"If I were only going among strangers," he said to his mother, "I wouldn't mind it so much; but all these boys and girls have known me ever since I was a small boy and went barefoot."
"Does your heart fail you, my son?" asked his mother, who sympathized with him, yet saw that it was a trial which must come.
"I can't exactly say that, but I dread to begin."
"We must expect to encounter difficulties and perplexities, James. None of our lives run all smoothly. Shall we conquer them or let them conquer us?"
The boy's spirit was aroused.
"Say no more, mother," he replied. "I will undertake the school, and if success is any way possible, I will succeed. I have been shrinking from it, but I won't shrink any longer."
"That is the spirit that succeeds, James."
James laughed, and in answer quoted Campbell's stirring lines with proper emphasis:
"I will victor exult, or in death be laid low,
With my face to the field and my feet to the foe."