Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-12-04
GBe Vetmont 4banir.
BRATTLEBoRO:
FRIDAY EVENING, DEC. 4, 1874.


CIcvcrness and Energy.
The following sound maxims are given
in a recent address by Lord Derby to tho
students of Liverpool College:
"Do not any of you be disheartened be-
cause you think yourselves slow or stupid,
even though you may really at present APP
pear to have good ground for the belief,
and do not, on the other hand, any Of you
be confident of the future merely because
you know or believe yourselves to have
what is called cleverness. If were to
tell you that in my belief that particular
quality of intellectual quickness and
sharpness is by no means the first qualih-
tons for a successful career, many people
would consider, in these days of COMPETE
tive examinations, that was wilfully in
dulging in paradox. But 1 believe 1t is
the truth. Talent is the" edge of the knife
which makes it penetrate easily, but wheth-
er it penetrates deeply or not depends quite
as much on force applied to it as ON the
sharpness of the blade. What man real
ly takes keen interest in, he is seldom too
dull to understand and do we'll; and, con-
verseiy, " hen a man does not care to put
the best of his brains into a thing, no
amount of ceverncss will enable him to do
it well if it is Il thing of any real Difficult
ty, or unless it is one which he has trained
himself to do easily by much previous
practice, in the present case, the fruit of
past eXeriOn; living, so to speak, upon
the capital which he has accumulated by
early industry. The most conspicuous
instance of complete efficiency and success
in active life recently witnessed Is that
which was obtained by the military organ
ization of Germany and l am told by
those who ought to be the best judges, that
both among Germans themselves and
among other foreign critics, the efficiency
and success are ascribed, not so much to
any extraordinary display of genius or
originality of design on the part of some
few individuals, as 10 the generally diffus-
ed habit of minute and almost microscopic
attention to every detail of duty, however
apparently small, which has become ira
dtion in that service.
az believe that everywhere the same re-
suit will follow from the same cause. But
" dCuullt anu httD up III uas WI n
that habit Of concentrated attention on de-
tails, two things are necessary-training
and energy. The training you can all give
yourselves the energy which is necessary
to maintain it, is in part, no doubt, a gift of
nature. Men possess it, to begin with, in
very different degrees; but it may be best
where it naturally exists, and it may be
enormously increased where originally it
was but feeble. And in that connection it
is important to notice how much depends
on what students and young men are
apt to despise as below their notice-I
mean perfectly sound physical condition.
Take two men, if they could be found, ex-
actly alike in mental and bodily aptitudes,
and let the one go carelessly and idly, in
dulging his appettes, and generally lead
ing life of what is called pleasure, and
let the other train himself by early hours,
by temperate habits, and by giving to mus
Gle and brain each their fair share of en-
ployment, and at the end of two or three
years they will be as wide apart in their
capacity for exertion as if they had been
born with different constitutions.
"Without a normal healthy condition
there can, as rule, be no good work, and
though that qualification cannot absolutely
be secured or preserved by any rules, a lit
tie common sense and care will go long
way both in securing and preserving it.
On that point would give you these hints !:
First, that it is not mental labor which
hurts anybody unless the excess be very
great, but rather frettng and idgetting
over the prospect of labor to be gone
through so that the man who can accus-
tom himself to take things coolly, which
is quite as much a matter Of discipline as
of nature, and who by keeping we'll be-
forehand with what he has to do avoids
undue hurry and nervous excitement, has
agreat advantage over one who follows a
different practice.
Next, 1 would warn you that those stu
dents who think they have no time for bod
lily exercise will sooner or later have found
time for illness. Thirdly, where an oppor
tunty of choice is given, morning work is
generally better than night work and last
Iva matter which should not stop 10 al
lude to but that know the dangers of al
over-driven existence in crowded town
if a man cannot get through his days Ia
Dor, of whatever kind it may be, without
artificial support, it should be a serious
consideration for him whether that kind o
labor is fit for him at ALL"