An Iron Will

iron will by orison chapter 1 training the

will the education of the will is the object of our existence says Emerson

Norris is putting it too strongly if we take into account the human will and its relations to the divine this accords at

the saying of J Stuart Mill that quote a character as a completely fashioned will unquote in respect to mere mundane

relations the development and discipline of one's willpower is of supreme moment in relation to success in life no man

can ever estimate the power of will is a part of the divine nature all of a piece with the power of creation we speak of

God's Fiat Fiat Lux let light be man has

his Fiat the achievements of history have been the choices the determinations the creations of the human will it was

the will quieter pugnacious gentle or grim of men like Wilberforce and

Garrison good year in Cyrus field Bismarck and grant that made them

indomitable they simply would do what they planned such men can no more be

stopped than the son can be or the tide most men fail not through lack of

education nor agreeable personal qualities but from lack of dogged determination from lack of dauntless

will it is impossible says Sharman to look into the conditions under which the

Battle of life is being fought without perceiving how much really depends upon the extent to which the willpower is

cultivated strengthened and made operative in right directions young people need to go into training for it

we live in an age of athletic meets those who are determined to have athletic willpower must take for it the

kind of exercise they need this is well illustrated by a report I have seen of the long race from marathon in the

recent Olympian games which was won by a young Greek peasant sotirios Louise a

struggle in the race of life there has been no great parade about the training

of this champion runner from his work at the plough he quietly but took himself too the task of making Greece victorious

before the assembled strangers from every land he was known to be a good runner and without fuss or bustle he

entered himself as a competitor but it was not his speed alone outdistancing every rival that made the young greeks

stand out from among his fellows that day when he left his cottage home at a marui zee his father said to him Satori

you must only return a victor the light of a firm resolve Shawn in the young man's face the old father was sure that

his boy would win so he made his way to the station they are to wait till Satori should come in ahead of all the rest no

one knew the old man and his three daughters as they elbowed their way through the crowd when at last the excitement of the assembled multitude

told that the critical moment had arrived that the racers were nearing the goal the old father looked up through

eyes that were a little dim as he realized that truly Satori was leading the way he was returning a victor how

the crowd surged about that young peasant when the race was fairly won they knew not how to shower upon him

sufficient praise ladies overwhelmed him with flowers and rings some even gave him their watches and one American lady

bestowed upon him her jeweled smelling-bottle the princes embraced him and the king himself saluted him in

military fashion but the young Sartorius was seeking for other praise than theirs past the ranks of royalty in fair maiden

hood past the outstretched hands of his own countrymen past the applauding crowd

of foreigners his gaze wandered till it fell upon an old man trembling with eagerness who resolutely pushed his way

through the excited satisfied throng then the young face lighted and as Louise advanced to the innermost circle

with arms outstretched to embrace his boy the young Victor said simply you see father I have obeyed mental discipline

the athlete trains for his race and the mind must be put into training if one

will win life's race it is says professor Matthews only by continued

strenuous efforts repeated again and again day after day week after week and

month after month that the ability can be acquired to fasten the mind to one subject however abstract or knotty to

the exclusion of everything else the process of obtaining this self man stry this complete command ones mental

powers is a gradual one its length varying with the mental constitution of each person but its acquisition is worth

infinitely more than the utmost labor it ever costs perhaps the most valuable

result of all education it is said by professor Huxley is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do

when it ought to be done whether you like it or not it is the first lesson which ought to be learned and however

early a man's training begins it is probably the last lesson which he learns thoroughly doing things once when Henry

Ward Beecher was asked how it was he could accomplish so much more than other men he replied I don't do more but less

than other people they do all their work three times over once an anticipation once in actuality and once in rumination

I do mine in actuality alone doing at once instead of three times this was by

the intelligent exercise of mr. Beecher's willpower and concentrating his modes who avoided four chances would

have taken them in turning to something else anyone who has observed businessmen closely has noticed this characteristic

one of the secrets of a successful life is to be able to hold all of our energies upon one point to focus all of

the scattered rays of the mind upon one place or thing centralizing force the

mental reservoir of most people is like a leaky dam which we sometimes see in the country where the greater part of

the water flows out without going over the wheel and doing the work of the mill the habit of mind wandering of worrying

about this and that genius that power which dazzles mortal eyes is oft but perseverance in disguise many a man

would have been a success had he connected his fragmentary efforts spasmodic disconnected attempts without

concentration uncontrolled by any fixed idea will never bring success it is

continuity of purpose alone that achieves results learning to swim the

way to learn to run is to run the way to learn to swim is to swim the way to

learn to develop willpower is by actual exercise of willpower in the business of life

the man that exercises his will says an English essayist makes it a stronger and more effective force in proportion to

the extent to which such exercise is intelligently and perseveringly maintained the fourth pudding of

willpower is a means of strengthening willpower the will becomes strong by exercise to stick to a thing until you

are master is a test of intellectual discipline and power

dr. cooler it is astonishing says dr.

Theodore cooler how many men lack this power of holding on until they reach the goal they can make a sudden - but they

lack grit they are easily discouraged they get on as long as everything goes smoothly but when there is friction they

lose heart they depend on stronger personalities for their spirit and strength they lack

independence or originality they only dare to do what others do they

do not boldly step from the crowd and act fearlessly the big trees what is

needed by him who would succeed in the highest degree possible is careful planning he is to accumulate preserved

power that he may be equal to all emergencies Thomas Starr King said the

great trees of California gave him his first impression of the power of reserve it was the thought of the reserve

energies that had been compacted into them he said that stirred me the mountains had given them their iron and

rich stimulants the hills had given them their soil the clouds had given their rain in snow and a thousand summers and

winters had poured forth their treasures about their vast roots no young man can

hope to do anything above the commonplace who has not made his life a reservoir of power on which he can

constantly draw which will never fail him in any emergency be sure that you have stored away in your powerhouse the

energy the knowledge that will be equal to the great occasion when it comes if I were 20 and about ten years to live said

a great scholar and writer I would spend the first nine years accumulating knowledge and getting ready for the tenth

