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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20608.txt b/20608.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9541970 --- /dev/null +++ b/20608.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7625 @@ +Project Gutenberg's How to Get on in the World, by Major A.R. Calhoon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: How to Get on in the World + A Ladder to Practical Success + +Author: Major A.R. Calhoon + +Release Date: February 16, 2007 [EBook #20608] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by Theresa Yarkoni + + + + + +HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD; or, A LADDER TO PRACTICAL SUCCESS. + +[pic] + +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 is +Success? If we consult the dictionaries, they will give us the +etymology of this much used word, and in general terms the meaning +will be "the accomplishment of a purpose." But as the objects in +nearly every life differ, so success cannot mean the same thing to +all men. + +The artist's idea of success is very different from that of the +business man, and the scientist differs from both, as does the +statesman from all three. We read of successful gamblers, burglars or +freebooters, but no true success was ever won or ever can be won that +sets at defiance the laws of God and man. + +To win, so that we ourselves and the world shall be the better for +our having lived, we must begin the struggle, with a high purpose, +keeping ever before our minds the characters and methods of the noble +men who have succeeded along the same lines. + +The young man beginning the battle of life should never lose sight of +the fact that the age of fierce competition is upon us, and that this +competition must, in the nature of things, become more and more +intense. Success grows less and less dependent on luck and chance. +Preparation for the chosen field of effort, an industry that +increasing, a hope that never flags, a patience that never grows +weary, 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 of +specialists and untiring activity. + +The purpose of this work is not to stimulate genius, for genius is +law unto itself, and finds its compensation in its own original +productions. Genius has benefited the world, without doubt, but too +often its life compensation has been a crust and a garret. After +death, in not a few cases, the burial was through charity of +friends, and this can hardly be called an adequate compensation, for +the memorial tablet or monument that commemorates a life of +privation, if not of absolute wretchedness. + +It is, perhaps, as well for the world that genius is phenomenal; it +is certainly well for the world that success is not dependent on it, +and that every young man, and young woman too, blessed with good +health and a mind capable of education, and principles that are true +and abiding, can win the highest positions in public and private +life, and dying leave behind a heritage for their children, and an +example for all who would prosper along the same lines. And all this +with 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 a +manly 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 me +the work for which I am best fitted? Where is the kindly guide who +will point out to me the life path that will lead to success?" So +far as is possible it will be the purpose of this book to reply +fully to these all important questions, and by illustration and +example to show how others in the face of obstacles that would seem +appalling to the weak and timid, carefully and prayerfully prepared +themselves for what has been aptly called "the battle of life," and +then in the language of General Jackson, "pitched in to win." + +A copy line, in the old writing books, reads, "Many men of many +minds." It is this diversity of mind, taste and inclination that +opens up to us so many fields of effort, and keeps any one calling +or profession from being crowded by able men. Of the incompetents +and failures, who crowd every field of effort, we shall have but +little 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 the +curtain falls on this brief life, and a greater victory when the +death-valley is crossed and the life eternal begins? + +The learned professions have widened in their scope and number within +the past thirty years. To divinity, law, and medicine, we can now +add literature, journalism, engineering and all the sciences. Even +art, as generally understood, is now spoken of as a profession, and +there are professors to teach its many branches in all the great +universities. Any one of these professions, if carefully mastered +and diligently pursued, promises fame, and, if not fortune, +certainly a competency, for the calling that does not furnish a +competency 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 principal +occupation of civilized man. With the advance of chemistry, +particularly that branch known as agricultural chemistry, farming +has become more of a science, and its successful pursuit demands not +only unceasing industry, but a high degree of trained intelligence. +Of late years farming has rather fallen into disrepute with +ambitious young men, who long for the excitement and greater +opportunities afforded by our cities; but success and happiness have +been achieved in farming, and the opportunities for both will +increase with proper training and a correct appreciation of a +farmer's life. + +"Business" is a very comprehensive word, and may properly embrace +every life-calling; but in its narrow acceptance it is applied to +trade, commerce and manufactures. It is in these three lines of +business that men have shown the greatest energy and enterprise, and +in which they have accomplished the greatest material success. As a +consequence, eager spirits enter these fields, encouraged by the +examples of men who from small beginnings, and in the face of +obstacles that would have daunted less resolute men, became merchant +princes and the peers of earth's greatest. + +In the selection of your calling do not stand hesitating and doubting +too long. Enter somewhere, no matter how hard or uncongenial the +work, do it with all your might, and the effort will strengthen you +and qualify you to find work that is more in accord with your +talents. + +Bear in mind that the first condition of success in every calling, is +earnest devotion to its requirements and duties. This may seem so +obvious a remark that it is hardly worth making. And yet, with all +its obviousness the thing itself is often forgotten by the young. +They are frequently loath to admit the extent and urgency of +business claims; and they try to combine with these claims, devotion +to some favorite, and even it may be conflicting, pursuit. Such a +policy invariably fails. We cannot travel every path. Success must +be won along one line. You must make your business the one life +purpose 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 of +success." If we do not work with our might, others will; and they +will 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, but +usually the swiftest wins the prize, and the strongest gains in the +strife. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER. + +That "Heaven helps those who help themselves," is a maxim as true as +it is ancient. The great and indispensable help to success is +character. + +Character is crystallized habit, the result of training and +conviction. Every character is influenced by heredity, environment +and education; but these apart, if every man were not to a great +extent the architect of his own character, he would be a fatalist, an +irresponsible creature of circumstances, which, even the skeptic must +confess he is not. So long as a man has the power to change one +habit, good or bad, for another, so long he is responsible for his +own character, and this responsibility continues with life and +reason. + +A man may be a graduate of the greatest university, and even a great +genius, and yet be a most despicable character. Neither Peter Cooper, +George Peabody nor Andrew Carnegie had the advantage of a college +education, yet character made them the world's benefactors and more +honored 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 of +mind, depth of thought, appreciation of the lofty, experience of the +world, delicacy of manner, tact and energy in action, love of truth, +honesty, and amiability--that all these may be wanting in a man who +may yet be very learned." + +When someone in Sir Walter Scott's hearing made a remark as to the +value of literary talents and accomplishments, as if they were above +all things to be esteemed and honored, he observed, "God help us! +What a poor world this would be if that were the true doctrine! I +have read books enough, and observed and conversed with enough of +eminent and splendidly-cultured minds, too, in my time; but I assure +you, I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of the poor +uneducated men and women, when exerting the spirit of severe, yet +gentle heroism under difficulties and afflictions, or speaking their +simple thoughts as to circumstances in the lot of friends and +neighbors, than I ever yet met with out of the Bible." + +In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells +so much as character--not brains so much as heart--not genius so +much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by +judgment. Hence there is no better provision for the uses of either +private or public life, than a fair share of ordinary good sense +guided by rectitude. Good sense, disciplined by experience and +inspired by goodness, issued in practical wisdom. Indeed, goodness +in a measure implies wisdom--the highest wisdom--the union of the +worldly with the spiritual. "The correspondences of wisdom and +goodness," says Sir Henry Taylor, "are manifold; and that they will +accompany each other is to be inferred, not only because men's +wisdom makes them good, but because their goodness makes them wise." + +The best sort of character, however, can not be formed without +effort. There needs the exercise of constant self-watchfulness, +self-discipline, and self-control. There may be much faltering, +stumbling, and temporary defeat; difficulties and temptations +manifold to be battled with and overcome; but if the spirit be +strong and the heart be upright, no one need despair of ultimate +success. The very effort to advance--to arrive at a higher standard +of character than we have reached--is inspiring and invigorating; +and even though we may fall short of it, we can not fail to be +improved by every honest effort made in an upward direction. + +"Instead of saying that man is the creature of circumstance, it would +be nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstance. +It is character which builds an existence out of circumstance. Our +strength is measured by our plastic power. From the same materials +one man builds palaces, another hovels; one warehouses, another +villas. Bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks, until the architect +can make them something else. Thus it is that in the same family, in +the same circumstances, one man rears a stately edifice, while his +brother, vacillating and incompetent, lives forever amid ruins; the +block 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 determinate +will, and influenced by high purpose, man enters upon and +courageously perseveres in the path of duty, at whatever cost of +worldly interest, he may be said to approach the summit of his +being. He then exhibits character in its most intrepid form, and +embodies the highest idea of manliness. The acts of such a man +become repeated in the life and action of others. His very words +live and become actions. Thus every word of Luther's rang through +Germany like a trumpet. As Richter said of him, "His words were +half-battles." And thus Luther's life became transfused into the +life of his country, and still lives in the character of modern +Germany. + +Speaking of the courageous character of John Knox, Carlyle says, with +characteristic force: "Honor to all the brave and true; everlasting +honor to John Knox, one of the truest of the true! That, in the +moment while he and his cause, amid civil broils, in convulsion and +confusion, were still but struggling for life, he sent the +schoolmaster forth to all comers, and said, 'Let the people be taught;' +this is but one, and, indeed, an inevitable and comparatively +inconsiderable item in his great message to men. This message, in +its true compass, was, 'Let men know that they are men; created by +God, responsible to God; whose work in any meanest moment of time +what will last through eternity.' + +. . . This great message Knox did deliver, with a man's voice and +strength, and found a people to believe him. Of such an achievement, +were it to be made once only, the results are immense. Thought, in +such a country, may change its form, but cannot go out; the country +has attained _majority_; thought, and a certain spiritual manhood, +ready for all work that man can do, endures there. The Scotch +national, character originated in many circumstances; first of all, +in the Saxon stuff there was to work on; but next, and beyond all +else except that, in the Presbyterian Gospel of John Knox." + +Washington left behind him, as one of the greatest treasures of his +country, the example of a stainless life--of a great, honest, pure, +and noble character--a model for his nation to form themselves by in +all time to come. And in the case of Washington, as in so many other +great leaders of men, his greatness did not so much consist in his +intellect, 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 which +they belong. They elevate and uphold it, fortify and ennoble it, and +shed a glory over it by the example of life and character which they +have bequeathed. "The names and memories of great men," says an able +writer, "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 rise +in the memories of men, and appear to the living to stand by in +solemn spectatorship and approval. No country can be lost which +feels herself overlooked by such glorious witnesses. They are the +salt 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 and +encouragement for him who has the soul to adopt it." + +It would be well for every young man, eager for success and anxious +to form a character that will achieve it, to commit to memory the +advice of Bishop Middleton: + +Persevere against discouragements. Keep your temper. Employ leisure +in study, and always have some work in hand. Be punctual and +methodical in business, and never procrastinate. Never be in a +hurry. Preserve self-possession, and do not be talked out of a +conviction. Rise early, and be an economist of time. Maintain +dignity without the appearance of pride; manner is something with +everybody, and everything with some. Be guarded in discourse, +attentive, and slow to speak. Never acquiesce in immoral or +pernicious opinions. + +Be not forward to assign reasons to those who have no right to ask. +Think nothing in conduct unimportant or indifferent. Rather set than +follow examples. Practice strict temperance; and in all your +transactions remember the final account. + + + +CHAPTER III + +HOME INFLUENCES. + +"A careful preparation is half the battle." Everything depends on a +good start and the right road. To retrace one's steps is to lose not +only time but confidence. "Be sure you are right then go ahead" was +the motto of the famous frontiersman, Davy Crockett, and it is one +that every young man can adopt with safety. + +Bear in mind there is often a great distinction between character and +reputation. Reputation is what the world believes us for the time; +character is what we truly are. Reputation and character may be in +harmony, but they frequently are as opposite as light and darkness. +Many a scoundrel has had a reputation for nobility, and men of the +noblest characters have had reputations that relegated them to the +ranks of the depraved, in their day and generation. + +It is most desirable to have a good reputation. The good opinion of +our associates and acquaintances is not to be despised, but every +man should see to it that the reputation is deserved, otherwise his +life is false, and sooner or later he will stand discovered before +the world. + +Sudden success makes reputation, as it is said to make friends; but +very often adversity is the best test of character as it is of +friendship. + +It is the principle for which the soldier fights that makes him a +hero, not necessarily his success. It is the motive that ennobles +all effort. Selfishness may prosper, but it cannot win the enduring +success that is based on the character with a noble purpose behind +it. This purpose is one of the guards in times of trouble and the +reason for rejoicing in the day of triumph. + +"Why should I toil and slave," many a young man has asked, "when I +have only myself to live for?" God help the man who has neither +mother, sister nor wife to struggle for and who does not feel that +toil and the building up of character bring their own reward. + +The home feeling should be encouraged for it is one of the greatest +incentives to effort. If the young man have not parents or brothers +and sisters to keep, or if he find himself limited in his leisure +hours to the room of a boarding house, then if he can at all afford +it, he should marry a help-meet and found a home of his own. "I was +very poor at the time," said a great New York publisher, "but +regarding it simply from a business standpoint, the best move I ever +made in my life was to get married. Instead of increasing my +expense's as I feared, I took a most valuable partner into the +business, and she not only made a home for me, but she surrendered +to me her well-earned share of the profits." + +A wise marriage is most assuredly an influence that helps. Every +young man who loves his mother, if living, or reveres her memory if +dead, must recall with feelings of holy emotion, his own home. +Blest, indeed is he, over whom the influence of a good home +continues. + +Home is the first and most important school of character. It is there +that every civilized being receives his best moral training, or his +worst; for it is there that he imbibes those principles that endure +through manhood and cease only with life. + +It is a common saying that "Manners make the man;" and there is a +second, that "Mind makes the man;" but truer than either is a third, +that "Home makes the man." For the home-training not only includes +manners and mind, but character. It is mainly in the home that the +heart 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 and +maxims that govern society. Law itself is but the reflex of homes. +The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of children in private +life afterward issue forth to the world, and become its public +opinion; for nations are gathered out of nurseries, and they who +hold the leading strings of children may even exercise a greater +power than those who wield the reins of government. + +It is in the order of nature that domestic life should be preparatory +to social, and that the mind and character should first be formed in +the home. There the individuals who afterward form society are dealt +with in detail, and fashioned one by one. From the family they enter +life, and advance from boyhood to citizenship. Thus the home may be +regarded as the most influential school of civilization. For, after +all, civilization mainly resolves itself into a question of +individual training; and according as the respective members of +society are well or ill trained in youth, so will the community +which they constitute be more or less humanized and civilized. + +Thus homes, which are the nurseries of children who grow up into men +and women, will be good or bad according to the power that governs +them. Where the spirit of love and duty pervades the home--where +head and heart bear rule wisely there--where the daily life is +honest and virtuous--where the government is sensible, kind and +loving, then may we expect from such a home an issue of healthy, +useful, and happy beings, capable, as they gain the requisite +strength of following the footsteps of their parents, of walking +uprightly, governing themselves wisely, and contributing to the +welfare of those about them. + +On the other hand, if surrounded by ignorance, coarseness, and +selfishness, they will unconsciously assume the same character, and +grow up to adult years rude, uncultivated, and all the more +dangerous to society if placed amidst the manifold temptations of +what is called civilized life. "Give your child to be educated by a +slave," said an ancient Greek, "and, instead of one slave, you will +then have two." + +The child cannot help imitating what he sees. Everything is to him a +model--of manner, of gesture, of speech, of habit, of character. +"For the child," says Richter, "the most important era of life is +childhood, when he begins to color and mould himself by +companionship with others. Every new educator effects less than his +predecessor; until at last, if we regard all life as an educational +institution, a circumnavigator of the world is less influenced by +all the nations he has seen than by his nurse." + +No man can select his parents or make for himself the early +environment that affects character so powerfully, but he can found a +home no matter how humble, at the outset, that will make his own +future secure, as well as the future of those for whose existence he +is responsible. + +The poorest dwelling, presided over by a virtuous, thrifty, cheerful, +and cleanly woman, may be the abode of comfort, virtue, and +happiness; it may be the scene of every ennobling relation in family +life; it may be endeared to a man by many delightful associations; +furnishing a sanctuary for the heart, a refuge from the storms of +life, a sweet resting-place after labor, a consolation in +misfortune, 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-control +and the spirit of service and of duty. Isaak Walton, speaking of +George Herbert's mother, says she governed the family with judicious +care, not rigidly nor sourly, "but with such a sweetness and +compliance with the recreations and pleasures of youth, as did +incline them to spend much of their time in her company, which was +to her great content." + +The home is the true school of courtesy, of which woman is always the +best practical instructor. "Without woman," says the Provencal +proverb, "men were but ill-licked cubs." Philanthropy radiates from +the home as from a centre. "To love the little platoon we belong to +in society," said Burke "is the germ of all public affections." The +wisest and the best have not been ashamed to own it to be their +greatest joy and happiness to sit "behind the heads of the children" +in the inviolable circle of home. A life of purity and duty there is +not the least effectual preparative for a life of public work and +duty; and the man who loves his home will not the less fondly love +and serve his country. + +At an address before a girls' school in Boston, ex-President John +Quincy Adams, then an old man, said with much feeling: "As a child I +enjoyed perhaps the greatest of blessings that can be bestowed upon +man--that of a mother who was anxious and capable to form the +characters of her children rightly. From her I derived whatever +instruction (religious especially and moral) has pervaded a long +life--I will not say perfectly, or as it ought to be; but I will +say, because it is only justice to the memory of her I revere, that +in the course of that life, whatever imperfection there has been or +deviation 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 society +and good government, that it is to be regretted, for the sake of +young women, as well as of young men, that our modern life offers so +many 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 him +should continue the associations whose memories comfort him. He +should never go to a place for recreation where he would not be +willing and proud to take his mother on his arm. He should never +have as friends men to whom he would not be willing, if need be, to +introduce his sister. + +These are among the influences that help to success. But association +is 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 you +are," is as true to-day as when first uttered. In the preparation +for success, association is one of the most powerful factors, so +powerful, indeed, that if the associations are not of the right +kind, 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 of +many. Every young man can recall the evil influence of one bad boy +on a whole school, but he cannot so readily point to the schoolmate, +whose example and influence were for good; because goodness, though +more potent, never makes itself so conspicuous as vice. + +Criminals, preparing for the scaffold, have confessed that their +entrance into a life of crime began in early youth, when the +audacity of some unprincipled associate tempted them from the ways +of innocence. Through all the years of life, even to old age, the +life and character are influenced by association. If this be true in +the case of the more mature and experienced, its force is +intensified where the young, imaginative and susceptible, are +concerned. + +Man is said to be "an imitative animal." This is certainly true as to +early education, and the tendency to imitate remains to a greater or +less extent throughout life. Imitation is responsible for all the +queer changes of fashion; and the desire to be "in the swim," as it +is called, is entirely due to association. + +In school days, the influence of a good home may counteract the +effect of evil associates, whom the boy meets occasionally, but when +the boy has grown to manhood, and finds himself battling with the +world, away from home and well-tried friends, it is then that he is +in the greatest danger from pernicious associates. + +The young man who comes to the city to seek his fortune is more apt +to be the victim of vile associates than the city raised youth whose +experience of men is larger, and who is fortunate in his +companionship. The farmer's son, who finds himself for the first +time in a great city--alone and comparatively friendless, appears to +himself to have entered a new world, as in truth he has. The crowds +of hurrying, well-dressed people impress him forcibly as compared +with his own clumsy gait, and roughly clad figure. The noise +confuses him. The bustle of commerce amazes him; and for the time he +is 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 man +may be, under these circumstances he is very apt, for the time at +least, to underestimate his own strength. He is powerfully impressed +by what he deems the smartness or the superior manners of those whom +he meets in his boarding house, or with whom he is associated in his +business, say in a great mercantile establishment. It requires a +great deal of moral courage for him to bear in a manly way the +ridicule, covert or open, of the companions who regard him as a +"hay-seed" or a "greenhorn." His Sunday clothes, which he wore with +pride when he attended meeting with his mother, he is apt to regard +with a feeling of mortification; and, perhaps, he secretly +determines to dress as well as do his companions when he has saved +enough money. + +This is a crucial period in the life of every young man who is +entering on a business career, and particularly so to him coming +from the rural regions. He finds, perhaps, that his associates smoke +or drink, or both; things which he has hitherto regarded with +horror. He finds, too, they are in the habit of resorting to places +of amusement, the splendor and mysteries of which arouse his +curiosity, if not envy, as he hears them discussed. + +Before leaving home, and while his mother's arms were still about +him, he promised her to be moral and industrious, to write +regularly, and to do nothing which she would not approve. If he had +the right stuff in him, he would adhere manfully to the resolution +made at the beginning; but, if he be weak or is tempted by false +pride, or a prurient curiosity to "see the town," he is tottering on +the edge of a precipice and his failure, if not sudden, is sure to +come in time. + +Cities are represented to be centres of vice, and it cannot be denied +that the temptations in such places are much greater than on a farm +or in a quiet country village, but at the same time, cities are +centres of wealth and cultivation, places where philanthropy is +alive and where organized effort has provided places of instruction +and amusement for all young men, but particularly for that large +class of youths who come from the country to seek their fortunes. +Churches abound, and in connection with them there are societies of +young people, organized for good work, which are ever ready, with +open arms, to welcome the young stranger. Then, in all our cities +and towns, there are to be found, branches of that most admirable +institution, the Young Men's Christian Association. Not only are +there companions to be met in these associations of the very best +kind, but the buildings are usually fitted up with appliances for +the improvement of mind and body. Here are gymnasiums, where +strength and grace can be cultivated under the direction of +competent teachers. Here are to be found well organized libraries. +Here, particularly in the winter season, there are classes where all +the branches of a high school are taught; and there are frequent +lectures on all subjects of interest by the foremost teachers of the +land. + +If the young man falls under these influences, and he will experience +not the slightest difficulty in doing so; indeed, he will find +friendly hands extended to welcome and to help, the result on his +character must be most beneficial. The clumsiness of rural life will +soon depart; he will regard his home-made suit with as much pleasure +as if it were made by a fashionable tailor, and he will soon learn +to distinguish between the vicious and the virtuous, while he +imitates the one and regards the other with indifference or +contempt. + +Next to the association of companions met in every day life nothing +so powerfully influences the character of the young as association +with good books, particularly those that relate to the lives of men +who 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 to +find your life work and then bravely to carry it out. No soldier +ever won a succession of triumphs, and no business man, no matter +how successful in the end, who did not find his beginning slow, +arduous and discouraging. Courage is a prime essential to +prosperity. The young man's progress may be slow in comparison with +his ambition, but if he keeps a brave heart and sticks persistently +to it, he will surely succeed in the end. + +The forceful, energetic character, like the forceful soldier on the +battle-field, not only moves forward to victory himself, but his +example has a stimulating influence on others. + +Energy of character has always a power to evoke energy in others. It +acts through sympathy, one of the most influential of human +agencies. The zealous, energetic man unconsciously carries others +along with him. His example is contagious and compels imitation. He +exercises a sort of electric power, which sends a thrill through +every fibre, flows into the nature of those about him, and makes +them give out sparks of fire. + +Dr. Arnold's biographer, speaking of the power of this kind exercised +by him over young men, says: "It was not so much an enthusiastic +admiration for true genius, or learning, or eloquence, which stirred +the heart within them; it was a sympathetic thrill, caught from a +spirit that was earnestly at work in the world--whose work was +healthy, sustained and constantly carried forward in the fear of +God--a work that was founded on a deep sense of its duty and its +value." + +The beginner should carefully study the lives of men whose undaunted +courage has won in the face of obstacles that would cow weaker +natures. + +It is in the season of youth, while the character is forming, that +the impulse to admire is the greatest. As we advance in life we +crystallize into habit and "_Nil admirari_" too often becomes our +motto. It is well to encourage the admiration of great characters +while the nature is plastic and open to impressions; for if the good +are 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 it +always rejoiced Dr. Arnold to hear his pupils expressing admiration +of great deeds, or full of enthusiasm for persons or even scenery. + +"I believe," said he, "that '_Nil admirari_' is the devil's favorite +text; and he could not choose a better to introduce his pupils into +the more esoteric parts of his doctrine. And therefore I have always +looked upon a man infected with the disorder of anti-romance as one +who has lost the finest part of his nature and his best protection +against 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 were +standing. Charles V made way for Titian; and one day when the brush +dropped 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 an +effort as idleness. "Idleness," says Burton, in that delightful old +book "The Anatomy of Melancholy," "is the bane of body and mind, the +nurse of naughtiness, the chief mother of all mischief, one of the +seven deadly sins, the devil's cushion, his pillow and chief +reposal . . . An idle dog will be mangy; and how shall an idle person +escape? Idleness of the mind is much worse than that of the body; +wit, without employment, is a disease--the rust of the soul, a +plague, a hell itself. As in a standing pool, worms and filthy +creepers increase, so do evil and corrupt thoughts in an idle +person; the soul is contaminated . . . Thus much I dare boldly say: +he or she that is idle, be they of what condition they will, never +so rich, so well allied, fortunate, happy--let them have all things +in abundance, all felicity that heart can wish and desire, all +contentment--so long as he, or she, or they, are idle, they shall +never 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 some +foolish fantasy or other.". + +Barton says a great deal more to the same effect. + +It has been truly said that to desire to possess without being +burdened by the trouble of acquiring is as much a sign of weakness +as to recognize that everything worth having is only to be got by +paying its price is the prime secret of practical strength. Even +leisure cannot be enjoyed unless it is won by effort. If it have not +been earned by work, the price has not been paid for it. + +But apart from the supreme satisfaction of winning, the effort +required to accomplish anything is ennobling, and, if there were no +other success it would be its own reward. + +"I don't believe," said Lord Stanley, in an address to the young men +of Glasgow, "that an unemployed man, however amiable and otherwise +respectable, ever was, or ever can be, really happy. As work is our +life, show me what you can do, and I will show you what you are. I +have spoken of love of one's work as the best preventive of merely +low and vicious tastes. I will go farther and say that it is the +best preservative against petty anxieties and the annoyances that +arise out of indulged self-love. Men have thought before now that +they could take refuge from trouble and vexation by sheltering +themselves, as it wore, in a world of their own. The experiment has +often been tried and always with one result. You cannot escape from +anxiety or labor--it is the destiny of humanity . . . Those who +shirk from facing trouble find that trouble comes to them. + +"The early teachers of Christianity ennobled the lot of toil by their +example. 'He that will not work,' said St. Paul, 'neither shall he +eat;' and he glorified himself in that he had labored with his hands +and had not been chargeable to any man. When St. Boniface landed in +Britain, he came with a gospel in one hand, and a carpenter's rule +in the other; and from England he afterward passed over into +Germany, carrying thither the art of building. Luther also, in the +midst of a multitude of other employments, worked diligently for a +living, earning his bread by gardening, building, turning, and even +clock-making." + +Coleridge has truly observed, that "if the idle are described as +killing time, the methodical man may be justly said to call it into +life and moral being, while he makes it the distinct object, not +only of the consciousness, but of the conscience. He organizes the +hours and gives them a soul; and by that, the very essence of which +is to fleet and to have been, he communicates an imperishable and +spiritual nature. Of the good and faithful servant, whose energies +thus directed are thus methodized, it is less truly affirmed that he +lives in time than that time lives in him. His days and months and +years, as the stops and punctual marks in the record of duties +performed, will survive the wreck of worlds, and remain extant when +time itself shall be no more." + +Washington, also, was an indefatigable man of business. From his +boyhood he diligently trained himself in habits of application, of +study and of methodical work. His manuscript school-books, which are +still preserved, show that, as early as the age of thirteen, he +occupied himself voluntarily, in copying out such things as forms of +receipts, notes of hand, bills of exchange, bonds, indentures, +leases, land warrants and other dry documents, all written out with +great care. And the habits which lie thus early acquired were, in a +great measure the foundation of those admirable business qualities +which he afterward so successfully brought to bear in the affairs of +the government. + +The man or woman who achieves success in the management of any great +affair of business is entitled to honor--it may be, to as much as +the artist who paints a picture, or the author who writes a book, or +the soldier who wins a battle. Their success may have been gained in +the face of as great difficulties, and after as great struggles; and +where they have won their battle it is at least a peaceful one and +there is no blood on their hands. + +Courage, combined with energy and perseverance, will overcome +difficulties apparently insurmountable. It gives force and impulse +to effort and does not permit it to retreat. Tyndall said of +Faraday, that "in his warm moments he formed a resolution and in his +cool ones he made that resolution good." Perseverance, working in +the right direction, grows with time and when steadily practiced, +even by the most humble, will rarely fail of its reward. Trusting in +the help of others is of comparatively little use. When one of +Michael Angelo's principal patrons died, he said: "I begin to +understand the promises of the world are for the most part vain +phantoms and that to confide in one's self and become something of +worth and value is the best and safest course." + +It ought to be a first principle, in beginning life to do with +earnestness what we have got to do. If it is worth doing at all, it +is worth doing earnestly. If it is to be done well at all it must be +done with purpose and devotion. + +Whatever may be our profession, let us mark all its bearings and +details, its principles, its instruments, its applications. There is +nothing about it should escape our study. There is nothing in it +either too high or too low for our observation and knowledge. While +we remain ignorant of any part of it, we are so far crippled in its +use; we are liable to be taken at a disadvantage. This may be the +very point the knowledge of which is most needed in some crisis, and +those versed in it will take the lead, while we must be content to +follow at a distance. + +Our business, in short, must be the main drain of our intellectual +activities day by day. It is the channel we have chosen for them +they must follow in it with a diffusive energy, filling every nook +and corner. This is a fair test of professional earnestness. When we +find our thoughts running after our business, and fixing themselves +with a familiar fondness upon its details, we may be pretty sure of +our way. When we find them running elsewhere and only resorting with +difficulty to the channel prepared for them, we may be equally sure +we have taken a wrong turn. We cannot be earnest about anything +which 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 the +persistent repetition of acts physical, mental, and moral. No matter +how much thought and ability a young man may have, failure is sure +to follow bad habits. While correct habits depend largely on self- +discipline, and often on self-denial, bad habits, like pernicious +weeds, spring up unaided and untrained to choke out the plants of +virtue. It is easy to destroy the seed at the beginning, but its +growth is so rapid, that its evil effects may not be perceptible +till the roots have sapped every desirable plant about it. + +No sane youth ever started out with the resolve to be a thief, a +tramp, or a drunkard. Yet it is the slightest deviation from honesty +that makes the first. It is the first neglect of a duty that makes +the second. And it is the first intoxicating glass that makes the +third. It is so easy not to begin, but the habit once formed and the +man is a slave, bound with galling, cankering chains, and the +strength of will having been destroyed, only God's mercy can cast +them off. + +Next to the moral habits that are the cornerstone of every worthy +character, the habit of industry should be ranked. In "this day and +generation," there is a wild desire on the part of young men to leap +into fortune at a bound, to reach the top of the ladder of success +without carefully climbing the rounds, but no permanent prosperity +was 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 rule +these fortunes have been lost in the effort to double them by the +quick and speculative process. + +Betters and gamblers usually die poor. But even where young men have +made a lucky stroke, the result is too often a misfortune. They +neglect the necessary, persistent effort. The habit of industry is +ignored. Work becomes distasteful, and the life is wrecked, looking +for chances that never come. + +There have been exceptional cases, where men of immoral habits, but +with mental force and unusual opportunities have won fortunes. Some +of these will come to the reader's mind at once, but he will be +forced to confess that he would not give up his manhood and +comparative poverty, in exchange for such material success. + +The best equipment a young man can have for the battle of life is a +conscience void of offense, sound common sense, and good health. Too +much importance cannot be attached to health. It is a blessing we do +not prize till it is gone. Some are naturally delicate and some are +naturally strong, but by habit the health of the vigorous may be +ruined, and by opposite habits the delicate may be made healthful +and strong. + +No matter the prospects and promises of overwork, it is a species of +suicide to continue it at the expense of health. Good men in every +department and calling, stimulated by zeal and an ambition +commendable in itself, have worked till the vital forces were +exhausted, and so were compelled to stop all effort in the prime of +life and on the threshold of success. + +The best preservers of health are regularity in correct hygienic +habits, and strict temperance. Alexander Stephens, of Georgia, it is +said contracted consumption when a child, and his friends did not +believe he would live to manhood, yet by correct habits, he not only +lived the allotted time of the Psalmist, but he did an amount of +work that would have been impossible to a much stronger man, without +his method of life. + +It should not be forgotten that good health is quite as much +dependent on mental as on physical habits. Worry, sensitiveness, and +temper have hastened to the grave many an otherwise splendid +character. + +The man of business must needs be subject to strict rule and system. +Business, like life, is managed by moral leverage; success in both +depending in no small degree upon that regulation of temper and +careful self-discipline, which give a wise man not only a command +over himself, but over others. Forbearance and self-control smooth +the road of life, and open many ways which would otherwise remain +closed. And so does self-respect; for as men respect themselves, so +will they usually, respect the personality of others. + +It is the same in politics as in business. Success in that sphere of +life is achieved less by talent than by temper, less by genius than +by character. If a man have not self-control, he will lack patience, +be wanting in tact, and have neither the power of governing himself +nor managing others. When the quality most needed in a prime +minister was the subject of conversation in the presence of Mr. +Pitt, one of the speakers said it was "eloquence;" another said it +was "knowledge;" and a third said it was "toil." "No," said Pitt, +"it is patience!" And patience means self-control, a quality in +which he himself was superb. His friend George Rose has said of him +that he never once saw Pitt out of temper. + +A strong temper is not necessarily a bad temper. But the stronger the +temper, the greater is the need of self-discipline and self-control. +Dr. Johnson says men grow better as they grow older, and improve +with experience; but this depends upon the width and depth and +generousness of their nature. It is not men's faults that ruin them +so much as the manner in which they conduct themselves after the +faults have been committed. The wise will profit by the suffering +they cause, and eschew them for the future; but there are those on +whom experience exerts no ripening influence, and who only grow +narrower and bitterer, and more vicious with time. + +What is called strong temper in a young man, often indicates a large +amount of unripe energy, which will expend itself in useful work if +the road be fairly opened to it. It is said of Girard that when he +heard of a clerk with a strong temper, he would readily take him +into his employment, and set him to work in a room by himself; +Girard being of opinion that such persons were the best workers, and +that their energy would expend itself in work if removed from the +temptation of quarrel. + +There is a great difference between a strong temper, "a righteous +indignation," and that irritability that curses its possessor and +all who come near him. + +Mr. Motley compares William the Silent to Washington, whom he in many +respects resembled. The American, like the Dutch patriot, stands out +in history as the very impersonation of dignity, bravery, purity, +and personal excellence. His command over his feelings, even in +moments of great difficulty and danger, was such as to convey the +impression, to those who did not know him intimately, that he was a +man of inborn calmness and almost impassiveness of disposition. Yet +Washington was by nature ardent and impetuous; his mildness, +gentleness politeness, and consideration for others, were the result +of rigid self-control and unwearied self-discipline, which he +diligently practiced even from his boyhood. His biographer says of +him, that "his temperament was ardent, his passions strong, and, +amidst the multiplied scenes of temptation and excitement through +which he passed, it was his constant effort, and ultimate triumph, +to check the one and subdue the other." And again: "His passions +were strong, and sometimes they broke out with vehemence, but he had +the power of checking them in an instant. Perhaps self-control was +the most remarkable trait of his character. It was in part the +effect of discipline; yet he seems by nature to have possessed this +power in a degree which has been denied to other men." + +The Duke of Wellington's natural temper, like that of Napoleon, was +strong in the extreme and it was only by watchful self-control that +he was enabled to restrain it. He studied calmness and coolness in +the midst of danger, like any Indian chief. At Waterloo, and +elsewhere, he gave his orders in the most critical moments without +the slightest excitement, and in a tone of voice almost more than +usually subdued. + +Abraham Lincoln in his early manhood was quick tempered and +combative, but he soon learned self-control and, as all know, became +as patient as he was forceful and sympathetic. "I got into the habit +of controlling my temper in the Black Hawk war," he said to Colonel +Forney, "and the good habit stuck to me as bad habits do to so +many." + +Patience is a habit that pays for its own cultivation and the +biographies of earth's greatest men, prove that it was one of their +most 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 his +heart. We have, however, to be on our guard against impatient scorn. +The best people are apt to have their impatient side, and often the +very temper which makes men earnest, makes them also intolerant. "Of +all mental gifts, the rarest is intellectual patience; and the last +lesson of culture is to believe in difficulties which are invisible +to ourselves." + +One of Burns' finest poems, written in his twenty-eighth year, is +entitled "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 his +own will; a confession at once devout, poetical, and human; a +history 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 to +cultivation as falsehood. Deceit may meet with temporary success, +but he who avails himself of it can be sure that in the end his "sin +will find him out." The credit of the truthful, reliable man stands +when the cash of a trickster might be doubted. "His word is as good +as his bond," is one of the highest compliments that can be paid to +the business man. + +Be truthful not only in great things, but in all things. The +slightest deviation from this habit may be the beginning of a career +of duplicity, ending in disgrace. + +But truthfulness, like the other virtues, should not be regarded as a +trade mark, a means to success. It brings its own reward in the +nobility it gives the character. An exception might be made here as +to that form of military deceit known as "stratagem," but it is the +duty of the enemy to expect it, and so guard against it. The word of +a soldier involves his honor, and if he pledges that word, to even a +foeman, he will keep it with his life. + +Like our own Washington, Wellington was a severe admirer of truth. An +illustration may be given. When afflicted by deafness, he consulted +a celebrated aurist, who, after trying all remedies in vain, +determined, as a last resource, to inject into the ear a strong +solution of caustic. It caused the most intense pain, but the +patient bore it with his usual equanimity. The family physician +accidentally calling one day, found the duke with flushed cheeks and +blood-shot eyes, and when he rose he staggered about like a drunken +man. The doctor asked to be permitted to look at his ear, and then +he found that a furious inflammation was going on, which, if not +immediately checked, must shortly reach the brain and kill him. +Vigorous remedies were at once applied, and the inflammation was +checked. But the hearing of that ear was completely destroyed. When +the aurist heard of the danger his patient had run, through the +violence of the remedy he had employed, he hastened to Apsley House +to express his grief and mortification; but the duke merely said: +"Do not say a word more about it--you did all for the best." The +aurist said it would be his ruin when it became known that he had +been the cause of so much suffering and danger to his grace. "But +nobody 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 grace +will allow me to attend you as usual, which will show the public +that you have not withdrawn your confidence from me?" "No," replied +the duke, kindly but firmly; "I can't do that, for that would be a +lie." He would not act a falsehood any more than he would speak one. + +But lying assumes many forms--such as diplomacy, expediency, and +moral reservation; and, under one guise or another, it is found more +or less pervading all classes of society. Sometimes it assumes the +form of equivocation or moral dodging--twisting and so stating the +things said as to convey a false impression--a kind of lying which a +Frenchman once described as "walking round about the truth." + +There are even men of narrow minds and dishonest natures, who pride +themselves upon their Jesuitical cleverness in equivocation, in +their serpent-wise shirking of the truth and getting out of moral +backdoors, in order to hide their real opinions and evade the +consequences of holding and openly professing them. Institutions or +systems based upon any such expedients must necessarily prove false +and hollow. "Though a lie be ever so well dressed," says George +Herbert, "it is ever overcome." Downright lying, though bolder and +more vicious, is even less contemptible than such kind of shuffling +and equivocation. