Jiesorrc Potccr.
testa of lifo, we see men, alas! how often,
who fail for laok of reserve power, who
fall short of success from early exhaus
tion, from the lack of thai accumulated
power which alone can tit them to meet
any unexpected draft upon their abilities.
In the composition of an army, one of the
first essentials to effective action is a well
constituted reserve force. It must In com
posed of picked men, well trained vet
erans, with a cool, sagacious leader
who can at any moment be throw" into
the thick of the tight to sustain a faltering
legion or to overpower a momentarily
victorious enemy.
Such a force, its numbers, and the per
fection of its discipline often determines
whether a battle shall bo pained or lost
shall end in victory or in defeat. Who,
acquainted with the campaigns ot Napol
eon docs not know how often conquering
legions were turned back and faltering
battalions cheered and strengthened by
the timely assistance of the resistless I in
perial Guard and that his defeat at the
battle of Waterloo was owing to a groat
extent to the diminished and enfeebled
condition of thai brave band. Life is a
warfare, and in this warfare are many de
cisive moments, when success or failure,
victory or defeat must hinge upon our re
serve power. In the senate, in the pulpit,
at the bar, in cverv sphere of activity, he
only can be successful behind whose van
and corps of of battle is heard the steady
tramp of the army of the reserve. )o
we realize this tiuth? Is it one which
young America emphasizes and ac's
upon?
Do we, in laying our plans for the
campaign of life, stationing our pickets
and our guards, make provision for the
reserve corps, or do we, marking out one
line of procedure, throw all our powers
into the fighting line of battle, with the
vain hbpc that nothing will interfere to
thwart our plan, and that therefore we
shall succeed in life? Do we lay in
abundant stores of knowledge, with which
to begin professional life and by constant
effort add daily to the sum, or do we intel
lectually speaking, live from hand to
mouth? Do not many of us, even in our
school life, cram for each special occasion
like a fat turkey slutled for Thanksgiving
and starved for the remainder of the year?
Do we not invest our physical mental and
moral capital in our business, rather than
reserve a part in the hank to fall back
upon in case of an emergency? I fear we
do. Hut when I assert that the reserve
power is the great essential to make life
successful, I am prepared to give good
reasons for so concluding.
For instance: it is the easiest and most
economical way of carrying on life's cam
paign. To serve a long and weary ap.
prenticcship to any calling, to spend years
in training one's self for duty, we know
costs effort and self-denial. But is it not
the cheapest in the end? Is it not easier
in the long run, to be. than to scorn? Does
not every lazy schoolboy and every shift
less student spend more time and energy
in trying to avoid showing his ignorance,
than would be nucessaiy to master his les
sons. Does not a int":hanic, who slights
his work, really Udco more pains to con
ceal this slight than he would need to
take to do his work well? Is it not. (he
case in all pursuits of life that the half
informed man, the man who has no
reserve ptver, must do infinitely more la
bor to conceal his ignorance than he
would do to acquire the general knowl
edge, whiuh he lacks? Add to this the
constant fear of having one's ignorance
detected and is it not far easier to prepare
the reserve power with which to with
stand dangers? Conscious of its posses
sion, we can brave them without fear We
need not run from them.
But in the age of "fast men" is this the
popular doctrine? Is it the belie! of
American youths, generally, that it is bet
Ur to toil painfull' and slowly up the
hill of science, gleaning a fact here and a
fact there, and accumulating besides the
little stream of ideas in our line of busi
ness, a vast reservoir of knowledge upou
if-
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