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diff --git a/13160-0.txt b/13160-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f971f2d --- /dev/null +++ b/13160-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2089 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13160 *** + +[Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, +American Philosopher, Statesman, Diplomatist, and Author. +_b. Boston, 1706; d. Philadelphia, 1790_.] + +AN IRON WILL + +_By_ ORISON SWETT MARDEN + +AUTHOR OF "PUSHING TO THE FRONT," ETC. + +WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF +ABNER BAYLEY + +_ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS_ + +New York: +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + +1901 +BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY. + + +AN IRON WILL. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +TRAINING THE WILL. + +"The education of the will is the object of our existence," says +Emerson. + +Nor is this putting it too strongly, if we take into account the human +will in its relations to the divine. This accords with the saying of J. +Stuart Mill, that "a character is a completely fashioned will." + +In respect to mere mundane relations, the development and discipline of +one's will-power is of supreme moment in relation to success in life. No +man can ever estimate the power of will. It is a part of the divine +nature, all of a piece with the power of creation. We speak of God's +fiat "_Fiat lux_, Let light be." Man has his fiat. The achievements of +history have been the choices, the determinations, the creations, of the +human will. It was the will, quiet or pugnacious, gentle or grim, of men +like Wilberforce and Garrison, Goodyear and Cyrus Field, Bismarck and +Grant, that made them indomitable. They simply would do what they +planned. Such men can no more be stopped than the sun can be, or the +tide. Most men fail, not through lack of education or agreeable personal +qualities, but from lack of dogged determination, from lack of dauntless +will. + +"It is impossible," says Sharman, "to look into the conditions under +which the battle of life is being fought, without perceiving how much +really depends upon the extent to which the will-power is cultivated, +strengthened, and made operative in right directions." Young people need +to go into training for it. We live in an age of athletic meets. Those +who are determined to have athletic will-power must take for it the kind +of exercise they need. + +This is well illustrated by a report I have seen of the long race from +Marathon in the recent Olympian games, which was won by the young Greek +peasant, Sotirios Louès. + + +A STRUGGLE IN THE RACE OF LIFE. + +There had been no great parade about the training of this champion +runner. From his work at the plough he quietly betook himself to the +task of making Greece victorious before the assembled strangers from +every land. He was known to be a good runner, and without fuss or bustle +he entered himself as a competitor. But it was not his speed alone, +out-distancing every rival, that made the young Greek stand out from +among his fellows that day. When he left his cottage home at Amarusi, +his father said to him, "Sotiri, you must only return a victor!" The +light of a firm resolve shone in the young man's eye. The old father was +sure that his boy would win, and so he made his way to the station, +there to wait till Sotiri should come in ahead of all the rest. No one +knew the old man and his three daughters as they elbowed their way +through the crowd. When at last the excitement of the assembled +multitude told that the critical moment had arrived, that the racers +were nearing the goal, the old father looked up through eyes that were a +little dim as he realized that truly Sotiri was leading the way. He +_was_ "returning a victor." How the crowd surged about the young peasant +when the race was fairly won! Wild with excitement, they knew not how to +shower upon him sufficient praise. Ladies overwhelmed him with flowers +and rings; some even gave him their watches, and one American lady +bestowed upon him her jewelled smelling-bottle. The princes embraced +him, and the king himself saluted him in military fashion. But the young +Sotirios was seeking for other praise than theirs. Past the ranks of +royalty and fair maidenhood, past the outstretched hands of his own +countrymen, past the applauding crowd of foreigners, his gaze wandered +till it fell upon an old man trembling with eagerness, who resolutely +pushed his way through the excited, satisfied throng. Then the young +face lighted, and as old Louès advanced to the innermost circle with +arms outstretched to embrace his boy, the young victor said, simply: +"You see, father, I have obeyed." + + +MENTAL DISCIPLINE. + +The athlete trains for his race; and the mind must be put into training +if one will win life's race. + +"It is," says Professor Mathews, "only by continued, strenuous efforts, +repeated again and again, day after day, week after week, and month +after month, that the ability can be acquired to fasten the mind to one +subject, however abstract or knotty, to the exclusion of everything +else. The process of obtaining this self-mastery--this complete command +of one's mental powers--is a gradual one, its length varying with the +mental constitution of each person; but its acquisition is worth +infinitely more than the utmost labor it ever costs." + +"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education," it was said by +Professor Huxley, "is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have +to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the +first lesson which ought to be learned, and, however early a man's +training begins, it is probably the last lesson which he learns +thoroughly." + + +DOING THINGS ONCE. + +When Henry Ward Beecher was asked how it was that he could accomplish so +much more than other men, he replied: + +"I don't do more, but less, than other people. They do all their work +three times over: once in anticipation, once in actuality, once in +rumination. I do mine in actuality alone, doing it once instead of three +times." + +This was by the intelligent exercise of Mr. Beecher's will-power in +concentrating his mind upon what he was doing at a given moment, and +then turning to something else. Any one who has observed business men +closely, has noticed this characteristic. One of the secrets of a +successful life is to be able to hold all of our energies upon one +point, to focus all of the scattered rays of the mind upon one place or +thing. + + +CENTRALIZING FORCE. + +The mental reservoir of most people is like a leaky dam which we +sometimes see in the country, where the greater part of the water flows +out without going over the wheel and doing the work of the mill. The +habit of mind-wandering, of worrying about this and that, + + "Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes, + Is oft but Perseverance in disguise." + +Many a man would have been a success had he connected his fragmentary +efforts. Spasmodic, disconnected attempts, without concentration, +uncontrolled by any fixed idea, will never bring success. It is +continuity of purpose alone that achieves results. + + +LEARNING TO SWIM. + +The way to learn to run is to run, the way to learn to swim is to swim. +The way to learn to develop will-power is by the actual exercise of +will-power in the business of life. "The man that exercises his will," +says an English essayist, "makes it a stronger and more effective force +in proportion to the extent to which such exercise is intelligently and +perseveringly maintained." The forth-putting of will-power is a means of +strengthening will-power. The will becomes strong by exercise. To stick +to a thing till you are master, is a test of intellectual discipline and +power. + + +DR. CUYLER. + +"It is astonishing," says Dr. Theodore Cuyler, "how many men lack this +power of 'holding on' until they reach the goal. They can make a sudden +dash, but they lack grit. They are easily discouraged. They get on as +long as everything goes smoothly, but when there is friction they lose +heart. They depend on stronger personalities for their spirit and +strength. They lack independence or originality. They only dare to do +what others do. They do not step boldly from the crowd and act +fearlessly." + + +THE BIG TREES. + +What is needed by him who would succeed in the highest degree possible +is careful planning. He is to accumulate reserved power, that he may be +equal to all emergencies. Thomas Starr King said that the great trees of +California gave him his first impression of the power of reserve. "It +was the thought of the reserve energies that had been compacted into +them," he said, "that stirred me. The mountains had given them their +iron and rich stimulants, the hills had given them their soil, the +clouds had given their rain and snow, and a thousand summers and winters +had poured forth their treasures about their vast roots." + +No young man can hope to do anything above the commonplace who has not +made his life a reservoir of power on which he can constantly draw, +which will never fail him in any emergency. Be sure that you have stored +away, in your power-house, the energy, the knowledge that will be equal +to the great occasion when it comes. "If I were twenty, and had but ten +years to live," said a great scholar and writer, "I would spend the +first nine years accumulating knowledge and getting ready for the +tenth." + + +"I WILL." + +"There are no two words in the English language which stand out in +bolder relief, like kings upon a checker-board, to so great an extent as +the words 'I will.' There is strength, depth and solidity, decision, +confidence and power, determination, vigor and individuality, in the +round, ringing tone which characterizes its delivery. It talks to you of +triumph over difficulties, of victory in the face of discouragement, of +will to promise and strength to perform, of lofty and daring enterprise, +of unfettered aspirations, and of the thousand and one solid impulses by +which man masters impediments in the way of progression." + +As one has well said: "He who is silent is forgotten; he who does not +advance falls back; he who stops is overwhelmed, distanced, crushed; he +who ceases to become greater, becomes smaller; he who leaves off gives +up; the stationary is the beginning of the end--it precedes death; to +live is to achieve, to will without ceasing." + + Be thou a hero; let thy might + Tramp on eternal snows its way, + And through the ebon walls of night, + Hew down a passage unto day. + _Park Benjamin_. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +THE RULERS OF DESTINY. + + There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, + Can circumvent, or hinder, or control + The firm resolve of a determined soul. + Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great; + All things give way before it soon or late. + What obstacle can stay the mighty force + Of the sea-seeking river in its course, + Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait? + Each well-born soul must win what it deserves. + Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate + Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves, + Whose slightest action or inaction serves + The one great aim. + _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_. + +There is always room for a man of force.--_Emerson_. + +The king is the man who can.--_Carlyle_. + +A strong, defiant purpose is many-handed, and lays hold of whatever is +near that can serve it; it has a magnetic power that draws to itself +whatever is kindred.--_T.T. Munger_. + + +What is will-power, looked at in a large way, but energy of character? +Energy of will, self-originating force, is the soul of every great +character. Where it is, there is life; where it is not, there is +faintness, helplessness, and despondency. "Let it be your first study to +teach the world that you are not wood and straw; that there is some iron +in you." Men who have left their mark upon the world have been men of +great and prompt decision. The achievements of will-power are almost +beyond computation. Scarcely anything seems impossible to the man who +can will strongly enough and long enough. One talent with a will behind +it will accomplish more than ten without it, as a thimbleful of powder +in a rifle, the bore of whose barrel will give it direction, will do +greater execution than a carload burned in the open air. + + +"THE WILLS, THE WON'TS, AND THE CAN'TS." + +"There are three kinds of people in the world," says a recent writer, +"the wills, the won'ts, and the can'ts. The first accomplish everything; +the second oppose everything; the third fail in everything." + +The shores of fortune, as Foster says, are covered with the stranded +wrecks of men of brilliant ability, but who have wanted courage, faith, +and decision, and have therefore perished in sight of more resolute but +less capable adventurers, who succeeded in making port. + +Were I called upon to express in a word the secret of so many failures +among those who started out with high hopes, I should say they lacked +will-power. They could not half will: and what is a man without a will? +He is like an engine without steam. Genius unexecuted is no more genius +than a bushel of acorns is a forest of oaks. + +Will has been called the spinal column of personality. "The will in its +relation to life," says an English writer, "may be compared at once to +the rudder and to the steam engine of a vessel, on the confined and +related action of which it depends entirely for the direction of its +course and the vigor of its movement." + +Strength of will is the test of a young man's possibilities. Can he will +strong enough, and hold whatever he undertakes with an iron grip? It is +the iron grip that takes and holds. What chance is there in this +crowding, pushing, selfish, greedy world, where everything is pusher or +pushed, for a young man with no will, no grip on life? The man who would +forge to the front in this competitive age must be a man of prompt and +determined decision. + + +A TAILOR'S NEEDLE. + +It is in one of Ben Jonson's old plays: "When I once take the humor of a +thing, I am like your tailor's needle--I go through with it." + +This is not different from Richelieu, who said: "When I have once taken +a resolution, I go straight to my aim; I overthrow all, I cut down all." + +And in business affairs the counsel of Rothschild is to the same effect: +"Do without fail that which you determine to do." + +Gladstone's children were taught to accomplish _to the end_ whatever +they might begin, no matter how insignificant the undertaking might be. + + +WHAT IS WORSE THAN RASHNESS + +It is irresolution that is worse than rashness. "He that shoots," says +Feltham, "may sometimes hit the mark; but he that shoots not at all can +never hit it. Irresolution is like an ague; it shakes not this nor that +limb, but all the body is at once in a fit." + +The man who is forever twisting and turning, backing and filling, +hesitating and dawdling, shuffling and parleying, weighing and +balancing, splitting hairs over non-essentials, listening to every new +motive which presents itself, will never accomplish anything. But the +positive man, the decided man, is a power in the world, and stands for +something; you can measure him, and estimate the work that his energy +will accomplish. + +Opportunity is coy, is swift, is gone, before the slow, the unobservant, +the indolent, or the careless can seize her. "Vigilance in watching +opportunity," said Phelps, "tact and daring in seizing upon opportunity; +force and persistence in crowding opportunity to its utmost of possible +achievement--these are the martial virtues which must command success." +"The best men," remarked Chapin, "are not those who have waited for +chances, but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the +chance; and made chance the servitor." + +Is it not possible to classify successes and failures by their various +degrees of will-power? A man who can resolve vigorously upon a course of +action, and turns neither to the right nor to the left, though a +paradise tempt him, who keeps his eyes upon the goal, whatever distracts +him, is sure of success. + +"Not every vessel that sails from Tarshish will bring back the gold of +Ophir. But shall it therefore rot in the harbor? No! Give its sails to +the wind!" + + +CONSCIOUS POWER. + +"Conscious power," says Mellès, "exists within the mind of every one. +Sometimes its existence is unrealized, but it is there. It is there to +be developed and brought forth, like the culture of that obstinate but +beautiful flower, the orchid. To allow it to remain dormant is to place +one's self in obscurity, to trample on one's ambition, to smother one's +faculties. To develop it is to individualize all that is best within +you, and give it to the world. It is by an absolute knowledge of +yourself, the proper estimate of your own value." + +"There is hardly a reader," says an experienced educator, "who will not +be able to recall the early life of at least one young man whose +childhood was spent in poverty, and who, in boyhood, expressed a firm +desire to secure a higher education. If, a little later, that desire +became a declared resolve, soon the avenues opened to that end. That +desire and resolve created an atmosphere which attracted the forces +necessary to the attainment of the purpose. Many of these young men will +tell us that, as long as they were hoping and striving and longing, +mountains of difficulty rose before them; but that when they fashioned +their hopes into fixed purposes aid came unsought to help them on the +way." + + +DO YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELF? + +The man without self-reliance and an iron will is the plaything of +chance, the puppet of his environment, the slave of circumstances. Are +not doubts the greatest of enemies? If you would succeed up to the limit +of your possibilities, must you not constantly hold to the belief that +you are success-organized, and that you will be successful, no matter +what opposes? You are never to allow a shadow of doubt to enter your +mind that the Creator intended you to win in life's battle. Regard every +suggestion that your life may be a failure, that you are not made like +those who succeed, and that success is not for you, as a traitor, and +expel it from your mind as you would a thief from your house. + +There is something sublime in the youth who possesses the spirit of +boldness and fearlessness, who has proper confidence in his ability to +do and dare. + +The world takes us at our own valuation. It believes in the man who +believes in himself, but it has little use for the timid man, the one +who is never certain of himself; who cannot rely on his own judgment, +who craves advice from others, and is afraid to go ahead on his own +account. + +It is the man with a positive nature, the man who believes that he is +equal to the emergency, who believes he can do the thing he attempts, +who wins the confidence of his fellow-man. He is beloved because he is +brave and self-sufficient. + +Those who have accomplished great things in the world have been, as a +rule, bold, aggressive, and self-confident. They dared to step out from +the crowd, and act in an original way. They were not afraid to be +generals. + +There is little room in this crowding, competing age for the timid, +vacillating youth. He who would succeed to-day must not only be brave, +but must also dare to take chances. He who waits for certainty never +wins. + + "The law of the soul is eternal endeavor, + That bears the man onward and upward forever." + +"A man can be too confiding in others, but never too confident in +himself." + +Never admit defeat or poverty. Stoutly assert your divine right to hold +your head up and look the world in the face; step bravely to the front +whatever opposes, and the world will make way for you. No one will +insist upon your rights while you yourself doubt that you have any. +Believe you were made for the place you fill. Put forth your whole +energies. Be awake, electrify yourself; go forth to the task. A young +man once said to his employer, "Don't give me an easy job. I want to +handle heavy boxes, shoulder great loads. I would like to lift a big +mountain and throw it into the sea,"--and he stretched out two brawny +arms, while his honest eyes danced and his whole being glowed with +conscious strength. + + + +[Illustration: CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN, +English Naturalist. +_b. Shrewsbury, 1809; d. Down, 1882_.] + + + +The world in its heart admires the stern, determined doer. "The world +turns aside to let any man pass who knows whither he is going." "It is +wonderful how even the apparent casualties of life seem to bow to a +spirit that will not bow to them, and yield to assist a design, after +having in vain attempted to frustrate it." + +"The man who succeeds," says Prentice Mulford, "must always in mind or +imagination live, move, think, and act as if he gained that success, or +he never will gain it." + +"We go forth," said Emerson, "austere, dedicated, believing in the iron +links of Destiny, and will not turn on our heels to save our lives. A +book, a bust, or only the sound of a name shoots a spark through the +nerves, and we suddenly believe in will. We cannot hear of personal +vigor of any kind, great power of performance, without fresh +resolution." + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +FORCE OF WILL IN CAMP AND FIELD. + +Oh, what miracles have been wrought by the self-confidence, the +self-determination of an iron will! What impossible deeds have been +performed by it! It was this that took Napoleon over the Alps in +midwinter; it took Farragut and Dewey past the cannons, torpedoes, and +mines of the enemy; it led Nelson and Grant to victory; it has been the +great tonic in the world of discovery, invention, and art; it has helped +to win the thousand triumphs in war and science which were deemed +impossible. + +The secret of Jeanne d'Arc's success was not alone in rare decision of +character, but in the seeing of visions which inspired her to +self-confidence--confidence in her divine mission. + +It was an iron will that gave Nelson command of the British fleet, a +title, and a statue at Trafalgar Square It was the keynote of his +character when he said, "When I don't know whether to fight or not, I +always fight." + +It was an iron will that was brought into play when Horatius with two +companions held ninety thousand Tuscans at bay until the bridge across +the Tiber had been destroyed--when Leonidas at Thermopylæ checked the +mighty march of Xerxes--when Themistocles off the coast of Greece +shattered the Persian's Armada--when Cæsar finding his army hard pressed +seized spear and buckler and snatched victory from defeat--when +Winkelried gathered to his breast a sheaf of Austrian spears and opened +a path for his comrades--when Wellington fought in many climes without +ever being conquered--when Ney on a hundred fields changed apparent +disaster into brilliant triumph--when Sheridan arrived from Winchester +as the Union retreat was becoming a route and turned the tide--when +Sherman signaled his men to hold the fort knowing that their leader was +coming. + +History furnishes thousands of examples of men who have seized occasions +to accomplish results deemed impossible by those less resolute. Prompt +decision and whole-souled action sweep the world before them. Who was +the organizer of the modern German empire? Was he not the man of iron? + + +NAPOLEON AND GRANT. + +"What would you do if you were besieged in a place entirely destitute of +provisions?" asked the examiner, when Napoleon was a cadet. + +"If there were anything to eat in the enemy's camp, I should not be +concerned." + +When Paris was in the hands of a mob, and the authorities were +panic-stricken, in came a man who said, "I know a young officer who can +quell this mob." + +"Send for him." + +Napoleon was sent for; he came, he subjugated the mob, he subjugated the +authorities, he ruled France, then conquered Europe. + +May 10, 1796, Napoleon carried the bridge at Lodi, in the face of the +Austrian batteries, trained upon the French end of the structure. Behind +them were six thousand troops. Napoleon massed four thousand grenadiers +at the head of the bridge, with a battalion of three hundred carbineers +in front. At the tap of the drum the foremost assailants wheeled from +the cover of the street wall under a terrible hail of grape and +canister, and attempted to pass the gateway to the bridge. The front +ranks went down like stalks of grain before a reaper; the column +staggered and reeled backward, and the valiant grenadiers were appalled +by the task before them. Without a word or a look of reproach, Napoleon +placed himself at their head, and his aids and generals rushed to his +side. Forward again over heaps of dead that choked the passage, and a +quick run counted by seconds only carried the column across two hundred +yards of clear space, scarcely a shot from the Austrians taking effect +beyond the point where the platoons wheeled for the first leap. _The +guns of the enemy were not aimed at the advance. The advance was too +quick for the Austrian gunners_. So sudden and so miraculous was it all, +that the Austrian artillerists abandoned their guns instantly, and their +supports fled in a panic instead of rushing to the front and meeting the +French onslaught. This Napoleon had counted on in making the bold +attack. + +What was Napoleon but the thunderbolt of war? He once journeyed from +Spain to Paris at seventeen miles an hour in the saddle. + +"Is it _possible_ to cross the path?" asked Napoleon of the engineers +who had been sent to explore the dreaded pass of St. Bernard. + +"Perhaps," was the hesitating reply, "it is within the limits of +_possibility_." + +"_Forward, then_." + +Yet Ulysses S. Grant, a young man unknown to fame, with neither money +nor influence, with no patrons or friends, in six years fought more +battles, gained more victories, captured more prisoners, took more +spoils, commanded more men, than Napoleon did in twenty years. "The +great thing about him," said Lincoln, "is cool persistence." + + +"DON'T SWEAR--FIGHT." + +When the Spanish fire on San Juan Hill became almost unbearable, some of +the Rough Riders began to swear. Colonel Wood, with the wisdom of a good +leader, called out, amid the whistle of the Mauser bullets: "Don't +swear--fight!" + +In a skirmish at Salamanca, while the enemy's guns were pouring shot +into his regiment, Sir William Napier's men became disobedient. He at +once ordered a halt, and flogged four of the ringleaders under fire. The +men yielded at once, and then marched three miles under a heavy +cannonade as coolly as if it were a review. + +When Pellisier, the Crimean chief of Zouaves, struck an officer with a +whip, the man drew a pistol that missed fire. The chief replied: +"Fellow, I order you a three days' arrest for not having your arms in +better order." + +The man of iron will is cool in the hour of danger. + + +"I HAD TO RUN LIKE A CYCLONE." + +This was what Roosevelt said about his pushing on up San Juan Hill ahead +of his regiment: "I had to run like a cyclone to stay in front and keep +from being run over." + +The personal heroism of Hobson, or of Cushing, who blew up the +"Albemarle" forty years ago, was but the expression of a magnificent +will power. It was this which was the basis of General Wheeler's +unparalleled military advancement: a second lieutenant at twenty-three, +a colonel at twenty-four, a brigadier-general at twenty-five, a +major-general at twenty-six, a corps commander at twenty-seven, and a +lieutenant-general at twenty-eight. + +General Wheeler had sixteen horses killed under him, and a great number +wounded. His saddle equipments and clothes were frequently struck by the +missiles of the enemy. He was three times wounded, once painfully. He +had thirty-two staff officers, or acting staff officers, killed or +wounded. In almost every case they were immediately by his side. No +officer was ever more exposed to the missiles of death than Joseph +Wheeler. + +What is this imperial characteristic of manhood, an iron will, but that +which underlies all magnificent achievement, whether by heroes of the +"Light Brigade" or the heroic fire-fighters of our great cities? + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +WILL POWER IN ITS RELATION TO HEALTH AND DISEASE. + +I. + +There is no doubt that, as a rule, great decision of character is +usually accompanied by great constitutional firmness. Men who have been +noted for great firmness of character have usually been strong and +robust. As a rule it is the strong physical man who carries weight and +conviction. Take, as an example, William the Conqueror, as he is +pictured by Green in his history: + +"The very spirit of the sea-robbers from whom he sprang seemed embodied +in his gigantic form, his enormous strength, his savage countenance, his +desperate bravery. No other knight under heaven, his enemies confessed, +was William's peer. No other man could bend William's bow. His mace +crashed through a ring of English warriors to the foot of the standard. +He rose to his greatest heights in moments when other men despaired. No +other man who ever sat upon the throne of England was this man's match." + +Or, take Webster. Sydney Smith said: "Webster is a living lie; because +no man on earth can be as great as he looks." Carlyle said of him: "One +would incline at sight to back him against the world." His very physique +was eloquent. Men yielded their wills to his at sight. + +The great prizes of life ever fall to the robust, the stalwart, the +strong,--not to a huge muscle or powerful frame necessarily, but to a +strong vitality, a great nervous energy. It is the Lord Broughams, +working almost continuously one hundred and forty-four hours; it is the +Napoleons, twenty hours in the saddle; it is the Franklins, camping out +in the open air at seventy; it is the Gladstones, firmly grasping the +helm of the ship of state at eighty-four, tramping miles every day, and +chopping down huge trees at eighty-five,--who accomplish the great +things of life. + +To prosper you must improve your brain power; and nothing helps the +brain more than a healthy body. The race of to-day is only to be won by +those who will study to keep their bodies in such good condition that +their minds are able and ready to sustain that high pressure on memory +and mind, which our present fierce competition engenders. It is health +rather than strength that is now wanted. Health is essentially the +requirement of our time to enable us to succeed in life. In all modern +occupations--from the nursery to the school, from the school to the shop +or world beyond--the brain and nerve strain go on, continuous, +augmenting, and intensifying. + +As a rule physical vigor is the condition of a great career. Stonewall +Jackson, early in life, determined to conquer every weakness he had, +physical, mental, and moral. He held all of his powers with a firm hand. +To his great self-discipline and self-mastery he owed his success. So +determined was he to harden himself to the weather that he could not be +induced to wear an overcoat in winter. "I will not give in to the cold," +he said. For a year, on account of dyspepsia, he lived on buttermilk and +stale bread, and wore a wet shirt next his body because his doctor +advised it, although everybody else ridiculed the idea. This was while +he was professor at the Virginia Military Institute. His doctor advised +him to retire at nine o'clock; and, no matter where he was, or who was +present, he always sought his bed on the minute. He adhered rigidly +through life to this stern system of discipline. Such self-training, +such self-conquest, gives one great power over others. It is equal to +genius itself. + +"I can do nothing," said Grant, "without nine hours' sleep." + +What else is so grand as to stand on life's threshold, fresh, young, +hopeful, with a consciousness of power equal to any emergency,--a master +of the situation? The glory of a young man is his strength. + +Our great need of the world to-day is for men and women who are good +animals. To endure the strain of our concentrated civilization, the +coming man and woman must have an excess of animal spirits. They must +have a robustness of health. Mere absence of disease is not health. It +is the overflowing fountain, not the one half full, that gives life and +beauty to the valley below. Only he is healthy who exults in mere animal +existence; whose very life is a luxury; who feels a bounding pulse +throughout his body; who feels life in every