Bigger men than you have run up against immovable obstacles of that kind.
Consider W. J. B., for instance. He found, in New England, a lot of tribunals, the low, the high and the middle, which were not to be convinced that he, W. J. B., was entitled to $50,000 that old Mr. Bennett thought he was leaving to our Nebraska friend by will.
You and I would think that as the money belonged to Bennett, and Bennett had declared in writing that W. J. B. should have it, the judges would not interfere.
But they did. No amount of eloquence, of the best W. J. B. sort, could budge them an inch. Our Nebraska friend got knocked out all along the line.
Did it cast him down?
Not in the least. He is as cheerful—not to say saucy—as you are over your little tumble. That is just the way to be: but one should always try to get some lesson out of one’s defeats, so that one will know better how to do next time.
If you should ask W. J. B. what lesson he has learned from that series of knockdowns in the New England courts, he would answer: “The next time a benevolent Yankee comes to my house, and offers to make me a bequest of $50,000, I will take him out and introduce him to a safe and sane lawyer who knows how to draw a will.”
Cultivate what is best in your character and mind.
Do not imitate anybody.