Pushing to the Front

s world whose work is n

this world until somebod

; force and persistence in crowding opportunity to its utmost of possible achi

nd a way o

portunity for doing good that never could have been

rnest? Seize t

, or dream you

ain Berry in delight, when Nelson had explained his

." Then, as his captains rose from the council to go to their respective ships, he added: "Before this time to-morrow I shall have gained a

ho had been sent to explore the dreaded pass of St. Bernard. "Perhaps

ps, where "no wheel had ever rolled, or by any possibility could roll," an army of sixty thousand men, with ponderous artillery, tons of cannon balls and baggage, and all the bulky munitions of

igantic obstacles by calling them insuperable. Many a commander had possessed the necessary supplies, tools, and rugged soldiers, but lacked the gr

beset by the Confederates that its surrender seemed only a question of a few days; for the hills around were all aglow by night with the camp-f

lders of four men, he was taken to Chattanooga. Things assumed a different aspect immediately. A master had arrived who was equal to the situation. The army felt the grip of hi

or were they compelled by the indomina

anized his men, and snatched victory from defeat?-when Winkelried gathered to his heart a sheaf of Austrian spears, thus opening a path through which his comrades pressed to freedom?-when for years Napoleon did not lose a single battle in which he was personally engaged?-when Wellington fought in many climes without ever being conquered?-when Ney, on a hundred fields, changed appare

ions to accomplish results deemed impossible by those less resolute.

Alps that oppose the progress of the average American youth are not

opportunities. Seize common o

m Darling, the light-keeper. "Ah, yes, we must go to the rescue," exclaimed his daughter, pleading tearfully with both father and mother, until the former replied: "Very well, Grace, I will let you persuade me, though it is against my better judgment." Like a feather in a whirlwind the little boat was tossed on the tumultuous sea, but, borne on the blast that swept the cruel surge, the shrieks of those shipwrecked sailors seemed

y Eggleston. A large company had been invited to a banquet, and just before the hour the confectioner, who had been making a large ornament for the table, sent word that he had spoiled

f you'll let me try." The servant was at his wits' end, so he told Antonio to go ahead and see what he could do. Calling

es fell upon the butter lion, they forgot the purpose for which they had come in their wonder at such a work of genius. They looked at the lion long and carefully, and asked Signer Fali

expenses under the best masters, and he kept his word. Antonio was not spoiled by his good fortune, but remained at heart the same simple, earnest, faithful boy who had tried so hard to become a go

opportunities, str

waited for chances but who have taken them; besieged the

receive unusual aid; but opportunities are often presented w

ty. Every business transaction is an opportunity,-an opportunity to be polite,-an opportunity to be manly,-an opportunity to be honest,-an opportunity to make friends. Every proof of confidence in you is a great opportunity. Every responsibility thrust upon your strength and your honor is priceless. Existence is the privilege of effort, and

he odds and ends of opportunities which many carelessly throw away than other will get out of a whole life-time. Like bees, they extract honey

e," says a cardinal; "but when she finds he is not ready to

ed, at a salary of one thousand dollars a year. Livingston and Fulton had acquired the sole right to navigate New York waters by steam, but Vanderbilt thought the law unconstitutional, and defied it until it was repealed. He soon became a steam

rs, he plunged into railroad enterprises with all his might,

unity in Grant's order, "On to Richmond." One morning in 1864 he knocked at the door of Plankinton, partner in his venture as a pork packer. "I am going to take the next train to New York," said he, "to sell pork 'short.' Grant and Sherman have the rebellion by the throat, and pork will go down to twelve dollars a barrel." This was his opportunity. He went to New York and offered pork i

rted a single barrel "still" in 1870, using an improved process discovered by his partner. They made a superior grade of oil and prospered rapidly. They admitted a third partner, Mr. Flagler, but Andrews soon became dissatisfied. "What will you take for your interest?" asked Rockefeller. Andrews wrote carelessly on a piece of paper, "One million dollars." Within twenty-f

s, of engineers, of scholars, of artists, of authors, and of poets, who find opportunities, thick as thistles, for doing something noble

to care for them, and the Government merely furnished food to keep them alive. Mrs. Fry visited Newgate, calmed the howling mob, and told them she wished to establish a school for the young women and the girls, and asked them to select a schoolmistress from their own number. They were amazed, but chose a young woman who had been committed for stealing a wat

hat to do until another boy, Astley Cooper, took his handkerchief and stopped the bleeding by pressure above the wound.

