said: The captain who conveyed Napoleon to Elba expressed to me his astonishment at his precise and, as it were, familiar knowledge of all the minute details connected with the ship."

In the face of these examples, no one should come to the conclusion that details are beneath one's notice, or that one is less brilliant in the great things of life because he pays attention to the little things. Of General Thomas it is said that he was careful in all the details of a battle, but, once in the fight, was as "furious and impetuous as Jackson." Attention to details makes a business man, or any other kind of man, "sure that he is right," and then, of course, it only remains for him to "go ahead."

Perseverance

Is the ever ready and kindly ally of those who are seeking success and feel that they do not possess the ability to attain it so quickly as others. The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast well-doing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will usually be the most successful. Buffon's definition of genius, "It is patience,' may be exaggerated, but it hardly seems so when the accomplishments of patience are considered. Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but Fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find that Fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful-such as common sense, attention, application and perseverance. Genius may not be necessary, though even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among the least believers in the power of genius, and as worldly-wise and persevering as successful men of the commoner sort.

The extraordinary results effected by dint of sheer industry and perseverance have led many distinguished men to doubt whether the gift of genius be so exceptional an endowment as it is usually supposed to be. Thus Voltaire held that it is only a very slight line of separation that divides the man of genius from the man of ordinary mould. Beccaria was even of opinion that all men might be poets and orators, and Reynolds that they might be painters and sculptors. If this were really so, that stolid Englishman might not have been so very far wrong, after all, who, on Canova's death, inquired of his brother whether it was "his intention to carry on the business!" Locke, Helvetius and Diderot believed that all men have an equal aptitude for genius, and that what some are able to effect, under the laws which regulate the operations of the intellect, must also be within the reach of others. who, under like circumstances, apply themselves to like pursuits. But, while admitting to the fullest extent the wonderful achievements of labor, and recognizing the fact that men of the most distinguished genius have invariably been found the

most indefatigable workers, it must nevertheless be sufficiently obvious that, without the original endowment of heart and brain, no amount of labor, however well applied, could have produced a Shakspere, a Newton, a Beethoven or a Michael Angelo.

The world's history is full of the triumphs of those who have had to fight from beginning to end for recognition. Carey, the great missionary, began life as a shoemaker; the chemist Vanquelin was the son of a peasant; Richard Cobden was the son of a small farmer; Cook, the navigator, and Burns, the poet, were day-laborers; Ben Jonson was a bricklayer; David Livingstone, the traveller-missionary, was a weaver; Sturgeon, the electrician, and Bloomfield, the poet, were shoemakers; Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, was a tailor. At the plow, on the bench, or at the loom, these men dreamed of their future greatness, and persevered in their endeavors to accomplish it, and did so at last. Literature has provided several examples of singlehanded triumph over difficulties by the persevering. Lord Brougham, working for over sixty years at law, literature, politics and science, and achieving distinction in all, was advised by Sir Sidney Smith to confine himself to only the transaction of so much business as three strong men could get through.

Another hard-working man of the same class was Lord Lytton. Few writers did more, or achieved higher distinction in various walks—as a novelist, poet, dramatist, historian, essayist, orator and politician. He worked his way step by step, disdainful of ease, and animated throughout by the ardent desire to excel. On the score of mere industry there are few living English writers who have written so much, and none that have produced so much of high quality. Like Byron, his first effort was poetical (“ Weeds and Wild Flowers") and a failure. His second was a novel ("Falkland”), and it proved a failure too. A man of weaker nerve would have dropped authorship; but Bulwer had pluck and perseverance; and he worked on, determined to succeed. He was incessantly industrious, read extensively, and from failure went courageously onward to success. "Pelham" followed "Falkland" within a year, and the remainder of Lord Lytton's life was a succession of triumphs.

66

The late Premier of England, Lord Beaconsfield, affords a similar instance of the power of industry and application in working out an eminent public career. His first achievements were, like Bulwer's, in literature; and he reached success only through a succession of failures. His "Wondrous Tale of Alroy" and " Revolutionary Epic" were laughed at, and regarded as indications of literary lunacy. But he worked on in other directions, and his Coningsby,' "Sybil" and "Tancred" proved the sterling stuff of which he was made. As an orator, too, his first appearance in the House of Commons was a failure. It was spoken of as "more screaming than an Adelphi farce." Though composed in a grand and ambitious strain, every sentence was hailed with "loud laughter." "Hamlet" played as a comedy were nothing to it. But he concluded with a sentence

which embodied a prophecy. Writhing under the laughter with which his studied eloquence had been received, he exclaimed, “I have begun several times many things, and have succeeded in them at last. I will sit down now, but the time will come when you will hear me." The time did come; and how Disraeli succeeded in at length commanding the attention of the first assembly of gentlemen in the world affords a striking illustration of what energy and determination will do; for Disraeli earned his position by dint of patient industry. He did not, as many young men do, having once failed, retire dejected, to mope and whine in a corner, but diligently set himself to work. He carefully unlearned his faults, studied the character of his audience, practiced sedulously the art of speech, and industriously filled his mind with the elements of parliamentary knowledge. He worked patiently for success; and it came, but slowly; then the House laughed with him instead of at him. The recollection of his early failure was effaced, and by general consent he was at length admitted to be one of the most finished and effective of parliamentary speakers, and finally became the favored Prime Minister of Queen Victoria.

