The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-03-06
DR.. Marden's
Uplift Talks
BY oRIsoN SWEET MARDEN.
)opyright BY Mcclure Newspaper %syndlcat
GREAT SECRET OF ACHIEVE.
MENT./

A cobbler, when asked how long II
lakes to become a good shoemaker, an
swered. six years-and then you
must travel" That cobbler had the ar
fist soul. | told a friend the story, and
he asked another cobbler the same
question: How long does it take to
become a good shoemaker" "All your
life, sir" That was still better-he
was a Michel Angelo of shoes!
Persistency is characteristic Of all
men who have accomplished anything
great. They may lack in some other
particular, have many weaknesses or
eccentricities, but the quality of per-
sistence is never absent from a sue
cessful man. No matter what oppo-
sition he meets or what discourage
ments overtake him, he is always per-
sistent. Drudgery cannot disgust him,
obstacles cannot discourage him, labor
cannot weary him. He will persist, no
matter what comes or what goes; it is
a part of his nature. He could almost
as easily stop breathing.
Money, position, influence-these are
no match for energy and perseverance.
With what delight we read Haw-
thorne's Scarlet Letter." probably the
most powerful that ever
came from an American pen. 1t seems
impossible that such beauty of diction,
such facility of expression and deli
cacy of touch could be elaborated by
any amount of drudgery. But the
notebooks of this shyest and most
bashful of mortals reveal the secret
of his genius. Drudgery, drudgery,
d%rudgery, is written all owe his eff
forts. Nothing was too trivial for rec
ord in his notes. Everything he saw
or heard or touched or felt was i'm
prisoned in his notebook and com
PEELED to pay tribute to his fiction.
Thousands of men have been fail
ures in life because they did not go
quite far enough. They did not quite
learn a trade to the point of efficiency;
in other words, they stopped just this
side of success.
The patent office in Washington is
full of contrivances which are almost
successes; if the inventors had had the
persistence to hold on a little longer
they might have achieved the longed
for success and died rich instead Of
poor.
A poor boy started out, determined
to visit every office and place of bust
ness until he found a situation, nc
matter how long it might take. After
persisting in this for a time which
would have utterly discouraged mos
was told they never took boys whit
had had no experience, and vas asked
who sent him there.
The old gentleman was so pleased
at the boys pluck when he told hin
that he was calling at every office AM
should continue to do so until he fount
a situation, that he told him to q
home and write him a letter in hi
best hand, and he would see what n,
could do for him. Many a boy has los
a situation by bad handwriting, bat
spelling, or an unbusinesslike letter
But this boys letter was neat, concis,
and intelligent, and he got the situa
ton. He proved valuable and has bee,
with the firm ever since.
Keep at it, whatever your work ma.
be, with a logged determination. Sc
YOU teeth and say, 81 will" Let you
motto be, "Tenacity of purpose!'
When you hear it, it SHOULD act on 70,
as the bugle call does or a war horse
Failure is the final test Of persist
encJ and of ar iron will; it eithe
brushes a life or solidifles it.
If you have not this persistence b.
nature, you must cultivate 1t. With /
you can succeed, you can make diff
culties bend, you "a make opposition
give way, doubt and hesitancy yiel
to confidence and assurance. Withou
it the more shining qualities of natur
will not insure your success, and will
very likely bring nothing but failure
1t is lesson after lesson with tn
scholar, blow after blow with the Ia
borer, crop after crop with the farmer
picture after picture, and mile afte
mile with the traveller, that secure