r wills to his at sight.

The great prizes of life ever fall to the robust, the stalwart, the
strong,--not to a huge muscle or powerful frame necessarily, but to a
strong vitality, a great nervous energy. It is the Lord Broughams,
working almost continuously one hundred and forty-four hours; it is the
Napoleons, twenty hours in the saddle; it is the Franklins, camping out
in the open air at seventy; it is the Gladstones, firmly grasping the
helm of the ship of state at eighty-four, tramping miles every day, and
chopping down huge trees at eighty-five,--who accomplish the great
things of life.

To prosper you must improve your brain power; and nothing helps the
brain more than a healthy body. The race of to-day is only to be won by
those who will study to keep their bodies in such good condition that
their minds are able and ready to sustain that high pressure on memory
and mind, which our present fierce competition engenders. It is health
rather than strength that is now wanted. Health is essentially the
requirement of our time to enable us to succeed in life. In all modern
occupations--from the nursery to the school, from the school to the shop
or world beyond--the brain and nerve strain go on, continuous,
augmenting, and intensifying.

As a rule physical vigor is the condition of a great career. Stonewall
Jackson, early in life, determined to conquer every weakness he had,
physical, mental, and moral. He held all of his powers with a firm hand.
To his great self-discipline and self-mastery he owed his success. So
determined was he to harden himself to the weather that he could not be
induced to wear an overcoat in winter. "I will not give in to the cold,"
he said. For a year, on account of dyspepsia, he lived on buttermilk and
stale bread, and wore a wet shirt next his body because his doctor
advised it, although everybody else ridiculed the idea. This was while
he was professor at the Virginia Military Institute. His doctor advised
him to retire at nine o'clock; and, no matter where he was, or who was
present, he always sought his bed on the minute. He adhered rigidly
through life to this stern system of discipline. Such self-training,
such self-conquest, gives one great power over others. It is equal to
genius itself.

"I can do nothing," said Grant, "without nine hours' sleep."

What else is so grand as to stand on life's threshold, fresh, young,
hopeful, with a consciousness of power equal to any emergency,--