Decision of Character

Is one of the greatest of God's gifts to man, and, as every man has the germ of this quality, it can be cultivated to great advantage. It outstrips even talent and genius in the race for success in life. Thousands and thousands of brilliant men have failed for the want of courage, faith and decision, perishing in the sight of less gifted but more adventurous competiAs Sidney Smith says, "We must not stand shivering on the brink and thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can."

tors.

The old poem says:

"He either fears his fate too much,

Or his deserts are small,

That dares not put it to the touch,

To gain or lose it all."

Decision of character enables one to do the right thing at the right time. Every one knows that

"There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;"

but not every one has the ability to tell the time of flood, and many, after telling it, have lost its advantages through lack of nerve to embark upon it before the ebb came, and the opportunity was lost. In the smoke and din of battle, it was the genius of Napoleon which enabled him to see where one or two bold and rapid movements would secure the advantage; but it was his decision of character which enabled him to profit to the full by the discovery. To be decisive on important occasions, one must keep cool. The Duke of Wellington's calmness never forsook him, even in the most trying emergencies. At sea, one terrible night, the captain of the vessel rushed to the Duke, who was preparing for bed, and announced that the vessel would soon sink. 66 Then I shall not take off my boots," the imperturbable hero of Water

loo responded as he paused in his preparations for sleep. There is need for this coolness of manner and decision of action in all lines of business. The surgeon, brought face to face with a sudden complication in the case beneath his knife; the lawyer, surprised by the springing of the trap which his wily opponent had prepared for him; the merchant, apprised of a turn in his enterprises that threatens immediate disasterall are called upon to exercise this quality, and in thousands of cases the dullest man in a company has obtained the prize simply because he grasped it while others were revolving in their minds what they had better do in order to secure it.

Other Causes of Success and Failure.

Attention, application, accuracy, method, punctuality and dispatch are the principal qualities required for the efficient conduct of business of any sort. These, at first sight, may appear to be small matters; and yet they are of essential importance to human happiness, well-being and usefulness. They are little things, it is true; but human life is made up of comparative trifles. It is the repetition of little acts which constitutes not only the sum of human character, but which determines the character of nations; and where men or nations have broken down, it will almost invariably be found that neglect of little things was the rock on which they split. Every human being has duties to be performed, and, therefore, has need of cultivating the capacity for doing them— whether the sphere of action be the management of a household, the conduct of a trade or profession, or the government of a nation.

It is the result of every-day experience that steady attention to matters of detail lies at the root of human progress; and that diligence, above all, is the mother of good luck. Accuracy is also of much importance, and an invariable mark of good training in a man-accuracy in observation, accuracy in speech, accuracy in the transaction of affairs. What is done in business must be well done; for it is better to accomplish perfectly a small amount of work than to half-do ten times as much. A wise man used to say, Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner." Too little attention, however, is paid to this highly important quality of accuracy. As a man eminent in practical science lately observed to us, "It is astonishing how few people I have met with in the course of my experience who can define a fact accurately." Yet in business affairs, it is the manner in which even small matters are transacted that often decides men for or against you. With virtue, capacity and good conduct in other respects, the person who is habitually inaccurate cannot be trusted; his work has to be gone over again; and he thus causes an infinity of annoyance, vexation and trouble.

Method is essential, and enables a larger amount of work to be accomplished satisfactorily. "Method," said the Rev. Richard Cecil, is like packing things in a box; a good packer will get in half as much again as a bad one." Cecil's dispatch of business was extraordinary, his maxim being, The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing

at once," and he never left a thing undone with a view of recurring to it at a period of more leisure.

A French Minister, who was alike remarkable for his dispatch of business and his constant attendance at places of amusement, being asked how he contrived to combine both objects, replied, "Simply by never postponing till to-morrow what should be done to-day." Lord Brougham has said that a certain English statesman reversed the process, and that his maxim was never to transact to-day what could be postponed till to-morrow. Unhappily, such is the practice of many besides that Minister, already almost forgotten; the practice is that of the indolent and the unsuccessful. Such men, too, are apt to rely upon agents, who are not always to be relied upon. Important affairs must be attended to in person. "If you want your business done," says the proverb, "go and do it; it you don't want it done, send some one else."

