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Poise: How to Attain It by D. Starke
page 55 of 127 (43%)
upon to perform some decisive action.

"One day," says an old writer, "three men, in the course of a climb up a
mountain, found themselves confronted by a crevasse that they must
cross.

"One of these was a timid man, another a boaster, and the third was
possest of a reasoned poise.

"The boaster made a jump without stopping to think and without taking
the trouble to measure the gap. He plunged into it.

"The modest man then advanced, looked down into the gulf, then decided
to make use of the irregularities in the surface of the chasm to reduce
the width of the jump.

"He made several attempts to carry this out, but could hardly touch the
edge before an instinctive movement of fear forced him back.

"He worked so hard and so long at this that he was quite tired out when
he at last chose the moment for the decisive attempt. He jumped, indeed,
but in such a half-hearted way that he merely touched the opposite face
of the crevasse and fell to the bottom of the precipice alongside of the
boaster.

"The third climber, who possest the advantage of poise, had meanwhile
been losing no time. He had mentally gaged the width of the crevasse,
had made a number of trial jumps to test his ability to clear it, and
when, with a firm resolution to succeed, he reached the edge from which
he must leap, his soul, fortified by the knowledge of his powers was
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