I will there are no two words in the

English language which stand out in Boulder relief like Kings upon a carboard to so great an extent as the

words i will there is strength depth and solidity decision confidence and power

determination vigor and individuality in the round ringing tone which characterizes its delivery it talks to

you of triumph over difficulties a victory in the face of discouragement a will to promise and strength to perform

of lofty and daring enterprise of unfettered aspirations and of the

thousand and one solid impulses by which man masters and pediments in the way of progression as one has well said he who

is silent has forgotten he who does not advance falls back he who stops his

overwhelmed distanced crushed he who ceases to become greater becomes smaller he who leaves off gives up the

stationary is the beginning of the end it precedes death to live is to achieve

to will without ceasing be thou a hero

let thy might on eternal snows its way and through the ebon walls of night

queue down a passage on today Park Benjamin the rulers of destiny there is

no chance no destiny no fate can circumvent or hinder or control the firm

resolve of a determined soul gifts count for nothing will alone is great all

things give way before it soon or late what obstacles can stay the mighty force

of the Seas seeking river in its course or cause the ascending orb of day to

wait each Wellborn soul must win what it deserves let the fool prate of luck the

fortunate is he whose earnest purpose never swerves whose slightest action or inaction serves the one great aim Ella

wheeler Wilcox there is always room for a man of force Emerson the king is the

man who can Carlisle a strong defiant

purpose as many handed it lays hold of whatever is new that conserve it it has a magnetic power

that draws to itself whatever is kindred TT monger what is will power looked at

it in a large way but energy of character energy of will self originating force is the soul of every

great character where it is there is life where it is not there is faintness

helplessness and despondency let it be your first study to teach the world that

you are not wood and straw that there is some iron in you men who have left their

mark upon the world have been men of great and prompt decision the achievements of willpower are almost

beyond computation scarcely anything seems impossible to the man who can will strongly enough and long enough one

talent with a will behind it will accomplish more than ten without it as a thimble full of powder in a rifle the

bore of whose rifle will give a direction will do greater execution than a carload burned in the open air the

Wills the wonts and the cants there are

three kinds of people in the world says a recent writer the Wills the wonts and the cants the first accomplishes

everything the second opposes everything and the third fails and everything the shores of

fortune as foster says are covered with the stranded wrecks of men of brilliant ability but who have wanted courage

faith and decision and have therefore perished in sight of more resolute but less capable adventurers who succeeded

in making port where I called upon to express in a word the secret of so many failures among those who started out

with high hopes I would say they lacked willpower they could not have will and what is a man without a will he is like

an engine without steam genius on executed is no more genius than a bushel of acorns as a forest of Oaks will has

been called the spinal column of personality the will and its relation to life says an English writer may be

compared at once to the rudder and to the steam engine of a vessel on the confined and related action of which

depends entirely for the direction of its course and the vigor of its movement strength of will as a test of a young

man's possibilities he will strong enough and hold whatever he undertakes with an iron grip it is

the iron grip that takes and holds what chance is there in this crowding pushing selfish greedy world where everything is

pusher or pushed for a young man with no will no grip on life a man who would

Forge to the front in this competitive age must be a man of prompt and determined decision a tailor's needle it

is in one of Ben Johnson's old plays quote when I once take the humor of a thing I am like your tailors needle I go

through with it this is not different from Risha loo who said when I have once

taken a resolution I go straight to my aim I overthrow all I cut down all and

in business affairs the Council of Rothschild is to the same effect do

without fail that which you determined to do Gladstone's children were taught to accomplish to the end whatever they

might begin no matter how insignificant the undertaking might be what is worse

than rashness it is a resolution that has worse than rashness he that shoots

says fault them may sometimes hit the mark but he that shoots not at all can

never hit it your resolution is like an argue it shakes not this nor that limb but all the body is at once and a fit

the man who is for ever twisting and turning backing and filing hesitating

and dawdling shuffling and parlaying weighing and balancing splitting hairs over non-essentials listening to every

new motive which presents itself will never accomplish anything but the positive man the decided man is a power

in the world and stands for something you can measure him and has to make the work that his energy will accomplish

opportunity is coy his Swift is gone before the slow the unobservant the

indolent or the careless man can Caesar vigilance and watching opportunity says

Phelps tact and daring and seizing upon opportunity force and persistence and crowding opportunity to its utmost of

possible achievement these are the martial virtues which ma command success the best men remarked

Chapin are not those who have waited for chances but have taken them besieged the

chance conquered the chance and made chance the servitor is it not possible

to classify successes and failures by their various degrees of willpower a man

who can resolve vigorously upon a course of action and turns neither to the right nor to the left no a paradise tempt him

who keeps his eyes upon the goal whatever distracts him is sure of success not every vessel that sales from

Tarshish will bring back the gold of Ophir but shall it therefore rot in the harbor no give it sails to the wind

conscious power conscious power says Maui's exists within the mind of

everyone sometimes its existence is unreal eyes but it is there it is there to be developed and brought forth like

the culture of the obstinate but beautiful flower the orchid to allow it to remain dormant is to place oneself in

obscurity to trample on ones ambition to smother one's faculties to develop it is

to individualize all that is best within you and to give it to the world it is by an absolute knowledge of yourself the

proper estimate of your own value there is hardly a reader says an experienced

educator who will not be able to recall the early life of at least one young man whose childhood was spent in poverty and

who in boyhood expressed a firm desire to secure a higher education if a little

later that desire became a declared resolve soon the avenues open to that and that desire and resolve created an

atmosphere which attracted the forces necessary to the attainment of the purpose many of these young men will

tell us that as long as they were hoping and striving and longing mountains of difficulty rose before them but that

when they fashioned their hopes in to fix purposes aid came unsought to help them on their way do you believe in

yourself the man without self-reliance and an iron will is the plaything of

chance the puppet of his environment a slave of circumstances are not doubts

the greatest of enemies few would succeed up to the limit of your possibilities must you're not

constantly hold to the belief that you are success organized that you will be successful no matter what opposes you

are never to allow a shadow of doubt to enter your mind that the Creator intended you to win in life's battle

regard every suggestion that your life may be a failure that you are not made like those who succeed and that success

is not for you as a traitor and expel it from your mind as you would a thief from

your house there is something sublime in the youth who possesses the spirit of boldness and fearlessness who has proper

confidence in his ability to do and to dare the world takes us at our own valuation it believes in the man who

believes in himself but it has little use for the timid man the one who was never certain of himself who cannot rely

on his own judgment who craves advice from others and is afraid to go ahead on his own account it is the man with a

