35° POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



higher education that he himself may lack. Greater than generals 

 leading armies in battle, nobler than the founder of a family based upon 

 wealth, grander than peer or even less self-abnegating royalty, his ex- 

 ample is more inspiring than that of any so-called successful man, 

 in any vocation, in any profession, in any station in life, if the exemplar 

 lacks this splendid impulse to production of higher results in expendi- 

 ture of wealth than in its accumulation. Name and fame and dignity 

 and station all find eclipse in the greater name and fame and dignity 

 and station of him who thus practically illustrates the workings of the 

 soul of Abou ben Adhem. At the last, indeed, that man shall have all 

 these and more; he shall add to them all that better reward, convic- 

 tion of having earned the approval of conscience and of all good men, 

 of all honest citizens and every patriot, of all men whose esteem is 

 worth having in this world, and the pronouncement in the next : ' Well 

 done, thou good and faithful servant !' 



And what more splendid example, eliciting the finest ambitions of 

 the young men coming after him, can there be than that of a man con- 

 quering success by overcoming every obstacle that fate can place in the 

 way of the earnest man, gaining all the rewards of this world, and then 

 — giving all back to the world in ways promoting its highest welfare ! 



I doubt if there can be one; yet I think I can see a modest rival. 

 Not all men can become generals, colonels, captains in the army of in- 

 dustry; but a small fraction can even secure the sergeantcies. Many a 

 man, starting out with high hopes and splendid promise, confident, brave 

 and efficient, loses his hold upon the essentials of success and must settle 

 back into a life comparatively unfruitful, if not absolutely unsuccessful 

 as judged by our usual standard. Yet such a man may be the grander 

 character, the greater hero. His world may be restricted to his little 

 sphere of minor duty or even to his home ; but even there opportunities 

 will come to him, and his character may ripen, his influence broaden, 

 his work ennoble him and all those about him. It is the spirit of 

 the man that makes success and makes all opportunities fruitful, 

 whether leading an army or serving as private in the world of finance, 

 of business of whatever sort, or within the walls of a humble 

 home. 



The spirit of the Man with the Muck-rake, happily, is not that 

 which inspires the young man of to-day. He is too intelligent and 

 his thoughts rise to too high a level to be misled by the impulses of the 

 miser ; for he who pursues wealth alone, and for itself alone, is simply 

 a miser. However brilliant and however fortunate and whatever the 

 altitude of his position in the world of business, struggling simply for 

 fortune and mere wealth for its own sake means a mean and miserly 

 life. He is the man with the muck-rake. However large his pile of 

 glittering dirt, it rises simply as a memorial to his folly and his vulgar 



