The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-10-10

and let nothing prevent. A man may
be honest, truthful, ambitious and all
that, and yet if he does not cultivate
and push the spirit of perseverance he
will travel through a lifetime and
bring up in a thistle patch at last.
Do not confound the traits of self
will Or obstinacy with those Of persever-I
nee. A man may be so stiff necked
that he will live and die claiming that
Noah's ark was painted blue, with yal-j
Ter trimmings, but at the same time bel
will never be heard Of outside his own
/. village. The spirit of perseverance has
descended to US from the gods; thel
spirit of obstinacy is kicked into us byl
an old dun colored mule when we arel
young.
I still have my eye on the young mani
with the yaller hair and am prepared
for any move he makes, but let us citel
the case of fliny. OF course Pliny lived
and died without having heard Of this
town of Gainesville and without hav-I
ing read that you once raised a prize
hog weighing 700 pounds, but his ex-I
ample is a good one to follow. He was
born tongue tied and cross eyed, but
early in life he determined to become al
great man. Some of you may have donel
the same thing; but, unlike Pliny, youI
got a sore heel or were crossed in love-
and gave it up. He stuck. During his
boyhood, when he should have been go
ing to school, his father had him out
digging for clans or angling for catfish
to supply the family larder and threw
many other discouragements in his
way.
At the age of sixteen, when most
boys start for college, young Pliny was
cutting marsh hay and digging pota-
toes on shares. Even at twenty about
all he knew was that twice five are ten
and that a full moon will make cucum-
berS grow an inch every night. But
perseverance was there. 1t was born
there in the first place, and in the next
it wasn't charged any rent TO remain
on hand till wanted. Pliny had his
idea, and be never let go of it. 1t lay
down with him at night, and it rose up
with him in the morning. His mother
wanted him to go to work in a cotton
mill, SO that she could get her towels
and sheets at 10 per cent off, and his
father wanted to apprentice him to a
shoemaker, SO as to get cement patches
for nothing, but the young man took
the bit in his teeth and started in to
study and learn. You all know what
he made of himself by the time he
reached thirty. He stood at the top,
and people for fifty miles around fell
over themselves to attend his candy
pulls and send him in Early Rose po-
tatOes. He stood on the pinnacle be-
fore he stopped. and a great nation
hOnored and respected him.
Perseverance put him there. Had
he stopped when he found that the
woodchuck had gone into his hole he
might possibly have turned out to be a
good windmill agent, but be would
never have become Pliny. l don't say
that any of you will ever reach the ex-
allied station he did. and | couldn't
guarantee it even if there was So in
the house. but perseverance will boost
you up to q higher point than you oc-
cupy now If you give her the chance.
l am happy to see that the young
man with the yaller hair has got over
looking for a circus and gone to sleep.
and | will therefore cite you a case not
quite so ancient. that of Sir Isaac
Newton, the discoverer of gravitation.
AT the age of ten months, when he
pushed his nursing bottle Over the edge
OF the cradle and saw it fail to the
floor. his face wore q nuZZled Look on3