positive nature the man who believes that he is equal to the emergency who believes that he can do the things he

attempts who wins the confidence of his fellow man he is beloved because he is

brave and self-sufficient those who have accomplished great things in the world have been as a rule bold aggressive and

self-confident they dared to step up from the crowd and act in an original way they were not afraid to be generals

there is little room in this crowding competing age for the timid vacillating youth he who would succeed today must

not only be brave but must also dare to take chances he who waits for certainty never wins the law the soul is eternal

endeavor that bears the man onward and upward forever a man can be too confiding in others but

never too confident in himself never admit defeat or poverty stoutly assert

your divine right to hold your head up and look the world in the face step bravely to the front whatever opposes

and the world will make way for you no one will insist upon your rights while you yourself doubt that you have any

believe you were made for the place you fill put forth your whole energies be

awake Electrify yourself go forth to the task a young man once said to his employer

don't give me an easy job I want to handle heavy boxes shoulder great loads

I would like to lift a big mountain and throw it into the sea and he stretched out two brawny arms while his honest

eyes danced his whole being glowed with conscious strength the world in its heart admires the stern determined doer

the world turns aside to let any man pass who knows whither he is going it is

wonderful how even the apparent causalities of life seemed to bow to a spirit who will not bow to them and

yield to assist a design after having in vain attempted to frustrate it the man who succeeds says Prentiss

Mulford must always in mind or imagination live move think and act as

if he gained that success or he never will gain it we go forth said Emerson

austere dedicated believing in the iron links of Destiny and will not turn on

our heels to save our lives a book a bust or only the sound of an aim shoots

a spark through the nerves and we suddenly believe in will we cannot hear a personal vigor of any kind great power

of performance without fresh resolution

chapter 3 force of will in camp and field know what miracles have been

wrought by the self-confidence the self-determination of an iron will what impossible deeds had been performed by

it it was this that took Napoleon over the Alps in midwinter it took Farragut and Dewey past the

cannons torpedoes and mines of the enemy had led Nelson and grant to victory it

has been the great tonic in the world of discovery invention and art it has helped us to win the thousand triumphs

in war and Sciences which were deemed impossible the secret of Joan of Arc success was

not alone in rare decision of character but in the seeing of visions which inspired her to self-confidence

confidence in her divine mission and was an iron will that gave Napoleon command

of the British fleet a title and a statue at to fall your square it was the

keynote of his character when he said when I don't know whether to fight or not I always fight it was an iron will

that was brought into play when Horatius with two companions held 90,000 Tuscans at bay until the bridge across the Tiber

had been destroyed when Leonidas at Thermopylae checked the mighty March of Xerxes when thematically

is off the coast of Greece shattered the Persians Armada when Caesar finding his army hard-pressed seized spear and

buckler and snatched victory from defeat when Winkle read gaved to his breast a sheaf of Austrian Spears and opened a

path for his comrades when Wellington fought and many Cline's without ever being conquered when ney on a hundred

fields change apparent disaster into brilliant triumph when Sheridan arrived from Winchester as the Union retreat was

becoming a rout and turned the tide when Sherman signaled his men to hold the fort knowing that their leader was

coming history furnishes thousands of examples of men who have seized occasions to accomplish results deemed

impossible by those less resolute prompt decision and whole-souled actions sweep

the world before them who was the organizer of the modern German Empire was he not the man of iron Napoleon and

grant what would you do if you were besieged in a place entirely destitute

of provisions asked the examiner when Napoleon was a cadet if there were

anything to eat in the enemy's camp I should not be concerned when Paris was

in the hands of a mob and the authorities were panic-stricken in came a man who said I know a young officer

who can quell this mob send for him then Napoleon was sent for he came he

subjugated the mob he subjugated the authorities he ruled France then

conquered Europe May 10th 1796 Napoleon

carried the bridge at Lodi in the face of the Austrian batteries trained upon the French end of the structure behind

them were 6,000 troops Napoleon masks 4,000 grenadiers zat the head of the bridge with a battalion of 300 Cavaliers

in front at the top of the drum the foremost assailants wheeled the cover of the street wall under a terrible hail of

grape and canister and attempted to pass the Gateway to the bridge the front ranks

went down like stalks of grain before a Reaper the column staggered and reeled backward and the valiant grenadiers were

appalled by the task before them without a word or a look of reproach Napoleon placed himself at their head

and his aides and Generals rushed to his side forward again over heaps of dead

that choked the passage and a quick run counted by seconds only carried the column across 200 yards of clear space

scarcely a shot from the Austrians taking effect beyond the point where the platoons wheeled for the first leap the

guns at the enemy were not aimed at the advance the advance was too quick for the Austrian Gunners so sudden and so

miraculous was at all that the Austrian artillerists abandoned their guns instantly and their supports fled in a

panic instead of rushing to the front and meeting the French onslaught this Napoleon had counted on and making the

bold attack what was Napoleon but the Thunderbolt of war he once journeyed from Spain to Paris at

17 miles an hour in the saddle is it possible to cross the path as Napoleon

of the engineers who had been sent to explore the dreaded pass at st. Bernard perhaps was the hesitant reply it is

within the limits of possibility forward then yet ulysses s grant a young man

unknown to fame with neither money nor influence with no patrons or friends and six years fought more battles gained

more victories captured more prisoners took more spoils commanded more men than

Napoleon did in 20 years the great thing about him said Lincoln is cool

persistence don't swear fight when the

spanish fire on San Juan Hill became almost unbearable some of the Rough Riders began to swear Colonel would with

the wisdom of a good leader called out amid the whistle of the mauser bullets don't swear fight in a skirmish at

