AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 313 



be his own right hand-man. A writer who is un 

 known to me, lavs it down as a rule that &quot; people 

 who have been bolstered up and levered all their 

 lives, are seldom good for any thing in a crisis. 

 &quot;When misfortune comes, they look around for some 

 body to cling to or lean upon. If the prop is not 

 there, down they go. Once there, they are as help 

 less as capsized turtles, or unhorsed men in armor, 

 and they cannot find their feet again without assist 

 ance. Such silken fellows no more resemble self- 

 made men, who have fought their way to position, 

 making difficulties their stepping stones, and deriv 

 ing determination from defeat, than vines resemble 

 oaks, or sputtering rushlights the stars of heaven. 

 Efforts persisted to achievements train a man to 

 self-reliance ; and when he has proven to the world 

 that he can trust himself, the world will trust him. 

 It must therefore be unwise to deprive young men 

 of the advantages which result from energetic ac 

 tion, by buoying them over obstacles which they 

 ought to surmount alone. No one ever swam well 

 who placed his confidence in a cork jacket ; and if, 

 when breasting the sea of life, we cannot buoy 

 ourselves up, and try to force ourselves ahead by 

 dint of our own energies, we must 2:0 to the bot 

 tom.&quot; 



&quot; We must all learn,&quot; he adds, &quot; to conquer cir 

 cumstances, thus becoming independent of fortune. 

 The men of athletic minds, who left their marks on 

 the age in which they lived, were all trained in a 

 rough school. They did not mount into their high 

 positions by the help of leverage. They leaped 



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