her divine mission.

It was an iron will that gave Nelson command of the British fleet, a
title, and a statue at Trafalgar Square It was the keynote of his
character when he said, "When I don't know whether to fight or not, I
always fight."

It was an iron will that was brought into play when Horatius with two
companions held ninety thousand Tuscans at bay until the bridge across
the Tiber had been destroyed--when Leonidas at Thermopylae checked the
mighty march of Xerxes--when Themistocles off the coast of Greece
shattered the Persian's Armada--when Caesar finding his army hard pressed
seized spear and buckler and snatched victory from defeat--when
Winkelried gathered to his breast a sheaf of Austrian spears and opened
a path for his comrades--when Wellington fought in many climes without
ever being conquered--when Ney on a hundred fields changed apparent
disaster into brilliant triumph--when Sheridan arrived from Winchester
as the Union retreat was becoming a route and turned the tide--when
Sherman signaled his men to hold the fort knowing that their leader was
coming.

History furnishes thousands of examples of men who have seized occasions
to accomplish results deemed impossible by those less resolute. Prompt
decision and whole-souled action sweep the world before them. Who was
the organizer of the modern German empire? Was he not the man of iron?

NAPOLEON AND GRANT.

"What would you do if you were besieged in a place entirely destitute of
provisions?" asked the examiner, when Napoleon was a cadet.

"If there were anything to eat in the enemy's camp, I should not be
concerned."

When Paris was in the hands of a mob, and the authorities were
panic-stricken, in came a man who said, "I know a young officer who can
quell this mob."

"Send for him."

Napoleon was sent for; he came, he subjugated the mob, he subjugated the
authorities, he ruled France, then conquered Europe.

May 10, 1796, Napoleon carried the bridge at Lodi, in the face of the
Austrian batteries, trained upon the French end of the structure. Behind
them were six thousand troops. Napoleon massed four thousand grenadiers
at the head of the bridge, with a battalion of three hundred carbineers
in front. At the tap of the drum the foremost assailants wheeled from
the cover of the street wall under a terrible hail of grape and
canister, and attempted to pass the gateway to the bridge. The front
ranks went down like stalks of grain before a rea