68 6 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
as the will to labour, and to resolve is more than half to 
accomplish the thing desired. It is often the case that those 
who are the most apt in learning, to whom the acquirement 
of knowledge may be said to be easy, frequently do not prove 
the best pupils, nor the most successful practitioners. Their 
gifts often become their bane. They think they can at any 
time possess all they w 7 ant, and they are therefore careless 
and indifferent. They allow the fitting and favorable oppor- 
tunity to escape ; it cannot be recalled, and they find out their 
mistake only when it is too late. I have frequently observed 
this, and would rather see the observant painstaking and 
attentive young man, than one possessed of the highest 
talents, which are either not applied by him, or misapplied. 
The one will rise in life, and the other will as deservedly 
sink. Difficulties often serve to aw r aken new energies, and 
to call forth latent powers. To yield at the onset will prove 
you to be a coward ; to hesitate is to be beaten, while to 
advance is to gain the victory. Manfully, then, arm your- 
selves for the contest, nor fear the issue. 
In making these observations it is obvious that I am 
desirous of encouraging the diffident and fearing. Un- 
questionably he who is blessed with talents, and adds to 
them diligence, is doubly wise, and deserving of the highest 
commendation. We are confessedly living in a period of 
great excitement. Competition in businesses and the pro- 
fessions is perhaps greater now r than ever w r as before known. 
This brings into corresponding action the mind. All its 
energies are roused, and called into more frequent and 
stronger exercise ; hence the necessity of maintaining mens 
Sana in corpore sano } so that the balance between the moral 
and physical powers be not destroyed or lost ; which w ill be 
the case if sensual indulgences are allowed. 
Nor be too hasty at the commencement of your career. 
The world is large ; “ there is ample room and verge enough 99 
for all. Many a young man begins now-a-days where he 
ought to leave off. He is u too fast.” You should be con- 
tented, in the w T ords of Longfellow 7 , — 
“ To learn to labour, and to wait.” 
Fortunes are perhaps but slowly made in this profession, 
the wherewithal coming in so tardily. The professions 
generally are not like commercial speculations. Neverthe- 
less by probity and persevering industry they may be, nay, 
have been, gained. 
