Every-day Thoughts in Prose and Verse
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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LXXVII.
Believe in Yourself.
    It took John P. Holland twenty-three years to
convince the United States government that
his submarine boat could conquer the greatest war-
ship that floated on the ocean;  that he could dive
beneath the most terrific one afloat and destroy
it.
    The government is convinced at last, this ought
to be a matter of encouragement to every struggling
soul.
    Have you a cherished hope, ambition, or purpose
in life?
    Are you discouraged because you do not gain the
ear or attention of the world?
    Well, then, remember the persistence of Mr.
Holland with the submarine boat.  If he could wait
twenty-three years to gain the attention of his audi-
ence, cannot you wait four, five, six years or
more?
    He believed in himself and his hobby!  Do you?
    It all depends on your answer to that question.
    If you are certain that you are right, and that you
have a theory, a plan, or an invention which will be
of use to humanity, then keep at it until you make
the whole world believe it, as Mr. Holland has.
There is no selfish, stupid, or inconsiderate society
of mortals which can remain impervious to one
human being's unswerving determination.
    If you are in earnest--so in earnest that nothing
can divert you from your aim--the world will
eventually listen to you, and investigate your claim
to its attention.
    If that claim has a solid and worthy foundation,
it will be recognized and acknowledged.
    The greatest and most obstinate obstacles must
 eventually give way before you; circumstance and
environment must yield to your effort.  You will be
obliged to wait, and work, and hope against seem-
ing despair; but if what you are wanting is worth
the effort, you ought to be willing to do all this.
Make up your mind that you will dive beneath Fate's
most dangerous warships with your submarine boat
of determined purpose, and that no adverse condi-
tions of wave or weather shall circumvent you.
    The human mind is the most powerful torpedo
boat ever made.  Its inventor can make no mis-
takes, and the only thing is for man to realize the
wonder of the invention given into his hands, to do
with as he will.  Whenever a frowning warship
looms up against the horizon, send out your sub-
marine torpedo thought boat and blow it up.  You
are small and Fate is large;  but your mental force
is as powerful as the little submarine boat, if you
know how to use it.
    If your purpose in life is a good and noble one,
success will come all the sooner to you.  The invis-
ible powers work with the worthy more cheerfully
than with the ignoble toilers of earth.  But they
always assist whoever is profoundly in earnest.
Every-day thoughts in prose and verse. by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Chicago: W. B. Conkey Company, 1901.
 
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