The man

"Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, And grasps the skirts of happy chance, And breasts the billows of circumstance And grapples with his evil star"

will tower above his fellows.

Energy of will distinguishes such a man as surely as muscular power distinguishes a lion.

"He who has a firm will," says Goethe, "molds the world to himself."

"People do not lack strength," says Victor Hugo, "they lack will."

Of Julius Cæsar it was said by a contemporary that it was his activity and giant determination rather than his military skill, that won his victories. The youth who starts out in life determined to make the most of his eyes and let nothing escape him which he can possibly use for his own advancement; who keeps his ears open for every sound that can help him on his way, who keeps his hands open that he may clutch every opportunity, who is ever on the alert for everything which can help him to get on in the world, who seizes every experience in life and grinds it up into paint for his great life's picture, who keeps his heart open that he may catch every noble impulse, and everything which may inspire him, that youth will be sure to make his life successful; there are no "ifs" or "ands" about it. If he has his health, nothing can keep him from final success.

No tyranny of circumstances can permanently imprison a determined will.

The world always stands aside for the determined man. Will makes a way, even through seeming impossibilities. "It is the half a neck nearer that shows the blood and wins the race: the one march more that wins the campaign: the five minutes more of unyielding courage that wins the fight."

HOW TO TALK WELL—A

TREMENDOUS ASSET

Many a man owes his advancement largely to his ability to converse well.

There is no other one thing which enables us to make so good an impression, especially upon those who do not know us thoroughly, as the ability to converse well.

The art of arts is to be a good converser. To be able to interest people, to rivet their attention, to draw them to you by the very superiority of your conversational powers, is to be the possessor of a priceless accomplishment.

T

HE monk, Basle, according to a quaint

legend, died while under the ban of excommunication by the Pope, and was sent in charge of an angel to find his place in the nether world. But the monk's genial disposition and his great conversational powers won friends whereever he went. The fallen angels adopted his manner, and even the good angels went a long way to see him and live with him. He was removed to the lowest depths of Hades, but with the same result. His kindness of heart and charm of speech were irresistible, and changed the hell into a heaven. At length the angel returned with the monk, saying that no place could be found in which to punish him. He still remained the same Basle.

So his sentence was revoked, and he was sent to Heaven and canonized as a saint.

Hannah More was so charming in conversation that her physician who attended her during an illness, when she was only sixteen, was so fascinated one day by her conversation that he forgot the purpose of his visit. When he was half-way down stairs he recollected himself. "Bless me!" he cried, "I forgot to ask the girl how she was!" Hurrying back, he inquired, "How are you to-day, my poor child?"

To be able to interest people, to rivet their attention, to draw them to you by the superiority and charm of your conversational ability, is to be the possessor not only of a delightful accomplishment, but also of a very powerful factor in the attainment of popularity and success. It will not only help you to make a good impression on strangers, but it will also help you to make and keep friends. It will open doors and soften hearts. It makes one interesting in all sorts of company. Even though you may be poor it will help you into the best society.

It is no figure of speech to say, "Give a boy address and accomplishments, and you give him the mastery of palaces and fortunes wherever he goes; he has not the trouble of earning or owning them; they solicit him to enter and possess." A pleasing address will gain a hearing and win favor where a bungling, awkward speech would create a bad

impression. Good conversationalists are always sought after in society. Everybody wants to invite So-and-So to dinners or receptions because he is such a good talker. He entertains. A person may have many defects, but people enjoy his society because he can talk well.

There is no other one thing which enables us to make so good an impression on others, especially on those who do not know us thoroughly, as the ability to converse well.

Can the ability be acquired? Is it not a natural gift? I am often asked. Let us see, first of all, what is necessary to the making of a good conversationalist.

A well-known writer says, "A good conversationalist is one who has ideas, who reads, thinks, listens, and who has therefore something to say.'

It sounds very simple. There are few of us that can not, at least, in some degree, measure up to the terms of the definition. But there are very few really good conversationalists.

Most of us are bunglers in our conversation, because we do not take the trouble or pains to learn to talk well. We express ourselves in sloppy, slipshod English, because it is so much easier to do so than it is to think before we speak, to make an effort to express ourselves with elegance, ease, and power.

Many poor conversationalists excuse themselves for not trying to improve by saying that "good