limb, as dogs do when +scouring over the field, or as boys do when gliding over fields of ice. + + +II. + +Yet in spite of all this, in defiance of it, we know that an iron will +is often triumphant in the contest with physical infirmity. + + "Brave spirits are a balsam to themselves: + There is a nobleness of mind that heals + Wounds beyond salves." + +"One day," said a noted rope-walker, "I signed an agreement to wheel a +barrow along a rope on a given day. A day or two before I was seized +with lumbago. I called in my medical man, and told him I must be cured +by a certain day; not only because I should lose what I hoped to earn, +but also forfeit a large sum. I got no better, and the doctor forbade my +getting up. I told him, 'What do I want with your advice? If you cannot +cure me, of what good is your advice?' When I got to the place, there +was the doctor protesting I was unfit for the exploit. I went on, though +I felt like a frog with my back. I got ready my pole and my barrow, took +hold of the handles and wheeled it along the rope as well as I ever did. +When I got to the end I wheeled it back again, and when this was done I +was a frog again. What made me that I could wheel the barrow? It was my +reserve will." + +"What does he know," asks the sage, "who has not suffered?" Did not +Schiller produce his greatest tragedies in the midst of physical +suffering almost amounting to torture? Handel was never greater than +when, warned by palsy of the approach of death, and struggling with +distress and suffering, he sat down to compose the great works which +have made his name immortal in music. Beethoven was almost totally deaf +and burdened with sorrow when he produced his greatest works. Milton +writing "Who best can suffer, best can do," wrote at his best when in +feeble health, and when poor and blind. + + "... Yet I argue not + Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot + Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer + Right onward." + +The Rev. William H. Milburn, who lost his sight when a child, studied +for the ministry, and was ordained before he attained his majority. He +has written half a dozen books, among them a very careful history of the +Mississippi Valley. He has long been chaplain of the lower house of +Congress. + +Blind Fanny Crosby, of New York, was a teacher of the blind for many +years. She has written nearly three thousand hymns, among which are: +"Pass Me not, O Gentle Saviour," "Rescue the Perishing," "Saviour More +than Life to Me," and "Jesus keep Me near the Cross." + +"The truest help we can render one who is afflicted," said Bishop +Brooks, "is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best +energy, that he may be able to bear." + +What a mighty will Darwin had! He was in continual ill health. He was in +constant suffering. His patience was marvellous. No one but his wife +knew what he endured. "For forty years," says his son, "he never knew +one day of health;" yet during those forty years he unremittingly forced +himself to do the work from which the mightiest minds and the strongest +constitutions would have shrunk. He had a wonderful power of sticking to +a subject. He used almost to apologize for his patience, saying that he +could not bear to be beaten, as if it were a sign of weakness. + +Bulwer advises us to refuse to be ill, never to tell people we are ill, +never to own it ourselves. Illness is one of those things which a man +should resist on principle. Do not dwell upon your ailments nor study +your symptoms. Never allow yourself to be convinced that you are not +complete master of yourself. Stoutly affirm your own superiority over +bodily ills. We should keep a high ideal of health and harmony +constantly before the mind. + +Is not the mind the natural protector of the body? We cannot believe +that the Creator has left the whole human race entirely at the mercy of +only about half a dozen specific drugs which always act with certainty. +There is a divine remedy placed within us for many of the ills we +suffer. If we only knew how to use this power of will and mind to +protect ourselves, many of us would be able to carry youth and +cheerfulness with us into the teens of our second century. The mind has +undoubted power to preserve and sustain physical youth and beauty, to +keep the body strong and healthy, to renew life, and to preserve it from +decay, many years longer than it does now. The longest-lived men and +women have, as a rule, been those who have attained great mental and +moral development. They have lived in the upper region of a higher life, +beyond the reach of much of the jar, the friction, and the discords +which weaken and shatter most lives. + +Every physician knows that courageous people, with indomitable will, are +not half as likely to contract contagious diseases as the timid, the +vacillating, the irresolute. A thoughtful physician once assured a +friend that if an express agent were to visit New Orleans in the +yellow-fever season, having forty thousand dollars in his care, he would +be in little danger of the fever so long as he kept possession of the +money. Let him once deliver that into other hands, and the sooner he +left the city the better. + +Napoleon used to visit the plague hospitals even when the physicians +dreaded to go, and actually put his hands upon the plague-stricken +patients. He said the man who was not afraid could vanish the plague. A +will power like this is a strong tonic to the body. Such a will has +taken many men from apparent death-beds, and enabled them to perform +wonderful deeds of valor. When told by his physicians that he must die, +Douglas Jerrold said: "And leave a family of helpless children? I won't +die." He kept his word, and lived for years. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +THE ROMANCE OF ACHIEVEMENT UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + + What doth the poor man's son inherit? + Stout muscles, and a sinewy heart, + A hardy frame, a hardier spirit! + King of two hands he does his part + In every useful toil and art: + A heritage it seems to me, + A king might wish to hold in fee. + _Lowell_. + + +Has not God given every man a capital to start with? Are we not born +rich? He is rich who has good health, a sound body, good muscles; he is +rich who has a good head, a good disposition, a good heart; he is rich +who has two good hands, with five chances on each. Equipped? Every man +is equipped as only God could equip him. What a fortune he possesses in +the marvellous mechanism of his body and mind. It is individual effort +that has achieved everything worth achieving. + + +THE FUN OF THE LITTLE GAME. + +A big Australian, six feet four, James Tyson, died not long since, with +a property of $25,000,000, who began life as a farm hand. Tyson cared +little for money. He used to say of it: + +"I shall just leave it behind me when I go. I shall have done with it +then, and it will not concern me afterwards. But," he would add, with a +characteristic semi-exultant snap of the fingers, "the money is nothing. +It was the little game that was the fun." + +Being asked, "What was the little game?" he replied with an energy of +concentration peculiar to him: "_Fighting the desert_. That has been my +work. I have been fighting the desert all my life, and I have won. I +have put water where was no water, and beef where was no beef. I have +put fences where there were no fences, and roads where there were no +roads. Nothing can undo what I have done, and millions will be happier +for it after I am long dead and forgotten." + +Has not self-help accomplished about all the great things of the world? +How many young men falter, faint, and dally with their purpose because +they have no capital to start with, and wait and wait for some good luck +to give them a lift. But success is the child of drudgery and +perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price, and it is +yours. A constant struggle, a ceaseless battle to bring success from +inhospitable surroundings, is the price of all great achievements. + + +CONQUERORS OF FORTUNE. + +Benjamin Franklin had this tenacity of purpose in a wonderful degree. +When he started in the printing business in Philadelphia, he carried his +material through the streets on a wheelbarrow. He hired one room for his +office, work-room, and sleeping-room. He found a formidable rival in the +city and invited him to his room. Pointing to a piece of bread from +which he had just eaten his dinner, he said: + +"Unless you can live cheaper than I can, you cannot starve me out." + +It was so that he proved the wisdom of Edmund Burke's saying, that "He +that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill: +our antagonist is our helper." + +The poor and friendless lad, George Peabody, weary, footsore, and +hungry, called at a tavern in Concord, N.H., and asked to be allowed to +saw wood for lodging and breakfast. Yet he put in work for everything he +ever received, and out-matched the poverty of early days. + +Gideon Lee could not even get shoes to wear in winter, when a boy, but +he went to work barefoot in the snow. He made a bargain with himself to +work sixteen hours a day. He fulfilled it to the letter, and when from +interruption he lost time, he robbed himself of sleep to make it up. He +became a wealthy merchant of New York, mayor of the city, and a member +of Congress. + + +COMMERCIAL COURAGE. + +The business affairs of a gentleman named Rouss were once in a +complicated condition, owing to his conflicting interests in various +states, and he was thrown into prison. While confined he wrote on the +walls of his cell: + +"I am forty years of age this day. When I am fifty, I shall be worth +half a million; and by the time I am sixty, I shall be worth a million +dollars." + +He lived to accumulate more than three million dollars. + +"The ruin which overtakes so many merchants," says Whipple, "is due not +so much to their lack of business talent as to their lack of business +nerve." + +Cyrus W. Field had retired from business with a large fortune when he +became possessed with the idea that by means of a cable laid upon the +bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, telegraphic communication could be +established between Europe and America. He plunged into the undertaking +with all the force of his being. It was an incredibly hard contest: the +forests of Newfoundland, the lobby in Congress, the unskilled handling +of brakes on his Agamemnon cable, a second and a third breaking of the +cable at sea, the cessation of the current in a well-laid cable, the +snapping of a superior cable on the Great Eastern--all these availed not +to foil the iron will of Field, whose final triumph was that of mental +energy in the application of science. + + +FOUR NEW YORK JOURNALISTS. + +To Horace Greeley, the founder of the "Tribune," I need not allude; his +story is or ought to be in every school-book. + +James Brooks, once the editor and