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AS TO MARRIAGE. + +Mention has been made of the great influence on character of the +right kind of a home, in childhood and youth. The right kind of a +home depends almost entirely on the right kind of a wife or mother. + +The old saying, "Marry in haste and repent at leisure," will never +lose its force. "Worse than the man whose selfishness keeps him a +bachelor till death, is the young man, who, under an impulse he +imagines to be an undying love, marries a girl as poor, weak, and +selfish as himself. There have been cases where marriage under such +circumstances has aroused the man to effort and made him, +particularly if his wife were of the same character, but these are +so exceptional as to form no guide for people of average common +sense. + +Again, there have been men, good men, whose lives measured by the +ordinary standards were successful, who never married; but those who +hear or read of them, have the feeling that such careers were +incomplete. + +The most important voluntary act of every man and woman's life, is +marriage, and God has so ordained it. Hence it is an act which +should be love-prompted on both sides, and only entered into after +the most careful and prayerful deliberation. + +It is natural for young people of the opposite sex, who are much +thrown together, and so become in a way essential to each other's +happiness, to end by falling in love. It is said that "love is +blind," and the ancients so painted their mythological god, Cupid. +It is very certain that the fascination is not dependent on the +will; it is a divine, natural impulse, which has for its purpose the +continuance 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 associations +are of the right kind is sure to be brought into contact with the +good daughters of good mothers. With such association, love and +marriage should add to life's success and happiness, provided, +always, that the husband's circumstances warrant him in establishing +and maintaining a home. + +Granting, then, the right kind of a wife, and the ability to make a +home, the young man, with the right kind of stuff in him, takes a +great stride in the direction of success when he marries. + +No wise person will marry for beauty mainly. It may exercise a +powerful attraction in the first place, but it is found to be of +comparatively little consequence afterward. Not that beauty of +person is to be underestimated, for, other things being equal, +handsomeness of form and beauty of features are the outward +manifestations of health. But to marry a handsome figure without +character, 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-day +becomes commonplace to-morrow; whereas goodness, displayed through +the most ordinary features, is perennially lovely. Moreover, this +kind of beauty improves with age, and time ripens rather than +destroys it. After the first year, married people rarely think of +each other's features, whether they be classically beautiful or +otherwise. But they never fail to be cognizant of each other's +temper. "When I see a man," says Addison, "with a sour, riveted +face, I can not forbear pitying his wife; and when I meet with an +open, ingenuous countenance, I think of the happiness of his +friends, his family, and his relations." + +Edmund Burke, the greatest of English statesmen, was especially happy +in his marriage. He never ceased to be a lover, and long years after +the wedding he thus describes his wife: "She is handsome; but it is +a beauty not arising from features, from complexion, or from shape. +She has all three in a high degree, but it is not by these she +touches the heart; it is all that sweetness of temper, benevolence, +innocence, and sensibility, which a face can express, that forms her +beauty. She has a face that just raises your attention at first +sight; it grows on you every moment, and you wonder it did no more +than raise your attention at first. + +"Her eyes have a mild light, but they awe when she pleases; they +command, like a good man out of office, not by authority, but by +virtue. + +"Her stature is not tall; she is not made to be the admiration of +everybody, but the happiness of one. + +"She has all the firmness that does not exclude delicacy; she has all +the softness that does not imply weakness. + +"Her voice is a soft, low music--not formed to rule in public +assemblies, but to charm those who can distinguish a company from a +crowd; it has this advantage--you must come close to her to hear it. + +"To describe her body describes her mind--one is the transcript of +the other; her understanding is not shown in the variety of matters +it 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 was +ever less corrupted by the knowledge of it." + +A man's real character will always be more visible in his household +than anywhere else; and his practical wisdom will be better +exhibited by the manner in which he bears rule there than even in +the larger affairs of business or public life. His whole mind may be +in his business; but, if he would be happy, his whole heart must be +in his home. It is there that his genuine qualities most surely +display themselves--there that he shows his truthfulness, his love, +his sympathy, his consideration for others, his uprightness, his +manliness--in a word, his character. If affection be not the +governing principle in a household, domestic life may be the most +intolerable of despotisms. Without justice, also, there can be +neither love, confidence, nor respect, on which all true domestic +rule is founded. + +It is by the regimen of domestic affection that the heart of man is +best composed and regulated. The home is the woman's kingdom, her +state, her world--where she governs by affection, by kindness, by +the power of gentleness. There is nothing which so settles the +turbulence of a man's nature as his union in life with a high-minded +woman. There he finds rest, contentment, and happiness--rest of +brain and peace of spirit. He will also often find in her his best +counselor, for her instinctive tact will usually lead him right when +his own unaided reason might be apt to go wrong. The true wife is a +staff to lean upon in times of trial and difficulty; and she is +never wanting in sympathy and solace when distress occurs or fortune +frowns. In the time of youth, she is a comfort and an ornament of +man's life; and she remains a faithful helpmate in maturer years, +when life has ceased to be an anticipation, and we live in its +realities. + +Luther, a man full of human affection, speaking of his wife, said, "I +would not exchange my poverty with her for all the riches of Croesus +without her." Of marriage he observed: "The utmost blessing that God +can confer on a man is the possession of a good and pious wife, with +whom he may live in peace and tranquility--to whom he may confide +his whole possessions, even his life and welfare." And again he +said, "To rise betimes, and to marry young, are what no man ever +repents of doing." + +Some persons are disappointed in marriage, because they expect too +much 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 perhaps +pictured a condition never experienced on this side of heaven; and +when real life comes, with its troubles and cares, there is a sudden +waking-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 lower +character in a wife. If she do not sustain and elevate what is +highest in his nature, she will speedily reduce him to her own +level. Thus a wife may be the making or the unmaking of the best of +men. An illustration of this power is furnished in the life of +Bunyan, the profligate tinker, who had the good fortune to marry, in +early 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 heavy +stroke quite takes the heart out of me. Every thing else that has +happened only made me more determined to overcome all difficulties; +but after this sad stroke I feel crushed and void of strength. Only +three short months of her society, after four years' separation! I +married her for love, and the longer I lived with her I loved her +the more. A good wife, and a good, brave, kind-hearted mother was +she, deserving all the praises you bestowed upon her at our parting +dinner, for teaching her own and the native children, too, at +Kolobeng. I try to bow to the blow as from our Heavenly Father, who +orders all things for us . . . I shall do my duty still, but it is +with a darkened horizon that I again set about it." + +Besides being a helper, woman is emphatically a consoler. Her +sympathy is unfailing. She soothes, cheers, and comforts. Never was +this more true than in the case of the wife of Tom Hood, whose +tender devotion to him, during a life that was a prolonged illness, +is one of the most affecting things in biography. A woman of +excellent good sense, she appreciated her husband's genius, and, by +encouragement and sympathy, cheered and heartened him to renewed +effort in many a weary struggle for life. She created about him an +atmosphere of hope and cheerfulness, and nowhere did the sunshine of +her love seem so bright as when lighting up the couch of her invalid +husband. + +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 between +education and learning, as there is between character and +reputation. + +Learning may be regarded as mental capital, in the way of accumulated +facts. Education is the drawing out and development of the best that +is in the heart, the head, and the hand. + +The civilized world has a score of very learned men, to the one who +may be said to be thoroughly educated. The learned man may be +familiar with many languages, and sciences, and have all the facts +of history and literature at his fingers' tip, and yet be as +helpless as an infant and as impractical as a fool. An educated man, +a man with his powers developed by training, may know no language +but his mother tongue, may be ignorant as to literature and art, and +yet 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 can +make of use in the battle of life. He resembles the miser who fills +his coffers with gold and keeps it out of circulation. Beyond the +selfish joy of possession, his wealth is worthless, and its +acquisition has unfitted him for the struggle. The educated man, to +continue the illustration, may not be rich, but he knows how to use +every cent he owns, and he places it where, under his energy, it +will grow into dollars. + +Far be it from us to underestimate the value of learning. Many of the +world's greatest men have been learned, but without exception such +men have also been educated. They have been trained to make their +knowledge available for the benefit of themselves and their fellow +men. + +The athlete who develops his muscles to their greatest capacity of +strength and flexibility, and this can only be done by observing +strictly the laws of health, is physically an educated man. Every +mechanic whose hands and brain have been trained to the expertness +required by the master workman, is well-educated in his particular +calling. The man who is an expert accountant, or a trained civil +engineer, may know nothing of the higher mathematical principles, +but he is better educated than the scholar who has only a +theoretical knowledge of all the mathematics that have ever been +published. + +The educated man is the man who can do something, and the quality of +his work marks the degree of his education. One might be learned in +law in a phenomenal way, and yet, unless he was educated, trained to +the practice, he would be beaten in the preparation of a case by a +lawyer's clerk. + +There are men who can write and talk learnedly on political economy +and the laws of trade, and quote from memory all the statistics of +the census library, and yet be immeasurably surpassed in practical +business, by a young man whose college was the store, and whose +university was the counting room. + +It should not be inferred from this that learning is not of the +greatest value, or that the facts obtained from the proper books are +to be ignored. The best investment a young man can make is in good +books, the study of which broadens the mind, and the facts of which +equip him the better for his life calling. + +But books are not valuable only because of the available information +they give; when they do not instruct, they elevate and refine. + +"Books," said Hazlitt, "wind into the heart; the poet's verse slides +into the current of our blood. We read them when young, we remember +them when old. We read there of what has happened to others; we feel +that it has happened to ourselves. They are to be had everywhere +cheap and good. We breathe but the air of books. We owe everything +to their authors, on this side barbarism." + +A good book is often the best urn of a life, enshrining the best +thoughts of which that life was capable; for the world of a man's +life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the +best books are treasuries of good words and golden thoughts, which, +remembered and cherished, become our abiding companions and +comforters. "They are never alone," said Sir Philip Sidney, "that +are accompanied by noble thoughts." The good and true thought may in +time of temptation be as an angel of mercy, purifying and guarding +the soul. It also enshrines the germs of action, for good words +almost invariably inspire to good works. + +Thus Sir Henry Lawrence prized above all other compositions +Wordsworth's "Character of the Happy Warrior," which he endeavored +to embody in his own life. It was ever before him as an exemplar. He +thought of it continually, and often quoted it to others. His +biographer says, "He tried to conform his own life and to assimilate +his own character to it; and he succeeded, as all men succeed who +are truly in earnest." + +Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most +lasting products of human effort. Temples crumble into ruin; +pictures and statues decay; but books survive. Time is of no account +with great thoughts, which are as fresh to-day as when they first +passed through their authors' minds, ages ago. What was then said +and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed +page. The only effect of time has been to sift and winnow out the +bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is +really good. + +To the young man, "thirsting for learning and hungering for +education," there are no books more helpful than the biographies of +those 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 Book +of Books. And what is the Bible, the most sacred and impressive of +all books--the educator of youth, the guide of manhood, and the +consoler of age--but a series of biographies of great heroes and +patriarchs, prophets, kings and judges, culminating in the greatest +biography of all--the Life embodied in the New Testament? How much +have the great examples there set forth done for mankind! How many +have drawn from them their best strength, their highest wisdom, +their best nurture and admonition! Truly does a great and deeply +pious writer describe the Bible as a book whose words "live in the +ear like a music that never can be forgotten--like the sound of +church-bells which the convert hardly knows how he can forego. Its +felicities often seem to be almost things rather than mere words. It +is part of the national mind, and the anchor of national +seriousness. The memory of the dead passes into it. The potent +traditions of childhood are stereotyped in its verses. The power of +all the griefs and trials of man is hidden beneath its words. It is +the representative of his best moments; and all that has been about +him of soft, and gentle, and pure, and penitent, and good, speaks to +him forever out of his English Bible. It is his sacred thing, which +doubt has never dimmed and controversy never soiled. In the length +and breadth of the land there is not an individual with one spark of +religiousness about him whose spiritual biography is not in his +Saxon Bible." + +History itself is best studied in biography. Indeed, history is +biography--collective humanity as influenced and governed by +individual men. "What is all history," says Emerson, "but the work +of ideas, a record of the incomparable energy which his infinite +aspirations infuse into man? In its pages it is always persons we +see more than principles. Historical events are interesting to us +mainly in connection with the feelings, the sufferings, and +interests of those by whom they are accomplished. In history we are +surrounded by men long dead, but whose speech and whose deeds +survive. We almost catch the sound of their voices; and what they +did constitutes the interest of history. We never feel personally +interested in masses of men; but we feel and sympathize with the +individual actors, whose biographies afford the finest and most real +touches 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 his +deformities; nor does the biographer give undue prominence to the +defects of the character he portrays. Not many men are so outspoken +as Cromwell was when he sat to Cooper for his miniature: "Paint me +as I am," said he, "wart and all." Yet, if we would have a faithful +likeness of faces and characters, they must be painted as they are. +"Biography," said Sir Walter Scott, "the most interesting of every +species of composition, loses all its interest with me when the +shades and lights of the principal characters are not accurately and +faithfully detailed. I can no more sympathize with a mere eulogist +than I can with a ranting hero on the stage." + +It is to be regretted that in this day the country is flooded with +cheap, trashy fiction, the general tendency of which is not only not +educational, but is positively destructive. The desire to read this +stuff is as demoralizing as the opium habit. + +There are works of fiction, cheap and available, too, whose influence +is elevating, and some knowledge of which is essential to the young +man who is using his spare hours for the purpose of self-education. + +There is no room for doubt that the surpassing interest which +fiction, whether in poetry or prose, possesses for most minds arises +mainly from the biographic element which it contains. Homer's "Iliad +"owes its marvelous popularity to the genius which its author +displayed in the portrayal of heroic character. Yet he does not so +much describe his personages in detail as make them develop +themselves 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 any +but what are to be found there." + +The genius of Shakespeare, also, was displayed in the powerful +delineation of character, and the dramatic evolution of human +passions. His personages seem to be real--living and breathing +before us. So, too, with Cervantes, whose Sancho Panza, though +homely and vulgar, is intensely human. The characters in Le Sage's +"Gil Bias," in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," and in Scott's +marvelous muster-roll, seem to us almost as real as persons whom we +have actually known; and De Foe's greatest works are but so many +biographies, painted in minute detail, with reality so apparently +stamped upon every page that it is difficult to believe his Robinson +Crusoe and Colonel Jack to have been fictitious persons instead of +real ones. + +Then we have a fine American literature, which should be read after +the history of the country is mastered, the stories of Cooper are +fresh and invigorating, and those of Hawthorne are life studies and +prose poems. Holmes, Lowell, Emerson, Bayard Taylor, and scores of +other 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 the +thoughts and aspirations, they act as preservatives against low +associations. "A natural turn for reading and intellectual +pursuits," says Thomas Hood, "probably preserved me from the moral +ship-wreck so apt to befall those who are deprived in early life of +their parental pilotage. My books kept me from the ring, the dogpit, +the tavern, the saloon. The closet associate of Pope and +Addison, the mind accustomed to the noble though silent discourse of +Shakespeare and Milton, will hardly seek or put up with low company +and slaves." + +It has been truly said that the best books are those which most +resemble good actions. They are purifying, elevating, and +sustaining; they enlarge and liberalize the mind; they preserve it +against vulgar worldliness; they tend to produce high-minded +cheerfulness and equanimity of character; they fashion, and shape, +and humanize the mind. In the Northern universities, the schools in +which the ancient classics are studied are appropriately styled "The +Humanity Classes." + +Erasmus, the great scholar, was even of opinion that books were the +necessaries of life, and clothes the luxuries; and he frequently +postponed buying the latter until he had supplied himself with the +former. His greatest favorites were the writings of Cicero, which he +says he always felt himself the better for reading. "I can never," +he says, "read the works of Cicero on 'Old Age,' or 'Friendship,' or +his 'Tusculan Disputations,' without fervently pressing them to my +lips, without being penetrated with veneration for a mind little +short of inspired by God himself." + +It is unnecessary to speak of the enormous moral influence which +books have exercised upon the general civilization of mankind, from +the Bible downward. They contain the treasured knowledge of the +human 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 in +all times. "From the Gospel to the Contrat Social," says De Bonald, +"it is books that have made revolutions." Indeed, a great book is +often a greater thing than a great battle. Even works of fiction +have occasionally exercised immense power on society. + +Bear in mind that it is not all we eat that nourishes, but what we +digest. The learned man is a glutton as to books, but the educated +man knows that, no matter how much is read, benefit is only derived +from the thoughts that develop our own thoughts and strengthen our +own minds. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE. + +"What experience have you had?" This is apt to be the first question +put by an employer to the applicant for a place, be he mechanic, +clerk, or laborer. If you need a doctor, you would prefer to trust +your case to a man of experience, rather than to one fresh from a +medical college. Apart from the established reputation, that comes +only with time, and natural abilities which count for much, the +principal difference between men in every calling is the difference +in their experiences. + +If this experience is so essential, we must regard as wanting in +judgment the young man, who, after a short service, imagines he is +as well qualified to conduct the business as his superior in place. +No amount of natural ability, and no effort of energy can compensate +for the training that comes from experience. Indeed, it is only +after we have studied and tested ourselves, and overestimated our +talents to our injury, more than once, that experience gives us a +proper estimate of our own strength and weakness. + +Contact with others is requisite to enable a man to know himself. It +is only by mixing freely in the world that one can form a proper +estimate of his own capacity. Without such experience, one is apt to +become conceited, puffed up, and arrogant; at all events, he will +remain ignorant of himself, though he may heretofore have enjoyed no +other company. + +Swift once said: "It is an uncontroverted truth, that no man ever +made an ill-figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one +who mistook them." Many persons, however, are readier to take +measure of the capacity of others than of themselves. "Bring him to +me," said a certain Dr. Tronchin, of Geneva, speaking of Rousseau-- +"bring him to me that I may see whether he has got anything in +him!"--the probability being that Rousseau, who knew himself better, +was much more likely to take measure of Tronchin than Tronchin was +to take measure of him. + +A due amount of self-knowledge is, therefore, necessary for those who +would _be_ anything or _do_ anything in the world. It is also one of +the first essentials to the formation of distinct personal +convictions. Frederick Perthes once said to a young friend, "You +know only too well what you _can_ do; but till you have learned what +you _can not_ do, you will neither accomplish anything of moment nor +know inward peace." + +Any one who would profit by experience will never be above asking +help. He who thinks himself already too wise to learn of others, +will never succeed in doing anything either good or great. We have +to keep our minds and hearts open, and never be ashamed to learn, +with the assistance of those who are wiser and more experienced than +ourselves. + +The man made wise by experience endeavors to judge correctly of the +things which come under his observation and form the subject of his +daily life. What we call common sense is, for the most part, but the +result of common experience wisely improved. Nor is great ability +necessary to acquire it, so much as patience, accuracy, and +watchfulness. + +The results of experience are, of course, only to be achieved by +living; and living is a question of time. The man of experience +learns to rely upon time as his helper. "Time and I against any +two," was a maxim of Cardinal Mazarin. Time has been described as a +beautifier and as a consoler; but it is also a teacher. It is the +food of experience, the soil of wisdom. It may be the friend or the +enemy of youth; and time will sit beside the old as a consoler or as +a tormentor, according as it has been used or misused, and the past +life has been well or ill spent. + +"Time," says George Herbert, "is the rider that breaks youth." To the +young, how bright the new world looks!--how full of novelty, of +enjoyment, of pleasure! But as years pass, we find the world to be a +place of sorrow as well as of joy. As we proceed through life, many +dark vistas open upon us--of toil, suffering, difficulty, perhaps +misfortune and failure. Happy they who can pass through and amidst +such trials with a firm mind and pure heart, encountering trials +with cheerfulness, and standing erect beneath even the heaviest +burden! + +Thomas A. Edison, the great inventor, in speaking of his success to +the writer, said: + +"I had when I started out all the patience and perseverance that I +have now, but I lacked the experience. Seeing that I had only ten +weeks' regular schooling in all my life, I can say with truth that +experience has been my school and my only one. + +"Many believe that my life has been a success from the start, and I +do not try to undeceive them, but as a matter of fact my failures +have exceeded my successes as one hundred to one; but even the +experience of these failures has been in itself an educator and has +enabled me not to repeat them." + +The brave man will not be baffled, but tries and tries again until he +succeeds. The tree does not fall at the first stroke, but only by +repeated strokes and after great labor. We may see the visible +success at which a man has arrived, but forget the toil and +suffering and peril through which it has been achieved. For the same +reason, it is often of advantage for a man to be under the necessity +of having to struggle with poverty and conquer it. "He who has +battled," says Carlyle, "were it only with poverty and hard toil, +will be found stronger and more expert than he who could stay at +home from the battle, concealed among the provision wagons, or even +rest unwatchfully 'abiding by the stuff.'" + +Scholars have found poverty tolerable compared with the privation of +intellectual food. Riches weigh much more heavily upon the mind. "I +cannot but choose say to Poverty," said Richter, "Be welcome! So +that thou come not too late in life." Poverty, Horace tells us, +drove him to poetry and poetry introduced him to Varus and Virgil +and Maecenas. "Obstacles," says Michelet, "are great incentives. I +lived for whole years upon a Virgil and found myself well off." + +Many have to make up their minds to encounter failure again and again +before they succeed; but if they have pluck, the failure will only +serve to rouse their courage and stimulate them to renewed efforts. +Talma, the greatest of actors, was hissed off the stage when he +first appeared on it. Lacordaire, one of the greatest preachers of +modern times, only acquired celebrity after repeated failures. +Montalembert said of his first public appearance in the church of +St. 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 years +after his _debut_, Lacordaire was preaching in Notre Dame to +audiences such as few French orators have addressed since the time +of Bossuet and Massilon. + +When Mr. Cobden first appeared as a speaker at a public meeting in +Manchester, he completely broke down and the chairman apologized for +his failure. Sir James Graham and Mr. Disraeli failed and were +derided at first, and only succeeded by dint of great labor and +application. At one time Sir James Graham had almost given up public +speaking in despair. He said to his friend Sir Francis Baring: "I +have tried it every way--extempore, from notes, and committing it +all to memory--and I can't do it. I don't know why it is, but I am +afraid I shall never succeed." Yet by dint of perseverance, Graham, +like Disraeli, lived to become one of the most effective and +impressive 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 in +poverty and met with many disappointments before the world came to +appreciate the value of their great inventions. + +It can be said with truth that these great men could have avoided +much of their trouble if they had had the necessary experience. But +particularly in the two cases cited before, the inventions were new +to the world and it needed that the world should have the experience +of their utility as well as the inventors. + +Science also has had its martyrs, who have fought their way to light +through difficulty, persecution and suffering. We need not refer to +the cases of Bruno, Galileo and others, persecuted because of the +supposed heterodoxy of their views. But there have been other +unfortunates among men of science, whose genius has been unable to +save them from the fury of their enemies. Thus Bailly, the +celebrated French astronomer (who had been mayor of Paris) and +Lavoisier, the great chemist, were both guillotined in the first +French Revolution. When the latter, after being sentenced to death +by the Commune, asked for a few days' respite to enable him to +ascertain the result of some experiments he had made during his +confinement, the tribunal refused his appeal, and ordered him for +immediate execution, one of the judges saying that "the Republic has +no need of philosophers." In England also, about the same time, Dr. +Priestley, the father of modern chemistry, had his house burned over +his head and his library destroyed, amidst the shouts of "No +philosophers!" and he fled from his native country to lay his bones +in a foreign land. + +Courageous men have often turned enforced solitude to account in +executing works of great pith and moment. It is in solitude that the +passion for spiritual perfection best nurses itself. The soul +communes with itself in loneliness until its energy often becomes +intense. But whether a man profits by solitude or not will mainly +depend upon his own temperament, training and character. While, in a +large-natured man, solitude will make the pure heart purer, in the +small-natured man it will only serve to make the hard heart still +harder; for though solitude may be the nurse of great spirits, it is +the torment of small ones. + +Not only have many of the world's greatest benefactors, men whose +lives history now records the most successful, had not only to +contend with poverty, but it was their misfortune to be +misunderstood and to be regarded as criminals. Many a great reformer +in religion, science, and government has paid for his opinions by +imprisonment. Speaking of these great men, a prominent English +writer says: Prisons may have held them, but their thoughts were not +to be confined by prison walls. They have burst through and defied +the power of their persecutors. It was Lovelace, a prisoner, who +wrote: + +"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 been +done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled +against the tide and reached the shore exhausted, only to grasp the +sand and expire. They have done their duty and been content to die. +But death hath no power over such men; their hallowed memories still +survive to soothe and purify and bless us. "Life," said Goethe, "to +us all is suffering. Who save God alone shall call us to our +reckoning? Let not reproaches fall on the departed. Not what they +have failed in, nor what they have suffered, but what they have +done, ought to occupy the survivors." + +Thus, it is not ease and facility that try men and bring out the good +that is in them, so much as trial and difficulty. Adversity is the +touchstone of character. As some herbs need to be crushed to give +forth their sweetest odor, so some natures need to be tried by +suffering to evoke the excellence that is in them. Hence trials +often unmask virtues and bring to light hidden graces. + +Suffering may be the appointed means by which the higher nature of +man is to be disciplined and developed. Assuming happiness to be the +end of being, sorrow may be the indispensable condition through +which it is to be reached. Hence St. Paul's noble paradox +descriptive of the Christian life--"As chastened, and not killed; as +sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as +having 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 as +sorrowful. Suffering is a misfortune as viewed from the one side, +and a discipline as viewed from the other. But for suffering, the +best part of many men's natures would sleep a deep sleep. Indeed, it +might almost be said that pain and sorrow were the indispensable +conditions of some men's success, and the necessary means to evoke +the 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 do +in the beginning of his career, particularly if he be dependent on +himself, should take comfort from the thought that others who have +risen to success have had to travel the same hard road; and such men +have confessed that these trials, these bitter experiences, were the +most valuable of their lives. + +Life, all sunshine without shade, all happiness without sorrow, all +pleasure without pain, were not life at all--at least not human +life. Take the lot of the happiest--it is a tangled yarn. It is made +up of sorrows and joys; and the joys are all the sweeter because of +the sorrows; bereavements and blessings, one following another, +making us sad and blessed by turns. Even death itself makes life +more loving; it binds us more closely together while here. Dr. +Thomas Browne has argued that death is one of the necessary +conditions of human happiness, and he supports his argument with +great force and eloquence. But when death comes into a household, we +do not philosophize--we only feel. The eyes that are full of tears +do not see; though in course of time they come to see more clearly +and brightly than those that have never known sorrow. + +There is much in life that, while in this state, we can never +comprehend. There is, indeed, a great deal of mystery in life--much +that we see "as in a glass darkly." But though we may not apprehend +the full meaning of the discipline of trial through which the best +have to pass, we must have faith in the completeness of the design +of which our little individual lives form a part. + +We have each to do our duty in that sphere of life in which we have +been placed. Duty alone is true; there is no true action but in its +accomplishment. Duty is the end and aim of the highest life; the +truest pleasure of all is that derived from the consciousness of its +fulfillment. Of all others, it is the one that is most thoroughly +satisfying, 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, of +love, or of duty--like the silk-worm that spins its little cocoon +and 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 great +aim and end of his being to the best of his power; and when that is +done, the accidents of the flesh will affect but little the +immortality we shall at last put on. + + + +CHAPTER X + +SELECTING A CALLING. + +In reading the lives of great men, one is struck with a very +important fact: that their success has been won in callings for +which in early manhood they had no particular liking. Necessity or +chance has, in many cases, decided what their life-work should be. +But even where the employment was at first uncongenial, a strict +sense of duty and a strong determination to master the difficult and +to like the disagreeable, conquered in the end. + +In these days of fierce competition, no matter how ardent the desire +for fame, he is a dreamer who loses sight of the monetary returns of +his life-efforts. + +There have been a few men whose wants were simple, and these wants +guarded against by a certain official income, who could afford to +ignore gain and to work for the truths of science or the good of +humanity. The great English chemist Faraday was of this class. Once +asked by a friend why he did not use his great abilities and +advantages to accumulate a fortune, he said: "My dear fellow, I +haven't time to give to money making." + +It is, perhaps, to be regretted that in nearly every case the efforts +of to-day, whether in commerce, trade, or science, have for their +purpose the making of fortunes. Nor should this spirit be condemned, +for fortune in the hands of the right men is a blessing to the world +and particularly to those who are more improvident. + +Peter Cooper, Stephen Girard, George Peabody, and many other eminent +Americans who made their way to great wealth from comparative +poverty, used that wealth to enable young men, starting life as they +did, to achieve the same success without having to encounter the +same obstacles. + +It is a well-known fact that boys who live near the sea have an +intense yearning to become sailors. Every healthy boy has a longing +to be a soldier, and he takes the greatest delight in toy military +weapons. + +Our ideals for living, particularly when they are the creations of a +youthful imagination, are but seldom safe guides for our mature +years. The fairy stories that delighted our childhood and the +romances 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 or +that girl shall follow out this or that life-calling, without any +regard to the tastes, or any consideration of the natural capacity. +It is equally an error, because the boy or girl may like this or +that branch of study more than another, to infer that this indicates +a talent for that subject. Arithmetic is but seldom as popular with +young people as history, simply because the latter requires less +mental effort to master it. The world is full of professional +incompetents--creatures of circumstances very often, but more +frequently their life-failure is due to the whims of ambitious +parents. + +While the child and even the young man are but seldom the best judges +of what a life-calling should be, yet the observant parent and +teacher can discover the natural inclination, and by encouragement, +develop this inclination. + +As the wrecks on sandy beaches and by rock-bound shores, warn the +careful mariner from the same fate, so the countless wrecks which +the young man sees on every hand, increasing as he goes through +life, should warn him from the same dangers. + +It is stated, on what seems good authority, that ninety-five percent +of the men who go into business for themselves, fail at some time. +It would be an error, however, to infer from this that the failures +were due to a mistaken life-calling. They have been due rather to +unforeseen circumstances, over-confidence, or the desire to succeed +too rapidly. Benefiting by these reverses, a large percent of the +failures have entered on the life-struggle again and won. + +In the early days of the world's history, the callings or fields of +effort were necessarily limited to the chase, herding or +agriculture. In those times, the toiler had not only to work for the +support 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 his +labor from the theft of robber neighbors. + +In this later and broader day, civilization has opened up thousands +of avenues of effort that were unknown to our less fortunate +ancestors. + +While the world is filled with human misfits, round pegs in square +holes and square pegs in round holes, the choice of callings has so +spread with the growth of civilization, that every young man who +reasons for himself and studies his own powers, can with more or +less certainty find out his calling, and pursue it with a success +entirely dependent on his own fitness and energy. + +In a general way, the great fields of human effort, at this time, may +be divided into three classes. First, the so-called "learned +professions"--journalism, theology, medicine and law. Second, the +callings pertaining to public life, such as politics, military, +science, and education. Third, those vocations that pertain to +production, like agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. + +But apart from the callings selected, it should be kept carefully in +mind that, no matter the business, success is dependent entirely on +the man. + +Business is the salt of life, which not only gives a grateful smack +to it, but dries up those crudities that would offend, preserves +from putrefaction, and drives off all those blowing flies that would +corrupt it. Let a man be sure to drive his business rather than let +it drive him. When a man is but once brought to be driven, he +becomes a vassal to his affairs. Reason and right give the quickest +dispatch. All the entanglements that we meet with arise from the +irrationality of ourselves or others. With a wise and honest man a +business is soon ended, but with a fool and knave there is no +conclusion, and seldom even a beginning. + +Having decided on a calling, bear ever in mind that faith and +trustfulness lie at the foundation of trade and commercial +intercourse, and business transactions of every kind. A community of +known swindlers and knaves would try in vain to avail themselves of +the advantages of traffic, or to gain access to those circles where +honor and honesty are indispensable passports. Hence the value which +is attached, by all right-minded men, to purity of purpose and +integrity of character. A man may be unfortunate, he may be poor and +penniless; but if he is known to possess unbending integrity, an +unwavering purpose to do what is honest and just, he will have +friends and patrons whatever may be the embarrassments and +exigencies into which he is thrown. The poor man may thus possess a +capital of which none of the misfortunes and calamities of life can +deprive him. We have known men who have been suddenly reduced from +affluence to penury by misfortunes, which they could neither foresee +nor prevent. A fire has swept away the accumulations of years; +misplaced confidence, a flood, or some of the thousand casualties to +which commercial men are exposed, have stripped them of their +possessions. To-day they have been prosperous, to-morrow every +prospect is blighted, and everything in its aspect is dark and +dismal. Their business is gone, their property is gone, and they +feel that all is gone; but they have a rich treasure which the fire +cannot consume, which the flood cannot carry away. They have +integrity of character, and this gives them influence, raises up +friends, and furnishes them with means to start afresh in the world +once more. Young men, especially, should be deeply impressed with +the vast importance of cherishing those principles, and of +cultivating those habits, which will secure for them the confidence +and esteem of the wise and good. Let it be borne in mind that no +brilliancy of genius, no tact or talent in business, and no amount +of success, will compensate for duplicity, shuffling, and trickery. +There may be apparent advantage in the art and practice of +dissimulation, and in violating those great principles which lie at +the foundation of truth and duty; but it will at length be seen +that a dollar was lost where a cent was gained; that present +successes are outweighed, a thousand-fold, by the pains and +penalties which result from loss of confidence and loss of +reputation. