find it composed very largely of the results of habit.
His mighty momentum has been rendered possible only by the law of the
power of habit. He is now a great bundle of habits, which all his life
have been forming. His habit of industry no doubt was irksome and
tedious at first, but, practiced so conscientiously and persistently,
it has gained such momentum as to astonish the world. His habit of
thinking, close, persistent, and strong, has made him a power. He
formed the habit of accurate, keen observation, allowing nothing to
escape his attention, until he could observe more in half a day in
London than a score of men who have eyes but see not. Thus he has
multiplied himself many times. By this habit of accuracy he has
avoided many a repetition; and so, during his lifetime, he has saved
years of precious time, which many others, who marvel at his
achievements, have thrown away.

Gladstone early formed the habit of cheerfulness, of looking on the
bright side of things, which, Sydney Smith says, "is worth a thousand
pounds a year." This again has saved him enormous waste of energy, as
he tells us he has never yet been kept awake a single hour by any
debate or business in Parliament. This loss of energy has wasted years
of many a useful life, which might have been saved by forming the
economizing habit of cheerfulness.

The habit of happy thought would transform the commonest life into
harmony and beauty. The will is almost omnipotent to determine habits
which virtually are omnipotent. The habit of directing a firm and
steady will upon those things which tend to produce harmony of thought
would produce happiness and contentment even in the most lowly
occupations. The will, rightly drilled, can drive out all discordant
thoughts, and produce a reign of perpetual harmony. Our trouble is
that we do not half will. After a man's habits are well set, about all
he can do is to sit by and observe which way he is going. Regret it as
he may, how helpless is a weak man bound by the mighty cable of habit,
twisted from the tiny threads of single acts which he thought were
absolutely within his control!

Drop a stone down a precipice. By the law of gravitation it sinks with
rapidly increasing momentum. If it falls sixteen feet the first
second, it will fall forty-eight feet the next second, and eighty feet
the third second, and one hundred and forty-four feet the fifth second,
and if it falls for ten seconds it will