One great aim, like a guiding-star above, Which tasked strength, wisdom, stateliness, to lift Their manhood to the height that takes the prize. BROWNING. (_a_) The choice of a trade or profession is of enormous importance in settling our aim in life. Men often fail from having adopted a calling for which they are entirely unfitted. The round man in the square hole is a pitiful spectacle. It is difficult to lay down any special rule in regard to the choice of a profession or business. Some are obliged to take whatever opportunity offers, and others have to begin work at too early an age to permit them to form a true idea of what they are best fitted for, and are obliged to follow the wishes of others rather than their own. This only we can say, that so far as we have a choice we should adopt the calling that is most congenial to us and suits our inclinations. "Grasp the handle of your being" was the direction given by a wise counsellor to one who sought advice as to what calling he should follow. Everyone has certain aptitudes, and as far as he is able should keep them in view. There is often a distinct indication at a very early period of life for what we are best fitted. "The tastes of the boy foreshadow the occupations of the man. Ferguson's clock carved out of wood and supplied with rudest mechanism; Faraday's tiny electric machine made from a common bottle; Claude Lorraine's pictures in flour and charcoal on the walls of the bakers' shops; Canova's modelling of small images in clay; Chantrey's carving of his school-master's head in a bit of pine wood,--were all indications clear and strong of the future man." (_b_) Whatever you resolve upon, keep to it. "One thing I do," is a great rule to follow. It is much better to do one thing well than many things indifferently. It may be well to have "many strings to our bow," but it is better to have a bow and string that will every time send the arrow to the target. A rolling stone gathers no moss. He that is everything by turns and nothing long comes to nothing in the end. If thou canst plan a noble deed And never flag till it succeed, Though in the strife thy heart should bleed, Whatever obstacles contend, Thine hour will come, go on, thou soul! Thou'lt win the prize, thou'lt reach the goal. CHAS. MACKAY. (_c_) The higher our purpose is, the greater our attainment is likely to be. The nobler our ideal, the nobler our success. It seems paradoxical to say it, but it is true, that no one ever reached a goal without starting from it; no one ever won a victory without beginning the battle with it; no one ever succeeded in any work without first finishing it in his own mind. Pitch thy behavior low, thy projects high, So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be. Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky Shoots higher much than he who means a tree. G. HERBERT.