produce a thoroughly emasculating effect both upon theirmind and character. "Multifarious reading, " said Robertson, ofBrighton, "weakens the mind like smoking, and is an excuse for itslying dormant. It is the idlest of all idlenesses, and leaves more ofimpotency than any other. "

The evil is a growing one, and operates in various ways. Its leastmischief is shallowness; its greatest, the aversion to steady laborwhich it induces, and the low and feeble tone of mind which itencourages. If we would be really wise, we must diligently applyourselves, and confront the same continuous application which ourforefathers did; for labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitableprice set upon everything which is valuable. We must be satisfied towork with a purpose, and wait the results with patience. Allprogress, of the best kind, is slow; but to him who works faithfullyand zealously the reward will, doubtless, be vouchsafed in good time. The spirit of industry, embodies in a man's daily life, willgradually lead him to exercise his powers on objects outside himself, of greater dignity and more extended usefulness. And still we mustlabor on; for the work of self-culture is never finished. "To beemployed, " said the poet Gray, "is to be happy. " "It is better towear out that rust out, " said Bishop Cumberland. "Have we not alleternity to rest in?" exclaimed Arnauld. "Repos ailleurs" (rest forothers) was the motto of Marnix de St. Aldegonde, the energetic andever-working friend of William the Silent. 

It is the use we make of the powers entrusted to us which constitutesour only just claims to respect. He who employs his one talent arightis as much to be honored as he to whom ten talents have been given. There is really no more personal merit attaching to the possession ofsuperior intellectual powers than there is in the succession to alarge estate. How are those powers used--how is that estate employed?The mind may accumulate large stores of knowledge without any usefulpurpose; but the knowledge must be allied to goodness and wisdom, andembodied in upright character, else it is naught. Pestalozzi evenheld intellectual training by itself to be pernicious; insisting thatthe roots of all knowledge must strike and feed in the soil of therightly-governed will. The acquisition of knowledge may, it is true, protect a man against the meaner felonies of life; but not in anydegree against its selfish vices, unless fortified by soundprinciples and habits. Hence do we find in daily life so manyinstances of men who are well-informed in intellect, but utterlydeformed in character; filled with the learning of the schools, yetpossessing little practical wisdom, and offering examples for warningrather than imitation. An often-quoted expression at this day is that"Knowledge is power;" but also, are fanaticism, despotism, andambition. Knowledge of itself, unless wisely directed might merelymake bad men more dangerous, and the society in which it was regardedas the highest good, as little better than pandemonium. 

It is not then how much a man may know, that is of importance, butthe end and purpose for which he knows it. The object of knowledgeshould be to mature wisdom and improve character, to render usbetter, happier, and more useful; more benevolent, more energetic, and more efficient in the pursuit of every high purpose in life. "When people once fall into the habit of admiring and encouragingability as such, without reference to moral character--and religiousand political opinions are the concrete form of moral character--theyare on the highway to all sorts of degradation. " We must ourselves_be_ and _do_, and not rest satisfied merely with reading andmeditating over what other men have been and done. Our best lightmust be made life, and our best thought action. At least we ought tobe able to say, as Richter did, "I have made as much out of myself ascould be made of the stuff, and no man should require more;" for itis every man's duty to discipline and guide himself, with God's help, according to his responsibilities and the faculties with which he hasbeen endowed. 

Self-discipline and self-control are the beginnings of practicalwisdom; and these must have their root in self-respect. Hope springsfrom it--hope, which is the companion of power, and the mother ofsuccess; for whoso hopes strongly has within him the gift ofmiracles. The humblest may say, "To respect myself, to developmyself--this is my true duty in life. An integral and responsiblepart of the great system of society, I owe it to society and to itsAuthor not to degrade of destroy either my body, mind, or instincts. On the contrary, I am bound to the best of my power to give to thoseparts of my constitution the highest degree of perfection possible. Iam not only to suppress the evil, but to evoke the good elements inmy nature. And as I respect myself, so am I equally bound to respectothers, as they on their part are bound to respect me. " Hence mutualrespect, justice, and order, of which law becomes the written recordand guarantee. 

Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man may clothehimself--the most elevating feeling with which the mind can beinspired. One of Pythagoras' wisest maxims, in his "Golden Verses, "is that with which he enjoins the pupil to "reverence himself. " Borneup by this high idea, he will not defile his body by sensuality, norhis mind by servile thoughts. This sentiment, carried into dailylife, will be found at the root of all the virtues--cleanliness, sobriety, chastity, morality, and religion. "The pious and justhonoring of ourselves, " said Milton, "may be thought the radicalmoisture and fountain-head from whence every laudable and worthyenterprise issues forth. " To think meanly of one's self, is to sinkin one's own estimation as well as in the estimation of others. Andas the thoughts are, so will the acts be. Man cannot aspire if helooks down; if he will rise, he must look up. The very humblest maybe sustained by the proper indulgence of this feeling. Poverty itselfmay be lifted and lighted up by self-respect; and it is truly a noblesight to see a poor man hold himself upright amidst his temptations, and refuse to demean himself by low actions. 

CHAPTER XXIII

LABOR CREATES THE ONLY TRUE NOBILITY. 

As Americans we are justly proud that we have no hereditary titles, but each man is measured by his own personal worth. 

While believing firmly in the propriety of this order of things, yetwe would not have you imagine that we underestimate the value of arespectable lineage, but it is better to be the originator of a greatfamily than to be the degenerate descendant of one. 

With but few exceptions those Americans whose lives are very properlyheld up as an example for the imitation of our youth, are men whohave had to work their own way from the humblest walks in life, tothe highest in the gift of the nation. 

This is true of Franklin, the statesman and philosopher, as it is ofLincoln, the patriot and martyr, and the splendid list of names thatadorn the pages of our intervening history. 

Smiles in his "Self-Help" shows how in England, a land where ancestrycounts for so much, the descendants of the greatest men, even ofkings, have been found in the humblest of callings. 

The blood of all men flows from equally remote sources; and thoughsome are unable to trace their line directly beyond theirgrandfathers, all are nevertheless justified in placing at the headof their pedigree the great progenitors of the race, as LordChesterfield did when he wrote, "ADAM _de Stanhope_--EVE _deStanhope_. " No class is ever long stationary. The mighty fall, andthe humble are exalted. New families take the place of the old, whodisappear among the ranks of the common people. Burke's "Vicissitudesof Families" strikingly exhibits the rise and fall of families, andshows that the misfortunes which overtake the rich and noble aregreater in proportion than those which overwhelm the poor. Thisauthor points out that of the twenty-five barons selected to enforcethe observance of Magna Charta, there is not now in the House ofPeers a single male descendant. Civil wars and rebellions ruined manyof the old nobility and dispersed their families. Yet theirdescendants in many cases survive, and are to be found among theranks of the people. Fuller wrote in his "Worthies, " that "some whojustly hold the surnames of Bohuns, Mortimers, and Plantagenets, arehid in the heap of common men. " Thus Burke shows that two of thelineal descendants of the Earl of Kent, sixth son of Edward I, werediscovered in a butcher and a toll-gatherer; that the great-grandsonof Margaret Plantagenet, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, sank tothe condition of a cobbler at Newport, in Shropshire; and that amongthe lineal descendants of the Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III, was the late sexton of St. George's Church, London. It is understoodthat the lineal descendant of Simon de Montfort, England's premierbaron, is a saddler in Tooley street. One of the descendants of the"Proud Percys, " a claimant of the title of Duke of Northumberland, was a Dublin trunkmaker; and not many years since one of theclaimants for the title of Earl of Perth presented himself in theperson of a laborer in a Northumberland coal-pit. Hugh Miller, whenworking as a stone-mason near Edinburgh, was served by a hodman, whowas one of the numerous claimants for the earldom of Crauford--allthat was wanted to establish his claim being a missing marriagecertificate; and while the work was going on, the cry resounded fromthe walls many times in the day, of "John, Yearl Crauford, bring usanother hod o' lime. " One of Oliver Cromwell's great-grandsons was agrocer in London, and others of his descendants died in greatpoverty. Many barons of proud names and titles have perished, likethe sloth, upon their family tree, after eating up all the leaves;while others have been overtaken by adversities which they have beenunable to retrieve, and have sunk at last into poverty and obscurity. Such are the mutabilities of rank and fortune. 

