How to Succeed

ds difficulties, ad

ary ability to meet and conq

their lives to their tremen

d metal o

efore its s

yr

hat is a lens which opens reaches in the unknown,

his way in a dead

gainst, not w

come eac

arth's smoot

bids not sit no

own

"Tut, you blockhead," replied the other, "gibbets are the making of us; for, if there were no gibbets, every one would be a

stubborn material that in no other way can be made to serve its use and do its work for man. And then, too, these hammers and axes are not wielded without strain or pang, but swung by the millions of toilers who labor with their cries and groans and tears. Nay, our temple building, whether it be for God or man, exacts its bitter toll, and fills life with cries and blows. The thousand rivalries of our daily business, the f

ntain side lies a block of granite, and says to itself, 'How happy am I in my serenity-above the winds,

of granite, jutting out of the cliff, and

k is blown asunder, and goes crashing down into the valley. 'Ah!' it exclaims as it falls, 'why this rending?' Then come saws to cut and fashion it; and humbled now, and willing to be nothing, it is borne away from the mountain

l struggle to keep the head above water and the wolf from the door, that keeps society from fa

deep water and buffet the waves. Hardship is the native soil of manhood and self-reliance. Trials are rough teachers, but rugged schoolmasters make rugged pupils. A man who goes through life prosperous, and c

were sliding uselessly round on the car tracks that were wet and slippery from rain. All the urging of the teamster and the straining of the horses were in vain-until the mo

restle with a toothless old woman, whose sinewy hands, as wiry as eagle claws in the grapple, make his very flesh to quiver. He is victorious in them all. But as the crown of success is placed upon his temples, he discovers for the first time that he has had for his antagonist the three greatest forces of nature. He raced with thought, he

An eminent dramatist is selected for chairman and holds the post for three months. His election generally follows close upon a splendid failure. Some of the world-famous ones have enjoyed this hono

man," said George Macdonald of Milton, "and so

his latent energy, by firing a dormant purpose, by awakening powers which were sleeping. Men of

nly what the blast of the storm wind is to the e

in which he can partake. It is pearls and rubies to his discourse. Drudgery, calamity, exasperation, want, are inst

ter too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with diffi

osperity. Their good fortune takes the spring out of their energy, as the torrid zone enervates races accustomed to a vigorous climate. Some people never come to thems

said Albion Tourgée. "Grant's failure as a subaltern made him commander-in-chief, and for m

cation." And a life's disaster may become the landmark fro

an must live like a hermit and work like a horse. There is nothi

their opposition we could never have braced and anchored and fortified ourselves, as the oak is braced and anchor

lived for whole years upon Virgil and found myself we

of our powers, and whatever tempts us to a life of indolence or inaction, or to seek pleasure merely, whatever furnishes us a crutch when we can develop our muscles better by walking, all helps, guides, props, whatever tempts to a life of inaction, in whatever

id he, "she should be thine; but a blacksmith-never!" "I will be a painter," said the young man. He applied to his new art with so much perseverance that in a short time he p

cing deep into the earth. Every rootlet lends itself to steady the growing giant, as if in anticipation of fierce conflict with the elements. Sometimes its upward growth seems checked for years, but all the while it has been expending its energy in pushing a root across

slender sapling. Shielded by its neighbors, it feels

cle overcome lends him strength for the next conflict. If he falls, he rises with more determination than before. Like a rubber ball, the harder the obstacle he meets the higher he rebounds. Obstacles and opposition are but apparatus of the gymnasium in which the fibres of his manhood are developed. He compels

in life," and envies the city youth. He thinks that it is a cruel Providence that places such a wide gulf between them. They meet again as men, but how changed! It is as easy to distinguish the sturdy, self-made man from the one who has been propped up all his life by wealth, posi

away with him, but he carries the skill

hich you learn your lessons. The school was your gymnasium. You do not carry away the Greek and Latin text-books, the geometry and algebra into your occupations

s day. Yet if his first efforts had been but moderately successful, he might have been content with mere mediocrity. It was his defeats that ne

acaulay said, "There is scarce an instance in history of so sudden a rise to so dizzy an eminence as Byron reached." In a few years he stood by the side of such men as

ve to the diligent hand, and life itself cannot be supported without incessant t

a rule, have come from the same narrow belt of la

born soil. It is no chance that returns to the Hindoo ryot a penny and to the American laborer a dollar for his daily toil; that makes Mexico with her mineral wealth poor, and New England with its granite and ice rich. I

callouses the palm of the oarsman, strengthens the waist of the wrestler, fits the back to its burden. I

n and feathers from their nest. The rude and rough experience of the eaglet fi

t of doors. Thrown upon their own resources, they early

usually "turn out," while those who do not have t

from under him. The prison has roused the slumbering fire in many a noble mind. "Robinson Crusoe" was written in prison. The "Pilgrim's Progress" appeared in Bedford Jail. The "Life and Times" of Baxter, Eliot's "Monarchia of Man," and Penn's "No Cross, No Crown," were written by prisoners. Sir Walter

faculties, and excite the invention, prudence, skill and fortitude of the voyager. The martyrs of ancient times, in bracing their minds to outward calamities, acquired a loftiness of purpose and a moral heroism worth a lifetime of softness and security. A man upon whom continuous sunshine falls is like the earth in August: he becomes parched and dry a

boys are too often tutored through college with very little study. "Short roads" and "abridged methods" are characteristic of the century. Ingenious methods are used everywhere to get the drudgery out of the college course. Newspapers give us our politics, a