Not all of life’s preparation can be specific. It is well enough to make specific preparation for the expected task of a given day. That specific preparation is at its best, however, only when it is backed up with a strong general preparation. This general background of preparation cannot be made in a day. It is the result of sustained reading, thinking, and trying throughout the years. Pliny the Elder used to have books read to him during every spare moment. When working at a sawmill, Daniel Webster used to carry reading matter with which to occupy himself to advantage during the three-minute periods required for the log-carriage to pass the saw. These men were merely hanging backgrounds for action when the time should come to act. Its fabric was woven of thought, knowledge, and personality. A musical artist, when asked the secret of his success, remarked that before anyone can expect to be an artist he must first expect to be a drudge. This principle holds good in everything. Whoever succeeds must carry a cross of self-denial. The public will suppose that he does his work with ease. Few will suspect his toils and sacrifices. He will, however, pay dearly for all the genius he acquires. While others sleep he will work, building the background from which will some day burst the outlines of worthy achievement. Another of life’s backgrounds is its relationships. In greater measure than many will suspect, the things we are and do will always spring from the influence of the friends we have had and the loves we have known. The ties that bind us to the hearts of others are the cables that help to drag us toward the dust or to lift us in the direction of the heights. Back of the lives of the great, the despicable, and the insignificant alike, even back of the great deeds and movements of history, one can detect the presence of the silent shadows of those who have made or marred. As the kindly old teacher built his own soul into the life of Geordie Hoo, the “Lad o’ Pairts,” so has someone spoken of his or her own spirit into the lives of each of us. So is life’s picture painted. We are often so busy that we forget the background, but when we think about it we see again the faces that have smiled, the hands that have lifted, the toils that have helped, the qualities that have steadied and impelled. Without its background a picture would be a lone bit of detail without perspective or relief. A life cannot be so. We are not unrelated beings. Our lives are linked with all the generations of all the ages. We are in league with all that has being. We are the products of the ages past and the forces present. Powers seen and unseen have largely made us what we are. The New Philosophy (1920) Old ideals and purposes have undergone sweeping revision. The very social structure has proved obsolete and is being reorganized.