The great bulk of the English peerage is comparatively modern, so faras the titles go; but it is not the less noble that it has beenrecruited to so large an extent from the ranks of honorable industry. In olden times, the wealth and commerce of London, conducted as itwas by energetic and enterprising men, was a prolific source ofpeerages. Thus, the earldom of Cornwallis was founded by ThomasCornwallis, the Cheapside merchant; that of Essex by William Capel, the draper; and that of Craven by William Craven, the merchanttailor. The modern Earl of Warwick is not descended from the "King-maker, " but from William Greville, the woolstapler; whilst the moderndukes of Northumberland find their head, not in the Percys, but inHugh Smithson, a respectable London apothecary. The founders of thefamilies of Dartmouth, Radnor, Ducie, and Pomfret, were respectivelya skinner, a silk manufacturer, a merchant tailor, and a Calaismerchant; whilst the founders of the peerages of Tankerville, Dormer, and Coventry, were mercers. The ancestors of Earl Romney, and LordDudley and Ward, were goldsmiths and jewelers; and Lord Dacres was abanker in the reign of Charles I, as Lord Overstone is in that ofQueen Victoria. Edward Osborne, the founder of the dukedom of Leeds, was apprentice to William Hewet, a rich cloth-worker on LondonBridge, whose only daughter he courageously rescued from drowning, byleaping into the Thames after her, and whom he eventually married. 

William Phipps, at one time Colonial Governor of Massachusetts, andthe founder of the Normandy family, was the son of a gunsmith whoemigrated to Maine, where this remarkable man was born in 1651. Hewas one of a family of not fewer than twenty-six children (of whomtwenty-one were sons), whose only fortune lay in their stout heartsand strong arms. William seems to have had a sash of the Danishseablood in his veins, and he did not take kindly to the quiet lifeof a shepherd in which he spent his early years. By nature bold andadventurous, he longed to become a sailor and roam through the world. He sought to join some ship; but not being able to find one, heapprenticed himself to a ship-builder, with whom he thoroughly learnthis trade, acquiring the arts of reading and writing during hisleisure hours. Having completed his apprenticeship and removed toBoston, he wooed and married a widow of some means, after which heset up a little ship-building yard of his own, built a ship, andputting to sea in her, he engaged in the lumber trade, which hecarried on in a plodding and laborious way for the space of about tenyears. 

It happened that one day, while passing through the crooked streetsof old Boston, he overheard some sailors talking to each other of awreck which had just taken place off the Bahamas; that of a Spanishship, supposed to have much money on board. His adventurous spiritwas at once kindled, and getting together a likely crew without lossof time, he set sail for the Bahamas. The wreck being well in shorehe easily found it, and succeeded in recovering a great deal of itscargo, but very little money; and the result was that he barelydefrayed his expenses. His success had been such, however, as tostimulate his enterprising spirit; and when he was told of anotherand far more richly laden vessel which had been wrecked near Port dela Plata more than half a century before, he forthwith formed theresolution of raising the wreck, or at all events of fishing up thetreasure. 

Being too poor, however, to undertake such an enterprise withoutpowerful help, he set sail for England in the hope that he mightthere obtain it. The fame of his success in raising the wreck off theBahamas had already preceded him. He applied direct to theGovernment. By his urgent enthusiasm, he succeeded in overcoming theusual inertia of official minds; and Charles II eventually placed athis disposal the "Rose Algier, " a ship of eighteen guns and ninety-five men, appointing him to the chief command. 

Phipps then set sail to find the Spanish ship and fish up thetreasure. He reached the coast of Hispaniola in safety; but how tofind the sunken ship was the great difficulty. The fact of the wreckwas more than fifty years old; and Phipps had only the traditionaryrumors of the even to work upon. There was a wide coast to explore, and an outspread ocean, without any trace whatever of the argosywhich lay somewhere at its bottom. But the man was stout in heart andfull of hope. He set his seamen to work to drag along the coast, andfor weeks they went on fishing up seaweed, shingle and bits of rock. No occupation could be more trying to seamen, and they began togrumble one to another, and to whisper that the man in command hadbrought them on a fool's errand. 

At length the murmurers gained head, and the men broke into openmutiny. A body of them rushed one day on to the quarter-deck, anddemanded that the voyage should be relinquished. Phipps, however, wasnot a man to be intimidated; he seized the ringleaders, and sent theothers back to their duty. It became necessary to bring the ship toanchor close to a small island for the purpose of repairs; and, tolighten her, the chief part of the stores was landed. Discontentstill increasing among the crew, a new plot was laid among the men onshore to seize the ship, throw Phipps overboard, and start on apiratical cruise against the Spaniards in the South Seas. But it wasnecessary to secure the services of the chief ship-carpenter, who wasconsequently made privy to the plot. This man proved faithful, and aonce told the captain of his danger. Summoning about him those whomhe knew to be loyal, Phipps had the ship's guns loaded, whichcommanded the shore, and ordered the bridge communicating with thevessel to be drawn up. When the mutineers made their appearance, thecaptain hailed them, and told the men he would fire upon them if theyapproached the stores (still on land), when they drew back; on whichPhipps had the stores reshipped under cover of his guns. Themutineers, fearful of being left upon the barren island, threw downtheir arms and implored to be permitted to return to their duty. Therequest was granted, and suitable precautions were taken againstfurther mischief. Phipps, however, took the first opportunity oflanding the mutinous part of the crew, and engaging other men intheir places; but, by the time that he could again proceed activelywith his explorations, he found it absolutely necessary to proceed toEngland for the purpose of repairing the ship. He had now, however, gained more precise information as to the spot where the Spanishtreasure-ship had sunk; and, though as yet baffled, he was moreconfident than ever of the eventual success of his enterprise. 

Returned to London, Phipps reported the result of his voyage to theAdmirality, who professed to be pleased with his exertions; but hehad been unsuccessful, and they would not entrust him with anotherking's ship. James II was now on the throne, and the Government wasin trouble; so Phipps and his golden project appealed to them invain. He next tried to raise the requisite means by a publicsubscription. At first he was laughed at; but his ceaselessimportunity at length prevailed, and after four years' dinning of hisproject into the ears of the great and influential--during which timehe lived in poverty--he at length succeeded. A company was formed intwenty shares, The Duke of Albemarle, son of General Monk, taking thechief interest in it, and subscribing the principal part of thenecessary fund for the prosecution of the enterprise. 

Phipps was successful in this undertaking. He started otherenterprises and succeeded. He was knighted, and as has been stated, became the founder of one of England's noble families. It should besaid, however, that beyond his perseverance, he had but few qualitiesto commend him. He was coarse, ignorant, and brutal, and had to flyfrom Massachusetts to save his life from an indignant people. 

But true nobility is not that which is conferred by the warrant of amonarch. If as Pope says, "An honest man's the noblest work of God, "then the nobles man is the honest man, who with his own clear brainand strong right arm, wins his way up from the humblest walks inlife, till by virtue of his manhood, he stands the peer of peers, andby Divine right the equal of all earth's kings. 

We hear a great deal about an American aristocracy, but no matterwhat the wishes of a few people with un-American tastes may be, theonly aristocracy that can ever find recognition here, is that ofbrains and the success born of hones toil. 

Ninety-nine out of every hundred of the rich families that arewrongly supposed to constitute our aristocracy at this time, werepoor less than fifty years ago. Many of the rich families of fiftyyears ago are poor to-day; and so fortune varies and changes in thisnew land. Our true aristocrats are successful men like Peter Cooper, who left the world better for having lived in it. We count among ouraristocrats, patriots like Lincoln, and if his descendants emulatehis noble example, they too will be ennobled by their countrymen. Wereckon Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Hawthorne, Elisha Howeand George W. Childs among our aristocrats. Andrew Carnegie deservesa place in the same list of American peers, as does Thomas A. Edison. 

But after all the true title to nobility is implied in the words"gentleman" and "lady, " and with these we need not fear comparisonwith all the world's titled nobles. 

CHAPTER XXIV

THE SUCCESSFUL MAN IS SELF-MADE. 

The crown and glory of life is Character. It is the noblestpossession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and an estate inthe general good-will; dignifying every station, and exalting everyposition in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, andsecures all the honor without the jealousies of fame. It carries withit an influence which always tells; for it is the result of provedhonor, rectitude and consistency--qualities which, perhaps, more thanany other, command the general confidence and respect of mankind. 

Character is human nature in its best form It is moral order embodiedin the individual. Men of character are not only the conscience ofsociety, but in every well-governed state they are its best motivepower; for it is moral qualities in the main which rule the world. Even in war, Napoleon said, the moral is to the physical as ten toone. The strength, the industry, and the civilization of nations--alldepend upon individual character; and the very foundations of civilsecurity rest upon it. Laws and institutions are but its outgrowth. In the just balance of nature individuals, nations and races, willobtain just so much as they deserve, and no more. And as effect findsits cause, so surely does quality of character amongst a peopleproduce its befitting results. 

