The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1904-12-08
Measure Of Courage and Endurance

am not sorry that this cues
ton was asked, since it affords
the opportunity TO speak a word
to thousands Of young people upon
vitally important subject.
This brace Of qualities are.
beyond doubt. the most import.
ant in the whole hierarchy OF
human virtues.
/ Without courage and endur-
ance nothing can be achieved in
this world. To be afraid to take
the initiative, or. having taken 1T,
to lack the backbone required for
carrying it through, is to live and
die nobody and good-for-
nothing.
: Courage is the pioneer virtue.
Without courage one cannot even
80 much as make beginning.
What steam is to the locomotive
courage is to the soul-it starts
us along the way we would go.
TO be afraid, TO stand shaking
in ones shoes, to have a heart of
ice instead of n heart Of fire, is to
be q ne'er-do-we to the day OF
your death.
As the worlds greatest poet
puts it:
"There is tide in the affairs
of men which, taken at the Hood,
leads on to fortune. "
1t is courage that enables one
to take the tide and be carried on
TO fortune. Faint heart not only
never won fair lady; it never won
anything that was fair.
1t is the lion that gets the first
steak of the antelope. The cow
ardly iackal must be satisfied
with what remains after the king
of beasts has finished his meal.
70 be a coward is to be, and
ever remain, an underling and u
ninny, with no trophies in his
belt, with no decorations on his
breast, with no honors of any
sort clustering about his brow.
The destinies despise man
who is afraid. Such man is
: awarded no prize. When the
honors are distributed he is not
noticed.
; But courage, admirable and
, valuable as it is, must be rein
u forced by that other virtue, less
brilliant but equally important
!, endurance.
1t is frequently the case that
one goes into battle as brave as a
. lion, but after a sew shocks the
courage cools down and then
u gives way, and the battle is lost.
s 1t is absolutely essential that
. one should have the staying
q power" the indomitable uncon-
y querahLs grit that hobs out steady
y nd determined, no matter how
thick and fast the battle shocks
may come.
The ability not to be discour-
aged, not to lose heart and hope,
but to hold on with grim,
logged resolution, is what every
on4 must have who would succeed
I in this life,
: A thrilling page of history is
y that which tells of the memor,
+ able Overland Campaign" OF
{ 1854! Grant, on his southwark
march, was met by Lee at the
+ terrible Wilderness" at the
+ Spottsylvania Bloody Angle
y at the North Anna, at Cold Har
l. Dor, where thirteen thousand o.
his men were killed and wounded
o inside of twenty minutes; bu
!. despite the havoc that Lees genius
q was working in his ranks thu
IS Union commander sat down on
W stump and dictated the never-to
81 be-forgotten dispatch: Il pro
1t pose to fight it out on this line /
1T takes all SUMMER"
u There\ was endurance! Their
lie was staying power There wa
a the undying determination whlc
TO wins SUCCESS
IS General Grant had plenty c
courage; but without that grim
to rugged, unconquerable enduranc
}" of his he would never have wor
ny Lees army down to the eXhauste
ne remnant that surrendered at Al
pomattoX.
In the battle of life it is I'll
of same. To succeed one needs
nd have the courage that is abb
having begun the struggle, to no
on, without so much as the fain
est thought of letting go.
=, Times without number poop
10, have failed almost within sight
+or the goal toward which they we
va struggling Simply because tn
~ did not hold out u little longer.
' 'n They were Gooot towards
Of would be a criiIco2 to call the
w. such-but they grow tired and
wa go-and lost all,
'"' And so, in attempting to a
~. swer this question: "Is endl