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.But while these long years were passing by a mighty thinker took up his place within thebrain of the poet of yesterday.It is for this reason that in the last part of Faust, the youthful enthusiasm of its openingpassages changes insensibly into the most profound of metaphysics, the reflection of thethoughts of the Goethe of a later day.The dominating idea is never lost sight of, however.It pervades all parts of the work,retracing for us the differing phases of the author's mind, passing from platonic tendernessto carnal love, and from the humble realities of every-day life to flights of fancy, whoselyricism leads the writer into frequent excursions into the realm of the fantastic.But whether Marguerite is telling us of her humble tasks or, as in the later portions of thework, the dialog of the great dead on the most exalted planes of philosophy holds ourinterest, the presentation remains unique, and, thanks to the persistence with which it hasbeen kept before us throughout the years, an immortal masterpiece has been produced."What is true of things of an exalted type is no less so when it comes down to dealing withthe most simple and matter-of-fact realities.The choice of a profession, however modest it may be, calls forth the same elements ofsagacity, of will-power, and of endurance.It demands, moreover, a discernment not onlyof moral aptitudes but also of physical capacities.There are physical faults or weaknesses which render certain occupations doubly difficultand we have not all of us the soul of a Demosthenes to be able to combat these difficultiesand conquer them.And further, unless we have hit upon a vocation that draws us irresistibly, we must notforget that the time passed in such struggles is lost to progress.The effort required to carry us as far as the goal is always a considerable one.Of whatuse, then, to double it?We can not too forcibly impress this last point upon the minds of those young people whowish to take up a different profession from that of their father because, as they say, theyare too well aware of its difficulties. 75But no profession in the world is exempt from these, and for a son to follow his father'sprofession is to make him a present of the experience that he will not be forced to acquireat his own expense.If he is dissatisfied with its progress, what is to prevent him from introducing into it all theimprovements that modern scientific methods have accomplished in every walk of life.He will be sure of a quick success, upon the sole condition that, in treading the path thathas been traveled by his father, he makes a determination to avoid routine, that obstaclethat men of an earlier generation always have a tendency to place across the path thatleads to better things.He must combat this the more actively in proportion to the speed with which he wishes toachieve success, and he will only become successful in this by practicing perseverancewhile abandoning the ruts of habits that afford no glimpse of wider horizons and can neverlead to any form of perfection. 76CHAPTER VA KEY TO FORTUNEIt is impossible not to be struck with the power that comes from perseverance when onefinds oneself face to face with the monuments of antiquity.The gigantic sphinxes, which seem to defy the march of time, and which could pass in thisworld of ours as emblems of the eternal; the pyramids which have resisted the attacks ofthe elements for so many thousands of years, are above everything else monumentserected by the hand of man to the glory of perseverance.Think for a moment of the labors involved on the part of men who had nothing butrudimentary means at their disposal in bringing to a successful conclusion these giganticworks which occupied the lives of generations of toilers.Across the years, through the passing and the reappearing of untold companies ofworkmen, the dominant idea persisted unmoved, that of leaving to the people who shouldcome after them their monument to the might of a nation.This is the lesson above all others that should be drawn from this colossal effort so happilyrealized.Without a doubt will-power, ingenuity, and endurance all had their part in this work of theTitans.But all these qualities were mere satellites of the one dominating virtue--perseverance.Of what use would have been all the toil of a single reign if the Pharaoh who came afterhad not continued the work of his predecessor?Before long the scattered blocks of granite, buried under the shifting sands of the desert,would have rejoined in oblivion the ruins of cities, once famous all over the world, butwhose very sites are no longer to be traced [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]