Though a man have comparatively little culture, slender abilities, and but small wealth, yet, if his character be of sterling worth, healways commands an influence, whether it be in the workshop, thecounting-house, the mart, or the senate. Canning wisely wrote in1801, "My road must be through Character to Power; I will try noother course; and I am sanguine enough to believe that this course, though not perhaps the quickest, is the surest. " You may admire menof intellect; but something more is necessary before you will trustthem. This was strikingly illustrated in the career of FrancisHorner--a man of whom Sydney Smith said that the Ten Commandmentswere stamped upon his countenance. "The valuable and peculiar light, "says Lord Cockburn, "in which his history is calculated to inspireevery right-minded youth, is this: He died at the age of thirty-eight; possessed of greater public influence than any other privateman, and admired, beloved, trusted, and deplored by all, except theheartless or the base. Now let every young man ask--how was thisattained? By rank? He was the son of an Edinburgh merchant. Bywealth? Neither he, nor any of his relations, ever had a superfluoussixpence. By office? He held but one, and only for a few years, of noinfluence, and with very little pay. By talents? His were notsplendid, and he had no genius. Cautious and slow, his only ambitionwas to be right. By eloquence? He spoke in calm, good taste, withoutany of the oratory that either terrifies or seduces. By anyfascination of manner? His was only correct and agreeable. By what, then, was it? Merely by sense, industry, good principles, and a goodheart--qualities which no well-constituted mind need ever despair ofattaining. It was the force of his character that raised him; andthis character not impressed upon him by nature, but formed, out ofno peculiarly fine elements, by himself. There were many in the Houseof Commons of far greater ability and eloquence. But no one surpassedhim in the combination of an adequate portion of these with moralworth. Horner was born to show what moderate powers, unaided byanything whatever except culture and goodness, may achieve, even whenthese powers are displayed amidst the competition and jealousy ofpublic life. "

Franklin attributed his success as a public man not to his talents orhis powers of speaking--for these were but moderate--but to his knownintegrity of character. Hence, it was, he says, "that I had so muchweight with my fellow-citizens. I was but a bad speaker, nevereloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardlycorrect in language, and yet I generally carried my point. " Charactercreates confidence in men in high station as well as in humble life. It was said of the first Emperor Alexander of Russia, that hispersonal character was equivalent to a constitution. During the warsof the Fronde, Montaigne was the only man amongst the French gentrywho kept his castle gates unbarred; and it was said of him, that hispersonal character was a better protection for him than a regiment ofhorse would have been. 

That character is power, is true in a much higher sense than thatknowledge is power. Mind without heart, intelligence without conduct, cleverness without goodness, are powers in their way, but they may bepowers only for mischief. We may be instructed or amused by them; butit is sometimes as difficult to admire them as it would be to admirethe dexterity of a pickpocket or the horsemanship of a highwayman. 

Truthfulness, integrity, and goodness--qualities that hang not on anyman's breath--form the essence of manly character, or, as one of ourold writers has it, "that inbred loyalty unto Virtue which can serveher without a livery. " He who possesses these qualities, united withstrength of purpose, carries with him a power which is irresistible. He is strong to do good, strong to resist evil, and strong to bear upunder difficulty and misfortune. When Stephen of Colonna fell intothe hands of his base assailants, and they asked him in derision, "Where is now your fortress?" "Here, " was his bold reply, placing hishand upon his heart. It is in misfortune that the character of theupright man shines forth with the greatest lustre; and when all elsefails, he takes his stand upon his integrity and his courage. 

The rules of conduct followed by Lord Erskine--a man of sterlingindependence of principle and scrupulous adherence to truth--areworthy of being engraven on every young man's heart. "It was a firstcommand and counsel of my earliest youth, " he said, "always to dowhat my conscience told me to be a duty, and to leave the consequenceto God. I shall carry with me the memory, and I trust the practice, of this parental lesson to the grave. I have hitherto followed it, and I have no reason to complain that my obedience to it has been atemporal sacrifice. I have found it, on the contrary, the road toprosperity and wealth, and I shall point out the same path to mychildren for their pursuit. "

Every man is bound to aim at the possession of a good character asone of the highest objects of life. The very effort to secure it byworthy means will furnish him with a motive of exertion; and his ideaof manhood, in proportion as it is elevated, will steady and animatehis motive. It is well to have a high standard of life, even thoughwe may not be able altogether to realize it. "The youth, " says Mr. Disraeli, "who does not look up will look down; and the spirit thatdoes not soar is destined perhaps to grovel. " George Herbert wiselywrites:

"Pitch thy behavior low, thy projects high, So shall thou humble andmagnanimous be. Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky Shootshigher much that he that means a tree. "

He who has a high standard of living and thinking will certainly dobetter than he who has none at all. "Pluck at a gown of gold, " saysthe Scotch proverb, "and you may get a sleeve o't. " Whoever tries forthe highest results cannot fail to reach a point far in advance ofthat from which he started; and though the end attained may fallshort of that proposed, still, the very effort to rise, of itselfcannot fail to prove permanently beneficial. 

There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article isdifficult to be mistaken. Some, knowing its money value, would assumeits disguise for the purpose of imposing upon the unwary. ColonelCharteris said to a man distinguished for his honesty, "I would givea thousand pounds for your good name. " "Why?" "Because I could maketen thousand by it, " was the knave's reply. 

There is a truthfulness in action as well as in words, which isessential to uprightness of character. A man must really be what heseems or purposes to be. When an American gentleman wrote toGranville Sharp, that from respect for his great virtues he had namedone of his sons after him, Sharp replied: "I must request you toteach him a favorite maxim of the family whose name you have givenhim--_Always endeavor to be really what you would wish to appear_. This maxim, as my father informed me, was carefully and humblypracticed by _his_ father, whose sincerity, as a plain and honestman, thereby became the principal feature of his character, both inpublic and private life. " Every man who respects himself, and valuesthe respect of others, will carry out the maxim in act--doinghonestly what he purposes to do--putting the highest character intohis work, scrimping nothing, but priding himself upon his integrityand conscientiousness. Once Cromwell said to Bernard--a clever butsomewhat unscrupulous lawyer, "I understand that you have lately beenvastly wary in your conduct; do not be too confident of this:subtlety may deceive you, integrity never will. " Men whose acts areat direct variance with their words, command no respect, and whatthey say has but little weight: even truths, when uttered by them, seem to come blasted from their lips. 

The true character acts rightly, whether in secret or in the sight ofmen. That boy was well trained who, when asked why he did not pocketsome pears, for nobody was there to see, replied, "Yes, there was; Iwas there to see myself; and I don't intend ever to see myself do adishonest thing. " This is a simple but not inappropriate illustrationof principle, or conscience, dominating in the character, andexercising a noble protectorate over it; not merely a passiveinfluence, but an active power regulating the life. Such a principlegoes on moulding the character hourly and daily, growing with a forcethat operates every moment. Without this dominating influence, character has no protection, but is constantly liable to fall awaybefore temptation; and every such temptation succumbed to, every actof meanness or dishonesty, however slight, causes self-degradation. It matters not whether the act be successful or not, discovered orconcealed; the culprit is no longer the same, but another person; andhe is pursued by a secret uneasiness, by self-reproach, or theworkings of what we call conscience, which is the inevitable doom ofthe guilty. 

And here it may be observed how greatly the character may bestrengthened and supported by the cultivation of good habits. Man, ithas been said, is a bundle of habits; and habit is second nature. Metastasio entertained so strong an opinion as to the power ofrepetition in act and thought, that he said, "All is habit inmankind, even virtue itself. " Butler, in his "Analogy, " impresses theimportance of careful self-discipline and firm resistance totemptation, as tending to make virtue habitual, so that at length itmay become more easy to do good than to give way to sin. "As habitsbelonging to the body, " he says, "are produced by external acts, sohabits of the mind are produced by the execution of inward practicalpurposes, i. E. , carrying them into act, or acting upon them--theprinciples of obedience, veracity, justice, and charity. " And again, Lord Brougham says, when enforcing the immense importance of trainingand example in youth, "I trust everything, under God, to habit, onwhich, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the schoolmaster, hasmainly placed his reliance; habit, which makes everything easy, andcast the difficulties upon the deviation from a wonted course. " Thus, make sobriety a habit and intemperance will be hateful; make prudencea habit, and reckless profligacy will become revolting to everyprinciple of conduct which regulates the life of the individual. Hence the necessity for the greatest care and watchfulness againstthe inroad of any evil habit; for the character is always weakest atthat point at which it has once given way; and it is long before aprinciple restored can become as firm as one that has never beenmoved. It is a fine remark of a Russian writer, that "Habits are anecklace of pearls: untie the knot, and the whole unthreads. "

Wherever formed, habit acts involuntarily and without effort; and itis only when you oppose it, that you find how powerful it has become. What is done once and again, soon gives facility and proneness. Thehabit at first may seem to have no more strength than a spider's web;but, once formed, it binds us with a chain of iron. The small eventsof life, taken singly, may seem exceedingly unimportant, like snowthat falls silently, flake by flake; yet accumulated, thesesnowflakes form the avalanche. 

