een other than they
were it is quite possible I might never have held the high office I now
occupy, but no train of events could accidentally make me a noble
character or a faithful member of my home and community. Therefore
each of you has the same chance to succeed in true success as I have
had, and if my success in the end proves to have been as great as that
achieved by many of the humblest of you I shall be fortunate."

McKinley did not start with great mental ability. There was nothing
very surprising or startling in his career. He was not a great genius,
not notable as a scholar. He did not stand very high in school; he was
not a great lawyer; he did not make a great record in Congress; but he
had a good, level head. He had _the best substitute for genius--the
ability for hard work and persistence_. He knew how to keep plodding,
how to hang on, and he knew that the only way to show what he was made
of in Congress was to stick to one thing, and he made a specialty of
the tariff, following the advice of a statesman friend.

The biographies of the giants of the race are often discouraging to the
average poor boy, because the moment he gets the impression that the
character he is reading about was a genius, the effect is largely lost
upon himself, because he knows that he is not a genius, and he says to
himself, "This is very interesting reading, but I can never do those
things." But when he reads the life of McKinley he does not see any
reason why he could not do the same things himself, because there were
no great jumps, no great leaps and bounds in his life from particular
ability or special opportunity. He had no very brilliant talents, but
he averaged well. He had good common sense and was a hard worker. He
had tact and diplomacy and made the most of every opportunity.

Nothing can keep from success the man who has iron in his blood and is
determined that he will succeed. When he is confronted by barriers he
leaps over them, tunnels through them, or makes a way around them.
Obstacles only serve to stiffen his backbone, increase his
determination, sharpen his wits and develop his innate resources. The
record of human achievement is full of the truth. "There is no
difficulty to him who wills."

"All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise and
wonder," says Johnson, "are instances of the resistless force of
perseverance."

It has been well said that from the same materials one