the gossips.

Third: Reserve--the power to hold one's forces in check, as a general
disposes his army in an engagement on which the fate of an empire or
of the world may depend. This power of reserve involves silence. Talk
all you please, but keep your large conceptions to yourself till the
hour to strike arrives, and then strike with all your might.

In politics they call some men "rubber shoes"; such men continue long,
but they never achieve highly. Do not try to cultivate this quality if
Nature has been so kind as not to endow you with it. It is not a
masterful quality. Have the courage not only of your convictions--that
is not so hard--but _have the courage of your conceptions_. But do not
simulate courage if you have it not. False courage is worse than
cowardice--it is falsehood and cowardice combined.

Reserve also includes the power to wait; and that is almost as crucial
a test of greatness as courage itself. Many a battle has been lost by
over-eagerness. There was the greatness of Fate itself in the order of
the American officer of the Revolution who said, "Wait, men, until you
see the whites of their eyes."

Time is a young man's greatest ally. That is why youth holds the
whip-hand of the world. That is why youth can afford to dare. It is
also why age does not dare to dare. With youth, to-morrow is merely an
accession of power; but with age--ah, well, with age, as Omar says,

"To-morrow I may be
Myself with yesterday's seven thousand years."

Fourth: The fourth quality in character, the lowest one in the list,
is Intellect. Not that it is not so valuable as the others, but it is
so abundant, and, without the others, so useless. What is it we hear
the strong-handed Philistines say in the market-place? "Brains are
cheap"; that is what we hear them say. And they say truly. Many years
ago I became acquainted with a millionaire who had acquired his
wealth by building things, raising cattle, erecting factories--not by
shuffling the cards of trade.

His grammar is defective, but his elemental vitality will do you as
much good as a walk in the fresh air after the poisoned and steaming
atmosphere of a crowded room. "How have I succeeded?" said he, in
answer to a question one day. "Oh, by just having the nerve to decide
upon a plan, and then by hiring these brainy fellows to do my work. I
can get the services of the ablest lawyer in this city for a crumb of
the loaf I realize from his though