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Pi'cci-:s8
steps, With whatever wo have done then
wo must rest content. There is no help,
ing the past. Tlio past is of value only as
it has heen Instrumental in forming the
present; the present is valuahlo only as it
may shape the future. The future, then,
we make what we will. To this let every
eye ho turned, ami for this let every nerve
he strung. For life ib too short to while
away. A single ellort may result in the
conversion of the woild. If this single
effort should not he put lorth, the world
ma go on in the same manner for ages.
Few men perform all of which they are
papahle. If they should, we would have a
very different kind of a world. Think of
the John 11. Goughs and the IJradlaughs
that have died without a circumstance to
call them forth. The human race is lazy.
Tt is hack ward because each man has not
made the most of himself. If we have a
faculty, so much are we intended to influ
ence our fellows. If we have a talent, let
it hear the gieatest possible rate of inter
est. God expects it. Our success do
lands it.
Oio Lewis said his book on walking
should contain only four words. An ex
huiibtivg treatise might also bu written on
that long walk of life yes, crowning sue
ccsss, in four sentences. Upon the first
page 1 would write, Have a well defined
purpose; upon the second, In selecting
that purpose follow tho strongest legili
mate impulse of your being; third, Lot
that object bo such as will be ennobling
to your nature; then, Cling to your pur
pose with all the power Hint is within you.
In defense of tho first we bring the unan
imous experience of tho world. No man
can work successfully without an aim.
"Without an object men make cabmen,
temporary clerks, cobblers, third-rate pet
tifoggers, and our shifting pedagogues.
"With an object thoso samo men, with the
same work would turn out Stephonsons,
"Walts, "Whitnoys, Choates, Websters, Em
ersons. Think of the toil and drudgery
wo go through, and die unheard of and
poor, when we have no purpose, while
if tho samo ellons were applied with ref.
oronce to an object, every ellort would toll
for perfection, for wealth, for fame! Only
a few men follow tin rules laid down.
Only a few attain to success. No man
can accomplish tho whole work of his
generation, lie would be a fool who
would undertake it. A single man can
accomplish only a small pari. Yet by
selecting this part as his life purpose, he
can make it, if he will, a step in the stair
way of the ages over which future gener
ations must climb. Such a man was
Morse. Such was he who invented mov
able type. It is plain that our work
should have a particular direction. Yet
it is no less plain that that direction
should receive Ihe approval of our inward
being. Every man, it is said, plays his
own tunc. Hut no tune should have u
discord. You ask me then, what is suc
cess? 1 answer, making the most possible
of your powers. "We see this exemplified
fu.ly in nature. The acorn makes a sue
cess of life when from a mere germ it
towers into the giant oak. The drop of
wafer, also, when it runs from the moun
tain top to the sea. Tho Phoenix made a
success of life when it wound up Us das
by building its own pyre in tho temple of
the Sun. Man is the only crea'ure, the
only object that does not always make
success in life. Success, 1 repeat, is fol
lowing the law of ur being, and making
tho most possible of ourselves. This for
inula expresses with precision the good
wo do oursolves, tho largest amount of
mental cultivation and purity, the great
est possible physical vigor for which we
are capnble, and the greatest amount of
good we can do the woild, as well as fit
ling ourselves in Ihe best possible manner
for an everlasting existence. How com
prehensive then does our term become 1
Yet how can we make it less You a.k
me then, who has made a micccss of life?
Very few. Did Napoleon? Apply the
formula. Did Huron? Do the same.
Few men have reached it. Rooratcs did.
Others partially; Newton, Liulur,
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