If ever there was a man who seemed doomed to failure it was U. S.
Grant in the spring of 1861. He had cut loose from the
profession for which he had been trained, and, after drifting
from one occupation to another and failing in all, he was now, at
thirty-nine years old, a clerk in a country store and unable to
make ends meet at that. Three years later he was
Lieutenant-General of the armies of the United States, and five
years after that he was President.
Solon said it was never safe to call any man happy until he was
dead. Unhappiness is equally uncertain. If you are poor now you
may be rich to-morrow. If you are unknown now you may be famous
to-morrow. If you are even in the penitentiary now you may be
running a street-car system to-morrow.
So don't be discouraged if your fortunes are in temporary
eclipse. The savage is in despair when the sun goes into the
moon's shadow, for he thinks that some monster has swallowed it,
and that there will never be any daylight again. But to the
astronomer an eclipse is merely an interesting opportunity to
make scientific observations. Be as sure of the coming of
daylight as the astronomer is, and your moments of darkness will
trouble you no more than his trouble him.
TWO KINDS OF DISCONTENT
Emerson says:
"Discontent is the want of self-reliance; it is infirmity of
will.
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