proprietor of the "Daily Express," and +later an eminent congressman, began life as a clerk in a store in Maine, +and when twenty-one received for his pay a hogshead of New England rum. +He was so eager to go to college that he started for Waterville with his +trunk on his back, and when he was graduated he was so poor and plucky +that he carried his trunk on his back to the station as he went home. + +When James Gordon Bennett was forty years old he collected all his +property, three hundred dollars, and in a cellar with a board upon two +barrels for a desk, himself his own typesetter, office boy, publisher, +newsboy, clerk, editor, proofreader, and printer's devil, he started the +"New York Herald." He did this, after many attempts and defeats in +trying to follow the routine, instead of doing his own way. Never was +any man's early career a better illustration of Wendell Phillips' +dictum: "What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first +steps to something better." + +Thurlow Weed, who was a journalist for fifty-seven years, strong, +sensible, genial, tactful, and of magnificent physique, who did so much +to shape public policy in the Empire State, tells a most romantic story +of his boyhood:-- + +"I cannot ascertain how much schooling I got at Catskill, probably less +than a year, certainly not a year and a half, and this was when I was +not more than five or six years old. I felt a necessity, at an early +age, of trying to do something for my own support. + +"My first employment was in sugar-making, an occupation to which I +became much attached. I now look with great pleasure upon the days and +nights passed in the sap-bush. The want of shoes (which, as the snow was +deep, was no small privation) was the only drawback upon my happiness. I +used, however, to tie pieces of an old rag carpet around my feet, and +got along pretty well, chopping wood and gathering up sap. But when the +spring advanced, and bare ground appeared in spots, I threw off the old +carpet encumbrance and did my work barefoot. + +"There is much leisure time for boys who are making maple sugar. I +devoted this time to reading, when I could obtain books; but the farmers +of that period had few or no books, save their Bibles. I borrowed books +whenever and wherever I could. + +"I heard that a neighbor, three miles off, had borrowed from a still +more distant neighbor a book of great interest. I started off, barefoot, +in the snow, to obtain the treasure. There were spots of bare ground, +upon which I would stop to warm my feet. And there were also, along the +road, occasional lengths of log-fence from which the snow had melted, +and upon which it was a luxury to walk. The book was at home, and the +good people consented, upon my promise that it should be neither torn +nor soiled, to lend it to me. In returning with the prize, I was too +happy to think of the snow or my naked feet. + +"Candles were then among the luxuries, not the necessaries, of life. If +boys, instead of going to bed after dark, wanted to read, they supplied +themselves with pine knots, by the light of which, in a horizontal +position, they pursued their studies. In this manner, with my body in +the sugar-house, and my head out of doors, where the fat pine was +blazing, I read with intense interest the book I had borrowed, a +'History of the French Revolution.'" + +Weed's next earning was in an iron foundry at Onondaga: + +"My business was, after a casting, to temper and prepare the molding +'dogs,' myself. This was night and day work. We ate salt pork and rye +and Indian bread, three times a day, and slept on straw in bunks. I +liked the excitement of a furnace life." + +When he went to the "Albany Argus" to learn the printing business he +worked from five in the morning till nine at night. + + +FROM HUMBLEST BEGINNINGS. + +The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the +more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be.--_Horace +Bushnell_. + +The story of Weed and of Greeley is not an uncommon one in America. Some +of the most eminent men on the globe have struggled with poverty in +early life and triumphed over it. + +The astronomer Kepler, whose name can never die, was kept in constant +anxieties; and he told fortunes by astrology for a livelihood, saying +that astrology, as the daughter of astronomy, ought to keep her mother. +All sorts of service he had to accept; he made almanacs and worked for +any one who would pay him. + +Linnæus was so poor when getting his education that he had to mend his +shoes with folded paper, and often had to beg his meals of his friends. + +During the ten years in which he made his greatest discoveries, Isaac +Newton could hardly pay two shillings a week to the Royal Society of +which he was a member. Some of his friends wanted to get him excused +from this payment, but he would not allow them to act. + +Humphry Davy had but a slender chance to acquire great scientific +knowledge, yet he had true mettle in him, and he made even old pans, +kettles, and bottles contribute to his success, as he experimented and +studied in the attic of the apothecary store where he worked. + +George Stephenson was one of eight children whose parents were so poor +that all lived in a single room. George had to watch cows for a +neighbor, but he managed to get time to make engines of clay, with +hemlock sticks for pipes. At seventeen he had charge of an engine, with +his father for fireman. He could neither read nor write, but the engine +was his teacher, and he a faithful student. While the other hands were +playing games or loafing in liquor shops during the holidays, George was +taking his machine to pieces, cleaning it, studying it, and making +experiments in engines. When he had become famous as a great inventor of +improvements in engines, those who had loafed and played called him +lucky. + +It was by steadfastly keeping at it, by indomitable will power, that +these men won their positions in life. + + "We rise by the things that are under our feet; + By what we have mastered of good or gain." + + +TALENT IN TATTERS. + +Among the companions of Sir Joshua Reynolds, while he was studying his +art at Rome, was a fellow-pupil of the name of Astley. They made an +excursion, with some others, on a sultry day, and all except Astley took +off their coats. After several taunts he was persuaded to do the same, +and displayed on the back of his waistcoat a foaming waterfall. Distress +had compelled him to patch his clothes with one of his own landscapes. + +James Sharpies, the celebrated blacksmith artist of England, was very +poor, but he often rose at three o'clock to copy books he could not buy. +He would walk eighteen miles to Manchester and back after a hard day's +work, to buy a shilling's worth of artist's materials. He would ask for +the heaviest work in the blacksmith shop, because it took a longer time +to heat at the forge, and he could thus have many spare minutes to study +the precious book, which he propped up against the chimney. He was a +great miser of spare moments, and used every one as though he might +never see another. He devoted his leisure hours for five years to that +wonderful production, "The Forge," copies of which are to be seen in +many a home. It was by one unwavering aim, carried out by an iron will, +that he wrought out his life triumph. + +"That boy will beat me one day," said an old painter as he watched a +little fellow named Michael Angelo making drawings of pot and brushes, +easel and stool, and other articles in the studio. The barefoot boy did +persevere until he had overcome every difficulty and become the greatest +master of art the world has known. Although Michael Angelo made himself +immortal in three different occupations,--and his fame might well rest +upon his dome of St. Peter as an architect, upon his "Moses" as a +sculptor, or upon his "Last Judgment" as a painter,--yet we find by his +correspondence, now in the British Museum, that when he was at work on +his colossal bronze statue of Pope Julius II., he was so poor that he +could not have his younger brother come to visit him at Bologna, because +he had but one bed in which he and three of his assistants slept +together. Yet + + "The star of an unconquered will + Arose in his breast, + Serene, and resolute and still, + And calm and self-possessed." + + +CONCENTRATED ENERGY. + +The struggles and triumphs of those who are bound to win is a +never-ending tale. Nor will the procession of enthusiastic workers cease +so long as the globe is turning on its axle. + +Say what we will of genius, specialized in a hundred callings, yet the +fact remains that no amount of genius has ever availed upon the earth +unless enforced by will power to overcome the obstacles that hedge about +every one who would rise above the circumstances in which he was born, +or become greater than his calling. Was not Virgil the son of a porter, +Horace of a shopkeeper, Demosthenes of a cutler, Milton of a money +scrivener, Shakespeare of a wool stapler, and Cromwell of a brewer? + + + +[Illustration: THURLOW WEED, +American Journalist and Politician. +_b. Cairo, N.Y., 1797; d. New York, 1882_.] + + + +Ben Jonson, when following his trade of a mason, worked on Lincoln's Inn +in London with trowel in hand and a book in his pocket. Joseph Hunter +was a carpenter in youth, Robert Burns a plowman, Keats a druggist, +Thomas Carlyle and Hugh Miller masons. Dante and Descartes were +soldiers. Cardinal Wolsey, Defoe, and Kirke White were butchers' sons. +Faraday was the son of a hostler, and his teacher, Humphry Davy, was an +apprentice to an apothecary. Kepler was a waiter boy in a German hotel, +Bunyan a tinker, Copernicus the son of a Polish baker. They rose by +being greater than their callings, as Arkwright rose above mere +barbering, Bunyan above tinkering, Wilson above shoemaking, Lincoln +above rail-splitting, and Grant above tanning. By being first-class +barbers, tinkers, shoemakers, rail-splitters, tanners, they acquired the +power which enabled them to become great inventors, authors, statesmen, +generals. John Kay, the inventor of the fly-shuttle, James Hargreaves, +who introduced the spinning-jenny, and Samuel Compton, who originated +mule-spinning, were all artisans, uneducated and poor, but were endowed +with natural faculties which enabled them to make a more enduring +impression upon the world than anything that could have been done by the +mere power of scholarship or wealth. + +It cannot be said of any of these great names that their individual +courses in life would have been what they were, had there been lacking a +superb will power resistless as the tide to bear them upward and onward. + + Let Fortune empty her whole quiver on me, + I have a soul that, like an ample shield, + Can take in all, and verge enough for more; + Fate was not mine, nor am I Fate's: + Souls know no conquerors. + _Dryden_. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +STAYING POWER. + + "Never give up, there are chances and changes, + Helping the hopeful, a hundred to one; + And, through the chaos, High Wisdom arranges + Ever success, if you'll only hold on. + Never give up; for the wisest is boldest, + Knowing that Providence mingles the cup, + And of all maxims, the best, as the oldest, + Is the stern watchword of 'Never give up!'" + + Be firm; one constant element of luck + Is genuine, solid, old Teutonic pluck. + _Holmes_. + + Success in most things depends on knowing how long it takes to + succeed.--_Montesquieu_. + + +The power to hold on is characteristic of all men who have accomplished +anything great; they may lack in some other particular, have many +weaknesses or eccentricities, but the quality of persistence is never +absent from a successful man. No matter what opposition he meets or what +discouragement overtakes him, drudgery cannot disgust him, obstacles +cannot discourage him, labor cannot weary him; misfortune, sorrow, and +reverses cannot harm him. It is not so much brilliancy of intellect, or +fertility of resource, as persistency of effort, constancy of purpose, +that makes a great man. Those who succeed in life are the men and women +who keep everlastingly at it, who do not believe themselves geniuses, +but who know that if they ever accomplish anything they must do it by +determined and persistent industry. + +Audubon after years of forest life had two hundred of his priceless +drawings destroyed by mice. + +"A poignant flame," he relates, "pierced my brain like an arrow of fire, +and for several weeks I was prostrated with fever. At length physical +and moral strength awoke within me. Again I took my gun, my game-bag, my +portfolio, and my pencils, and plunged once more into the depths of the +forests." + +All are familiar with the misfortune of Carlyle while writing his +"History of the French Revolution." After the first volume was ready for +the press, he loaned the manuscript to a neighbor, who left it lying on +the floor, and the servant girl took it to kindle the fire. It was a +bitter disappointment, but Carlyle was not the man to give up. After +many months of poring Over hundreds of volumes of authorities and scores +of manuscripts, he reproduced that which had burned in a few minutes. + + +PROCEED, AND LIGHT WILL DAWN. + +The slightest acquaintance with literary history would bring to light a +multitude of heroes of poverty or misfortune, of men and women perplexed +and disheartened, who have yet aroused themselves to new effort at every +new obstacle. + +It is related by Arago that he found under the cover of a text book he +was binding a short note from D'Alembert to a student: + +"Go on, sir, go on. The difficulties you meet with will resolve +themselves as you advance. Proceed; and light will dawn, and shine with +increasing clearness on your path." + +"That maxim," said Arago, "was my greatest master in mathematics." + +Had Balzac been easily discouraged he would have hesitated at the words +of warning given by his father: + +"Do you know that in literature a man must be either a king or a +beggar?" + +"Very well," was the reply, "_I will be a king_." + +His parents left him to his fate in a garret. For ten years he fought +terrible battles with hardship and poverty, but won a great victory at +last. He won it after producing forty novels that did not win. + +Zola's early manhood witnessed a bitter struggle against poverty and +deprivation. Until twenty he was a spoiled child; but, on his father's +death, he and his mother began the battle of life in Paris. Of his dark +time, Zola himself says: + +"Often I went hungry for so long, that it seemed as if I must die. I +scarcely tasted meat from one month's end to another, and for two days I +lived on three apples. Fire, even on the coldest nights, was an +undreamed-of luxury; and I was the happiest man in Paris when I could +get a candle, by the light of which I might study at night." + +Samuel Johnson's bare feet at Oxford showed through the holes in his +shoes, yet he threw out at his window the new pair that some one left at +his door. He lived for a time in London on nine cents a day. For +thirteen years he had a hard struggle with want. John Locke once lived +on bread and water in a Dutch garret, and Heyne slept many a night on a +barn floor with only a book for his pillow. It was to poverty as a thorn +urging the breast of Harriet Martineau that we owe her writings. + +There are no more interesting pages in biography than those which record +how Emerson, as a child, was unable to read the second volume of a +certain book, because his widowed mother could not afford the amount +(five cents) necessary to obtain it from the circulating library. + +"Poor fellow!" said Emerson, as he looked at his delicately-reared +little son, "how much he loses by not having to go through the hard +experiences I had in my youth." + +It was through the necessity laid upon him to earn that Emerson made his +first great success in life as a teacher. "I know," he said, "no such +unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that tenacity of +purpose, which, through all change of companions or parties or fortunes, +changes never, bates no jot of heart or hope, but wearies out opposition +and arrives at its port." + + +"SHE CAN NEVER SUCCEED." + +Louisa Alcott earned two hundred thousand dollars by her pen. Yet, when +she was first dreaming of her power, her father handed her a manuscript +one day that had been rejected by Mr. Fields, editor of the "Atlantic," +with the message: + +"Tell Louisa to stick to her teaching; she can never succeed as a +writer." + +"Tell him I _will_ succeed as a writer, and some day I shall write for +the 'Atlantic.'" + +Not long after she wrote for the "Atlantic" a poem that Longfellow +attributed to Emerson. And there came a time when she wrote in her +diary: + +"Twenty years ago I resolved to make the family independent if I could. +At forty, that is done. Debts all paid, even the outlawed ones, and we +have enough to be comfortable. It has cost me my health, perhaps." + + +"I TRAMPLE ON IMPOSSIBILITIES": + +So it was said by Lord Chatham. "Why," asked Mirabeau, "should we call +ourselves men, unless it be to succeed in everything everywhere?" + +"It is all very well," said Charles J. Fox, "to tell me that a young man +has distinguished himself by a brilliant first speech. He may go on +satisfied with his first triumph; but show me a young man who has not +succeeded at first, and has then gone on, and I will back that man to do +better than those who succeeded at the first trial." Cobden broke down +completely the first time he appeared on a platform in Manchester, and +the chairman apologized for him; but he did not give up speaking until +every poor man in England had a larger, better, and cheaper loaf. Young +Disraeli sprung from a hated and persecuted race, pushed his way up +through the middle classes and upper classes, until he stood self-poised +upon the topmost round of political and social power. At first he was +scoffed at, ridiculed, rebuffed, hissed from the House of Commons; he +simply said, "The time will come when you will hear me." The time did +come, and he swayed the sceptre of England for a quarter of a century. + +How massive was the incalculable reserve power of Lincoln as a youth; or +of President Garfield, wood-chopper, bell-ringer, and sweeper-general in +college! + + +PERSISTENT PURPOSE. + +We hear a great deal of talk about genius, talent, luck, chance, +cleverness, and fine manners playing a large part in one's success. +Leaving out luck and chance, all these elements are important factors. +Yet the possession of any or all of them, unaccompanied by a definite +aim, a determined purpose, will not insure success. Men drift into +business. They drift into society. They drift into politics. They drift +into what they fondly and but vainly imagine is religion. If winds and +tides are favorable, all is well; if not, all is wrong. Stalker says: +"Most men merely drift through life, and the work they do is determined +by a hundred different circumstances; they might as well be doing +anything else, or they would prefer to be doing nothing at all." Yet +whatever else may have been lacking in the giants of the race, the men +who have been conspicuously successful have all had one characteristic +in common--doggedness and persistence of purpose. + +It does not matter how clever a youth may be, whether he leads his class +in college or outshines all the other boys in his community, he will +never succeed if he lacks this essential of determined persistence. Many +men who might have made brilliant musicians, artists, teachers, lawyers, +able physicians or surgeons, in spite of predictions to the contrary, +have fallen short of success because deficient in this quality. + +Persistency of purpose is a power. It creates confidence in others. +Everybody believes in the determined man. When he undertakes anything +his battle is half won, because not only he himself, but every one who +knows him, believes that he will accomplish whatever he sets out to do. +People know that it is useless to oppose a man who uses his +stumbling-blocks as stepping-stones; who is not afraid of defeat; who +never, in spite of calumny or criticism, shrinks from his task; who +never shirks responsibility; who always keeps his compass pointed to the +north star of his purpose, no matter what storms may rage about him. + +The persistent man never stops to consider whether he is succeeding or +not. The only question with him is how to push ahead, to get a little +farther along, a little nearer his goal. Whether it lead over mountains, +rivers, or morasses, he must reach it. Every other consideration is +sacrificed to this one dominant purpose. + +The success of a dull or average youth and the failure of a brilliant +one is a constant surprise in American history. But if the different +cases are closely analyzed we shall find that the explanation lies in +the staying power of the seemingly dull boy, the ability to stand firm +as a rock under all circumstances, to allow nothing to divert him from +his purpose. + + +THREE NECESSARY THINGS. + +"Three things are necessary," said Charles Sumner, "first, backbone; +second, backbone; third, backbone." + +A good chance alone is nothing. Education is nothing without strong and +vigorous resolution and stamina to make one accomplish something in the +world. An encouraging start is nothing without backbone. A man who +cannot stand erect, who wabbles first one way and then the other, who +has no opinion of his own, or courage to think his own thought, is of +very little use in this world. It is grit, it is perseverance, it is +moral stamina and courage that govern the world. + +At the trial of the seven bishops of the Church of England for refusing +to aid the king to overthrow the Protestant faith, it was necessary to +watch the officers at the doors, lest they send food to