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of +young men to abstain from every course, from every act, which shocks +their moral sensibilities, wounds their conscience, and has a +tendency 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, or +the possession of influential friends, may be great advantages, but +more frequently they are hindrances. To win you must fight for +yourself, and the effort will give you strength. + +The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the +individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the +true source of national vigor and strength. Help from without is +often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably +invigorates. Whatever is done _for_ men or classes, to a certain +extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for +themselves; and where men are subjected to over-guidance and over- +government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparatively +helpless. + +The privileges of a superior education, like the inheritance of a +fortune, depends upon the man. It should encourage those who have +only themselves and God to look to for support, to remember that +self-education is the best education, and that some of the greatest +men have had few or no school advantages. + +Daily experience shows that it is energetic individualism which +produces the most powerful effects upon the life and action of +others, and really constitutes the best practical education. +Schools, academies, and colleges give but the merest beginnings of +culture 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 and +manufactories, and in the busy haunts of men. This is that finishing +instruction as members of society, which Schiller designated "the +education of the human race," consisting in action, conduct, self- +culture, self-control--all that tends to discipline a man truly, and +fit him for the proper performance of the duties and business of +life--a kind of education not to be learned from books, or acquired +by any amount of mere literary training. With his usual weight of +words Bacon observes, that "Studies teach not their own use; but +that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation;" +a remark that holds true of actual life, as well as of the +cultivation of the intellect itself. For all experience serves to +illustrate and enforce the lesson, that a man perfects himself by +work more than by reading--that it is life rather than literature, +action rather than study, and character rather than biography, which +tend perpetually to renovate mankind. + +No matter how humble your calling in life may be, take heart from the +fact that many of the world's greatest men have had no superior +advantages. 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 an +errand boy in a grocery store at the age of eleven. + +Great men of science, literature, and art--apostles of great thoughts +and lords of the great heart--have belonged to no exclusive class or +rank in life. They have come alike, from colleges, workshops, and +farm-houses--from the huts of poor men and the mansions of the rich. +Some of God's greatest apostles have come from "the ranks." The +poorest have sometimes taken the highest places, nor have +difficulties apparently the most insuperable proved obstacles in +their way. Those very difficulties, in many instances, would even +seem to have been their best helpers, by evoking their powers of +labor and endurance, and stimulating into life faculties which might +otherwise have lain dormant. The instances of obstacles thus +surmounted, and of triumphs thus achieved, are indeed so numerous as +almost to justify the proverb that "with will one can do anything." + +If we took to England, the mother country, a land where the +advantages are not nearly so great as in this and the difficulties +greater, we shall find noble spirits rising to usefulness and +eminence 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 the +editor of the _Quarterly Review_, Bloomfield the poet, and William +Carey the missionary; whilst Morrison, another laborious missionary, +was a maker of shoe-lasts. Within the last few years, a profound +naturalist has been discovered in the person of a shoemaker at +Banff, named Thomas Edwards, who, while maintaining himself by his +trade, has devoted his leisure to the study of natural science in +all its brandies, his researches in connection with the smaller +crustaceae having been rewarded by the discovery of a new species, +to which the name of "Praniza Edwardsii" has been given by +naturalists. + +Nor have tailors been undistinguished. John Stow, the historian, +worked at the trade during some part of his life. Jackson, the +painter, made clothes until he reached manhood. The brave Sir John +Hawkswood, who so greatly distinguished himself at Poictiers, and +was knighted by Edward III for his valor, was in early life +apprenticed to a London tailor. Admiral Hobson, who broke the boom +at Vigo in 1702, belonged to the same calling. He was working as +tailor's apprentice near Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, when the +news flew through the village that a squadron of men-of-war was +sailing off the island. He sprang from the shopboard, and ran down +with his comrades to the beach, to gaze upon the glorious sight. The +boy was suddenly inflamed with the ambition to be a sailor; and +springing into a boat, he rowed off to the squadron, gained the +admiral's ship, and was accepted as a volunteer. Years after, he +returned to his native village full of honors, and dined off bacon +and eggs in the cottage where he had worked as an apprentice. + +Oliver Goldsmith was regarded as a dunce in his school days, and +Daniel Webster was so dull as a school-boy as not to indicate in any +way the great abilities he was to display. + +Humbert was a scapegrace when a youth; at sixteen he ran away from +home and was by turns servant to a tradesman at Nancy, a workman at +Lyons, and a hawker of rabbit-skins. In 1792, he enlisted as a +volunteer 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 cases +promotion was rapid, in others it was slow. St. Cyr, the son of a +tanner of Toul, began life as an actor, after which he enlisted in +the chasseurs and was promoted to a captaincy within a year. Victor, +Due de Belluno, enlisted in the artillery in 1781: during the events +preceding the Revolution he was discharged; but immediately on the +outbreak of war he re-enlisted, and in the course of a few months +his intrepidity and ability secured his promotion as adjutant-major +and chief of battalion. Murat was the son of a village innkeeper in +Perigord, where he looked after the horses. He first enlisted in a +regiment of chasseurs, from which he was dismissed for +insubordination; but again, enlisting he shortly rose to the rank of +colonel. Ney enlisted at eighteen in a hussar regiment and gradually +advanced step by step; Kleber soon discovered his merits, surnaming +him "The Indefatigable," and promoted him to be adjutant-general +when only twenty-five. + +General Christopher Carson, or "Kit" Carson as he is known to the +world, although strictly temperate in his life and as gentle as a +blue-eyed child in his manner, ran away from his home in Missouri to +the Western wilds, when he was a boy of fourteen. His father wanted +him to be a farmer, but Providence had greater if not nobler uses +for him. Out in the Rocky Mountains--then a wilderness--he learned +the Indian languages, and became as familiar with every trail and +pass as the red men. + +It was the knowledge gained in those early days that enabled Kit +Carson to carry succor to Fremont's men perishing in the mountains. +Not only did Carson bring food to the dying men, but when they were +strong enough to move he guided them to a place of safety. + +This truly great man averted many an Indian war, and did as much for +the settlement and civilization of the West as any man of his day-- +more, indeed. In the days of secession he was a patriot, and though +he might have grown rich at the expense of the Government, he +preferred to die a poor and honored man. + +Admiral Farragut, although born in East Tennessee, went into the +United States Navy at the early age of eleven. He was the youngest +midshipman in the service. "Before I had reached the age of +sixteen," he says, "I prided myself on my profanity, and could drink +with the strongest." + +One morning on recovering from a debauch he reviewed the situation +and saw the shoals ahead. Then and there he fell on his knees and +asked God to help him. From that day on he gave up tobacco, liquor, +and profanity, devoted himself to the study of his profession, and +so became the greatest Admiral of modern times. "The canal boat +captains, 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 left +them." + +John B. Gough is an example of such a change of life that should +encourage every young man who has made a mis-step. + +Among like men of the same class may be ranked the late Richard +Cobden, whose start in life was equally humble. The son of a small +farmer at Midhurst in Sussex, he was sent at an early age to London +and employed as a boy in a warehouse in the City. He was diligent, +well-conducted, and eager for information. His master, a man of the +old school, warned him against too much reading; but the boy went on +in his own course, storing his mind with the wealth found in books. +He was promoted from one position of trust to another, became a +traveler for his house, secured a large connection, and eventually +started in business as a calico-printer at Manchester. Taking an +interest 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 than +all the rest of Parliament. + +It would be a mistake, however, to judge from this that all the +world's greatest men, started life poor, or that some men of wealth +and 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, to +which men are by nature prone, that the glory is all the greater of +those who, born to ample fortunes, nevertheless take an active part +in the work of their generation--who "scorn delights and live +laborious days." + +It was a fine thing said of a subaltern officer in the Peninsular +campaigns, observed trudging along through mud and mire by the side +of his regiment, "There goes 15,000 pounds a year!" and in our own +day, the bleak slopes of Sebastopol and the burning soil of India +have borne witness to the like noble self-denial and devotion on the +part of the richer classes; many a gallant and noble fellow, of rank +and estate, having risked his life, or lost it, in one or other of +those fields of action, in the service of his country. + +Nor have the wealthier classes been undistinguished in the more +peaceful pursuits of philosophy and science. Take, for instance, the +great names of Bacon, the father of modern philosophy, and of +Worcester, Boyle, Cavendish, Talbot and Rosse in science. The last +named may be regarded as the great mechanic of the peerage; a man +who, if he had not been born a peer, would probably have taken the +highest rank as an inventor. So thorough was his knowledge of smith- +work that he is said to have been pressed on one occasion to accept +the foremanship of a large workshop, by a manufacturer to whom his +rank was unknown. The great Rosse telescope, of his own fabrication, +is certainly the most extraordinary instrument of the kind that has +yet been constructed. + +We are apt to think that the wealthy classes in America are addicted +to idleness, but, in proportion to their number, they are as +usefully industrious as those who are forced to work for a living. +The Adams family, of Massachusetts, for more than a century, has +been even more distinguished for statesmanship and intellect than +for great wealth. The Vanderbilts have all been hard workers and +able business men. George Gould seems to be quite as great a +financier as his remarkable father. The Astors are distinguished for +their literary ability; William Waldorf Astor and his cousin, John +Jacob, are authors of great merit. The Lees, of Virginia, have ever +been distinguished for energy, intellect, and a capacity for hard +work. And so we might cite a hundred examples to prove that even in +America, want is not the greatest incentive to effort. + +The indefatigable industry of Lord Brougham has become almost +proverbial. His public labors extended over a period of upward of +sixty years, during which he ranged over many fields--of law, +literature, politics, and science--and achieved distinction in them +all. How he contrived it, has been to many a mystery. Once, when Sir +Samuel Romilly was requested to undertake some new work, he excused +himself by saying that he had no time; "but," he added, "go with it +to that fellow Brougham, he seems to have time for everything." The +secret of it was, that he never left a minute unemployed; withal he +possessed a constitution of iron. When arrived at an age at which +most 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 elaborate +investigations as to the laws of Light, and he submitted the results +to the most scientific audiences that Paris and London could muster. +About the same time, he was passing through the press his admirable +sketches of the "Men of Science and Literature of the Reign of +George III," and taking his full share of the law business and the +political discussions in the House of Lords. Sydney Smith once +recommended him to confine himself to only the transaction of so +much business as three strong men could get through. But such was +Brougham's love of work--long become a habit--that no amount of +application seems to have been too great for him; and such was his +love of excellence that it has been said of him that if his station +in life had been only that of a shoeblack, he would never have +rested 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 in +the Garden to till and care for it; and even after he was driven +from that blissful abode and compelled to live by the sweat of his +brow, he had to go back to the earth from which his body was made to +sustain the life breathed into it by Jehovah. But the young men of +to-day, and it is much to be regretted, regard farming life with +more and more disfavor. To be sure, the greatest fortunes have not +been accumulated in farming, but this book will not have +accomplished its purpose if it has failed to pint out that lives can +be eminently successful without the accumulation of great wealth. + +Before proceeding further, let us state a truth which will be +convincing to every reader who knows anything at all about the +careers of successful men. It is not a little remarkable that the +most successful preachers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and +mechanics have had their earliest training on the farm. + +As we have before said, the successful life is the one that is +happiest and most useful in itself, and which produces happiness and +usefulness in others. And as the majority of workers in most +civilized lands are directly connected with agriculture, and as all +sustenance for our daily lives, and all wealth, save the limited +amount 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 is +honorable 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 agriculture +than on any other vocation. While our manufacturing enterprises rank +us next to England among the world's manufacturing producers, yet +more than nine-tenths of our export trade with foreign countries is +in agricultural products, such as: wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco, and +beef and pork, which, under the present system of farming, are as +much agricultural productions as the grain on which the ox and the +hog are fattened. + +In agriculture, or farming, is included the bulk of the balance of +labor not covered by the building and mechanical trades, and the +employments growing out of and connected with them. + +Good farming is dependent on good machinery, including tools, and on +good buildings. Doubtless, in its infancy, neither was used, even +the hoe and hut being unknown. Among the first records of producing +from the soil, to be found in any detail, is the raising of corn in +Chaldea and Egypt. Sowing seed in the valley of the Nile, and +turning on the swine to tread it into the soil, was one of the +methods in use, and every process of planting and harvesting was of +the simplest. As population grew more dense, and other climates and +soils were occupied, better processes were developed, and more +varied were the productions. Animal power and rude tools were +gradually brought into use, and about 1000 years before Christ "a +plow with a beam, share and handles" is mentioned. Then agriculture +is spoken of as being in a flourishing condition, and artificial +drainage was resorted to. Grecian farming in the days of its +prosperity attained, in some districts, a creditable advancement, +and the implements in use were, in principle, similar to many of +modern construction. Horses, cattle, swine, sheep, and poultry were +bred and continually improved by importations from other countries. +Manuring of the fields was practiced; ground was often plowed three +times before seeding; and sub-soiling and other mixings of soils +were in some cases employed. A great variety of fruit was +successfully cultivated, and good farming was a source of pride to +the people. The Romans considered it, as Washington did, the most +honorable and useful occupation. Each Roman citizen was allotted a +piece of land of from five to fifty acres by the government, and in +after times, when annexations were made, up to five hundred acres +were allotted. The land was generally closely and carefully +cultivated, and the most distinguished citizens considered it their +greatest compliment to be called good farmers. The Roman Senate had +twenty-eight books, written by a Carthaginian farmer, translated for +the use of the people. The general sentiment among the more +intelligent was to hold small farms and till them well; to protect +their fields from winds and storms, and to defer building or +incurring 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 made +great improvements in the modes of farming, especially in the matter +of tools, machinery, and farm literature; while this century has +made 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, and +vegetation proven to be more beneficial on land in summer than +leaving it bare and unoccupied, as had formerly been the theory. +Manures were found to be of increased value when mixed, and guanos +were introduced. + +The Germans and French began improvement in farming before the +English, and have well sustained it. + +Since the primitive years of the Untied States, her agriculture has +attained unparalleled growth, and remains her chief pride and +revenue. Those were the years that tried the farmers' souls. They +had everything to learn; forests to clear off; seeds and +conveniences to secure; roads to open; new grounds to cultivate; +buildings to erect, and hostile Indians to watch and fight. South +Carolina was the first State to organize an agricultural society, +which was accomplished in 1784. Now nearly all the counties of every +State have similar organizations, besides those of the States +themselves. That they are materially and socially beneficial is +unquestioned, barring the effect of horse-racing and its betting +accompaniment. + +Among the more valuable auxiliaries of the farmer are the +agricultural journals of the country, for which hundreds of +thousands of dollars are annually expended. With few exceptions they +fill the measure of their publication, and the information they +furnish, if properly and judiciously used, can have none but a +healthy effect. While nine out of every ten farmers doubtless do not +do all, nor as well as they know, the benefit and incitement of +knowing more can but be beneficial. It is as a bill of fare at an +eating-house--while the consumption of every article named therein +would be death, the large selection at hand renders possible a +wholesome meal. + +Mr. Joshua Hill in his work entitled "Thought and Thrift"--which, by +the way, would be more valuable if less partisan--has this to say in +connection with the business and courage required in agriculture: + +"Neglect of aid that may be had in procuring the best results of +labor, and inattention in applying it, are faults possessed by many. +Every man is by nature possessed of abilities of some sort; and if +he has found the right way to use them, he alone is to blame if he +does not properly apply them with a view to their highest and best +results. 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 experiences +are full of wise counsel for those who desire to learn and do so; +but for those who close their eyes and wait for results without +effort, the records containing them would just as well never have +been written. There is an absolutely fixed law of nature that denies +to 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. There +are many examples of those who are said to 'live by their wits,' but +the problem as to how it is done may never be solved. Nor does it +need to be solved, as no man should justly expect to enjoy anything +which has not been procured by his own labor. Those who most +appreciated the comforts of life are those who create them for +themselves. In knowing how what we have is obtained, lies its chief +value to us. Men naturally take pride in the possession of a +treasure in proportion to the trouble involved in securing it. +Whoever would thrive in his farming must bend his whole will and +purpose to it. Nothing which can be done to-day should be put off +till to-morrow. To-morrow may never come, and should it come, may +not changed conditions and difficulties render set tasks impossible? +Under some circumstances men trust to fortune, without serious +errors, in postponing the execution of appointed tasks. The maxim +that 'procrastination is the thief of time' points a moral implied +in itself, and is unquestionably true in a majority of instances. +Men of business are often careful in some matters, to the neglect of +others more important. Different men have different methods of +business, which, considering differences of constitution and manner +of application, is only natural; not dangerous, but rather +beneficial. No two men go to work in the same way, notwithstanding +they may have both learned of the same teacher, or been instructed +upon the same principle. The greater trouble lies in improper +application and inattention to details. Trifles make up the sum of +life, as cents make dollars. An overanxious man, he who makes great +haste to be rich, seldom prospers long in any undertaking. +Possibilities, not probabilities, should be the guide. A sanguine +disposition may or may not be useful in business. Disappointment +often follows sanguine hopes. A good business man calculates +closely; 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; to +attend more strictly to business rules and methods, and to exercise +a greater courage and persistency in applying them. 'Work while it +is day,' says the Scriptures, 'for the night cometh when no man can +work.' Command the present moment that shakes gold from its wings. +That the future may bring bread for his family, the farmer sows seed +in confidence, and awaits the harvest in hope. But if he fails to do +what is necessary to a proper yield from his crop, he has made a +failure of the talents committed to him. Men must acknowledge the +responsibility that rest upon them, and meet it with that true +courage which directs them aright. The lack of knowledge does not +imply lack of ability to think and to reason. All men, unless of +idiotic, impaired, or diseased minds, are possessed of the faculty +of reason, and should use it for the purpose for which it was given-- +to supply needed helps to our temporal existence. From thought comes +ability, 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 requisite +is self-reliance. The man who depends upon his neighbors, as Aesop +illustrates in one of his fables, never has his work done. But when +he says that he will do it himself on a certain day, then it is +prudent for the bird that has been nesting in his grainfield to +change her habitation." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AS TO PUBLIC LIFE. + +The relations of the citizen to the state, and of the state to the +citizen, are reciprocal. Every man who becomes a member of an +established government, whether it be voluntary, as where an oath of +allegiance is taken to obey the laws, or involuntary, as by birth, +which is the case of a majority of all citizens, he surrenders +certain natural rights in consideration of the protection which the +government throws about him. + +In a state of nature, man is free to do as he pleases, without any +recognition of the rights of others; and his power to have his own +way is entirely dependent on the physical strength and courage which +he has to enforce it. This is why, in a savage state, war is the +almost constant business of the men, and the strongest and the +bravest of the lawless mob, tribe, or clan usually becomes leader. + +When through either of these agencies a man finds himself a member of +an established government, he owes to that government implicit +obedience to its laws, in consideration of the protection to life +and property which that government throws about him. + +In consideration of the protection which the banded many, known as +the state, gives to the individual, the individual pledges implicit +obedience to the laws of the state. + +Horace says : _Dulci et decorum est pro patria mori_--meaning that it +is brave and right to die for one's country. Old Dr. Sam Johnson, +like his successor, Carlyle, was apt to sneer at the grander +impulses of humanity. He said on one occasion: "Patriotism is the +last resort of a scoundrel." And yet we know that the noblest +characters 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 this +time, have an intense appreciation of this spirit of patriotism. +From the days of the Revolution to the present time, our most +prominent and most respected characters have been the men who, in +the forum or in the field, have devoted their lives to the +preservation and elevation of the Republic. + +Public life has its rewards, but they rarely come to the honest man +in the form of dollars. Franklin, Jackson, Taylor, Jolinson, Grant, +Garfield, and Lincoln were all the sons of poor men, and they died +poor themselves; but who can say that their lives were not grandly +successful. + +An interest in politics should be the duty of everyone, but the young +man who enters public life for the sake of the money he may +accumulate from office, starts out as a traitor to his country and +an ingrate to his fellows. + +Public life should be an unselfish life. The service of the public +requires the strongest bodies, the clearest brains, and the purest +hearts, and the man who devotes his life to this great purpose must +find his reward in a duty well performed, rather than in the +financial emoluments of office. + +Duty is the spirit of patriotism, and while this spirit should run +through every act in every calling, it must particularly distinguish +the man who has entered the public service as a soldier or civil +official. It is duty that leads the soldier to face hardships and +death without flinching, and the same high impulse should stimulate +the conduct where there is no physical danger. + +Samuel Smiles, to whom we are indebted for much that is valuable in +this 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 would +avoid present discredit and eventual moral insolvency. It is an +obligation--a debt--which can only be discharged by voluntary effort +and resolute action in the affairs of life. + +"Duty embraces man's whole existence. It begins in the home, where +there 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 and +wives, of masters and servants; while outside the home there are the +duties which men and women owe to each other as friends and +neighbors, as employers and employed, as governors and governed. + +"'Render, therefore,' says St. Paul, 'to all their dues: tribute to +whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor +to whom honor. Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he +that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.' + +"Thus duty rounds the whole of life, from our entrance into it until +our exit from it--duty to superiors, duty to inferiors, and duty to +equals--duty to man, and duty to God. Wherever there is power to use +or to direct, there is duty. For we are but as stewards, appointed +to 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 the +upholding law of man in his highest attitudes. Without it, the +individual totters and falls before the first puff of adversity or +temptation; whereas, inspired by it, the weakest becomes strong and +full of courage. 'Duty,' says Mrs. Jameson, 'is the cement which +binds the whole moral edifice together; without which, all power, +goodness, intellect, truth, happiness, love itself, can have no +permanence; but all the fabric of existence crumbles away from under +us, and leaves us at last sitting in the midst of a ruin, astonished +at 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 in +conduct and in acts, which are mainly determined by man's conscience +and free will." + +Sir John Packington, one of England's most famous men, said in +speaking of his public life: + +"I am indebted for whatever measure of success I have attained in my +public life, to a combination of moderate abilities with honesty of +intention, firmness of purpose, and steadiness of conduct. If I were +to offer advice to any young man anxious to make himself useful in +public life, I would sum up the results of my experience in three +short rules--rules so simple that any man may act upon them. My +first rule will be, leave it to others to judge of what duties you +are capable, and for what position you are fitted; but never refuse +to give your services in whatever capacity it my be the opinion of +others who are competent to judge that you may benefit your +neighbors and your country. My second rule is, when you agree to +undertake public duties, concentrate every energy and faculty in +your possession with the determination to discharge those duties to +the best of your ability. Lastly, I would counsel you that, in +deciding on the line which you will take in public affairs, you +should be guided in your decision by that which, after mature +deliberation, you believe to be right, and not by that which, in the +passing 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 for +his country. This is one of the native instincts of the noble heart. +History tells of many a devoted hero, reared under an oppressive +despotism, and groaning under unjust exactions, with little in the +character of his ruler to excite anything like generous enthusiasm, +who yet has shed his blood and given up his treasures in willing +sacrifice for his country's good. In a country such as this we live +in, it is the duty of every man to be a patriot, and to love and +serve it with an affection that is commensurate both with the +priceless cost of her liberties, and the greatness of her civil and +religious privileges. Indeed, however it may be in other lands, in +this one the youth may be said to draw in the love of country with +his native air; and it is justly taken for granted that all will +seek and maintain her interests, as that the child shall love its +mother, on whose bosom it has been cradled, and of whose life it is +a part. + +"In no other country more than this is it important that all should +rightly understand and faithfully fulfill the duties of citizenship. +While ignorance is the natural stronghold of tyranny, knowledge is +the very throne of civil liberty. It is the interest of despotism to +foster a blind, unreasoning obedience to arbitrary law; but where, +as with us, almost the humblest has a voice in the administration of +public affairs, more depends upon the enlightened sentiments of the +masses than upon even the skill of temporary rulers, or the +character of existing laws." + +A generation ago, when the integrity of the Union was threatened, the +rich and the poor, the young and the old, particularly in what were +known as the Free States, gave up all for the defense of the +Republic. It should be said, in justice to those who fought on the +opposite side, that no matter how much mistaken, they were in their +own hearts as honest, and by their heroic sacrifices proved +themselves to be as brave and unselfish, as the gallant men who won +in 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 past +differences of themselves or their fathers, would answer the +country's call in teeming millions, and prove the truth of the Latin +poet's adage, that it is right and noble to die for ones country. + +A manly people should cultivate a manly spirit, and be prepared, if +need be, to defend their rights by force, but in the better day, +whose light is coming, we believe that nobler and more equitable +means of adjusting internal and international differences can be +found than by an appeal to arms. + +Believing then that every young man who is worthy his American +citizenship would willingly risk his life in defense of his nation's +flag--which, after all, is simply the emblem of what his nation +stands for--he should be willing, if duty requires it, to serve his +country with equal fidelity in times of peace. + +It is to be regretted that men of the stamp of those who gave their +lives or risked them and have poured out their wealth with unstinted +hand when the life of the Republic was in danger, should, in days of +peace, 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 rough +and unprincipled class, who make it a profession for the sake of the +gain it offers. To a certain extent this is true; but the men who +are responsible for this state of affairs are not the professional +politicians, but the good citizens, who are in the majority, and who +could control, if they would, but who unpatriotically neglect their +duty to the public, or ignore it in the presence of their individual +interests. + +One of the best signs of the times is the fact that civil service has +come into our politics to stay. Through this service, the young +aspirant for office, irrespective of his politics, stands an +examination before impartial commissioners, and is rated according +to his qualifications. Once he enters the public service, he cannot +be discharged except for incapacity, and this must be proven before +a proper tribunal. + +The rewards of public office, excepting in a few cases where the +positions depend upon the votes of the people, are never great. And, +unfortunately, under our system the aspirant for an elective office +usually 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 live +contentedly a life of routine with a limited compensation, a public +life has many advantages. The salary continues, irrespective of the +weather or seasons, and there is connected with the place a certain +respect. No matter how humble the position of a man in the public +service, a certain dignity must always attach to him who is at once +a 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 natural +gift can compensate for hard, persistent toil. The Romans had a +maxim as true to-day as it was when first uttered: "_Labor omnia +vincit_," Toil conquers all things. The earliest Christians lived in +communities and had all things in common. One of their precepts-- +a precept up to which all lived--was: "_Laborare est orare_," To work +is to pray. + +Someone has said that the difference between the genius and the +ordinary man is that the genius has a tireless capacity for patient, +hard work, while the other regards effort as a painful exaction, and +is ever looking forward to the time when he can rest. + +It is encouraging to know that the world's hardest workers have lived +the longest lives. In this alone, labor is its own reward; but +enduring success never came to a poor man without an unflagging +patience and an unceasing toil. + +Honorable industry, says one, travels the same road with duty; and +Providence has closely linked both with happiness. The gods, says +the poet, have placed labor and toil on the way leading to the +Elysian fields. Certain it is that no bread eaten by man is so sweet +as that earned by his own labor, whether bodily or mental. By labor +the earth has been subdued, and man redeemed from barbarism; nor has +a single step in civilization been made without it. Labor is not +only a necessity and a duty, but a blessing; only the idler feels it +to be a curse. The duty of work is written on the thews and muscles +of the limbs, the mechanism of the hand, the nerves and lobes of the +brain--the sum of whose healthy action is satisfaction and +enjoyment. In the school of labor is taught the best practical +wisdom; nor is a life of manual employment, as we shall hereafter +find, incompatible with high mental culture. + +Hugh Miller, than whom none knew better the strength and the weakness +belonging to the lot of labor, stated the result of his experience +to be, that work, even the hardest, is full of pleasure and +materials for self-improvement. He held honest labor to be the best +of 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 ability +of being useful is imparted, the spirit of independence learned, and +the habit of persevering effort acquired. He was even of opinion that +the training of the mechanic--by exercise which it gives to his +observant faculties, from his daily dealing with things actual and +practical, and the close experience of life which he acquires--better +fits a man for picking his way along the journey of life, and is more +favorable to his growth as a man, emphatically speaking, than the +training afforded by any other condition. + +Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, was one of the most +industrious of men; and the story of his life proves, what all +experience confirms, that it is not the man of the greatest natural +vigor and capacity who achieves the highest results, but he who +employs his powers with the greatest industry and the most carefully +disciplined skill--the skill that comes by labor, application, and +experience. Many men in his time knew far more than Watt, but none +labored so assiduously as he did to turn all that he did know to +useful practical purposes. He was, above all things, most persevering +in the pursuit of facts. He cultivated carefully that habit of active +attention on which all the higher working qualities of the mind +mainly depend. Indeed, Mr. Edgeworth entertained the opinion that the +difference of intellect in men depends more upon the early +cultivation of this _habit of attention_, than upon any great +disparity between the powers of one individual and another. + +Arkwright, one of the world's greatest mechanics, and the inventor of +the spinning jenny, was famed for his unceasing industry. + +Like most of our great mechanicians, he sprang from the ranks. He was +born in Preston in 1732. His parents were very poor, and he was the +youngest of thirteen children. He was never at school; the only +education he received he gave to himself; and to the last he was only +able to write with difficulty. When a boy, he was apprenticed to a +barber, and after learning the business, he set up for himself in +Bolton, where he occupied an underground cellar, over which he put up +the sign, "come to the subterraneous barber--he shaves for a penny." +The other barbers found their customers leaving them, and reduced +their prices to his standard, when Arkwright, determined to push his +trade, 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 in +the United States, and the immense fortune he left has been largely +increased through his wise investments and the habits of business +which he seems to have transmitted with his fortune to his +descendants. + +His life is a most interesting one, particularly to the young man who +stands facing the world without friends or fortune to aid him. But +young Astor had one quality to start with, a quality which success +never lessened, and that was the capacity for unceasing industry. + +He was born of peasant parents in the village of Waldorf, near the +great university town of Heidelberg in Germany. When sixteen years of +age he was crowded out of the hive by increasing brothers and +sisters, and without education or experience, he started out to make +his way in the world. + +In the days of his great prosperity, he used to tell, with delight +mingled with sadness, of the day when he left father, and mother, and +home, which he was never to see together again. He used to say: "I +had only two dollars in my pocket, and all my clothes were tied up in +a handkerchief fastened at the end of a stick. When I had climbed the +high hill above the village, I sat down to rest my heart rather than +my feet, and to look back at the loved scenes of my childhood. Before +leaving home it was decided that I should make my way to London--then +the city of promise to many young Germans. While I sat there, I made +three resolutions, which during my life I have never broken. I had +never gambled, but I had known others to do so, and my first resolve +was not to follow their example. The second resolution was to be +strictly honest in all my dealings, and this I have tried to adhere +to. The third resolution was quite as important as the other two +together; it was that so long as God gave me health and strength I +should be unceasingly industrious." + +John Jacob Astor, as a man, faithfully carried out the resolutions he +made as a boy, and the world knows the consequences. + +When the impartial historian comes to write the life of Horace +Greeley, no matter how much he may object to his policies and +politics, 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 a +desperate effort to support a large family on a poor farm in New +Hampshire, started in to work for himself. His early education +consisted of a few winter terms in a common school. Before he was +seventeen he had learned the printer's trade, and then resolved not +only to support himself, but to help his parents. Realizing his want +of education, he devoted every minute he could spare from work or +sleep to study. + +Speaking of these early days, Mr. Greeley said: + +"There was many a heavy load placed on my shoulders, but I staggered +on and bore it as best I could. Many an uncongenial task was forced +upon me, but I can honestly say I never shirked it. If I have +succeeded in my chosen profession, it has not been due to my early +advantages, for I had none, but to my strong belief that patient +industry would triumph in the end." + +When Horace Greeley was twenty years of age he was working in a +printing office in Erie, Pennsylvania, and determined to better his +fortunes by coming to New York. He had saved up one hundred and +twenty dollars, and of this he sent one hundred to his father, and +with the rest he turned his face to the great city, about six hundred +miles away. He traveled the entire distance on foot, and reached New +York with fifteen dollars, the whole trip having cost him but five. + +Poorly clad, tall, gawky, and green-looking, he entered the city +where he had neither friend nor acquaintance. For weeks he tramped +the streets, looking vainly for work, his cash gradually growing +less, but his spirits never failing. At length he found employment at +his trade, where his integrity and unceasing industry soon made him +conspicuous. Step by step, he worked his way up, never forgetting the +poor family in Vermont, till at length he was able to establish the +_New York Tribune_, which survives as a monument of his perseverance +and industry. Although his early training was so defective, he gave +every spare minute to study, and with such success that he became not +only a great leader, but one of the most perfect masters of the +English language. His name will long live after many writers and +statesmen 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 every +ambitious young man. + +Horace Greelev never laid claim to physical courage, but he had that +higher courage and industry without which enduring success is +impossible. In speaking of this admirable quality, a famous author +says: + +"The greater part of the courage that is needed in the world is not +of an heroic kind. Courage may be displayed in everyday life as well +as on historic fields of action. There needs, for example, the common +courage to be honest--the courage to resist temptation--the courage +to speak the truth--the courage to be what we really are, and not to +pretend to be what we are not--the courage to live honestly within +our own means, and not dishonestly upon the means of others. + +"A great deal of the unhappiness, and much of the vice, of the world +is owing to weakness and indecision of purpose--in other words, to +lack of courage and want of industry. Men may know what is right, and +yet fail to exercise the courage to do it; they may understand the +duty they have to do, but will not summon up the requisite resolution +to perform it. The weak and undisciplined man is at the mercy of +every temptation; he cannot say no,' but falls before it. And if his +companionship be bad, he will be all the easier led away by bad +example into wrong-doing. + +"Nothing can be more certain than that the character can only be +sustained and strengthened by its own energetic action. The will, +which is the central force of character, must be trained to habits of +decision--otherwise it will neither be able to resist evil nor to +follow good. Decision gives the power of standing firmly, when to +yield, however slightly, might be only the first step in a downhill +course to ruin. + +"Calling upon others for help in forming a decision is worse than +useless. A man must so train his habits as to rely upon his own +powers 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 to +Hercules; whilst his opponent Emilius, at the same time that he +implored the Divine aid, sought for victory sword in hand, and won +the 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 are +never begun; and all for want of a little courageous decision. Better +far the silent tongue but the eloquent deed. For in life, and in +business, dispatch is better than discourse; and the shortest of all +is _Doing_. 