That one thing, humanly speaking, which causes one individual to tower above another in life’s pursuits, is perseverance. Steadfastness, resolution, pluck, bravery, boldness, patience, are among the ingredients of the trait. Its ambition is not satisfied with present attainments but reaches up to higher ground. There are no circumstances of birth or talent that can take the place of an invincible determination to succeed. No obstacle can stand before a strong-willed, indefatigable, persevering energy. This rising in the world from inward, instead of outward, pressure, wins the admiration of the world, and is often times the means of inciting in others a spirit of emulation which prompts them to go and do likewise. Chinese folklore is said to relate that a student, becoming discouraged with the difficulties which he encountered in his studies, threw away his books and abandoned his studies; but sometime afterward, seeing a woman rubbing a crowbar on a stone, he inquired as to the reason, and was told that she wanted a needle, and thought she would rub down the crowbar till it was small enough. Her example of perseverance provoked him to try again, with the result that he became one of the ripest scholars of the empire.

All the worlds’ greatest scholars, authors, philosophers, and philanthropists have reached the top only by persevering through trials and discouragements of various kinds. Patrick Henry, Clay, Webster, Lincoln, and Grant were sons of poor parents; but unwavering decision made them famous. The resolution of the great Carthaginian general, Hannibal, as displayed in his passage across the Alps and the Rhone, in his invasion of Italy, and during the long-continued war when his country failed to rally to his support, is worthy of admiration. The tenacity of the English army, who for hours endured the deadly fire of the French, while waiting for the arrival of Blücher, unhesitatingly obeying the command to fill up the ranks thinned by grape shot, won Waterloo. Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, was from youth a sufferer with disease. His attacks on the entrenchments of Montcalm had been disastrous. His troops were dispirited. Fatigue, anxiety, and a violent fever had emaciated him. Gloomily he wrote home to England, “I am so far recovered as to do business, but my constitution is ruined.” Yet he did not despair. Five days afterward the Heights of Abraham had been scaled, Montcalm defeated, and the hitherto impregnable fortress surrendered. Disraeli, the son of a despised race, without aristocratic connections, coughed and hissed down in his first appearance in Parliament, persevered, and made himself a power in England, and a peer of his former scorners. Lord Chatham, when told on a certain occasion that a certain thing could not be done, replied, “I trample upon impossibilities.” To acquire a knowledge of language he used to translate Demosthenes into English, and he read Bailey’s dictionary through critically. Lord Nelson persevered against physical inferiority, and became the hero of the Nile and of Trafalgar. . . . Horace Greeley began at the bottom of the ladder; but by perseverance he rose to be editor-in-chief of one of the most influential papers in America.

But there is no excellence without great labor. Perseverance means hard, continuous work. Incessant practice is necessary in order to be a skilled pianist. Handel, the great composer, had a harpsichord, every key of which, by continuous use, was hollowed like the bowl of a spoon. Gibbon was at work the year around at six in the morning, and revised some of his manuscript nine times. Ainsworth toiled for years compiling a dictionary of the Latin language. When it was nearly completed, his wife committed it to the flames. With persevering energy he began to rewrite it, and finally accomplished the work. Audubon toiled for years in securing accurate representations of American birds, all of which were destroyed in one night by two rats. With commendable perseverance he took up his gun, pencil, and notebook, and went again into the woods, and in three years filled his portfolio again. When Carlyle had finished his first volume of the French Revolution, he lent it to a friend, whose servant by mistake threw it into the fire. Carlyle set to work, and, in a comparatively short time, reproduced it in its present form. Matthew Hale, when studying law, put in sixteen hours each day; and Heyne, the German classicist, shelled peas for dinner with one hand while he annotated Tibullus with the other.

Mr. Mathews, to whom we are indebted for some of the above facts, truly says that “there never was a time in the history of the world when success in any profession demanded harder or more increased labor than now.” We must hammer out a place for ourselves by sturdy blows. The world is a throng; the only place that is not crowded is at the top of the ladder. We must climb up.

If perseverance is so necessary in worldly matters, how much more is it necessary in the Christian race. Said Paul, “This one thing I do” (Philippians 3:13). We must perseveringly strive for the crown of immortality that lies at the end of the race. It is worth the effort; for it will never fade. It will be given to none but the overcomers.