er wills may
rival or surpass me; and this humble faculty of patience, when
rightly developed, may lead to more extraordinary development of
ideas than even genius itself."

"Chance," said an old Vermont farmer, "is like going into a field
with a pail, and waiting for a cow to come to you and back up to be
milked."

"Shun delays, they breed remorse;
Take thy time while time is lent thee;
Creeping snails have weakest force,
Fly their fault, lest thou repent thee;
Good is best when sooner wrought,
Ling'ring labors come to nought.

"Hoist up sail while gale doth last,
Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure!
Seek not time when time is past,
Sober speed is wisdom's leisure;
After-wits are dearly bought,
Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought.

"Time wears all his locks before,
Take thou hold upon his forehead;
When he flees he turns no more,
And behind his scalp is naked.
Works adjourn'd have many stays,
Long demurs breed new delays."

CHAPTER XVIII

CULTIVATE OBSERVATION AND JUDGMENT.

"Look before you leap," old Commodore Vanderbilt used to say. "I like
active men, but I have no use for the fellow who is so much in
earnest that he goes off half-cocked." We all know the danger of a
gun that goes off half-cocked, but it is not so apt to bring disaster
as is the man who goes off without due preparation.

It is fortunate for us that we cannot see into the future, but the
Father who has kept from us the gift of prophecy has blessed us with
a foresight and judgment that enable us to see pretty accurately what
must be the inevitable consequence of certain acts.

The power to observe carefully and judge accurately is a rare gift,
but it is one that can be cultivated. The ancients had a motto "Know
thyself," and the great poet Pope tells us that "the proper study of
mankind is man." A knowledge of human nature is invaluable in every
life-calling that brings us into contact with our fellows, and this
can be gained only by careful observation.

Stephen Girard attributed much of his success to his "ability to read
men at a glance." And so carefully did the great merchant prince,
Alexander T, Stewart, study this, that it is said he rarely made a
mistake in the character of a man he took into his employ.

Cultivate observation. Oliver Wendell Holmes maintained that all the
difference in men, no matter their callings, lay in the difference of
their ability to observe and draw proper