“IF I CAN, I WILL.”
I knew a boy who was preparing to enter the junior class of the New York University. He was studying trigonometry, and I gave him three examples for his next lesson. The following day he came into my room to demonstrate his problems. Two of them he understood; but the third—a very difficult one—he had not performed. I said to him,—“Shall I help you?”
“No, sir! I can and will do it, if you give me time.”
I said: “I will give you all the time you wish.”
The next day he came into my room to recite another lesson in the same study.
“Well, Simon, have you worked that example?”
“No, sir,” he answered; “but I can and will do it, if you will give me a little more time.”
“Certainly, you shall have all the time you desire.”
I always like those boys who are determined to do their own work, for they make our best scholars, and men too. The third morning you should have seen Simon enter my room. I knew he had it, for his whole face told the story of his success. Yes, he had it, notwithstanding it had cost him many hours of severest mental labor. Not only had he solved the problem, but, what was of infinitely greater importance to him, he had begun to develop mathematical powers which, under the inspiration of “I can and I will,” he has continued to cultivate, until to-day he is professor of mathematics in one of our largest colleges, and one of the ablest mathematicians of his years in our country.
My young friends, let your motto ever be,—“If I can, I will.”