The Meeker herald., 1917-03-31
What Ambition
Can Do
By M. QUAD
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1915. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

O. Hope Jones' advanced to the desk
on the platform and said:
My dear friends. reached this
town Of Cucumber Hill early In the
day and have had several hours to
look over the landscape and converge
with your most eminent citizens. You
have a site here to be proud Of. and
your "a wmill il equipped with one of
the finest steam whistles ever heard.
"Your hogs look fat and contented
~ they walk up and down the ave-
nues Such cows as l have encounter
ed are of 4 kindly disposition, and the
alarms of war seem not to have dis.
turbed you.
There are only seven persons pres
ent at my lecture. but probably the
measles and the whooping cough kept
the others in the house. have deliv-
cred lectures where the audience num-
bered only one person. but spoke
with the emphasis. philosophy and
logic that I use where the audience
numbers q thousand. shall do 50 to-
night. You shall have the worth Of
your money and perhaps double the
value. I am going to tell you what
ambition can do.
Take the case Of Socrates. He has
been dead some time. but he did not
kick about dying when his time had
come. and history has left US good
record OF his ambitious doings. ae
began life as q corner CROKER. and In
those days every grocer hnd to give
sixteen ounces to the pound
Seeing after q year or two TINT
there was no show In the grocery
business for an honest man. Old Soc
rates decided on q change. He closed
up his shop and went to school to
learn to be a statesman and an orator.
Such was his ambition to get there
that In two weeks be knew more than
the schoolmaster. 1t wasn't two
months after the change occurred that
he made u Fourth Of July speech
that knocked all the older orators gal
ley west. He used bis big words In
lust the right places and he slung his
grammar around with the utmost lib
crafty. From thence on be began to
elbow bis way upward. Those who
had reached the top rung Of the lad
der tried their best to keep him down.
but failed In their designs. The time
came when Socrates almost bud the
influence OF king.
Having got all the honors that
could be showered upon one man aud
having accumulated about 4 billion
dollars. he peacefully passed away.
"But, my friends. we need not go
back 20 far to cite our cases. Take
\ that Of Napoleon. He was born Of
humble parents. He lived In n garrett.
Hot biscuit and clover honey were not
for him. Nothing but ambition saved
him from becoming q tin peddler or q
barker for = summer show. He had
ambition. and he won. He chopped
cord wood for 20 cents 4 day until be
had saved money enough to take him
through q military school. When
through with this school be took com
mand Of the army Of France. and the
way be did lam the rest Of Europe
was a caution. For forty years Or
more be kept things going. Between
his wars there was hardly time for
him to 60 fishing He licked the en-.
envy in most Of his battles. and when
he didn't lick 'em they could not catch
up to lick him.
ambition made Napoleon the great
est general Of the world. and the great.
est general finally became an emperor
and made the whole world afraid of
him. In truth. be became little too
ambitious. He started out to give
Europe a last dressing down. and at
the battle Of Waterloo he got the
dressing down himself. Be ambitious,
but don't expect to hold four aces in
every hand.
"And there was John Hancock. drst
to sign the Declaration Of lndepend.
ence What did he amount to before
he signed? Nobody took Oh his hat to
him. His name was never put up for
an office. He could not have gone to
the alderman Of his ward and got a
sidewalk repaired. 1t was said Of him
that be was very quiet man. but be
did not know q later hug from a
beetle.
"All OF a sudden. however. Mr.. Han
cock felt ambition stirring In his
breast. He got up and took his hat Cd
Its peg and said to his wife:
"'Hannah. think l will go over to
the old statehouse and sign the Dec
laration Of Independence. Something
tells me ought to do it.
And she replied:
"'Yes. John. you had better go over
and write your name a. large as you
can. 1t will blum the British n II
doesn't do anything else
And who was John Hancock hall
an hour after he had signed? Why
the men Of Washington were whoopinG
for him and carrying him about on
their shoulders. and. you take my word
for It. next day be could have had any
thing In the gift Of the town. He shot
right up like . green bay tree. and t.