. St. Nicholas [serial] . s chin, and helooked somewhat pale andsubdued. His mother had somebooks in her lap. Shelooked at him lovingly,and passed her hand overhis head once or twice be-fore she spoke. Bobby, she said finally, I ve been thinking aboutthis stumping business ofyours, and I ve concludedit s one of the greatestthings in the world. He looked at her inamazement. He had nt expected this. Yes, she said, I dont think the worldwould ever have amounted to much, if it had ntbeen for the men who would nt be stumped. Why, Mama ! he said. It s true, Bobby. All the great generalswere just men
. St. Nicholas [serial] . s chin, and helooked somewhat pale andsubdued. His mother had somebooks in her lap. Shelooked at him lovingly,and passed her hand overhis head once or twice be-fore she spoke. Bobby, she said finally, I ve been thinking aboutthis stumping business ofyours, and I ve concludedit s one of the greatestthings in the world. He looked at her inamazement. He had nt expected this. Yes, she said, I dont think the worldwould ever have amounted to much, if it had ntbeen for the men who would nt be stumped. Why, Mama ! he said. It s true, Bobby. All the great generalswere just men who would nt let their enemiesstump them. Christopher Columbus would ntbe stumped, when he started to discover Amer-ica ; no, not by poverty nor by the jeers of allSpain,— not even when his sailors mutiniedand wanted to kill him. George Washingtonwould nt be stumped, nor General Grant, norNapoleon, nor any of those men that you liketo have me read to you about. All the Arcticexplorers, and the people who have gone into. THERE STOOD BOBBY, FASTENED TO THE DOOR. Africa, were men who would nt be , Bobby, it is your life, and not ano-ther person, that stumps you. You want todo something, and it seems as if your life saidto you, You cant. But all the famous men, 566 THE BOY WHO WOULD NT BE STUMPED. all the men who have succeeded, were menwho turned around to their lives and facedthem, and said, I can. There was a little silence. Bobby was alertand interested. I am going to read to you about two menwho would nt be stumped. One was Win-stanley, who built the Eddystone lighthouse,and the other was our own Sheridan, who wonthe battle of Winchester. And then I want toread to you about the sinking of the Cumber-land, and how she fired that last broadside,just as she was going down; I think that was sosplendid. Bobby nestled contentedly on the sofa. Heloved to hear his mother read poetry. He toldher once it was just like the dribbling rain onthe garret roof. It seemed a
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