motive which presents itself, will never accomplish anything. But the
positive man, the decided man, is a power in the world, and stands for
something; you can measure him, and estimate the work that his energy
will accomplish.

Opportunity is coy, is swift, is gone, before the slow, the unobservant,
the indolent, or the careless can seize her. "Vigilance in watching
opportunity," said Phelps, "tact and daring in seizing upon opportunity;
force and persistence in crowding opportunity to its utmost of possible
achievement--these are the martial virtues which must command success."
"The best men," remarked Chapin, "are not those who have waited for
chances, but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the
chance; and made chance the servitor."

Is it not possible to classify successes and failures by their various
degrees of will-power? A man who can resolve vigorously upon a course of
action, and turns neither to the right nor to the left, though a
paradise tempt him, who keeps his eyes upon the goal, whatever distracts
him, is sure of success.

"Not every vessel that sails from Tarshish will bring back the gold of
Ophir. But shall it therefore rot in the harbor? No! Give its sails to
the wind!"


CONSCIOUS POWER.

"Conscious power," says Mellès, "exists within the mind of every one.
Sometimes its existence is unrealized, but it is there. It is there to
be developed and brought forth, like the culture of that obstinate but