y the material will come.

The same law holds good everywhere. Nature is liberal with us if we
utilize what she gives us, but if we stop using it, if we do not
transform what she gives us into power, if we do not do some building
somewhere, if we do not transform the material which she gives us into
force and utilize that force, we not only find the supply cut off, but
we find that we are growing weaker, less efficient.

Everything in nature is on the move, either one way or the other. It
is either going up or down. It is either advancing or retrograding; we
cannot hold without using.

Nature withdraws muscle or brain if we do not use them. She withdraws
skill the moment we stop drilling efficiently, the moment we stop using
our power. The force is withdrawn when we cease exercising it.

A college graduate is often surprised years after he leaves the college
to find that about all he has to show for his education is his diploma.
The power, the efficiency which he gained there has been lost because
he has not been using them. He thought at the time that everything was
still fresh in his mind after his examination that this knowledge would
remain with him, but it has been slipping away from him every minute
since he stopped using it, and only that has remained and increased
which he has used; the rest has evaporated. A great many college
graduates ten years afterwards find that they have but very little left
to show for their four years' course, because they have not utilized
their knowledge. They have become weaklings without knowing it. They
constantly say to themselves, "I have a college education, I must have
some ability, I must amount to something in the world." But the
college diploma has no more power to hold the knowledge you have gained
in college than a piece of tissue paper over a gas jet can hold the gas
in the pipe.

Everything which you do not use is constantly slipping away from you.
Use it or lose it. The secret of power is use. Ability will not
remain with us, force will evaporate the moment we cease to do
something with it.

The tools for self-improvement are at your hand, use them. If the ax
is dull the more strength must be put forth. If your opportunities are
limited you must use more energy, put forth more effort. Progress may
seem slow at first, but perseverance assures success. "Line upon line,
and precept upon precept" is the rule of mental upbuilding and "In due
time ye sh