2.  Difference of talent will not solve it, because that difference is very often in favor of the disappointed candidate.  You will see issuing from the walls of the same college, nay, sometimes from the bosom of the same family, two young men, of whom one will be admitted to be a genius of high order, the other scarcely above the point of mediocrity; yet you will see the genius sinking and perishing in poverty, obscurity, and wretchedness; while, on the other hand, you will observe the mediocre plodding his slow but sure way up the hill of life, gaining steadfast footing at every step, and mounting, at length, to eminence and distinction, an ornament to his family, a blessing to his country.

3.  Now, whose work is this?  Manifestly their own.  They are the architects of their respective fortunes.  The best seminary of learning that can open its portals to you can do no more than to afford you the opportunity of instruction; but it must depend, at last, on yourselves, whether you will be instructed or not, or to what point you will push your instruction.

4.  And of this be assured, I speak from observation a certain truth:  There is no excellence without great labor.  It is the fiat of fate, from which no power of genius can absolve you.

5.  Genius, unexerted, is like the poor moth that flutters around a candle till it scorches itself to death.  If genius be desirable at all, it is only of that great and magnanimous kind, which, like the condor of South America, pitches from the summit of Chimborazo, above the clouds, and sustains itself at pleasure in that empyreal region with an energy rather invigorated than weakened by the effort.

6.  It is this capacity for high and long-continued exertion, this vigorous power of profound and searching investigation, this careering and wide-spreading comprehension of mind, and these long reaches of thought, that

   “Pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon,
   Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
   And pluck up drowned honor by the locks;”

this is the prowess, and these the hardy achievements, which are to enroll your names among the great men of the earth.

Definitions.—­1.  Mor’al, relating to duty or obligation.  Ar’-chi-tects, builders, makers.  Des’ti-ny, ultimate fate, appointed condition. 2.  Can’di-date, one who seeks after some honor or office.  Gen’ius (pro. jen’yus), a man of superior intellectual powers.  Me-di-oc’ri-ty, a middle state or degree of talents.  Me’di-o-cre (pro. me’di-o-kr), a man of moderate talents. 3.  Re-spec’tive, particular, own. 4.  Ab-solve’, set free, release from.  Fi’at, a decree. 5.  Con’-dor, a large bird of the vulture family.  Em-pyr’e-al, relating to the highest and purest region of the heavens. 6.  Ca-reer’ing, moving rapidly.  Prow’ess (pro. prou’es), bravery, boldness.

Notes.—­5.  Chimborazo (pro. chim-bo-ra’zo), is an extinct volcano in Ecuador, whose height is 20,517 feet above the sea.