“I thought, while he was making the remarks, of that French engraving of the top of the pyramid, in your portfolio,” said Jessie, addressing Aunt Fanny.
“What, that soldier on the top of a pyramid? Let me find it, will you, Aunt Fanny?” said Ronald.
Permission was given, and Ronald soon found the picture, a copy of which is given on the opposite page. It represents a French grenadier at the top of an Egyptian pyramid. You perceive he is a little elevated—about four hundred and eighty feet above the surface of the earth—and may well be pardoned for exhibiting a slight degree of enthusiasm.
“The engraving is a pretty good illustration of Mr. Upton’s remarks,” said Jessie. “You know the pyramids, a little way off, look as if their sides were smooth; at least they look so in pictures. Now, if we should see a man on top of one of them, we should wonder how he got there. We should think there was some miracle about it, or else that he had got faculties that common people don’t possess,—just as some people think when they see a learned man. But if we go up to the pyramid, we shall find that its sides are composed of steps, all the way up, and that the way to reach the top is to climb those steps, one by one.”
“I always thought the sides of the pyramids were smoothed off even, till I saw that picture,” said Ronald.
“When I went to school,” said Mrs. Page, “our teacher used to encourage us, if we got disheartened, by telling us that ‘what man has done, man may do.’ I heard that saying so often, that I got perfectly sick of it; but, after all, there is a good deal of meaning in it. It isn’t literally true that what one man has done, any other man can do. I might study as hard and as long as Milton did, and yet I never should be able to write such a poem as Paradise Lost. Some men are more highly endowed by God than others. But, by patient effort, and perseverance, and quietly going along step by step, as Mr. Upton says, we can do wonders. We can accomplish anything, in fact, that does not require a very rare and peculiar endowment from God. This is the way most people become eminent, and it is the way all become learned. They toil up the steep mountain, one step at a time, and if they get far above the crowd, you may know that they have worked hard, and have a right to swing their hats a little, with honest pride, as the soldier in the picture is doing.”
“O, mother!” exclaimed Ronald, “did you know Kate was admitted to the Grade of Honor, to-day?”
“No, I’ve heard nothing about it,” said Mrs. Page.
“Well, she was,” added Ronald; “and it was lucky for her, for it was the last chance—there wont be any more promotions before examination.”