itself almost carries him to the
mark, just as a very light stroke will keep a hoop going, when a smart
one was required to set it in motion. While others are yawning and
stretching themselves to overcome the _vis inertiae_, he has his eyes
wide open, his faculties keyed up for action, and is thoroughly alive
in every fiber. He walks through the world with his hands unmuffled and
ready by his side, and so can sometimes do more by a single touch in
passing than a vacant man is likely to do by strenuous effort."

Let no one conclude that nothing important can be accomplished by these
scattered fragments. It is said that "Hugh Miller found time while
pursuing his trade as a stone-mason, not only to read but to write,
cultivating his style till he became one of the most facile and
brilliant authors of the day." Also, that Elihu Burritt "acquired a
mastery of eighteen languages and twenty-two dialects, not by rare
genius, which he disclaimed, but by improving the bits and fragments of
time which he could steal from his occupation as a blacksmith."

With these examples before us, then, let no one conclude that he can
not get time from his daily vocation, whatever it may be, to cultivate
his mind, and develop his moral and intellectual faculties. Another
essential element in self-culture is

SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE.

"A man," says Emerson, "is like a bit of Labrador spar, which has no
lustre as you turn it in your hand until you come to a particular
angle; then it shows deep and beautiful colors." There is no adaptation
or universal applicability in man; but each has his special talent; and
the mastery of successful men consists in adroitly keeping themselves
where and when that turn shall need oftenest to be practiced. The
successful man in every calling, whether literary, scientific or
business, is he who is _totus in illo_--who can say with Paul, this one
thing I do! With the exception of a few great creative minds, the men
whose names are historic are identified with some one achievement, upon
which all their life force is spent. "Whatever I have tried to do in my
life," says Dickens, "I have tried with all my heart to do well. What I
have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely. Never to
put one hand to a thing on which I would not throw my whole self, and
never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was, I find now to
have been golden rules." The fact is, the range of human knowledge has
beco