Salamanca while the enemy's guns were pouring shot into his regiment Sir William Napier as men became disobedient

he had once ordered a halt and flogged four of the ringleaders under fire the

men yielded at once and then March three miles under a heavy cannonade as coolly as if it were a review when

pellicer the crimean chief of swabiz struck an officer with a whip the man drew a pistol that missed fire the chief

replied fellow I order you a three days arrest for not having your arms in better order the man of iron will is

cool in the hour of danger I had to run like a cyclone this was what Roosevelt

said about his pushing on up San Juan Hill ahead of his regiment I had to run like a cyclone to stay in front and keep

him from being run over the personal heroism of Hobson or of Cushing who blew

up the Albemarle II was but the expression of a magnificent willpower it was this which was the basis of general

wheelers unparalleled military advancement a second lieutenant at twenty-three a colonel at 24 a brigadier

general at 25 a major-general at 26 a corps commander at 27 and a lieutenant

general at 28 general wheeler had 16 horses killed under him and a great

number wounded his saddle equipments and clothes were frequently struck by the missiles of the enemy he was three times

wounded once painfully he had 32 staff officers or acting staff officers killed

or wounded in almost every case they were immediately by his side no officer was ever more exposed to the

missiles of death than Joseph wheeler what is this Imperial characteristic of

manhood an iron will but that which underlies all magnificent achievement whether by heroes of the Light Brigade

or the heroic firefighters of our great cities chapter 4 will power in its

relation to health and disease 1 there is no doubt that as a rule great

decision of character is usually accompanied by great constitutional fitness men who have been noted for

great firmness of character have usually been strong and robust as a rule it is

the strong physical man who carries weight and conviction take for example William a Conqueror as he is pictured by

green in his history the very spirit of the Sirah from whom he sprang seemed embodied in

his gigantic form his enormous strength his savage countenance his desperate bravery no other night under heaven his

enemies confessed was Williams pure no other man could Bend Williams bow his

mace crash to the ring of English warriors to the foot of the standard he rose to his greatest heights and moments

when other men despaired no other man who ever sat upon the throne of England was this man's match or take Webster

Sydney Smith said Webster is a living lie because no man on earth can be as

great as he looks Carlisle said of him one would incline its sight to back him

against the world his very physique was eloquent men yielded their wills to his at sight the

great prizes of life ever fall to the robust the stalwart the strong not to a

huge muscle or powerful frame necessarily but to a strong vitality a great nervous energy it is the Lord

Brahms working almost continuously 144 hours it is the Napoleon's 20 hours in

the saddle it is the Franklin's camping out in the open air at 70 it is the

Gladstone's firmly grasping the helm of the ship of state at 84 tramping miles every day and chopping down huge trees

at 85 who accomplished the great things of life to prosper you must improve your

brainpower and nothing helps the brain more than a healthy body the race of today is only to be won by those who

will study to keep their bodies in such good condition that their minds are able and ready to sustain that high pressure

on memory and mind which are present fierce competition and genders his health rather than strength that is now

wanted health is essentially the requirement of our time to enable us to succeed in life in all modern

occupations from the nursery to school from school to the shop or the world beyond the brain and nerve strain go on

continuous augmenting and intensifying as a rule physical vigor is the

condition of a great career Stonewall Jackson early in life determined to conquer every weakness he had physical

mental and moral he held all of his powers with a firm hand to his great self-discipline and

self-mastery he owed his success so determined was he to harden himself to the weather that he could not be induced

to wear an overcoat in winter I will not give in to the cold he said for a year

on account of dyspepsia he lived on buttermilk and stale bread and wore a wet shirt next to his body because his

doctor advised it although everybody else ridiculed the idea this was while he was a professor at the Virginia

Military Institute his doctor advised him to retire at nine o'clock and no

matter where he was or who was present he always sought his bed on the minute he adhered rigidly through life to his

Stern system of discipline such self-training such self-conquest gives one great power over others it is

equal to genius itself I can do nothing said grant without nine hours sleep what

else is so grand as to stand on life's threshold fresh young hopeful with a consciousness of power equal to any

emergency a master of the situation the glory of a young man is his strength our

great need of the world today is for men and women who are good animals to endure the strain of our concentrated

civilization the coming man and woman must have an excess of animal spirits it

must have a robustness of health mere absence of disease is not health it is the overflowing fountain not the one

half-full that gives life and beauty to the valley below only he is healthy who

exalts a mere animal existence whose very life is a luxury who feels a

bounding pulse throughout his body who feels life in every limb as dogs do when scouring over the field or as boys do

when gliding over fields of ice too yet

in spite of all this in defiance of it we know that an iron will is often triumphant in the contest with physical

infirmity Braves spirits are a balsam to themselves there is a nobleness of mind

that heals wounds beyond solves one day said a noted rope Walker I signed an

agreement to wheel a barrow along a rope on a given day a day or two before I was seized with lembaga

I called in my medical man and told him I must be cured by a certain day not only because I should lose that I had

hoped to earn but also forfeit a large sum I got no better and the doctor forbade me from getting up I told him

what do I want with your advice if you cannot cure me of what good is your advice when I got to the place

there was the doctor protesting I was unfit for the exploit I went on though I felt like a frog with my back I got

ready my Pole and my barrel took hold of the handles and wheeled it along the Rope as well as I ever did when I got to

the end I willed it back again and when this was done I was a frog again what

made me that I could wheel the Barrow it was my reserved will what does he know

ask the sage who has not suffered did not Schiller produce his great tragedies

in the midst of physical suffering almost amounting to torture Handel was never greater than when warned by palsy

of the approach of death and struggling with the stress and suffering he sat down to compose the great works which

have made his name immortal in music Beethoven was almost totally deaf and burdened with sorrow when he produced

his greatest works milton writing who best can suffer best can do wrote at his

best when in feeble health and when poor and blind yet I argue not against

heavens hand or will nor bade a jot of heart or hope but still bear up and

steal right onward the Reverend William H Milburn who lost his sight when a

child studied for the ministry and was ordained before he attained his majority he has written half a dozen books among

them a very careful history of the Mississippi Valley he has long been chaplain of the lower house of Congress

blind Fanny Crosby of New York was a teacher of the blind for many years she

has written nearly 3,000 hymns past me not o gentle Savior rescue the perishing

Savior more than life to me and Jesus keep me near the cross the truest help

we can render one who was afflicted said Bishop Brooks is not to take his burden from him but to call out his best energy

that he may be able to bear what a mighty will Darwin had he was in

constant suffering his patience was marvelous no one but his wife knew what he endured for 40 years says his son he

never knew one day of health yet during those 40 years he unremittingly forced himself to do the work from which the

mightiest mines and the strongest constitutions would have shrunk he had a wonderful power of sticking to a subject

he used almost to apologize for his patients saying that he could not bear to be beaten as if it were a sign of

weakness bulwark advises us to refuse to be ill never to tell people we are ill never to

