"Self
Help; with illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance" is a very early self
help book by Scottish writer, Samuel
Smiles. (US Edition) (UK Edition)
The book may have been written in 1859, but most readers
will find it familiar:
“Heaven helps those who help themselves” is a well-tried
maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of vast human experience.
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual;
and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national
vigour and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its
effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.
I never use to credit self-help, but with the passing of
the years, I no longer see it as foolish to give yourself pep talks. They don't replace action, but you have to
tell yourself something and why not have a supportive inner self?
Wait, I am not writing a self help book . . .
Admiral Hobson, who broke the boom at Vigo in 1702, . . .
was working as a tailor’s apprentice
near Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, when the news flew through the village
that a squadron of men-of-war was sailing off the island. He sprang from
the shopboard, and ran down with his comrades to the beach, to gaze upon the
glorious sight. The boy was suddenly inflamed with the ambition to be a
sailor; and springing into a boat, he rowed off to the squadron, gained the
admiral’s ship, and was accepted as a volunteer. Years after, he returned
to his native village full of honours, and dined off bacon and eggs in the
cottage where he had worked as an apprentice.
But the greatest tailor of all is unquestionably Andrew
Johnson, the present President of the United States—a man of extraordinary
force of character and vigour of intellect. In his great speech at
Washington, when describing himself as having begun his political career as an
alderman, and run through all the branches of the legislature, a voice in the
crowd cried, “From a tailor up.” It was characteristic of Johnson to take
the intended sarcasm in good part, and even to turn it to account. “Some
gentleman says I have been a tailor. That does not disconcert me in the
least; for when I was a tailor I had the reputation of being a good one, and
making close fits; I was always punctual with my customers, and always did good
work.”
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