y the game for all they
are worth.

If a man or woman has but the disposition for self-improvement and
advancement he will find opportunity to rise or "what he can not find
create." Here is an example from the everyday life going on around us
and in which we are all taking part.

A young Irishman who had reached the age of nineteen or twenty without
learning to read or write, and who left home because of the
intemperance that prevailed there, learned to read a little by studying
billboards, and eventually got a position as steward aboard a
man-of-war. He chose that occupation and got leave to serve at the
captain's table because of a great desire to learn. He kept a little
tablet in his coat-pocket, and whenever he heard a new word wrote it
down. One day an officer saw him writing and immediately suspected him
of being a spy. When he and the other officers learned what the tablet
was used for, the young man was given more opportunities to learn, and
these led in time to promotion, until, finally, the sometime steward
won a prominent position in the navy. Success as a naval officer
prepared the way for success in other fields.

Self-help has accomplished about all the great things of the world.
How many young men falter, faint, and dally with their purpose, because
they have no capital to start with, and wait and wait for some good
luck to give them a lift! But success is the child of drudgery and
perseverance. It can not be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is
yours.

One of the sad things about the neglected opportunities for
self-improvement is that it puts people of great natural ability at a
disadvantage among those who are their mental inferiors.

I know a member of one of our city legislatures, a splendid fellow,
immensely popular, who has a great, generous heart and broad
sympathies, but who can not open his mouth without so murdering the
English language that it is really painful to listen to him.

There are a great many similar examples in Washington of men who have
been elected to important positions because of their great natural
ability and fine characters, but who are constantly mortified and
embarrassed by their ignorance and lack of early training.

One of the most humiliating experiences that can ever come to a human
being is to be conscious of possessing more than ordinary ability, and
yet be tied to an inferior position because of lack of early and
intelligent training commensurat