An indolent country gentleman had a freehold estate producing about five hundred a year. Becoming involved in debt, he sold half the estate, and let the remainder to an industrious farmer for twenty years. About the end of the term the farmer called to pay his rent, and asked the owner whether he would sell the farm. "Will you buy it?" asked the owner surprised. "Yes, if we can agree about the price." "That is exceedingly strange," observed the gentleman; "pray, tell me how it happens that, while I could not live upon twice as much land for which I paid no rent, you are regularly paying me two hundred a year for your farm, and are able, in a few years, to purchase it?" "The reason is plain," was the reply; "you sat still and said Go; I got up and said Come: you lay in your bed and enjoyed your estate; I rose in the morning and minded my business."

Men of business are accustomed to quote the maxim that time is money; but it is more: the proper improvement of it is self-culture, self-improvement and growth of character. An hour wasted daily on trifles or in indolence would, if devoted to self-improvement, make an ignorant man wise in a few years, and, employed in good works, would make his life fruitful and death a harvest of worthy deeds. Fifteen minutes a day devoted to self-improvement will be felt at the end of the year. Good thoughts and carefully gathered experience take up no room, and may be carried about as our companions everywhere, without cost or encumbrance. economical use of time is the true mode of securing leisure; it enables us to get through business and carry it forward, instead of being driven by it. On the other hand, the miscalculation of time involves us in perpetual hurry, confusion and difficulties; and life becomes a mere shuffle of expedients, usually followed by disaster. Nelson once said, "I owe all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour before my time."

An

Some take no thought of the value of money until they have come to an end of it, and many do the same with their time. The hours are allowed to flow by unemployed, and then, when life is fast waning, they bethink themselves of the duty of making a wiser use of it. But the habit of listlessness and idleness may already have become confirmed, and they are unable to break the bonds with which they have permitted themselves to become bound. Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.

A proper consideration of the value of time will also inspire habits of punctuality. "Punctuality," said Louis XIV., “is the politeness of kings." It is also the duty of gentlemen, and the necessity of men of business. Nothing begets confidence in a man sooner than the practice of this virtue, and nothing shakes confidence sooner than the want of it. He who holds to his appointment and does not keep you waiting for him, shows that he has regard for your time as well as for his own. Thus, punctuality is one of the modes by which we testify our personal respect for those whom we are called upon to meet in the business of life. It is also conscientiousness, in a measure; for an appointment is a contract, express or implied, and he who does not keep it breaks faith, as well as dishonestly uses other people's time, and thus inevitably loses character. We naturally come to the conclusion that the person who is careless about time is careless about business, and that he is not the one to be trusted with the transaction of matters of importance. When Washington's secretary excused himself for the lateness of his attendance, and laid the blame upon his watch, his master quietly said, “Then you must get another watch or I another secretary."

Napoleon was a thorough man of business. Though he had an immense love for details, he had also a vivid power of imagination, which enabled him to look along extended lines of action, and deal with those details on a large scale with judgment and rapidity. He possessed such knowledge of character as enabled him to select, almost unerringly, the best agents for the execution of his designs. But he trusted as little as possible to agents in matters of great moment, on which important results depended.

Like Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington was a first-rate man of business; and it is not perhaps saying too much to aver that it was in no small degree because of his possession of a business faculty amounting to genius that the Duke never lost a battle. His magnificent business qualities were everywhere felt; and there can be no doubt that, by the care with which he provided for every contingency, and the personal attention which he gave to every detail, he laid the foundations of his great success.

eyes, and from this he conceived the idea that individual characteristics could be determined by external signs. The result of long-continued observation in schools, prisons, lunatic asylums and other places was the conviction that the brain, and not the heart, was the seat of all mental manifestations. After

twenty years of study he decided the location of some twenty distinct mental organs and satisfied himself that their degree of activity could be determined from the shape of the skull. In 1791 he published "Medical and Philosophical Researches on Nature and Art," and in 1796 he began lecturing in Vienna on his novel theories, creating a marked sensation. In 1802 his lectures were prohibited by the Austrian government as dangerous to religion, but in company with Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, he made considerable headway in Central and Northern Europe. His principal work is entitled, "The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System and of the Brain."

was the first to mark the separate functions of the human mind and trace the location of the respective organs in the human brain. After studying the natural sciences at Strasburg, he graduated as a physician at Vienna in 1785, practicing there for many years. As a boy he had observed that among his schoolmates good memories were invariably indicated by large

MEASUREMENT OF THE HEAD.

