f
soul and purpose, who have risen highest; but rather the men with no
"start" who have won fortunes, and have made adverse circumstances a
spur to goad them up the steep mount, where

"Fame's proud temple shines afar."

To such men, every possible goal is accessible, and honest ambition has
no height that genius or talent may tread, which has not felt the
impress of their feet.

You may leave your millions to your son, but have you really given him
anything? You can not transfer the discipline, the experience, the
power, which the acquisition has given you; you can not transfer the
delight of achieving, the joy felt only in growth, the pride of
acquisition, the character which trained habits of accuracy, method,
promptness, patience, dispatch, honesty of dealing, politeness of
manner have developed. You cannot transfer the skill, sagacity,
prudence, foresight, which lie concealed in your wealth. It meant a
great deal for you, but means nothing to your heir. In climbing to
your fortune, you developed the muscle, stamina, and strength which
enabled you to maintain your lofty position, to keep your millions
intact. You had the power which comes only from experience, and which
alone enables you to stand firm on your dizzy height. Your fortune was
experience to you, joy, growth, discipline, and character; to him it
will be a temptation, an anxiety, which will probably dwarf him. It
was wings to you, it will be a dead weight to him; to you it was
education and expansion of your highest powers; to him it may mean
inaction, lethargy, indolence, weakness, ignorance. You have taken the
priceless spur--necessity--away from him, the spur which has goaded man
to nearly all the great achievements in the history of the world.

You thought it a kindness to deprive yourself in order that your son
might begin where you left off. You thought to spare him the drudgery,
the hardships, the deprivations, the lack of opportunities, the meager
education, which you had on the old farm. But you have put a crutch
into his hand instead of a staff; you have taken away from him the
incentive to self-development, to self-elevation, to self-discipline
and self-help, without which no real success, no real happiness, no
great character is ever possible. His enthusiasm will evaporate, his
energy will be dissipated, his ambition, not being stimulated by the
struggle for self-elevation, will gradually die away. If you do
everything for y