and wove the wool,
and made it into an overcoat for him.

Great men never wait for opportunities; they make them. Nor do they
wait for facilities or favoring circumstances; they seize upon whatever
is at hand, work out their problem, and master the situation. A young
man determined and willing will find a way or make one. A Franklin
does not require elaborate apparatus; he can bring electricity from the
clouds with a common kite. A Watt can make a model of the condensing
steam-engine out of an old syringe used to inject the arteries of dead
bodies previous to dissection. A Dr. Black can discover latent heat
with a pan of water and two thermometers. A Newton can unfold the
composition of light and the origin of colors with a prism, a lens, and
a piece of pasteboard. A Humphry Davy can experiment with kitchen pots
and pans, and a Faraday can experiment on electricity by means of old
bottles, in his spare minutes while a book-binder. When science was in
its cradle the Marquis of Worcester, an English nobleman, imprisoned in
the Tower of London, was certainly not in a very good position to do
anything for the world, but would not waste his time. The cover of a
vessel of hot water blown on before his eyes led to a series of
observations, which he published later in a book called "Century of
Inventions." These observations were a sort of text-book on the power
of steam, which resulted in Newcomen's steam-engine, which Watt
afterward perfected. A Ferguson maps out the heavenly bodies, lying on
his back, by means of threads with beads stretched between himself and
the stars.

Not in his day of bodily strength and political power, but blind,
decrepit, and defeated with his party, Milton composed "Paradise Lost."

Great men have found no royal road to their triumph. It is always the
old route, by way of industry and perseverance.

The farmer boy, Elihu B. Washburn, taught school at ten dollars per
month, and early learned the lesson that it takes one hundred cents to
make a dollar. In after years he fought "steals" in Congress, until he
was called the "Watchdog of the Treasury." From his long membership he
became known as the "Father of the House." He administered the oath to
Schuyler Colfax as Speaker three times. He recommended Grant as
colonel of a regiment of volunteers. The latter, when President,
appointed him Secretary of State, and, later, Minister to France.
During the reign of the Commune, the repre