Other things being equal, the size of the head, and of the brain, the different portions of which are called organs, and classified according to their par

ticular functions, constitutes the principal phrenological condition by which character is determined. Most great men have had great heads. Webster's head measured a little more than 24 inches, and Clay's considerably over 23. Napoleon's reached nearly 24. Hamilton's hat passed over the ears of a man whose head measured 23%. Burke's head was very large; so was Jefferson's, while Franklin's hat passed over the ears of a 24-inch head. Small and average heads often astonish us by their brilliancy and learning, and perhaps eloquence, yet fail in that commanding greatness which im. presses and sways.

The general rule laid down for head-measurement of adults is as follows: The smallest size compatible with fair talents, 2014; moderate, 2014 to 21%; average, 21% to 22; full, 22 to 224; large, 224 to 234; very large, above 234. Female heads 2 to 4 below these averages; but as some heads are round, others long, some low and others high, these measurements cannot be depended upon to carry any accurate idea of the actual quantity of brain.

In judging of the manifestations of the mind, the activity of the brain is

a consideration quite as important as

its size. While size gives
power or momentum of
intellect and feeling, activi-
ty imparts quickness,
intensity, willingness
and even a restless

desire to act, which
go far to produce
efficiency of mind,
with accompanying
effort and action.
Under the heads of
size, given below, the
effects of the different
degrees of activity
are presented.

Very Large. One having a very large head, with activity average or full, on great occasions, or when his powers are thoroughly roused, will be truly great, but ordinarily will sel

dom manifest any remarkable amount of mind or feeling, and perhaps pass through life with

the credit of being a person

of good natural abilities and judgment, yet nothing more. With activity great,

will manifest a vigor and energy of intellect and feeling quite above mediocrity. With activity great or very great, will exercise a commanding influence over those minds with which he comes in contact; when he enjoys, will enjoy intensely, and when he suffers, suffer equally so; be susceptible of strong excitement, and with the organs of the propelling powers and of practical intellect large or very large, will possess all the mental capabilities for conducting a large business, for rising to eminence, if not to preeminence, and discover great force of character and power of intellect and feeling. With activity moderate, when powerfully excited, will evince considerable energy of intellect and feeling, yet be too indolent and too sluggish to do much; lack clearness and force of idea and intensity of feeling; unless literally driven to it, will not be likely to be much or do much, and yet actually possess more vigor of mind and energy of feeling than he will manifest. With activity small, will border on idiocy. Full. One having a full-sized brain, with activity great or very great, with the organs of practical intellect and of the propelling powers large or very large, although

strength, and the intellectual organs the same, will be a natural genius, endowed with very superior powers of mind and vigor of intellect; and even though deprived of the advantages of education, his natural talents will surmount all obstacles. With activity very great, and the organs of practical intellect and of the propelling powers large or very large, will possess the first order of natural abilities, manifest a clearness and force of intellect that will astonish the world, and a power of feeling that will carry all before him, and, with proper cultivation, enable him to become a bright star in the firmament of intellectual greatness; his mental enjoyments will be most exquisite, and his sufferings equally excruciating.

Large. One having a large-sized brain, with activity average, will possess considerable energy of intellect and feeling, yet seldom manifest it unless it is brought out by some powerful stimulus. With activity full, will be endowed with an uncommon amount of the mental power, and be capable of doing a great deal, yet require considerable to awaken him to that vigorous effort of mind of which he is capable. If the perceptive faculties are strong or very strong, and his natural powers put in vigorous requisition, he

he will not possess greatness of intellect, nor a deep, strong mind, will be

very clever; have considerable talent, and that so distributed that it will show to be more than it really is;

is capable of being

a good scholar, doing a fine business, and with advantages and application, of distinguishing himself somewhat, yet he is inadequate to a great undertaking, can not sway an extensive influence, nor be really great. With activi

ty full or average, will do only tolerably well, and manifest only a common share of talents. With activity moderate or small, will neither be nor do much worthy of notice.

Average. One having an average-sized brain, with activity only average, will discover only an ordinary amount of intellect; be inadequate to an important undertaking, yet, in a small sphere, or one that requires only a mechanical routine of business, may do well. With activity great or very great, and the organs of the propelling powers and of practical intellect large or very large, is capable of doing a fair business and may pass for a man of some talent. With moderate or small activity, will hardly have

common sense.

Moderate. One with a head of only moderate size, combined with great or very great activity, and the organs of the propelling powers and of practical intellect, large, will possess a tolerable share of intellect. With others to plan for and direct him, will execute to advantage, yet be unable to do much alone. Will have a very active mind, and be quick of perception, yet, after all, lack momentum both of mind and character. With activity only average or fair, will have but a moderate amount of intellect. With activity moderate or small, will be an idiot.

Small or Very Small. One with a very small head, no matter what may be the activity of his mind, will be incapable of intellectual effort, of comprehending even easy subjects, or of experiencing much pain or pleasure; in short, will be a natural fool.