CHAPTER XBe Persevering

“To do so, is to succeed—our fightIs waged in Heaven’s approving sight—The smile of God is victory.”

“To do so, is to succeed—our fight

Is waged in Heaven’s approving sight—

The smile of God is victory.”

INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER X

By Marshall Field

A boy should carefully consider his natural bent or inclination, be it business or profession. In other words, take stock of himself and ascertain, if possible, for what he is adapted, and endeavor to get into that vocation with as few changes as possible. Having entered upon it, let him pursue the work in hand with diligence and determination to know it thoroughly, which can only be done by close and enthusiastic application of the powers at his command; strive to master the details and put into it an energy directed by strong common sense so as to make his services of value wherever he is. Be alert, and ready to seize opportunities when they present themselves. The trouble with most young people is, that they do not learn anything thoroughly, and are apt to do the work committed to them in a careless manner; forgetting that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well, they become mere drones, and rely upon chance to bring them success. There are others who want to do that for which they are not fitted, and thus waste their lives in what may be called misfit occupations. Far better be a good carpenter or mechanic of any kind than a poor business or professional man.

Marshall Field

CHAPTER XBe Persevering

“All things come to him who waits,” is a pretty sentiment, but practical application hews the way. No great book was ever written at one sitting. Edward Gibbon was twenty years composing “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire,” and Noah Webster was thirty-five years in producing the dictionary that bears his name. No great address was the result of a moment’s inspiration. When Dr. Lyman Beecher was asked how long he was preparing a certain speech which had electrified his audience, he answered, “Forty years.” No great invention sprang from a dream. George Stephenson was fifteen years making improvements on his locomotive before he won the victory of Rainhill, and when asked by a company of young men how they might succeed, answered, “Do as I have done; persevere.”

“Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;Nothing’s so hard but search will find it out.”

“Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;

Nothing’s so hard but search will find it out.”

One of the great manufacturing firms in Glasgow, Scotland, owes its prosperity largely to a boy whom they engaged. The story runs that thirty years ago a barefoot, ragged boy presented himself at the desk of the chief partner and asked for work as an errand boy.“There’s a deal of running to be done, and you will need a pair of shoes first,” said Mr. Blank. The boy, with a grave nod, disappeared. He lived by doing odd jobs in the market and slept under the stalls. Two months passed before he had saved money enough to buy the shoes. He then presented himself to Mr. Blank and held out a package. “I have the shoes, sir,” he quietly said. “Oh!” the proprietor remarked, “you want a place? Not in those rags, my lad. You would disgrace the house.”

The boy hesitated a moment and then went out without a word. Six months passed before he returned, decently clothed in coarse but new garments. Mr. Blank’s interest was aroused. For the first time he looked at the lad attentively. His thin, bloodless face showed that he had stinted himself of food in order to buy those clothes. On questioning him, the manufacturer found to his regret that he could not read or write. “It is necessary that you should do both before we could employ you in carrying home packages,” he said. “We have no place for you.” The lad’s face grew paler, but without a word of complaint he left. He now found employment in a stable and went to night school. At the end of a year he again presented himself before Mr. Blank. “I can read and write,” he joyfully said. “I gave him the place,” the employer remarked, years after, “with the conviction that in process of time he would take mine, if he made up his mind to do it. Men rise slowly in Scotland, but to-day he is our chief foreman.” How true as St. Paul says in Myer’s poem:

“Let no man think that sudden in a minuteAll is accomplished and the work is done;Though with thine earliest dawn thou shouldst begin itScarce were it ended in thy setting sun.”

“Let no man think that sudden in a minute

All is accomplished and the work is done;

Though with thine earliest dawn thou shouldst begin it

Scarce were it ended in thy setting sun.”

WHAT IT MEANS.

No word should be more prominent in any boy’s vocabulary than perseverance. Industry is a good word, but one may be industrious, without being persevering, but he cannot be persevering without being industrious. Perseverance means persistence in any design, steadiness in pursuit, constancy in progress. It is the bending of all energies in one direction till the thing is accomplished. Demosthenes was a stammerer. He would be an orator, and with pebbles in his mouth walked the seashore articulating, until when Philip threatened to invade Athens, he with matchless oratory so appealed to the Athenians that they cried, “Let us fight Philip.” Fight they did, and Greece was saved. James Watt was poor and unlettered. He sees the lid of the kettle rise and fall by the power of steam, and from that day bends his mind and hand until in after years he creates a steam engine. Gutenberg beholds the coarse types of Lawrence Coster and declares he can do better. After much persecution by superstitious persons, he shuts himself up in a cell of St. Arbogast monastery and works early and late till he has carved lead type, made an ink roller and built a printing press. Marcus Morton wants to be Governor of Massachusetts. Seventeen times he runs for the position and at last succeeds. Cyrus Field spends eleven years before he succeeds in designing and laying the Atlantic cable. Edison makes eighteen hundred experiments before he discovers the proper substance for the incandescent light, and six thousand before he solves the problem of preparing the products of the great iron mills for the blast furnace. The boy who expects to succeed may have to try many times and face many opposing forces, but as adverse winds aid the kite to fly, so difficulties are usually blessings in disguise. To climb Alpine peaks “will put to proof the energies of him who would reach the summit.”

