AN UNOFFICIAL BACCALAUREATE
can. (No, I refuse to advise you about what you are fitted for. You can have the fun of fighting that out. That's your job at present.)
I don't know that you need this bit of advice, number two, as yet, but eventually you will, for I know your breed: Work hard, work intently, work sweatingly, in man-fashion, with your God-given faculties, but—do not make up your mind always to do your very best in everything you undertake. Because you can't. Do not tell yourself that you will never let go a piece of work until satisfied that you cannot improve it. If you live up to that you will never finish anything but yourself. People repeat this copy-book maxim in a parrot-like way, but it is largely hot air, and frequently proves harmful. That advice was given to a phlegmatic nation, whose people seldom have nervous break-downs. It is not applicable to ours, whose people are always over- working. Certainly no one has a right to be satisfied with his work, but you ought to know that it is impossible to do your very
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