surgeon is away. Time is pressing. Life and death hang in the balance. Is he equal to the emergency? Can he fill the great surgeon's place, and do his work? If he can, he is the one of

red for a gre

the Acadians, was separated from her lover, and passed her life in waiting and seeking for him, and only found him dying in a hospital when both were old.' Longfellow wondered that the legend did not strike the fancy of Hawthorne, and he said to him, 'If you have really made up your mind not to use

cries of those who are perishing for assistance; open hearts will never want for worthy

made use of his knowledge that the body displaces its exact bulk of liquid; but when Archimedes observed the fa

ical importance; but the boy Galileo, as he watched a lamp left swinging by accident in the cathedral at Pisa, saw in the regularity of those oscillations the useful principle of the pendulum. Even the iro

netary formation; but Laplace saw that, instead of being exceptions, they are the sole remaining visible evidences of certain stages in th

t lie beyond the Western Ocean, but it remained for Columbus to

but Newton was the first to realize that they fall to the earth by the same law which holds the planets in th

l-pervading and tremendous energy of electricity; but the discharges of Heaven's artillery were seen and heard only by the eye and ear of terror unt

of any successful man and mark its moral, told thousands of years ago by Solomon: "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand

for himself and others. Every one who has labored honestly in the past has aided

ted youth, to the office boy and to the clerk-avenues through which they can reap greater successes than ever before within the reach of these classes in the his

which had wings on its feet. "Opportunity," replied the sculptor. "Why is its face hidden?" "Because men seldom know h

is bald; if you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her, but

portunity to him who ca

asked if they needed help. 'I am in a sinking condition,' cried Captain Herndon. 'Had you not better send your passengers on board directly?' I asked. 'Will you not lay by me unt

I never saw the steamer again. In an hour and a half after he said, 'Lay by me till morning,' his vessel, wi

h when his last moments came? How many lives were sacrificed to his unintelligent hopefulness and indecision! Like him the feeble, the sluggish, and the purpose

unctual in their home duties. That is the way the habit is acquired; and now, when responsibility claims them, they think that if they had only gone yesterday they would have obtained the situation, or they can probably get one to-morrow. T

eady to answer questions. But he did not realize the full responsibility of his position. He "took the world easy," and occasionally tippled; and if any one remonstrated, he woul

uties because of the storm, and slyly sipped occasional draughts from a flat bottle. Soon he

er head, and an express was due in a few minutes upon the same track. The conductor hurr

y. Wait till I g

vely, "Don't stop a minute

ingly. The conductor then h

en he took another sip from the flat bottle to keep the cold out. Then he

e, but it was too late. In a horrible minute the engine of the express had telescoped the stan

ext day he was found in a barn, delirious, swinging an empty lan

that sad place than the unceasing moan, "Oh, that I had! Oh, that I had!" of the

t cry of many a man who would give life itself for the

no proportion between spaces of time in importance nor in value. A stray, unthought-of five minutes

sums up and brings to a result previous training. Accidental circumstances

fame, or worth. We are dazzled by what Emerson calls the "shallow Americanism" of the day. W

our country fully developed? Are the secrets of nature all mastered? Is there no way in which you can utilize these passing moments to improve yourself or benefit others? Is the competition of modern existence so fierce that you must be content

for which He has already given you the necessary faculties and strength? Even when the Chosen People supposed their progress checked by the Red Se

de of disaster for some fellow man, or clear his path to success; with our own faculties so arranged that in honest, earnest, persistent endeavor we fi

e Stephenson made his when he mastered the rules of mathematics with a bit of chalk on the grimy sides of the coal wagons in the mines. Make it, as Napoleon made his in a hundred "impossible" s

ide in the af

the flood, lea

the voyage

shallows and

ke the current

our ve

red twice; seize

iles, and duty

de to 'scape t

h pleasure becko

ar thee onward