icted to a narrow sphere; and the greatest of
these is tactfulness.

The world's great tacticians are few. In America I can mention but
three who are deserving of first rank,--Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay
and James G. Blaine. Neither represented the same generation, and
neither was the exact counterpart of the others, but all of them were
renowned in their ability to control their fellow-men. Each possessed
that peculiar magnetic power to draw men around them and to win their
confidence and support. Each had but to say the word, and his wishes
were carried out. Each needed only to give the command to follow, and,
like drilled soldiers, the multitudes fell into line and were obedient
to every order. They were evidently cast in a peculiar mould, and that
particular mould is limited seemingly to a single man in every
generation. Why it is thus we know not, and yet we know that it is so.
As the precentor in a choir leads the masses with his baton, and under
correct leadership they rarely miss a note, so does the great tactician
issue his commands, and his wishes are supreme. I here write Jefferson,
Clay and Blaine as America's intrepid leaders and commanders in civil
life; these three, and the greatest of these was Jefferson, as he
seemed to have learned in early life, more than any of his compeers,
that a little management will often avoid resistance, which a vast
force will strive in vain to overcome; and that it is wisdom to grant
graciously what he could not refuse safely, and thus conciliate those
whom he was otherwise unable to control.

In referring to a man who possesses a high grade of capacity in a
particular calling, we usually say he is _able_--_an able man_. The
term able, therefore, signifies more than _capable_, more than
well-informed, whether applied to an artist, a general, a man of
learning, or a judge. A man may have read all that has been written on
war, and may have seen it, without being _able_ to conduct a war. He
may be capable of commanding, but to acquire the name of an _able_
general he must command more than once with success. A judge may know
all the laws, without being _able_ to apply the principles of law
properly. A learned man may not be able either to speak, or to write,
or to teach in a commanding manner. An able man, then, is he who makes
a valuable use of what he knows. A capable man can do a thing; an able
one does it. The term _able_ cannot, therefore, be properly applied to
genius.