on," the discarding of unfit material, the assimilation of new and
congenial elements from outside, with the logical result of a survival of
the fittest. Aside from this, you will find in "the world," as anywhere
else, that the person who succeeds is generally he who has been willing
to give the most of his strength and mind to that one object, and has not
allowed the flowers on the hillside to distract him from his path,
remembering also that genius is often but the "capacity for taking
infinite pains."

There are people so constituted that they cheerfully give the efforts of
a lifetime to the attainment of a brilliant social position. No fatigue
is too great, and no snubs too bitter to be willingly undergone in
pursuit of the cherished object. You will never find such an individual,
for instance, wandering in the flowery byways that lead to art or
letters, for that would waste his time. If his family are too hard to
raise, he will abandon the attempt and rise without them, for he cannot
help himself. He is but an atom working as blindly upward as the plant
that pushes its mysterious way towards the sun. Brains are not
necessary. Good looks are but a trump the more in the "hand." Manners
may help, but are not essential. The object can be and is attained daily
without all three. Wealth is but the oil that makes the machinery run
more smoothly. The all-important factor is the desire to succeed, so
strong that it makes any price seem cheap, and that can pay itself by a
step gained, for mortification and weariness and heart-burnings.

There, my dear, is the secret of success! I stop because I feel myself
becoming bitter, and that is a frame of mind to be carefully avoided,
because it interferes with the digestion and upsets one's gentle calm! I
have tried to answer your question. The answer resolves itself into
these two things; that it is necessary to be born with qualities which
you may not possess, and calls for sacrifices you would doubtless be
unwilling to make. It remains with you to decide if the little game is
worth the candle. The delightful common sense I feel quite sure you
possess reassures me as to your answer.

Take gayly such good things as may float your way, and profit by them
while they last. Wander off into all the cross-roads that tempt you.
Stop often to lend a helping hand to a less fortunate traveller. Rest in
the heat of the day, as your spirit prompts you. Sit down before the
s