'In matters of great concern, and which must be done,' +says Tillotson, 'there is no surer argument of a weak mind than +irresolution--to be undetermined when the case is so plain and the +necessity so urgent. To be always intending to live a new life, but +never to find time to set about it--this is as if a man should put +off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to another, until +he is starved and destroyed.'" + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SOME OF LABOR'S COMPENSATIONS. + +Although it is better for every young man, if possible, to adhere to +one thing, yet, as we shall see when we come to treat of the life of +that remarkable man Peter Cooper, change does not necessarily mean +vacillation. For the mere sake of consistency a man would be foolish +who neglected a good chance to succeed in another field. Edison +started life as a newsboy, but it would be folly to say that he +should have stuck to that very respectable, but not usually lucrative +occupation. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, was an artist till +middle life. Alexander T. Stewart and James Gordon Bennett, the one a +most successful journalist, and the other the greatest merchant of +his day, began life as school-teachers. And so we might continue the +list; but even these examples do not warrant the belief that a change +of calling is necessary to success, but rather that the change may +increase the chances. As a rule, however, the changes have been +forced by unforeseen circumstances, of which these strong men were +quick 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 every +effort there should be kept in mind the end to be attained--an ideal +to achieve which every faculty must be enlisted. + +Men whose lives have been eminently successful tell us that their +greatest reward was not found in the accomplishment of their life +purpose, but in the slow, but certain advance made from day to day. + +The joy of travel does not lie in reaching the destination, but in +the companions met with on the journey, the changing scenery through +which the traveler passes, and even the inconveniences that break up +the 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 the +journey, but the joy of living lies in the varied incident and effort +to be met with between the two. + +It is well for us that this is so; well for us that we do not have to +wait for the reward till the end comes. + +We may, as in the cases named, change our means of travel, but so +long as success is our purpose, it matters not so much what variation +we may make in the route, when we seek to attain it. + +The old-fashioned country school debating societies had one subject +that never lost its popularity, and on which the rural orators +exhausted their eloquence and ingenuity: "Resolved, that there is +more happiness in participation than in anticipation." We doubt if +any debating society ever settled the question, in a way that would +be acceptable to all. As a rule the younger people decided, +irrespective of the argument, that participation was the most +desirable; but the older people wisely shook their heads and took the +other side of the case. + +Often when the end has been gained, it has been discovered that the +reward was not worth the effort, and that the full compensation was +gained in the peace, the regular habits, the health, and the sense of +duty well-performed which kept up the hope and the strength during +the long years of toil. + +There is a temperance in eating, as well as in drinking; even honest +labor when carried to an excess that impairs the powers of mind and +body, may be classed with intemperance; indeed, it should be a part +of every young man's course of self-study to learn his own physical +and mental limitations. + +There is everything in knowing how to work, and in learning when to +rest. One of the rewards of judicious labor, and by no means the +least of them is--health. Health is not only essential to the +happiness 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 haste +and toil that sap the health. There is reason why disease should +seize on the idler, but the industrious man, whose toil is well- +regulated, should have no occasion for a physician, unless in case of +accident. Labor, like virtue, is its own reward." + +In looking over the callings of people who have retained all their +powers to an age so long beyond the allotted time as to seem +phenomenal, there is not one case that we can recall where the life +has not been distinguished for temperance, orderliness, and +persistent but temperate industry. + +The health that waits upon labor is among its best results, as it +must continue to be among its greatest blessings. More particularly +is health to be derived from out-door employment, as life on the farm +and an active participation in its many and varied labors. Physical +exercise is essential to health, under any and all circumstances, +whether it be in the nature of labor or recreation. It must be borne +in mind, however, that in labor are to be found the surest +correctives of many abuses of health, as bringing into play +influences of the more satisfactory sort upon the mind as considered +in contrast to idleness. Idleness is the parent of many vices, some +one says, and it is true. The freedom from the annoying reflection +that one is making no use of physical or mental abilities to secure +protection from want and suffering, sweetens labor and gives it a +value which all true men must appreciate and carefully consider. How +often have the wearied journalist and accountant, tired out in body +and mind at the desk of unremitting application, found, in the life +and labor of the farm and shop, relief and a return to the blessings +of health. There are other occupations and employments just as +necessary, but many of them are pursued under considerations not +leading to, but rather away from, health. Any one, however, may take +from business enough time for rest and healthful exercise. It is in +purifying and driving away from man the tendencies to evil that, in +idleness, prey too continually and strongly upon him, and which he +cannot long successfully resist, that labor possesses its greatest +benefit. The atmosphere of diligent labor usefully directed is always +of a healthy nature. Into it cannot enter the many foes that assail +the idle, who have not the shield of protection that labor gives to +all who enter its hallowed gateway. Labor dignifies and ennobles when +in moderation; it permits the enjoyment of comforts and luxuries, and +gives to home its sacred charm; it dashes away the bitter cup of +poverty, and gives instead the nourishing and acceptable food of +contentment; it dispels dread conceits of coming evil, and dries the +tears of the afflicted. Labor is man's heaven-born heritage in +exchange for the curse of disobedience, and yet men are ungrateful +and disposed to quarrel with their truest friends. What truer and +better friend can anyone possess than useful labor, the key that +unlocks the casket of wisdom and exposes to our startled gaze the +treasures that lie within? For every honest and determined end of +labor there is sure reward. "There is no reward without toil" is a +proverb as old as history and as true to-day as when it first found +lodgment in the minds and hearts of men. The faithful servant of +labor hears in every blow he strikes the sure sound of the power +committed to him and which will bring him the fine gold of merited +approval. + +The health in labor, considered in all of the relations attaching to +it, further brings a comfort and satisfaction which cannot be too +highly estimated. The surest remedy that can be applied, when men are +suffering from defeat in business and the attendant consequences, is +renewed and persistent labor. Who can measure the value of labor? It +is a possession that cannot be stolen, and only ceases to serve when +men, from exhausted energies or enfeebled age, can no longer command +it. From the beginning to the end of life it waits upon us, and +whoever will use it will not be deprived of its wonderful and +magnificent bounties. + +As labor is man's greatest blessing, so is indolence his greatest +curse. As labor is health, so indolence is disease. Man in a +condition of idleness is about as useless a thing as is to be found +in nature. He prefers to live by some one else's labor. The world +owes him a living and he manages somehow to get it. But he is an +industrious collector, although he would walk a mile to get around +work. He attaches himself, like the mistletoe, to whoever will +support him. He is a true parasite. His tongue has but little end to +it. It wags from morning to night; invents seemingly plausible +theories of work, but never attempts them. He is full of advice to +all who will listen. Can such a man be healthy? He _cannot_ enjoy +good health because he is too lazy to do so. No way has as yet been +found to make him healthy and put him to work. He cannot be got rid +of. People who labor and who are compelled to help this poor creature +do not make much effort to turn him in the direction of labor. They +are too busy to take any account of him; so he is left to his misery +and poverty. He has not a grain of independence in his whole +composition. He pines and dies at last, and the world is better for +his being out of it. But like mushrooms, these people spring up. Many +infest our large cities, and these are dignified by the city +directories as "floating population." The term is very nearly +correct; they float for a time upon the current, until borne away to +another port where there is better and safer anchorage. Where free +lunches are abundant there the idler may be found. For this privilege +he 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. He +of course, uses tobacco; but this he must obtain in some way that +does 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 to +that point that he cannot work. He is too unhealthy and his influence +is corrupting. Nobody will give him employment, so he must keep on to +the end of the chapter. An even more disgusting specimen is the idler +who develops into a sneakthief and the more genteel sort of gentry-- +gamblers and workers of chances. These are, perhaps, to be included +in the list of those who live by their wits and not by any kind of +labor. + +If there is any worse disease than idleness, it has not yet been +discovered. Good and true men, who value the rewards of labor, look +upon idleness with a dread that equals that of yellow fever; for it +is more general in its effects and more to be detested. While there +may sometimes be luck in leisure, indolence never pays. + +But the effects of persistent, systematic effort are not confined to +ourselves; the example is contagious and acts as a guide and a +stimulus to others in the life battle. The good done and the help +given to friends in this way are incalculable, and are not the least +of the rewards labor bestows before the end is attained. + +Dr. Miller in his able work "The Building of Character," says very +aptly in this connection: + +"We all need human friendship. We need it especially in our times of +darkness. He does not well, he lives not wisely, who in the days of +prosperity 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 time +has passed, and we have only slept meanwhile, we may as well sleep +on. You did not go near your friend when he was fighting his battle +alone. You might have helped him then. What use is there in your +coming to him now, when he has conquered without your aid? You paid +no attention to your neighbor when he was bending under life's loads, +and struggling with difficulties, obstacles, and adversities. You let +him alone then. You never told him that you sympathized with him. You +never said a brave, strong word of cheer to him in those days. You +never even scattered a handful of flowers on his hard path. Now that +he is dead and lying in his coffin, what is the use in your standing +beside 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 the +days when he needed so sorely your warm sympathy, and craved so +hungrily your cheer, you may as well sleep on and take your rest, +letting him alone unto the end. Nothing can be done now. Too laggard +are the feet that come with comfort when the time for comfort is +past. + +"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 that +plucked a thorn from the Savior's brow, and thus sought to lessen his +pain, rather than from the story of the disciples, who slept and +failed to give the help which the Lord sought from their love? Thus +can we strengthen those whose burdens are heavy, and whose struggles +and sorrows are sore. + +All noble effort, as Sarah K. Bolton beautifully expresses it, is its +own reward: + +"I like the man who faces what he must +With step triumphant and a heart of cheer; +Who fights the daily battle without fear; +Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust +That God is God; that, somehow, true and just, +His plans work out for mortals; not a tear +Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear, +Falls from his grasp. Better, with love, a crust, +Than living in dishonor; envies not +Nor loses faith in man; but does his best, +Nor ever murmurs at his humbler lot; +But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest +To every toiler. He alone is great +Who, by a life heroic, conquers fate." + +"After I have completed an invention," says Thomas A. Edison, "I seem +to lose interest in it. One might think that the money value of an +invention constituted its reward to the man who loves his work. But, +speaking for myself, I can honestly say this is not so. Life was +never so full of joy to me, as when a poor boy I began to think out +improvements in telegraphy, and to experiment with the cheapest and +crudest appliances. But, now that I have all the appliances I need, +and am my own master, I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so +my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success." + +Mr. Gladstone, the great English statesman, and though nearing four +score and ten, still one of the most industrious of men, says: + +"I have found my greatest happiness in labor. I early formed the +habit of industry, and it has been its own reward. The young are apt +to think that rest means a cessation from all effort, but I have +found the most perfect rest in changing effort. If brain-weary over +books and study, go out into the blessed sunlight and the pure air, +and give heartfelt exercise to the body. The brain will soon become +calm and rested. The efforts of nature are ceaseless. Even in our +sleep, the heart throbs on. If these great forces ceased for an +instant death would follow. I try to live close to nature, and to +imitate her in my labors. The compensation is sound sleep, a +wholesome digestion, and powers that are kept at their best; and this +I take it is the chief reward of industry." + +"If I ever get time from work," said Horace Greeley one day, "I'll go +a-fishing, for I was fond of it when a boy." But he never went +a-fishing, never indulged in a healthful change of exercise, and the +result was a mind thrown out of balance, and death in the prime of +life. We all need a restful change at times. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE. + +If great success were possible only to men of great talents, then +there would be but little success in the world. + +It has been said that talent is quite as much the ability to stick to +a thing, as the aptitude to do it better than another. "I will fight +it out on this line, if it takes all summer." This statement of +General Grant does not indicate the man of genius, but it does show +the man of indomitable perseverance, a perseverance to which he owed +all his success, for it is well known that he was a very modest, and +by no means a brilliant man. The key to his character was +pertinacity: the secret of his success was perseverance. + +"I will to-day thrash the Mexicans, or die a-trying!" was what Sam +Houston 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 a +beginning. + +There is a great deal in good preparation, but there is a great deal +more in heroic perseverance. The man who declines to make a beginning +till everything he thinks he may need is ready for his hand, is very +apt to make a failure. The greatest things have been achieved by the +simplest means. It is the ceaseless chopping that wears away the +stone. The plodder may be laughed at, and the brilliant man who +accomplishes great things at a leap admired; but we all remember the +fable of the tortoise and the hare; the latter, confident of her +powers, 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 believe +in it; but one of its strongest characteristics is perseverance, and +the next is its capacity to accomplish great results with the +simplest means. + +"Easy come, easy go." Those things that are acquired without much +effort, 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; the +other, having no purpose but blind self, ends in destruction. + +It is a fact at once remarkable and encouraging that no man of great +genius who has left his mark on his times, ever believed that his +success was due to gifts that lifted him above his fellows. The means +by which he rose were within the reach of all, and perseverance was a +prime 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 opportunity +for acquiring experience of the best kind; and its most beaten paths +provide the true worker with abundant scope for effort and room for +self-improvement. The road of human welfare lies along the old +highway of steadfast well-doing; and they who are the most +persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will usually be the most +successful. + +Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is not +so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find +that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds +and waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of +even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities +are found the most useful--such as common sense, attention, +application, and perseverance. Genius may not be necessary, though +even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these +ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among the least +believers in the power of genius, and as worldly wise and persevering +as successful men of the commoner sort. Some have even defined genius +to be only common sense intensified. A distinguished teacher and +president 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, and +yet, when asked by what means he had worked out his extraordinary +discoveries, he modestly answered, "By always thinking unto them." At +another time he thus expressed his method of study: "I keep the +subject continually before me, and wait till the first dawnings open +slowly by little and little into a full and clear light." It was in +Newton's case as in every other, only by diligent application and +perseverance that his great reputation was achieved. Even his +recreation consisted in change of study, laying down one subject to +take up another. To Dr. Bentley he said: "If I have done the public +any service, it is due to nothing but industry and patient thought." +So Kepler, another great philosopher, speaking of his studies and his +progress, said: "As in Virgil, 'Fama mobilitate viget, vires acquirit +eundo,' so it was with me, that the diligent thought on these things +was the occasion of still further thinking; until at last I brooded +with the whole energy of my mind upon the subject." + +The extraordinary results effected by dint of sheer industry and +perseverance, have led many distinguished men to doubt whether the +gift of genius be so exceptional an endowment as it is usually +supposed to be. Thus Voltaire held that it is only a very slight line +of separation that divides the man of genius from the man of ordinary +mould. Beccaria was even of opinion that all men might be poets and +orators, and Reynolds that they might be painters and sculptors. If +this were really so, that stolid Englishman might not have been so +very far wrong after all, who, on Canova's death, inquired of his +brother whether it was "his intention to carry on the business!" +Locke, Helvetuis, and Diderot believed that all men have an equal +aptitude for genius, and that what some are able to effect, under the +laws which regulate the operations of the intellect, must also be +within the reach of others who, under like circumstances, apply +themselves to like pursuits. But while admitting to the fullest +extent the wonderful achievements of labor, and recognizing the fact +that men of the most distinguished genius have invariably been found +the most indefatigable workers, it must nevertheless be sufficiently +obvious that, without the original endowment of heart and brain, no +amount of labor, however well applied, could have produced a +Shakespeare, 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 industry +and perseverance. John Hunter said of himself, "My mind is like a +beehive; but full as it is of buzz and apparent confusion, it is yet +full of order and regularity, and food collected with incessant +industry from the choicest stores of nature." We have, indeed, but to +glance at the biographies of great men to find that the most +distinguished inventors, artists, thinkers, and workers of all kinds, +owe their success, in a great measure, to their indefatigable +industry and application. They were men who turned all things to +good--even time itself. Disraeli, the elder, held that the secret of +success consisted in being master of your subject, such mastery being +attainable only through continuous application and study. Hence it +happens that the men who have most moved the world have not been so +much men of genius, strictly so called, as men of intent mediocre +abilities and untiring perseverance; not so often the gifted, of +naturally bright and shining qualities, as those who have applied +themselves diligently to their work, in whatsoever line that might +lie. "Alas!" said a widow, speaking of her brilliant but careless +son, "he has not the gift of continuance." Wanting in perseverance, +such volatile natures are outstripped in the race of life by the +diligent and even the dull. + +Hence, a great point to be aimed at is to get the working quality +well trained. When that is done, the race will be found comparatively +easy. We must repeat and again repeat: facility will come with labor. +Not even the simplest art can be accomplished without it; and what +difficulties it is found capable of achieving! It was by early +discipline and repetition that the late Sir Robert Peel cultivated +those remarkable, though still mediocre, powers, which rendered him +so illustrious an ornament of the British senate. When a boy at +Drayton Manor, his father was accustomed to set him up at table to +practice speaking extempore; and he early accustomed him to repeat as +much of the Sunday's sermon as he could remember. Little progress was +made at first, but by steady perseverance that habit of attention +became powerful, and the sermon was at length repeated almost +verbatim. When afterward replying in succession to the arguments of +his parliamentary opponents--an art in which he was perhaps +unrivaled--it was little surmised that the extraordinary power of +accurate remembrance which he displayed on such occasions had been +originally trained under the discipline of his father in the parish +church of Drayton. + +It is indeed marvelous what continuous application will effect in the +commonest of things. It may seem a simple affair to play upon a +violin; yet what a long and laborious practice it requires! Giardini +said 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. Great +results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to +advance in life as we walk, step by step. De Maistre says that "To +know _how to wait_ is the great secret of success." We must sow +before we can reap, and often have to wait long, content meanwhile to +look patiently forward in hope: the fruit best worth waiting for +often ripening the slowest. But "time and patience," says the Eastern +proverb, "change the mulberry leaf to satin." + +To wait patently, however, men must work cheerfully. Cheerfulness is +an excellent working quality, imparting great elasticity to the +character. As a bishop has said, "Temper is nine-tenths of +Christianity;" so are cheerfulness and diligence nine-tenths of +practical wisdom. They are the life and soul of success, as well as +of happiness; perhaps the very highest pleasure in life consisting in +clear, brisk, conscious working; energy, confidence, and every other +good quality mainly depending upon it. Sydney Smith, when laboring as +a parish priest at Foston-le-Clay, in Yorkshire--though he did not +feel himself to be in his proper element--went cheerfully to work in +the firm determination to do his best. "I am resolved," he said, "to +like it, and reconcile myself to it, which is more manly than to +feign myself above it, and to send up complaints by the post of being +thrown away, and being desolate, and such like trash." So Dr. Hook, +when leaving Leeds for a new sphere of labor, said, "Wherever I many +be, I shall, by God's blessing, do with my might what my hand findeth +to do; and if I do not fined work, I shall make it." + +Laborers for the public good especially have to work long and +patiently, often uncheered by the prospect of immediate recompense or +result. The seeds they sow sometimes lie hidden under the winter's +snow, and before the spring comes the husbandman may have gone to his +rest. It is not every public worker who, like Rowland Hill, sees his +great idea bring forth fruit in his lifetime. Adam Smith sowed the +seeds of a great social amelioration in that dingy old University of +Glasgow, where he so long labored, and laid the foundations of his +"Wealth of Nations;" but seventy years passed before his work bore +substantial fruits, nor indeed are they all gathered in yet. + +Nothing can compensate for the loss of hope in a man: it entirely +changes the character. "How can I work--how can I be happy," said a +great but miserable thinker, "when I have lost all hope?" One of the +most cheerful and courageous, because one of the most hopeful of +workers, was Carey, the missionary. When in India, it was no uncommon +thing for him to weary out three pundits, who officiated as his +clerks in one day, he himself taking rest only in change of +employment. Carey, the son of a shoemaker, was supported in his +labors by Ward, the son of a carpenter, and Marsham, the son of a +weaver. By their labors a magnificent college was erected at +Serampore; sixteen flourishing stations were established; the Bible +was translated into sixteen languages, and the seeds were sown of a +beneficent moral revolution in British India. Carey was never ashamed +of the humbleness of his origin. On one occasion, when at the +Governor-General's table, he overheard an officer opposite him asking +another, loud enough to be heard, whether Carey had not once been a +shoemaker: "No, sir," exclaimed Carey immediately; "only a cobbler." +An eminently characteristic anecdote has been told of his +perseverance as a boy. When climbing a tree one day, his foot slipped +and he fell to the ground, breaking his leg by the fall. He was +confined to his bed for weeks, but when he recovered and was able to +walk without support, the very first thing he did was to go and climb +that tree. Carey had need of this sort of dauntless courage for the +great missionary work of his life, and nobly and resolutely he did +it. + +It was a maxim of Dr. Young, the philosopher, that "Any man can do +what any other man has done;" and it is unquestionable that he +himself never recoiled from any trials to which he determined to +subject himself. It is related of him, that the first time he mounted +a horse he was in company with the grandson of Mr. Barclay, of Ury, +the well-known sportsman. When the horseman who preceded them leaped +a high fence, Young wished to imitate him, but fell off his horse in +the attempt. Without saying a word, he remounted, made a second +effort, and was again unsuccessful, but this time he was not thrown +farther than on to the horse's neck, to which he clung. At the third +trial he succeeded, and cleared the fence. + +The story of Timour, the Tartar, learning a lesson of perseverance +under adversity from the spider is well know. Not less interesting is +the anecdote of Audubon, the American ornithologist, as related by +himself: "An accident," he says, "which happened to two hundred of my +original drawings, nearly put a stop to my researches in ornithology. +I shall relate it, merely to show how far enthusiasm--for by no other +name can I call my perseverance--may enable the preserver of nature +to surmount the most disheartening difficulties. I left the village +of Henderson, in Kentucky, situated on the banks of the Ohio, where I +resided for several years, to proceed to Philadelphia on business. I +looked to my drawings before my departure, placed them carefully in a +wooden box, and gave them in charge of a relative, with injunctions +to see that no injury should happen to them. My absence was of +several months; and when I returned, after having enjoyed the +pleasures of home for a few days, I inquired after my box, and what I +was pleased to call my treasure. The box was produced and opened; +but, reader, feel for me--a pair of Norway rats had taken possession +of the whole, and reared a young family among the gnawed bits of +paper, which, but a month previous, represented nearly a thousand +inhabitants of air! The burning heat which instantly rushed through +my brain was too great to be endured without affecting my whole +nervous system. I slept for several nights, and the days passed like +days of oblivion--until the animal powers being recalled into action +through the strength of my constitution, I took up my gun, my +notebook and my pencils, and went forth to the woods as gayly as if +nothing had happened. I felt pleased that I might now make better +drawings than before; and ere a period not exceeding three years had +elapsed, my portfolio was again filled." + +The accidental destruction of Sir Isaac Newton's papers, by his +little dog "Diamond" upsetting a lighted taper upon his desk, by +which the elaborate calculations of many years were in a moment +destroyed, is a well-known anecdote, and need not be repeated: it is +said that the loss caused the philosopher such profound grief that it +seriously injured his health, and impaired his understanding. An +accident of a somewhat similar kind happened to the manuscript of Mr. +Carlyle's first volume of his "French Revolution." He had lent the +manuscript to a literary neighbor to peruse. By some mischance, it +had been left lying on the parlor floor, and become forgotten. Weeks +ran on, and the historian sent for his work, the printers being loud +for "copy." Inquiries were made, and it was found that the maid-of- +all-work, finding what she conceived to be a bundle of waste paper +on 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 be +imagined. There was, however, no help for him but to set resolutely +to work to rewrite the book; and he turned to it and did it. He had +no draft and was compelled to rake up from his memory, facts, ideas, +and expressions which had been long since dismissed. The composition +of the book in the first instance had been a work of pleasure; the +rewriting of it a second time was one of pain and anguish almost +beyond belief. That he persevered and finished the volume under such +circumstances, affords an instance of determination of purpose which +has seldom been surpassed. + +There is no walk in life, in which success has been won, that has not +its brilliant examples of the achievements of perseverance. The +literary life, in which all who read are interested, has many +illustrations of this. No great career affords stronger proof of this +than that of the great Sir Walter Scott, who, delighting his own +generation, 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 above +that of a copying clerk. His daily dull routine made his evenings, +which were his own, all the ore sweet; and he generally devoted them +to reading and study. He himself attributed to his prosaic office +discipline that habit of steady, sober diligence, in which mere +literary men are so often found wanting. As a copying clerk he was +allowed 3_d._ for every page containing a certain number of words; and +he sometimes, by extra work, was able to copy as many as 120 pages in +twenty-four hours, thus earning some 30_s._; out of which he would +occasionally purchase an odd volume, otherwise beyond his means. + +During his after-life Scott was wont to pride himself upon being a +man of business, and he averred, in contradiction to what he called +the cant of sonneteers, that there was no necessary connection +between genius and an aversion or contempt for the common duties of +life. On the contrary, he was of opinion that to spend some fair +portion of every day in any matter-of-fact occupation was good for +the higher faculties themselves in the upshot. While afterward acting +as clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, he performed his +literary work chiefly before breakfast, attending the court during +the day, where he authenticated registered deeds and writings of +various kinds. "On the whole," says Lockhart, "it forms one of the +most remarkable features in his history, that throughout the most +active period of his literary career, he must have devoted a large +proportion of his hours, during half at least of every year, to the +conscientious discharge of professional duties." It was a principle +of action which he laid down for himself, that he must earn his +living by business, and not by literature. On one occasion he said, +"I determined that literature should be my staff, not my crutch, and +that the profits of my literary labor, however convenient otherwise, +should not, if I could help it, become necessary to my ordinary +expenses." + +His punctuality was one of the most carefully cultivated of his +habits, otherwise it had not been possible for him to get through so +enormous an amount of literary labor. He mad it a rule to answer +every letter received by him on the same day, except where inquiry +and deliberation were requisite. Nothing else could have enabled him +to keep abreast with the flood of communications that poured in upon +him and sometimes put his good-nature to the severest test. It was +his practice to rise by five o'clock and light his own fire. He +shaved and dressed with deliberation, and was seated at his desk by +six o'clock, with his papers arranged before him in the most accurate +order, his works of reference marshaled round him on the floor, while +at least one favorite dog lay watching his eye, outside the line of +books. Thus by the time the family assembled for breakfast, between +nine and ten, he had done enough--to use his own words--to break the +neck of a day's work. But with all his diligent and indefatigable +industry, and his immense knowledge, the result of may years' patient +labor, Scott always spoke with the greatest diffidence of his own +powers. On one occasion he said, "Throughout every part of my career +I 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 in +the following statement, which it would be well to remember: + +"There are some men whose failure to succeed in life is a problem to +others, as well as to themselves. They are industrious, prudent, and +economical; yet, after a long life of striving, old age finds them +still poor. They complain of ill-luck; they say fate is against them. +But the real truth is that their projects miscarry because they +mistake mere activity for energy. Confounding two things essentially +different, they suppose that if they are always busy, they must of a +necessity be advancing their fortune; forgetting that labor +misdirected is but a waste of activity." + +"The person who would succeed in life is like a marksman firing at a +target--if his shot misses the mark, it is but a waste of powder; to +be 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 on +the top of a weather-cock, instead of being made to turn some machine +commensurate with his strength, is not more worthless than the merely +active man who, though busy from sunrise to sunset, dissipates his +labor on trifles, when he ought skillfully to concentrate it on some +great end. + +"Every person knows some one in his circle of acquaintance who, +though always active, has this want of energy. The distemper, if we +may call it such, exhibits itself in various ways. In some cases, the +man has merely an executive faculty when he should have a directing +one; in other words, he makes a capital clerk for himself, when he +ought 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 the +right way. Sometimes there is no distinction made between objects of +different magnitudes, and as much labor is bestowed on a trivial +affair 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 days +without undressing himself, now galloping from point to point, now +dictating dispatches, now studying maps and directing operations. But +his periods of repose, when the crisis was over, were generally as +protracted as his previous exertions had been. He has been known to +sleep for eighteen hours without waking. Second-rate men, slaves of +tape and routine, while they would fall short of the superhuman +exertions of the great emperor, would have considered themselves lost +beyond hope if they imitated what they call his indolence. They are +capital 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 relieved +occasionally by spasmodic fits of industry, is to be recommended. Men +who have this character run into the opposite extreme of that which +we have been stigmatizing, and fail as invariably of securing success +in life. To call their occasional periods of application energy, +would be a sad misnomer. Such persons, indeed, are but civilized +savages, so to speak; vagabonds at heart in their secret hatred of +work, and only resorting to labor occasionally, like the wild Indian +who, after lying for weeks about his hut, is roused by sheer hunger +to start on a hunting excursion. Real energy is persevering, steady, +disciplined. It never either loses sight of the object to be +accomplished, or intermits its exertions while there is a possibility +of success. Napoleon on the plains of Champagne, sometimes fighting +two battles in one day, first defeating the Russians and then turning +on the Austrians, is an illustration of this energy. The Duke of +Brunswick, idling away precious time when he invaded France at the +outbreak of the first Revolution, is an example of the contrary. +Activity beats about a cover like an untrained dog, never lighting on +the 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 or +foresight, but it is doubtful if any great permanent success ever was +the outcome of blind chance. + +The old adage, "Trust to luck," like many other adages that time has +kept in unmerited circulation, is a bad one. The man who trusts to +luck for his clothing is apt to wear rags, and he who depends on it +for food is sure to go hungry. + +We hear a great deal about the wonderful things that have been done +by chance, but we seldom take the time to examine them. We read that +sir Isaac Newton, sitting in his garden one day, "Chanced to see an +apple fall to the ground," and this set him to thinking, and he +discovered the laws of gravitation. New, ever since the first apple +fell from the first tree in Eden, men have been watching that very +commonplace occurrence. We might extend the field so as to embrace +oranges, coconuts and all the fruits and nuts which, in every land +and through all the long centuries of man's existence, have been +falling to the ground--not by chance, however, yet they set no men to +thinking, simply because not one of the millions of men who "chanced" +to see the incident, "chanced" to have the reasoning powers of the +great English scientist. If the apple, instead of falling to the +ground, had shot up, without visible cause, to the sky, then the +dullest observer would have wondered, even if he did not attempt to +find an explanation. The falling of the apple in Newton's garden was +not a chance, but an ordinary incident, which was made much of in the +mind of an extraordinary man. + +Watt "chanced" to see the lid of the kettle in his mother's kitchen +lifted by the steam within, and this incident we are asked to believe +was the origin of the engine invented by that great man. If no one +else had ever witnessed a like phenomenon, then we might give some +consideration 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 was +born. There are no accidents in the progress of science. + +In the same way, we are asked to believe that Galileo discovered the +telescope, Whitney the cotton gin, and Howe the sewing machine. + +But there have been some curious cases of chance fortune. A man out +hunting in California made a mis-step and was plunged into a deep +gulch in the Sierra Nevada. His gun was broken and he was sorely +bruised, but he was more that repaid for the accident by the +discovery of a rich gold mine at the bottom. + +What would you think of the man, who, because of this, should +shoulder a gun and go into the mountains, hoping to be precipitated +into a gulch full of gold. If he started out for this purpose, of +course, the element of chance would be eliminated, and yet that man +would show just as much good sense as do the thousands who go through +life--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 to +the 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 instruments +and helps, of which the need is not less for the understanding than +the hand." + +The Romans had a saying which is as true to-day as when first +uttered: "Opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald; if you +seize her by the forelock, you may hold her, but if suffered to +escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again." + +Accident does very little toward the production of any great result +in life. Though sometimes what is called "a happy hit" may be made by +a bold venture, the common highway of steady industry and application +is 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, correct +manner, he would step back from it, his pencil fixed at the end of a +long stick, and after gazing earnestly on the work, he would suddenly +walk up and by a few bold touches give a brilliant finish to the +painting. But it will not do for everyone who would produce an +effect, to throw his brush at the canvas in the hope of producing a +picture. The capability of putting in these last vital touches is +acquired only by the labor of a life; and the probability is, that +the artist who has not carefully trained himself beforehand, in +attempting to produce a brilliant effect at a dash, will only produce +a blotch. + +Sedulous attention and painstaking industry always mark the true +worker. The greatest men are not those who "despise the day of small +things," but those who improve them the most carefully. Michael +Angelo was one day explaining to a visitor at his studio what he had +been doing to a statue since a previous visit. "I have retouched this +part--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, the +painter, that the rule of his conduct was, that "whatever was worth +doing at all was worth doing well;" and when asked, late in life, by +his friend Vigneul de Marville, by what means he had gained so high a +reputation among the painters of Italy, Poussin emphatically +answered, "Because I have neglected nothing." + +Although there are discoveries which are said to have been made by +accident, if carefully inquired into it will be found that there has +really been very little that was accidental about them. For the most +part, these so-called accidents, have only been opportunities, +carefully improved by genius. The brilliantly colored soap-bubbles +blown through a common tobacco-pipe--though "trifles light as air" in +most eyes--suggested to Dr. Young his beautiful theory of +"interferences," and led to his discovery relating to the diffraction +of light. Although great men are popularly supposed only to deal with +great things, men such as Newton and Young were ready to detect the +significance of the most familiar and simple facts; their greatness +consisting mainly in their wise interpretation of them. + +The difference between men consists, in a great measure, in the +intelligence of their observation. The Russian proverb says of the +nonobservant man, "He goes through the forest and sees no firewood." +"The wise man's eyes are in his head," says Solomon, "but the fool +walketh in darkness." "Sir," said Johnson on one occasion, to a fine +gentleman just returned from Italy, "some men would learn more in the +Hampstead stage than others in the tour of