Pushing to the Front | Page 4

heroic girl pulled one oar in even time with her
father. At length the nine were safely on board. "God bless you; but
ye're a bonny English lass," said one poor fellow, as he looked
wonderingly upon this marvelous girl, who that day had done a deed
which added more to England's glory than the exploits of many of her
monarchs.
"If you will let me try, I think I can make something that will do," said
a boy who had been employed as a scullion at the mansion of Signer
Faliero, as the story is told by George Cary Eggleston. A large
company had been invited to a banquet, and just before the hour the
confectioner, who had been making a large ornament for the table, sent
word that he had spoiled the piece. "You!" exclaimed the head servant,
in astonishment; "and who are you?" "I am Antonio Canova, the
grandson of Pisano, the stone-cutter," replied the pale-faced little
fellow.

"And pray, what can you do?" asked the major-domo. "I can make you
something that will do for the middle of the table, if you'll let me try."
The servant was at his wits' end, so he told Antonio to go ahead and see
what he could do. Calling for some butter, the scullion quickly molded
a large crouching lion, which the admiring major-domo placed upon
the table.
Dinner was announced, and many of the most noted merchants, princes,
and noblemen of Venice were ushered into the dining-room. Among
them were skilled critics of art work. When their eyes fell upon the
butter lion, they forgot the purpose for which they had come in their
wonder at such a work of genius. They looked at the lion long and
carefully, and asked Signer Faliero what great sculptor had been
persuaded to waste his skill upon such a temporary material. Faliero
could not tell; so he asked the head servant, who brought Antonio
before the company.
When the distinguished guests learned that the lion had been made in a
short time by a scullion, the dinner was turned into a feast in his honor.
The rich host declared that he would pay the boy's expenses under the
best masters, and he kept his word. Antonio was not spoiled by his
good fortune, but remained at heart the same simple, earnest, faithful
boy who had tried so hard to become a good stone-cutter in the shop of
Pisano. Some may not have heard how the boy Antonio took advantage
of this first great opportunity; but all know of Canova, one of the
greatest sculptors of all time.
Weak men wait for opportunities, strong men make them.
"The best men," says E. H. Chapin, "are not those who have waited for
chances but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the
chance; and made chance the servitor."
There may not be one chance in a million that you will ever receive
unusual aid; but opportunities are often presented which you can
improve to good advantage, if you will only act.
The lack of opportunity is ever the excuse of a weak, vacillating mind.

Opportunities! Every life is full of them. Every lesson in school or
college is an opportunity. Every examination is a chance in life. Every
patient is an opportunity. Every newspaper article is an opportunity.
Every client is an opportunity. Every sermon is an opportunity. Every
business transaction is an opportunity,--an opportunity to be polite,--an
opportunity to be manly,--an opportunity to be honest,--an opportunity
to make friends. Every proof of confidence in you is a great opportunity.
Every responsibility thrust upon your strength and your honor is
priceless. Existence is the privilege of effort, and when that privilege is
met like a man, opportunities to succeed along the line of your aptitude
will come faster than you can use them. If a slave like Fred Douglass,
who did not even own his body, can elevate himself into an orator,
editor, statesman, what ought the poorest white boy to do, who is rich
in opportunities compared with Douglass?
It is the idle man, not the great worker, who is always complaining that
he has no time or opportunity. Some young men will make more out of
the odds and ends of opportunities which many carelessly throw away
than other will get out of a whole life-time. Like bees, they extract
honey from every flower. Every person they meet, every circumstance
of the day, adds something to their store of useful knowledge or
personal power.
"There is nobody whom Fortune does not visit once in his life," says a
cardinal; "but when she finds he is not ready to receive her, she goes in
at the door and out at the window."
Cornelius Vanderbilt saw his opportunity in the steamboat, and
determined to