Part 22 (1/2)

If you have greatness in you, do not be discouraged. ”It is up to _you_.”

Do not be discouraged, either, at failure and rebuke and defeat. If you are going to attempt great things, remember you are starting on a trunk-line. Very well; all continental trunk-lines have tunnels here and there. But these tunnels are black with only temporary gloom.

It is only the short roads that do not run through the mountains.

Tunnels--flashes of darkness--are certain to those who travel far.

Think of this--you who have troubles, difficulties, discouragements.

But if on finding your limitations, as suggested in the first chapter of this book, you discover neither inclination nor talent for these great ventures in thought or action, do not, as you value happiness, and even life, attempt great things; for your failure has been written before you were born.

_Do the thing which is in proportion to yourself_; and if that thing is not great, still you have served yourself, your family, your country, and the world, just as much as he who has done a larger thing, and you deserve just as much credit for doing it.

None of us controlled the color of our eyes or the texture of our brain. If we could have done so, perhaps we should have been different from what we are. And we cannot change the nature and relations of things now; for ”which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature”?

But be your deeds little or big, one thing you _can_ do and be: _You can be a man_ and do a man's work, heart gentle, and fearless feet on the earth, but eyes on the stars. And to be a MAN, in our American meaning of that word, is glory enough for this earthly life.

_Be a man_, be you street-sweeper or the Republic's President, and know that emperor on throne of gold can be no more, and is lucky if he is as much.

IX

NEGATIVE FUNDAMENTALS

At one of the great official receptions at the White House one night some years ago, a group of two or three gentlemen were observing the swirling throng, with its ambitions, its jealousies, its brief flashes of happiness, its numberless and infinitesimal intrigues, its atmosphere of jaded, blase, and defeated expectations.

One of the group was perhaps the greatest master of that mere political craft and that management of men for the ordinary uses of politics, as we employ the word, that the country has yet produced. He was a sage of human nature. It was this quality, combined with many other qualities, and the existence of certain conditions, that made him the power that he was. From a practical point of view, what he said about men was always worth while.

”No, I don't consider him effective,” said this great politician when asked his opinion of a certain very prominent man in public life, who had just entered, and who was chatting and occasionally laughing with some boisterousness. ”Really, he talks too much. Not that he betrays his confidences; not even that he annoys, for what he says is always bright; but--he talks too much; that is all.”

”It's a pity,” said one of the group, who was a famous Was.h.i.+ngton newspaper correspondent, ”that _that_ man has never married.”

He was talking of another very strong professional and political man who had reached more than forty years of age and was still a bachelor.

”He needs the finer sense and restraining influence of woman in his life.”

The remark of the first speaker instantly recalled an observation made several years ago by another very astute--even great--politician in the minor and narrow sense of that word. He was at that time a candidate for the nomination for President, and, according to all the tricks of the game of politics, should have won it; but he failed, as, it seems, with two exceptions, all mere politicians have failed in securing that most exalted office in the world.

This political candidate actually knew the leading men in each state, and in each part of each state--so careful and thorough had been his purely personal preparation. ”How is Mr. ----, of ----, in your state?

I hope he is well. He is a keen and persistent man,” was his inquiry of and comment on a certain man. And he asked questions concerning three or four. Among them he said: ”And Mr. ----, of your state; how is his health? He is very brilliant, yes, even able, but--he drinks too much.”

Three generalizations may justly be deducted from the above discursive talk. They are practically the ones with which for many years I have been impressed--namely, that that man will be of very little present use, and of no permanent and ultimate value to the world or to himself, who drinks too much, who talks too much, or who thinks he can get along without the enn.o.bling influence of women.

Let us take them one at a time. A young man could hardly do a more fatal thing than to fall into the habit of taking stimulants. This is no temperance lecture. It is merely a summary of suggestions, by observing which the young man may avoid a few of the rocks in his necessarily rugged pathway to success. I emphasized this in two preceding chapters and shall reiterate it again and again; for I am trying to say a helpful word to _you_; and all your talents will be folly and all your toil the labor of Sisyphus if you companion with the bottle.

The belief sometimes entertained, that it is necessary to drink in order to impress your sociability upon companions who also drink, is utterly erroneous. One day a dinner was given by one of the great lawyers of this country in honor of another lawyer of distinction, and among those present was a young man of promise who at that time was considerably in the public eye.

The dinner began with a c.o.c.ktail, and the young man was the only one of the brilliant company who did not drink it. He was not ostentatious in his refusal, but merely lifted the gla.s.s to his lips and then set it down with the others. Nor did he take any wine throughout the dinner. The incident was noticed by only a few, and those few chanced to meet at a club the next day. The young man was the topic of their conversation.

”Well,” said the great lawyer, ”a young man who has enough self-restraint to deny himself as that young man did, and who at the same time is so scintillating in speech, so genuine and original in thought, and so charming in manner, has in him simply tremendous possibilities. I have not been so impressed in a long time as I was by his refraining from drinking.”

This incident is related simply to show that a young man loses nothing in the esteem of those who themselves drink by declining to join them.