tinent, for when
he was growing anxious, Martin Alonzo Pinzon persuaded him to follow a
flight of parrots toward the southwest; for to the Spanish seamen of
that day it was good luck to follow in the wake of a flock of birds
when on a voyage of discovery. But for his change of course Columbus
would have reached the coast of Florida. "Never," wrote Humboldt, "had
the flight of birds more important consequences."

The children of a spectacle-maker placed two or more pairs of the
spectacles before each other in play, and told their father that
distant objects looked larger. From this hint came the telescope.

"Of what use is it?" people asked with a sneer, when Franklin told of
his discovery that lightning and electricity are identical. "What is
the use of a child?" replied Franklin; "it may become a man."

"He who waits to do a great deal of good at once," said Dr. Johnson,
"will never do any." Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee
no good.

Every day is a little life; and our whole life but a day repeated.
Those that dare lose a day are dangerously prodigal, those that dare
misspend it, desperate. What is the happiness of your life made up of?
Little courtesies, little kindnesses, pleasant words, genial smiles, a
friendly letter, good wishes, and good deeds. One in a million--once
in a lifetime--may do a heroic action. The atomic theory is the true
one. Many think common fractions vulgar, but they are the components
of millions.

He is a great man who sees great things where others see little things,
who sees the extraordinary in the ordinary. Ruskin sees a poem in the
rose or the lily, while the hod-carrier would perhaps not go a rod out
of his way to see a sunset which Ruskin would feed upon for a year.

Napoleon was a master of trifles. To details which his inferior
officers thought too microscopic for their notice he gave the most
exhaustive attention. Nothing was too small for his attention. He
must know all about the provisions, the horse fodder, the biscuits, the
camp kettles, the shoes. When the bugle sounded for the march to
battle, every officer had his orders as to the exact route which he
should follow, the exact day he was to arrive at a certain station, and
the exact hour he was to leave, and they were all to reach the point of
destination at a precise moment. It is said that nothing could be more
perfectly planned than his memorable march which led to the victory of
Austerli