any
occasion to change the decision after it has once been made unless new
evidence is discovered bearing on the case.

DECISION UNDER EFFORT.--The highest type of decision is that in which
effort is the determining factor. The pressure of external circumstances
and inward impulse is not enough to overcome a calm and determined _I
will_. Two possible lines of action may lie open before us. Every
current of our being leads toward the one; in addition, inclination,
friends, honors, all beckon in the same direction. From the other course
our very nature shrinks; duty alone bids us take this line, and promises
no rewards except the approval of conscience. Here is the crucial point
in human experience; the supreme test of the individual; the last
measure of man's independence and power. Winning at this point man has
exercised his highest prerogative--that of independent choice; failing
here, he reverts toward the lower forms and is a creature of
circumstance, no longer the master of his own destiny, but blown about
by the winds of chance. And it behooves us to win in this battle. We may
lose in a contest or a game and yet not fail, because we have done our
best; if we fail in the conflict of motives we have planted a seed of
weakness from which we shall at last harvest defeat.

Jean Valjean, the galley slave of almost a score of years, escapes and
lives an honest life. He wins the respect and admiration of friends; he
is elected mayor of his town, and honors are heaped on him. At the
height of his prosperity he reads one day that a man has been arrested
in another town for the escaped convict, Jean Valjean, and is about to
be sent to the galleys. Now comes the supreme test in Jean Valjean's
life. Shall he remain the honored, respected citizen and let an innocent
man suffer in his stead, or shall he proclaim himself the long-sought
criminal and again have the collar riveted on his neck and take his
place at the oars? He spends one awful night of conflict in which
contending motives make a battle ground of his soul. But in the morning
he has won. He has saved his manhood. His conscience yet lives--and he
goes and gives himself up to the officers. Nor could he do otherwise and
still remain a _man_.

3. STRONG AND WEAK WILLS

Many persons will admit that their memory or imagination or power of
perception is not good, but few will confess to a weak will. Strength of
will is everywhere lauded as a mark of worth and characte