Europe." It is the mind +that sees as well as the eye. Where unthinking gazers observe +nothing, men of intelligent vision penetrate into the very fibre of +the phenomena presented to them, attentively noting differences, +making comparisons and recognizing their underlying idea. Many before +Galileo had seen a suspended weight swing before their eyes with a +measured beat, but he was the first to detect the value of the fact. +One of the vergers in the cathedral at Pisa, after replenishing with +oil a lamp which hung from the roof, left it swinging to and fro; and +Galileo, then a youth of only eighteen, noting it attentively, +conceived the idea of applying it to the measurement of time. Fifty +years of study and labor, however, elapsed before he completed the +invention of his Pendulum--the importance of which, in the +measurement of time and in astronomical calculations, can scarcely be +overrated. In like manner, Galileo, having casually heard that one +Lippershey, a Dutch spectacle-maker, had presented to Count Maurice +of Nassau an instrument by means of which distant objects appeared +nearer to the beholder, addressed himself to the cause of such a +phenomenon, which led to the invention of the telescope and proved +the beginning of the modern science of astronomy. Discoveries such as +these could never have been made by a negligent observer, or by a +mere passive listener. + +While Captain (afterward Sir Samuel) Brown was occupied in studying +the construction of bridges, with the view of contriving one of a +cheap description to be thrown across the Tweed near which he lived, +he was walking in his garden one dewy autumn morning, when he saw a +tiny spider's net suspended across his path. The idea immediately +occurred to him, that a bridge of iron ropes or chains might be +constructed in like manner, and the result was the invention of his +suspension bridge. So James Watt, when consulted about the mode of +carrying water by pipes under the Clyde, along the unequal bed of the +river, turned his attention one day to the shell of a lobster +presented 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 Thames +Tunnel from the tiny shipworm: he saw how the little creature +perforated the wood with its well-armed head, first in one direction +and then in another, till the archway was complete, and then daubed +over the roof and sides with a kind of varnish; and by copying this +work exactly on a large scale, Brunel was at length enabled to +construct his shield and accomplish his great engineering work. + +It is the intelligent eye of the careful observer which gives these +apparently trivial phenomena their value. So trifling a matter as the +sight of seaweed floating past his ship, enabled Columbus to quell +the 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 of +success in business, in art, in science, and in every pursuit in +life. Human knowledge is but an accumulation of small facts, made by +successive generations of men, the little bits of knowledge and +experience carefully treasured up by them growing at length into a +mighty pyramid. Though many of these facts and observations seemed in +the first instance to have but slight significance, they are all +found to have their eventual uses, and to fit into their proper +places. Even many speculations seemingly remote, turn out to be the +basis of results the most obviously practical. In the case of the +conic sections discovered by Apollonius Pergaeus, twenty centuries +elapsed before they were made the basis of astronomy--a science which +enables the modern navigator to steer his way through unknown seas +and traces for him in the heavens an unerring path to his appointed +haven. And had not mathematicians toiled for so long, and, to +uninstructed observers, apparently so fruitlessly, over the abstract +relations of lines and surfaces, it is probably that but few of our +mechanical inventions would have seen the light. + +When Franklin made his discovery of the identity of lightning and +electricity, it was sneered at, and people asked, "Of what use is +it?" To which his reply was, "What is the use of a child? It may +become a man!" When Galvani discovered that a frog's leg twitched +when placed in contact with different metals, it could scarcely have +been imagined that so apparently insignificant a fact could have led +to important results. Yet therein lay the germ of the electric +telegraph, which binds the intelligence of continents together, and, +probably before many years have elapsed will "put a girdle round the +globe." So, too, little bits of stone and fossil, dug out of the +earth, intelligently interpreted, have issued in the science of +geology and the practical operations of mining, in which large +capitals are invested and vast numbers of persons profitably +employed. + +The gigantic machinery employed in pumping our mines, working our +mills and manufactories, and driving our steamships and locomotives, +in like manner depends for its supply of power upon so slight an +agency as little drops of water expanded with heat--that familiar +agency called steam, which we see issuing from that common tea-kettle +spout, but which, when pent up within an ingeniously contrived +mechanism, displays a force equal to that of millions of horses, and +contains a power to rebuke the waves and set even the hurricane at +defiance. The same power at work within the bowels of the earth has +been the cause of those volcanoes and earthquakes which have played +so mighty a part in the history of the globe. + +This art of seizing opportunities and turning even accidents to +account, bending them to some purpose, is a great secret of success. +Dr. Johnson has defined genius to be "a mind of large general powers +accidentally determined in some particular direction." Men who are +resolved to find a way for themselves, will always find opportunities +enough; and if they do not lie ready to their hand, they will make +them. It is not those who have enjoyed the advantages of colleges, +museums, and public galleries, that have accomplished the most for +science and art; nor have the greatest mechanics and inventors been +trained in mechanics' institutes. Necessity, oftener than facility, +has been the mother of invention; and the most prolific school of all +has been the school of difficulty. Some of the very best workmen have +had the most indifferent tools to work with. But it is not tools that +make the workman, but the trained skill and perseverance of the man +himself. Indeed it is proverbial that the bad workman never yet had a +good tool. Some one asked Opie by that wonderful process he mixed his +colors. "I mix them with my brains, sir," was his reply. It is the +same with every workman who would excel. Ferguson made marvelous +things--such as his wooden clock, that accurately measured the hours-- +by means of a common penknife, a tool in everybody's hand; but then +everybody is not a Ferguson. A pan of water and two thermometers were +the tools by which Dr. Black discovered latent heat; and a prism, a +lens and a sheet of pasteboard enable Newton to unfold the +composition of light and the origin of colors. An eminent foreign +_savant_ once called upon Dr. Wollaston, and requested to be shown +over his laboratories, in which science had been enriched by so many +important discoveries, when the doctor took him into a little study, +and, pointing to an old tea-tray on the table, containing a few +watch-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 studying +butterflies' wings: he would often say that no one knew what he owed +to those tiny insects. A burnt stick and a barn door served Wilkie in +lieu of pencil and canvas. Bewiek first practiced drawing on the +cottage walls of his native village, which he covered with his +sketches in chalk; and Benjamin Watt made his first brushes out of +the cat's tail. Ferguson laid himself down in the fields at night in +a blanket, and made a map of the heavenly bodies by means of a thread +with small beads on it stretched between his eye and the stars. +Franklin first robbed the thundercloud of its lightning by means of a +kite made with two cross-sticks and a silk handkerchief. Watt made +his first model of the condensing steam-engine out of an old +anatomist's syringe, used to inject the arteries previous to +dissection. Gifford worked his first problems in mathematics, when a +cobbler's apprentice, upon small scraps of leather, which he beat +smooth for the purpose; whilst Rittenhouse, the astronomer, first +calculated eclipses on his plow handle. + +The most ordinary occasions will furnish a man with opportunities or +suggestions for improvement, if he be but prompt to take advantage of +them. Professor Lee was attracted to the study of Hebrew by finding a +Bible in that tongue in a synagogue, while working as a common +carpenter at the repair of the benches. He became possessed with a +desire to read the book in the original, and, buying a cheap second- +hand copy of a Hebrew grammar, he set to work and learned the +language for himself. As Edmund Stone said to the Duke of Argyle, in +answer to his grace's inquiry how he, a poor gardener's boy, had +contrived to be able to read Newton's Principia in the Latin, "One +needs only to know the twenty-four letters of the alphabet in order +to learn everything else that one wishes." Application and +perseverance, and the diligent improvement of opportunities, will do +the rest. + +The attention of Dr. Priestley, the discoverer of so many gases, was +accidentally drawn to the subject of chemistry through his living in +the neighborhood of a brewery. When visiting the place one day, he +noted the peculiar appearances attending the extinction of lighted +chips in the gas floating over the fermented liquor. He was forty +years old at the time, and knew nothing of chemistry. He consulted +books to ascertain the cause, but they told him little, for as yet +nothing was known on the subject. Then he began to experiment, with +some rude apparatus of his own contrivance. The curious results of +his first experiments led to others, which in his hands shortly +became the science of pneumatic chemistry. About the same time, +Scheele was obscurely working in the same direction in a remote +Swedish village; and he discovered several new gases, with no more +effective apparatus at his command than a few apothecaries' vials and +pigs' bladders. + +Sir Humphry Davy, when an apothecary's apprentice, performed his +first experiments with instruments of the rudest description. He +extemporized the greater part of them himself, out of the motley +materials which chance threw in his way--to pots and pans of the +kitchen, and the vials and vessels of his master's surgery. It +happened that a French ship was wrecked off the Land's End, and the +surgeon escaped, bearing with him his case of instruments, amongst +which was an old-fashioned clyster apparatus; this article he +presented to Davy, with whom he had become acquainted. The +apothecary's apprentice received it with great exultation, and +forthwith employed it as a part of a pneumatic apparatus which he +contrived, afterward using it to perform the duties of an air-pump in +one of his experiments on the nature and sources of heat. + +In like manner, professor Faraday, Sir Humphry Davy's scientific +successor, made his first experiments in electricity by means of an +old bottle, while he was still a working bookbinder. And it is a +curious fact, that Faraday was first attracted to the study of +chemistry by hearing one of Sir Humphry Davy's lectures on the +subject at the Royal Institution. A gentleman, who was a member, +calling one day at the shop where Faraday was employed in binding +books, found him pouring over the article "Electricity," in an +encyclopedia placed in his hands to bind. The gentleman, having made +inquiries, found that the young bookbinder was curious about such +subjects, and gave him an order of admission to the Royal +Institution, where he attended a course of four lectures delivered by +Sir Humphry. He took notes of them, which he showed to the lecturer, +who acknowledged their scientific accuracy, and was surprised when +informed of the humble position of the reporter. Faraday then +expressed his desire to devote himself to the prosecution of chemical +studies, from which Sir Humphry at first endeavored to dissuade him: +but the young man persisting, he was at length taken into the Royal +Institution as an assistant; and eventually the mantle of the +brilliant apothecary's boy fell upon the worthy shoulders of the +equally brilliant bookbinder's apprentice. + +The words which Davy entered in his notebook, when about twenty years +of age, working in Dr. Beddoes' laboratory at Bristol, were eminently +characteristic of him: "I have neither riches, nor power, nor birth +to recommend me; yet if I live I trust I shall not be of less service +to mankind and my friends, than if I had been born with all these +advantages." Davy possessed the capability, as Faraday did, of +devoting the whole power of his mind to the practical and +experimental investigation of a subject in all its bearings; and such +a mind will rarely fail, by dint of mere industry and patient +thinking, in producing results of the highest order. Coleridge said +of Davy: "There is an energy and elasticity in his mind, which +enables him to seize on and analyze all questions, pushing them to +their legitimate consequences. Every subject in Davy's mind has the +principle of vitality. Living thoughts spring up like turf under his +feet." Davy, on his part said of Coleridge, whose abilities he +greatly admired: "With the most exalted genius, enlarged views, +sensitive heart, and enlightened mind, he will be the victim of a +want of order, precision, and regularity." + +It is not accident, then, that helps a man in the world so much as +purpose and persistent industry. To the feeble, the sluggish and +purposeless, the happiest accidents will avail nothing--they pass +them by, seeing no meaning in them. But it is astonishing how much +can be accomplished if we are prompt to seize and improve the +opportunities for action and effort which are constantly presenting +themselves. Watt taught himself chemistry and mechanics while working +at his trade of a mathematical instrument maker, at the same time +that he was learning German from a Swiss dyer. Stephenson taught +himself arithmetic and mensuration while working as an engine-man, +during the night shifts; and when he could snatch a few moments in +the intervals allowed for meals during the day, he worked his sums +with a bit of chalk upon the sides of the colliery wagons. Dalton's +industry was the habit of his life. He began from his boyhood, for he +taught a little village school when he was only about twelve years +old--keeping the school in winter, and working upon his father's farm +in summer. He would sometimes urge himself and companions to study by +the stimulus of a bet, though bred a Quaker; and on one occasion by +his satisfactory solution of a problem, he won as much as enabled him +to buy a winter's store of candles. He continued his meteorological +observations until a day or two before he died--having made and +recorded upward of 200,000 in the course of his life. + +With perseverance, the very odds, and ends of time may be worked up +into results of the greatest value. An hour in every day withdrawn +from frivolous pursuits would, if profitably employed, enable a +person of ordinary capacity to go far toward mastering a science. It +would make an ignorant man a well-informed one in less than ten +years. Time should not be allowed to pass without yielding fruits, in +the form of something learnt worthy of being known, some good +principle cultivated, or some good habit strengthened. Dr. Mason Good +translated Lucretuis while riding in his carriage in the streets of +London, going the round of his patients. Dr. Darwin composed nearly +all his works in the same way while driving about in his "sulky" from +house to house in the country ==writing down his thoughts on little +scraps 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 from +one musical pupil to another in the course of his profession. Kirke +White learnt Greek while walking to and fro from a lawyer's office; +and we personally know a man of eminent position who learnt Latin and +French while going messages as an errand-boy. + +Hugh Miller was a busy man of observant faculties, who studied +literature as well as science, with zeal and success. The book in +which he has told the story of his life("My Schools and +Schoolmasters"), is extremely interesting, and calculated to be +eminently useful. It is the history of the formation of a truly noble +character in the humblest condition of life, and inculcates most +powerfully 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. He +had a school training after a sort, but his best teachers were the +boys with whom he played, the men amongst whom he lived. He read much +and miscellaneously, and picked up odd sorts of knowledge from many +quarters--from workmen, carpenters, fishermen and sailors, and above +all, from the old boulders strewed along the shores of the Cromarty +Firth. With a big hammer which had belonged to his great-grandfather, +an old buccaneer, the boy went about chipping the stones, and +accumulating specimens of mica, porphyry, garnet, and such like. +Sometimes he had a day in the woods, and there, too, the boy's +attention was excited by the peculiar geological curiosities which +came in his way. While searching among the rocks on the beach, he was +sometimes asked, in irony, by the farm-servants who came to load +their carts with sea-weed, whether he "was gettin' siller in the +stanes," but was so unlucky as never to be able to answer in the +affirmative. When of a suitable age he was apprenticed to the trade +of his choice--that of a working stone-mason; and he began his +laboring career in a quarry looking out upon the Cromarty Firth. This +quarry proved one of his best schools. The remarkable geological +formations which it displayed awakened his curiosity. The bar of +deep-red stone beneath, and the bar of pale-red clay above, were +noted by the young quarryman, who even in such unpromising subjects, +found matter of observation and reflection. Where other men saw +nothing, he detected analogies, differences, and peculiarities which +set him a-thinking. He simply kept his eyes and his mind open; was +sober, diligent and persevering; and this was the secret of his +intellectual growth. + +His curiosity was excited and kept alive by the curious organic +remains, principally of old and extinct species of fishes, ferns, and +ammonites, which were revealed along the coast by the washings of the +waves, or were exposed by the stroke of his mason's hammer. He never +lost sight of the subject, but went on accumulating observations and +comparing formations, until at length, many years afterward, when no +longer a working mason, he gave to the world his highly interesting +work on the "Old Red Sandstone," which at once established his +reputation as a scientific geologist. But this work was the fruit of +long years of patient observation and research. As he modestly states +in his autobiography, "The only merit to which I lay claim in the +case is that of patient research--a merit in which whoever wills may +rival or surpass me; and this humble faculty of patience, when +rightly developed, may lead to more extraordinary development of +ideas than even genius itself." + +"Chance," said an old Vermont farmer, "is like going into a field +with a pail, and waiting for a cow to come to you and back up to be +milked." + +"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 like +active men, but I have no use for the fellow who is so much in +earnest that he goes off half-cocked." We all know the danger of a +gun that goes off half-cocked, but it is not so apt to bring disaster +as is the man who goes off without due preparation. + +It is fortunate for us that we cannot see into the future, but the +Father who has kept from us the gift of prophecy has blessed us with +a foresight and judgment that enable us to see pretty accurately what +must 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 "Know +thyself," and the great poet Pope tells us that "the proper study of +mankind is man." A knowledge of human nature is invaluable in every +life-calling that brings us into contact with our fellows, and this +can be gained only by careful observation. + +Stephen Girard attributed much of his success to his "ability to read +men at a glance." And so carefully did the great merchant prince, +Alexander T, Stewart, study this, that it is said he rarely made a +mistake in the character of a man he took into his employ. + +Cultivate observation. Oliver Wendell Holmes maintained that all the +difference in men, no matter their callings, lay in the difference of +their ability to observe and draw proper conclusions from their +observations. Professor Huxley says that "observation is the basis of +all our scientific knowledge." And Andrew Carnegie attributes his +great success to his cultivation of this faculty. + +Every young man, ambitious to win--and what young man worthy the name +is not?--should have a standard of excellence for himself, and then +he should carefully study and observe the methods of the men who he +admires or with whom he is brought into contact. It is the ability to +do this that constitutes the difference between the man drudge and +the man anxious to assume greater responsibilities by mastering his +necessary duties. + +In a lecture to young men on this subject, Henry Ward Beecher said: + +"The young should begin life with a standard of excellence before +them, to which they should readily conform themselves. There should +be a fixed determination to make the best of one's self, in whatever +circumstances we may be placed. Let the young man determine that +whatever he undertakes he will do well; that he will make himself +master of the business upon which he enters, and always prepare +himself for advancement by becoming worthy of it. It is not +opportunity of rising which is wanting, so much as the ability to +rise. It is not the patronage of friends and the outward helps of +fortune, to which the prominent men of our country owe their +elevation, either in wealth or influence, so much as to their own +vigorous and steady exertions. We hear a great many complaints, both +among young men and old, of the favoritism of fortune, and the +partiality of the world; but observation leads us to believe that, to +a very great extent, those who deserve promotion obtain it. Those who +are worthy of confidence will have confidence reposed in them. Those +who give evidence of ability and industry will find opportunity +enough 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 is +all that he possesses. He knows almost nothing of the world, and very +little of the occupation on which he has entered. He performs his +duty from day to day sufficiently well, and does what he is expected +to do. But it does not enter into his mind to do anything beyond what +is required, nor to enlarge his capacities by reading or reflection. +He is, at the best, a steady plodding man, who will go forward, if at +all, very slowly, and will rise, if at all, to no great elevation. He +is not the sort of person who is looked for to occupy a higher +position. One opportunity of advancement after another may come +directly within his reach, and he asks the influence of friends to +help him to secure it. They give their aid feebly, because they have +no great hopes of success, and are not confident of their own +recommendation. As a matter of course, some one else, more competent +or more in earnest, steps in before him, and then we hear renewed +complaints of favoritism and injustice. Such a one may say in his +defense that he has been guilty of no dereliction of duty; that no +fault has been found with him, and that, therefore, he was entitled +to advancement. But this does not follow. Something more that that +may reasonably be required. To bestow increased confidence, we +require the capacity and habit of improvement in those whom we +employ. The man who is entitled to rise is one who is always +enlarging his capacity, so that he is evidently able to do more that +he is actually doing. + +In every department of business, whether mechanical or mercantile, or +whatever it may be, there is a large field of useful knowledge which +should be carefully explored. An observing eye and an inquiring mind +will always find enough for examination and study. It may not seem to +be of immediate use--it may have nothing to do with this week's or +this year's duty--yet it is worth knowing. The mind gains greater +skillfulness by the intelligence which directs it. + +The result is all the difference between a mere drudge and an +intelligent workman; between the mere salesman or clerk and the +enterprising merchant; between the obscure and pettifogging lawyer +and the sagacious, influential counselor. It is the difference +between one who deserves to be, and will be, stationary in the world, +and one who, having determined to make the best of himself, will +continually rise in influence and true respectability. This whole +difference we may see every day among those who have enjoyed nearly +equal opportunities. We may allow something for what are called the +accidents of social influence, and the turns of fortune. But, after +all fair allowance has been made, we shall find that the great cause +of difference is in the men themselves. Let the young man who is +beginning life put away from him all notions of advancement without +desert. A man of honorable feelings will not even desire it. He will +ever shrink from engaging in duties which he is not able fairly to +perform. He will, first of all, secure to himself the capacity of +performing 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 years +add nothing to our fund of useful knowledge. Judgment is the ability +to weigh these observations, and use them for our own protection or +advancement. + +Not only in business, but in science and art, observation and good +judgment are necessary. Excellence in art, as in everything else, can +only be achieved by dint of painstaking labor and a close observation +of those whom we regard as our superiors. There is nothing less +accidental than the painting of a fine picture, or the chiseling of a +noble statue. Every skilled touch of the artist's brush or chisel, +though guided by genius, is the product of unremitting study. Sir +Joshua Reynolds was such a believer in the force of industry, that he +held 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 moment +that 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 or +unwilling, morning, noon, and, night: they will find it no play, but +very hard labor." But although diligent application is no doubt +absolutely necessary for the achievement of the highest distinction +in art, it is equally true that, without the inborn genius, no amount +of mere industry, however well applied, will make an artist. The gift +comes by nature, but is perfected by self-culture, which is of more +avail that all the imparted learning of the schools. But even genius +without good judgment may be an unbroken steed without a bridle. + +All great artists and authors have been famed for their powers of +observation; indeed, it is claimed that it is this power that +distinguishes them from other men. + +No matter how generous nature has been in bestowing the gift of +genius, the pursuit of art is nevertheless a long and continuous +labor. Many artists have been precocious, but without diligence their +precocity would have come to nothing. The anecdote related of West is +well known. When only seven years old, struck with the beauty of the +sleeping infant of his eldest sister, whilst watching by its cradle, +he ran to seek some paper, and forthwith drew its portrait in red and +black ink. The little incident revealed the artist in him, and it was +found impossible to draw him from his bent. West might have been a +greater painter had he not been injured by too early success: his +fame, though great, was not purchased by study, trials and +difficulties, and it has not been enduring. + +Richard Wilson, when a mere child, indulged himself with tracing +figures of men and animals on the walls of his father's house with a +burnt stick. He first directed his attention to portrait painting; +but when in Italy, calling one day at the house of Zucarelli, and +growing weary with waiting, he began painting the scene on which his +friend's chamber window looked. When Zucarelli arrived, he was so +charmed with the picture that he asked if Wilson had not studied +landscape, to which he replied that he had not. "Then I advise you," +said the other, "to try; for you are sure of great success." Wilson +adopted the advice, studied and worked hard, and became the first +great English landscape painter. + +Sir Joshua Reynolds, when a boy, forgot his lessons, and took +pleasure only in drawing, for which his father was accustomed to +rebuke him. The boy was destined for the profession of physic, but +his strong instinct for art could not be repressed, and he became a +painter. Gainsborough went sketching, when a schoolboy, in the woods +of Sudbury, and at twelve he was a confirmed artist; he was a keen +observer and a hard worker--no picturesque feature of any scene he +had once looked upon escaping his diligent pencil. William Blake, a +hosier's son, employed himself in drawing designs on the backs of his +father's shop-bills, and making sketches on the counter. Edward Bird, +when a child only three or four years old, would mount a chair and +draw figures on the walls, which he called French and English +soldiers. A box of colors was purchased for him, and his father, +desirous of turning his love of art to account, put him apprentice to +a 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 in +making drawings of the letters of the alphabet, and his school +exercises were more remarkable for the ornaments with which he +embellished them, than for the matter of the exercises themselves. In +the latter respect he was beaten by all the blockheads of the school, +but in his adornments he stood alone. His father put him apprentice +to a silversmith, where he learnt to draw, and also to engrave spoons +and forks with crests and ciphers. From silver-chasing he went on to +teach himself engraving on copper, principally griffins and monsters +of heraldry, in the course of which practice he became ambitious to +delineate the varieties of human character. The singular excellence +which he reached in this art was mainly the result of careful +observation and study. He had the gift, which he sedulously +cultivated, of committing to memory the precise features of any +remarkable face, and afterward reproducing them on paper; but if any +singularly fantastic form or odd face came in his way, he would make +a sketch of it on the spot upon his thumbnail, and carry it home to +expand at his leisure. Everything fantastical and original had a +powerful attraction for him, and he wandered into many out-of-the-way +places for the purpose of meeting with character. By this careful +storing of his mind, he was afterward enabled to crowd an immense +amount of thought and treasure observation into his works. Hence it +is that Hogarth's pictures are so truthful a memorial of the +character, the manners, and even the very thoughts of the times in +which he live. True painting, he himself observed, can only be learnt +in one school, and that is kept by Nature. But he was not a highly +cultivated man, except in his own walk. His school education had been +of the slenderest kind, scarcely even perfecting him in the art of +spelling; his self-culture did the rest. For a long time he was in +very straitened circumstances, but nevertheless worked on with a +cheerful heart. Poor though he was, he contrived to live within his +small means, and he boasted with becoming pride, that he was "a +punctual paymaster." When he had conquered all his difficulties and +become a famous and thriving man, he loved to dwell upon his early +labors and privations, and to fight over again the battle which ended +so honorably to him as a man and so gloriously as an artist. "I +remember the time," said he on one occasion, "when I have gone +moping into the city with scarce a shilling, but as soon as I have +received ten guineas there for a plate, I have returned home, put on +my sword, and sallied out with all the confidence of a man who had +thousands in his pockets." + +Perhaps there is no living man of eminence who so well and forcibly +illustrates these qualities of judgment and observation as that +greatest of living American inventors, Thomas A. Edison. + +Mr. Edison, as we have already stated, had only a few weeks at school +in his whole life. He was born in the upper part of New York State in +1847. His parents were poor, and early in life, to use his own +expressive words, he "had to start out and hustle." One would think +that selling newspapers on a railroad train was not a calling that +afforded any educational advantages, but to the man of observation +there is no position in life, whether in the busy haunts of men or +the silence of the wilderness, that is not replete with valuable +information if we but know where to look for it, and have the +judgment to use it after it is obtained. + +Through the favor of the telegraph operator, whose child's life he +had saved when the little one was nearly under the wheels of a train, +young Edison was enabled to study telegraphy. During this +apprenticeship, if such it may be called, the boy not only learned +how to send and receive a message, so as to fit himself for the +position of operator, but he learned all about the mechanism and the +batteries of the instrument he operated. + +"Nothing escaped Tom Edison's observation," said a man who knew him +at this time. "He saw everything, and he not only saw it, but he set +about learning its whys and wherefores, and he stuck at it till he +had learned all there was to be learned about it." + +Said another friend, "I've known Edison since he was a boy of +fourteen, and of my own knowledge I can say he never spent an idle +day in his life. Often when he should have been asleep I have known +him to sit up half the night reading. He did not take to novels or +wild Western adventures, but read works on mechanics, chemistry and +electricity, and he mastered them, too. But in addition to his +reading, which he could only indulge at odd hours, he carefully +cultivated his wonderful powers of observation, till at length, when +he was not actually asleep, it may be said he was learning all the +time. Schools and colleges are all very well, but Mr. Edison's career +goes to show that a man may become famous, prosperous, and well +educated, if he has the necessary capacity for observing and +weighing." + +Another illustrious example of the same kind is the late George W. +Childs, of Philadelphia. He was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1829, and +at the age of twelve he had to begin the battle of life by taking the +position of errand boy in a book store. "I had no schooling," he +said, when speaking of his early struggles, "but I had a quenchless +thirst for information. I had no tine to read the books I had to +handle and carry sometimes in a wheelbarrow, but I kept my eyes and +ears open. I studied the binding and manufacture, though I had not +the slightest idea of the contents; and from these early observations +I made up my mind that one day I would become a publisher on my own +account." + +How successfully Mr. Childs did this, we all know. While yet in his +teens, he made his way, without money or friends, to Philadelphia, +and found a place in a book store, where the same method of education +by observation was continued. + +The first time he saw a copy of the Philadelphia _Ledger_, a time +when he had scarcely the penny to spare that bought it, he made up +his mind that one day he would own that paper--and he carried out his +resolution. + +So excellent was his judgment that not only publishers, but statesmen +and bankers sought it. From the humblest beginnings George W. Childs +rose up and up till the greatest men of two continents rejoiced in +his friendship, and his name was on the lips of all who admire a +noble life devoted to philanthropic deeds. + +Our American biographies are full of examples of self-taught men--men +who have become educated through observation, and great through good +judgment and increasing effort, but there are not many of them that +commend 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 the +curious by their impractical versatility. + +In early times, even in the early settlement of our own country, it +was necessary for not only men, but women also, to be many-sided in +their capacity for work; but the world's swift advance has made this +unnecessary. A farmer can now buy shoes cheaper than he could make +them at home, and the farmer's wife has no longer to learn the art of +spinning and weaving. + +A French philosopher in speaking of this subject says: "It is well to +know something about everything, and everything about something." +That is general information is always useful, but special information +is essential to special success. + +The field of learning is too vast to be carefully gone over in one +lifetime, and the business world is too extensive to permit any man +to become acquainted with all its topography. A man may do a number +of things fairly well, but he can do only one thing very well. + +Often versatility instead of being a blessing is an injury. A few men +like Michael Angelo in art, Benjamin Franklin in science and letters, +and Peter Cooper in various departments of manufacture have succeeded +in everything they undertook, but to hold these up as examples to be +followed 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 by +the same suitor. + +We have known men of marked ability, but want of purpose, who studied +for the ministry and failed; who then studied law--and failed. After +this they tried medicine and journalism, only to fail in each; +whereas, had they stuck resolutely to one thing success would not +have been uncertain. + +A young man may not be able at the very start to hit upon the +vocation for which he is best adapted, but should he find it, he will +see that his ability to avail himself of its advantages will depend +largely on the energy and singleness of purpose displayed in the work +for which he had no liking. + +There is a famous speech recorded of an old Norseman, thoroughly +characteristic of the Teuton. "I believe neither in idols nor +demons," said he; "I put my sole trust in my own strength of body and +soul." The ancient crest of a pickaxe with the motto of "Either I +will find a way or make one," was an expression of the same sturdy +independence which to this day distinguishes the descendants of the +Northmen. Indeed, nothing could be more characteristic of the +Scandinavian mythology, than that it had a god with a hammer. A man's +character is seen in small matters; and from even so slight a test as +the mode in which a man wields a hammer, his energy may in some +measure be inferred. Thus an eminent Frenchman hit off in a single +phrase the characteristic quality of the inhabitants of a particular +district, in which a friend of his proposed to settle and buy land. +"Beware," said he, "of making a purchase there; I know the men of +that Department; the pupils who come from it to our veterinary school +at Paris _do not strike hard upon the anvil_; they want energy; and +you will not get a satisfactory return on any capital you may invest +there." + +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 but +noble teachers." He who allows his application to falter, or shirks +his work on frivolous pretexts, is on the sure road to ultimate +failure. Let any task be undertaken as a thing not possible to be +evaded, and it will soon come to be performed with alacrity and +cheerfulness. Charles IX of Sweden was a firm believer in the power +of will, even in youth. Laying his hand on the head of his youngest +son when engaged on a difficult task, he exclaimed, "He _shall_ do +it! he _shall_ do it!" The habit of application becomes easy in time, +like every other habit. Thus persons with comparatively moderate +powers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly and +indefatigably to one thing at a time. Fowell Buxton placed his +confidence in ordinary means and extraordinary application; realizing +the Scriptural injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it +with thy might;" and he attributed his own success in life to his +practice 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. He +who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales +the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To think we are +able, is almost to be so--to determine upon attainment is frequently +attainment itself. Thus, earnest resolution has often seemed to have +about it almost a savor of omnipotence. The strength of Suwarrow's +character lay in his power of willing, and, like most resolute +persons, he preached it up as a system. "You can only half will," he +would say to people who failed. Like Richelieu and Napoleon, he would +have the word "impossible" banished from the dictionary. "I don't +know," "I can't," and "impossible," were words which he detested +above all others. "Learn! Do! Try!" he would exclaim. His biographer +has said of him, that he furnished a remarkable illustration of what +may be effected by the energetic development and exercise of +faculties the germs of which at least are in every human heart. + +One of Napoleon's favorite maxims was, "The truest wisdom is a +resolute determination." His life, beyond most others, vividly showed +what a powerful and unscrupulous will could accomplish. He threw his +whole force of body and mind direct upon his work. Imbecile rulers +and the nations they governed went down before him in succession. He +was told that the Alps stood in the way of his armies. "There shall +be no Alps," he said, and the road across the Simplon was +constructed, through a district formerly almost inaccessible. +"Impossible," said he, "is a word only to be found in the dictionary +of fools." He was a man who toiled terribly; sometimes employing and +exhausting four secretaries at a time. He spared no one, not even +himself. His influence inspired other men, and put a new life into +them. "I made my generals out of mud" he said. But all was of no +avail; for Napoleon's intense selfishness was his ruin, and the ruin +of France, which he left a prey to anarchy. + +Before the man resolutely impelled to action by singleness of +purpose, every obstacle disappears as he approaches, and every lesson +of experience becomes the stepping-stone to further victories in the +same direction. + +It is this singleness of purpose, this absorption in a great life- +work, that nerves our missionaries in their exile. A splendid example +of this is presented in the career of the great missionary and +explorer, Dr. Livingstone. + +He has told the story of his life in that modest and unassuming +manner which is so characteristic of the man himself. His ancestors +were poor but honest Highlanders, and it is related of one of them, +renowned in his district for wisdom and prudence, that when on his +death-bed, he called his children round him and left them these +words, the only legacy he had to bequeath: "In my lifetime," said he, +"I have searched most carefully through all the traditions I could +find of our family, and I never could discover that there was a +dishonest man among our forefathers; if, therefore, any of you, or +any of your children, should take to dishonest ways, it will not be +because it runs in our blood; it does not belong to you: I leave this +precept with you--Be honest." At the age of ten, Livingstone was sent +to work in a cotton factory near Glasgow as a "piecer." With part of +his first week's wages he bought a Latin grammar, and began to learn +that language, pursuing the study for years at a night-school. He +would sit up conning his lessons till twelve or later, when not sent +to bed by his mother, for he had to be up and at work in the factory +every morning by six. In this way he plodded through Virgil and +Horace, also reading extensively all books, excepting novels, that +came in his way, but more especially scientific works and books of +travels. He occupied his spare hours, which were but few, in the +pursuit of botany, scouring the neighborhood to collect plants. He +even carried on his reading amidst the roar of the factory machinery, +so placing the book upon the spinning-jenny which he worked, that he +could catch sentence after sentence as he passed it. In this way the +persevering youth acquired much useful knowledge; and as he grew +older, the desire possessed him of becoming a missionary to the +heathen. With this object he set himself to obtain a medical +education, in order the better to be qualified for the work. He +accordingly economized his earnings, and saved as much money as +enabled him to support himself while attending the Medical and Greek +classes as well as the Divinity Lectures, at Glasgow, for several +winters, working as a cotton-spinner during the remainder of each +year. He thus supported himself, during his college career, entirely +by his own earnings as a factory workman, never having received a +farthing of help from any other source. "Looking back now," he +honestly said, "at that life of toil, I cannot but feel thankful that +it formed such a material part of my early education; and, were it +possible, I should like to begin life over again in the same lowly +style, and to pass through the same hardy training." At length he +finished his medical curriculum, wrote his Latin thesis, passed his +examinations, and was admitted a licentiate of the Faculty of +Physicians and Surgeons. At first he thought of going to China, but +the war then waging with that country prevented his following out the +idea; and having offered his services to the London Missionary +Society, 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 says +the only pang he had in going to Africa at the charge of the London +Missionary Society was, because "it was not quite agreeable to one +accustomed to worked his own way to become, in a manner, dependent +upon others." Arrived in Africa, he set to work with great zeal. He +could not brook the idea of merely entering upon the labors of +others, but cut out a large sphere of independent work, preparing +himself for it by undertaking manual labor in building and other +handicraft employment, in addition to teaching, which, he says, "made +me generally as much exhausted and unfit for study in the evenings as +ever I had been when a cotton-spinner." Whilst laboring amongst the +Bechuanas, he dug canals, built houses, cultivated fields, reared +cattle, and taught the natives to work as well as to worship. When he +first started with a party of them on foot upon a long journey, he +overheard their observations upon his appearance and powers. "He is +not strong," said they; "he is quite slim, and