me so extensive that the man who would know some things well must
have the courage to be ignorant of many others. There are many things
for which one is wholly incapacitated; for which he has no talent, and,
as a rule, time spent in this direction is time lost. Goethe justly
says: "We should guard against a talent which we can not hope to
practice in perfection. Improve it as we may, we shall always, in the
end, when the merit of the master has become apparent to us, painfully
lament the loss of time and strength devoted to such botching." Sidney
Smith condemns what he calls the "foppery of _universality_--of knowing
all sciences and excelling in all arts." "Now _my_ advice," he says,
"on the contrary, is to have the courage to be ignorant of a great
number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of
everything."

I do not mean that you should try to learn but one thing, or be a man
or woman of one idea; far from it. I simply mean that you must be
select. Select your calling, and then bend all your energies in that
direction. Let those branches of knowledge that bear most directly on
your vocation be mastered first, then widen the circle as opportunity
affords. Do not scatter your powers over so much territory that they
are felt nowhere. It is only when the sun's rays are brought to a focus
that they burn. The man who is one thing this year, another next;
studies medicine a while, then law, is next a school-teacher, and then
an insurance agent, will, in the end, be nothing. Men who are always
changing, never learn enough about anything to make it of any value.
Men who are eminent in their professions have stuck to them with a
singleness of purpose. Men talk much about genius, when, generally, the
genius of which they speak is but the result of unremitting
application. The genius that blesses this world is simply a talent for
hard work. They are men who have the resolution to try, and the courage
to persevere. Idle men of the most eminent natural ability are soon
distanced in the race by the mediocre who sticks to his purpose and
plods. Then, I repeat, if you would succeed in life, in whatever
calling you may select, divest yourself of the idea that you are a
genius and do not need the application demanded by common mortality;
rely not on the caprices of fickle fortune; but rely on God and
yourself, economize your time, apply yourself with diligence and with
singleness of purpose. With these you will b