Self-respect, self-help, application, industry, integrity--all are ofthe nature of habits, not beliefs. Principles, in fact, are but thenames which we assign to habits; for the principles are words, butthe habits are the things themselves: benefactors or tyrants, according as they are good or evil. It thus happens that as we growolder, a portion of our free activity and individuality becomessuspended in habit; our actions become of the nature of fate; and weare bound by the chains which we have woven around ourselves. 

It is indeed scarcely possible to overestimate the importance oftraining the young to virtuous habits. In them they are the easiestformed, and when formed, they last for life; like letters cut on thebark of a tree, they grow and widen with age. "Train up a child inthe way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. "The beginning holds within it the end; the first start on the road oflife determines the direction and the destination of the journey. Remember, before you are five-and-twenty you must establish acharacter that will serve you all your life. As habit strengthenswith age, and character becomes formed, and turning into a new pathbecomes more and more difficult. Hence, it is often harder to unlearnthat to learn; and for this reason the Grecian flute-player wasjustified who charged double fees to those pupils who had been taughtby an inferior master. To uproot and old habit is sometimes a morepainful thing, and vastly more difficult, than to wrench out a tooth. Try and reform an habitually indolent, or improvident, or drunkenperson, and in a large majority of cases you will fail. For the habitin each case has wound itself in and through life until it has becomean integral part of it, and can not be uprooted. Hence, as Mr. Lynchobserves, "the wisest habit of all is the habit of care in theformation of good habits. "

Even happiness itself may become habitual. There is a habit oflooking at the bright side of things, and also of looking at the darkside. Dr. Johnson said that the habit of looking at the best side ofa thing is worth more to a man than a thousand pounds a year. And wepossess the power, to a great extent, of so exercising the will as todirect the thoughts upon objects calculated to yield happiness andimprovement rather than their opposites. In this way the habit ofhappy thought may be made to spring up like any other habit. And tobring up men or women with a genial nature of this sort, a goodtemper, and a happy frame of mind is, perhaps, of even moreimportance, in may cases, than to perfect them in much knowledge andmany accomplishments. 

As daylight can be seen through very small holes, so little thingswill illustrate a person's character. Indeed, character consists inlittle acts, well and honorably performed; daily life being thequarry from which we build it up, and rough-hew the habits which formit. One of the most marked tests of character is the manner in whichwe conduct ourselves toward others. A graceful behavior towardsuperiors, inferiors, and equals, is a constant source of pleasure. It pleases others because it indicates respect for their personality;but it gives tenfold more pleasure to ourselves. Every man may, to alarge extent, be a self-educator in good behavior, as in everythingelse; he can be civil and kind, if he will, though he have not a centin his pocket. Gentleness in society is like the silent influence oflight, which gives color to all nature; it is far more powerful thanloudness or force, and far more fruitful. It pushes its way quietlyand persistently, like the tiniest daffodil in spring, which raisesthe clod and thrusts it aside by the simple persistency of growing. 

Even a kind look will give pleasure and confer happiness. In one ofRobertson's letters, he tells of a lady who related to him "thedelight, the tears of gratitude, which she had witnessed in a poorgirl to whom, in passing I gave a kind look on going out of church onSunday. What a lesson! How cheaply happiness can be given! Whatopportunities we miss of doing an angel's work! I remember doing it, full of sad feelings, passing on, and thinking no more about it; andit gave an hour's sunshine to a human life, and lightened the load oflife to a human heart for a time. "

Morals and manners, which give color to life, are of much greaterimportance than laws, which are but their manifestations. The lawtouches us here and there, but manners are about us everywhere, pervading society like the air we breathe. Good manners, as we callthem, are neither more nor less than good behavior; consisting ofcourtesy and kindness; benevolence being the preponderating elementin all kinds of mutually beneficial and pleasant intercourse amongsthuman beings. "Civility, " said Lady Montague, "costs nothing and buyseverything. " The cheapest of all things is kindness, its exerciserequiring the least possible trouble and self-sacrifice. "Winhearts, " said Burleigh to Queen Elizabeth, "and you have all men'shearts and purses. " If we would only let nature act kindly, free fromaffectation and artifice, the results on social good humor andhappiness would be incalculable. The little courtesies which form thesmall change of life, may separately appear of little intrinsicvalue, but they acquire their importance from repetition andaccumulation. They are like the spare minutes, or the groat a day, which proverbially produce such momentous results in the course of atwelvemonth, or in a lifetime. 

Manners are the ornament of action; and there is a way of speaking akind word, or of doing a kind thing, which greatly enhances itsvalue. What seems to be done with a grudge, or as an act ofcondescension, is scarcely accepted as a favor. Yet there are men whopride themselves upon their gruffness; and though they may possessvirtue and capacity, their manner is often such as to render themalmost insupportable. It is difficult to like a man who, though hemay not pull your nose, habitually wounds your self-respect, andtakes a pride in saying disagreeable things to you. There are otherswho are dreadfully condescending, and cannot avoid seizing upon everysmall opportunity of making their greatness felt. When Abernethy wascanvassing for the office of surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, he called upon such a person--a rich grocer, one of the governors. The great man behind the counter seeing the great surgeon enterimmediately assumed the grand air toward the supposed suppliant forhis vote. "I presume, sir, " he said, "you want my vote and interestat this momentous epoch of your life. " Abernethy, who hated humbugs, and felt nettled at the tone, replied: "No, I don't; I want apennyworth of figs; come, look sharp and wrap them up; I want to beoff!"

The gentleman is eminently distinguished for his self-respect. Hevalues his character--not so much of it only as can be seen byothers, but as he sees himself; having regard for the approval of hisinward monitor. And, as he respects himself, so, by the same law, does he respect others. Humanity is sacred in his eyes; and thenceproceed politeness and forbearance, kindness and charity. It isrelated of Lord Edward Fitzgerald that, while traveling in Canada, incompany with the Indians, he was shocked by the sight of a poor squawtrudging along laden with her husband's trappings, while the chiefhimself walked on unencumbered. Lord Edward at once relieved thesquaw of her pack by placing it upon his own shoulders--a beautifulinstance of what the French call _politesse de coeur_--the inbredpoliteness of the true gentleman. 

The true gentleman has a keen sense of honor--scrupulously avoidingmean actions. His standard of probity in word and action is high. Hedoes not shuffle or prevaricate, dodge or skulk; but is honest, upright and straightforward. His law is rectitude--action in rightlines. When he says _yes_, it is a law; and he dares to say thevaliant _no_ at the fitting season. 

Riches and rank have no necessary connection with genuine gentlemanlyqualities. The poor man may be a true gentleman--in spirit and indaily life. He may be honest, truthful, upright, polite, temperate, courageous, self-respecting, and self-helping--that is, be a truegentleman. The poor man with a rich spirit is in all ways superior tothe rich man with a poor spirit. To borrow S. Paul's words, theformer is as "having nothing, yet possessing all things, " while theother, though possessing all things, has nothing. The first hopeseverything, and fears nothing; the last hopes nothing, and fearseverything. Only the poor in spirit are really poor. He who has lostall, but retains his courage, cheerfulness, hope, virtue, and self-respect, is still rich. For such a man, the world is, as it were, held in trust; his spirit dominating over its grosser cares, he canstill walk erect, a true gentleman. 

Occasionally, the brave and gentle character may be found under thehumblest garb. Here is an old illustration, but a fine one. Once on atime, when the Adige suddenly overflowed its banks, the bridge ofVerona was carried away with the exception of the centre arch, onwhich stood a house, whose inhabitants supplicated help from thewindows, while the foundations were visibly giving way. "I will givea hundred French louis, " said the Count Spolverini, who stood by, "toany person who will venture to deliver those unfortunate people. " Ayoung peasant came forth from the crowd, seized a boat, and pushedinto the stream. He gained the pier, received the whole family intothe boat, and made for the shore, where he landed them in safety. "Here is your money, my brave young fellow, " said the count. "No, "was the answer of the young man, "I do not sell my life; give themoney to this poor family, who have need of it. " Here spoke the truespirit of the gentleman, though he was in the garb of a peasant. 

There is perhaps no finer example in all history of the self-made manthan George Washington. It may be argued that he belonged to a goodfamily, and that his family was amongst the richest in the country atthat time. This is true, yet there is not a boy who graduates to-dayat our grammar schools who has not had far better educationaladvantages than had Washington. But he was self-taught, and he soprepared himself that no duty that required him, ever found himdeficient. At an age when most young men are thinking about strikingout for themselves, Washington occupied with success and honorpositions requiring courage, judgment, and decision. He grew with hisown deserved advance, until at length by his own splendid efforts, hefound himself, in the words of Adams, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. "

With all the avenues of life open to him, or ready to be opened, ifhe will but boldly knock, the young man starting out in life to-dayhas every advantage. If he will carefully study over the splendidexamples we have cited, and follow along the lines that led to theirsuccess, his own prosperity can no longer be a matter for doubt. 

