in composition or
declamation, and shaving one-half of his head in order to disqualify
himself from going abroad."[3] Yet all this effort and sacrifice were
accompanied by repeated and humiliating failures; and it was not until
he was twenty-seven years of age that the great orator of the world
achieved his first success before the Athenian assembly.

But how can the youth of this age hope to be followers, even at a
distance, of Demosthenes, and of those his peers, who, by eloquence,
poetry, art, science, and general learning, have added dignity to the
race, and given lustre to generations separated by oceans and centuries,
unless they are animated by a spirit of progress, and cheered by a faith
that shall be manifested in the disposition and the power to overcome
the obstacles that lie in every one's path?

Such a course of training requires individual effort and personal
self-sacrifice. It would not be wise to follow the plan of the Athenian
orator; he adapted his training to his personal circumstances, and the
customs of the country. His history is chiefly valuable for the lessons
of self-reliance, and the example of perseverance under discouragements,
that it furnishes. But it is always a solemn duty to hold up before
youth noble models of industry, perseverance, and success, that they may
be stimulated to the work of life by the assurance of history that,

"Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us further than to-day."

III. _The popular reading of the day does not contribute essentially to
the education of the citizen and statesman._--It is not, of course,
expected that every man is to qualify himself for the life of a
statesman; but it does seem necessary for all to be so well instructed
in political learning as to possess the means of forming a reasonable
and philosophical opinion of the policy of the government. It is as
discreditable to the intellect and judgment of a free people to complain
of that which is right in itself, and rests upon established principles
of right, as to submit without resistance or murmur to usurpation or
misgovernment. I do not mean to undervalue the periodical press; but it
must always assume something in regard to its readers, and in politics
it must assume that the principles of government and the history of
national institutions are known and understood.

But the young man should subject h