nst.

The best tools receive their temper from fire, their edge from
grinding; the noblest characters are developed in a similar way. The
harder the diamond, the more brilliant the lustre, and the greater the
friction necessary to bring it out. Only its own dust is hard enough
to make this most precious stone reveal its full beauty.

The spark in the flint would sleep forever but for friction; the fire
in man would never blaze but for antagonism. The friction which
retards a train upon the track, robbing the engine of a fourth of its
power, is the very secret of locomotion. Oil the track, remove the
friction, and the train will not move an inch. The moment man is
relieved of opposition or friction, and the track of his life is oiled
with inherited wealth or other aids, that moment he often ceases to
struggle and therefore ceases to grow.

"It is this scantiness of means, this continual deficiency, this
constant hitch, this perpetual struggle to keep the head above water
and the wolf from the door, that keeps society from falling to pieces.
Let every man have a few more dollars than he wants, and anarchy would
follow."

Suddenly, with much jarring and jolting, an electric car came to a
standstill just in front of a heavy truck that was headed in an
opposite direction. The huge truck wheels were sliding uselessly round
on the car tracks that were wet and slippery from rain. All the urging
of the teamster and the straining of the horses in vain,--until the
motorman quietly tossed a shovelful of sand on the track under the
heavy wheels, then the truck lumbered on its way. "Friction is a very
good thing," remarked a passenger.

The philosopher Kant observes that a dove, inasmuch as the only
obstacle it has to overcome is the resistance of the air, might suppose
that if only the air were out of the way it could fly with greater
rapidity and ease. Yet if the air were withdrawn, and the bird should
try to fly in a vacuum, it would fall instantly to the ground unable to
fly at all. The very element that offers the opposition to flying is
at the same time the condition of any flight whatever.

Rough seas and storms make sailors. Emergencies make giant men. But
for our Civil War the names of its grand heroes would not be written
among the greatest of our time.

The effort or struggle to climb to a higher place in life has strength
and dignity in it, and cannot fail to leave us stronger for the
struggle, even t