"A man can be too confiding in others, but never too confident in
himself."

Never admit defeat or poverty. Stoutly assert your divine right to hold
your head up and look the world in the face; step bravely to the front
whatever opposes, and the world will make way for you. No one will
insist upon your rights while you yourself doubt that you have any.
Believe you were made for the place you fill. Put forth your whole
energies. Be awake, electrify yourself; go forth to the task. A young
man once said to his employer, "Don't give me an easy job. I want to
handle heavy boxes, shoulder great loads. I would like to lift a big
mountain and throw it into the sea,"--and he stretched out two brawny
arms, while his honest eyes danced and his whole being glowed with
conscious strength.

[Illustration: CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN,
English Naturalist.
_b. Shrewsbury, 1809; d. Down, 1882_.]

The world in its heart admires the stern, determined doer. "The world
turns aside to let any man pass who knows whither he is going." "It is
wonderful how even the apparent casualties of life seem to bow to a
spirit that will not bow to them, and yield to assist a design, after
having in vain attempted to frustrate it."

"The man who succeeds," says Prentice Mulford, "must always in mind or
imagination live, move, think, and act as if he gained that success, or
he never will gain it."

"We go forth," said Emerson, "austere, dedicated, believing in the iron
links of Destiny, and will not turn on our heels to save our lives. A
book, a bust, or only the sound of a name shoots a spark through the
nerves, and we suddenly believe in will. We cannot hear of personal
vigor of any kind, great power of performance, without fresh
resolution."

CHAPTER III.

FORCE OF WILL IN CAMP AND FIELD.

Oh, what miracles have been wrought by the self-confidence, the
self-determination of an iron will! What impossible deeds have been
performed by it! It was this that took Napoleon over the Alps in
midwinter; it took Farragut and Dewey past the cannons, torpedoes, and
mines of the enemy; it led Nelson and Grant to victory; it has been the
great tonic in the world of discovery, invention, and art; it has helped
to win the thousand triumphs in war and science which were deemed
impossible.

The secret of Jeanne d'Arc's success was not alone in rare decision of
character, but in the seeing of visions which inspired her to
self-confidence--confidence in