y are doing.

We mention this fact hopeful that we will not fail to seize our
opportunities by setting up obstacles whereby we may become _persona non
grata_ through lack of discernment.

Opportunity is within ourselves and when we have seized our rightful
share, then we may look with pride upon our endeavor and proceed to
_laugh and live_!

CHAPTER XVII

ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITIES

Those who fear to assume responsibility necessarily _take orders from
others_. The punishment fits the crime perfectly and being
self-inflicted there is no injustice. It is true that many men possessed
of great brain power play "second fiddle" to shallow-minded men of
inferior wisdom from sheer lack of forcefulness on their own part. They
lack the full quality of leadership while possessing all save one
essential--_courage_. Fear abides in their hearts and spreads itself as
a mantle of gloom over their super-sensitive souls until finally they
struggle no more. Henceforth they are doomed and become the subject of
apology on the part of friends and relations. "He's all right," they
say, "but he suffers from over-refinement." He lacks something--we
cannot make out just what. It is altogether too bad for he is such a
superior man among _his social equals_.

We must take our hats off to those who have the goodness of heart to
make allowance for our shortcomings. A disinterested listener, however,
is seldom taken into camp by such well intended argument. He knows that
"friend husband" or "friend brother" as the case may be, needs some sort
of swift kick that will stir his combativeness into action--that will
cause him to turn upon his mental inferior and have it out with him then
and there--once and for all. As a courage builder _fighting for justice_
is not to be sneezed at.

Courage can be built up just the same as any other soul quality. It is
all a matter of early training as to which we start out with--courage or
fear. Unthinking parents have a lot to do with the propagation of fear
in the hearts of children. A _neglectful father_ plus a _fear-stricken
mother_ constitute the most logical forces which tend toward the
overdevelopment of fear in a child. Once the seed is thoroughly
implanted the growth can be depended upon. How to get rid of it later
is not so easy to figure out. Had the child been born with a "clubfoot"
these same parents would have spent their last dollar in an effort to
straighten it into natural condition. Th