CHAPTER XXV

UNSELFISHNESS AND HELPFULNESS. 

It must never be forgotten that the position a man occupies at theclose of his life is not an infallible criterion of whether he hasgot on in the world. There are some places in the world's history soillustrious that to occupy them it would be worth dying in povertyand misery. Ambition might well choose to be remembered withgratitude by succeeding generations and to have an immortal name, even if to attain it everything were sacrificed that is counteddesirable in life. Who would not surrender wealth and ease andluxury, if in exchange for them he could leave such a name asColumbus, Washington, Lincoln, John Brown, Livingstone or Howard?Posthumous glory counts for something in the reckoning. And this isoften attained by self-sacrifice. Revile the world as we may, it doesnot forget the men who have done it service. The men who haveforgotten themselves, who have not striven after their own advantage, but have devoted their lives to the good of humanity, achieveimmortality. They get on in the world in the sense of receiving acrown that cannot fade and a glory outshining that of kings andmillionaires. The hero has a reward all his own and he may wellrenounce the lower rewards of riches and ease to gain it. But hisqualities must be heroic or he will make his sacrifices to nopurpose. He must be true to himself at all cost. Washington was abrilliant example of this fidelity to his ideal. Sparks tells us thatwhen he clearly saw his duty before him, he did it at all hazards, and with inflexible integrity. He did not do it for effect; nor didhe think of glory, or of fame and its rewards; but of the right thingto be done, and the best way of doing it. 

Yet Washington had a most modest opinion of himself; and when offeredthe chief command of the American patriot army he hesitated to acceptit until it was pressed upon him. When acknowledging in Congress thehonor which had been done him in selecting him to so important atrust, on the execution of which the future of his country in a greatmeasure depended, Washington said: "I beg it may be remembered, lestsome unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, that Ithis day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myselfequal to the command I am honored with. "

And in his letter to his wife, communicating to her his appointmentas commander-in-chief, he said: "I have used very endeavor in mypower to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with youand the family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust toogreat for my capacity; and that I should enjoy more real happiness inone month with you at home than I have the most distant prospect offinding abroad, if my stay were to be seven times seven years. But, as it has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon thisservice, I shall hope that my undertaking is designed for some goodpurpose. It was utterly out of my power to refuse the appointment, without exposing my character to such censures as would havereflected dishonor upon myself, and given pain to my friends. This, Iam sure, could not, and ought not, to be pleasing to you, and musthave lessened me considerably in my own esteem. "

Washington pursued his upright course through life, first ascommander-in-chief, and afterward as President, never faltering inthe path of duty. He had no regard for popularity, but held to hispurpose through good and through evil report, often at the risk ofhis power and influence. Thus, on one occasion, when the ratificationof a treaty, arranged by Mr. Jay with Great Britain, was in question, Washington was urged to reject it. But his honor, and the honor ofhis country, was committed, and he refused to do so. A great outcrywas raised against the treaty, and for a time Washington was sounpopular that he is said to have been actually stoned by the mob. But he, nevertheless, held it to be his duty to ratify the treaty;and it was carried out in despite of petitions and remonstrances fromall quarters. "While I fell, " he said, in answer to the remonstrants, "the most lively gratitude for the many instances of approbation frommy country, I can no otherwise deserve it than by obeying thedictates of my conscience. "

When the Oregon, coming along the Atlantic coast, was struck in themiddle of the night by that coaster, and a great wound was made inher side, through which the water was pouring, Captain Murray stoodon the bridge as calm, apparently, as a May morning, and waited untilevery passenger was off, and every officer was off, and every man onthe crew was off, and the last man to step from the sinking ship wasthe captain himself; and ten minutes after he stepped off, thesteamer gave a quiver, as of apprehension, and then plunged to thebottom of the ocean. The steamer was his, and the men were his, andthe boats were his, and the passengers were his, all for this: thathe might save them in time of peril; and he would go down to thebottom of the ocean rather than that, by his recreancy, one of thoseentrusted to him should perish. This was the true hero, the man whowould die rather than be false to duty. 

One of the most striking instances that could be given of thecharacter of the dutiful, truthful, laborious man, who works onbravely in spite of difficulty and physical suffering, is presentedin the life of the late George Wilson, Professor of Technology in theUniversity of Edinburgh. Wilson's life was, indeed, a marvel ofcheerful laboriousness; exhibiting the power of the soul to triumphover the body, and almost to set it at defiance. It might be taken asan illustration of the saying of the whaling-captain to Dr. Kane, asto the power of moral force over physical: "Bless you, sir, the soulwill any day lift the body out of its boots!"

A fragile but bright and lively boy, he had scarcely entered manhoodere his constitution began to exhibit signs of disease. As early, indeed, as his seventeenth year, he began to complain of melancholyand sleeplessness, supposed to be the effects of bile. "I don't thinkI shall live long, " he then said to a friend; "my mind will--mustwork itself out, and the body will soon follow it. " A strangeconfession for a boy to make! But he gave his physical health no fairchance. His life was all brain work, study, and competition. When hetook exercise it was in sudden bursts, which did him more harm thangood. Long walks in the Highlands jaded and exhausted him; and hereturned to his brain-work unrested and unrefreshed. 

It was during one of his forced walks of some twenty-four miles, inthe neighborhood of Stirling, that he injured one of his feet, and hereturned home seriously ill. The result was an abscess, disease ofthe ankle-joint, and a long agony, which ended in the amputation ofthe right foot. But he never relaxed in his labors. He was nowwriting, lecturing and teaching chemistry. Rheumatism and acuteinflammation of the eye next attacked him, and were treated bycupping, blistering, and colchicum. Unable himself to write, he wenton preparing his lectures, which he dictated to his sister. Painhaunted him day and night, and sleep was only forced by morphia. While in this state of general prostration symptoms of pulmonarydisease began to show themselves. Yet he continued to give the weeklylectures to which he stood committed to the Edinburgh School of Arts. Not one was shirked, though their delivery, before a large audience, was a most exhausting duty. "Well, there's another nail put into mycoffin, " was the remark made on throwing off his top-coat onreturning home; and a sleepless night almost invariably followed. 

At twenty-seven, Wilson was lecturing ten, eleven, or more hoursweekly, usually with setons or open blister-wounds upon him--his"bosom friends, " he used to call them. He felt the shadow of deathupon him, and he worked as if his days were numbered. "Don't besurprised, " he wrote to a friend, "if any morning at breakfast youhear that I am gone. " But while he said so, he did not in the leastdegree indulge in the feeling of sickly sentimentality. He worked onas cheerfully and hopefully as if in the very fullness of strength. "To none, " said he, "is life so sweet as to those who have lost allfear of dying. "

Sometimes he was compelled to desist from his labors by sheerdebility, occasioned by loss of blood from the lungs; but after a fewweeks' rest and change of air, he would return to his work, saying, "The water is rising in the well again!" Though disease had fastenedon his lungs, and was spreading there, and though suffering from adistressing cough, he went on lecturing as usual. To add to histroubles, when one day endeavoring to recover himself from a stumbleoccasioned by his lameness, he overstrained his arm, and broke thebone near the shoulder. But he recovered from his successiveaccidents and illnesses in the most extraordinary way. The reed bent, but did not break; the storm passed, and it stood erect as before. 

There was no worry, nor fever, nor fret about him; but instead, cheerfulness, patience and unfailing perseverance. His mind, amidstall his sufferings, remained perfectly calm and serene. He went abouthis daily work with an apparently charmed life, as if he had thestrength of many men in him. Yet all the while he knew he was dying, his chief anxiety being to conceal his state from those about him athome, to whom the knowledge of his actual condition would have beeninexpressibly distressing. "I am cheerful among strangers, " he said, "and try to live day by day as a dying man. "

He went on teaching as before--lecturing to the ArchitecturalInstitutes and to the School of Arts. One day, after a lecture beforethe latter institute, he lay down to rest, and was shortly awakenedby the rupture of a blood-vessel, which occasioned him the loss of aconsiderable quantity of blood. He did not experience the despair andagony that Keats did on a like occasion, though he equally knew thatthe messenger of death had come, and was waiting for him. He appearedat the family meals as usual, and next day he lectured twice, punctually fulfilling his engagements; but the exertion of speakingwas followed by a second attack of hemorrhage. He now becameseriously ill, and it was doubted whether he would survive the night. But he did survive; and during his convalescence he was appointed toan important public office--that of director of the ScottishIndustrial Museum, which involved a great amount of labor, as well aslecturing, in his capacity of professor of technology, which he heldin connection with the office. 

