"My advice to you is to go to work and try for the track team in the spring."
"Do you think I can make it?" said Will breathlessly.
"I don't say that," laughed Wagner. "That's something to be decided later. All I said was that you'd better 'try' for it. You've nothing to lose if you fail and something to win if you succeed."
"But if I should try and then not make it."
"Yes, that's a possibility, of course. No man can ever tell about that. But I shouldn't let it break my heart if I didn't make the team the first year. Very few do that. All I say is go ahead and try. No man can ever tell what's in him till he tests himself, can he?"
"No, I suppose not."
"Now don't have any nonsense about it, Phelps, and don't misunderstand me. I believe in every man doing his best and then just resting there and not crying over what he can't ever have. If a man does his best and then doesn't have the whole world bowing and scraping before him because he isn't very high up, that isn't any reason why he should kick. Take what you've got, use it, test it, and then if you find you're not a star but only a candle, why, just shine as a candle and don't go sputtering around because you can't twinkle like a star. At least that's the way I look at it."
"Perhaps a fellow's father and mother don't look at it that way."
"Are you having trouble with Splinter?" demanded the senior sharply.
"A little. Yes, a good deal. I detest the fellow!" said Will bitterly.