eyes in bewilderment at the possibilities
of science in every direction.

All the great inventions, all the great discoveries, made! How like
the egotism of the infinitesimal mind of the human race that thought
this!

If all the great inventions and discoveries have been made, man has
already mastered all of the laws of God's universe, and applied them
practically to all conditions and substances in existence. How absurd!

The field of invention and scientific discovery is like that strange
and awful manifestation known as the "Milky Way." We see it with our
naked eye--numberless stars and a pale, growing blur around and behind
them, and we childishly call it the "Milky Way."

That miracle called the telescope is invented; we look again, and
there are more and new stars--but, still farther on in the infinite
depths, the blur of light. Higher and higher goes the power of
telescope after telescope, but all that they reveal is a bewildering
infinitude of more new stars--and beyond that again the "Milky Way."

This is an old and commonplace illustration, I know very well; but it
exactly represents the possibilities of new and vast inventions, of
strange and priceless discoveries, wherever you turn your eye.

The only question is whether you have the _eye_. The conditions are
there to be discovered--_begging_ for discovery. If you have vision
and do not produce a great invention, the fault is not in the universe
about you. Of course, if you haven't vision, do not attempt it. Darius
Green and his flying machine are ridiculous always.

What I have said of invention, war, statesmanship, literature,
journalism, and the law, may be applied to every conceivable field of
human thought. I merely wish to impress upon the great mass of young
Americans that not only have all the great things not been done, but
that the greatest of great things are yet to come.

If you have greatness in you, do not be discouraged. "It is up to
_you_."

Do not be discouraged, either, at failure and rebuke and defeat. If
you are going to attempt great things, remember you are starting on a
trunk-line. Very well; all continental trunk-lines have tunnels here
and there. But these tunnels are black with only temporary gloom.

It is only the short roads that do not run through the mountains.
Tunnels--flashes of darkness--are certain to those who travel far.
Think of this--you who have troubles, difficulties, discouragements.

But if on finding y