PERSEVERANCE A NECESSITY.

Nothing guarantees success like persistency; it is more effective than brilliancy. The faculty of sticking and hanging on when everybody else lets go is one of the secrets of success. When Congress and the country were excited over President Johnson’s effort to drive Mr. Stanton from the Cabinet because he opposed the President’s policy in the South, Charles Sumner sent the Secretary this message, “Stanton stick.” He did so to the benefit of the nation. The boy who expects to make his mark in the world must be a “sticker.” He must “keep everlastingly at it.” With determination he must conquer opposition and annihilate obstacles. With Pitt he must trample on so-called impossibilities. “Impossible is not found in the dictionary of fools,” said Napoleon, when told that the Alps stood in the way of his conquest. “Impossible,” cried Chatham, when confined to his room with gout, “who talks to me of impossibilities?” Lord Anson had sent word that it was impossible to fit out a naval expedition within a prescribed period. “Tell him that he serves under a minister who treads on impossibilities.” When Daniel Webster was speaking at Bunker Hill, the crowd became so large and pressed so near to him that he shouted: “Keep back! Keep back!” “It is impossible,” cried some one in the crowd. The orator looked at them a moment and then said, “Nothing is impossible at Bunker Hill.” And few things are impossible to persevering lads.

Tamerlane was once forced to take shelter from his enemies in a ruined building, where he sat discouraged for hours. His attention was at last attracted by an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. Sixty-nine times did the grain fall, but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top. That sight instilled courage in the bosom of Tamerlane. Robert Bruce, of Scotland, had a similarexperience. On one occasion he was so harassed by the English that he was compelled to take shelter in a barn over night. In the morning he saw a spider climbing a beam of the roof. Twelve times in succession did it fall but the thirteenth time it succeeded in gaining the top. The object lesson impressed Bruce. Rising, he said: “This spider has taught me perseverance. I will follow its example. Twelve times I have been beaten, and the thirteenth time I may succeed.” He rallied his forces, met and defeated Edward and was crowned king.

Christopher Columbus conceived the idea that undiscovered continents existed west of the Atlantic, and he determined to test the truth of his theory. He had many difficulties to contend with, such as poverty and repeated discouragements. The Court of Portugal disappointed him, his native city of Genoa would not render him aid, and the city of Venice refused him. At last he laid his cause before Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain, and he was about to give up and repair to France, when the Queen sold her jewels to defray the expenses of the expedition. Thus assisted, he turned his ships westward and started. On board his vessel he had ignorance, superstition and mutiny to contend with, and this continued until the cry of “Land! Land!” came from the lookout at the top of the mast; then a new world and a glorious triumph crowned his efforts.

Great results are not accomplished in a moment. Sowing precedes reaping. The wheat must first be sifted and crushed in the mill before it is baked into bread. The railroad that runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast is but numerous steel rails placed one before the other. The President in the White House, thegeneral in the army, the judge on the bench, the orator on the platform reached their positions, not by a hop-skip-and-jump manner, but by perpetual pushing and concentration of their energies in one direction. There might have been times when these were side-tracked and their procedure necessarily slow, but as soon as the main track was clear, or as soon as they had cleared it, they went forth with undaunted persistence realizing as the Italian proverb reads: “Who goes slowly goes long, and goes far,” and contentment was not theirs till the goal was reached. To such of like determination, in Richelieu’s words:

“Fail! Fail!In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reservesFor a bright manhood, there is no such word as fail!”

“Fail! Fail!

In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves

For a bright manhood, there is no such word as fail!”