only appears stout +because he puts himself into those bags (trousers): he will soon +knock up." This caused the missionary's Highland blood to rise, and +made him despise the fatigue of keeping them all at the top of their +speed for days together, until he heard them expressing proper +opinions of his pedestrian powers. What he did in Africa, and how he +worked, may be learnt from his own "Missionary Travels," one of the +most fascinating books of its kind that has ever been given to the +public. One of his last known acts is thoroughly characteristic of +the man. The "Birkenhead" steam launch, which he took out with him to +Africa, having proved a failure, he sent home orders for the +construction 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 aside +for his children, arising from the profits of his books of travel. +"The children must make it up themselves," was in effect his expression +in sending home the order for the appropriation of the money. + +The career of John Howard was throughout a striking illustration of +the same power of patient purpose. His sublime life proved that even +physical weakness could remove mountains in the pursuit of an end +recommended by duty. The idea of ameliorating the condition of +prisoners engrossed his whole thoughts, and possessed him like a +passion; and no toil, or danger, nor bodily suffering could turn him +from that great object of his life. Though a man of no genius and but +moderate talent, his heart was pure and his will was strong. Even in +his own time he achieved a remarkable degree of success; and his +influence did not die with him, for it has continued powerfully to +affect not only the legislation of his own country, but of all +civilized nations, down to the present hour. + +Horace Mann, famous as a teacher and reformer in his day, was urged +by his friends in Ohio to go to Congress. He replied: "I have a great +deal of respect for men in public life, but I have more respect for +my on life-work. If I know anything, it is the science or art of +teaching, and to this work, please God, I shall devote the whole of +my life." And he kept his word. + +Singleness of purpose implies firmness, for in this day of change and +speculation, the young man who has saved up a little money, hoping +one day to go into business for himself, will find on every hand +temptations to invest in enterprises of which he knows nothing. Here +his resolution will be tested. Remember there is no element of human +character so potential for weal or woe as firmness. To the merchant +and the man of business it is all-important. Before its irresistible +energy the most formidable obstacles become as cobweb barriers in its +path. Difficulties, the terror of which causes the timid and pampered +sons of luxury to shrink back with dismay, provoke from the man a +lofty determination only a smile. The whole history of our race--all +nature, indeed--teems with examples to show what wonders may be +accomplished by resolute perseverance and patient toil. + +It is related of Tamerlane, the terror of whose arms spread through +all the Eastern nations, and whom victory attended at almost every +step, 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 tells +the incident, he took refuge in some old ruins, where left to his +solitary musings, he espied an ant tugging and striving to carry a +single grain of corn. His unavailing efforts were repeated sixty-nine +times, and at each brave attempt, as soon as he reached a certain +point of projection, he fell back with his burden, unable to surmount +it; but the seventieth time he bore away his spoil in triumph, and +left the wondering hero reanimated and exulting in the hope of future +victory. + +How pregnant the lesson this incident conveys! How many thousand +instances there are in which inglorious defeat ends the career of the +timid and desponding, when the same tenacity of purpose would crown +it with triumphant success. + +Resolution is almost omnipotent. It was well observed by a heathen +moralist, that it is not because things are difficult that we dare +not 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 of +it in the slightest instance; for it is more by a disregard of small +things, than by open and flagrant offenses, that men come short of +excellence. There is always a right and a wrong; and, if you ever +doubt, be sure you take not the wrong. Observe this rule, and every +experience 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 the +culture and mental ability of the men who have won in business. "Dumb +luck," "mean plodding," "the robbery of employees," these and other +reasons are assigned by the unreasoning and uncharitable for the +prosperity of men who won with fewer advantages than themselves. + +Every student of the world's progress knows that business men have +done 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 of +humanity. + +The man who succeeds in commerce, trade, or manufactures, thereby +shows a foresight and executive ability that would surely have +commanded success in any other calling. Men who know books and +nothing else are apt to imagine that the merchant, whose life is +devoted to facts, figures, and results, must by reason of that be +wanting in the higher intellectual faculties. Nor is this belief +wholly confined to authors in America. + +Hazlitt, in one of his clever essays, represents the man of business +as a mean sort of person put in a go-cart, yoked to a trade or +profession; alleging that all he has to do is, not to go out of the +beaten track, but merely to let his affairs take their own course. +"The great requisite," he says, "for the prosperous management of +ordinary business is the want of imagination, or of any ideas but +those of custom and interest on the narrowest scale." but nothing +could be more one-sided, and in effect untrue, than such a +definition. Of course, there are narrow-minded men of business, as +there 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 his +speech on the India bill, he knew statesmen who were peddlers, and +merchants who acted in the spirit of statesmen. + +If we take into account the qualities necessary for the successful +conduct of any important undertaking--that it requires special +aptitude, promptitude of action on emergencies, capacity for +organizing the labor often of large numbers of men, great tact and +knowledge of human nature, constant self-culture, and growing +experience in the practical affairs of life--it must, we think, be +obvious that the school of business is by no means so narrow as some +writers would have us believe. Mr. Helps spoke much nearer the truth +when he said that consummate men of business are as rare almost as +great poets--rarer, perhaps, than veritable saints and martyrs. +Indeed, of no other pursuit can it so emphatically be said, as of +this, that "business makes men." + +It has, however, been a favorite fallacy with dunces in all times +that men of genius are unfitted for business, as well as that +business occupations unfit men for the pursuits of genius. The +unhappy youth who committed suicide a few years since because he had +been "born to be a man and condemned to be a grocer," proved by the +act that his soul was not equal even to the dignity of grocer. For it +is not the calling that degrades the man, but the man that degrades +the calling. All work that brings honest gain is honorable, whether +it be of hand or mind. The fingers may be soiled, yet the heart +remain pure; for it is not material so much as moral dirt that +defiles--greed far more than grime, and vice than verdigris. + +The greatest have not disdained to labor honestly and usefully for a +living, 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 the +Divine by reason of the excellence of his wisdom, defrayed his +traveling expenses in Egypt by the profits derived from the oil which +he sold during his journey. Spinoza maintained himself by polishing +glasses while he pursued his philosophical investigations. Linnaeus, +the great botanist, prosecuted his studies while hammering leather +and making shoes. Shakespeare was the successful manager of a +theatre--perhaps priding himself more upon his practical qualities in +that capacity than on his writing of plays and poetry. Pope was of +opinion that Shakespeare's principal object in cultivating literature +was to secure an hones independence. Indeed, he seems to have been +altogether indifferent to literary reputation. It is not known that +he superintended the publication of a single play, or even sanctioned +the printing of one; and the chronology of his writings is still a +mystery. It is certain, however, that he prospered in his business, +and realized sufficient to enable him to retire upon a competency to +his native town of Stratford-upon-Avon. + +Chaucer was in early life a soldier, and afterward an effective +Commissioner of Customs, and Inspector of Woods and Crown Lands. +Spenser was secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, was afterward +Sheriff of Cork, and is said to have been shrewd and attentive in +matters of business. Milton, originally a schoolmaster, was elevated +to the post of Secretary to the Council of State during the +Commonwealth; and the extant Order-book of the Council, as well as +many of Milton's letters which are preserved, give abundant evidence +of his activity and usefulness in that office. Sir Isaac Newton +proved himself an efficient Master of the Mint, the new coinage of +1694 having been carried on under his immediate personal +superintendence. Cowper prided himself upon his business punctuality, +though he confessed that he "never knew a poet, except himself, that +was punctual in anything." But against this we may set the lives of +Wordsworth and Scott--the former a distributor of stamps, the latter +a 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 to +concentrate his mind upon his favorite subject--on principles of +political economy; for he united in himself the sagacious commercial +man and the profound philosopher. Baily, the eminent astronomer, was +another stock-broker; and Allen, the chemist, was a silk +manufacturer. + +We have abundant illustrations, in our own day, of the fact, that the +highest intellectual power is not incompatible with the active and +efficient performance of routine duties. Grote, the great historian +of Greece, was a London banker. And it is said that when John Stuart +Mill, one of the greatest modern thinkers, retired from the +Examiner's office of an important company, he carried with him the +admiration and esteem of his fellow-officers, not on account of his +high views of philosophy, but because of the high standard of +efficiency which he had established in his office, and the thoroughly +satisfactory manner in which he had conducted the business of his +department. + +The path of success in business is usually the path of common sense. +Patient labor and application are as necessary here as in the +acquisition of knowledge or the pursuit of science. The old Greeks +said, "To become an able man in any profession, three things are +necessary--nature, study, and practice." In business, practice, +wisely and diligently improved, is the great secret of success. Some +may make what are called "lucky hits," but like money earned by +gambling, such "hits" may only serve to lure one to ruin. Bacon was +accustomed to say that it was in business as in ways--the nearest way +was commonly the foulest, and that if a man would go the fairest way +he must go somewhat about. The journey may occupy a longer time, but +the pleasure of the labor involved by it, and the enjoyment of the +results produced, will be more genuine and unalloyed. To have a daily +appointed task of even common drudgery to do makes the rest of life +feel all the sweeter. + +One of the best illustrations we know of, of great natural abilities +winning great success in mechanical fields is the career of the now +famous Andrew Carnegie, of Pennsylvania. + +This remarkable man was born in Scotland in 1835. When ten years of +age, his parents, who were poor, moved to Pittsburg. Then, as now, +there were excellent public schools in the "Smoky City," but young +Carnegie was not able to avail himself of their advantages, as he +desired to do. While still in his teens he found employment in +running a stationary engine. He did his work well, and every moment +not required by his engine was devoted to study. + +Before the youth had seen a practical keyboard, he had mastered the +principles of telegraphy, and succeeded, by reason of the knowledge +obtained in this way, in getting a position as an operator. At that +time all messages were read from rolls of paper, on which the Morse +characters were indented; but Andrew Carnegie, while still under +twenty-one, was the first operator in the world to demonstrate, that +to a skillful man the roll was unnecessary. He learned to read by +sound then, as all operators do now. What scholar will say that a +high order of intellect was not involved in this achievement? + +"Hard work, close observation, strict economy, and the determination +to give my employer the best that was in me, without regard to the +compensation, these were my impelling motives in those early days, +and to these I attribute all the prosperity with which Heaven has +blessed me." This is what Mr. Carnegie says of himself, and his words +are full of encouragement and inspiration to the young man who has +the 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 his +parents like a dutiful son, he never spent an unnecessary cent on +himself. + +"I was too busy working and studying to contract the habits that make +such 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 the +first sleeping car, invented by Woodruff, and out of this he got his +first good start. + +Active, industrious, and quick to foresee results, he took an +interest in the oil discoveries of Pennsylvania, and with such +success that from the profits he was enabled to organize the greatest +series of rolling mills and foundries in the world. + +Mr. Carnegie is still in the prime of life. He has spent several +fortunes in good works, and is still a very rich as he is certainly a +highly honored man. But the point we wish to make is that Mr. +Carnegie is a fine example of the high order of intellect necessary +for the greatest success in the business world. + +Although self-educated, Mr. Carnegie is an author of world-wide +reputation. His work "Triumphant Democracy" is splendid vindication +of the institutions of his adopted country. "He knows more about +books," says one who knows Mr. Carnegie well, "than half the authors, +and he can find himself in no society where he does not find himself +the peer of the best." + +Those who fail in life are, however, very apt to assume a tone of +injured innocence, and conclude to hastily that everybody excepting +themselves has had a hand in their personal misfortunes. An eminent +writer lately published a book, in which he described his numerous +failures in business, naively admitting, at the same time, that he +was ignorant of the multiplication-table; and he came to the +conclusion that the real cause of his ill-success in life was the +money-worshiping spirit of the age. Lamartine also did not hesitate +to profess his contempt for arithmetic; but, had it been less. +probably we should not have witnessed the unseemly spectacle of the +admirers of that distinguished personage engaged in collecting +subscriptions for his support in his old age. + +Again, some consider themselves born to ill-luck, and make up their +minds that the world invariably goes against them without any fault +on their own part. We have heard of a person of this sort who went so +far as to declare his belief that if he had been a hatter, people +would have been born without heads! There is, however, a Russian +proverb which says that Misfortune is next door to Stupidity; and it +will 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, who +came up to London with a single guinea in his pocket, and who once +accurately described himself in his signature to a letter addressed +to a noble lord, as Impransus, or Dinnerless, has honestly said, "All +the complaints which are made of the world are unjust; I never knew a +man of merit neglected; it was generally by his own fault that he +failed of success." + +Did you ever think of the intellectual qualifications essential to +the successful business man? No? well, it would be very difficult to +name such a qualification which the business man cannot make +available. + +Attention, application, accuracy, method, punctuality and dispatch, +are the principal qualities required for the efficient conduct of +business of any sort. These, at first sight, may appear to be small +matters; and yet they are of essential importance to human happiness, +well-being, and usefulness. They are little things, it is true; but +human life is made up of comparative trifles. It is the repetition of +little acts which constitutes not only the sum of human character, +but which determines the character of nations. And where men or +nations have broken down, it will almost invariably be found that +neglect of little things was the rock on which they split. Every +human being has duties to be performed, and, therefore, has need of +cultivating the capacity for doing them; whether the sphere of action +be the management of a household, the conduct of a trade or +profession, or the government of a nation. + +In addition to the ordinary working qualities, the business man of +the highest class requires quick perception and firmness in the +execution of his plans. Tact is also important; and though this is +partly the gift of nature, it is yet capable of being cultivated and +developed by observation and experience. Men of this quality are +quick to see the right mode of action, and if they have decision of +purpose, are prompt to carry out their undertakings to a successful +issue. These qualities are especially valuable, and indeed +indispensable, in those who direct the action of other men on a large +scale, as for instance, in the case of the commander of an army in +the field. It is not merely necessary that the general should be +great as a warrior, but also as a man of business. He must possess +great tact, much knowledge of character, and ability to organize the +movements of a large mass of men, whom he has to feed, clothe, and +furnish with whatever may be necessary in order that they may keep +the field and win battles. In these respects Napoleon and Wellington +were both first-rate men of business. + +Not only does business require the highest order of intellect, but +successful business men, particularly in America, have been the +patrons 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 and +girls, in the applied arts and sciences, will endure as long as New +York city, as a monument to the intellectual forethought and noble +munificence of Peter Cooper. Girard College, in Philadelphia, which +yearly sends out hundreds of young men--orphans on entrance, but +admirable fitted to work their way in life--is a refutation of the +charge 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, points +with pride to Pardee Hall, the gift of a man who began the life- +battle without money or friends. Vanderbilt University, Stanford +University, and scores of great schools go to prove that the great +business men who endowed them, were not indifferent to culture and +the needs of higher education. + +Yes, business requires brains, and the better the brains and the more +thorough 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 perhaps +one of the best tests of practical wisdom," says Mr. Smiles. Although +money 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 of +physical comfort and social well-being. Indeed, some of the finest +qualities of human nature are intimately related to the right use of +money; such as generosity, honesty, justice, and self-sacrifice; as +well as the practical virtues of economy and providence. On the other +hand, there are their counterparts of avarice, fraud, injustice, and +selfishness, as displayed by the inordinate lovers of gain; and the +vices of thriftlessness, extravagance, and improvidence, on the part +of those who misuse and abuse the means entrusted to them. "So that," +as is wisely observed by Henry Taylor in his thoughtful "Notes from +Life," "an right measure and manner of getting, saving, spending, +giving, taking, lending, borrowing, and bequeathing, would almost +argue a perfect man." + +Comfort in worldly circumstances is a condition which every man is +justified in striving to attain by all worthy means. It secures that +physical satisfaction which is necessary for the culture of the +better part of his nature; and enables him to provide for those of +his own household, without which, says the apostle, a man is "worse +than an infidel." Nor ought the duty to be any the less pleasing to +us, that the respect which our fellow-men entertain for us in no +slight degree depends upon the manner in which we exercise the +opportunities which present themselves for our honorable advancement +in life. The very effort required to be made to succeed in life with +this object, is of itself an education: stimulating a man's sense of +self-respect, bringing out his practical qualities, and disciplining +him 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 forecast +makes arrangements for the future. He must also be a temperate man, +and exercise the virtue of self-denial, than which nothing is so much +calculated to give strength to the character. John Sterling says +truly, that "the worst education which teaches self-denial, is better +than the best which teaches everything else and not that." The Romans +rightly employed the same word (virtus) to designate courage, which +is in a physical sense what the other is in moral; the highest virtue +of all being victory over ourselves. + +Hence the lesson of self-denial--the sacrificing of a present +gratification for a future good--is one of the last that is learnt. +Those classes which work the hardest might naturally be expected to +value the most the money which they earn. Yet the readiness with +which so many are accustomed to eat up and drink up their earnings as +they go, renders them, to a great extent, dependent upon the frugal. + +Men of business are accustomed to quote the maxim that "Time is +money;" but it is more; the proper improvement of it is self-culture, +self-improvement, and growth of character. An hour wasted daily on +trifles or in indolence, would, if devoted to self-improvement, make +an 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 at +the end of the year. Good thoughts and carefully gathered experience +take up no room, and may be carried about as our companions +everywhere, without cost or encumbrance. An economical use of time is +the true mode of securing leisure: it enables us to get through +business and carry it forward, instead of being driven by it. On the +other hand, the miscalculation of time involves us in perpetual +hurry, confusion, and difficulties; and life becomes a mere shuffle +of expedients, usually followed by disaster. Nelson once said, "I owe +all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour +before my time." + +Some take no thought of the value of money until they have come to an +end of it, and many do the same with their time. The hours are +allowed to flow by unemployed, and then when life is fast waning, +they bethink themselves of the duty of making a wiser use of it. But +the habit of listlessness and idleness may already have become +confirmed, and they are unable to break the bonds with which they +have permitted themselves to become bound. Lost wealth may be +replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by +temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever. + +A proper consideration of the value of time will also inspire habits +of punctuality. "Punctuality," said Louis XIV, "is the politeness of +kings." It is also the duty of gentlemen, and the necessity of men of +business. Nothing begets confidence in a man sooner than the practice +of this virtue, and nothing shakes confidence sooner than the want of +it. He who holds to his appointment and does not keep you waiting for +him, 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 personal +respect for those whom we are called upon to meet in the business of +life. It is also conscientiousness, in a measure; for an appointment +is a contract, expressed or implied, and he who does not keep it +breaks faith, as well as dishonestly uses other people's time, and +thus inevitably loses character. We naturally come to the conclusion +that the person who is careless about time is careless about +business, and that he is not the one to be trusted with the +transaction of matters of importance. When Washington's secretary +excused himself for the lateness of his attendance and laid the blame +upon his watch, his master quietly said, "Then you must get another +watch, or I another secretary." + +The person who is negligent of time and its employment is usually +found to be a general disturber of others' peace and serenity. It was +wittily said by Lord Chesterfield of the old Duke of Newcastle--"His +Grace loses an hour in the morning, and is looking for it all the +rest of the day." Everybody with whom the unpunctual man has to do is +thrown from time to time into a state of fever: he is systematically +late; regular only in his irregularity. He conducts his dawdling as +if upon system; arrives at his appointment after time; gets to the +railway station after the train has started; posts his letter when +the box has closed. Thus business is thrown into confusion, and +everybody concerned is put out of temper. + +To secure independence, the practice of simple economy is all that is +necessary. Economy requires neither superior courage nor eminent +virtue; it is satisfied with ordinary energy, and the capacity of +average minds. Economy, at bottom, is but the spirit of order applied +in the administration of domestic affairs: it means management, +regularity, prudence, and the avoidance of waste. The spirit of +economy was expressed by our Divine Master in the words, "Gather up +the fragments that remain, so that nothing may be lost." His +omnipotence did not disdain the small things of life; and even while +revealing His infinite power to the multitude, he taught the pregnant +lesson of carefulness, of which all stand so much in need. + +Economy also means to power of resisting present gratification for +the purpose of securing a future good, and in this light it +represents the ascendancy of reason over the animal instincts. It is +altogether different from penuriousness: for it is economy that can +always best afford to be generous. It does not make money an idol, +but regards it as a useful agent. As Dean Swift observes, "we must +carry money in the head, not in the heart." Economy may be styled the +daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the mother of +Liberty. It is eminently conservative--conservative of character, of +domestic happiness, and social well-being. It is, in short, the +exhibition 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 too +strongly inculcate economy. It is a necessary virtue to all; and +however the shallow part of mankind may despise it, it certainly +leads to independence, which is a grand object to every man of a high +spirit." + +Every man ought to contrive to live within his means. This practice +is of the very essence of honesty. For if a man does not manage +honestly to live within his own means, he must necessarily be living +dishonestly upon the means of somebody else. Those who are careless +about personal expenditure, and consider merely their own +gratification, without regard for the comfort of others, generally +find out the real uses of money when it is too late. Though by nature +generous, these thriftless persons are often driven in the end to do +very shabby things. They waste their money as they do their time; +draw bills upon the future; anticipate their earnings; and are thus +under the necessity of dragging after them a load of debts and +obligations, which seriously affect their actions as free and +independent men. + +It was a maxim of Lord Bacon, that when it was necessary to +economize, it was better to look after petty savings than to descend +to petty gettings. The loose cash which many persons throw away +uselessly, and worse, would often form a basis of fortune and +independence for life. These wasters are their own worst enemies, +though generally found amongst the ranks of those who rail a the +injustice 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 means +have always something left in their pockets to help others; whereas, +your prodigal and careless fellows who spend all, never find an +opportunity for helping anybody. It is poor economy, however, to be a +scrub. Narrow-mindedness in living and in dealing is generally short- +sighted, and leads to failure. Generosity and liberality, like +honesty, always prove the best policy after all. Though Jenkinson, in +the "Vicar of Wakefield," cheated his kind-hearted neighbor +Flamborough in one way or another every year, "Flamborough," said he, +"has been regularly growing in riches, while I have come to poverty +and a jail." And practical life abounds in cases of brilliant results +from a course of generous and honest policy. + +The proverb says that "an empty bag cannot stand upright;" neither +can a man who is in debt. It is also difficult for a man who is in +debt to be truthful; hence, it is said that lying rides on debt's +back. The debtor has to frame excuses to his creditor for postponing +payment of the money he owes him, and probably also to contrive +falsehoods. It is easy enough for a man who will exercise a healthy +resolution, to avoid incurring the first obligation; but the facility +with which that has been incurred often becomes a temptation to a +second; and very soon the unfortunate borrower becomes so entangled +that no late exertion of industry can set him free. The first step in +debt is like the first step in falsehood; almost involving the +necessity of proceeding in the same course, debt following debt, as +lie follows lie. Haydon, the painter, dated his decline fro the day +on which he first borrowed money. He realized the truth of the +proverb, "Who goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing." The significant +entry in his diary is: "Here began debt and obligation, out of which +I have never been and never shall be extricated as long as I live." +His autobiography shows but too painfully how embarrassment in money +matters produces poignant distress of mind, utter incapacity for +work, and constantly recurring humiliations. The written advice which +he gave to a youth when entering the navy was as follows: "Never +purchase any enjoyment if it cannot be procured without borrowing of +others. Never borrow money; it is degrading. I do not say never lend, +but never lend if by lending you render yourself unable to pay what +you owe; but under any circumstances never borrow." Fichte, the poor +student, refused to accept even presents from his still poorer +parents. + +Dr. Johnson held that early debt is ruin. His words on the subject +are weighty, and worthy of being held in remembrance. "Do not," said +he, "accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you +will find it a calamity. Poverty takes away so many means of doing +good, and produces so much inability to resist evil, both natural and +moral, that it is by all virtuous means to be avoided. . . . Let it +be your first care, then, not to be in any man's debt. Resolve not to +be poor; whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to +human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and makes some +virtues impracticable and others extremely difficult. Frugality is +not only the basis of quiet, but of beneficence. No man can help +others that wants help himself; we must have enough before we have to +spare." + +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 money +matters. The exercise of a little simple arithmetic in this way will +be found of great value. Prudence requires that we shall pitch our +scale of living a degree below our means, rather than up to them. But +this can only be done by carrying out faithfully a plan of living by +which both ends may be made to meet. John Locke strongly advised this +course: "Nothing," said he, "is likelier to keep a man within compass +than having constantly before his eyes the state of his affairs in a +regular course of account." The Duke of Wellington kept an accurate +detailed account of all the moneys received and expended by him. "I +make a point," said he to Mr. Gleig, "of paying my own bills, and I +advise every one to do the same; formerly I used to trust a +confidential servant to pay them, but I was cured of that folly by +receiving one morning, to my great surprise, duns of a year or two's +standing. The fellow had speculated with my money, and left my bills +unpaid." 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 never +got into debt." Washington was as particular as Wellington was, in +matters of business detail; and it is a remarkable fact, that he did +not disdain to scrutinize the smallest outgoings of his household-- +determined as he was to live honestly within his means--even when +holding the high office of President of the United States. + +There is a dreadful ambition abroad for being "genteel." We keep up +appearances, too often at the expense of honesty; and though we may +not be rich yet we must seem to be so. We must be "respectable," +though only in the meanest sense--in mere vulgar outward show. We +have not the courage to go patiently onward in the condition of life +in which it has pleased God to call us; but must needs live in some +fashionable state to which we ridiculously please to call ourselves, +and to gratify the vanity of that unsubstantial genteel world of +which we form a part. There is a constant struggle and pressure for +front streets in the social amphitheatre; in the midst of which all +noble self-denying resolve is trodden down, and many fine natures are +inevitably crushed to death. What waste, what misery, what bankruptcy +come from all this ambition to dazzle others with the glare of +apparent worldly success, we need not describe. + +The young man, as he passes through life, advances through a long +line of tempters ranged on either side of him; and the inevitable +effect of yielding is degradation in a greater or a less degree. +Contact with them tends insensibly to draw away from him some portion +of the divine electric element with which his nature is charged; and +his only mode of resisting them is to utter and act out his "No" +manfully and resolutely. He must decide at once, not waiting to +deliberate and balance reasons; for the youth, like "the woman who +deliberates, is lost." Many deliberate, without deciding; but "not to +resolve, _is_ to resolve." A perfect knowledge of man is in the +prayer, "Lead us not into temptation." But temptation will come to +try the young man's strength; and once yielded to, the power to +resist grows weaker and weaker. Yield once, and an element of virtue +has gone. Resist manfully, and the first decision will give strength +for life; repeated it will become a habit. It is in the outworks of +the habits formed in early life that the real strength of the defense +must lie; for it has been wisely ordained that the machinery of moral +existence should be carried on principally through the medium of the +habits, so as to save the wear and tear of the great principles +within. It is good habits which insinuate themselves into the +thousand inconsiderable acts of life, that really constitute by far +the greater part of man's moral conduct. + +Many popular books have been written for the purpose of communicating +to the public the grand secret of making money. But there is no +secret whatever about it, as the proverbs of every nation abundantly +testify. "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of +themselves." "Diligence is the mother of good luck." "No pains, no +gains." "No sweat, no sweet." "Work and thou shalt have." "The world +is his who has patience and industry." "Better go to bed supperless +than rise in debt." Such are specimens of the proverbial philosophy, +embodying the hoarded experience of many generations, as to the best +means of thriving in the world. They were current in people's mouths +long before books were invented; and like other popular proverbs they +were the first codes of popular morals. Moreover, they have stood the +test of time, and the experience of every day still bears witness to +their accuracy, force, and soundness. The Proverbs of Solomon are +full of wisdom as to the force of industry, and the use and abuse of +money: "He that is slothful in work is brother to him that is a great +waster." "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be +wise." Poverty, says the preacher, shall come upon the idler, "as one +that traveleth, and want as an armed man;" but of the industrious and +upright, "the hand of the diligent maketh rich." "the drunkard and +the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man +with rags." "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall +stand before kings." But above all, "It is better to get wisdom than +gold; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may +be desired are not to be compared to it." + +Simple industry and thrift will go far toward making any person of +ordinary working faculty comparatively independent in his means. Even +a working man may be so, provided he will carefully husband his +resources, and watch the little outlets of useless expenditure. A +penny is a very small matter, yet the comfort of thousands of +families depends upon the proper spending and saving of pennies. If a +man allows the little pennies, the results of his hard work, to slip +out of his fingers--some to the beer-shop, some this way and some +that--he will find that his life is little raised above one of mere +animal 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 be +carefully laid out, with a view to the comfortable maintenance and +education of his family--he will soon find that this attention to +small matters will abundantly repay him, in increasing means, growing +comfort at home, and a mind comparatively free from fears as to the +future. And if a working man have high ambition and possess richness +in spirit--a kind of wealth which far transcends all mere worldly +possessions--he may not help himself, but be a profitable helper of +others in his path through life. + +While credit is the soul of trade, improperly used it is the death of +business. No man should run into debt for a luxury, and every prudent +man 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, and +produces such an insupportable burden of wretchedness and +despondency, as pecuniary pressure. Nothing more frequently drives +men to suicide; and there is, perhaps, no danger to which men in an +active and enterprising community are more exposed. Almost all are +eagerly reaching forward to a station in life a little above what +they can well afford, or struggling to do a business a little more +extensive than they have capital or steady credit for; and thus they +keep, all through life, _just above_ their means--and just above, no +matter by how small an excess, is inevitable misery. + +"Be sure, then, if your aim is happiness, to bring down, at all +hazards, your style of living, and your responsibilities of business, +to such a point that you shall easily be able to reach it. Do this, I +say, at all hazards. If you cannot have money enough for your purpose +in a house with two rooms, take a house with one. It is your only +chance for happiness. For there is such a thing as happiness in a +single room, with plain furniture and simple fare; but there is no +such 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 of +work," said Commodore Vanderbilt, "I felt richer and happier than +when I had my first million. I was out of debt, every dollar was +honestly 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--one +which he receives from others, and one, the most important, which he +gives to himself." + +"The best part of every man's education," said Sir Walter Scott, "is +that which he gives to himself." The late Sir Benjamin Brodie +delighted to remember this saying, and he used to congratulate +himself on the fact that professionally he was self-taught. But this +is necessarily the case with all men who have acquired distinction in +letters, science, or art. The education received at school or college +is but a beginning, and is valuable mainly inasmuch as it trains the +mind and habituates it to continuous application and study. That +which is put into us by others is always far less ours than that +which we acquire by our own diligent and persevering effort. +Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession--a property +entirely our own. A greater vividness and permanency of impression is +secured; and facts thus acquired become registered in the mind in a +way that mere imparted information can never effect. This kind of +self-culture also calls forth power and cultivates strength. The +solution of one problem helps the mastery of another; and thus +knowledge is carried into faculty. Our own active effort is the +essential thing; and no facilities, no books, no teachers, no amount +of lessons learnt by rote, will enable us to dispense with it. + +The best teachers have been the readiest to recognize the importance +of self-culture, and of stimulating the student to acquire knowledge +by the active exercise of his own faculties. They have relied more +upon _training_ than upon _telling_, and sought to make their pupils +themselves active parties to the work in which they were engaged; +thus making teaching something far higher than the mere passive +reception of the scraps and details of knowledge. This was the spirit +in which the great Dr. Arnold worked; he strove to teach his pupils +to rely upon themselves, and develop their powers by their own active +efforts, himself merely guiding, directing, stimulating, and +encouraging them. "I would far rather," he said, "send a boy to Van +Diemen's Laud, where he must work for his bread, than send him to +Oxford to live in luxury, without any desire in his mind to avail +himself of his advantages." "If there be one thing on earth," he +observed on another occasion, "which is truly admirable, it is to see +God's wisdom blessing an inferiority of natural powers, when they +have been honestly, truly, and zealously cultivated." Speaking of a +pupil of this character, he said, "I would stand to that man hat in +hand." Once at Laleham, when teaching a rather dull boy, Arnold spoke +somewhat sharply to him, on which the pupil looked up in his face and +said, "Why do you speak angrily, sir? _indeed_, I am doing the best I +can." Years afterward, Arnold used to tell the story to his children, +and added, "I never felt so much ashamed in my life--that look and +that speech I have never forgotten." + +From the numerous instances already cited of men of humble station +who have risen to distinction in science and literature, it will be +obvious that labor is by no means incompatible with the highest +intellectual culture. Work in moderation is healthy as well as +agreeable to the human constitution. Work educates the body, as study +educates the mind; and that is the best state of society in which +there is some work for every man's leisure, and some leisure for +every man's work. Even the leisure classes are in a measure compelled +to work, sometimes as a relief from _ennui_, but in most cases to +gratify and instinct which they cannot resist. Some go fox-hunting in +the English counties, others grouse shooting on the Scotch hills, +while many wander away every summer to climb mountains in +Switzerland. Hence the boating, running, cricketing, and athletic +sports of the public schools in which our young men at the same time +so healthfully cultivate their strength both of mind and body. It is +said that the Duke of Wellington, when once looking on at the boys +engaged in their sports in the playground at Eton, where he had spent +many of his own younger days, made the remark, "It was there that the +battle of Waterloo was won!" + +Daniel Malthus urged his son when at college to be most diligent in +the cultivation of knowledge, but he also enjoined him to pursue +manly sports as the best means of keeping up the full working power +of his mind, as well as of enjoying the pleasures of intellect. +"Every kind of knowledge," said he, "every acquaintance with nature +and art, will amuse and strengthen your mind, and I am perfectly +pleased that cricket should do the same by your arms and legs; I love +to see you excel in exercises of the body, and I think myself that +the better half, and so much the most agreeable part, of the +pleasures of the mind is best enjoyed while one is upon one's legs." +But a still more important use of active employment is that referred +to by the great divine, Jeremy Taylor. "Avoid idleness," he says, +"and fill up all the spaces of they time with severe and useful +employment; for lust easily creeps in at those emptinesses where the +soul is unemployed and the body is at ease; for no easy, healthful, +idle person was ever chaste, if he could be tempted; but of all +employments bodily labor is the most useful, and of the greatest +benefit for driving away the devil." + +Practical success in life depends more upon physical health than is +generally imagined. Hodson, of Hodson's Horse, writing home to a +friend in England, said, "I believe if I get on well in India, it +will be owing, physically speaking, to a sound digestion." The +capacity for continuous working in any calling must necessarily +depend in a great measure upon this; and hence the necessity for +attending to health, even as a means of intellectual labor. It is +perhaps to the neglect of physical exercise that we find amongst +students so frequent a tendency toward discontent, unhappiness, +inaction, and reverie--displaying itself in contempt for real life +and disgust at the beaten tracks of men--a tendency which in England +has been called Byronism, and in Germany Wertherism. Dr. Channing +noted 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." The +only 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 be +illustrated by the boyhood of Sir Isaac Newton. Though comparatively +a dull scholar, he was very assiduous in the use of his saw, hammer, +and hatchet--"knocking and hammering in his lodging room"--making +models of windmills, carriages, and machines of all sorts; and as he +grew older, he took delight in making little tables and cupboards for +his friends. Smeaton, Watt, and Stephenson were equally handy with +tools when mere boys; and but for such kind of self-culture in their +youth it is doubtful whether they would have accomplished so much in +their manhood. Such was also the early training of the great +inventors and mechanics described in the preceding pages, whose +contrivance and intelligence were practically