be yours, O man and woman, to live for some purpose, to achieve something for those who follow after you, to leave the world in better hands than you found it. Determine not to die a cipher or a drone, to expire like the bursting of a soap bubble-being nothing for people to look at, admire, and take courage from." You will do this all the better if you take John Cassell's favourite motto to cheer you in your efforts― "Honour and shame from no condition rise, Act well thy part, there all the honour lies." THE END. PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C. This Diagram, illustrating the Influence of Education and Morality and of Ignorance and Vice on the Human Countenance, has been prepared upon an enlarged scale, showing the heads life size (dimensions-10 ft. THE SECRET OF SUCCESS. WHEN We consider the vast treasures of wealth locked up in the various libraries in the world, or try to estimate the value of the pictures in art galleries, or the sculptures in cathedrals and public buildings, we are constrained to own that Sir W. Hamilton was perfectly justified in having placed over the entrance to his library— "There is nothing great on earth but man, There is nothing great in man but MIND." And yet the minds of all those renowned authors, painters, and sculptors had to be trained before they could bring forth the noble works with which their names are connected. Indeed, it is safe to say with the late President Garfield, Every character is the joint product of nature and nurture." 66 To estimate therefore the grandeur and nobility of the mind, we must be ready to recognise the magnificent works it has brought forth, and to realise how impossible it is to anticipate what may yet be the results which will follow its proper training and development. It is said that Dr. Watts, who happened to be very short in stature, was once twitted with his size, to which he at once promptly and wittily replied— "Were I so tall to reach the pole, Or grasp the ocean with my span, I must be measured by my soul- If this test could be applied to many who think great things of themselves, it would result in the discovery of more dwarfs in the world than some imagine exist. It is the special feature of the mind to think, reason, remember, and will; but it is, alas! notorious that multitudes who possess these wonderful powers in a greater or less degree, never seem to realise that it is only by judicious culture and training its resources can be developed and turned to the highest and best account. While it is strictly true to say that there are different kinds of minds, it is equally correct to add that each one can be either made better or worse, according to the treatment it receives. The weak mind can be made stronger by care; and the strong, weaker by neglect. The inquiring mind can ask and receive; the teachable mind can be advanced in knowledge; and the thinking mind can attain strength by culture; while in every path of eminence can be seen the value of a well-disciplined mind. It will make a vast difference where a devout mind is stored with proper thoughts, or a perverted mind is filled with evil ones. To be spiritually minded is life and peace, but to be carnally minded is death. All this plainly teaches that to succeed (1) SELFEDUCATION IS NEEDFUL. Hence Cicero remarks, "Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body." And the well-known Cobbett adds, "If you want satisfactory crops, plough deep." While Burke, the author of a treatise on "The Sublime and Beautiful," testifies "the elevation of the mind ought to be the principal end of all our studies." No wonder that Carlyle, with his usual quaintness, says, "That there should be one man |