For truly in his short life no other man had ever reached the height of absolute manhood and popularity attained by Frank Merriwell. Not that others had not equaled him, but never had their names and fame spread abroad like his. From one end of the United States to the other, from East to West, the name Frank Merriwell was a synonym of all that was noble and grand and desirable in a manly way. Men spoke of him as “the representative American youth,” and boys everywhere tried to pattern after him, live like him and lift themselves high in the scale of manhood as he had done. His example had been a noble one, and it is probable that it had done more good for the boys of the country than that of any other living American. Other men had acquired fame by struggling and battling all their lives; some being great generals, some becoming leaders in grand causes, some occupying the highest office it is in the power of the people to give; but not one of them had ever obtained such universal fame, such absolute admiration, such honor and respect as this beardless youth who had simply worked to perfect himself, to be just and merciful to all, and to uplift his fellows instead of pushing them down. In most ways this is a beautiful world, but there are many bad things in it, many things to cause suffering, sorrow, and regret. One of the most unpleasant is the constant struggle, the incessant battle for supremacy. In this unceasing battle that is taking place day after day all the wickedness, deceit, treachery, greed, and corruption of human nature is flagrantly exhibited. Men resort to any means to accomplish their ends and exalt themselves above their fellows. They lie, steal, betray, and destroy without compunction and without mercy. That they may mount higher, they pull scores down, trample hundreds beneath their feet. And when they have reached the pinnacle for which they have sacrificed their manhood and destroyed their better nature—they die. Then, what a grand thing it is to see one who is fighting on in a perfectly fair and honorable way, who refuses to pull a single weak wretch down, who holds out his hands to the faint and faltering and draws them up with him, as he mounts step by step on the joyful journey to the top. Such a person, if he is human, will find many things to sadden him, for some he has helped will show envy and jealousy when they find they cannot keep pace with him on his upward way. When they have to fall behind they will sneer at and malign him, forgetting often that but for his aid they might have gone to the bottom and been obliterated beneath the merciless feet of the trampling, swaying, striving horde down there. For it is true of human nature that one whom you have helped, one whom you have tried to uplift, will almost always be the first to feel jealousy when he sees you rising above him.