id, "Let us pray." "No, no, my man," shouted the bluff
old boatman; "_let the little man pray. You take an oar._" The
greatest curse that can befall a young man is to lean.

The grandest fortunes ever accumulated or possessed on earth were and
are the fruit of endeavor that had no capital to begin with save
energy, intellect, and the will. From Croesus down to Rockefeller the
story is the same, not only in the getting of wealth, but also in the
acquirement of eminence; those men have won most who relied most upon
themselves.

It has been said that one of the most disgusting sights in this world
is that of a young man with healthy blood, broad shoulders, presentable
calves, and a hundred and fifty pounds, more or less, of good bone and
muscle, standing with his hands in his pockets longing for help.

"The male inhabitants in the Township of Loaferdom, in the County of
Hatework," says a printer's squib, "found themselves laboring under
great inconvenience for want of an easily traveled road between Poverty
and Independence. They therefore petitioned the Powers that be to levy
a tax upon the property of the entire county for the purpose of laying
out a macadamized highway, broad and smooth, and all the way down hill
to the latter place."

"It is interesting to notice how some minds seem almost to create
themselves," says Irving, "springing up under every disadvantage, and
working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand
obstacles."

"Every one is the artificer of his own fortune," says Sallust.

Man is not merely the architect of his own fortune, but he must lay the
bricks himself. Bayard Taylor, at twenty-three, wrote: "I will become
the sculptor of my own mind's statue." His biography shows how often
the chisel and hammer were in his hands to shape himself into his
ideal. "I have seen none, known none, of the celebrities of my time,"
said Samuel Cox. "All my energy was directed upon one end, to improve
myself."

"Man exists for culture," says Goethe; "not for what he can accomplish,
but for what can be accomplished in him."

When young Professor Tyndall was in the government service, he had no
definite aim in life until one day a government official asked him how
he employed his leisure time. "You have five hours a day at your
disposal," said he, "and this ought to be devoted to systematic study.
Had I at your age some one to advise me as I now advise you, instead of
being in a subordina