s a fatal complacency. "Well enough" has cursed souls. "Well
enough" has wrecked enterprises. "Well enough" has destroyed nations. If
perfection in a task can possibly be reached, nothing short of
perfection is "well enough." Governor Talbot of Massachusetts got his
high office because General Swift made a happy application of the truth
in saying to the convention, "I nominate for Governor of this state a
man who, when he was a farmer's boy, hoed to the end of the row." That
saying became a campaign slogan all up and down the state. "He hoed to
the end of the row! He hoed to the end of the row!" When the people
discovered that this was one of the characteristics of the man, they
elected him by one of the greatest majorities ever given a Governor in
Massachusetts.

Yet we must bear in mind that there is such a thing as overdoing
anything. Young people should draw a line between study that secures
wisdom and study that breaks down the mind; between exercise that is
healthful and exercise that is injurious; between a conscientiousness
that is pure and divine and a conscientiousness that is over-morbid and
insane; between economy that is careful and economy that is stingy;
between industry that is a reasonable use of their powers and industry
that is an over-use of their powers, leading only to destruction.

The best ordered mind is one that can grasp the problems that gather
around a man constantly and work them out to a logical conclusion; that
sees quickly what anything means, whether it be an exhibition of goods,
a juxtaposition of events, or the suggestions of literature.

A man is made up largely of his daily observations. School training
serves to fit and discipline him so that he may read rightly the lesson
of the things he sees around him. Men have made mighty fortunes by just
using their eyes.

Several years ago I took dinner in New York with one of the great
millionaires of that city. In the course of our talk he told me
something about his boyhood days--how, with hardly a penny in his
pocket, he slung a pack on his back and set out along the Erie Canal,
looking for a job. At last he got one. He was paid three dollars a week
to make soft soap for the laborers to use at the locks in washing their
hands. One can hardly imagine a more humble occupation; but this boy
kept his eyes open. He saw the disadvantages of soft soap, and set to
work to make a hard substitute for it. Finally he succeeded, and his
success b