“If I don’t succeed the first time, I can try again,” he reflected.

The more he thought of it, the more he liked the plan.  It is very possible that he was influenced by the example of Franklin, who, while yet a boy in his teens, contributed articles to his brother’s paper though at the time the authorship was not suspected.  Finally he decided to commence writing as soon as he could think of a suitable subject.  This he found was not easy.  He could think of plenty of subjects of which he was not qualified to write, or in which he felt little interest; but he rightly decided that he could succeed better with something that had a bearing upon his own experience or hopes for the future.

Finally he decided to write on Ambition.

I do not propose to introduce Harry’s essay in these pages, but will give a general idea of it, as tending to show his views of life.

He began by defining ambition as a desire for superiority, by which most men were more or less affected, though it manifested itself in very different ways, according to the character of him with whom it was found.  Here I will quote a passage, as a specimen of Harry’s style and mode of expression.

“There are some who denounce ambition as wholly bad and to be avoided by all; but I think we ought to make a distinction between true and false ambition.  The desire of superiority is an honorable motive, if it leads to honorable exertion.  I will mention Napoleon as an illustration of false ambition, which is selfish in itself, and has brought misery and ruin, to prosperous nations.  Again, there are some who are ambitious to dress better than their neighbors, and their principal thoughts are centred upon the tie of their cravat, or the cut of their coat, if young men; or upon the richness and style of their dresses, if they belong to the other sex.  Beau Brummel is a noted instance of this kind of ambition.  It is said that fully half of his time was devoted to his toilet, and the other half to displaying it in the streets, or in society.  Now this is a very low form of ambition, and it is wrong to indulge it, because it is a waste of time which could be much better employed.”

Harry now proceeded to describe what he regarded as a true and praiseworthy ambition.  He defined it as a desire to excel in what would be of service to the human race, and he instanced his old Franklin, who, induced by an honorable ambition, worked his way up to a high civil station, as well as a commanding position in the scientific world.  He mentioned Columbus as ambitious to extend the limits of geographical knowledge, and made a brief reference to the difficulties and discouragements over which he triumphed on the way to success.  He closed by an appeal to boys and young men to direct their ambition into worthy channels, so that even if they could not leave behind a great name, they might at least lead useful lives, and in dying have the satisfaction of thinking that they done some service to the race.