round, ringing tone which characterizes its delivery. It talks to you of
triumph over difficulties, of victory in the face of discouragement, of
will to promise and strength to perform, of lofty and daring enterprise,
of unfettered aspirations, and of the thousand and one solid impulses by
which man masters impediments in the way of progression."

As one has well said: "He who is silent is forgotten; he who does not
advance falls back; he who stops is overwhelmed, distanced, crushed; he
who ceases to become greater, becomes smaller; he who leaves off gives
up; the stationary is the beginning of the end--it precedes death; to
live is to achieve, to will without ceasing."

Be thou a hero; let thy might
Tramp on eternal snows its way,
And through the ebon walls of night,
Hew down a passage unto day.
_Park Benjamin_.



CHAPTER II.


THE RULERS OF DESTINY.

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent, or hinder, or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great;
All things give way before it soon or late.