two ears of corn, two blades of grass to grow upon a
spot of ground where only one grew before," says Swift, "would deserve
better of mankind and do more essential service to his country than the
whole race of politicians put together."

CHAPTER XII

CONCENTRATED ENERGY

This one thing I do.--ST. PAUL.

The one prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is dissipation;
and it makes no difference whether our dissipations are coarse or fine.
. . . Everything is good which takes away one plaything and delusion
more, and sends us home to add one stroke of faithful work.--EMERSON.

The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one,
May hope to achieve it before life be done;
But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes,
Only reaps from the hopes which around him he sows,
A harvest of barren regrets.
OWEN MEREDITH.

The longer I live, the more deeply am I convinced that that which makes
the difference between one man and another--between the weak and
powerful, the great and insignificant, is energy--invincible
determination--a purpose once formed, and then death or
victory.--FOWELL BUXTON.

"There was not enough room for us all in Frankfort," said Nathan Mayer
Rothschild, in speaking of himself and his four brothers. "I dealt in
English goods. One great trader came there, who had the market to
himself: he was quite the great man, and did us a favor if he sold us
goods. Somehow I offended him, and he refused to show me his patterns.
This was on a Tuesday. I said to my father, 'I will go to England.'
On Thursday I started. The nearer I got to England, the cheaper goods
were. As soon as I got to Manchester, I laid out all my money, things
were so cheap, and I made a good profit."

"I hope," said a listener, "that your children are not too fond of
money and business to the exclusion of more important things. I am
sure you would not wish that."

"I am sure I would wish that," said Rothschild; "I wish them to give
mind, and soul, and heart, and body, and everything to business; that
is the way to be happy." "Stick to one business, young man," he added,
addressing a young brewer; "stick to your brewery, and you may be the
great brewer of London. But be a brewer, and a banker, and a merchant,
and a manufacturer, and you will soon be in the Gazette."

Not many things indifferently, but one thing supremely, is the demand
of the hour. He who scatters his efforts in this intense, co