stimulus to greater deeds. "What man has done man can do;" we think of when striving to outdo others. But we sometimes forget to apply it to ourselves and our own achievements. The important thing is not so much in surpassing others, as in surpassing ourselves. Forget the things which are behind, and with an unquenchable zeal press on to the things which are before. A man never gets so far along that he doesn't need preparation. He never gets so far along that he doesn't need to enthuse himself for the conflict. Press on with enthusiasm and hope, and to-morrow you will take hold of things that to-day seem impossible.

It's hard to get a lesson even in the Primer at first, but by getting one lesson at a time it seems but a day until you can follow the logic of the philosopher. Step by step, round by round, whether in the public school or in the great school of life, all victories are gained and all obstacles vanish.

"We build the ladder by which we rise." The distant mountains that rise in their majestic heights are crossed by pathways that we can see only as we rise to higher levels; and our ideal life that rises in its majestic grandeur is reached

only by our noble deeds, our high hopes, our lofty aspirations, and our mighty resolves; doing each hour what our lives crave to idealize; fulfilling each day the most sacred mission of life-to live-and help others to live.

Look not to the past except for experience and inspiration, but appropriate the splendid possibilities of the present, and with an undaunted hope face the future. Look out for the present, and the future will take care of itself. I would rather see a man get ready for the future by earning five dollars a day at good, honest work, than to make five million in his mind by what is called "day dreaming."

FINDING ONE'S SELF.

THERE'S not very much difference between the man who is succeeding and the man who isn't; between the man who is taking big strides onward, and the man who is doing only fairly well. The one has discovered himself; the other has not. The one knows he can do things; the other is not sure. A man is more capable than he thinks he is. He doesn't expect as much of himself as he should. He too frequently judges himself by what he is instead of what he may become by adding just a little more vim and thought to his efforts. The rate at which a man's capacity for doing things can be developed is wonderful. He can do but a little to-day, but by doing that little and doing

it with snap and energy, he is a stronger man to-morrow; he can do more, and the next day a new idea is evolved in his mind. He is beginning to think. Thinking is what makes the man; not thinking alone, but thinking and putting those thoughts into action. The

dreamer thinks, but doesn't accomplish anything because he doesn't act.

Get a person sufficiently aroused to know that he can do something, and the idea sets him on fire with enthusiasm and marks an epoch in his life. An emergency comes up, and the young man is surprised that he did so well; that's finding one's self. Doing better than one expects is finding one's self. It isn't so very hard to do. There's not so much to find at first, but what you do find grows with amazing rapidity. The possibility is there; all it needs is to be brought out into the sunlight and cultivated.

A man finds himself by doing something better or something more than he ever did before. The first time a bird flies it doesn't fly very far, but it discovers itself; it learns that it can fly, and it then soars above the clouds. The bird discovers itself when it gets out of the nest. Young men are discovered by themselves in the same way. It is better to jump out of the old environment and out of the old nest and fall than to remain there and doze away the time in useless inactivity. But he doesn't fall. If he did there would be