THE ROCK OF CAPRI,

a joining of the characters of such men as Socrates and Washington.  We see Disraeli, a poor boy and we see Disraeli more powerful than any other man on earth.  We look at Gladstone as a boy starting in life, determined to be a scholar.  We hear his glorious voice, we read his books, we study the laws he has framed, we watch the empire he governs, and we feel he succeeded in his boyish ambition.  Everywhere—­in the lives of Agassiz, Humboldt, Proctor, Seward, Farragut, Nelson, Abercrombie, Joseph E. Johnston, Longstreet, Stanton, Aspinwall, Lorillard, Ayer, Helmbold, Scott, Garrett, Ralston, Garner, Watson, Howe, Singer, Steinway, McCormick, Morse, Edison, Bell, Gray, Applegarth, Hoe, Thomas, Wagner, Verdi, Jurgensen, Picard, Stephenson, Fulton, Rumsey, Fitch, Lamb, Fairbanks, Corliss, Dahlgren, Parrot, Armstrong, Gatling, Pullman, Alden, Crompton, Faber, Remington, Sharp, Colt, Daguerre, Bessemer, Goodyear, Yale, Keene, Gould, Villard,—­and

IN THE LIVES OF THE THOUSANDS

which my limits exclude me from mentioning, there is the example of the hard worker, the promise of results that will follow a well-directed effort.  “In order to do great things, it is necessary to live as if one was never to die”—­that is, pay attention only to the object aimed at.  I remember a man of success who meant to break up housekeeping and go to Europe on a matter of business.  This was the first of January.  The fact that the weather suddenly turned cold to the extent of thirty degrees below zero did not seem to attract his attention.  He was absent-minded on that question!  When it came to going out to hire an expressman to haul his effects to a storehouse he found no one would venture out with his horse until the thermometer should rise, and his astonishment knew no bounds!  He had been

SO IN THE HABIT OF RIDING OVER OBSTACLES

that his distress was very noticeable when he was compelled to wait in idleness for three days.  Never allow obstacles to stop you.  When the waters meet an obstacle they run around it.  So do the ants.  Read the lives of successful men.  Watch successful men.  “We are less convinced by what we hear than what we see,” said Herodotus thousands of years ago.  Said Seneca, nineteen hundred years ago:  “Men trust rather to their eyes than to their ears; the effect of precepts, is, therefore, slow and tedious, while that of example is summary and effectual.”  Says Franklin:  “None teaches better than the ant, and she says nothing.”  “Not the cry” say the Chinese, “but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.”

“CHRIST NEVER WROTE A TRACT,”

says Horace Mann.  “The people look at their pastor six days in the week,” says Cecil, “to see what he means on the seventh.”  Says Dr. Johnson:  “Those who attain any excellence commonly spend life in one common pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier grounds,” and the examples of a majority of the successful men will show this to be true.  It seems to me, in conclusion, that