It is the sharp click of the steel against the flint that "makes the fire fly." So it is the contact of heroic souls with great obstacles and repeated failures that brings out the true grit that is in them. Ordinary men yield to difficulties and abandon their purposes because of one or two failures, while to the extraordinary these are but the fuel that fires the flame of their ambition, but the athletic sport that develops the muscle essential to the performance of extraordinary feats on the day of exhibition.
Not until he had failed three times as a lecturer and had passed his forty-fifth year, did that most renowned of all American humorists, Josh Billings, achieve fame. Many of Edwin Booth's first efforts on the stage were flat failures. The early poetic aspirations of James Russell Lowell were crushed by the merciless criticism of Margaret Fuller. The first years of Washington's career as commander-in-chief of the Continental army were conspicuous for his defeats. Not until his masterly strategic move on Trenton did his achievements begin to augur hope of success.
General Grant retired from the army after the Mexican War, and failed in every business pursuit in which he engaged. But for the great Civil War he might have died in obscurity, and the world never have known of the superhuman capabilities as a commander of armies that were stowed away in his brain. And right here come to mind the beautiful, suggestive lines of Thomas Gray:
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
But to all these great souls, with many others that might be named, failure was only discipline. They held themselves together; they kept their courage and their common sense well in hand; they continued to do the best they could each day. Then, when the opportunity came, with their powers thoroughly disciplined by the experiences and failures through which they had passed, they took hold and achieved greatness by doing great things.
So it is not so much the genius to do brilliant things at the first effort, but the genius to keep on trying to do something that wins in the race of life. Professor Hutton, of the School of Mines in Columbia University, rates the students who learn slowly and with much effort much higher than he does the "smart boys" who master their lessons with but little struggle. And why? Because the slow students are workers and stick to their work. They are early schooled in the important exercise of surmounting difficulties by much honest effort.
It is given out as a fact that of all the West Point students who graduated at the head of their respective classes prior to the Civil War Robert E. Lee was the only one who became a great general. Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and others who achieved renown in that war as commanders ranked quite low down. This is stated not to discourage the students who take first honors, nor to dissuade students from striving for such honors, but to encourage the great mass of boys and girls who master the lessons of the books slowly and with difficulty. The extra effort required to make amends for lack of aptness is often the very thing needed to develop a genius for honest, thorough work; and after all, that is the genius that wins in the long race of life.
The admonition of Park Benjamin fits in right here:
"Press on! there's no such word as fail; Press nobly on! the goal is near -- Ascend the mountain! breast the gale! Look upward, onward -- never fear! Why shouldst thou faint? Heaven smiles above, Though storm and vapor intervene; The sun shines on, whose name is Love, Serenely o'er life's shadow'd scene.
"Press on! If Fortune play thee false Today, tomorrow she'll be true; Whom now she sinks she now exalts, Taking old gifts and granting new. The wisdom of the present hour Makes up for follies past and gone; To weakness strength succeeds, and power From frailty springs-press on! press on!"
-- J. W. C.
By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."