to be told we are clever or successful. It is better to watch and judge our actions so constantly that we shall praise ourselves wisely for work well done, and blame ourselves for all waste of time and of talent.

"He that gathereth in summer," says the proverb, “is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame."

All through Nature there is ceaseless action. As soon as your heart gets tired enough to stop beating you die. Why should you expect your organs to work and be unwilling to work yourself?

Consider how the earth was made in seven days. One might think that the Creation was a sublime enough accomplishment to confer rest, and we are told that "God rested on the seventh day." But in order that the world may keep its place in the universe without colliding with other heavenly bodies and thereby being annihilated, in order that there may be light, and food and air and water, the Supreme Intelligence never rests. We take this as a matter of course, never thinking that every breath we draw should indeed be an inspiration to impel us by this sublime example to the utmost action of which we are capable.

We are made in the image of our Creator, and are intended to deify that image. We cannot keep our bodies pure and vigorous by watching other

people work and play. In the primitive state, man had to work before he could eat. The penalty of inaction to-day, even if it is not hunger, is a loss of physical and mental power. We must either advance or degenerate. If we are not advancing intellectually by using our mental powers and training them to higher efficiency, we are debasing the gift that the Creator gave us. If we are not keeping our bodies fit, by physical exercise, we must suffer loss of physique and be weaklings, and a blot upon the greatness of our Imperial heritage.

The habit of watching other people play produces a spirit of criticism. It is easier to criticise than to act. Any fool can pull down and destroy, but it takes a clever man to create and build up. Destruction may be the work of a moment, while construction may be the labour of a lifetime. The only people who have a right to criticise are those who have done things and therefore have knowledge, and they should only criticise work that they can do better themselves. Criticism ought to take the form of finding out weaknesses in order to remedy defects. If anyone finds fault, he ought to be able to rectify that fault himself. If you are merely criticising other people, you are not helping yourself; and, after all, your first duty is to yourself.

The habit of play, for instance, is valuable to a

man's daily life. To master a game calls for patience and perseverance, and demands all those qualities which make for success. Sport, in its best forms, calls forth the finest spirit of a man. It teaches him to accept life's ups and downs with equal serenity. You cannot learn patience and perseverance by watching football matches. You can learn them by playing yourself. When you can take a physical blow with a smile you will know how to take a setback in business with undaunted courage. Your country, your friends, your relations, have need of men-sportsmen-who can do things, who can do them when fate seems against them as well as when fortune smiles. You are one of those men. Are you keeping yourself in perfect condition for your high endeavours, by action, or are you degenerating into a drone because you prefer to watch other people? You must make your choice, and if you choose to be active you must cast off sloth now.

M

CHAPTER XIX

HOW TO GET GOOD LUCK

"Fortune alters with change of conduct."-Sallust.

HERE undoubtedly is an element in business

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which we call luck. Shakespeare says, “There is a divinity that shapes our ends," and it is certain that so long as we strive with all our might and with all our intellect, the course of our life will map itself out to a successful purpose.

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A lazy man once said to me: The men who make a lot of money make it easily. They hit on some idea or some scheme which catches on, and they make fortunes." I will tell you a story which bears on that specious doctrine. A big machine once went wrong. The owners could not make it go again, try how they might. Eventually they

called in an expert, who

minutes, made a trifling diately started it again.

examined it for a few adjustment, and immeHe asked for a big fee,

and was told that it was out of all proportion to the work he had done.

"You only took a minute doing it," he was told.

"Yes," he replied, "but I took years learning how to do it."

The men who make money so easily only do so after years of work and preparation. One often hears that the inventor makes but little out of his invention. The big money is made by the man who exploits his work. But that man knows by experience where and how he can place the invention, and he either runs a risk himself or his character is so much believed in that others will take the risk for him. You cannot call the inventor unlucky because he is unable to place his invention himself. If he wanted to be lucky in that particular way, he would need to go through similar experiences to those of the man who exploited him.

"Good courage breaks ill luck," says the proverb. Mental power, rightly directed, is the only force that creates good luck, using that term in its real sense. People talk about a lucky dramatist” because he has a successful run. The truth is that

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the way of good

any man who works hard is in luck. Hard work alone will not make you lucky. You must be ready to seize your good luck when it comes, and you must search for it until you find it.

If you were in an unknown country where no man had ever been before, and the ground under your feet were full of gold, you would not know it was gold even if you happened to find it unless you