New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-08-01
No Excellence without Labor.

Extract from an address delivered at the
annual literary entertainment of Prof. S. A.
Neale's school, by E. H. Butler, of Virginia,
formerly teacher among the freedmen of the
South.
The sublime truth contained in this apo
thegm is unlimited in its application, whether
it be the education moral or intellectual, it
must chiefly be his own individual work.
You will see issuing from the same college
nay sometimes from the bosom of the
same family-two young men, the one shall
be admitted to be genius of the high order,
the other scarcely above the point of medoc-
rity =: yet you shall see the genius sinking and
perishing in poverty, obscurity, and wretched-
ness. While the mediocre, on the other
hand, you shall see plodding his slow but
sure way up the hill of life, gaining firm foot
ing at every step, and attaining at length
eminence and distinction-an ornament to his
family and a blessing to the world. Whose
work is this ? manifestly their own they are
the architect Of their own respective fortunes.
The massive pyramids or stately columns
were not the work of moment, of an hour,
nor day; but it took years of unceasing and
constant labor to rear such gigantic structures;
so in order to succeed in any enterprise, we
must train ourselves by continuous and syste-
matte labor by brave, a true, a resOlute, and
above all, religious life. Allow me to re-
fresh your memory with few historical
names Of those who have been distinguished
for their untiring perseverance and dlligent
application: The names of Furguson, the great
Astronomer; Murray, the Oriental scholar !;
Sebastian Gomez, the great Spanish painter !;
or, coming to a more modern date, let us re-
call the familiar names of the hero George
Washington, the warrior and statesman; Sir
John Franklin, the great explorer Of the Ar
tic regions Frederick Douglass, our distin-
guished orator; Abraham Lincoln, our dear la
mented President These are few among the
many too numerous to mention, who have risen
through their unremitting toll to imperishable
fame and immortal glory. The memory of
whose achievements shall ever be fresh and
green in the hearts of their countrymen.
These heights by great men reached and
kept
Were not attained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night"
When Demosthenes was asked the three
great qualities that were needful to success
full orator, he replied "Firstly, action; Sc
condly, action thirdly, action" In like
manner if we were called upon to express the
three requisite principles for an honorable
and successful career in life, we should say !:
Firstly, labor secondly, labor; thirdly, la
Dor. 1t is the philosophers stone, whose
touch transmutes to gold and suffers no want
to break into it's dwelling.
If our beneficent Creator has endowed us
with great talents, labor will improve them.
If we, like the mediocre, have but moderate
abilities, labor will supply their deficiency.
Nothing is denied to well-directed labor
nothing is obtained without it.. And the
youthful aspirant cannot be too often re-
minded that on the formation of industrious
and persevering habits in his early years de-
ponds his well-being in after life.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.