Sympathy is the first essential to insight.  So with sympathy, I pray, behold this blundering giant, and you will see that the basis of his character was a great Sincerity.  He was honest—­doggedly honest—­and saw with flashing vision the thing that was; and thither he followed, crowding, pushing, knocking down whatsoever opinion or prejudice was in the way.  And so he ever struggled forward.  But hate him not, for he is thy brother—­yea! he is brother to all who strive and reach forward toward the Ideal.  Shining through dust and disorder, now victorious, now eclipsed in deepest gloom, in him is the light of genius; and this is never base, but at the worst is admirable, lovable with pity.  There was pride in his heart, but no vanity; and he should be loved for this if for no other reason:  he had the courage to make an enemy.  In his great heart were wild burstings of affection, and a hunger for love that only the grave requited.  There, too, were fierce flashes of wrath, smothered in an hour by the soft dew of pity.  His faults and follies were manifold, as he often lamented with tears; but the soul of the man was sublime in its qualities—­worldwide in its influence.

THOMAS B. MACAULAY

The perfect historian is he in whose work the character and spirit of the age is exhibited in miniature.  He relates no fact, he attributes no expression to his characters, which is not authenticated by sufficient testimony.  But by judicious selection, rejection and arrangement, he gives to truth those attractions which have been usurped by fiction.  In his narrative a due subordination is observed:  some transactions are prominent; others retire.  But the scale on which he represents them is increased or diminished, not according to the dignity of the persons concerned in them, but according to the degree in which they elucidate the condition of society and the nature of man.
                                            —­Essay on History

[Illustration:  Thomas Macaulay]

Success is in the blood.

There are men whom Fate can never keep down—­they march jauntily forward, and take by divine right the best of everything that earth affords.  But their success is not attained by the Doctor Samuel Smiles Connecticut policy.  They do not lie in wait, nor scheme, nor fawn, nor seek to adapt their sails to catch the breeze of popular favor.  Still, they are ever alert and alive to any good that may come their way, and when it comes they simply appropriate it, and tarrying not, move steadily forward.

Good health!  Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of your head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every hand-clasp.  Do not fear being misunderstood and never waste a minute thinking about your enemies.  Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do, and then without violence of direction you will move straight to the goal.