and to everybody at a

ut no one is willing to

path which leads t

ong purpose. A purpose underlies character, culture,

not action; you have not a faculty of body, mind, or so

what we make,

nature in a

or must u

nting to a most beautiful painting. "Dream on canvas!" growled the master, "it is the te

aining excellence," said Sydney

he secrets of nature, even his genius could only do it by the homeliest toil. The works of Bacon are not midsummer-night's dreams, but, like coral islands, they have risen from the depths of truth, and formed

nners and local color. When I took up Othello, I pored over the history of the Venetian Republic and that of the Moorish invasion of Spain. I studied the passions of the Moors, their art of war, their religious beliefs, nor did I overlook the romance of Giraldi Cinthio, in order the better to master that sublime character. I

quotation-marks. He speaks of characters with which, his name is not alway

not raise him from the lowest place in the class. The boy finally procured the elementary books which the other boys had studied. He devoted the hours of play and many of the hours of sleep to mastering the elementary principl

it," replied the commodore; "all you have to do is to attend to your business and go ahead." If you would adopt Vanderb

morally, starve physically. It is an inexorable law of nature that whatever is not used, dies. "Nothing for n

favorite device was an old man in a go-cart, with an hour-glass upon it, bearing this inscription: "Ancora imparo" (still I'm learning). Even after he was blind he would ask to be wheeled into the Belvidere, to examine the statues with his hands. Cobden used to say, "I'm working like a horse without a moment to spare." It was said that Handel, the musician, did the work of a dozen men. Nothing ever daunted him. He feared neither ridicule nor defeat. Lord Palmerston worked like a slave, even in his old age. Being asked when he considered a man in his prime, he

ook and an arithmetic. His associates thought he was very foolish, and asked him what good it would do to learn to read and cipher. He told them he was determined to improv

ight told young Morse he would never make a painter, and hinted that he never would amount to much any way if he did not study more. Although under the teaching of West and Allston in London, he became a tolerable portrait painter, he did not find his sphere until returning from England on a sailing vesse

eight children ten millions each, except Cornelius and William K., who had sixty-five millions each. Commodore Vanderbilt, his father, amasse

and opened a hardware store in California. They united with Leland Stanford in the construction of a railroad, and they all got rich rapidly. Mr. Huntington is one of the greatest railroad operators of the country. He always acted upon the principle that he would co

y of him. Mr. Sage probably keeps more ready money on hand than any other millionaire. He can nearly always control ten millions or more at call.

t." His mind seemed to run to hogs, and with a financial instinct he made up his mind that there was a fortune in transporting the hogs from where they were so p

he has raised the nine millions left her by her father and nine millions left her by her aunt to thirty millions. She is a woman of great ability

e. Jay Gould did not use wine or intoxicating liquor of any kind. Mr. Huntington does not even drink coffee, while William Waldorf Astor merely takes a sip of wine for courtesy's sake. Not one of the leading millionaires uses tobacco, and not one of them is profane. Very rich men are almost always honest in their dealings, so far as their word is concerned. William Waldorf Astor, until

barely escaped from the jaws of the wild Atlantic, landed upon the bleakest sh

ous vessel that bore C?sar and his fortunes, carried but an ignoble freight compared with that of the Mayflower. Though landed by a treache

urner the secret of

cret, madam,

use they fail to learn it. Labor is the genius that changes the worl

nd hunger, but neither hunger, debt, poverty nor discouragement could induce him to

genuity," says Addison; "the gods set up their f

, Rome's great orator, said, "All artisans are engaged in a disgraceful occupation;" and Aristotle said, "The best regulated states will not permit a mechanic to be a citizen, for it is impossible for one who lives the life of a mechanic, or hired servant, to practice a life of vi

asure hunters, ye indolent and ye lazy;" but

he far-off seas. He first tried his own countrymen at Genoa, but found none ready to help him. He then went to Portugal, and submitted his project to John II., who laid it before his council. It was scouted as extravagant and ch

The prior gratefully received the stranger, entertained him, and learned from him the story of his life. He encouraged him in his hopes, and furnished him with an admission to the Court of Spain, then at Cordova. King Ferdinand received him graciously, but before coming to a decision he desired to lay the project before a council of his wisest men at Salamanca. Col

in 1492, Columbus was introduced by Louis de Saint Angel to Queen Isabella of Spain. The friends who accompa

never to relax his industry until success came to him. When he was worked down to absolute exhaustion, he had th

The farmer respects his savings bank book not unnaturally, for it declares with all the solemnity of a sealed and stamped document that for a certain length of time he rose at six o'clock each morning to oversee his labors, that he patiently w

legal knowledge, of his eloquence, or of his brave end

d and charged a thousand francs. "But it took you only five minutes," objected the

d preached it at once, and thought nothing of it." "In that," said an older mi

es a week; but then they have lasted eighteen hu

per. Tradition reports that he was in the habit of composing a few lines in the morning and spending the rest of the day in polishing them. Campbell used

rfields, until their innate energy impels them to try their own fortune in the magic metropolis. But what are you willing to pay for "success," as you call it, young man? Do you realize what that word means in a great city in the nineteenth century, where men grow gray at thirty and die of old age at forty,-where the race of life has become so intense that

they cannot reach them, they lie dishevelled in the grass, hoof-trodden, and beaten of every storm. It will be found that the first real movement upward will not take place until, in a spirit of resolute self-denial, indolence, s