trained by the constant +use of their hands in early life. Even where men belonging to the +manual labor class have risen above it, and become more purely +intellectual laborers, they have found the advantages of their early +training in their later pursuits. Elihu Burritt says he found hard +labor _necessary_ to enable him to study with effect; and more than +once he gave up school teaching and study, and taking to his leather +apron again, went back to his blacksmith's forge and anvil for the +health of his body and mind's sake. + +The training of young men in the use of tools would at the same time +that it educated them in "common things," teach them the use of their +hands and arms, familiarize them with healthy work, exercise their +faculties upon things tangible and actual, give them some practical +acquaintance with mechanics, impart to them the ability of being +useful, 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 early +life under the necessity of applying themselves laboriously to some +mechanical pursuit or other--thus acquiring manual dexterity, and the +use of their physical powers. The chief disadvantage attached to the +calling of the laborious classes is, not that they are employed in +physical work, but that they are too exclusively so employed, often +to the neglect of their moral and intellectual faculties. While the +youths of the leisure classes, having been taught to associate labor +with servility, have shunned it, and been allowed to grow up +practically ignorant, the poorer classes, confining themselves within +the 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 physical +training or physical work with intellectual culture; and there are +various signs abroad which seem to mark the gradual adoption of this +healthier system of education. + +The success of even professional men depends in no slight degree on +their physical health; and a public writer has gone so far as to say +that "the greatness of our great men is quite as much a bodily affair +as a mental one." A healthy breathing apparatus is as indispensable +to the successful lawyer or politician as a well-cultured intellect. +The thorough aeration of his blood by free exposure to a large +breathing surface in the lungs is necessary to maintain that vital +power on which the vigorous working of the brain in so large a +measure depends. The lawyer has to climb the heights of his +profession through close and heated courts, and the political leader +has to bear the fatigue and excitement of long and anxious debates in +a crowded House. Hence the lawyer in full practice and the +parliamentary leader in full work are called upon to display powers +of physical endurance and activity even more extraordinary than those +of the intellect--such powers as have been exhibited in so remarkable +a degree by Brougham, Lyndhurst and Campbell; by Peel, Graham and +Palmerston--all full-chested men. + +Though Sir Walter Scott, when at Edinburgh College, went by the name +of "The Greek Blockhead," he was, notwithstanding his lameness, a +remarkably healthy youth; he could spear a salmon with the best +fisher on the Tweed, and ride a wild horse with any hunter in Yarrow. +When devoting himself in after life to literary pursuits, Sir Walter +never lost his taste for field sports, but while writing "Waverley" +in the morning he would in the afternoon course hares. Professor +Wilson was a very athlete, as great at throwing the hammer as in his +flights of eloquence and poetry; and Burns, when a youth, was +remarkable chiefly for his leaping, putting, and wrestling. Some of +the greatest divines were distinguished in their youth for their +physical energies. Isaac Barrow, when at the Charterhouse School, was +notorious for his pugilistic encounters, in which he got many a +bloody nose; Andrew Fuller, when working as a farmer's lad at Soham, +was chiefly famous for his skill in boxing; and Adam Clarke, when a +boy, was only remarkable for the strength displayed by him in +"rolling large stones about"--the secret, possibly, of some of the +power which he subsequently displayed in rolling forth large thoughts +in his manhood. + +While it is necessary, then, in the first place to secure this solid +foundation of physical health, it must also be observed that the +cultivation of the habit of mental application is quite indispensable +for the education of the student. The maxim that "labor conquers all +things" holds especially true in the case of the conquest of +knowledge. The road into learning is alike free to all who will give +the labor and the study requisite to gather it; nor are there any +difficulties so great that the student of resolute purpose may not +surmount and overcome them. It was one of the characteristic +expressions of Chatterton, that God had sent his creatures into the +world with arms long enough to reach anything if they chose to be at +the trouble. In study, as in business, energy is the great thing. +There must be "fervet opus;" we must not only strike the iron while +it is hot, but strike it till it is made hot. It is astonishing how +much may be accomplished in self-culture by the energetic and the +persevering, who are careful to avail themselves of opportunities, +and use up the fragments of spare time which the idle permit to run +to waste. Thus Ferguson learnt astronomy from the heavens while +wrapped in a sheepskin on the highland hills. Thus Stone learnt +mathematics while working as a journeyman gardener; thus Drew studied +the highest philosophy in the intervals of cobbling shoes; and thus +Miller taught himself geology while working as a day laborer in a +quarry. + +Sir Joshua Reynolds, as we have already observed, was so earnest a +believer in the force of industry that he held that all men might +achieve excellence if they would but exercise the power of assiduous +and patient working. He held that drudgery lay on the road to genius, +and that there was no limit to the proficiency of an artist except +the limit of his own painstaking. He would not believe in what is +called inspiration, but only in study and labor. "Excellence," he +said, "is never granted to man but as the reward of labor. If you +have great talents, industry will improve them; if you have but +moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. Nothing is +denied to well-directed labor; nothing is to be obtained without it." +Sir Fowell Buxton was an equal believer in the power of study; and he +entertained the modest idea that he could do as well as other men if +he devoted to the pursuit double the time and labor that they did. He +placed his great confidence in ordinary means and extraordinary +application. + +"I have known several men in my life," says Dr. Ross, "who may be +recognized in days to come as men of genius, and they were all +plodders, hard-working _intent_ men. Genius is known by its works; +genius without works is a blind faith, a dumb oracle. But meritorious +works are the result of time and labor, and cannot be accomplished by +intention or by a wish . . . Every great work is the result of vast +preparatory training. Facility comes by labor. Nothing seems easy, +not even walking, that was not difficult at first. The orator whose +eye flashes instantaneous fire, and whose lips pour out a flood of +noble thoughts, startling by their unexpectedness and elevating by +their 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 in +study. Francis Horner, in laying down rules for the cultivation of +his mind, placed great stress upon the habit of continuous +application to one subject for the sake of mastering it thoroughly; +he confined himself with this object to only a few books, and +resisted with the greatest firmness "every approach to a habit of +desultory reading." The value of knowledge to any man consists, not +in its quantity, but mainly in the good uses to which he can apply +it. Hence a little knowledge of an exact and perfect character is +always found more valuable for practical purposes than any extent of +superficial learning. + +It is not the quantity of study that one gets through, or the amount +of reading, that makes a wise man; but the appositeness of the study +to the purpose for which it is pursued; the concentration of the +mind, for the time being, on the subject under consideration; and the +habitual discipline by which the whole system of mental application +is regulated. Abernethy was even of opinion that there was a point of +saturation in his own mind, and that if he took into it something +more than it could hold, it only had the effect of pushing something +else out. Speaking of the study of medicine, he said: "If a man has a +clear idea of what he desires to do, he will seldom fail in selecting +the proper means of accomplishing it." + +The most profitable study is that which is conducted with a definite +aim and object. By thoroughly mastering any given branch of knowledge +we render it more available for use at any moment. Hence it is not +enough merely to have books, or to know where to read for information +as we want it. Practical wisdom, for the purposes of life, must be +carried about with us, and be ready for use at call. It is not +sufficient that we have a fund laid up at home, but not a farthing in +the pocket: we must carry about with us a store of the current coin +of knowledge ready for exchange on all occasions, else we are +comparatively helpless when the opportunity for using it occurs. + +Decision and promptitude are as requisite in self-culture as in +business. The growth of these qualities may be encouraged by +accustoming young people to rely upon their own resources, leaving +them to enjoy as much freedom of action in early life as is +practicable. Too much guidance and restraint hinder the formation of +habits of self-help. They are like bladders tied under the arms of +one who has not taught himself to swim. Want of confidence is perhaps +a greater obstacle to improvement than is generally imagined. It has +been said that half the failures in life arise from pulling in one's +horse while he is leaping. Dr. Johnson was accustomed to attribute +his success to confidence in his own powers. True modesty is quite +compatible with a true estimate of one's own merits, and does not +demand the abnegation of all merit. Though there are those who +deceive themselves by putting a false figure before their ciphers, +the want of confidence, the want of faith in one's self, and +consequently the want of promptitude in action, is a defect of +character which is found to stand very much in the way of individual +progress; and the reason why so little is done, is generally because +so little is attempted. + +There is usually no want of desire on the part of most persons to +arrive at the results of self-culture, but there is a great aversion +to pay the inevitable price for it, of hard work. Dr. Johnson held +that "impatience of study was the mental disease of the present +generation;" and the remark is still applicable. We may not believe +that there is a royal road to learning, but we seem to believe very +firmly in the "popular" one. In education, we invent labor-saving +processes, seek short cuts to science, learn French and Latin "in +twelve lessons," or "without a master." We resemble the lady of +fashion, who engaged a master to teach her on condition that he did +not plague her with verbs and participles. We get our smattering of +science in the same way; we learn chemistry by listening to a short +course of lectures enlivened by experiments, and when we have inhaled +laughing-gas, seen green water turned to red, and phosphorus burnt in +oxygen, we have got our smattering, of which the most that can be +said is, that though it may be better than nothing, it is yet good +for nothing. Thus we often imagine we are being educated while we are +only being amused. + +The facility with which young people are thus induced to acquire +knowledge, without study and labor, is not education. It occupies but +does not enrich the mind. It imparts a stimulus for the time, and +produces a sort of intellectual keenness and cleverness; but, without +an implanted purpose and a higher object that mere pleasure, it will +bring with it no solid advantage. In such cases knowledge produces +but a passing impression; a sensation, gut no more; it is, in fact, +the merest epicurism of intelligence--sensuous, but certainly not +intellectual. Thus the best qualities of many minds, those which are +evoked by vigorous effort and independent action, sleep a deep sleep, +and are often never called to life, except by the rough awakening of +sudden calamity or suffering, which, in such cases comes as a +blessing, if it serves to rouse up a courageous spirit that, but for +it, would have slept on. + +Accustomed to acquire information under the guise of amusement, young +people will soon reject that which is presented to them under the +aspect of study and labor. Learning their knowledge and science in +sport, they will be too apt to make sport of both; while the habit of +intellectual dissipation, thus engendered, cannot fail, in course of +time, to produce a thoroughly emasculating effect both upon their +mind and character. "Multifarious reading," said Robertson, of +Brighton, "weakens the mind like smoking, and is an excuse for its +lying dormant. It is the idlest of all idlenesses, and leaves more of +impotency than any other." + +The evil is a growing one, and operates in various ways. Its least +mischief is shallowness; its greatest, the aversion to steady labor +which it induces, and the low and feeble tone of mind which it +encourages. If we would be really wise, we must diligently apply +ourselves, and confront the same continuous application which our +forefathers did; for labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable +price set upon everything which is valuable. We must be satisfied to +work with a purpose, and wait the results with patience. All +progress, of the best kind, is slow; but to him who works faithfully +and zealously the reward will, doubtless, be vouchsafed in good time. +The spirit of industry, embodies in a man's daily life, will +gradually lead him to exercise his powers on objects outside himself, +of greater dignity and more extended usefulness. And still we must +labor on; for the work of self-culture is never finished. "To be +employed," said the poet Gray, "is to be happy." "It is better to +wear out that rust out," said Bishop Cumberland. "Have we not all +eternity to rest in?" exclaimed Arnauld. "Repos ailleurs" (rest for +others) was the motto of Marnix de St. Aldegonde, the energetic and +ever-working friend of William the Silent. + +It is the use we make of the powers entrusted to us which constitutes +our only just claims to respect. He who employs his one talent aright +is 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 of +superior intellectual powers than there is in the succession to a +large estate. How are those powers used--how is that estate employed? +The mind may accumulate large stores of knowledge without any useful +purpose; but the knowledge must be allied to goodness and wisdom, and +embodied in upright character, else it is naught. Pestalozzi even +held intellectual training by itself to be pernicious; insisting that +the roots of all knowledge must strike and feed in the soil of the +rightly-governed will. The acquisition of knowledge may, it is true, +protect a man against the meaner felonies of life; but not in any +degree against its selfish vices, unless fortified by sound +principles and habits. Hence do we find in daily life so many +instances of men who are well-informed in intellect, but utterly +deformed in character; filled with the learning of the schools, yet +possessing little practical wisdom, and offering examples for warning +rather than imitation. An often-quoted expression at this day is that +"Knowledge is power;" but also, are fanaticism, despotism, and +ambition. Knowledge of itself, unless wisely directed might merely +make bad men more dangerous, and the society in which it was regarded +as the highest good, as little better than pandemonium. + +It is not then how much a man may know, that is of importance, but +the end and purpose for which he knows it. The object of knowledge +should be to mature wisdom and improve character, to render us +better, 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 encouraging +ability as such, without reference to moral character--and religious +and political opinions are the concrete form of moral character--they +are on the highway to all sorts of degradation." We must ourselves +_be_ and _do_, and not rest satisfied merely with reading and +meditating over what other men have been and done. Our best light +must be made life, and our best thought action. At least we ought to +be able to say, as Richter did, "I have made as much out of myself as +could be made of the stuff, and no man should require more;" for it +is every man's duty to discipline and guide himself, with God's help, +according to his responsibilities and the faculties with which he has +been endowed. + +Self-discipline and self-control are the beginnings of practical +wisdom; and these must have their root in self-respect. Hope springs +from it--hope, which is the companion of power, and the mother of +success; for whoso hopes strongly has within him the gift of +miracles. The humblest may say, "To respect myself, to develop +myself--this is my true duty in life. An integral and responsible +part of the great system of society, I owe it to society and to its +Author 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 those +parts of my constitution the highest degree of perfection possible. I +am not only to suppress the evil, but to evoke the good elements in +my nature. And as I respect myself, so am I equally bound to respect +others, as they on their part are bound to respect me." Hence mutual +respect, justice, and order, of which law becomes the written record +and guarantee. + +Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man may clothe +himself--the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be +inspired. One of Pythagoras' wisest maxims, in his "Golden Verses," +is that with which he enjoins the pupil to "reverence himself." Borne +up by this high idea, he will not defile his body by sensuality, nor +his mind by servile thoughts. This sentiment, carried into daily +life, will be found at the root of all the virtues--cleanliness, +sobriety, chastity, morality, and religion. "The pious and just +honoring of ourselves," said Milton, "may be thought the radical +moisture and fountain-head from whence every laudable and worthy +enterprise issues forth." To think meanly of one's self, is to sink +in one's own estimation as well as in the estimation of others. And +as the thoughts are, so will the acts be. Man cannot aspire if he +looks down; if he will rise, he must look up. The very humblest may +be sustained by the proper indulgence of this feeling. Poverty itself +may be lifted and lighted up by self-respect; and it is truly a noble +sight 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, yet +we would not have you imagine that we underestimate the value of a +respectable lineage, but it is better to be the originator of a great +family than to be the degenerate descendant of one. + +With but few exceptions those Americans whose lives are very properly +held up as an example for the imitation of our youth, are men who +have had to work their own way from the humblest walks in life, to +the highest in the gift of the nation. + +This is true of Franklin, the statesman and philosopher, as it is of +Lincoln, the patriot and martyr, and the splendid list of names that +adorn the pages of our intervening history. + +Smiles in his "Self-Help" shows how in England, a land where ancestry +counts for so much, the descendants of the greatest men, even of +kings, have been found in the humblest of callings. + +The blood of all men flows from equally remote sources; and though +some are unable to trace their line directly beyond their +grandfathers, all are nevertheless justified in placing at the head +of their pedigree the great progenitors of the race, as Lord +Chesterfield did when he wrote, "ADAM _de Stanhope_--EVE _de +Stanhope_." No class is ever long stationary. The mighty fall, and +the humble are exalted. New families take the place of the old, who +disappear among the ranks of the common people. Burke's "Vicissitudes +of Families" strikingly exhibits the rise and fall of families, and +shows that the misfortunes which overtake the rich and noble are +greater in proportion than those which overwhelm the poor. This +author points out that of the twenty-five barons selected to enforce +the observance of Magna Charta, there is not now in the House of +Peers a single male descendant. Civil wars and rebellions ruined many +of the old nobility and dispersed their families. Yet their +descendants in many cases survive, and are to be found among the +ranks of the people. Fuller wrote in his "Worthies," that "some who +justly hold the surnames of Bohuns, Mortimers, and Plantagenets, are +hid in the heap of common men." Thus Burke shows that two of the +lineal descendants of the Earl of Kent, sixth son of Edward I, were +discovered in a butcher and a toll-gatherer; that the great-grandson +of Margaret Plantagenet, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, sank to +the condition of a cobbler at Newport, in Shropshire; and that among +the lineal descendants of the Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III, +was the late sexton of St. George's Church, London. It is understood +that the lineal descendant of Simon de Montfort, England's premier +baron, 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 the +claimants for the title of Earl of Perth presented himself in the +person of a laborer in a Northumberland coal-pit. Hugh Miller, when +working as a stone-mason near Edinburgh, was served by a hodman, who +was one of the numerous claimants for the earldom of Crauford--all +that was wanted to establish his claim being a missing marriage +certificate; and while the work was going on, the cry resounded from +the walls many times in the day, of "John, Yearl Crauford, bring us +another hod o' lime." One of Oliver Cromwell's great-grandsons was a +grocer in London, and others of his descendants died in great +poverty. Many barons of proud names and titles have perished, like +the sloth, upon their family tree, after eating up all the leaves; +while others have been overtaken by adversities which they have been +unable 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 far +as the titles go; but it is not the less noble that it has been +recruited to so large an extent from the ranks of honorable industry. +In olden times, the wealth and commerce of London, conducted as it +was by energetic and enterprising men, was a prolific source of +peerages. Thus, the earldom of Cornwallis was founded by Thomas +Cornwallis, the Cheapside merchant; that of Essex by William Capel, +the draper; and that of Craven by William Craven, the merchant +tailor. The modern Earl of Warwick is not descended from the "King- +maker," but from William Greville, the woolstapler; whilst the modern +dukes of Northumberland find their head, not in the Percys, but in +Hugh Smithson, a respectable London apothecary. The founders of the +families of Dartmouth, Radnor, Ducie, and Pomfret, were respectively +a skinner, a silk manufacturer, a merchant tailor, and a Calais +merchant; whilst the founders of the peerages of Tankerville, Dormer, +and Coventry, were mercers. The ancestors of Earl Romney, and Lord +Dudley and Ward, were goldsmiths and jewelers; and Lord Dacres was a +banker in the reign of Charles I, as Lord Overstone is in that of +Queen Victoria. Edward Osborne, the founder of the dukedom of Leeds, +was apprentice to William Hewet, a rich cloth-worker on London +Bridge, whose only daughter he courageously rescued from drowning, by +leaping into the Thames after her, and whom he eventually married. + +William Phipps, at one time Colonial Governor of Massachusetts, and +the founder of the Normandy family, was the son of a gunsmith who +emigrated to Maine, where this remarkable man was born in 1651. He +was one of a family of not fewer than twenty-six children (of whom +twenty-one were sons), whose only fortune lay in their stout hearts +and strong arms. William seems to have had a sash of the Danish +seablood in his veins, and he did not take kindly to the quiet life +of a shepherd in which he spent his early years. By nature bold and +adventurous, he longed to become a sailor and roam through the world. +He sought to join some ship; but not being able to find one, he +apprenticed himself to a ship-builder, with whom he thoroughly learnt +his trade, acquiring the arts of reading and writing during his +leisure hours. Having completed his apprenticeship and removed to +Boston, he wooed and married a widow of some means, after which he +set up a little ship-building yard of his own, built a ship, and +putting to sea in her, he engaged in the lumber trade, which he +carried on in a plodding and laborious way for the space of about ten +years. + +It happened that one day, while passing through the crooked streets +of old Boston, he overheard some sailors talking to each other of a +wreck which had just taken place off the Bahamas; that of a Spanish +ship, supposed to have much money on board. His adventurous spirit +was at once kindled, and getting together a likely crew without loss +of time, he set sail for the Bahamas. The wreck being well in shore +he easily found it, and succeeded in recovering a great deal of its +cargo, but very little money; and the result was that he barely +defrayed his expenses. His success had been such, however, as to +stimulate his enterprising spirit; and when he was told of another +and far more richly laden vessel which had been wrecked near Port de +la Plata more than half a century before, he forthwith formed the +resolution of raising the wreck, or at all events of fishing up the +treasure. + +Being too poor, however, to undertake such an enterprise without +powerful help, he set sail for England in the hope that he might +there obtain it. The fame of his success in raising the wreck off the +Bahamas had already preceded him. He applied direct to the +Government. By his urgent enthusiasm, he succeeded in overcoming the +usual inertia of official minds; and Charles II eventually placed at +his 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 the +treasure. He reached the coast of Hispaniola in safety; but how to +find the sunken ship was the great difficulty. The fact of the wreck +was more than fifty years old; and Phipps had only the traditionary +rumors of the even to work upon. There was a wide coast to explore, +and an outspread ocean, without any trace whatever of the argosy +which lay somewhere at its bottom. But the man was stout in heart and +full of hope. He set his seamen to work to drag along the coast, and +for weeks they went on fishing up seaweed, shingle and bits of rock. +No occupation could be more trying to seamen, and they began to +grumble one to another, and to whisper that the man in command had +brought them on a fool's errand. + +At length the murmurers gained head, and the men broke into open +mutiny. A body of them rushed one day on to the quarter-deck, and +demanded that the voyage should be relinquished. Phipps, however, was +not a man to be intimidated; he seized the ringleaders, and sent the +others back to their duty. It became necessary to bring the ship to +anchor close to a small island for the purpose of repairs; and, to +lighten her, the chief part of the stores was landed. Discontent +still increasing among the crew, a new plot was laid among the men on +shore to seize the ship, throw Phipps overboard, and start on a +piratical cruise against the Spaniards in the South Seas. But it was +necessary to secure the services of the chief ship-carpenter, who was +consequently made privy to the plot. This man proved faithful, and a +once told the captain of his danger. Summoning about him those whom +he knew to be loyal, Phipps had the ship's guns loaded, which +commanded the shore, and ordered the bridge communicating with the +vessel to be drawn up. When the mutineers made their appearance, the +captain hailed them, and told the men he would fire upon them if they +approached the stores (still on land), when they drew back; on which +Phipps had the stores reshipped under cover of his guns. The +mutineers, fearful of being left upon the barren island, threw down +their arms and implored to be permitted to return to their duty. The +request was granted, and suitable precautions were taken against +further mischief. Phipps, however, took the first opportunity of +landing the mutinous part of the crew, and engaging other men in +their places; but, by the time that he could again proceed actively +with his explorations, he found it absolutely necessary to proceed to +England for the purpose of repairing the ship. He had now, however, +gained more precise information as to the spot where the Spanish +treasure-ship had sunk; and, though as yet baffled, he was more +confident than ever of the eventual success of his enterprise. + +Returned to London, Phipps reported the result of his voyage to the +Admirality, who professed to be pleased with his exertions; but he +had been unsuccessful, and they would not entrust him with another +king's ship. James II was now on the throne, and the Government was +in trouble; so Phipps and his golden project appealed to them in +vain. He next tried to raise the requisite means by a public +subscription. At first he was laughed at; but his ceaseless +importunity at length prevailed, and after four years' dinning of his +project into the ears of the great and influential--during which time +he lived in poverty--he at length succeeded. A company was formed in +twenty shares, The Duke of Albemarle, son of General Monk, taking the +chief interest in it, and subscribing the principal part of the +necessary fund for the prosecution of the enterprise. + +Phipps was successful in this undertaking. He started other +enterprises and succeeded. He was knighted, and as has been stated, +became the founder of one of England's noble families. It should be +said, however, that beyond his perseverance, he had but few qualities +to commend him. He was coarse, ignorant, and brutal, and had to fly +from Massachusetts to save his life from an indignant people. + +But true nobility is not that which is conferred by the warrant of a +monarch. 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 brain +and strong right arm, wins his way up from the humblest walks in +life, till by virtue of his manhood, he stands the peer of peers, and +by Divine right the equal of all earth's kings. + +We hear a great deal about an American aristocracy, but no matter +what the wishes of a few people with un-American tastes may be, the +only aristocracy that can ever find recognition here, is that of +brains and the success born of hones toil. + +Ninety-nine out of every hundred of the rich families that are +wrongly supposed to constitute our aristocracy at this time, were +poor less than fifty years ago. Many of the rich families of fifty +years ago are poor to-day; and so fortune varies and changes in this +new land. Our true aristocrats are successful men like Peter Cooper, +who left the world better for having lived in it. We count among our +aristocrats, patriots like Lincoln, and if his descendants emulate +his noble example, they too will be ennobled by their countrymen. We +reckon Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Hawthorne, Elisha Howe +and George W. Childs among our aristocrats. Andrew Carnegie deserves +a 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 comparison +with 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 noblest +possession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and an estate in +the general good-will; dignifying every station, and exalting every +position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and +secures all the honor without the jealousies of fame. It carries with +it an influence which always tells; for it is the result of proved +honor, rectitude and consistency--qualities which, perhaps, more than +any other, command the general confidence and respect of mankind. + +Character is human nature in its best form It is moral order embodied +in the individual. Men of character are not only the conscience of +society, but in every well-governed state they are its best motive +power; 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 to +one. The strength, the industry, and the civilization of nations--all +depend upon individual character; and the very foundations of civil +security rest upon it. Laws and institutions are but its outgrowth. +In the just balance of nature individuals, nations and races, will +obtain just so much as they deserve, and no more. And as effect finds +its cause, so surely does quality of character amongst a people +produce its befitting results. + +Though a man have comparatively little culture, slender abilities, +and but small wealth, yet, if his character be of sterling worth, he +always commands an influence, whether it be in the workshop, the +counting-house, the mart, or the senate. Canning wisely wrote in +1801, "My road must be through Character to Power; I will try no +other course; and I am sanguine enough to believe that this course, +though not perhaps the quickest, is the surest." You may admire men +of intellect; but something more is necessary before you will trust +them. This was strikingly illustrated in the career of Francis +Horner--a man of whom Sydney Smith said that the Ten Commandments +were stamped upon his countenance. "The valuable and peculiar light," +says Lord Cockburn, "in which his history is calculated to inspire +every right-minded youth, is this: He died at the age of thirty- +eight; possessed of greater public influence than any other private +man, and admired, beloved, trusted, and deplored by all, except the +heartless or the base. Now let every young man ask--how was this +attained? By rank? He was the son of an Edinburgh merchant. By +wealth? Neither he, nor any of his relations, ever had a superfluous +sixpence. By office? He held but one, and only for a few years, of no +influence, and with very little pay. By talents? His were not +splendid, and he had no genius. Cautious and slow, his only ambition +was to be right. By eloquence? He spoke in calm, good taste, without +any of the oratory that either terrifies or seduces. By any +fascination of manner? His was only correct and agreeable. By what, +then, was it? Merely by sense, industry, good principles, and a good +heart--qualities which no well-constituted mind need ever despair of +attaining. It was the force of his character that raised him; and +this character not impressed upon him by nature, but formed, out of +no peculiarly fine elements, by himself. There were many in the House +of Commons of far greater ability and eloquence. But no one surpassed +him in the combination of an adequate portion of these with moral +worth. Horner was born to show what moderate powers, unaided by +anything whatever except culture and goodness, may achieve, even when +these powers are displayed amidst the competition and jealousy of +public life." + +Franklin attributed his success as a public man not to his talents or +his powers of speaking--for these were but moderate--but to his known +integrity of character. Hence, it was, he says, "that I had so much +weight with my fellow-citizens. I was but a bad speaker, never +eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly +correct in language, and yet I generally carried my point." Character +creates confidence in men in high station as well as in humble life. +It was said of the first Emperor Alexander of Russia, that his +personal character was equivalent to a constitution. During the wars +of the Fronde, Montaigne was the only man amongst the French gentry +who kept his castle gates unbarred; and it was said of him, that his +personal character was a better protection for him than a regiment of +horse would have been. + +That character is power, is true in a much higher sense than that +knowledge is power. Mind without heart, intelligence without conduct, +cleverness without goodness, are powers in their way, but they may be +powers only for mischief. We may be instructed or amused by them; but +it is sometimes as difficult to admire them as it would be to admire +the dexterity of a pickpocket or the horsemanship of a highwayman. + +Truthfulness, integrity, and goodness--qualities that hang not on any +man's breath--form the essence of manly character, or, as one of our +old writers has it, "that inbred loyalty unto Virtue which can serve +her without a livery." He who possesses these qualities, united with +strength of purpose, carries with him a power which is irresistible. +He is strong to do good, strong to resist evil, and strong to bear up +under difficulty and misfortune. When Stephen of Colonna fell into +the hands of his base assailants, and they asked him in derision, +"Where is now your fortress?" "Here," was his bold reply, placing his +hand upon his heart. It is in misfortune that the character of the +upright man shines forth with the greatest lustre; and when all else +fails, he takes his stand upon his integrity and his courage. + +The rules of conduct followed by Lord Erskine--a man of sterling +independence of principle and scrupulous adherence to truth--are +worthy of being engraven on every young man's heart. "It was a first +command and counsel of my earliest youth," he said, "always to do +what my conscience told me to be a duty, and to leave the consequence +to 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 a +temporal sacrifice. I have found it, on the contrary, the road to +prosperity and wealth, and I shall point out the same path to my +children for their pursuit." + +Every man is bound to aim at the possession of a good character as +one of the highest objects of life. The very effort to secure it by +worthy means will furnish him with a motive of exertion; and his idea +of manhood, in proportion as it is elevated, will steady and animate +his motive. It is well to have a high standard of life, even though +we may not be able altogether to realize it. "The youth," says Mr. +Disraeli, "who does not look up will look down; and the spirit that +does not soar is destined perhaps to grovel." George Herbert wisely +writes: + +"Pitch thy behavior low, thy projects high, So shall thou humble and +magnanimous be. Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky Shoots +higher much that he that means a tree." + +He who has a high standard of living and thinking will certainly do +better than he who has none at all. "Pluck at a gown of gold," says +the Scotch proverb, "and you may get a sleeve o't." Whoever tries for +the highest results cannot fail to reach a point far in advance of +that from which he started; and though the end attained may fall +short of that proposed, still, the very effort to rise, of itself +cannot fail to prove permanently beneficial. + +There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article is +difficult to be mistaken. Some, knowing its money value, would assume +its disguise for the purpose of imposing upon the unwary. Colonel +Charteris said to a man distinguished for his honesty, "I would give +a thousand pounds for your good name." "Why?" "Because I could make +ten thousand by it," was the knave's reply. + +There is a truthfulness in action as well as in words, which is +essential to uprightness of character. A man must really be what he +seems or purposes to be. When an American gentleman wrote to +Granville Sharp, that from respect for his great virtues he had named +one of his sons after him, Sharp replied: "I must request you to +teach him a favorite maxim of the family whose name you have given +him--_Always endeavor to be really what you would wish to appear_. +This maxim, as my father informed me, was carefully and humbly +practiced by _his_ father, whose sincerity, as a plain and honest +man, thereby became the principal feature of his character, both in +public and private life." Every man who respects himself, and values +the respect of others, will carry out the maxim in act--doing +honestly what he purposes to do--putting the highest character into +his work, scrimping nothing, but priding himself upon his integrity +and conscientiousness. Once Cromwell said to Bernard--a clever but +somewhat unscrupulous lawyer, "I understand that you have lately been +vastly wary in your conduct; do not be too confident of this: +subtlety may deceive you, integrity never will." Men whose acts are +at direct variance with their words, command no respect, and what +they 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 of +men. That boy was well trained who, when asked why he did not pocket +some pears, for nobody was there to see, replied, "Yes, there was; I +was there to see myself; and I don't intend ever to see myself do a +dishonest thing." This is a simple but not inappropriate illustration +of principle, or conscience, dominating in the character, and +exercising a noble protectorate over it; not merely a passive +influence, but an active power regulating the life. Such a principle +goes on moulding the character hourly and daily, growing with a force +that operates every moment. Without this dominating influence, +character has no protection, but is constantly liable to fall away +before temptation; and every such temptation succumbed to, every act +of meanness or dishonesty, however slight, causes self-degradation. +It matters not whether the act be successful or not, discovered or +concealed; the culprit is no longer the same, but another person; and +he is pursued by a secret uneasiness, by self-reproach, or the +workings of what we call conscience, which is the inevitable doom of +the guilty. + +And here it may be observed how greatly the character may be +strengthened and supported by the cultivation of good habits. Man, it +has been said, is a bundle of habits; and habit is second nature. +Metastasio entertained so strong an opinion as to the power of +repetition in act and thought, that he said, "All is habit in +mankind, even virtue itself." Butler, in his "Analogy," impresses the +importance of careful self-discipline and firm resistance to +temptation, as tending to make virtue habitual, so that at length it +may become more easy to do good than to give way to sin. "As habits +belonging to the body," he says, "are produced by external acts, so +habits of the mind are produced by the execution of inward practical +purposes, i.e., carrying them into act, or acting upon them--the +principles of obedience, veracity, justice, and charity." And again, +Lord Brougham says, when enforcing the immense importance of training +and example in youth, "I trust everything, under God, to habit, on +which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the schoolmaster, has +mainly placed his reliance; habit, which makes everything easy, and +cast the difficulties upon the deviation from a wonted course." Thus, +make sobriety a habit and intemperance will be hateful; make prudence +a habit, and reckless profligacy will become revolting to every +principle of conduct which regulates the life of the individual. +Hence the necessity for the greatest care and watchfulness against +the inroad of any evil habit; for the character is always weakest at +that point at which it has once given way; and it is long before a +principle restored can become as firm as one that has never been +moved. It is a fine remark of a Russian writer, that "Habits are a +necklace of pearls: untie the knot, and the whole unthreads." + +Wherever formed, habit acts involuntarily and without effort; and it +is only when you oppose it, that you find how powerful it has become. +What is done once and again, soon gives facility and proneness. The +habit 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 events +of life, taken singly, may seem exceedingly unimportant, like snow +that falls silently, flake by flake; yet accumulated, these +snowflakes form the avalanche. + +Self-respect, self-help, application, industry, integrity--all are of +the nature of habits, not beliefs. Principles, in fact, are but the +names which we assign to habits; for the principles are words, but +the habits are the things themselves: benefactors or tyrants, +according as they are good or evil. It thus happens that as we grow +older, a portion of our free activity and individuality becomes +suspended in habit; our actions become of the nature of fate; and we +are bound by the chains which we have woven around ourselves. + +It is indeed scarcely possible to overestimate the importance of +training the young to virtuous habits. In them they are the easiest +formed, and when formed, they last for life; like letters cut on the +bark of a tree, they grow and widen with age. "Train up a child in +the 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 of +life determines the direction and the destination of the journey. +Remember, before you are five-and-twenty you must establish a +character that will serve you all your life. As habit strengthens +with age, and character becomes formed, and turning into a new path +becomes more and more difficult. Hence, it is often harder to unlearn +that to learn; and for this reason the Grecian flute-player was +justified who charged double fees to those pupils who had been taught +by an inferior master. To uproot and old habit is sometimes a more +painful thing, and vastly more difficult, than to wrench out a tooth. +Try and reform an habitually indolent, or improvident, or drunken +person, and in a large majority of cases you will fail. For the habit +in each case has wound itself in and through life until it has become +an integral part of it, and can not be uprooted. Hence, as Mr. Lynch +observes, "the wisest habit of all is the habit of care in the +formation of good habits." + +Even happiness itself may become habitual. There is a habit of +looking at the bright side of things, and also of looking at the dark +side. Dr. Johnson said that the habit of looking at the best side of +a thing is worth more to a man than a thousand pounds a year. And we +possess the power, to a great extent, of so exercising the will as to +direct the thoughts upon objects calculated to yield happiness and +improvement rather than their opposites. In this way the habit of +happy thought may be made to spring up like any other habit. And to +bring up men or women with a genial nature of this sort, a good +temper, and a happy frame of mind is, perhaps, of even more +importance, in may cases, than to perfect them in much knowledge and +many accomplishments. + +As daylight can be seen through very small holes, so little things +will illustrate a person's character. Indeed, character consists in +little acts, well and honorably performed; daily life being the +quarry from which we build it up, and rough-hew the habits which form +it. One of the most marked tests of character is the manner in which +we conduct ourselves