power, determination, vigor and individuality, in the
round, ringing tone which characterizes its delivery. It talks to you of
triumph over difficulties, of victory in the face of discouragement, of
will to promise and strength to perform, of lofty and daring enterprise,
of unfettered aspirations, and of the thousand and one solid impulses by
which man masters impediments in the way of progression."

As one has well said: "He who is silent is forgotten; he who does not
advance falls back; he who stops is overwhelmed, distanced, crushed; he
who ceases to become greater, becomes smaller; he who leaves off gives
up; the stationary is the beginning of the end--it precedes death; to
live is to achieve, to will without ceasing."

Be thou a hero; let thy might
Tramp on eternal snows its way,
And through the ebon walls of night,
Hew down a passage unto day.
_Park Benjamin_.

CHAPTER II.

THE RULERS OF DESTINY.

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent, or hinder, or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great;
All things give way before it soon or late.
What obstacle can stay the mighty force
Of the sea-seeking river in its course,
Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?
Each well-born soul must win what it deserves.
Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate
Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
Whose slightest action or inaction serves
The one great aim.
_Ella Wheeler Wilcox_.

There is always room for a man of force.--_Emerson_.

The king is the man who can.--_Carlyle_.

A strong, defiant purpose is many-handed, and lays hold of whatever is
near that can serve it; it has a magnetic power that draws to itself
whatever is kindred.--_T.T. Munger_.

What is will-power, looked at in a large way, but energy of character?
Energy of will, self-originating force, is the soul of every great
character. Where it is, there is life; where it is not, there is
faintness, helplessness, and despondency. "Let it be your first study to
teach the world that you are not wood and straw; that there is some iron
in you." Men who have left their mark upon the world have been men of
great and prompt decision. The achievements of will-power are almost
beyond computation. Scarcely anything seems impossible to the man who
can will strongly enough an