"Not so very hard after I had once made up my mind that I would learn it. Indeed, I never stopped to think, as I usually do, about it being difficult or tiresome; but went right on until I had mastered every sentence."
"May you never forget this lesson, my son!" said Mr. Prentice feelingly. "You possess now the secret of success. It lies in your never stopping to think about a task being difficult or tiresome; but in going on steadily in the performance of it, with a fixed determination to succeed. Within a short time you have mastered a task that you despaired of ever learning at all. And now, George, remember, never again utter the words, I can't."
The success that had rewarded his own determined efforts, united with the impulse that the simple reference of his father to his own early difficulties gave to his mind, was sufficient to make George a rapid learner from that day. He became interested in his studies, and therefore he succeeded in them. When he left college, at the age of eighteen, he bore with him the highest honours of the institution, and the respect of his teachers. He now entered the house of a merchant, to prepare for a business life. At first, his new occupation was by no means pleasant. The change from books and studies to busy life, and the dull details of trade, as he called them, was for a time exceedingly irksome.
"I shall never make a merchant, I fear," he said to his father one evening, when he felt unusually wearied with his occupation.
"And why not, George?" asked Mr. Prentice kindly.
"I have no taste for it," replied the young man.
"That is a poor reason. Is it not an honest and honourable calling?"
"Yes."
"And are you not convinced that it is necessary for you to follow some occupation? I gave you a choice of professions; but you preferred, you said, a mercantile life."
"Yes. And still, when I reflect on the subject, my preference is for a mercantile life."