toward others. A graceful behavior toward +superiors, 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 a +large extent, be a self-educator in good behavior, as in everything +else; he can be civil and kind, if he will, though he have not a cent +in his pocket. Gentleness in society is like the silent influence of +light, which gives color to all nature; it is far more powerful than +loudness or force, and far more fruitful. It pushes its way quietly +and persistently, like the tiniest daffodil in spring, which raises +the clod and thrusts it aside by the simple persistency of growing. + +Even a kind look will give pleasure and confer happiness. In one of +Robertson's letters, he tells of a lady who related to him "the +delight, the tears of gratitude, which she had witnessed in a poor +girl to whom, in passing I gave a kind look on going out of church on +Sunday. What a lesson! How cheaply happiness can be given! What +opportunities we miss of doing an angel's work! I remember doing it, +full of sad feelings, passing on, and thinking no more about it; and +it gave an hour's sunshine to a human life, and lightened the load of +life to a human heart for a time." + +Morals and manners, which give color to life, are of much greater +importance than laws, which are but their manifestations. The law +touches us here and there, but manners are about us everywhere, +pervading society like the air we breathe. Good manners, as we call +them, are neither more nor less than good behavior; consisting of +courtesy and kindness; benevolence being the preponderating element +in all kinds of mutually beneficial and pleasant intercourse amongst +human beings. "Civility," said Lady Montague, "costs nothing and buys +everything." The cheapest of all things is kindness, its exercise +requiring the least possible trouble and self-sacrifice. "Win +hearts," said Burleigh to Queen Elizabeth, "and you have all men's +hearts and purses." If we would only let nature act kindly, free from +affectation and artifice, the results on social good humor and +happiness would be incalculable. The little courtesies which form the +small change of life, may separately appear of little intrinsic +value, but they acquire their importance from repetition and +accumulation. They are like the spare minutes, or the groat a day, +which proverbially produce such momentous results in the course of a +twelvemonth, or in a lifetime. + +Manners are the ornament of action; and there is a way of speaking a +kind word, or of doing a kind thing, which greatly enhances its +value. What seems to be done with a grudge, or as an act of +condescension, is scarcely accepted as a favor. Yet there are men who +pride themselves upon their gruffness; and though they may possess +virtue and capacity, their manner is often such as to render them +almost insupportable. It is difficult to like a man who, though he +may not pull your nose, habitually wounds your self-respect, and +takes a pride in saying disagreeable things to you. There are others +who are dreadfully condescending, and cannot avoid seizing upon every +small opportunity of making their greatness felt. When Abernethy was +canvassing 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 enter +immediately assumed the grand air toward the supposed suppliant for +his vote. "I presume, sir," he said, "you want my vote and interest +at this momentous epoch of your life." Abernethy, who hated humbugs, +and felt nettled at the tone, replied: "No, I don't; I want a +pennyworth of figs; come, look sharp and wrap them up; I want to be +off!" + +The gentleman is eminently distinguished for his self-respect. He +values his character--not so much of it only as can be seen by +others, but as he sees himself; having regard for the approval of his +inward monitor. And, as he respects himself, so, by the same law, +does he respect others. Humanity is sacred in his eyes; and thence +proceed politeness and forbearance, kindness and charity. It is +related of Lord Edward Fitzgerald that, while traveling in Canada, in +company with the Indians, he was shocked by the sight of a poor squaw +trudging along laden with her husband's trappings, while the chief +himself walked on unencumbered. Lord Edward at once relieved the +squaw of her pack by placing it upon his own shoulders--a beautiful +instance of what the French call _politesse de coeur_--the inbred +politeness of the true gentleman. + +The true gentleman has a keen sense of honor--scrupulously avoiding +mean actions. His standard of probity in word and action is high. He +does not shuffle or prevaricate, dodge or skulk; but is honest, +upright and straightforward. His law is rectitude--action in right +lines. When he says _yes_, it is a law; and he dares to say the +valiant _no_ at the fitting season. + +Riches and rank have no necessary connection with genuine gentlemanly +qualities. The poor man may be a true gentleman--in spirit and in +daily life. He may be honest, truthful, upright, polite, temperate, +courageous, self-respecting, and self-helping--that is, be a true +gentleman. The poor man with a rich spirit is in all ways superior to +the rich man with a poor spirit. To borrow S. Paul's words, the +former is as "having nothing, yet possessing all things," while the +other, though possessing all things, has nothing. The first hopes +everything, and fears nothing; the last hopes nothing, and fears +everything. Only the poor in spirit are really poor. He who has lost +all, 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 can +still walk erect, a true gentleman. + +Occasionally, the brave and gentle character may be found under the +humblest garb. Here is an old illustration, but a fine one. Once on a +time, when the Adige suddenly overflowed its banks, the bridge of +Verona was carried away with the exception of the centre arch, on +which stood a house, whose inhabitants supplicated help from the +windows, while the foundations were visibly giving way. "I will give +a hundred French louis," said the Count Spolverini, who stood by, "to +any person who will venture to deliver those unfortunate people." A +young peasant came forth from the crowd, seized a boat, and pushed +into the stream. He gained the pier, received the whole family into +the 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 the +money to this poor family, who have need of it." Here spoke the true +spirit 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 man +than George Washington. It may be argued that he belonged to a good +family, and that his family was amongst the richest in the country at +that time. This is true, yet there is not a boy who graduates to-day +at our grammar schools who has not had far better educational +advantages than had Washington. But he was self-taught, and he so +prepared himself that no duty that required him, ever found him +deficient. At an age when most young men are thinking about striking +out for themselves, Washington occupied with success and honor +positions requiring courage, judgment, and decision. He grew with his +own deserved advance, until at length by his own splendid efforts, he +found 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, if +he will but boldly knock, the young man starting out in life to-day +has every advantage. If he will carefully study over the splendid +examples we have cited, and follow along the lines that led to their +success, 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 the +close of his life is not an infallible criterion of whether he has +got on in the world. There are some places in the world's history so +illustrious that to occupy them it would be worth dying in poverty +and misery. Ambition might well choose to be remembered with +gratitude by succeeding generations and to have an immortal name, +even if to attain it everything were sacrificed that is counted +desirable in life. Who would not surrender wealth and ease and +luxury, if in exchange for them he could leave such a name as +Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, John Brown, Livingstone or Howard? +Posthumous glory counts for something in the reckoning. And this is +often attained by self-sacrifice. Revile the world as we may, it does +not forget the men who have done it service. The men who have +forgotten themselves, who have not striven after their own advantage, +but have devoted their lives to the good of humanity, achieve +immortality. They get on in the world in the sense of receiving a +crown that cannot fade and a glory outshining that of kings and +millionaires. The hero has a reward all his own and he may well +renounce the lower rewards of riches and ease to gain it. But his +qualities must be heroic or he will make his sacrifices to no +purpose. He must be true to himself at all cost. Washington was a +brilliant example of this fidelity to his ideal. Sparks tells us that +when 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 did +he think of glory, or of fame and its rewards; but of the right thing +to be done, and the best way of doing it. + +Yet Washington had a most modest opinion of himself; and when offered +the chief command of the American patriot army he hesitated to accept +it until it was pressed upon him. When acknowledging in Congress the +honor which had been done him in selecting him to so important a +trust, on the execution of which the future of his country in a great +measure depended, Washington said: "I beg it may be remembered, lest +some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, that I +this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself +equal to the command I am honored with." + +And in his letter to his wife, communicating to her his appointment +as commander-in-chief, he said: "I have used very endeavor in my +power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with you +and the family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust too +great for my capacity; and that I should enjoy more real happiness in +one month with you at home than I have the most distant prospect of +finding 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 this +service, I shall hope that my undertaking is designed for some good +purpose. It was utterly out of my power to refuse the appointment, +without exposing my character to such censures as would have +reflected dishonor upon myself, and given pain to my friends. This, I +am sure, could not, and ought not, to be pleasing to you, and must +have lessened me considerably in my own esteem." + +Washington pursued his upright course through life, first as +commander-in-chief, and afterward as President, never faltering in +the path of duty. He had no regard for popularity, but held to his +purpose through good and through evil report, often at the risk of +his power and influence. Thus, on one occasion, when the ratification +of a treaty, arranged by Mr. Jay with Great Britain, was in question, +Washington was urged to reject it. But his honor, and the honor of +his country, was committed, and he refused to do so. A great outcry +was raised against the treaty, and for a time Washington was so +unpopular 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 from +all quarters. "While I fell," he said, in answer to the remonstrants, +"the most lively gratitude for the many instances of approbation from +my country, I can no otherwise deserve it than by obeying the +dictates of my conscience." + +When the Oregon, coming along the Atlantic coast, was struck in the +middle of the night by that coaster, and a great wound was made in +her side, through which the water was pouring, Captain Murray stood +on the bridge as calm, apparently, as a May morning, and waited until +every passenger was off, and every officer was off, and every man on +the crew was off, and the last man to step from the sinking ship was +the captain himself; and ten minutes after he stepped off, the +steamer gave a quiver, as of apprehension, and then plunged to the +bottom of the ocean. The steamer was his, and the men were his, and +the boats were his, and the passengers were his, all for this: that +he might save them in time of peril; and he would go down to the +bottom of the ocean rather than that, by his recreancy, one of those +entrusted to him should perish. This was the true hero, the man who +would die rather than be false to duty. + +One of the most striking instances that could be given of the +character of the dutiful, truthful, laborious man, who works on +bravely in spite of difficulty and physical suffering, is presented +in the life of the late George Wilson, Professor of Technology in the +University of Edinburgh. Wilson's life was, indeed, a marvel of +cheerful laboriousness; exhibiting the power of the soul to triumph +over the body, and almost to set it at defiance. It might be taken as +an illustration of the saying of the whaling-captain to Dr. Kane, as +to the power of moral force over physical: "Bless you, sir, the soul +will any day lift the body out of its boots!" + +A fragile but bright and lively boy, he had scarcely entered manhood +ere his constitution began to exhibit signs of disease. As early, +indeed, as his seventeenth year, he began to complain of melancholy +and sleeplessness, supposed to be the effects of bile. "I don't think +I shall live long," he then said to a friend; "my mind will--must +work itself out, and the body will soon follow it." A strange +confession for a boy to make! But he gave his physical health no fair +chance. His life was all brain work, study, and competition. When he +took exercise it was in sudden bursts, which did him more harm than +good. Long walks in the Highlands jaded and exhausted him; and he +returned to his brain-work unrested and unrefreshed. + +It was during one of his forced walks of some twenty-four miles, in +the neighborhood of Stirling, that he injured one of his feet, and he +returned home seriously ill. The result was an abscess, disease of +the ankle-joint, and a long agony, which ended in the amputation of +the right foot. But he never relaxed in his labors. He was now +writing, lecturing and teaching chemistry. Rheumatism and acute +inflammation of the eye next attacked him, and were treated by +cupping, blistering, and colchicum. Unable himself to write, he went +on preparing his lectures, which he dictated to his sister. Pain +haunted him day and night, and sleep was only forced by morphia. +While in this state of general prostration symptoms of pulmonary +disease began to show themselves. Yet he continued to give the weekly +lectures 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 my +coffin," was the remark made on throwing off his top-coat on +returning home; and a sleepless night almost invariably followed. + +At twenty-seven, Wilson was lecturing ten, eleven, or more hours +weekly, usually with setons or open blister-wounds upon him--his +"bosom friends," he used to call them. He felt the shadow of death +upon him, and he worked as if his days were numbered. "Don't be +surprised," he wrote to a friend, "if any morning at breakfast you +hear that I am gone." But while he said so, he did not in the least +degree indulge in the feeling of sickly sentimentality. He worked on +as 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 all +fear of dying." + +Sometimes he was compelled to desist from his labors by sheer +debility, occasioned by loss of blood from the lungs; but after a few +weeks' rest and change of air, he would return to his work, saying, +"The water is rising in the well again!" Though disease had fastened +on his lungs, and was spreading there, and though suffering from a +distressing cough, he went on lecturing as usual. To add to his +troubles, when one day endeavoring to recover himself from a stumble +occasioned by his lameness, he overstrained his arm, and broke the +bone near the shoulder. But he recovered from his successive +accidents 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, amidst +all his sufferings, remained perfectly calm and serene. He went about +his daily work with an apparently charmed life, as if he had the +strength 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 at +home, to whom the knowledge of his actual condition would have been +inexpressibly 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 Architectural +Institutes and to the School of Arts. One day, after a lecture before +the latter institute, he lay down to rest, and was shortly awakened +by the rupture of a blood-vessel, which occasioned him the loss of a +considerable quantity of blood. He did not experience the despair and +agony that Keats did on a like occasion, though he equally knew that +the messenger of death had come, and was waiting for him. He appeared +at the family meals as usual, and next day he lectured twice, +punctually fulfilling his engagements; but the exertion of speaking +was followed by a second attack of hemorrhage. He now became +seriously ill, and it was doubted whether he would survive the night. +But he did survive; and during his convalescence he was appointed to +an important public office--that of director of the Scottish +Industrial Museum, which involved a great amount of labor, as well as +lecturing, in his capacity of professor of technology, which he held +in connection with the office. + +From this time forward, his "dear museum," as he called it, absorbed +all his surplus energies. While busily occupied in collecting models +and specimens for the museum, he filled up his odds-and-ends of time +in lecturing in Ragged Schools and Medical Missionary Societies. He +gave 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 body +was forced to yield, and a sever attack of hemorrhage--bleeding from +both lungs and stomach--compelled him to relax in his labors. "For a +month, or some forty days," he wrote--"a dreadful Lent--the wind has +blown geographically from 'Araby the blest,' but thermometrically +from Iceland the accursed. I have been made a prisoner of war, hit by +an icicle in the lungs, and have shivered and burned alternately for +a large portion of the last month, and spat blood till I grew pale +with coughing. Now I am better, and to-morrow I give my concluding +lecture (on technology), thankful that I have contrived, +notwithstanding all my troubles, to early on without missing a +lecture 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 long +felt 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 painful +effort, and he felt "as if to lie down and sleep were the only things +worth doing." Yet shortly after, to help a Sunday school, he wrote +his "Five Gateways of Knowledge," as a lecture, and afterward +expanded it into a book. He also recovered strength sufficient to +enable him to proceed with his lectures to the institutions to which +he belonged, besides on various occasions undertaking to do other +people's work. "I am looked upon as being as mad," he wrote to his +brother, "because on a hasty notice, I took a defaulting lecturer's +place at the Philosophical Institution, and discoursed on the +polarization of light . . . But I like work: it is a family +weakness." + +Then followed chronic _malaise_--sleepless nights, days of pain, and +more spitting of blood. "My only painless moments." he says, "were +when lecturing." In this state of prostration and disease, the +indefatigable man undertook to write the "Life of Edward Forbes;" and +he did it, like every thing he undertook, with admirable ability. He +proceeded with his lectures as usual. To an association of teachers +he delivered a discourse on the educational value of industrial +science. After he had spoken to his audience for an hour, he left +them to say whether he should go on or not, and they cheered him on +to another half-hour's address. "It is curious," he wrote, "the +feeling of having an audience, like clay in your hands, to mould for +a season as you please. It is a terribly responsible power . . . I do +not mean for a moment to imply that I am indifferent to the good +opinion of others--far otherwise; but to gain this is much less a +concern with me than to deserve it. It was not so once. I had no wish +for unmerited praise, but I was too ready to settle that I did merit +it. Now, the word DUTY seems to me the biggest word in the world, and +is uppermost in all my serious doings." + +That was written only about four months before his death. A little +later he wrote: "I spin my thread of life from week to week, rather +than from year to year." Constant attacks of bleeding from the lungs +sapped his little remaining strength, but did not altogether disable +him from lecturing. He was amused by one of his friends proposing to +put him under trustees for the purpose of looking after his health. +But he would not be restrained from working so long as a vestige of +strength remained. + +One day, in the autumn of 1859, he returned from his customary +lecture in the University of Edinburgh with a severe pain in his +side. He was scarcely able to crawl up stairs. Medical aid was sent +for, and he was pronounced to be suffering from pleurisy and +inflammation of the lungs. His enfeebled frame was ill able to resist +so severe a disease, and he sank peacefully to the rest he so longed +for, after a few days' illness. + +The life of George Wilson--so admirably and affectionately related by +his sister--is probably one of the most marvelous records of pain and +long-suffering, and yet of persistent, noble and useful work, that is +to be found in the whole history of literature. + +Instances of this heroic quality of self-forgetfulness in the +interest of others are more frequent than we realize. Dr. Louis +Albert Banks mentions the following illustration: "The other day, in +one of our cities, two small boys signaled a street-car. When the car +stopped it was noticed that one boy was lame. With much solicitude +the other boy helped the cripple aboard, and, after telling the +conductor to go ahead, returned to the sidewalk. The lame boy braced +himself up in his seat so that he could look out of the car window, +and the other passengers observed that at intervals the little fellow +would wave his hand and smile. Following the direction of his +glances, the passengers saw the other boy running along the sidewalk, +straining every muscle to keep up with the car. They watched his +pantomime in silence for a few blocks, and then a gentleman asked the +lame 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 the +King and reach life's noblest triumph, here is your picture--willing +to run that the crippled lives may ride, willing to bear one +another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ--that is the +spirit of the King's country." + +"The path of service is open to all, nay, we stumble on to the path +daily without knowing it. Ivan Tourguenieff, in one of his beautiful +poems in prose, says, 'I was walking in the street; a beggar stopped +me--a frail old man. His inflamed, tearful eyes, blue lips, rough +rags, disgusting sores--oh, how horribly poverty had disfigured the +unhappy creature! He stretched out to me his red, swollen, filthy +hands; 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 at +home. The beggar waited, and his outstretched hand twitched and +trembled. Embarrassed and confused, I seized his dirty hand and +pressed it. 'Don't be vexed with me, brother; I have nothing with me, +brother.' The beggar raised his bloodshot eyes to mine; his blue lips +smiled, and he returned the pressure of my chilled fingers. 'Never +mind, brother,' stammered he; 'thank you for this--this, too, was a +gift, brother.' I felt that I, too, had received a gift from my +brother. This is a line of service open to us all." + +A gentleman writing to the Chicago _Interior_, relates this incident +in his own career as a prosecuting attorney: a boy of fifteen was +brought in for trial. He had no attorney, no witnesses and no +friends. As the prosecuting attorney looked him over, he was pleased +with his appearance. He had nothing of the hardened criminal about +him. In fact, he was impressed that the prisoner was an unusually +bright-looking little fellow. He found that the charge against him +was burglary. There had been a fire in a dry goods store, where some +of the merchandise had not been entirely consumed. The place had been +boarded up to protect, for the time being, the damaged articles. +Several boys, among them this defendant, had pulled off a board or +two, and were helping themselves to the contents of the place, when +the police arrived. The others got away, and this was the only one +caught. 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 home +was. He replied that he had no home. + +"Where are your parents?" was asked. He answered that they were both +dead. + +"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 and +friendless condition of the boy, coupled with his frankness and +pleasing presence, caused a lump to come into the lawyer's throat, +and into the throats of many others, who were listening to the +dialogue. Finally the attorney suggested to the judge that it was a +pity to send the boy to the reformatory, and that what he needed more +than anything else was a home. + +By this time the court officials, jurors and spectators had crowded +around, the better to hear what was being said. At this juncture one +of the jurors addressed the court, and said: "Your honor, a year ago +I lost my only boy. If he were alive, he would be about this boy's +age. Ever since he died I have been wanting a boy. If you will let me +have this little fellow, I'll give him a home, put him to work in my +printing establishment, and treat him as if he were my own son." + +The judge turned to the boy, and said: "This gentleman is a +successful business man. Do you think, if you are given this splendid +opportunity, 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 the +judge. + +A few minutes later the boy and his new friend left together, while +tears of genuine pleasure stood in many eyes in the crowded +courtroom. The lawyer, who signs his name to the story, declares that +the boy turned out well, and proved to be worthy of his benefactor's +kindness. + +Deeds like that are waiting for the doing on every hand, and no man +gives himself up to this spirit of helpfulness for others without +strengthening his own life. + +This spirit of self-forgetfulness and cheerful helpfulness is and +essential quality of the true heroic soul--the soul that is not +disturbed by circumstances, but goes on its way, strong and imparting +strength. + +We have to be on our guard against small troubles, which, by +encouraging, we are apt to magnify into great ones. Indeed, the chief +source of worry in the world is not real but imaginary evil--small +vexations and trivial afflictions. In the presence of a great sorrow, +all petty troubles disappear; but we are too ready to take some +cherished misery to our bosom, and to pet it here. Very often it is +the child of our fancy; and, forgetful of the many means of happiness +which lie within our reach, we indulge this spoiled child of ours +until it masters us. We shut the door against cheerfulness, and +surround ourselves with gloom. The habit gives a coloring to our +life. We grow querulous, moody and unsympathetic. Our conversation +becomes full of regrets. We are harsh in our judgment of others. We +are unsociable, and think everybody else is so. We make our breast a +store-house of pain, which we inflict upon ourselves as well as upon +others. + +This disposition is encouraged by selfishness; indeed, it is, for the +most part, selfishness unmingled, without any admixture of sympathy +or consideration for the feelings of those about us. It is simply +willfulness in the wrong direction. It is willful, because it might +be avoided. Let the necessitarians argue as they may, freedom of will +and action is the possession of every man and woman. It is sometimes +our glory, and very often it is our shame; all depends upon the +manner in which it is used. We can choose to look at the bright side +of things or at the dark. We can follow good and eschew evil +thoughts. We can be wrong-headed and wrong-hearted, or the reverse, +as we ourselves determine. The world will be to each one of us very +much what we make it. The cheerful are its real possessors, for the +world belongs to those who enjoy it. + +It must, however, be admitted that there are cases beyond the reach +of the moralist. Once, when a miserable-looking dyspeptic called upon +a leading physician, and laid his case before him, "Oh!" said the +doctor, "you only want a good hearty laugh: go and see Grimaldi." +"Alas!" said the miserable patient, "I am Grimaldi!" So, when +Smollett, oppressed by disease, traveled over Europe in the hope of +finding health, he saw everything through his own jaundiced eyes. + +The restless, anxious, dissatisfied temper, that is ever ready to run +and 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 with +stiff bristles, so that one dare scarcely approach them without fear +of being pricked! For want of a little occasional command over one's +temper, and amount of misery is occasioned in society which is +positively frightful. Thus enjoyment is turned into bitterness, and +life becomes like a journey barefooted among thorns and briers and +prickles. "Though sometimes small evils," says Richard Sharp, "like +invisible insects, inflict great pain, and a single hair may stop a +vast machine, yet the chief secret of comfort lies in not suffering +trifles to vex us; and in prudently cultivating and under-growth of +small pleasures, since very few great ones, alas! are let on long +leases." + +Cheerfulness also accompanies patience, which is one of the main +conditions of happiness and success in life. "He that will be +served," says George Herbert, "must be patient." It was said of the +cheerful and patient King Alfred that "good fortune accompanied him +like a gift of God." Marlborough's expectant calmness was great, and +a principal secret of his success as a general. "Patience will +overcome all things," he wrote to Godolphin, in 1702. In the midst of +a 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 of +possessions; for, as Thales that philosopher said, "Even those who +have 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 the +sustainer and inspirer of great deeds. It is recorded of Alexander +the Great that, when he succeeded to the throne of Macedon, he gave +away among his friends the greater part of the estates which his +father had left him; and when Perdiccas asked him what he reserved +for himself, Alexander answered, "The greatest possession of all-- +Hope!" + +The pleasures of memory, however great, are stale compared with those +of hope; for hope is the parent of all effort and endeavor; and +"every gift of noble origin is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual +breath." It may be said to be the moral engine that moves the world +and keeps it in action; and at the end of all there stands before us +what Robertson of Ellon styled "The Great Hope." + +The qualities of the strong self-reliant man are sometimes +accompanied by a brusqueness of manner that leas others to misjudge +them. As Knox was retiring from the queen's presence on one occasion +he overheard one of the royal attendants say to another, "He is not +afraid!" Turning round upon them, he said: "And why should the +pleasing face of a gentleman frighten me? I have looked on the faces +of angry men, and yet have not been afraid beyond measure." When the +Reformer, worn out by excess of labor and anxiety, was at length laid +to his rest, the regent, looking down into the open grave, exclaimed +in 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 and +ruggedness. But, as in the case of Knox, the times in which he lived +were rude and violent, and the work he had to do could scarcely have +been accomplished with gentleness and suavity. To rouse Europe from +its lethargy, he had to speak and write with force, and even +vehemence. Yet Luther's vehemence was only in words. His apparently +rude exterior covered a warm heart. In private life he was gentle, +loving and affectionate. He was simple and homely, even to +commonness. Fond of all common pleasures and enjoyments, he was any +thing but an austere man or a bigot; for he was hearty, genial, and +even "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 been +brought up in a rough school. Poverty in early life had made him +acquainted with strange companions. He had wandered in the streets +with Savage for nights together, unable between them to raise money +enough to pay for a bed. When his indomitable courage and industry at +length secured for him a footing in society, he still bore upon him +the scars of his early sorrow and struggles. He was by nature strong +and robust, and his experience made him unaccommodating and self- +asserting. When he was once asked why he was not invited to dine out +as Garrick was, he answered, "Because great lords and ladies do not +like to have their mouths stopped;" and Johnson was a notorious +mouth-stopper, though what he said was always worth listening to. + +Johnson's companions spoke of him as "Ursa Major;" but, as Goldsmith +generously said of him, "No man alive has a more tender heart; he has +nothing of the bear about him but his skin." The kindliness of +Johnson's nature was shown on one occasion by the manner in which he +assisted a supposed lady in crossing Fleet street. He gave her his +arm and led her across, not observing that she was in liquor at the +time. But the spirit of the act was not the less kind on that +account. On the other hand, the conduct of the book-seller on whom +Johnson once called to solicit employment, and who, regarding his +athletic but uncouth person, told him he had better "go buy a +porter's knot and carry trunks," in howsoever bland tones the advice +might have been communicated, was simply brutal. + +While captiousness of manner, and the habit of disputing and +contradicting everything said, is chilling and repulsive, the +opposite habit of assenting to, and sympathizing with, every +statement 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 indiscriminate +flattery; but it is very easy--good humor, kind heartedness and +perfect simplicity, being all that are requisite to do what is right +in 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, when +Gibbon had published the second and third volumes of his "Decline and +Fall," 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 old +way--_scribble, scribble, scribble_!" The duke probably intended to +pay the author a compliment, but did not know how better to do it +than in this blunt and apparently rude way. + +Again, many persons are thought to be stiff, reserved and proud, when +they are only shy. Shyness is characteristic of most people of +Teutonic race. It has been styled "the English mania," but it +pervades, to a greater or less degree, all the Northern nations. The +average Frenchman or Irishman excels the average Englishman, German +or American in courtesy and ease of manner, simply because it is his +nature. They are more social and less self-dependent than men of +Teutonic origin, more demonstrative and less reticent; they are more +communicative, conversational, and freer in their intercourse with +each other in all respects; while men of German race are +comparatively stiff, reserved, shy and awkward. At the same time, a +people may exhibit ease, gayety, and sprightliness of character, and +yet possess no deeper qualities calculated to inspire respect. They +may have every grace of manner, and yet be heartless, frivolous, +selfish. The character may be on the surface only, and without any +solid qualities for a foundation. + +There can be no doubt as to which of the two sorts of people--the +easy and graceful, or the stiff and awkward--it is most agreeable to +meet either in business, in society, or in the casual intercourse of +life. Which make the fastest friends, the truest men of their word, +the most conscientious performers of their duty, is an entirely +different matter. + +As an epitome of good sound advice as to getting on in the world +there has probably been nothing written so forcible, quaint and full +of common sense a the following preface to an old Pennsylvanian +Almanac, entitled "Poor Richard Improved," by the great philosopher, +Benjamin Franklin. It is homely, simple, sensible and practical--a +condensation 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 great +pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by others. Judge, +then, how much I must have been gratified by an incident I am going +to relate to you. I stopped my horse lately where a great number of +people were collected at an auction of merchants' goods. The hour of +the sale not being come, they were conversing on the badness of the +times, and one of the company called to a plain, clean old man with +white locks, 'Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the times? Will +not these heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we ever be +able to pay them? What would you advise us to do?' Father Abraham +stood up, and replied: 'If you would have my advice I will give it +you in short, for, A word to the wise is enough, as poor Richard +says.' They joined in desiring him to speak his mind, and gathering +round him, he proceeded as follows: + +"'Friends, the taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by +the government were the only ones we had to pay we might more easily +discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to +some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times +as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly; and from +these taxes the commissioners cannot ease or deliver us, by allowing +an abatement. However, let us hearken to good advice, and something +may be done for us. God helps them that help themselves, as poor +Richard says. + +"'I. It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people +one-tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service; but +idleness taxes many of use more; sloth, by bringing on diseases, +absolutely shortens life. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than +labor wears; while, The used key is always bright, as poor Richard +says. But, Dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that +is the stuff life is made of, as poor Richard says. How much more +than is necessary do we spend in sleep! forgetting that, The sleeping +fox catches no poultry; and that, There will be sleeping in the +grave, 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 he +elsewhere tells us, Lost time is never found again; and, What we call +time enough always proves little enough. Let us, then, be up and be +doing, and doing to the purpose; so by diligence shall we do more, +and with less perplexity. Sloth makes all things difficult, but +industry all easy; and, He that riseth late must trot all day, and +shall scarce overtake his business at night; while, Laziness travels +so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. Drive thy business, let +not that drive thee; and Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man +healthy, wealthy and wise, as poor Richard says. + +"'So what signifies wishing and hoping for better times? We may make +these times better if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not risk, +and, He that lives upon hopes will die fasting. There are no gains +without 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, He +that hath a calling, hath an office of profit and honor, as poor +Richard says; but then the trade must be worked at, and the calling +followed, or neither the estate nor the office will enable us to pay +our taxes. If we are industrious we shall never starve; for, At the +working man's house, hunger looks in, but dares not enter. Nor will +the bailiff or the constable enter; for, Industry pays debts, while +despair increaseth them. What though you have found no treasure, nor +has any rich relation left you a legacy? Diligence is the mother of +good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Then, plough deep, +while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and keep. Work +while it is called to-day, for you know not how much you may be +hindered to-morrow. One to-day is worth two to-morrows, as poor +Richard says; and, farther, never leave that till to-morrow that you +can do to-day. If you were a servant, would you not be shamed that a +good master would catch you idle? Are you then your own master, be +ashamed to catch yourself idle, when there is to be so much done for +yourself, your family, your country, and your king. Handle your tools +without mittens; remember that the cat in gloves catches no mice, as +poor Richard says. It is true there is much to be done, and perhaps +your are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will see +great effects; for, Constant dropping wears away stones; and, By +diligence and patience the mouse at in two the cable; and, Little +strokes fell great oaks. + +"'Methinks I hear some of you say, "Must a man afford himself no +leisure?" I will tell thee, my friend, what poor Richard says--Employ +thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou are not +sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doing +something useful. This leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the +lazy man never; for a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two +things. Many, without labor, would live by their wits only, but they +break for want of stock; whereas industry gives comfort, and plenty, +and respect. Fly pleasures, and they will follow you. The diligent +spinner 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 and +careful, and oversee our own affairs with our own eyes, and not trust +to 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 thy +shop, and thy shop will keep thee. And again--If you would have your +business 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 the +affairs of this world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the want +of it. But a man's own care is profitable; for if you would have a +faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. A little +neglect may cause great mischief; For want of a nail the shoe was +lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the +rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy--all for want +of a little care about a horse-shoe nail. + +"'III. So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own +business; but to these we must add frugality, if we would make our +industry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how to +save as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone all his life, and +die 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. The +Indies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than +her incomes. + +"'Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not then have +so much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable +families; 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 and +then, diet a little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a little +entertainment now and then, can be no great matter; but remember-- +Many a little makes a nickel. Beware of little expenses--A small leak +will sink a great ship, as poor Richard says. And moreover--Fools +make 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 will +prove evils to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap, and +perhaps they may for less than they cost; but if you have no occasion +for 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 thy +necessaries. And again--At a great pennyworth pause awhile. He means +that the cheapness is apparent only, and not real; or the bargain, by +straitening thee in thy business, may do thee more harm than good; +for in another place he says--Many have been ruined by buying good +pennyworths. Again--It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of +repentance; and yet this folly is practiced every day at auctions, +for want of minding the almanac. Many a one, for the sake of finery +on the back, has gone with a hungry belly and half-starved his +family. Silks and satins, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchen +fire, as poor Richard says. These are not the necessaries of life; +they can scarcely be called the conveniences; and yet, only because +they look pretty, how many want to have them! By these, and other +extravagances, the genteel are reduced to poverty, and forced to +borrow of those whom they formerly despised, but who, through +industry and frugality, have maintained their standing; in which case +it appears plainly that, A ploughman on his legs is higher than a +gentleman on his knees, as poor Richard says. Perhaps they have had a +small estate left them, which they knew not the getting of; they +think it is day and will never be night; that a little to be spent +out of so much is not worth minding; but, Always taking out of the +meal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to be the bottom, as poor +Richard says; and then, When the well is dry, they know the worth of +water. But this they might have know before if they had taken his +advice--If they would know the value of money, go and try to borrow +some; for, He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing, as poor Richard +says; and, indeed, so does he that lends to such people when he goes +to 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 more +saucy. 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 is +easier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow +it. And it is as truly folly for the poor to ape the rich, as for the +frog 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 with +plenty, 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; it +makes no increase of merit in the person; it creates envy; it hastens +misfortune. + +"'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; and +that, perhaps, has induced some of us to attend it, because we cannot +spare 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 power +over your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamed +to see your creditor; you will be in fear when you speak to him; you +will make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses, and, by degrees, come to +lose your veracity, and sink into base, downright lying; for, The +second vice is lying, the first is running in debt, as poor Richard +says; and again, to the same purpose, Lying rides upon debt's back . . . + +"'And now, to conclude--Experience keeps a dear school, but fools +will 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 be +helped; and further, that, If you will not hear Reason, she will +surely rap your knuckles, as poor Richard says.' + +"Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it and +approved the doctrine; and immediately practiced the contrary, just +as if it had been a common sermon, for the auctioneer opened, and +they began to buy extravagantly. I found the good man had thoroughly +studied my almanacs, and digested all I had dropt on these topics +during the course of twenty-five years." + + + +The End. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's How to Get on in the World, by Major A.R. 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