had only been gained before by
great men, such as Gladstone,--the post of senior wrangler. This
achievement had had no parallel in history up to that date, and
attracted the attention of the whole civilized world. Not only had no
woman ever held this position before, but with few exceptions it had
only been held by men who in after life became highly distinguished.
Who can deny that where there is a will, as a rule, there's a way?

When Grant was a boy he could not find "can't" in the dictionary. It
is the men who have no "can't" in their dictionaries that make things
move.

"Circumstances," says Milton, "have rarely favored famous men. They
have fought their way to triumph through all sorts of opposing
obstacles."

The true way to conquer circumstances is to be a greater circumstance
yourself.

Yet, while desiring to impress in the most forcible manner possible the
fact that will-power is necessary to success, and that, other things
being equal, the greater the will-power, the grander and more complete
the success, we cannot indorse the preposterous theory that there is
nothing in circumstances or environments, or that any man, simply
because he has an indomitable will, may become a Bonaparte, a Pitt, a
Webster, a Beecher, a Lincoln. We must temper determination with
discretion, and support it with knowledge and common sense, or it will
only lead us to run our heads against posts. We must not expect to
overcome a stubborn fact by a stubborn will. We merely have the right
to assume that we can do anything within the limit of our utmost
faculty, strength, and endurance. Obstacles permanently insurmountable
bar our progress in some directions, but in any direction we may
reasonably hope and attempt to go, we shall find that the obstacles, as
a rule, are either not insurmountable or else not permanent. The
strong-willed, intelligent, persistent man will find or make a way
where, in the nature of things, a way can be found or made.

Every schoolboy knows that circumstances do give clients to lawyers and
patients to physicians; place ordinary clergymen in extraordinary
pulpits; place sons of the rich at the head of immense corporations and
large houses, when they have very ordinary ability and scarcely any
experience, while poor young men with extraordinary abilities, good
education, good character, and large experience, often have to fight
their way for years to obtain even very ordinary situations. Every on