t the top of your condition. A
high standard is absolutely necessary.

CHAPTER XX.

"SAND."

I shall show the cinders of my spirits
Through the ashes of my chance.
--SHAKESPEARE.

Perseverance is a virtue
That wins each god-like act, and plucks success
E'en from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger.
--WILLIAM HARVARD.

Never say "Fail" again.
--RICHELIEU.

It is the one neck nearer that wins the race and shows the
blood; the one pull more of the oar that proves the "beefiness
of the fellow," as Oxford men say; it is the one march more
that wins the campaign; the five minutes' more persistent
courage that wins the fight. Though your force be less than
another's, you equal and out-master your opponent if you
continue it longer and concentrate it more.
--SMILES.

"I know no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign
mind as that tenacity of purpose which, through all changes of
companions, or parties, or fortunes, changes never, bates no
jot of heart or hope, but wearies out opposition and arrives at
its port."

"Well done, Tommy Brooks!" exclaimed his teacher in pleased surprise
when the dunce of the school spoke his piece without omitting a single
word. The other boys had laughed when he rose, for they expected a bad
failure. But when the rest of the class had tried, the teacher said
Tommy had done the best of all, and gave him the prize.

"And now tell me," said she, "how you learned the poem so well."

"Please, ma'am, it was the snail on the wall that taught me how to do
it," said Tommy. At this the other pupils laughed aloud, but the teacher
said: "You need not laugh, boys, for we may learn much from such things
as snails. How did the snail teach you, Tommy?"

"I saw it crawl up the wall little by little," replied the boy. "It did
not stop nor turn back, but went on, and on; and I thought I would do
the same with the poem. So I learned it little by little, and did not
give up. By the time the snail reached the top of the wall, I had
learned the whole poem."

"I may here impart the secret of what is called good and bad luck," said
Addison. "There are men who, supposing Providence to have an implacable
spite against them, bemoan in the poverty of old age the misfortunes of
their lives. Luck forever runs against them, and for others. One with a
good pr