he had done anything worth notice.  But if he choose for his path a thick rope, extended from one end of the building to the other, at a height of a hundred feet, and if he walk rather slowly and awkwardly along it, he will be esteemed as having done something very extraordinary:  while if, in addition to this, he is blindfolded, and has his feet placed in large baskets instead of shoes, he will, if in any way he can get over the distance between the ends of the building, be held as one of the most remarkable men of the age.  Yes, load yourself with weight which no one asks you to carry; accumulate disadvantages which you need not face, unless you choose; then carry the weight in any fashion, and overcome the disadvantages in any fashion; and you are a great man, considering:  that is, considering the disadvantages and the weight.  Let this be remembered:  if a man is so placed that he cannot do his work, except in the face of special difficulties, then let him be praised, if he vanquish these in some decent measure, and if he do his work tolerably well.  But a man deserves no praise at all for work which he has done tolerably or done rather badly, because he chose to do it under disadvantageous circumstances, under which there was no earthly call upon him to do it.  In this case he probably is a self-conceited man, or a man of wrong-headed independence of disposition; and in this case, if his work be bad absolutely, don’t tell him that it is good, considering.  Refuse to consider.  He has no right to expect that you should.  There was a man who built a house entirely with his own hands.  He had never learned either mason-work or carpentry:  he could quite well have afforded to pay skilled workmen to do the work he wanted; but he did not choose to do so.  He did the whole work himself.  The house was finished; its aspect was peculiar.  The walls were off the perpendicular considerably, and the windows were singular in shape; the doors fitted badly, and the floors were far from level.  In short, it was a very bad and awkward-looking house:  but it was a wonderful house, considering.  And people said that it was so, who saw nothing wonderful in the beautiful house next it, perfect in symmetry and finish and comfort, but built by men whose business it was to build.  Now I should have declined to admire that odd house, or to express the least sympathy with its builder.  He chose to run with a needless hundred-weight on his back:  he chose to walk in baskets instead of in shoes.  And if, in consequence of his own perversity, he did his work badly, I should have refused to recognize it as anything but bad work.  It was quite different with Robinson Crusoe, who made his dwelling and his furniture for himself, because there was no one else to make them for him.  I dare say his cave was anything but exactly square; and his chairs and table were cumbrous enough; but they were wonderful, considering certain facts which he was quite entitled to expect us to consider.