Yet she is much limited and always placed at a
disadvantage because of this lack of an early education. It is
difficult to conceive of a greater misfortune than always to be
embarrassed and handicapped just because of the neglect of those early
years.

I am often pained by letters from people, especially young people,
which indicate that the writers have a great deal of natural ability,
that they have splendid minds, but a large part of their ability is
covered up, rendered ineffectual by their ignorance.

Many of these letters show that the writers are like diamonds in the
rough, with only here and there a little facet ground off, just enough
to let in the light and reveal the great hidden wealth within.

I always feel sorry for these people who have passed the school age and
who will probably go through life with splendid minds handicapped by
their ignorance which, even late in life, they might largely or
entirely overcome.

It is such a pity that, a young man, for instance, who has the natural
ability which would make him a leader among men, must, for the lack of
a little training, a little preparation, work for somebody else,
perhaps with but half of his ability but with a better preparation,
more education.

Everywhere we see clerks, mechanics, employees in all walks of life,
who cannot rise to anything like positions which correspond with their
natural ability, because they have not had the education. They are
ignorant. They can not write a decent letter. They murder the English
language, and hence their superb ability cannot be demonstrated, and
remains in mediocrity.

The parable of the talents illustrates and enforces one of nature's
sternest laws: "To him that hath shall be given; from him that hath not
shall be taken away even that which he hath." Scientists call this law
the survival of the fittest. The fittest are those who use what they
have, who gain strength by struggle, and who survive by
self-development by control of their hostile or helpful environment.

The soil, the sunshine, the atmosphere are very liberal with the
material for the growth of the plant or the tree, but the plant must
use all it gets, it must work it up into flowers, into fruit, into leaf
or fiber or something or the supply will cease. In other words, the
soil will not send any more building material up the sap than is used
for growth, and the faster this material is used the more rapid the
growth, the more abundantl