The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-03-12
PERSEVERANCE.

lQlS is UI0 UTSG CIIuO Ill NY ll1C CiIdC
have endeavored to write paper,
and it is certainly with fear and trem-
bling that 1 take my stand before you
this evening to speak of subject that,
if many of this audience here present,
myself included, had practised, we
would not be here today. My subject
is Perseverance.
Which of us, at some time of his life,
has not come in contact, either in COM
merce, learning, or politics, with men
who do not seem to be gifted with any
special ability, or more than ordinary
intelligence, but yet who have made
their mark in the world? We naturally
ask ourselves, what is the inherent po-
tential which has brought those men
to the surface and assisted them III
outstripping their fellow men in the
race of life? We have only to look
back to their boyhood and trace their
lives up to the present to find an an
swer 1t is perseverence-that tenacity
and unwavering holding to ones object
which helped Hannibal to bring his
soldiers across the Alps, surmounting
difficulties which appear to us to be al
most insurmountable. 1t is the quality
which characterizes all our great Arctic
explorers; or, referring to recent history,
it is what led the French to Antan-
arivo, handicapped as they were by
plague and disease. We have been
hearing from our early childhood such
homely proverbs as: patience and
perseverance would take a snail to
Jerusalem" and many have been the
admonitions to "keep pegging away, y
but how easy it is to write about perse-
verance; and how very hard it is to per-
severe. Who Of us have not lOnged a
thousand times that we could attain
our object in one grand rush? How
very hard we find it just to plod on in
the same old beaten track; this is what
throws the glamour over the soldiers
life; we see only the last grand charge
and rout of the enemy, and never look
behind the scenes at the long weary
marches and endless discomfOrts he
has to undergo.
| It is better for us to calm our excited
minds and look the matter squarely in
the face, even as the Irishman says it
is rather unpleasant for both of u.s.
It is not an age of miracles. 1t the
mountain does not come to Mahomet
Mahomet must go to the mountain
Two things we know, our object is be-
fore us and it has to be accomplished
The only way to attain success is tc
promise regular line of conduct, and
become men of habits. We must
achieve little today, and little more
tomorrow; then, some day, when we
come to add all our units together, We
shall find that we have made consid
erable advance.
Hampden and Cromwell, and thou
sand others, made it possible for any
man to reach the top of the tree IL
England. Adams, Washington, Lin
coin and Garfield have shown wha
perseverance, coupled with common
sense and high moral principle can d.
in America. If a man does not rise i
is because he lacks energy. OF cours
there are instances where men are KEEP
, down by long continued course o
, circumstances which the world is &C
customed to call bad luck, but thos
T are only the exceptions. The unfortu
/ nate man who possesses steady perse
: verance and good courage will rarel
: remain unfortunate long.
: In concluding this article, let me adj