Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/74

 whose fears of public ridicule it was my task to strive to allay while his first book was in press. Three months after, his name was known wherever the English language is read. There are men who walk steadily down the scale of excellence, as unconscious of their descent as this other was of his upward progress. There are those again, in the band of mountaineers striving to reach the Alpine summit, who through their own temerity lose foot-hold and slip head long into some abyss. To such a one it often happens that his more fortunate companions lower ropes to him and strive in every way to extricate him from the pit into which he has fallen. If they succeed in bringing him to the surface, they try to shoulder him along with themselves. That is a pleasant phase, and one that I like to see; never mind if the rescued man should slip into the next crevasse, his friends will be all the better able to go on their way for having given him another chance. The cautious man, who sits down on the safe ground of his first successful step and dares go no farther lest the crust should give way beneath his feet, is, alas! a common type, and perhaps the saddest one to see. We expected so much of him! His first book struck so fine a note, ringing out clear and bold, penetrating the busy ears dulled by constant world-rumble. We cry, "Bravo! Go on!