Brave Men and Women: Their Struggles, Failures, And Triumphs
Find out what you are fitted for; work hard at that one thing, and keep a brave, honest heart .
COPYRIGHT By O.E. FULLER 1884 All rights reserved.
Struggle, failure, triumph: while triumph is the thing sought, struggle has its joy, and failure is not without its uses.
It is not the goal , says Jean Paul, but the course which makes us happy. The law of life is what a great orator affirmed of oratory-- Action, action, action! As soon as one point is gained, another, and another presents itself.
It is a mistake, says Samuel Smiles, to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failure. He cites, among others, the example of Cowper, who, through his diffidence and shyness, broke down when pleading his first cause, and lived to revive the poetic art in England; and that of Goldsmith, who failed in passing as a surgeon, and yet wrote the Deserted Village and the Vicar of Wakefield. Even when one turns to no new course, how many failures, as a rule, mark the way to triumph, and brand into life, as with a hot iron, the lessons of defeat!
The brave man or the brave woman is one who looks life in the eye, and says: God helping me, I am going to realize the best possibilities of my nature, by calling into action the beneficent laws which govern and determine the development of each individual member of the race. And the failures of such a person are the jewels of triumph; that triumph which is certain in the sight of heaven, if not in the eyes of men.
Brave Men and Women, the title of this volume, is used in a double sense, as referring not only to those whose words and deeds are here recorded, or cited as examples, but also to all who read the book, and are striving after the riches of character.
Some of the sketches and short papers are anonymous, and have been adapted for use in these pages. Where the authorship is known, and the productions have been given verbatim , the source, if not the pen of the editor, has been indicated. Thanks are due to the press, and to those who have permitted the use of copyrighted matter.
Osgood E. Fuller
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Their Struggles, Failures, and Triumphs.
PREFACE
CONTENTS
AT FIFTY-TWO.
POOR RICHARD'S ADDRESS.
WAS DR. FRANKLIN MEAN?--JAMES PARTON'S ANSWER.
JAMES PARTON'S ANSWER.
THE MOTHER'S EDUCATION--THE SON'S TRAINING--DOMESTIC LOVE AND SOCIAL DUTIES.
THE MOTHER'S' EDUCATION.
THE SON'S TRAINING.
DOMESTIC LOVE AND SOCIAL DUTY.
WHAT THEY GOT OUT OF LIFE.
THE MOLDER OF PUBLIC OPINION.
THE BRAVE JOURNALIST.
THE TIMES WHEN HE APPEARED.
"WHO IS THIS FELLOW?"
A FLAMING ADVOCATE OF LIBERTY.
LIBERTY OF SPEECH AND THOUGHT.
POWER TO DISCERN THE RIGHT.
THE MOB-BEATEN HERO TRIUMPHANT.
GATHERED FROM HIS SPEECHES, ADDRESSES, LETTERS, ETC.
A REMINISCENCE AT FORTY--PICTURES OF RURAL LIFE.
IN THE TRENCHES OF THE CRIMEA--PUTS DOWN THE GREAT TAIPING REBELLION IN CHINA IN 1863-4--HERO OF THE SOUDAN--BEARDS THE MEN-STEALERS IN THEIR STRONGHOLDS, AND MAKES THE PEOPLE LOVE HIM.
BITS OF COMMON SENSE AND WISDOM ON A GREAT SUBJECT.
WHAT THE "BREAD WINNERS" LIKE IN THEIR WIVES--A LITTLE CONSTITUTIONAL OPPOSITION.
WHAT HE SAYS OF RELIGIOUS GRUMBLERS--GOOD-NATURE AND FIRMNESS--PATIENCE--OPPORTUNITIES--FAULTS--HOME--MEN WHO ARE DOWN--HOPE--HINTS AS TO THRIVING, ETC.
RELIGIOUS GRUMBLERS.
GOOD-NATURE AND FIRMNESS.
PATIENCE.
ON SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES.
FAULTS.
HOME.
MEN WHO ARE DOWN.
HOPE.
MY FIRST WIFE.
HINTS AS TO THRIVING.
TRY.
THE PRINTING-PRESS THE MIGHTIEST AGENCY ON EARTH FOR GOOD AND FOR EVIL--THE FLOOD OF IMPURE AND LOATHSOME LITERATURE--WHAT CAN WE DO TO ABATE THIS PESTILENCE?--WHAT BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS SHALL WE READ?--HOW PROTECT OUR CHILDREN.
AND OTHER POEMS.
MICHAEL FARADAY--SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS--M. PASTEUR.
FARADAY.
SIEMENS
PASTEUR.
ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL CREATIONS OF A GREAT GENIUS.
PLEASURE AFTER PAIN--PAIN AFTER PLEASURE.
THE HEROINE OF THE CRIMEA.
HAWTHORNE-WASHINGTON, IRVING, AND OTHERS--MADAME RECAMIER.
HAWTHORNE.
WASHINGTON AND IRVING.
MADAME RECAMIER.
OUR JUDGE ON DRILL.
HIS MARRIAGE.
LAW LECTURES.
AT THE BAR.
INTELLECTUAL POWER.
ON THE BENCH.
HOW SHE TRAINED HERSELF, AND EDUCATED HER BOYS
WHAT DR. SARGENT, OF THE HARVARD GYMNASIUM, SAYS ABOUT IT--POINTS FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND PUPILS.
THE PATRONESS OF MUSIC-MYTHS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC-ITS RELATION TO WORK AND BLESSEDNESS
MYTHS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC.
THE RELATION OF MUSIC TO WORK AND BLESSEDNESS.
NEW-YEAR'S EVE.
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON--SIR WALTER RALEIGH--XENOPHON-- CÆSAR--NELSON--HENRY OF NAVARRE--QUEEN ELIZABETH-- SYDNEY SMITH--ROBERT HALL--LATIMER--TOM HOOD.
THE LAST SAXON KING OF ENGLAND.
"Therefore trust to thy heart, and what the world calls illusions."--LONGFELLOW.
AT HOME.
A LEGEND OF THE FIRST CENTURY.
THE PITH AND MARROW OF CERTAIN OLD PROVERBS.
IF THE CAP FITS, WEAR IT.
BURN A CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS, AND IT WILL SOON BE GONE.
HUNCHBACK SEES NOT HIS OWN HUMP, BUT HE SEES HIS NEIGHBOR'S.
A LOOKING-GLASS IS OF NO USE TO A BLIND MAN.
DON'T CUT OFF YOUR NOSE TO SPITE YOUR FACE.
IT IS HARD FOR AN EMPTY SACK TO STAND UPRIGHT.
A HAND-SAW IS A GOOD THING, BUT NOT TO SHAVE WITH.
TWO DOGS FIGHT FOR A BONE, AND A THIRD RUNS AWAY WITH IT.
HE HAS A HOLE UNDER HIS NOSE. AND HIS MONEY RUNS INTO IT.
STICK TO IT AND DO IT.
LIKE CAT LIKE KIT.
A BLACK HEN LAYS A WHITE EGG.
EVERY BIRD LIKES ITS OWN NEST.
MANY PHASES AND MANY EXAMPLES.
CROSSING THE NUBIAN DESERT.
WHICH SOME PEOPLE PERSIST IN INTRODUCING.
THE GRACE DARLING OF AMERICA.
ONE PANACEA FOR THEM--AND ONE REFUGE.
"Rachel weeping for her children, and would not he comforted, because they were not."
THE GLORY OF BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN.