German unity was the idea engraven upon Bismarck's heart. What cared this Herculean despot for the Diet chosen year after year simply to vote down every measure he proposed? He was indifferent to all opposition. He simply defied and sent home every Diet which opposed him. He could play the game alone. To make Germany the greatest power in Europe, to make Wil liam of Prussia a greater potentate than Napoleon or Alexander, was his all-absorbing purpose. It mattered not what stood in his way, whether people, Diet, or nation; all must bend to his mighty will. Germany must hold the deciding voice in the Areopagus of the world. He bluntly rode roughshod over everybody and everything that stood in his way, defiant of opposition, imperious, irrepressible !

See the great Dante in exile, condemned to be burnt alive on false charges of embezzlement. Look at his starved features, gaunt form, melancholy, a poor wanderer; but he never gave up his idea; he poured out his very soul into his immortal poem, ever believing that right would at last triumph.

Columbus was exposed to continual scoffs and indignities, being ridiculed as a mere dreamer and stigmatized as an adventurer. The very children, it is said, pointed to their foreheads as he passed, being taught to regard him as a kind of madman.

Think of an old man and a boy starting out to redeem a world! Sublime pluck and determination, that of Mohammed, working three long years to gain thirteen converts, and then calling a meeting of forty of his kindred and telling them he was going to redeem mankind from the worship of wooden idols. Only one lad of sixteen could be induced to join him, Ali, and the meeting broke up with laughter and ridicule. But Mohammed went right on, publishing his doctrine to the pilgrims who came to Mecca, or whoever would listen to him. He was threatened with death, but nothing could stay

his determination. He had to hide in caves, and was continually fleeing for his life, which was in constant danger. After thirteen years of great hardship, he found forty men, one for each of the great tribes, bound together by an oath to kill him. Over rocks and deserts for two hundred miles he fled from his enemies. The history of the East dates from this flight, the Hegira. All are familiar with his next ten years, forcing his doctrine by the sword. Men no longer laughed at the man and boy reforming a world. Think of the power of an idea or sentiment in the mind of this persistent man, to establish an empire larger than that of Rome!

Every man with an idea, with an overmastering purpose, always has a minority of one, one man who believes it. But Nature herself is the great umpire in these games where only the fittest can survive. Mohammed had an idea which neither ridicule, hardships, poverty, nor humiliating defeat could conquer. Borne up by this purpose, he pressed steadily on towards his goal. What a rebuke to the young man in this land of opportunities, this land of culture and freedom, that such an uncultured, semi-barbarous son of Nature should, single-handed, force a new faith upon a ridiculing and opposing world!

An American was once invited to dine with Oken, the famous German naturalist. To his surprise, they had neither meats nor dessert, but only baked potatoes. Oken was too great a man to apologize for their simple fare. His wife explained, however, that her husband's income was very small, and that they preferred to live simply in order that he might obtain books and instruments for his scientific researches.

Before the discovery of ether it often took a week, in some cases a month, to recover from the enormous dose, sometimes five hundred drops or more, of laudanum, given to a patient to deaden the pain during a surgical operation. Young Dr. Morton believed that there must

be some means provided by Nature to relieve human suffering during these terrible operations; but what could he do? He was not a chemist; he did not know the properties of chemical substances; he was not liberally educated. He did not resort to books, however, nor did he go to scientific men for advice, but immediately began to experiment with well-known substances. He tried intoxicants even to the point of intoxication, but as soon as the instruments were applied the patient would revive. He kept on experimenting with narcotics in this manner until at last he found what he sought in ether.

With neither capital nor influence, it is not an easy task to achieve great success in an undertaking which everybody around you considers foolish and visionary. But, fortunately for the cause of human progress, there are always brave spirits with determination and mettle enough to stand their ground and push hard, even when the world opposes. There is no predestination about

success.

Here is Frances Willard, dominated by an idea, who has created a Woman's International Temperance Union. To hundreds of thousands of women, and their husbands and mothers, the white ribbon is a symbol of a clean, liquorless, thrifty home. That in itself is a tremendous idea, and one which is bound by its very common sense to dominate civilization. What a grand idea Bishop Vincent is working out for the young world in the gigantic Chautauqua Circle, Dr. Clark in his world-wide. Christian Endeavor Movement! What a grand idea the Methodist Church is working out in the Epworth League, Edward Everett Hale in his little bands of King's Daughters and Ten Times One is Ten! Here is Clara Barton who has created the Red Cross Society, which is loved by all nations. She noticed in our Civil War that the Confederates were shelling the hospitals. She thought it the last touch of cruelty to fight what could n't fight