From this time forward, his "dear museum, " as he called it, absorbedall his surplus energies. While busily occupied in collecting modelsand specimens for the museum, he filled up his odds-and-ends of timein lecturing in Ragged Schools and Medical Missionary Societies. Hegave himself no rest, either of mind or body; and "to die working"was the fate he envied. His mind would not give in, but his poor bodywas forced to yield, and a sever attack of hemorrhage--bleeding fromboth lungs and stomach--compelled him to relax in his labors. "For amonth, or some forty days, " he wrote--"a dreadful Lent--the wind hasblown geographically from 'Araby the blest, ' but thermometricallyfrom Iceland the accursed. I have been made a prisoner of war, hit byan icicle in the lungs, and have shivered and burned alternately fora large portion of the last month, and spat blood till I grew palewith coughing. Now I am better, and to-morrow I give my concludinglecture (on technology), thankful that I have contrived, notwithstanding all my troubles, to early on without missing alecture to the last day of the Faculty of Arts, to which I belong. "

How long was it to last? He himself began to wonder, for he had longfelt his life as if ebbing away. At length he became languid, weary, and unfit for work; even the writing of a letter cost him a painfuleffort, and he felt "as if to lie down and sleep were the only thingsworth doing. " Yet shortly after, to help a Sunday school, he wrotehis "Five Gateways of Knowledge, " as a lecture, and afterwardexpanded it into a book. He also recovered strength sufficient toenable him to proceed with his lectures to the institutions to whichhe belonged, besides on various occasions undertaking to do otherpeople's work. "I am looked upon as being as mad, " he wrote to hisbrother, "because on a hasty notice, I took a defaulting lecturer'splace at the Philosophical Institution, and discoursed on thepolarization of light . . . But I like work: it is a familyweakness. "

Then followed chronic _malaise_--sleepless nights, days of pain, andmore spitting of blood. "My only painless moments. " he says, "werewhen lecturing. " In this state of prostration and disease, theindefatigable man undertook to write the "Life of Edward Forbes;" andhe did it, like every thing he undertook, with admirable ability. Heproceeded with his lectures as usual. To an association of teachershe delivered a discourse on the educational value of industrialscience. After he had spoken to his audience for an hour, he leftthem to say whether he should go on or not, and they cheered him onto another half-hour's address. "It is curious, " he wrote, "thefeeling of having an audience, like clay in your hands, to mould fora season as you please. It is a terribly responsible power . . . I donot mean for a moment to imply that I am indifferent to the goodopinion of others--far otherwise; but to gain this is much less aconcern with me than to deserve it. It was not so once. I had no wishfor unmerited praise, but I was too ready to settle that I did meritit. Now, the word DUTY seems to me the biggest word in the world, andis uppermost in all my serious doings. "

That was written only about four months before his death. A littlelater he wrote: "I spin my thread of life from week to week, ratherthan from year to year. " Constant attacks of bleeding from the lungssapped his little remaining strength, but did not altogether disablehim from lecturing. He was amused by one of his friends proposing toput him under trustees for the purpose of looking after his health. But he would not be restrained from working so long as a vestige ofstrength remained. 

One day, in the autumn of 1859, he returned from his customarylecture in the University of Edinburgh with a severe pain in hisside. He was scarcely able to crawl up stairs. Medical aid was sentfor, and he was pronounced to be suffering from pleurisy andinflammation of the lungs. His enfeebled frame was ill able to resistso severe a disease, and he sank peacefully to the rest he so longedfor, after a few days' illness. 

The life of George Wilson--so admirably and affectionately related byhis sister--is probably one of the most marvelous records of pain andlong-suffering, and yet of persistent, noble and useful work, that isto be found in the whole history of literature. 

Instances of this heroic quality of self-forgetfulness in theinterest of others are more frequent than we realize. Dr. LouisAlbert Banks mentions the following illustration: "The other day, inone of our cities, two small boys signaled a street-car. When the carstopped it was noticed that one boy was lame. With much solicitudethe other boy helped the cripple aboard, and, after telling theconductor to go ahead, returned to the sidewalk. The lame boy bracedhimself up in his seat so that he could look out of the car window, and the other passengers observed that at intervals the little fellowwould wave his hand and smile. Following the direction of hisglances, the passengers saw the other boy running along the sidewalk, straining every muscle to keep up with the car. They watched hispantomime in silence for a few blocks, and then a gentleman asked thelame boy who the other boy was: 'My brother, ' was the prompt reply. 'Why does he not ride with you in the car?' was the next question. 'Because he hasn't any money, ' answered the lame boy, sorrowfully. But the little runner--running that his crippled brother might ride--had a face in which sorrow had no part, only the gladness of a self-denying soul. O my brother, you who long to do great service for theKing and reach life's noblest triumph, here is your picture--willingto run that the crippled lives may ride, willing to bear oneanother's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ--that is thespirit of the King's country. "

"The path of service is open to all, nay, we stumble on to the pathdaily without knowing it. Ivan Tourguenieff, in one of his beautifulpoems in prose, says, 'I was walking in the street; a beggar stoppedme--a frail old man. His inflamed, tearful eyes, blue lips, roughrags, disgusting sores--oh, how horribly poverty had disfigured theunhappy creature! He stretched out to me his red, swollen, filthyhands; he groaned and whimpered for alms. I felt in all my pockets;no purse, watch, or handkerchief did I find; I had left them all athome. The beggar waited, and his outstretched hand twitched andtrembled. Embarrassed and confused, I seized his dirty hand andpressed it. 'Don't be vexed with me, brother; I have nothing with me, brother. ' The beggar raised his bloodshot eyes to mine; his blue lipssmiled, and he returned the pressure of my chilled fingers. 'Nevermind, brother, ' stammered he; 'thank you for this--this, too, was agift, brother. ' I felt that I, too, had received a gift from mybrother. This is a line of service open to us all. "

A gentleman writing to the Chicago _Interior_, relates this incidentin his own career as a prosecuting attorney: a boy of fifteen wasbrought in for trial. He had no attorney, no witnesses and nofriends. As the prosecuting attorney looked him over, he was pleasedwith his appearance. He had nothing of the hardened criminal abouthim. In fact, he was impressed that the prisoner was an unusuallybright-looking little fellow. He found that the charge against himwas burglary. There had been a fire in a dry goods store, where someof the merchandise had not been entirely consumed. The place had beenboarded up to protect, for the time being, the damaged articles. Several boys, among them this defendant, had pulled off a board ortwo, and were helping themselves to the contents of the place, whenthe police arrived. The others got away, and this was the only onecaught. The attorney asked the boy if he wanted a jury trial. He said"No;" that he was guilty, and preferred to plead guilty. 

Upon the plea being entered, the prosecutor asked him where his homewas. He replied that he had no home. 

"Where are your parents?" was asked. He answered that they were bothdead. 

"Have you no relatives?" was the next question. 

"Only a sister, who works out, " was the answer. 

"How long have you been in jail?"

"Two months. "

"Has anyone been to see you during that time?"

"No, sir. "

The last answer was very like a sob. The utterly forlorn andfriendless condition of the boy, coupled with his frankness andpleasing presence, caused a lump to come into the lawyer's throat, and into the throats of many others, who were listening to thedialogue. Finally the attorney suggested to the judge that it was apity to send the boy to the reformatory, and that what he needed morethan anything else was a home. 

By this time the court officials, jurors and spectators had crowdedaround, the better to hear what was being said. At this juncture oneof the jurors addressed the court, and said: "Your honor, a year agoI lost my only boy. If he were alive, he would be about this boy'sage. Ever since he died I have been wanting a boy. If you will let mehave this little fellow, I'll give him a home, put him to work in myprinting establishment, and treat him as if he were my own son. "

The judge turned to the boy, and said: "This gentleman is asuccessful business man. Do you think, if you are given this splendidopportunity, you can make a man of yourself?"

"I'll try, " very joyfully answered the boy. 

"Very well; sign a recognizance, and go with the gentleman, " said thejudge. 

A few minutes later the boy and his new friend left together, whiletears of genuine pleasure stood in many eyes in the crowdedcourtroom. The lawyer, who signs his name to the story, declares thatthe boy turned out well, and proved to be worthy of his benefactor'skindness. 

Deeds like that are waiting for the doing on every hand, and no mangives himself up to this spirit of helpfulness for others withoutstrengthening his own life. 

This spirit of self-forgetfulness and cheerful helpfulness is andessential quality of the true heroic soul--the soul that is notdisturbed by circumstances, but goes on its way, strong and impartingstrength. 

