s capacity, and then adapt his instructions accordingly. Though
he may be far removed from his pupils in attainments, he should be able
to mark the steps by which ordinary minds pass from common principles to
their noblest application.

This observation may by some be deemed unnecessary; but there are living
teachers who, having mastered the noblest sciences, are unable to
appreciate and lead ordinary minds.

The teacher must be in earnest. This is the price of success in every
profession. The law, it is said, is a jealous mistress, and permits no
rivals; the indifferent, careless minister is but a blind leader of the
blind, and the "undevout astronomer is mad."

Sincerity of soul and earnestness of purpose will achieve success.
According to an eminent authority, there are three kinds of great men:
those who are born great, those who achieve greatness, and those who
have greatness thrust upon them. If we take greatness of birth to be in
greatness of soul and intellect, and not in the mere accident of
ancestry, it is such only who have greatness thrust upon them; for the
world, after all, rarely makes a mistake in this respect. But there is a
larger and a nobler class, whose greatness, whatever it is, must be
achieved; and to this class I address myself.

Success is practicable. There need be no failures. A man of reflection
will soon find whether he can succeed in his pursuit; if not, he has
mistaken his calling, or neglected the proper means of success. In
either case, a remedy is at hand. If a teacher is indifferent to his
calling, and cannot bring himself to pursue it with ardor, it is a duty
to himself, to his profession, to his pupils, to abandon it at once. It
is idle to suppose that we are doing good in a work to which we are not
attracted by our sympathies, and in which we are not sustained by our
faith and hopes. The men who succeed are the men who believe that they
can succeed. The men who fail are those to whom success would have been
a surprise. There is no doubt some appropriate pursuit in life for every
man of ordinary talents; but no one can tell whether he has found it for
himself until he has made a vigorous and persistent application of his
powers. If the teacher fail to do this, he need not seek for success in
another profession, when he has already declined to pay its price.

The choice of a profession is one of the great acts of life. It should
not be done hastily, nor without a careful examinat