own to it ourselves illness is one of those things which a man should resist on principle do not dwell upon your

ailments nor study your symptoms never allow yourself to be convinced that you are not complete master of yourself

stoutly affirm your own superiority over bodily ills we should keep a high ideal

of health and harmony constantly before the mind is not the mind the natural protector of the body we cannot believe

that the Creator has left the whole human race entirely at the mercy of only about half dozen specific drugs which

always act with certainty there is a divine remedy placed within us for many of the ills we suffer if we only knew

how to use this power of will and mind to protect ourselves many of us would be able to carry youth and cheerfulness

with us into the teens of our second century the mind has undoubted power to

preserve and sustain physical youth and beauty to keep the body strong and healthy to renew life and to preserve it

from decay many years longer than it does now the longest-lived men and women

have as a rule been those who have attained great mental and moral development they have lived in the upper

region of a higher life beyond the reach of much of the jar the friction and the dis chords which weaken and shatter most

lives every physician knows that courageous people with indomitable will are not half as likely to contract

contagious diseases as the timid the vacillating the e resolute a thoughtful

position once assured a friend that if an express agent were to visit New Orleans in the yellow fever season

having $40,000 in his care he would in little danger of the fever so long as he kept possession of the money let him

once deliver that to our hands and the sooner he left the city the better Napoleon used to visit

the plague hospitals when the physicians dreaded to go and actually put his hands upon the plague stricken patients he

said the man who was not afraid could vanish the plague a willpower like this is a strong tonic to the body such a

will has taken many men from apparent death beds and enabled them to perform wonderful deeds of Valor when told by

his physicians that he must die Douglas Gerald said and leave a family of helpless children I won't die he kept

his word and lived for years chapter five the romance of achievement under

difficulties what doth the poor man's son inherit stout muscles and a scenary

heart a hard frame a hearty err spirit king of two hands he does his part in

every useful toil and art a heritage it seems to me a king might wish to hold in

fee Lowell has not God given every man a

capital to start with are we not born rich he is rich who has good health a

sound body good muscles he is rich who has a good head a good disposition a

good heart he is rich who has two good hands with five chances on each equipped

every man is equipped as only God could equip him what a fortune he possesses in

the marvelous mechanisms of his body and mind in his individual effort that has achieved everything worth achieving the

fun of the little game a big Australian six feet for James Tyson died not long

since with a property of 25 million dollars who began life as a farmhand Tyson cared little for money he used to

say of it I shall just leave it behind me when I go I shall have done with it then and it will not concern me

afterwards but he would add with a characteristic semi exultant snap of the

fingers the money is nothing it was the little game that was the fun being asked

what was the little game he replied with an energy of concentration peculiar to him fighting the desert that has been

my work I have been fighting the desert all my life and I have won I have put water where there was no water and beef

where there was no beef I have put fences where there are no fences and roads where there were no roads nothing

can undo what I have done and millions will be happier for it after I am long dead and forgotten has not self-help

accomplished about all the great things of the world how many young men falter faint and dally with their purpose

because they have no capital to start with and wait and wait for some good luck to give them a lift but success is

the child of drudgery and perseverance cannot be coaxed er bribed pay the price and it is yours a constant struggle a

ceaseless battle to bring success from a hospitable surroundings is the price of all great achievements conquerors of

fortune Benjamin Franklin had this tenacity of purpose and a wonderful

degree when he started in the printing business in Philadelphia he carried his material through the streets on a

wheelbarrow he hired one room for his office work room and sleeping room he found a formidable rival in the city and

invited him to this room pointing to a piece of bread from which he had just eaten his dinner he said unless you can

live cheaper than I can you cannot starve me out it was so that he proved

the wisdom of Edmund Burke saying that he that Russells with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill our

antagonist is our helper the poor and friendless lad George Peabody weary

footsore and hungry called at a Tavern in Concord New Hampshire and asked to be allowed to saw wood for lodging and

breakfast yet he put in work for everything he ever received and outmatched the poverty of early days yet

Ian Lee could not even get shoes to wear in winter when a boy but he went to work barefoot in the snow he made a bargain

with himself to work 16 hours a day he fulfilled it to the letter and went from interruption he lost time he robbed

himself of sleep to make it up he became a wealthy merchant of New York mayor of the city and a member of Congress

commercial courage the business affairs of a gentleman named rouse were

in a complicated condition owing to his conflicting interests in various states and he was thrown into prison while

confined he wrote on the walls of his cell I am 40 years of age this day when

I'm 50 I shall be worth half a million and by the time I'm sixty I will be worth a million dollars he lived to

accumulate more than three million dollars the ruin which overtakes so many merchants says Whipple has not do so

much to the lack of business talent as to the lack of business nerve Cyrus W

field had retired from business with a large fortune when he became possessed with the idea that by means of a cable

laid upon the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean telegraphic communication could be established between Europe and America

he plunged into the undertaking with all the force of his being it was an incredibly hard contest the forest of

new Finland the lobby and Congress the unskilled handling of brakes on his agamemnon cable a second and third

breaking of the cable at sea the cessation of the current and a well-laid cable the snapping of a superior cable

on the great a stern all these availed not to foil the iron will of field whose final was that of mental energy in

the application of science for new york journalists to horace greeley the

founder of the tribune i need not allude his story is or ought to be in every

school book James Brooks once the editor and proprietor of The Daily Express and

later an eminent congressman began life as a clerk in a store in Maine and when 21 received for his pay a hogshead of

New England rum he was so eager to go to college that he started for Waterville with his trunk on his back and when he

was graduated he was so poor and plucky that he carried his trunk on his back to the station as he went home when James

