" No, son, you
might as well get a book and settle down for the afternoon, for there
is no kite-flying to be done to-day. Thank your silver stars if you
get her up by tomorrow!
And right here, fellows, make a note of this: whenever you are balked
in a scheme, stopped in your plans--right spang up against a stone
wall!--ninety-nine times out of a hundred it will prove a godsend and
a blessing to you in the end--IF you take it right.
I wish every fellow could get the habit under such circumstances, of
stopping still a moment and saying to himself: "Hey here, this thing
has a _meaning_--what can it be?" That will yield a better dividend
than fretting over the interruption. As a rule, he will discover
something he can be doing while he waits, something that immensely
strengthens the main chance.
When Lord Clive, "the founder of the Empire of India," sailed from
England for Madras, at the age of eighteen, all impatient to enter
upon his life plan, storms overtook the ship and so far diverted her
course that within a month young Clive found himself stranded in a
port of Brazil instead of India. There he had to remain nine months
before he resumed his voyage; but what did he do? Chafe over the
interruption and delay? Bless you, no; he seized the opportunity to
master the Portuguese language, which accomplishment proved to be a
tremendous asset later on, in his great constructive work in India.
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