some juryman, +and aid him to starve the others into an agreement. Nothing was allowed +to be sent in but water for the jurymen to wash in, and they were so +thirsty they drank it up. At first nine were for acquitting, and three +for convicting. Two of the minority soon gave way; the third, Arnold, +was obstinate. He declined to argue. Austin said to him, "Look at me. I +am the largest and the strongest of the twelve; and before I will find +such a petition as this libel, here will I stay till I am no bigger than +a tobacco pipe." Arnold yielded at six in the morning. + + +SUCCESS AGAINST ODDS. + + Yes, to this thought I hold with firm persistence; + The last result of wisdom stamps it true: + He only earns his freedom and existence + Who daily conquers them anew. + _Goethe_. + + +"It is interesting to notice how some minds seem almost to create +themselves," says Irving, "springing up under every disadvantage, and +working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand +obstacles." Opposing circumstances create strength. Opposition gives us +greater power of resistance. To overcome one barrier gives us greater +ability to overcome the next. History is full of examples of men and +women who have redeemed themselves from disgrace, poverty, and +misfortune, by the firm resolution of an iron will. + +Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the +opposition he has encountered, and the courage with which he has +maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. Not the distance we +have run, but the obstacles we have overcome, the disadvantages under +which we have made the race, will decide the prizes. + +"It is defeat," says Henry Ward Beecher, "that turns bone to flint, and +gristle to muscle, and makes men invincible, and formed those heroic +natures that are now in ascendency in the world. Do not, then, be afraid +of defeat. You are never so near to victory as when defeated in a good +cause." + +Governor Seymour of New York, a man of great force and character, said, +in reviewing his life: "If I were to wipe out twenty acts, what should +they be? Should it be my business mistakes, my foolish acts (for I +suppose all do foolish acts occasionally), my grievances? No; for, after +all, these are the very things by which I have profited. So I finally +concluded I should expunge, instead of my mistakes, my triumphs. I could +not afford to dismiss the tonic of mortification, the refinement of +sorrow; I needed them every one." + +"Every condition, be it what it may," says Channing, "has hardships, +hazards, pains. We try to escape them; we pine for a sheltered lot, for +a smooth path, for cheering friends, and unbroken success. But +Providence ordains storms, disasters, hostilities, sufferings; and the +great question whether we shall live to any purpose or not, whether we +shall grow strong in mind and heart, or be weak and pitiable, depends on +nothing so much as on our use of the adverse circumstances. Outward +evils are designed to school our passions, and to rouse our faculties +and virtues into intenser action. Sometimes they seem to create new +powers. Difficulty is the element, and resistance the true work of man. +Self-culture never goes on so fast as when embarrassed circumstances, +the opposition of men or the elements, unexpected changes of the times, +or other forms of suffering, instead of disheartening, throw us on our +inward resources, turn us for strength to God, clear up to us the great +purpose of life, and inspire calm resolution. No greatness or goodness +is worth much, unless tried in these fires." + + + +[Illustration: BENJAMIN DISRAELI +(Earl of Beaconsfield), +English Statesman and Novelist. +_b. London, 1804; d. London, 1881_.] + + + + Better to stem with heart and hand + The roaring tide of life, than lie, + Unmindful, on its flowery strand, + Of God's occasions drifting by! + Better with naked nerve to bear + The needles of this goading air, + Than in the lap of sensual ease forego + The godlike power to do, the godlike aim to know. + _Whittier_. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +THE DEGREE OF "O.O." + + +When Moody first visited Ireland he was introduced by a friend to an +Irish merchant who asked at once: + +"Is he an O.O.?" + +"Out and Out"--that was what "O.O." stood for. + +"Out and Out" for God--that was what this merchant meant. He indeed is +but a wooden man, and a poor stick at that, who is decided in everything +else, but who never knows "where he is at" in all moral relations, being +religiously nowhere. + +The early books of the Hebrews have much to say about "The Valley of +Decision" and the development of "Out and Out" moral character. + +Wofully lacking in a well-balanced will power is the man who stands side +by side with moral evil personified, in hands with it, to serve it +willingly as a tool and servant. + +Morally made in God's image, what is more sane, more wholesome, more +fitting, for a man than his rising up promptly, decidedly, to make the +Divine Will his own will in all moral action, to take it as the supreme +guide to go by? It is the glory of the human will to coincide with the +Divine Will. Doing this, a man's Iron Will, instead of being a malignant +selfish power, will be useful in uplifting mankind. + +God has spoken, or he has not spoken. If he has spoken, the wise will +hear. + + We search the world for truth; we cull + The good, the pure, the beautiful, + From graven stone and written scroll, + From all the flower-fields of the soul: + And, weary seekers of the best, + We come back laden from our quest, + To find that all the sages said + Is in the BOOK our mother read. + _Whittier_. + + + O earth that blooms and birds that sing, + O stars that shine when all is dark! + In type and symbol thou dost bring + The Life Divine, and bid us hark, + That we may catch the chant sublime, + And, rising, pass the bounds of time; + So shall we win the goal divine, + Our immortality. + _Carrol Norton_. + + + +THE MARDEN +INSPIRATIONAL BOOKS + +Be Good to Yourself +Every Man a King +Exceptional Employee +Getting On +He Can Who Thinks He Can +How to Get What You Want +Joys of Living +Keeping Fit +Love's Way +Making Life a Masterpiece +Miracle of Right Thought +Optimistic Life +Peace, Power, and Plenty +Progressive Business Man +Pushing to the Front +Rising in the World +Secret of Achievement +Self-Investment +Selling Things +Training for Efficiency +Victorious Attitude +Woman and the Home +Young Man Entering Business + +SUCCESS BOOKLETS + +An Iron Will +Good Manners +Economy +Ambition +Do it to a Finish +Opportunity +Cheerfulness +Character +Thrift +Power of Personality + +SPECIAL BOOKS AND BOOKLETS + +Hints for Young Writers +Success Nuggets +I Had a Friend +Why Grow Old? +Not the Salary but the Opportunity + +_Send for Publishers' Special Circular of these Great Books_ + +OPINIONS OF + +The Exceptional Employee + + +Uplifting to Humanity + +"I assure you that the present and future generations must look upon +such a work as most uplifting to humanity." + +CHARLES FRANCIS, _Charles Francis Press, +New York City_. + +Fresh Efforts after Reading + +"No one will fail to put forth fresh and better directed efforts to work +to the front after reading the book." +_Good Health_. + +The Ladder of Success + +"The author writes with a purpose in view; that purpose is found on the +topmost rungs of the ladder of success. In order to find the purpose the +reader must ascend this ladder. The rest is easy." +_Chamber of Commerce Bulletin_ (_Portland, Ore_.). + +A Wise Investment + +"Any one who employs labor where it requires character and intelligence +would make a wise investment by presenting his employees a copy of this +book. It has been some time since I have read a more wholesome, +inspiring, and fascinating volume." + +J.J. COLE, in _Christian Standard_. + +Brimful of Anecdote and Illustration + +"The book is not all theory and principle. It is brimful of the anecdote +and illustration from actual business life which gives vigor and +acceptance to the writer's ideas." +_Christian Advocate_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +Opinions and Reviews of Dr. Marden's + +The Secret of Achievement + + +Exasperating + +"'The Secret of Achievement' is one of those exasperating books which +you feel you ought to present to your young friends, yet find yourself +unwilling to part with." WILLIAM B. WARREN, _Former President Boston +University_. + +Art of Putting Things + +"I have studied Dr. Marden's books with deep interest. He has the art of +putting things; of planting in the mind convictions that will live. I +know of no works that contain equal inspiration for life." + +HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. + +A Great Service + +"I thoroughly feel that you are rendering a great service to young men +and women in America and throughout the world." + +REV. R.S. McARTHUR, D.D., _New York City_. + +The Difference + +"'Pushing to the Front' is a great book and 'Rising in the World' is a +magnificent book, but 'The Secret of Achievement' is a superb book." + +Success against Odds + +"This volume contains a series of stimulating anecdotes and advice +showing how energy, force of well-directed will, application, lofty +purpose, and noble ideals serve to win success even against the greatest +odds. Many a young man will draw inspiration from it which will aid him +in making his life work a success." +_School Journal_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +PRESS REVIEWS OF + +The Young Man Entering Business + + +"A readable volume + +on a substantial topic, which discusses actual questions. The counsel of +an experienced person." +_Pittsburgh Post_. + +Abounds in Specific Advice + +"We can easily conceive that a young man who gets this book into his +hands may, in after life, date his success from reading it. It is sound, +wholesome, stimulating. The treatment is concrete. It abounds in +specific advice and telling illustration." +_Southern Observer_. + +Stimulates and Encourages + +"Packed as it is with sensible, practical counsels, this volume can be +cordially recommended to stimulate and encourage young men starting out +in business life." +_Brooklyn Times_. + +A Necessity to Earnest Young Men + +"There is such a thing as the science of success. Dr. Marden has made a +study of it. He writes in simple, attractive style. He deals with facts. +The book should be in the hands of every earnest young man." +_Christian Advocate_. + +Entertaining as Well as Helpful + +"So interwoven with personal incident and illustration that it is an +entertaining as well as a helpful book." +_Christian Observer_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +Opinions of + +The Miracle of Right Thought + + +Dr. Sheldon Leavitt says: + +"I wish to state that I am unusually well pleased with Dr. Marden's +'Miracle of Right Thought.' It is the best work of the author." + +Ralph Waldo Trine says: + +"This is one of those inspiring, reasonable