eary years that put one hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars into "The Angelus." Millet's first
attempts were mere daubs, the later were worth fortunes. Schiller
"never could get done." Dante sees himself "growing lean over his
Divine Comedy." It is working and waiting that gives perfection.

"I do not remember," said Beecher, "a book in all the depths of
learning, nor a scrap in literature, nor a work in all the schools of
art, from which its author has derived a permanent renown, that is not
known to have been long and patiently elaborated."

Endurance is a much better test of character than any one act of
heroism, however noble.

The pianist Thalberg said he never ventured to perform one of his
celebrated pieces in public until he had played it at least fifteen
hundred times. He laid no claim whatever to genius; he said it was all
a question of hard work. The accomplishments of such industry, such
perseverance, would put to shame many a man who claims genius.

Before Edmund Kean would consent to appear in that character which he
acted with such consummate skill, The Gentleman Villain, he practiced
constantly before a glass, studying expression for a year and a half.
When he appeared upon the stage, Byron, who went to see him with Moore,
said he never looked upon so fearful and wicked a face. As the great
actor went on to delineate the terrible consequences of sin, Byron
fainted.

"For years I was in my place of business by sunrise," said a wealthy
banker who had begun without a dollar, "and often I did not leave it
for fifteen or eighteen hours."

_Festina lente_--hasten slowly--is a good Latin motto. Patience, it is
said, changes the mulberry leaf to satin. The giant oak on the
hillside was detained months or years in its upward growth while its
roots took a great turn around some rock, in order to gain a hold by
which the tree was anchored to withstand the storms of centuries. Da
Vinci spent four years on the head of Mona Lisa, perhaps the most
beautiful ever painted, but he left therein, an artistic thought for
all time.

Said Captain Bingham: "You can have no idea of the wonderful machine
that the German army is and how well it is prepared for war. A chart
is made out which shows just what must be done in the case of wars with
the different nations. And every officer's place in the scheme is laid
out beforehand. There is a schedule of trains which will supersede all
other schedules the m