p. 7 | Self-Reliance

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 31, 1910

Self-Reliance

HENRY WARD BEECHER used to tell this story of the way in which his teacher of mathematics taught him to depend upon himself:—

“I was sent to the blackboard, and went, uncertain, full of whimpering.

“ ‘That lesson must be learned,’ said my teacher, in a very quiet tone, but with a terrible intensity. All explanations and excuses he trod underfoot with utter scornfulness. ‘I want that problem; I don’t want any reasons why you haven’t it,’ he would say.

“ ‘I did study two hours.’

“ ‘That’s nothing to me; I want the lesson. You need not study it at all, or you may study it ten hours, just to suit yourself. I want the lesson.’

“ ‘It was tough for a green boy; but it seasoned me. In less than a month I had the most intense sense of intellectual independence and courage to defend my recitations.

“ ‘One day his cold, calm voice fell upon me in the midst of a demonstration, ‘No!’

“ ‘I hesitated, and then went back to the beginning, and on reaching the same point again, ‘No!’ uttered with the tone of conviction, barred my progress.

“ ‘The next!’ and I sat down in red confusion.

“ ‘He, too, was stopped with ‘No!’ but went right on, finished, and, as he sat down, was rewarded with, ‘Very well.’

“ ‘Why,’ whimpered I, ‘I recited it just as he did, and you said, ‘No.’’

“ ‘Why didn’t you say ‘Yes,’ and stick to it? It is not enough to know your lesson; you must know that you know it. You have learned nothing till you are sure. If all the world says ‘No,’ your business is to say ‘Yes,’ and prove it.’”—Selected.