Gordon Bennett was 40 years old he collected all his property $300 and in a cellar with a board upon two barrels for

a desk himself his own typesetter office boy publisher newsboy clerk editor

proofreader and Printers devil he started the New York Herald he did this after many attempts and defeats and

trying to follow the routine instead of doing his own way never was any man's

early career a better illustration of Wendell Phillips dictum what is defeat

nothing but education nothing but the first steps to something better Thurlow weed who was a journalist for 57

years strong sensible genial tactful and a magnificent physique who did so much

to shape public policy in the Empire State tells a most romantic story of his boyhood I cannot ascertain how much

schooling I got at Catskill probably less than a year certainly not a year and a half and this

was when I was not more than five or six years old I felt a necessity at an early age of trying to do something for my own

support my first employment was in sugar making an occupation to which I became much attached I now look with great

pleasure upon the days and nights passed in the SAP bush the want of shoes which as a snow was deep was no small

privation was the only drawback upon my happiness I used however to tie pieces

of an old rag carpet around my feet and got along pretty well chopping wood and gathering up SAP but when the spring

advanced and bare ground appeared in spots I threw off the old carpet encumbrance and did my work barefoot

there was much leisure time for boys who are making maple sugar I devoted this time to reading when I could obtain

books but the farmers of the period had few or no books saved for their Bibles I borrowed books whenever and wherever I

could I heard that a neighbor three miles off had borrowed from a still more distant neighbor a great book of

interest I started off barefoot in the snow to obtain this treasure there were spots of bare ground upon which I would stop to

warm my feet and there were also along the road occasional lengths of log fence from which the snow had melted at upon

which it was a luxury to walk the book was at home and the good people consented upon my promise that it should

be neither torn nor soiled to lend it to me in returning with the prize I was too happy to think of the snow on my naked

feet candles were then among the luxuries not the necessities of life if boys instead of going to bed after dark

wanted to read they supplied themselves with pie knots but the light of which in a horizontal position they pursued their

studies in this manner with my body in the sugar house and my head out of doors where the fat pine was blazing I read

with intense interest the book I had borrowed it was a history of the French Revolution weeds next earning was in the

iron foundry at Naga he continues my business was after

a casting to temper and to prepare the molding dogs myself this was night in

day work we ate salt pork and rye and Indian bread three times a day and slept on straw and bunks I like the excitement

of a furnace life when we'd went to the Albany Argos to learn the printing business he worked from 5:00 in the

morning till 9:00 at night from humblest beginnings the more difficulties one has

to encounter within and without the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be Horus bush

no story of Weeden of Greeley is not an uncommon one in America some of the most

eminent men in the globe have struggled with poverty in early life and triumphed over it the

astronomer Kepler whose name can never die was kept in constant anxieties and he told fortunes by astrology for a

livelihood saying that astrology as the daughter of astronomy ought to keep her mother all sorts of service he added all

sorts of service he had to accept he made almanacs and worked for anyone who would pay him - was so poor when getting

his education that he had to mend his shoes with folded paper and often had to beg his meals of his friends during the

ten years in which he made his great discoveries Isaac Newton could hardly pay two shillings a week to the Royal

Society of which he was a member some of his friends wanted to get him excused from this payment but he would not allow

them to act Humphrey Davy had but a slender chance to acquire great scientific knowledge yet he had true

mettle in him and he made even old pans kettles and bottles contribute to his success as he experimented and studied

in the Attic of the apothecary store where he worked George Stevenson was one of eight

children whose parents were so poor that all lived in a single room George had to watch cows for a neighbor but he managed

to get time to make engines of clay with hemlock sticks four pipes at seventeen he had charge of an engine with his

father for fireman he could neither read nor write but the engine was his teacher and he a faithful student while other

hands were playing games or loafing in liquor shops during the holidays George was taking his machine to pieces

cleaning it studying it and making experiments and engines when he had become Fane as a great inventor of improvements in

engines those who had loafed and played called him lucky it was by steadfastly

keeping at it by indomitable willpower that these men won their positions in life we rise by the things that are

under our feet by what we have mastered of good or game talent in tatters among

the Companions of Sir Joshua Reynolds while he was studying his art at Rome with a fellow pupil of the name of

Astley they made an excursion with some others on a sultry day and all except Ashley took off their coats

after several taunts he was persuaded to do the same displayed on the back of his waistcoat of foaming waterfall

distressed had compelled him to patch his clothes with one of his own landscapes James sharpies the celebrated

blacksmith artist of England was very poor but he often rose at 3 o'clock to copy books he could not buy he would

walk 18 miles to Manchester and back after a hard day's work to buy a shillings worth of artist materials he

would ask for the heaviest work in the blacksmith shop because it took a longer time to heat at the Forge and he could

thus have many spare minutes to study the precious book which he propped up against the chimney he was a great miser

of spare moments and used every one as though he might never see another he devoted his leisure hours for five years

to that wonderful production the Forge copies of which are to be seen in many a home it was by one unwavering aim

carried out by an iron will that he wrought out his life triumph that boy

will beat me one day sent an old painter as he washed a little fellow named Michelangelo making drawings of pot

bushels easel and stool and other articles in the studio the barefoot boy

did persevere until he had overcome every difficulty and became the greatest master of art the world is known

although Michelangelo made himself immortal in three different occupations and his fame might well rest upon his

dome of st. Peter as an architect upon his Moses as a sculptor or upon his Last

Judgement as a painter yet we find by his correspondence now in the British Museum that when he was at work on a

colossal bronze statue of pope julius ii he was so poor that he could not have his younger brother come to visit him at

bologna but he had but one bed in which he and three of his assistants slept together yet the

star of an unconquered will arose in his breast serene and resolute and still and

calm and self-possessed concentrated energy the struggles and triumphs of

those who are bound to win is a never-ending tale nor will the procession of enthusiastic workers cease

so long as the globe is turning on its axle say what we will of genius specialized in a hundred callings yet

the fact remains that no amount of genius has ever availed upon the earth unless enforced by willpower to overcome

the obstacles that hedge about everyone who would rise above the circumstances in which he was born or become greater

than his calling was not Virgil the son of a porter Horace of a shopkeeper knew

most the needs of a Cutler Milton of a money shriven Shakespeare of a wool stapler and Cromwell of a brewer men

Jonson when following his trade of a Mason worked on Lincoln's Inn in London with trowel in hand and a book in his

pocket Joseph Hunter was a carpenter in youth Robert Burns of Plowman Keats a druggist

Thomas Carlyle and Hugh Miller Mason's Dante and Descartes were soldiers Cardinal Wolsey Defoe and Kirk White

were butchers sons Farraday was a son of a Hossler and his teacher Humphrey Davy

was an apprentice to an apothecary Keppler was a waiter boy in a German hotel Bunyan a tinker Copernicus the son

of a Polish baker they rose by being greater than their calling as Arkwright rose above mere barbering Bunyan above

tinkering Wilson above shoemaking Lincoln above rail-splitting and grant above caning by being

first-class barbers tinker's shoemakers railsplitters Tanner's they acquired the

power which enabled them to become great inventors authors statesmen and generals John K the inventor of the fly shuttle

