Wisdom Vault — onlinknow.co.za

SMILES, in his well-known volume, has covered the ground indicated by the title given to this chapter, and we have no intention of endeavoring to reap where an abundant harvest has already been gathered by so laborious and able a hand.

Yet from a book which purports to set before its read- ers the Secret of Success, and to lead them so to live this life as to make the best of it, it would be impossible to omit all reference to the important subject of Self-Help.

So many lives have been wrecked' by the fatal policy of waiting upon others ! So many fortunes lie shattered in the mire because men call upon Jupiter for assistance instead of putting their own shoulders to the wheel ! No " good luck," as the world calls it, ever comes to the young man who sits by the wayside, wringing his hands, and looking for it to drop frorn^ heaven.

The gods long ago ceased to send down golden images of Pallas to the help of suffering humanity. No doubt many are still born in the purple, nursed in the lap of luxury, and bred up in the arms of wealth ; but even they, if they would be " true men," must learn to trust to their own strength.

We are what we choose to be The great law of life is a commonplace : man 288 SELF-HELP. is his own star ; he makes or mars himself. Shelley once said that the Almighty had given men arms long enough to reach the skies, if they would only put them out.

Men do not want to reach the skies, would not be the better for reaching them ; but they ought to put out their arms. It is useless to grasp at the Unattainable, but it is a good thing to employ actively the vis animi that is in us, and not to depend upon that of others.

The lesson of self-help is the first that the young adventurer should learn, and take to heart. We do not mean that he is to despise the counsel or refuse the sympathy of friends, if such be offered, but he is not to expect it. He is to enter the battle determined " to fight for his own hand," though willing enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with loyal comrades, or to obey the orders of a competent general, if such should prove to be his duty.

The cheering words, " Heaven helps those who help themselves," must prove the guiding maxim of his career. It has been said that a man engages in the struggle of life with a tacit understanding with himself that he is to rise. We do not think that the majority of men entertain so hopeful a resolution ; it is one that will be welcome only to brave hearts and sound minds.

However this may be, the rise must be step by step. Obstacles must be cleared out of the way, difficulties must be overcome. Probably at the outset neither you nor I have any distinct aim. It is only in books that the young man resolves from the first dawning of ambition to become owner of such an estate or bishop of such a see.

But he means to get on, and devotes all his powers to that end. He fixes his thoughts beyond immediate self-indulgence, chooses his friends as they will help the main designs, falls in love on the same principle, and, habitually deferring to a vague but glowino- PATRONAGE. 289 future, learns to work towards it, and for its sake to be self- denying and long-sighted.