Year: 1869

himself to the task for more than a


quarter of a century. He studied the


chemistry of metals, the strength of


materials, the philosophy of form.-


He studied failures; each broken ham,


mer taught him a lesson. There was


no part of the process that he did not


master. He taxed his wit to invent


machines to perfect and cheaper his


processes. No improvement in work.


ing steel and iron escaped his notice.


What may not twenty-five years of


effort accomplish when it is concen-
trated in a single object? He earned


success; and now, when his name is


stamped on a steel hammer, il is his


note, his bond, his integrity embodied


in steel. The spirit of the man in


each hammer, and the work, like the


workman, is unrivaled. Mr.. Maydoll


is now acknowledged to have made


the best hammer in the world. Even


the sons of Thor, arcss the water, ad-


NIT it.


While was there, looking through


his shop, with all its admirable ar


rangement of tools and machinery,


there came to him a large order from


China. The merchants of the Celes-


tial Kingdom had sent down to that


little town, where that persistent


blacksmith now lives in affiuence to


get the best that Anglo-Saxon skill


had accomplished in the hammer


business. 1t is not small thing for
any man to do one thing better than
any other man in the world has dOno
it.


Let me call your attention to some
thing nearer your own work in this
college. In the district which l have
the honor to represent in Congress,
about forty years ago young lad,
who had come up from his home in
the Catskill mountains, where he had
learned the first rudiments of pen
manship by scribbling on the sole
leather of a good old Quaker shoe
maker (for he was too poor to buy pa
per- till he could write better than his
neighbOr; commenced to teach in that
part of Ohio, which has been called
''benighted Ashtabula"-U suggest
'beknighted' as the proper spelling of
the wOrd)-I say about forty years
ago he commenced q little writing
school and thew into the work the
fervor of a poetic soul and strength
of heart and spirit that few men pos
sess. He caught his ideas of beauty
from the waves of the lake, and from
the curves that they made upon the
white sand beach, and from the trace
ry of the spiders web. Learning
there the lines of beauty drawn by
the hand of nature he wrought out
that system of penmanship which is
now the pride of our country and the
model of our schools. 1t is the sys-
tenn you have been learning in this
college, and which is so worthily rep
resented by the son of its author-my
friend, Professor Spencer, your able
instructor. [Applause.] This is an
example of what man may do by
putting his whole heart into the work
he undertakes.


Only yesterday on my way here 1
learned a fact which will give you
to show how, by attending to things,
and putting your mind to the work,
you may reach success. A few days
ago, in the city of Boston, there was
held an exhibition of photography
ply, and to the great surprise of New
England it turned out that Mr.. Ryder,
a photographer from the city of Cleve-
land, took the prize for the best pho
Biography in America. But how did
this thing happen? / will tell you.
This Cleveland photographer happen
ed to read in a German paper of a
process practieed by Bohemians, those
workers in glass in southern Germany
q process of touching up the negative
with the finest instruments, thus re-
moving all chemical imperfection
from the negative itself. Reading
this he sent to Bohemia for one of
these artists, and at length succeeded
in bringing the art of Bohemia into
the service of his own profession.


This patient German sat down with
his lenses, and bringing a strong,
clear light upon these negatives, work
ing the finest instruments, rounding
and strengthening the outlines, the
artist was able at last to print from the
a photograph more perfect
than any have seen made with the
help of an India ink finish. And so
Mr.. Ryder took the prize. Why not?
1t was no mystery; it was simply
taking time by the fOrelock and secur-
ing the best aid in his business, and
bringing to bear the force of an ener-
getic mind to attain the best possible
results. That is the only way, young
ladies and gentlemen, in which sue
cess is gained. These men succeed,
because they deserve success. These
things are wrought out and do not
come to hand already made. Poets
may be born, but success is made
[Applause.


Now, young gentlemen, let me say
word. Let not poverty stand
as an obstacle in your way. Poverty
is uncomfortable, as can testify but
nine times out of ten the best thing
that can happen to a young man is to
be pitched overheard and compelled to
sink or swim for himself. In all my
/ have never know one
to be drowned who was worth saving.
Laughter and applause. This would
not be true in any other country, but
one of political equality like ours
The editor of one of the leading maya
zines of England told me, not many
ago, a fact startling enough in
itself, and which 1 will repeat in your
hearing. He told me that he had new
er yet known in all his experience a
single DOY OI the CldSS Vi luIul' AiDOl-
ers mot those who own farms, but the
mere farm-laborer,) who had ever ris-
en- above his class. Boys from the
and commercial class
es had risen frequently, but from q
farm-labor class he had never known
one.


The reason is this: In the aristOc-
racies of the Old World wealth and
society are built up like the strata of
rock which compose the crust of the
earth. If boy be born in the lowest
stratum of life, it is almost impossible
for him to rise through this hard crust
into the higher ranks; but in this
country it is not so. AS DIR. Hopkins
of Massachusetts,, once said, the strata
of our society resemble rather the
ocean, where every drop, even the
lowest, is free to mingle with all others
and may shine at last OH the crest of
the highest waves" That is the glo-
ry of our country, young gentlemen,
and you need not fear that there are
any obstacles which will prove too
great to any brave man. You will
recOllect what Burns, who knew all
meanings of poverty and struggle,
has said in hOmely verse: