somebody."

The doors which led to a wider future were already opening. The
professors at the Sorbonne appreciated his great intellect and
originality. "You have a true vocation," said one. "Follow it. But
go to the bar, where your voice, which is one in a thousand, will
carry you on, study and intelligence aiding. The lecture room is a
narrow theater. If you like, I will write to your father to tell
him what my opinion of you is." And he wrote, "The best investment
you ever made would be to spend what money you can divert from
your business in helping your son to become an advocate."

To such good purpose did the young student use his time that
within two years he won his diploma. Still too young to be
admitted to the bar, he spent a year studying life in Paris,
listening to the debates in the Corps Legislatif, reading and
debating in the radical club which he had organized, making
himself ready at every point for the great opportunity which
gained him a national reputation and made him the idol of the
masses.

In 1868 his masterly defense of Delescluze, the radical editor,
against the prosecution of the Imperial government, brought the
brilliant but hitherto unknown young lawyer prominently before the
public. He lost his case, but won fame. Gambetta had waited
eighteen months for his first brief, and five times eighteen
months for his first great case. This case proved to be the
initial step that led him from victory to victory, until, after
the fall of Napoleon at Sedan, he became practically Dictator of
France. He was, more than any one man, the maker of the French