"It's very interesting," said Jane. "I think that it's the most interesting thing in the whole world. You see, I didn't have any life at all; I was an orphan and not very bright. And then I happened to get hold of a book that said that all the life there was in the world was mine, if I'd just take it. So I wrote to the man who wrote the book—"
"How did you ever dare?"
"Why, I knew that the man who wrote that book would help any one—he couldn't have written the book if he hadn't been made to help people—and I asked him how I could begin."
"What did he answer?"
"He said: 'Seize every chance to prove your mind the master of your own body first, and when you are thoroughly master of yourself, you can master all else.'"
"What did he mean?"
"Well, I took it that he meant me to do anything that I thought of, right off, and that if I got in the habit of sweeping all work out of my small way, I'd soon be given a chance at big work in a big way."
"And were you?"
"Yes. I began to get through so quick—I lived with an uncle and helped his wife with the sewing and the children—that I had some spare time, and I went into the kitchen and learned to cook. Then one of the children was ill, and the doctor thought I'd make a good nurse, so he got me into a hospital, and I met a woman there who had all the books that I wanted to read and who just took hold and helped me right out. I saw that I didn't want to be a sick-nurse, because there's such a lot of humbug and such a lot that's silly, and my friend said that I was one who would evolve opportunities—"
"What does that mean?"