Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and PerseveranceSmiles, Samuel
Philosophy
Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance
Smiles, Samuel
Conduct of life
The orphan boy became one of
the most powerful men of his time; he retrieved the fortunes of his line;
bought back the old estate, and rebuilt the family mansion. “When, under
a tropical sun,” says Macaulay, “he ruled fifty millions of Asiatics, his
hopes, amidst all the cares of war, finance, and legislation, still
pointed to Daylesford. And when his long public life, so singularly
chequered with good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had at length
closed for ever, it was to Daylesford that he retired to die.”
Sir Charles Napier was another Indian leader of extraordinary courage and
determination. He once said of the difficulties with which he was
surrounded in one of his campaigns, “They only make my feet go deeper
into the ground.” His battle of Meeanee was one of the most
extraordinary feats in history. With 2000 men, of whom only 400 were
Europeans, he encountered an army of 35,000 hardy and well-armed
Beloochees. It was an act, apparently, of the most daring temerity, but
the general had faith in himself and in his men. He charged the Belooch
centre up a high bank which formed their rampart in front, and for three
mortal hours the battle raged. Each man of that small force, inspired by
the chief, became for the time a hero. The Beloochees, though twenty to
one, were driven back, but with their faces to the foe. It is this sort
of pluck, tenacity, and determined perseverance which wins soldiers’
battles, and, indeed, every battle. It is the one neck nearer that wins
the race and shows the blood; it is the one march more that wins the
campaign; the five minutes’ more persistent courage that wins the fight.
Though your force be less than another’s, you equal and outmaster your
opponent if you continue it longer and concentrate it more. The reply of
the Spartan father, who said to his son, when complaining that his sword
was too short, “Add a step to it,” is applicable to everything in life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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