at the work would be dedicated to him. At
once Dr. Johnson wrote:

"My Lord: When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your
lordship, I ... could not forbear to wish ... that I might obtain that
regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance
so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to
continue it....

"Seven years, my lord, have passed since I waited in your outward room,
or was repulsed from your door, during which time I have been pushing on
my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and
have brought it at last to the verge of publication, without one act of
assistance, one word of encouragement or one smile of favor. Such
treatment I did not expect for I never had a patron before.... The
notice which you have been pleased to take of my labor, had it been
early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and
cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am
known, and do not want it.... I have long awakened from that dream of
hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, my lord,

"Your lordship's most humble, most obedient servant,

"Sam Johnson."

The lapse of a century has brought a change. Self-respecting, courageous
young workers do not seek a patron to help them to fame. To-day they ask
only to fight their own battles, win their own victories.

III

UNCOMPLAINING

Nor do courageous workers complain when little things go wrong.

"I don't know what I shall do if the mail does not come to-morrow. Think
of being two days without a morning paper!"

The complaint was heard when railway traffic had been tied up by
washouts on the railway. The inconvenience suffered by the speaker
seemed to him very great. Though there had been no other interruption to
the many comforts and conveniences to which he had been accustomed, the
single difficulty made him lose his temper and spoiled his day.

When one is tempted to magnify such a small difficulty into a mountain
it is worth while to look at things from the standpoint of a man whose
life far from the centers of civilization makes him so independent of
circumstances and surroundings that he can be cheerful even in the face
of what seem like bitter privations.

A company of travelers in the forests of Canada thought that the
knowledge of the most recent news was necessary to happine