PLODDING ON.*
Vex success in life be commanded? Not always ; yet assuredly much more frequently than is commonly supposed, three special qualifications being especially necessary to its attainment, viz., a definite object in view, a determination not to be baffled, and the capability of exercising continuous self-denial. To the man -possessing these three attributes, failure is next to an impossi- bility. There is, however, a fourth which is perhaps even still more useful, and that is a belief in one's own powers, for per- sons who are doubtful of themselves seldom rise to any special eminence, being held back by a species of mental para- lysis from putting forth strongly the capacity they may really possess. Such people rather wish than will. It is evident that exceptionally favourable circumstances are by no means a sine qnci non. On the contrary, the want of such assistance is often a chief factor in the develop- ment of latent power, and the assertion that genius is but another name for the power of attending closely is not altogether wanting in truth. No doubt, each individual has his special tastes and leanings, and also his special repug- maims ; there are some lines in which it would be impossible for certain men to attain to anything like proficiency ; but then we rarely embark in enterprises where fortune is manifestly unpropitious. In looking into the lives of suc- cessful men—men who have arrived at fame or fortune, er perhaps both—we find that however opposite may have been their circumstances, however widely at variance their aims, they always have some quality in common ; they are, at least, thoroughly in earnest, and they never allow them- selves to be beaten. Mr. °unveil shows this very clearly in some of the short biographies which he has put together, and which he has chosen as embracing many different interests, and as being to a certain extent unhackneyed. George Peabody, John Kitto, William and Robert Chambers, Musgrave Lewth- waite Watson, George Romney, and Abraham Lincoln are fair examples ; to a few of the others we take exception. Brassey, for instance, began life as a land-agent and surveyor, and may almost be said to have drifted into the railway enterprises by means of which he afterwards became so famous ; and Charles Knight, although an example of untiring industry, rather continued and widely developed the work of his father, than struck out a new line of his own ; while the sad termination of the career of Hugh Miller—clearly
• IlesiaVas On. By Henry Curwon. London: Simpkin, Marshall. and Co.
the result of an overtaxed brain—teaches a somewhat dif- ferent lesson from that intended to be conveyed,—the lesson that those qualities of will and perseverance which are in them- selves so commendable, require, like all others, to be controlled and kept in check.
Of Mr. Curwen's life-sketches, the raciest and most attrac- tive are those of the brothers Chambers and of Abraham Lin- coln, although there is much pathos in his picture of the miserably poor, deaf Kitto, with his all but unintelligible utter- ance, so resolutely determined to become a scholar, who obtains the means of purchasing books first by groping for bits of old iron in the black, fetid swamp of mud in the "fish- ing trawlers' harbour" at Plymouth, and next by writing stories and painting rude pictures for the children, and window-labels for the small shopkeepers of his neighbourhood, until at fifteen he finds himself the inmate of a workhouse, which he leaves to be apprenticed to a shoemaker, who keeps him at hard labour six- teen and even eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, and treats him so cruelly that he is quite glad to return to his former dismal refuge. Never, however, during all the time has the boy given up his habits of study ; so that when a chance of advancement is offered to him he is perfectly qualified to take advantage of it, and soon developes those linguistic faculties which were afterwards so remarkable, and all his life continues to work with the same untiring perseverance.
