when he conquered at Rocroi. Galileo was but eighteen when he saw the principle of the pendulum in the swinging lamp in the cathedral at Pisa. Peel was in Parliament at twenty-one. Gladstone was in Parliament before he was twenty-two, and at twenty-four he was Lord of the Treasury. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was proficient in Greek and Latin at twelve; De Quincey at eleven. Robert Browning wrote at eleven poetry of no mean order. Cowley, who sleeps in Westminster Abbey, published a volume of poems at fifteen. N. P. Willis won lasting fame as a poet before leaving college. Macaulay was a celebrated author before he was twenty-three. Luther was but twenty-nine when he nailed his famous thesis to the door of the bishop and defied the pope. Nelson was a lieutenant in the British Navy before he was twenty. He was but fortyseven when he received his death wound at Trafalgar. Charles the Twelfth was only nineteen when he gained the battle of Narva; at thirty-six, Cortez was the conqueror of Mexico; at thirty-two, Clive had established the British power in India. Hannibal, the greatest of military commanders, was only thirty when, at Cannæ, he dealt an almost annihilating blow at the republic of Rome; and Napoleon was only twenty-seven when, on the plains of Italy, he outgeneraled and defeated, one after another, the veteran marshals of Austria.

Equal courage and resolution are often shown by men who have passed the allotted limit of life. Victor Hugo and Wellington were both in their prime after they had reached the age of threescore years and ten. George Bancroft wrote some of his best historical work when he was eighty-five. Gladstone ruled England with a strong hand at eighty-four, and was a marvel of literary and scholarly ability.

"Not every vessel that sails from Tarshish will bring back the gold of Ophir. But shall it therefore rot in the harbor? No! Give its sails to the wind!"

Shakespeare says: "He is not worthy of the honeycomb that shuns the hive because the bees have stings."

"The brave man is not he who feels no fear,

For that were stupid and irrational ;

But he whose noble soul its fear subdues

And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from."

"Be

The inscription on the gates of Busy rane : bold." On the second gate: "Be bold, be bold, and "Be not too bold." ever more be bold;" the third gate: Many a bright youth has accomplished nothing of worth simply because he did not dare to commence. Begin! Begin!! Begin!!!

Whatever people may think of you, do that which you believe to be right. Be alike indifferent to censure or praise. — PYTHAGORAS.

Fear makes man a slave to others. This is the tyrant's chain. Anxiety is a form of cowardice embittering life. - CHANNING,

Courage is generosity of the highest order, for the brave are prodigal of the most precious things. Our blood is nearer and dearer to us than our Women are more taken with courmoney, and our life than our estate. age than with generosity.-COLTON.

Who chooses me must give and hazard all he hath.
Merchant of Venice, Inscription on Leaden Casket.

I dare to do all that may become a man :

Who dares do more is none.

SHAKESPEARE.

For man's great actions are performed in minor struggles. There are obstinate and unknown braves who defend themselves inch by inch in the shadows against the fatal invasion of want and turpitude. There are noble and mysterious triumphs which no eye sees, no renown rewards, and no flourish of trumpets salutes. Life, misfortune, isolation, abandonment, and poverty are battlefields which have their heroes. - VICTOR HUGO.

Who waits until the wind shall silent keep,
Who never finds the ready hour to sow,
Who watcheth clouds, will have no time to reap.
HELEN HUNT JACKSON.

Quit yourselves like men. -1 SAMUEL iv. 9.

CHAPTER III.

THE WILL AND THE WAY.

The 'way' will be found by a resolute will.”

"I will find a way or make one."

Nothing is impossible to the man who can will. — MIRABEAU.

A politician weakly and amiably in the right is no match for a politi cian tenaciously and pugnaciously in the wrong.- E. P. WHIPPLE.

The iron will of one stout heart shall make a thousand quail:
A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn the tide of battle,
And rally to a nobler strife the giants that had fled.

"Man alone can perform the impossible.

TUPPER.

They can who think they can. Character is a perfectly educated will." The education of the will is the object of our existence. For the resolute and determined there is time and opportunity. - EMERSON.

Invincible determination, and a right nature, are the levers that move the world.- PRESIDENT PORTER.

In the lexicon of youth which fate reserves for a bright manhood there is no such word as fail. — BULWER.

Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance and make a seeming difficulty give way. - JEREMY Collier.

When a firm and decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.

The star of the unconquered will,

He rises in my breast,

Serene, and resolute and still,

And calm and self-possessed.

JOHN FOSTER.

LONGFELLOW.

"As well can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky, as bring the ocean to the wall of Leyden for your relief," was the derisive shout of the Span