sition held by a large number of his troops under one of
his most trusted generals. "What have you been doing?" asked Grant.
"Fighting," answered the commander in charge of that position, equally
laconic. For a while Grant surveyed the field, and, turning, was about
to ride away. "But what shall I do now, General?" asked his
subordinate. "Keep on fighting," answered Grant.

Do not get into the habit of feeling that you are not sufficiently
well equipped. This comes of a very honest intellectual process--the
understanding, as we get more knowledge, of how very little we really
know; as we get more skill, of how very unskilled we really are; the
feeling that, high as our training is, there is some one else more
highly trained. Of course there is; but if that is any excuse why you
should do nothing--because there is some person who can do it
better--you will never do anything; and then what will happen when all
of the other fellows who "could do it better" die?

You will by that time be too old to do anything at all. So sail in
yourself, and pat on the back every other young fellow that sails in.
If you learn the law, for example, understand that the way to acquire
the art of _practising_ law is to _practise_ it, and not merely watch
somebody else practise it. Suppose every young man with a scientific
mind had declined to make any experiment because there were abler
scientists than he: how many Pasteurs and Finsens and Marconis and
Edisons and Bells would the world have had? And I might go on for an
hour with similar illustrations.

So go ahead and try to do things you would _like_ to do--things Nature
has fitted you to do. Believe that you can do these things. For you
_can_, you know. You will be amazed at your own powers. If you do not
believe in yourself, how do you expect the world to believe in you?
The world has no time to pet and coddle you, remember that. So get the
habit of faith in yourself and your fellow men. Cultivate a noble
intellectual generosity. It is a fine tonic for mind and soul--a fine
tonic even for the body.

The doctors say that envy, malice, jealousy, produce a distinctly
depressing effect upon the nervous system. And some go so far as to
say that if intense enough these states of mind actually poison the
secretions. Don't, therefore, let these hyena passions abide with you.
Be generous. Have faith. Make mistakes or achieve success; fail or
win; but do things. Share the common lot. Be hearty.