James Hargreaves who introduced the spinning jenny and samuel compton who originated mule spinning were all

artisans uneducated and poor but were endowed with natural faculties which enabled them to make a more enduring

impression upon the world than anything that could have been done by the mere power of scholarship or wealth it cannot

be said of any of these great names that their individual courses in life would have been what they were had there been lacking a

superb willpower resistless as the tide to bear them upward and onward let

fortune empty her whole quiver on me I have a soul that like an ample shield can take in all and berge enough for

more fate was not mine nor am i fates souls no no conquerors Dryden never give

up there are chances and changes helping the hopeful a hundred to one and through

the chaos high wisdom arranges ever success if you'll only hold on never

give up for the wisest is boldest knowing that providence mingles the cup and of all

Maxim's the best as the oldest is the stern watchword of never give up be firm

one constant element of luck is genuine solid old Teutonic pluck homes success

and most things depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed Montesquieu the

power to hold on is a characteristic of all men who have accomplished anything great they may lack in some other

particular have many witnesses or eccentricities but the quality of persistence is never absent from a

successful man no matter what opposition he meets or what discouragement overtakes him drudgery cannot disgust

him obstacles cannot discourage him labor cannot wear him his fortune sorrow

and reverses cannot harm him it is not so much brilliancy of intellect or fertility of resource as

persistency of effort constancy of purpose that makes a great man those who

succeed in life are the men and women who keep everlastingly at it who do not believe themselves geniuses but who know

that if they ever accomplish anything they must do it by determined and persistent industry Autobahn after years

of forest life had 200 of his priceless drawings destroyed by mice a poignant

flame he relates pierced my brain like an arrow of fire and for several weeks I

was prostrated with fever at length physical and moral strength awoke within me

again I took my gun my game bag my portfolio and my pencils and plunged once more into the depths of the forest

all are familiar with the misfortune of Carlisle while writing his history of the French Revolution after the first

volume is ready for the press he loaned the manuscript to a neighbor who left it lying on the floor and the servant girl

took it to Kindle the fire it was a bitter disappointment but Carlisle was not the man to give up after many months

of poring over hundreds of volumes of authorities and scores of manuscripts he reproduced that which had been burned in

a few minutes proceed and light will dawn the slightest acquaintance with

literary history would bring to light a multitude of heroes of poverty or misfortune of men and women perplexed

and disheartened who have yet aroused themselves to new effort at every new obstacle it is related by arauco that he

found under the cover of a text book he was binding a short note from Dalembert to a student it read go on sir go on the

difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance proceed and light will dawn and shine with

increasing clearness on your path at Maxim said arago was my greatest master

in mathematics had Balzac been easily discouraged he would have hesitated at the words of warning given by his father

do you know that in literature a man must be either a king or a beggar very

well was the reply I'll be a king his parents left him to his fate in a garret

for ten years he fought terrible battles with hardship and poverty but won a great victory at last he wanted after

producing 40 novels that did not win Zola's early manhood witnessed a bitter

struggle against poverty and deprivation until 20 he was a spoiled child but on his father's death he and his mother

began the battle of life in Paris of this dark time Zola himself says often I

went angry for so long that it seemed as if I must die I scarcely tasted meat from one month's end to another and for

two days I lived on three apples fire even on the coldest nights was an undreamed of luxury and I was the

happiest man in Paris when I could get a candle by the light of which I might study at night Samuel Johnson's bare feet at Oxford

showed through the holes in his shoes yet he threw out at his window the new pair that someone left at his door he

lived for a time in London on 9 cents a day for 13 years he had to struggle with

want John Locke once lived on bread and water in a Dutch Garret and hine slept

many a night on a barn floor with only a book for a pillow it was to poverty as a thorn urging the breasts of Harriet

Martin you that we owe her writings there are no more interesting pages in biography the nose which record how

Emerson as a child was unable to read a second volume of a certain book because his widowed mother could not afford the

amount five cents necessary to obtain it from the circulating library poor fellow

said Emerson as he looked at his delicately reared little son how much he loses by not having to go through the

hard experience as I had in my youth it was through the necessity laid upon him to earn that Emerson made his first

great success in life as a teacher I know he said no such unquestionable

badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that tenacity of purpose which through all change of companions or parties or

fortunes changes never baits no jot of heart or hope but where he's out opposition and arrives at its port she

can never succeed Louisa Alcott earned 200 thousand dollars by her pen yet when she was

first dreaming of her power her father handed her a manuscript one day that had been rejected by mr. fields editor of

the Atlantic with the message tell Louisa to stick to her teaching she can never succeed as a writer she replied

tell him I will succeed as a writer and someday I shall write for the Atlantic not long after she wrote for the

Atlantic a poem that Longfellow attributed to Emerson and there came a time she wrote in her diary 20 years ago

I resolved to make the family independent if I could at 40 that is done that's all paid even the outlawed

ones and we have enough to be comfortable it has cost me my health perhaps I trample on in possibilities so

it was said by Lord Chatham it is all very well said Charles a fox to tell me that a young man has

distinguished himself by a brilliant first speech he may go on satisfied with his first triumph but show me a young

man who has not succeeded at first and then gone on and I will back that man to do better than those who succeeded at

the first trial Cobden broke down completely the first time he appeared on a platform in Manchester and the

Chairman apologised for him but he did not give up speaking until every poor man in England had a larger better and

cheaper loaf young Disraeli sprung from a hated and persecuted race pushed his

way up through the middle classes and upper classes until he stood self poised upon the topmost round of political and

social power at first he was scoffed at ridiculed rebuffed hissed from the House

of Commons he simply said the time will come when you will hear me the time did

come and he swayed the sceptre of England for a quarter of a century how massive was the incalculable reserve

power of Lincoln as a youth or a president Garfield would shop or bell ringer and sweeper General in college

persistent purpose we hear a great deal of talk about genius talent luck chance

cleverness and fine manners playing a large part in one success leaving our

luck and chance all these elements are important factors yet the possession of any or all of them unaccompanied by a

definite aim or a determined purpose will not ensure success men drift into business they drift into society they

drift into politics they drift into what they fondly and but vainly imagine is religion if winds and tides are

favourable all as well if not all is wrong stalker says most men merely drift

through life and they work and the work they do is determined by a hundred different circumstances they might as

well be doing anything else or they would prefer to be doing nothing at all yet whatever else may have been lacking

in the Giants of the race the men who will be conspicuously successful have all had one characteristic in common

doggedness and persistence of purpose it does not matter how clever a youth may

be whether he leads his class in college or outshines all the other boys in his community he will never succeed if he lacks this

essential of determined persistence many men who might have made brilliant musicians artists teachers lawyers able

physicians or surgeons in spite of predictions to the contrary have fallen short of success because deficient in

this quality persistency of purpose is a power it creates confidence and others

everybody believes in the determined man when he undertakes anything his battle is half won because not only he himself

but everyone who knows him believes that he will accomplish whatever he sets out to do people know that it is useless to

oppose a man who uses his stumbling blocks as stepping stones who is not afraid of defeat who never in spite of

calumny or criticism shrinks from his task who never shirks responsibility who

always keeps his compass pointed to the north star of his purpose no matter what storms may rage about him the persistent

man never stops to consider whether he is succeeding or not the only question with him is how to push ahead to get a

little farther along a little nearer his goal whether it lead over mountains rivers or morasses

he must reach it every other consideration is sacrificed to this one dominant purpose the success of a dull

or average youth and the failure of a brilliant one is a constant surprise in American history but if the different

cases are closely analyzed we shall find that the explanation lies in the staying power of the seemingly dull boy the

ability to stand firm as a rock under all circumstances to allow nothing to divert him from his purpose three

necessary things three things are necessary said Charles Sumner first

backbone second backbone third backbone

a good chance alone is nothing education is nothing without strong and vigorous

resolution and stamina to make one accomplish something in the world an encouraging start is nothing without

backbone a man who cannot stand erect who wobbles first one way and then another who has no opinion of his own or

courage to think his own thought is of very little use in the world it is grit it is perseverance his moral stamina and

that govern the world at the trial of the seven bishops of the Church of England for refusing to aid the King to

overthrow the Protestant faith it was necessary to watch the officers at the doors lest they send food to some

jurymen and aid him to starve the others into an agreement nothing was allowed to be sent in but

water for the jurymen to wash in and they were so thirsty they drank it up at first nine were for acquitting and tree

for convicting two of the minority soon gave way the third Arnold was obstinate

he declined to argue Austin said to him look at me I'm the largest and strongest

of the twelve and before I will find such a petition is this libel here will I stay till I am no bigger than a

tobacco pipe Arnold yielded at 6:00 in the morning

success against odds yes to this thought I hold with firm persistence the last

result of Wisdom stamps it true he only earns his freedom an existence who daily

conquers them anew Goethe it is interesting to notice how some Minds

seemed almost to create themselves says Irving springing up under every disadvantage and working there solitary

but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles opposing circumstances creates strength opposition gives us greater

power of resistance to overcome one barrier gives us greater ability to overcome the next history is full of

examples of men who have redeemed themselves from disgrace poverty and misfortune by the firm resolution of an

iron will success is not measured by what a man accomplishes but by the

opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds not

the distance we have run but the obstacles we have overcome the disadvantages under which we have made

the race will decide the prizes it is defeat says Henry Ward Beecher that

turns bone to flint and gristle to muscle and makes men invincible and formed those heroic nature's that are

now in ascendancy in the world do not then be afraid of defeat you are never so near to victory as when defeated in a

good cause governor Seymour of New York a man of forcing character said in reviewing his

life if I were to wipe out 20 acts what should they be should it be my business

mistakes my foolish acts for I suppose all do foolish acts occasionally my

grievances know over after all these are the very things by which I have profited so I finally concluded should just

expunge instead of my mistakes my triumphs I could not afford to dismiss the tonic of mortification the

refinement of sorrow I needed them every one every condition be it what it may

says Channing has hardships hazards pains we try to escape them we pine for

a sheltered lot for a smooth path for cheering friends and unbroken success but Providence ordains storms disasters

hostilities sufferings and the great question whether we shall live to any purpose or not whether we shall grow

strong in mind in heart or be weak and pitiable so much as on our own use of the adverse circumstances outward evils

are designed to school our passions and to rouse our faculties and virtues into intenser action sometimes they seem to

create new powers difficulty is the element and resistance the true work of man self culture never goes on so fast

as when embarrassed circumstances the opposition of men or the elements unexpected changes of the times or other

forms of suffering instead of disheartening throw us on our inward resources turn us for strength to God

clear up to us the great purpose of life inspire calm resolution no greatness or

goodness is worth much unless tried in these fires better to stem with heart

and hand the roaring tide of life than lie unmindful on its flowery strand of

God's occasions drifting by better with naked nerve to bear the needles of this

goading air than in the lap of sensual ease forego the godlike power to do the

godlike aim to know Whittier Chapter

seven the degree of oh oh when moody first visited Ireland he was

introduced by a friend to an Irish merchant who asked at once is he an Oh Oh out and out is what Oh Oh

stood for out and out for God that was what this merchant meant he indeed is

but a wooden man and a poor stick at that who had decided in everything else but who never knows where he is at in

all moral relations being religiously nowhere the early books of the Hebrews how much to say about the valley of

decision and the development of out-and-out moral character woefully lacking in all well-balanced will power

is the man who stands side by side with moral evil personified in hands with it to serve it willingly as a tool and

servant morally made in God's image what is more sane more wholesome more fitting for a man than his rising up

promptly decidedly to make the Divine Will his own will in all moral action to

take it as the supreme guide to go by it is the glory of the human will to coincide with the Divine Will doing this

a man's iron will instead of being a malignant selfish power will be useful in uplifting mankind God has spoken or

he has not spoken if he has spoken the wise will hear we searched the world for

truth we call the good the pure the beautiful from graven stone and written

scroll from all the flower fields of the soul and weary seekers of the best we

come back laden from our quest to find that all the sages said it is in the book our mother read would ear o earth

that blooms and birds that sing o stars that shine when all is dark in type and

symbol vowed us bring the life divine and bid his hark that we may catch the

chance sublime and rising past the bounds of time so shall we win the goal divine our

immortality