True, many persevering persons fail as men call failure, but it is only like the tiger’s crouch before a high leap. Discovering the bounds through a sense of such, life thenceforth turns all its capacities into right and effective uses. “To change and to change for the better, are two different things,” says an old German proverb. Pestalozzi, the great educator, made several failures in early life, which he made stepping stones to success. Washington’s military career was a series of failures. He shared in Braddock’s defeat at Fort Duquesne. He was beaten at Long Island, driven from New York and forced to retreat through New Jersey and across the Delaware, when he suddenly turned like a lion at bay, recrossed the icy stream and overwhelmed the Hessians at Trenton. This rapid movement and his attack at Germantown first led observers like Frederick the Great to recognize his military genius. Peter Cooper failed in making hats, failed as a cabinet maker, locomotive builder and grocer, but as often as he failed he tried and tried again until he could stand upon hisfeet alone, then crowned his victory by giving a million dollars to help poor boys in time to come. Horace Greeley tried three or four lines of business before he founded theTribune, and made it worth a million dollars. Patrick Henry failed as merchant and farmer, but resorting to law and politics was a brilliant success. Stephen A. Douglas made dinner tables, bedsteads and bureaus many a long year before he made himself a “giant” on the floor of Congress. Abraham Lincoln failed to make both ends meet by chopping wood, failed to earn his salt in the galley-slave life of a Mississippi flat-boatman; he had not even wit enough to run a grocery, and yet he made himself the grandest character of the nineteenth century, an emancipator of four million slaves. General Grant failed at everything. At the age of thirty-nine he was obscure, at forty-three his picture hung in the homes of the grateful millions. He first learned to tan hides, but could not sell leather enough to buy a pair of breeches, then teamed for forty dollars a month, then entered his father’s store at Galena, Illinois, as clerk, and to use his own words “nor had I any capacity to become one.” Then he enlisted as a soldier, was the hero of Appomattox, and eventually reached the highest position of honor this country can give—the Presidency. When Daniel Webster was told that his profession of law was overcrowded and that the chances were against him, he replied, “Overcrowded? There is always room at the top.” The condition of affairs is still the same. No reason can be produced why a persevering lad cannot make his way in the world to-day as in any other day, for as the philosopher Young declared, “Any man can do what any other man has done.”

“There is always a way to rise, my boy,Always a way to advance!Yet the road that leads to Mount SuccessDoes not pass by the way of Chance,But goes through stations of Work and Strive,Through the valley of Persevere,And the man that succeeds, while others fail,Must be willing to pay most dear.“For there’s always a way to fail, my boy,Always a way to slide,And the men that you find at the foot of the hillAll sought for an easy ride.So on and up, though the road be roughAnd the storms come thick and fast,There is room at the top for the man who tries,And victory comes at last.”

“There is always a way to rise, my boy,

Always a way to advance!

Yet the road that leads to Mount Success

Does not pass by the way of Chance,

But goes through stations of Work and Strive,

Through the valley of Persevere,

And the man that succeeds, while others fail,

Must be willing to pay most dear.

“For there’s always a way to fail, my boy,Always a way to slide,And the men that you find at the foot of the hillAll sought for an easy ride.So on and up, though the road be roughAnd the storms come thick and fast,There is room at the top for the man who tries,And victory comes at last.”

“For there’s always a way to fail, my boy,

Always a way to slide,

And the men that you find at the foot of the hill

All sought for an easy ride.

So on and up, though the road be rough

And the storms come thick and fast,

There is room at the top for the man who tries,

And victory comes at last.”

My boy, be persevering. Form good resolutions. They mean success, triumph, victory. “He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To determine upon attainment is often attainment itself.” Aim high and pursue the path accordingly. Let others be indolent and indifferent, but press toward the goal of your ambition. As Mr. Dickens’ friend would have us understand, “It’s dogged does it.” “Eustace,” said William Carey, the founder of modern missions, to his wife, “if they write my life, and say I am a genius, they will say falsely; but if they say I can plod, they will tell the truth. Yes, Eustace, I can plod.” “Yes, sir,” said Whitcomb Riley to one who was nearly heartbroken, because his manuscripts were constantly returned, “through years, through sleepless nights, through almost hopeless days, for twenty years I tried to get intoone magazine; back came my manuscripts eternally. I kept on. In the twentieth year that magazine accepted one of my articles. I was not a believer in the theory that one man does a thing much easier than any other man. Continuous, unflagging effort, persistence and determination will win. Let not the man be discouraged who has these.” “Peg away, keep pegging away,” was Lincoln’s reply to one who wanted to know what he intended to do concerning the cessation of the Civil War. Plan carefully and begin planning now. When Alexander was asked how he had been able to conquer the world, he said, “By not delaying.” Sir Robert Peel became a great orator and statesman by practising when a boy before his father, repeating to the best of his ability any address he heard. Kepler solved the laws of the planetary system, and exposed the absurd notions of the Ptolemic theory of axles and cranks by which the planets were strung together; but it took him seventeen years from the time he began until he met success, and then he exclaimed in his enthusiasm: “Nothing holds me! The die is cast! The book is written to be read now or by posterity, I care not which. It may well wait a century for a reader, since God has waited six thousand years for an observer.”