We have to be on our guard against small troubles, which, byencouraging, we are apt to magnify into great ones. Indeed, the chiefsource of worry in the world is not real but imaginary evil--smallvexations and trivial afflictions. In the presence of a great sorrow, all petty troubles disappear; but we are too ready to take somecherished misery to our bosom, and to pet it here. Very often it isthe child of our fancy; and, forgetful of the many means of happinesswhich lie within our reach, we indulge this spoiled child of oursuntil it masters us. We shut the door against cheerfulness, andsurround ourselves with gloom. The habit gives a coloring to ourlife. We grow querulous, moody and unsympathetic. Our conversationbecomes full of regrets. We are harsh in our judgment of others. Weare unsociable, and think everybody else is so. We make our breast astore-house of pain, which we inflict upon ourselves as well as uponothers. 

This disposition is encouraged by selfishness; indeed, it is, for themost part, selfishness unmingled, without any admixture of sympathyor consideration for the feelings of those about us. It is simplywillfulness in the wrong direction. It is willful, because it mightbe avoided. Let the necessitarians argue as they may, freedom of willand action is the possession of every man and woman. It is sometimesour glory, and very often it is our shame; all depends upon themanner in which it is used. We can choose to look at the bright sideof things or at the dark. We can follow good and eschew evilthoughts. We can be wrong-headed and wrong-hearted, or the reverse, as we ourselves determine. The world will be to each one of us verymuch what we make it. The cheerful are its real possessors, for theworld belongs to those who enjoy it. 

It must, however, be admitted that there are cases beyond the reachof the moralist. Once, when a miserable-looking dyspeptic called upona leading physician, and laid his case before him, "Oh!" said thedoctor, "you only want a good hearty laugh: go and see Grimaldi. ""Alas!" said the miserable patient, "I am Grimaldi!" So, whenSmollett, oppressed by disease, traveled over Europe in the hope offinding health, he saw everything through his own jaundiced eyes. 

The restless, anxious, dissatisfied temper, that is ever ready to runand meet care half-way, is fatal to all happiness and peace of mind. How often do we see men and women set themselves about as if withstiff bristles, so that one dare scarcely approach them without fearof being pricked! For want of a little occasional command over one'stemper, and amount of misery is occasioned in society which ispositively frightful. Thus enjoyment is turned into bitterness, andlife becomes like a journey barefooted among thorns and briers andprickles. "Though sometimes small evils, " says Richard Sharp, "likeinvisible insects, inflict great pain, and a single hair may stop avast machine, yet the chief secret of comfort lies in not sufferingtrifles to vex us; and in prudently cultivating and under-growth ofsmall pleasures, since very few great ones, alas! are let on longleases. "

Cheerfulness also accompanies patience, which is one of the mainconditions of happiness and success in life. "He that will beserved, " says George Herbert, "must be patient. " It was said of thecheerful and patient King Alfred that "good fortune accompanied himlike a gift of God. " Marlborough's expectant calmness was great, anda principal secret of his success as a general. "Patience willovercome all things, " he wrote to Godolphin, in 1702. In the midst ofa great emergency, while baffled and opposed by his allies, he said, "Having done all that is possible, we should submit with patience. "

One of the chiefest of blessings is Hope, the most common ofpossessions; for, as Thales that philosopher said, "Even those whohave nothing else have hope. " Hope is the great helper of the poor. It has even been styled "the poor man's bread. " It is also thesustainer and inspirer of great deeds. It is recorded of Alexanderthe Great that, when he succeeded to the throne of Macedon, he gaveaway among his friends the greater part of the estates which hisfather had left him; and when Perdiccas asked him what he reservedfor himself, Alexander answered, "The greatest possession of all--Hope!"

The pleasures of memory, however great, are stale compared with thoseof hope; for hope is the parent of all effort and endeavor; and"every gift of noble origin is breathed upon by Hope's perpetualbreath. " It may be said to be the moral engine that moves the worldand keeps it in action; and at the end of all there stands before uswhat Robertson of Ellon styled "The Great Hope. "

The qualities of the strong self-reliant man are sometimesaccompanied by a brusqueness of manner that leas others to misjudgethem. As Knox was retiring from the queen's presence on one occasionhe overheard one of the royal attendants say to another, "He is notafraid!" Turning round upon them, he said: "And why should thepleasing face of a gentleman frighten me? I have looked on the facesof angry men, and yet have not been afraid beyond measure. " When theReformer, worn out by excess of labor and anxiety, was at length laidto his rest, the regent, looking down into the open grave, exclaimedin words which made a strong impression from their aptness and truth--"There lies he who never feared the face of man!"

Luther also was thought by some to be a mere compound of violence andruggedness. But, as in the case of Knox, the times in which he livedwere rude and violent, and the work he had to do could scarcely havebeen accomplished with gentleness and suavity. To rouse Europe fromits lethargy, he had to speak and write with force, and evenvehemence. Yet Luther's vehemence was only in words. His apparentlyrude exterior covered a warm heart. In private life he was gentle, loving and affectionate. He was simple and homely, even tocommonness. Fond of all common pleasures and enjoyments, he was anything but an austere man or a bigot; for he was hearty, genial, andeven "jolly. " Luther was the common people's hero in his lifetime, and he remains so in Germany to this day. 

Samuel Johnson was rude and often gruff in manner. But he had beenbrought up in a rough school. Poverty in early life had made himacquainted with strange companions. He had wandered in the streetswith Savage for nights together, unable between them to raise moneyenough to pay for a bed. When his indomitable courage and industry atlength secured for him a footing in society, he still bore upon himthe scars of his early sorrow and struggles. He was by nature strongand robust, and his experience made him unaccommodating and self-asserting. When he was once asked why he was not invited to dine outas Garrick was, he answered, "Because great lords and ladies do notlike to have their mouths stopped;" and Johnson was a notoriousmouth-stopper, though what he said was always worth listening to. 

Johnson's companions spoke of him as "Ursa Major;" but, as Goldsmithgenerously said of him, "No man alive has a more tender heart; he hasnothing of the bear about him but his skin. " The kindliness ofJohnson's nature was shown on one occasion by the manner in which heassisted a supposed lady in crossing Fleet street. He gave her hisarm and led her across, not observing that she was in liquor at thetime. But the spirit of the act was not the less kind on thataccount. On the other hand, the conduct of the book-seller on whomJohnson once called to solicit employment, and who, regarding hisathletic but uncouth person, told him he had better "go buy aporter's knot and carry trunks, " in howsoever bland tones the advicemight have been communicated, was simply brutal. 

While captiousness of manner, and the habit of disputing andcontradicting everything said, is chilling and repulsive, theopposite habit of assenting to, and sympathizing with, everystatement made, or emotion expressed, is almost equally disagreeable. It is unmanly, and is felt to be dishonest. "It may seem difficult, "says Richard Sharp, "to steer always between bluntness and plain-dealing, between giving merited praise and lavishing indiscriminateflattery; but it is very easy--good humor, kind heartedness andperfect simplicity, being all that are requisite to do what is rightin the right way. "

At the same time many are unpolite, not because they mean to be so, but because they are awkward, and perhaps know no better. Thus, whenGibbon had published the second and third volumes of his "Decline andFall, " the Duke of Cumberland met him one day, and accosted him with, "How do you do, Mr. Gibbon? I see you are always _at it_ in the oldway--_scribble, scribble, scribble_!" The duke probably intended topay the author a compliment, but did not know how better to do itthan in this blunt and apparently rude way. 

Again, many persons are thought to be stiff, reserved and proud, whenthey are only shy. Shyness is characteristic of most people ofTeutonic race. It has been styled "the English mania, " but itpervades, to a greater or less degree, all the Northern nations. Theaverage Frenchman or Irishman excels the average Englishman, Germanor American in courtesy and ease of manner, simply because it is hisnature. They are more social and less self-dependent than men ofTeutonic origin, more demonstrative and less reticent; they are morecommunicative, conversational, and freer in their intercourse witheach other in all respects; while men of German race arecomparatively stiff, reserved, shy and awkward. At the same time, apeople may exhibit ease, gayety, and sprightliness of character, andyet possess no deeper qualities calculated to inspire respect. Theymay have every grace of manner, and yet be heartless, frivolous, selfish. The character may be on the surface only, and without anysolid qualities for a foundation. 

There can be no doubt as to which of the two sorts of people--theeasy and graceful, or the stiff and awkward--it is most agreeable tomeet either in business, in society, or in the casual intercourse oflife. Which make the fastest friends, the truest men of their word, the most conscientious performers of their duty, is an entirelydifferent matter. 

