shall stand still and do nothing."

"Still, you can make the effort. Every thing must have a beginning.
Only let the germ be planted in your mind, and, like the seed that
seems so small and insignificant, it will soon exhibit signs of life,
and presently shoot up, and put forth its green leaves, and, if
fostered, give a permanent strength that will be superior to the power
of every tempest of evil principles that may rage against it."

"Your reasonings and analogies are very beautiful, and no doubt true,
but I cannot _feel_ their force," James Abercrombie said, with
something in his tone and manner so like a distaste for the whole
subject, that his friend felt unwilling to press it further upon his
attention.

The two young men here introduced had just graduated at one of our
first literary institutions, and were about selecting professions. But
in doing so, their acknowledged motives were, as may be gathered from
what has gone before, very different. The one avowed a determination to
be what he called a great man, that he might have the glory of
greatness. The other tried to cherish a higher and better motive of
action. Abercrombie was not long in deciding upon a profession. His
choice was law. And the reason of his choice was, not that he might be
useful to his fellow-men, but because in the profession of law he could
come in contact with the great mass of the people in a way to make just
such an impression upon them as he wished. In the practice of law, too,
he could bring out his powers of oratory, and cultivate a habit of
public speaking. It would, in fact, be a school in which to prepare
himself for a broader sphere of action in the legislative halls of his
country; for, at no point below a seat in the national legislature, did
his ambition rest.

"You have made your choice, I presume, before this," he said to his
friend Harvey, in allusion to this subject.

"Indeed, I have not," was the reply. "And I never felt so much at a
loss how to make a decision in my life."

"Well, I should think that you might decide very readily. I found no
difficulty."

"Then you have settled that matter?"

"Oh, certainly; the law is to be my sphere of action--or rather, my
stepping-stone to a higher place."

"I cannot so easily decide the matter!"

"Why not? If you study law, you will rise, inevitably. And in this
profession, there is a much broader field of action for a man of
talent, than there is in any other profession