Examples of Perseverance in Youth, "A divine benediction is always invisibly breathed on painful and T is related of Richard Burke that, when found in a deep meditation after listen ing to one of his brother's splendid harangues in parliament, he excused himself by saying, "I have been wondering how Ned has contrived to monopolize all the talents of the family; but now I remember, when we were at play, he was always at work.” The natural talents of Richard Burke were scarcely inferior to those of the great statesman; but while the one sleeps in Westminster Abbey, and is held 12 THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE. in grateful remembrance by his country, the other never attained to eminence, and is wholly forgotten. And why? Because he lacked perseverance; that power of application which develops the mental faculties, and trains them to the successful performance of their allotted task. When the natural genius is of an inferior order, perseverance will frequently supply the deficiency; and the boy, ridiculed for his slowness, if constant in application and earnest in his work, will outstrip more brilliant but less industrious competitors. It is pleasant to see this want of ready talent compensated by vigorous and well-directed labour. It was surely a greater achievement for the Egyptian labourers to raise the Pyramids, than for our English artisans, with all the appliances of modern machinery, to throw a tubular bridge across the Straits of Menai. "If there be one thing on earth," says Dr. Arnold, "which is truly admirable, it is to see God's wisdom blessing an inferiority of natural powers, where they have been honestly, zealously, and truly cultivated." We rejoice when the weak win in their struggle with the strong, and in the race between the tortoise and the hare, our sympathies are with the tortoise. Ben Jonson says, in one of his plays, “When DO NOT BE DAUNTED. 13 I take the humour of a thing once, I am like your tailor's needle,-I go through." This should be the maxim of every brave English youth like that of Strafford, the great minister -Thorough. Until a thing is done, keep doing. Let no obstacles daunt you, and let repeated failure spur you to repeated effort. An admirable story is told of himself by Audubon, the distinguished American ornithologist: An accident," he says, "which happened to two hundred of my original drawings, really put a stop to my researches in ornithology. I shall relate it," he continues," merely to show how far enthusiasm for by no other name can I call my perseverance—may enable the preserver of nature to surmount the most disheartening difficulties. I left the village of Henderson, in Kentucky, where I resided for several years, to proceed to Philadelphia on business. I looked to my drawings before my departure, placed them carefully in a wooden box, and gave them in charge of a relation, with injunctions to see that no injury should happen to them. 'My absence was of several months; and when I returned, after having enjoyed the pleasures of home for a few days, I inquired after my box, and what I was pleased to call 14 my treasure. AUDUBON'S STORY. I The box was produced and opened; but, reader, feel for me a pair of Norway rats had taken possession of the whole, and reared a young family among the gnawed bits of paper, which, but a month previous, represented nearly a thousand inhabitants of air! The burning heat which instantly rushed through my brain was too great to be endured without affecting my whole nervous system. slept for several nights, and the days passed like days of oblivion-until the animal powers being recalled into action, through the strength of my constitution, I took up my gun, my notebook, and my pencils, and went forth to the woods as gaily as if nothing had happened. felt pleased that I might now make better drawings than before; and, ere a period not exceeding three years had elapsed, my portfolio was again filled." I It is in such a spirit as this that the workman should address himself to his work; should refuse to flinch before any, the greatest disaster; should learn, by persistent labour, to grow into strength and completeness : "See first that the design is wise and just; EVERY MAN IN HIS PLACE. 15 Ferguson, the boy-astronomer, learning the positions of the stars by the help of a string of heads; Murray, afterwards the great Oriental scholar, teaching himself to write with a charred brand on a whitened wall;-these are examples which the young should keep ever before their eyes. The entire secret of success in life, at school, in the study, or in the busy world, is comprised in the burden of the old song, “Try, try, try again." A distinguished Italian author has started the theory that all men may become poets and orators, as if the only difference between genius and mediocrity lies in the power of application. To such a theory we are not disposed to subscribe. No amount of labour, however persistent, or however well-directed, can convert a Stephen Duck into a Milton or a Shakspeare. But the fallacy lies in this, that the world does not require of all of us that we should be Miltons and Shakspeares; only that we should do our best in whatsoever position the will of Providence shall have placed us, and, by so doing, contribute to swell the sum of human happiness and human good. To take a familiar illustration from the playground. At cricket it is not needful that every player should be a brilliant |