y of science and philosophy. Milton, in his
blindness, was past the age of fifty when he sat down to complete his
world-known epic, and Scott at fifty-five took up his pen to redeem a
liability of $600,000. "Yet I am learning," said Michael Angelo, when
threescore years and ten were past, and he had long attained the
highest triumphs of his art.

Even brains are second in importance to will. The vacillating man is
always pushed aside in the race of life. It is only the weak and
vacillating who halt before adverse circumstances and obstacles. A man
with an iron will, with a determination that nothing shall check his
career, is sure, if he has perseverance and grit, to succeed. We may
not find time for what we would like, but what we long for and strive
for with all our strength, we usually approximate, if we do not fully
reach.

I wish it were possible to show the youth of America the great part
that the will might play in their success in life and in their
happiness as well. The achievements of will-power are simply beyond
computation. Scarcely anything in reason seems impossible to the man
who can will strong enough and long enough.

How often we see this illustrated in the case of a young woman who
suddenly becomes conscious that she is plain and unattractive; who, by
prodigious exercise of her will and untiring industry, resolves to
redeem herself from obscurity and commonness; and who not only makes up
for her deficiencies, but elevates herself into a prominence and
importance which mere personal attractions could never have given her!
Charlotte Cushman, without a charm of form or face, climbed to the very
top of her profession. How many young men, stung by consciousness of
physical deformity or mental deficiencies, have, by a strong,
persistent exercise of will-power, raised themselves from mediocrity
and placed themselves high above those who scorned them!

History is full of examples of men and women who have redeemed
themselves from disgrace, poverty, and misfortune by the firm
resolution of an iron will. The consciousness of being looked upon as
inferior, as incapable of accomplishing what others accomplish; the
sensitiveness at being considered a dunce in school, has stung many a
youth into a determination which has elevated him far above those who
laughed at him, as in the case of Newton, of Adam Clark, of Sheridan,
Wellington, Goldsmith, Dr. Chalmers, Curran, Disraeli and hundreds of
others.