To be wavering and dilatory is to close opportunity’s gate and not infrequently make life unsuccessful. A young man, the son of an old friend of Mr. Vanderbilt, once solicited his influence in aiding him to secure a certain very desirable clerkship in a railroad office. Mr. Vanderbilt, who liked the young man and believed in his ability, agreed to help him. “Be here to-morrow morning at ten o’clock,” he said, “and I will go with you to see the president of the road and say a good word for you.” The next morning at twenty minutesafter tenthe young man appeared in the anteroom of Mr. Vanderbilt’s office. He was informed that Mr. Vanderbilthad left fifteen minutes before to attend a meeting. A few days later he called on Mr. Vanderbilt, and said, with a shade of annoyance in his tone: “Why, Mr. Vanderbilt, I was here just after ten.” “But the appointment was ten,” replied Mr. Vanderbilt. “It was only a matter of fifteen or twenty minutes,” said the young man. “Well,” answered Mr. Vanderbilt, “the twenty minutes in your case have lost you the position, for the appointment was made the very day on which you were to have met me. Furthermore, let me tell you, you had no right to assume that twenty minutes of my time was of so little value that I could afford to wait for you. Why, sir, I managed to keep two other appointments of importance within that time.”

Be prompt. Keep in mind the words Edmond Burke wrote on a tablet for the Marquis of Rockingham, “Remember-Resemble-Persevere.” Judson when completing the translation of the Bible into the Burmese language said, “Thanks be to God, I can now say I have attained.” Arago, the great French astronomer, tells how he became so discouraged in the study of mathematics that he almost resolved to abandon his efforts. He was just about ready to give up when he happened to notice something printed or written under the paper binding of his book. He unfolded the leaf, and found it was a letter from D’Alembert, which read, “Go on, sir; go on! The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Persevere, and the light will dawn and shine with increasing clearness upon your path.” This striking passage made an impression upon the young mathematician’s mind which he never forgot. It was a perpetual spur to his ambition, and came to him just in the nick of time. He resolved then and there that he would surmount every difficulty; that he would become a great mathematician and ere long Fame crowned him as one of the greatest astronomers of histime. Go on, my boy! There’s not a profession or business but

—“Wants a lad who has no fearOf steady, plodding work;Who does not wait for luck or fateWho scorns a task to shirk.Who slowly, surely, digs his wayThrough problems hard a score,And still has grit and courage leftTo try as many more.Who does not wait for help to comeFrom fairy, witch or elf,But laying hold on Fortune’s wheelTurns it around himself.Who knows that luck is but a mythAnd faith is but a name;That Plod and Push and PerseveranceAt last will win the game.”

—“Wants a lad who has no fearOf steady, plodding work;Who does not wait for luck or fateWho scorns a task to shirk.

—“Wants a lad who has no fear

Of steady, plodding work;

Who does not wait for luck or fate

Who scorns a task to shirk.

Who slowly, surely, digs his wayThrough problems hard a score,And still has grit and courage leftTo try as many more.

Who slowly, surely, digs his way

Through problems hard a score,

And still has grit and courage left

To try as many more.

Who does not wait for help to comeFrom fairy, witch or elf,But laying hold on Fortune’s wheelTurns it around himself.

Who does not wait for help to come

From fairy, witch or elf,

But laying hold on Fortune’s wheel

Turns it around himself.

Who knows that luck is but a mythAnd faith is but a name;That Plod and Push and PerseveranceAt last will win the game.”

Who knows that luck is but a myth

And faith is but a name;

That Plod and Push and Perseverance

At last will win the game.”

TRIPLET MAXIMS.

Three things to do—think, live, act.

Three things to govern—temper, tongue, and conduct.

Three things to cherish—virtue, goodness and honor.

Three things to hate—cruelty, arrogance and ingratitude.

Three things to like—cordiality, goodness and cheerfulness.

Three things to delight in—beauty, frankness and freedom.

Three things to avoid—idleness, loquacity and jesting.

Three things to cultivate—good looks, good friends and good humor.

Three things to shun—Satan, sin and selfishness.

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