...It is much the same with the great lives which tower above the ordinary ones around us. Here and there we note them; we mark the noble deed, the courage, the heroism, the flash of genius, the habit of self-sacrifice, but we are apt to forget that all this did not come into being suddenly, that in each case there was a long time of preparation, a patient laying of foundations in the years of childhood, act by act, as stone is laid upon stone, before it was known what manner of life would be built up.

So whenever it is possible it is well to consider the time of preparation as well as to admire the finished work, and we shall learn to know these great men and women all the better for hearing something of what they thought and did when they were children.

"Souls are built as temples are—
Sunken deep, unseen, unknown,
Lies the sure foundation stone;
Then the courses framed to bear
Lift the cloisters, pillared fair;
Last of all the airy spire,
Soaring Heavenward, higher and higher,
Nearest sun and nearest star."

AMY STEEDMAN

From the book