Читать книгу With Sam Houston in Texas онлайн

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It is a wonderful thing to know that one is right, and then to stick to the compass.

Sam Houston had his weaknesses. All men have weaknesses. The greatest men rise above them. The strength of Sam Houston was his faith in himself; his weakness was his pride in himself. When his pride was injured, by accusations and by home troubles, he went to the other extreme, apparently tried to see how low he could sink, and as if in revenge set out to throw away his career. This was no revenge. It never is. It benefits mainly one’s enemies, and harms mainly oneself and one’s friends.

Weak natures do not accept that verdict, or they take more pleasure in pitying themselves than in aiding themselves. Sam Houston sank; the world, disappointed, said that he was a failure, after all—he could not hold his course, and had abandoned the helm. But he could, and he did. He rose, he grasped the wheel again, he retrimmed his sails, and he forged on, with faith and will, to fulfil the capabilities with which he had been entrusted.