To secure the finest growth of a plant there must be a careful study of
the conditions of soil, exposure, and moisture, or sun which it needs;
when these conditions are supplied and the necessary oversight furnished,
nature may be trusted to do her work with ideal completeness. Now, the
perfect unfolding of a rich personality involves the utmost intelligence
in the discernment of the conditions which are essential, and the utmost
persistence in the maintenance of those conditions after they have been
secured. Perfectly developed men and women are rare, not only because
circumstances are so often unfavourable, but also because so little
thought is given, as a rule, to this aspect of life. The majority of men
make use of such conditions and material as they find at hand; they do not
make a thorough study of the things they need, and then resolutely set
about the work of securing these essential things. Many men use faithfully
the opportunities which come to hand, but they do not, by taking thought,
convert the whole of life into one great opportunity.

When a man discovers that he has a special gift or talent, his first duty
is to turn that gift into personal power by securing its fullest
development. The recognition of such a gift generally brings with it the
knowledge of the conditions which it needs for its complete unfolding; and
when that discovery is made a man holds the clew to the solution of the
problem of his life. The world is full of unintelligent sacrifice,--
sacrifice which is sound in motive, and therefore does not fail to secure
certain results in character, but which is lacking in clear discernment,
and fails, therefore, to accomplish the purpose for which it was made.
Such unavailing sacrifice is always pathetic, for it involves a waste of
spiritual power. One of the chief sources of this kind of waste is the
habit which so many American communities have formed of calling a man into