s have said or would
say,--at least so far as I have come in contact with their opinions in
regard to it.

So, unless you are large enough to forget self for the good, for the
service of mankind, thus putting yourself on the side of the universal
and making it possible for you to give something that will in turn of
itself bring fame, you had better be wise, and not lift the pen at all;
for what you write will not be taken up, or, if it is, will soon be let
fall again.

One of our most charming and most noted American authors says in regard
to her writing, "I press my soul upon the white paper"; and let me tell
you the reason it in turn makes its impression upon so many thousands of
other souls is because hers is so large, so tender, so sympathetic, so
loving, that others cannot resist the impression, living as she does not
for self, but for the service of others, her own life thus having a part
in countless numbers of other lives.

It is only that that comes from the heart that can reach the heart.
Take from their shelves the most noted, the greatest works in any
library, and you will find that their authors have made them what they
are not by a study of the rules and principles of rhetoric, for this of
itself never has made and never can make a great writer. They are what
they are because the author's very soul has been fired by some great
truth or fact that the world has needed, that has been a help to
mankind. Large souls they have been, souls in love with all the human
kind.

* * * * *

Is it your ambition to become a great _actor?_ Then remember that if you
make it the object of your life to play to influence the hearts, the
lives, and so the destinies of men, this same great law of nature that
operates in the case of the orator will come to your assistance, will
aid you in your growth and development, and will enable you to attain to
heights you could never attain to or even dream of, in case you play for
the little _ego_ you otherwise would stand for. In the latter case you
may succeed in making a third or a fourth rate actor, possibly a second
rate; but you can never become one of the world's greatest, and the
chances are you may succeed in making not even a livelihood, and thus
have your wonderment satisfied why so many who try fail.

In the other case, other things being equal, the height you may attain
to is unbounded, depending upon the degree you are able to forget
you