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S. Coley (T Way of Success)

T Way of Success.

HE men whom I have seen succeed best in life have always been cheerful and hopeful men, who went about their business with a smile on their faces, and took the changes and chances of their mortal life like men facing rough and smooth alike as it came, and so found the truth of the old proverb, that "Good times and bad times, and all times pass over."

Of all men, perhaps, who have lived in our days, the most truly successful was the great Duke of Wellington; and one thing, I believe, which helped him most to become great, was that he was so wonderfully free from vain fretting and complaining-free from useless regrets about the past, from useless anxieties for the future. Though for years he had on his shoulders a responsibility which might have well broken down the spirit of any man, though the lives of thousands of brave men, and the welfare of great kingdoms-ay, humanly speaking, the fate of all Europe-depended on his using his wisdom in the right place, and one mistake might have brought ruin and shame on him and on tens of thousands, yet no man ever saw him anxious, confused, terrified. Though for many years he was much tried and hampered, and unjustly and foolishly kept from doing his work as he knew it ought to be done, yet, when the time came for work, his head was always clear, his spirit was always ready, and, therefore, he succeeded in the most marvellous way.

Solomon says: "Better is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." Now, the great duke had learnt in most things to rule his spirit, and therefore he was able not only to take cities, but to do better still, to deliver cities-ay, and whole countries-out of the hands of armies far stronger, humanly speaking, than his own.