Most persons are familiar with the story of William and Robert Chambers, the two Scotch lads who, without the slightest assistance from any one, started in life at an age when other boys are mere children, and by the exercise of almost superhuman self-denial, not only maintained themselves in independence, but attained a position of literary and scien- tific eminence, and became the recognised benefactors of a large proportion of their countrymen. In all their career there was no chance, no cropping-up of fortunate incidents, nothing but a pure exercise of will, and steady, continuous labour, with the knowledge of and belief in their own powers. So it was with Watson, although in his case the incentive of poverty was want- ing ; he resolved to be a sculptor, and carried his point against every obstacle ; with Romney, who painted the portraits of his fellow-artisans, instead of working at his cabinet-making ; and with Abraham Lincoln, whose leading characteristic was ambi- tion, and who, all through his childhood, when he seemed to have no chance whatever of attaining to greatness, always insisted that he was going to be President of the 'United States,— and the keeping this idea constantly before him was, no doubt, mainly instrumental in bringing about the unlikely event. The sketch of Lincoln, principally a resiong of Lemon's life, is a series of telling pictures of a career only possible on the other side of the Atlantic. It begins with the story of the idle, thrift- less, roving father, and the miserable life at Nolin Creek, when Abe, hungry and scantily clothed, has to trudge eight miles daily in quest of the small rudiments of learning which could be bestowed upon him by the village schoolmaster ; tells us of the death of the wretched, useless mother, and of the in- tervention of the step-mother, who, albeit she had children of her own, had a heart large enough to take in the for- lorn little ones, and who, as Abraham Lincoln was often heard to declare, was the first person who made him feel "like a human being," and taught him that blows, and taunts, and degradation were not to be his only portion in this world. This good woman it was who first discovered that Abe had more than ordinary ability, and gave him the means of putting it forth, sending him to school for as long a period as he could be spared from home duties; and we are told that he soon excelled all his masters, and, having no more to learn from them, pursued his studies at home, or wherever he was em- ployed, being pronounced "awful lazy" at manual labour, although he was, from his willingness to assist every one, every- where a favourite, and when not doing some special act of kind- ness was telling stories or cracking jokes. One of his favourite amusements was "taking the stump," and 'delivering either a sermon or a political oration, from which, however, he was usually dragged away by his father, and chastised with no gentle hand. Very primitive must have been the life at Gentryvffle in those days, when four yards of linsey-woolsey, a yard in width, made a dress for any woman ; when shoes made from leather tanned at home, and generally by some member of the family, were "the mode for entering a ball-room," but not by any means to be worn on ordinary occasions ; when bonnets were of the " cornfield " kind ; and " church " was held alter-
nately in the different houses, a bottle of whiskey, a pitcher of water, sugar and glasses, pies and cakes, apples and turnips, and sometimes new potatoes, being set forth as a preliminary, and we are naïvely told that "people seemed to enjoy religion more in those days than they do now." Amidst these surround- ings Lincoln grew up, fishing, hunting, working with the young people, any family being glad when Abe was hired as help, for he was not above doing any kind of "chores," always ready to make a fire, carry water, or nurse a baby. Presently, we find him engaged at Anderson's Creek, where he manages a ferry-boat, and is hostler and ploughman out of doors, a man- of-all-work within, and in great demand in "hog-killing time." After meals, he would "hang about" gossiping and joking with the women, until breaking off with the exclamation, "Well, this won't buy the child a coat," he would stride off to join his master, and is said to have been "not only the longest, but the strongest man in the settlement." Most of the work seems to have been repaid in kind, the cash returns being almost infinitesimal, so that Abe was glad to take an engagement, at eight dollars per month, as "bow hand" on one of the boats used to carry bacon and other produce to New Orleans. And this seems to have been the turning-point in his career, for having received a silver dollar for rowing two passengers off to the packet-boat, he began to perceive the possibility of making money, and became, as he says himself, more hopeful and con- fident from that time, so that when a coupleof years afterwards he had, as he hoped, settled his father and family comfortably on a new farm some distance west of Decatur, on the Sangamon river, he started to begin the world for himself, and what with the rail-splitting of which we have heard so much, barge-work, pilotage, jobbing, and keeping a store, managed to make his way, and to win an immense amount of popularity ; and it is noteworthy that amidst all his business he contrived to find time for study, sitting in the coopers' shops at night, and burning the day's shavings to save candles when":others were in bed. "Neighbours," says the author, "lent him books, the schoolmaster coached him in the store, on the road, in the meadows. Strangers were waylaid to explain the un- known. As a result, the whole country-side wondered at his growth in knowledge, and he soon became as famous for the goodness of his understanding as for the muscular power of his body and the unfailing humour of his talk," albeit his costume of rough blue jeans, the nether garments of which wanted twelve inches of reaching to his shoes, with a considerable hiatus also about the waist, was considered, even in those times and in that wild country, to be not a little inelegant. His next move is to study law, which he does lying on his back with his feet up a tree, or sitting astride of Jake Bales's wood pile, putting into practice what he learns by writing deeds, contracts, and other legal papers for his neighbours, and trying "to make a lawyer, a surveyor, and a politician of him- self," gaining a tolerable living by surveying before he obtains his licence as an attorney, and is admitted to practise in the Circuit Court, having meanwhile succeeded in being elected to the Legislature of his State. "There is no instance," says his 'biographer, "where an important office seemed to be within his reach whichhe did not try to attain;" ever and always Lincoln was working out the single passion of his life, ambition, and as he thus steadily followed his object, so he did not fail of attaining it. Whether, merely as ambition, it was worthy of this earnest pursuit is another question, but the career of Lincoln appears to show that in him it was something better, for when he reached the highest point he used his power with an occasional but critical display of such moral grandeur of purpose as few Kings have ever manifested ; and his story is certainly an admirable instance of the compelling power of a determined will.
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