RIGHT THINKING.                      579

two minutes! three minutes! The horse was still pulling. The
strong man said, "Stop! I'll give you the money." It was
plain the old horse was not going to stop until he pulled him
out. So he paid the money to save his reputation. How did
this one rather weak horse do what splendid double teams
failed to do? He was not stronger than they, but accomplished
his mission as the postage stamp does-by sticking. There is
nothing possible that will not yield to a persistent intelligent
human will. Education should teach our boys and girls to be
effective. Get results. Don't ask favors. The rebound al-
ways follows. If you are granted favors because you are in-
efficient you will eventually be denied privileges because you
are inferior. The world often admires the robber who boldly
says to his victim, "Stand and deliver," but always despises
(even if it pities) the beggar who says, "Please, sir, help me."
  5. Don't over-estimate your own importance in the world.
Don't be too ambitious. "The wisdom of life," says Ruskin,
"is in preventing all the evil we can, and using what is inevi-
table to the best purpose."  A little ambition and self-impor-
tance are necessary ingredients of a strong and successful per-
sonality. But they are like salt and pepper-too much spoils
all. "Ambition is the germ," says a writer, "from which all
growth in nobleness proceeds." It is my candid opinion that
nothing so assists one to get on in the world as to judiciously
blow your own horn. But don't blow it so loud as to disturb
your neighbors. Limit your aims to the reasonable and at-
tainable and you will avoid heart-breaking disappointments.
Many a great and useful man has died broken-hearted because
he over-reached himself.
  Lastly, be deserving; be watchful; be energetic; be patient
persistent and hopeful. Concentrate your energy.
          "He who hath a single hope and but one
           May hope to see it gratified before this life is done."
  Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in
trade, in short in all the management of human affairs. Many
a man of great energy and ability has failed because he did not
concentrate his energies; on the contrary, many a man of very
moderate ability has by concentration, persistence and energy
surprised the world by his results.




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 2

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  02
Date:  10/1911