As an epitome of good sound advice as to getting on in the worldthere has probably been nothing written so forcible, quaint and fullof common sense a the following preface to an old PennsylvanianAlmanac, entitled "Poor Richard Improved, " by the great philosopher, Benjamin Franklin. It is homely, simple, sensible and practical--acondensation of the proverbial wit, wisdom and every-day philosophy, useful at all times, and essentially so in the present day:

"COURTEOUS READER--I have heard that nothing gives an author so greatpleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by others. Judge, then, how much I must have been gratified by an incident I am goingto relate to you. I stopped my horse lately where a great number ofpeople were collected at an auction of merchants' goods. The hour ofthe sale not being come, they were conversing on the badness of thetimes, and one of the company called to a plain, clean old man withwhite locks, 'Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the times? Willnot these heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we ever beable to pay them? What would you advise us to do?' Father Abrahamstood up, and replied: 'If you would have my advice I will give ityou in short, for, A word to the wise is enough, as poor Richardsays. ' They joined in desiring him to speak his mind, and gatheringround him, he proceeded as follows:

"'Friends, the taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on bythe government were the only ones we had to pay we might more easilydischarge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous tosome of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three timesas much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly; and fromthese taxes the commissioners cannot ease or deliver us, by allowingan abatement. However, let us hearken to good advice, and somethingmay be done for us. God helps them that help themselves, as poorRichard says. 

"'I. It would be thought a hard government that should tax its peopleone-tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service; butidleness taxes many of use more; sloth, by bringing on diseases, absolutely shortens life. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster thanlabor wears; while, The used key is always bright, as poor Richardsays. But, Dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for thatis the stuff life is made of, as poor Richard says. How much morethan is necessary do we spend in sleep! forgetting that, The sleepingfox catches no poultry; and that, There will be sleeping in thegrave, as poor Richard says. 

"'If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be, as poor Richard says, the greatest prodigality; since, as heelsewhere tells us, Lost time is never found again; and, What we calltime enough always proves little enough. Let us, then, be up and bedoing, and doing to the purpose; so by diligence shall we do more, and with less perplexity. Sloth makes all things difficult, butindustry all easy; and, He that riseth late must trot all day, andshall scarce overtake his business at night; while, Laziness travelsso slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. Drive thy business, letnot that drive thee; and Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a manhealthy, wealthy and wise, as poor Richard says. 

"'So what signifies wishing and hoping for better times? We may makethese times better if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not risk, and, He that lives upon hopes will die fasting. There are no gainswithout pains; then, Help, hands, for I have no lands; or, if I have, they are smartly taxed. He that hath a trade, hath an estate; and, Hethat hath a calling, hath an office of profit and honor, as poorRichard says; but then the trade must be worked at, and the callingfollowed, or neither the estate nor the office will enable us to payour taxes. If we are industrious we shall never starve; for, At theworking man's house, hunger looks in, but dares not enter. Nor willthe bailiff or the constable enter; for, Industry pays debts, whiledespair increaseth them. What though you have found no treasure, norhas any rich relation left you a legacy? Diligence is the mother ofgood luck, and God gives all things to industry. Then, plough deep, while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and keep. Workwhile it is called to-day, for you know not how much you may behindered to-morrow. One to-day is worth two to-morrows, as poorRichard says; and, farther, never leave that till to-morrow that youcan do to-day. If you were a servant, would you not be shamed that agood master would catch you idle? Are you then your own master, beashamed to catch yourself idle, when there is to be so much done foryourself, your family, your country, and your king. Handle your toolswithout mittens; remember that the cat in gloves catches no mice, aspoor Richard says. It is true there is much to be done, and perhapsyour are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will seegreat effects; for, Constant dropping wears away stones; and, Bydiligence and patience the mouse at in two the cable; and, Littlestrokes fell great oaks. 

"'Methinks I hear some of you say, "Must a man afford himself noleisure?" I will tell thee, my friend, what poor Richard says--Employthy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou are notsure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doingsomething useful. This leisure the diligent man will obtain, but thelazy man never; for a life of leisure and a life of laziness are twothings. Many, without labor, would live by their wits only, but theybreak for want of stock; whereas industry gives comfort, and plenty, and respect. Fly pleasures, and they will follow you. The diligentspinner has a large shift; and, Now I have a sheep and a cow, everybody bids me goodmorrow. 

"'II. But with our industry we must likewise be steady, settled andcareful, and oversee our own affairs with our own eyes, and not trustto others; for, as poor Richard says--

"'I never saw an oft-removed tree, Nor yet an oft-removed family, That throve so well as those that settled be. 

And again--Three removes as bad as a fire. And again--Keep thyshop, and thy shop will keep thee. And again--If you would have yourbusiness done, go; if not, send. And again--

"'He that by the plough would thrive Himself must either hold or drive. 

And again--The eye of a master will do more work than both his hands. And again--Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge. And again--Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open. Trusting too much to others' care is the ruin of many; for, in theaffairs of this world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the wantof it. But a man's own care is profitable; for if you would have afaithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. A littleneglect may cause great mischief; For want of a nail the shoe waslost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse therider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy--all for wantof a little care about a horse-shoe nail. 

"'III. So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's ownbusiness; but to these we must add frugality, if we would make ourindustry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how tosave as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone all his life, anddie not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will; and

"'Many estates are spent in the getting, Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting, And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting. 

If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as of getting. TheIndies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater thanher incomes. 

"'Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not then haveso much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeablefamilies; for

"'Women and wine, game and deceit, Make the wealth small and the want great. 

"'And further--What maintains one vice would bring up two children. You may think, perhaps, that a little tea, or a little punch, now andthen, diet a little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a littleentertainment now and then, can be no great matter; but remember--Many a little makes a nickel. Beware of little expenses--A small leakwill sink a great ship, as poor Richard says. And moreover--Foolsmake feasts, and wise men eat them. 

"' Here you are all got together at this sale of fineries and nick-nacks. You call them goods; but if you do not take care they willprove evils to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap, andperhaps they may for less than they cost; but if you have no occasionfor them they must be dear to you. Remember what poor Richard says--Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thynecessaries. And again--At a great pennyworth pause awhile. He meansthat the cheapness is apparent only, and not real; or the bargain, bystraitening thee in thy business, may do thee more harm than good;for in another place he says--Many have been ruined by buying goodpennyworths. Again--It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase ofrepentance; and yet this folly is practiced every day at auctions, for want of minding the almanac. Many a one, for the sake of fineryon the back, has gone with a hungry belly and half-starved hisfamily. Silks and satins, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchenfire, as poor Richard says. These are not the necessaries of life;they can scarcely be called the conveniences; and yet, only becausethey look pretty, how many want to have them! By these, and otherextravagances, the genteel are reduced to poverty, and forced toborrow of those whom they formerly despised, but who, throughindustry and frugality, have maintained their standing; in which caseit appears plainly that, A ploughman on his legs is higher than agentleman on his knees, as poor Richard says. Perhaps they have had asmall estate left them, which they knew not the getting of; theythink it is day and will never be night; that a little to be spentout of so much is not worth minding; but, Always taking out of themeal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to be the bottom, as poorRichard says; and then, When the well is dry, they know the worth ofwater. But this they might have know before if they had taken hisadvice--If they would know the value of money, go and try to borrowsome; for, He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing, as poor Richardsays; and, indeed, so does he that lends to such people when he goesto get his own in again. Poor dick further advises, and says:

"'Fond pride or dress is sure a very curse, Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse. 

And again--Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal moresaucy. When you have bought one fine thing, you must buy ten more, that your appearance may be all of a piece; but poor Dick says, It iseasier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that followit. And it is as truly folly for the poor to ape the rich, as for thefrog to swell in order to equal the ox. 

"'Vessels large may venture more, But little boats should keep near shore. 

It is, however, a folly soon punished; for, as poor Richard says, Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt. Pride breakfasted withplenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. And, after all, of what use is this pride of appearance, for which so much is risked, so much is suffered? It cannot promote health, nor ease pain; itmakes no increase of merit in the person; it creates envy; it hastensmisfortune. 

"'But what madness must it be to run in debt for these superfluities!We are offered, by the terms of this sale, six months credit; andthat, perhaps, has induced some of us to attend it, because we cannotspare the ready money, and hope now to be fine without it. But, ah!think what you do when you run in debt; you give to another powerover your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamedto see your creditor; you will be in fear when you speak to him; youwill make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses, and, by degrees, come tolose your veracity, and sink into base, downright lying; for, Thesecond vice is lying, the first is running in debt, as poor Richardsays; and again, to the same purpose, Lying rides upon debt's back . . . 

"'And now, to conclude--Experience keeps a dear school, but foolswill learn in no other, as poor Richard says, and scarce in that;for, it is true, We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. However, remember this--They that will not be counseled, cannot behelped; and further, that, If you will not hear Reason, she willsurely rap your knuckles, as poor Richard says. '

"Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it andapproved the doctrine; and immediately practiced the contrary, justas if it had been a common sermon, for the auctioneer opened, andthey began to buy extravagantly. I found the good man had thoroughlystudied my almanacs, and digested all I had dropt on these topicsduring the course of twenty-five years. "

The End.