and valuable books that are +bringing new life and new power to so many thousands all over our +country and all over the world to-day." + +"You have formulated a philosophy + +which must sooner or later be universally accepted. Your book shows how +the right mental attitude helps one in the realization of every laudable +ambition, and the value of cultivating a bright, self-reliant habit of +thought. I congratulate you on it." + +G.H. SANDISON, _Editor, The Christian Herald_. + +"It is marked by sanctified common sense; + +it is in line with the advance thought of to-day, and yet it is so +simple in statement that unlettered men and untrained youths can master +its best thoughts and translate them into their daily lives." + +REV. R.S. MacARTHUR, D.D., _New York City_. + +REV. F.E. Clark, President United Society +of Christian Endeavor, says: + +"I regard 'The Miracle of Right Thought' as one of Dr. Marden's very +best books, and that is saying a great deal. He has struck the modern +note of the power of mind over bodily conditions in a fresh and most +interesting way, while he has not fallen into the mistake of some New +Thought writers of eliminating the personal God from the universe. No +one can read this book sympathetically, I believe, without being happier +and better." + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +Selling Things + +By ORISON SWETT MARDEN + + +A Book For Salesmen + +"Deals with the training of salesmen and the necessary attributes to +make them successful. All phases of the subject are considered: clothes, +presence, ability to talk, persuasive powers, tact, helping and getting +the customer to buy." +_Bookseller_. + +Will be Welcome + +"A book that will be gladly welcomed by sales managers and salesmen in +every field." +_Philadelphia Public Ledger_. + +Helps to Prosperity + +"One of the best things that you have written, and ought to be in the +hands of every man who would call himself a salesman. There are many +points therein that will certainly help him to prosperity." +_Samuel Brill_. + +A Masterful Work + +"A masterful work and is filled from cover to cover with practical +usable information for young men and women. I consider this book one of +the best things you have done, and that is saying a great deal when the +excellence of your previous works is taken into consideration." +_Hudson Maxim_. + +A Powerful Factor + +"In our opinion, if 'selling' would be given more thought by such world +famous writers as you, it would be a powerful factor in the complete +revolution of business, and eliminate to a great extent the waste of +time, money and human life that is so recklessly thrown away under the +present ignorance of true salesmanship." +_N.A. Corking, Sales Mgr., Ford Motor Company_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +OPINIONS OF + +Rising in the World + + +"A storehouse of incentive, + +a treasury of precious sayings; a granary of seed-thoughts capable, +under proper cultivation, of a fine character harvest."--EDWARD A. +HORTON. + +"A stimulating book + +which is pitched at a high note and rings true."--EDWIN M. BACON. + +"Has all the excellences of style + +and matter that gave to 'Pushing to the Front' its signal success. Dr. +Marden's power of pithy statement and pertinent illustration seems +inexhaustible."--W.F. WARREN, _Former President of Boston University_. + +Touches the Springs of Life + +"Dr. Marden has touched the springs of life and set forth with +marvellous and convincing power the results obtained by those inspired +by high resolves, lofty aspirations, and pure motives. No one can rise +from reading this book without cleaner desires, firmer resolutions, and +sublime ambition."--MYRON T. PRITCHARD, _Master of Everett School, +Boston_. + +Its Immortal Possibilities + +"Has the same iron in the blood, the same vigorous constitution, the +same sanguine temperament, the same immortal possibilities as 'Pushing +to the Front.'"--THOMAS W. BICKNELL, _Ex-U.S. Commissioner of +Education_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +Letters to Dr. Marden concerning + +Every Man a King + + +Success vs. Failure + +"One of the most inspiring books I have ever read. I should like to +purchase a thousand and distribute them, as I believe the reading of +this book would make the difference between success and failure in many +lives." + +CHAS. E. SCHMICK, _House of Representatives, Mass_. + +Worth One Hundred Dollars + +"I would not take one hundred dollars for your book, 'Every Man a King,' +if no other were available." + +WILLARD MERRIAM, _New York City_. + +Unfailing Optimism + +"The unfailing note of optimism which rings through all your works is +distinctly sounded here." + +W.E. HUNTINGTON, _Pres., Boston University_. + +The Keynote of Life + +"'Every Man a King' strikes the keynote of life. Any one of its chapters +is well worth the cost of the book." + +E.J. TEAGARDEN, _Danbury, Conn_. + +Simply Priceless + +"I have just read it with tremendous interest, and I frankly say that I +regard it as simply priceless. Its value to me is immeasurable, and I +should be glad if I could put it in the hands of every intelligent young +man and woman in this country." + +CHAS. STOKES WAYNE, _Chappaqua, N.Y._ + +Renewed Ambition + +"I have read and re-read it with pleasure and renewed ambition. I shall +ever keep it near at hand as a frequent reminder and an invaluable +text-book." + +H.H. WILLIAMS, _Brockton, Mass_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., NEW YORK + + + +The Victorious Attitude + +By ORISON SWETT MARDEN + + +A Soul Doctor + +"This book should be read by all discouraged people. It is a tonic--and +a moral bracer of the first order. Most of us need to have our +self-confidence stimulated, and Dr. Marden stimulates it. He is a soul +doctor." +_Richmond Times Dispatch_. + +Buoyant and Breezy + +"Full of fresh ideas couched in straightforward language. Buoyant, +breezy and highly stimulating. +_San Francisco Bulletin_. + +A Wallet of Truth + +"There is a crammed wallet of truth in your book. May it go forth to +inspire men with the fine courage of life." +_Edwin Markham_. + +Excellent Advice + +"The homely truths and excellent bits of advice contained is Dr. +Marden's book will make instructive reading. It is written in forcible +and easily understandable style." +_Buffalo Commercial_. + +Cannot Fail to Help + +"Clear, direct and vigorous in expression, and so uplifting and +wholesome in subject matter, that it cannot fail to be of help to many +people who are in need of just such advice." +_Des Moines Register_. + +Nothing More Valuable + +"One of the very best books that you ever produced. The book is like a +medicine to me. I commended it to our students put it in our library and +it has been in great demand. I know of nothing finer or more valuable +for young people who are struggling for an education." +_Rev. O.S. Krisbel, D.D._ + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +Letters to Dr. Marden concerning + +He Can Who Thinks He Can + + +Will Do Amazing Good + +"I believe 'He Can Who Thinks He Can,' comprising some of your +editorials, which appear akin to divine inspiration in words of cheer, +hope, courage and success, will do amazing good." + +JAMES PETER, _Independence, Kas_. + +Greatest Things Ever Written + +"Your editorials on the subjects of self-confidence and self-help are +the greatest things ever written along that line." + +H.L. DUNLAP, _Waynesburg, Pa_. + +Gripping Power + +"Presents the truth in a remarkably clear and forcible manner, with a +gripping power back of the writing. It is beautiful and inspiring." + +C.W. SMELSER, _Coopertown, Okla_. + +Beginning of My Success + +"Your editorials have helped me mere than any other reading. The +beginning of my success was when I commenced to practise your +teachings." + +BRUCE HARTMAN, _Honolulu, T.H._ + +Wishes to Reprint It + +"I have been very much impressed by the chapter on 'New Thought, New +Life.' I would like to send a copy of it to two thousand of my +customers, giving due credit of course." + +John D. MORRIS, _Philadelphia, Pa_. + +Full of Light and Joy + +"I have studied the subject of New Thought for ten years, but have never +seen anything so comprehensive, so full of light and joy, as your +treatment of it. When I think of the good it will do, and the thousands +it will reach, my heart rejoices." + +LOUISE MARKSCHEFFEL, _Toledo, O_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., NEW YORK + + + +OPINIONS OF + +The Joys of Living + + +In Every Sense Worth While + +"A ringing call for a joyful life is just what this old world needs to +hear and to heed. A saner, wiser, more helpful book than this we have +rarely read.... In every sense well worth the while." +_The Examiner_. + +Wholesome Reading + +"The book makes wholesome reading. One lays it down with a resolve to +find more happiness in his life and a determination to live more in the +present." +_Springfield Republican_. + +One of the Author's Best + +"The author has been doing uniformly good work, work that has elicited +warmest commendations from leading men of the country. 'The Joys of +Living' is one of Dr. Marden's best books." +_Chicago Standard_. + +More Such Teachers Wanted + +"Give us more such teachers and writers, more such heralds of the new +and ever present kingdom of Good, of joy, of Opulence! Just read this +book yourself and you will change your whole mental attitude." +_The Truth-Seeker_. + +A Book for the Nerve-worn + +"The book is one that our rushing American world needs. If you feel +compassion for any nerve-worn, unhappy man or woman, tell them of this +message. Better still, send the book to some one who needs it." +_Portland Oregonian_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + +Press Reviews of Dr. Marden's + +Be Good to Yourself + + +"The author is a wonder,-- + +one of the very best preachers, through the pen, of our time." +_Zion's Herald_. + +"Just such a discussion of personality + +as we all need. The titles of the chapters are appetizing and the advice +and lessons taught are good. It will help many a reader to understand +himself better." +_The Advance_. + +"The kind counsel of a new book + +by Orison Swett Marden, who says there are many people who are good to +others but not to themselves This is a fine volume from every point of +view." +_The Religious Telescope_. + +"Of a thoroughly inspirational character, + +these essays are calculated to awaken and sustain the right sort of +ambition and evolve a manly type of character. They are surcharged with +faith, optimism, and common sense." +_The Boston Herald_. + +"Dr. Marden's friends, + +who are to be found in all quarters of the globe, wait eagerly for such +advice as this, on how to be happy, hearty, and healthy." +_Seattle Post Intelligencer_. + + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Iron Will, by Orison Swett Marden + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13160 *** |