A Short Essay on Wings. 361 



1763, there was born near Heidelberg, to the lot of a 

 poor German peasant, one who, emigrating first to 

 London and then to New York, left, when he died 

 in 1848, an estate valued at five millions of money. 

 Many who have won distinction in literature and 

 politics, in trade and commerce, in travel and research, 

 or as philanthropists and teachers of morality, have 

 risen from a level so low in the social scale that in 

 their acquired rank and status they seem to owe 

 nothing to fortune, but to be truly what they are 

 commonly called, self-made men. It is not pretended, 

 therefore, that there is anything unexampled, or even 

 highly exceptional, in the fact that David Robertson 

 rose from poverty to independence, and that, though 

 left without education in his boyhood, he became 

 in mature age a distinguished votary of science. 

 Drudgery, self-denial, and good temper, were the 

 humble companions of his straightforward course. 

 No doubt, to lead a man upwards as well as onwards 

 in the paths of worldly existence, those homely 

 supporters will not alone suffice. When a man has 

 done notably well, and prospered in his career, apart 

 from any of the ordinary aids of fortune, such as 

 high birth, inherited wealth, or influential friends, he 

 must have had some qualities of distinction to bring 

 about his success. This being admitted, those to 

 whom his life is offered as an encouragement and 

 stimulus to go and do likewise may be disposed to 

 object that only a man of such character could have 

 accomplished such results. For the eagle flight of 

 some unique incomparable genius that may be true, 

 but when the qualities and characteristics concerned 



