The Washington herald., 1917-03-14
Never Knows When He
Is Beaten.
By ORIsON SWEET MARDEN

moment. Ou arc beaten, SAID
Sheridan. This army is not beaten"
Then he electrified his men with new
courage and they won glorious vic
tory.
The courage that persists even
when the battle seems lost is the sort
of courage that wins in every battle
in life.
I have always noticed that success
full people have a dare in their nature
which borders on boldness, a courage
which is not afraid to plunge, to take
risks. They make mistakes, of
course, but they can afford to make
an occasional slip without any seri-
Gus consequences. Ultimately they
will get infinitely farther ahead in a
lifetime than those who are over
cautious, too timid, and so afraid they
will make mistake that they never
dare to take a plunge.
One of the most successful men
know tells me that if one venture out
of FIVE which he makes wins out he is
better off than if nc had not vcnturezi
at all. He is way ahead of competi-
tors in his line who never dare to
take chances.
Napoleon said that the old French
Guard at Waterloo did not surrender;
it was annihilated. This is the quality
of the courage Characteristic of the
real winner. He not only dares to
take chances. but he never acknowl-
edges defeat, never surrenders. He
may be snnihilated, but he will not
surrender. 1t Is the non-surrender
material that wins in eevry field Of
cndeavor.
The courage Of single man has
been the pivot upon which many of
the great achievements Of the world
turned. One man stood out, persisted,
when others gave up Take the influ-
cncc Of courage out of the worlds his
tory and it would be so flat and in
sipid that nobody would read it.
What can you do with man who
will never give up, who never knows
when he is Neaten.' 1t is useless to
oppose him.
The prosperity Of many a great
business house turned upon the cour-
age Of a single man in a great crisis.
The same is true in the history of our
great inventions. But for the cour-
age, the pluck and persistence of the
inventor who was denounced as a
crank" and often as false to his fam
lily, those inventions would never have
been brought to practicality.
Many times during our civil war
Grants generals advised him to re-
treat and save his army from a posi-
ton which threatened annihilation.
Once when he seemed hopelessly
hemmcd in by the enemy he was told
that there was only one possible way
out, and that he had only half enough
transports to take his army across the
river in case OF defeat. Gentlemen"
he said, "if am defeated there will be
plenty OF boats to take the men who
arc left" Grant had no idea Of re-
treating. That was not his line.
While the other generals were often
planning the way out in case of de-
feat, Gen. Grant was planning an ad-
vance.
When the children OF Israel got as
far as the Red Sea they thought they
had made a mistake. They sighed for
the fleshpots of Egypt, and wanted
to retreat, to go back. But the Lord
told Moses to speak to the children
of Israel and tell them to go for
ward. They were hidden to advance
and all would be we'll.
Now, this is the great message
which the divinity within man is ever
sending to us through our ambition,
our ideals, our aspirations. Go for
ward! This is the message which the
great God-urgc is ever whispering in
our ears.
But We are constantly coming up to
a Red Sea when it is so tempting to
turn back. TO return to our old haunts,
our old occupations, pleasures, the
things we have become so used to,
even if they are commonplace and
mediocre. We hesitate to face the
larger future because of its uncer-
tainty and the hard work ahead. But
every success worth having is bought
at the cost OF courage and hard work.
The order given to mankind is that
given to the children of Israel at the
Red Sea-"Go ForwardW