_A master_ had arrived who was _equal to the situation_.

The army felt the grip of his power.

Before he could mount his horse he ordered an advance, and although the enemy contested the ground inch by inch, the surrounding hills were soon held by Union soldiers.
Were these things the result of chance, or were they compelled by the indominable determination of the injured General?
Did things _adjust themselves_ when Horatius with two companions held ninety thousand Tuscans at bay until the bridge across the Tiber had been destroyed ?--when Leonidas at Thermopylae checked the mighty march of Xerxes ?--when Themistocles, off the coast of Greece, shattered the Persian's Armada ?--when Caesar, finding his army hard pressed, seized spear and buckler, fought while he reorganized his men, and snatched victory from defeat ?--when Winkelried gathered to his heart a sheaf of Austrian spears, thus opening a path through which his comrades pressed to freedom ?--when for years Napoleon did not lose a single battle in which he was personally engaged ?--when Wellington fought in many climes without ever being conquered ?--when Ney, on a hundred fields, changed apparent disaster into brilliant triumph ?--when Perry left the disabled _Lawrence_, rowed to the _Niagara_, and silenced the British guns ?--when Sheridan arrived from Winchester just as the Union retreat was becoming a rout, and turned the tide by riding along the line ?--when Sherman, though sorely pressed, signaled his men to hold the fort, and they, knowing that their leader was coming, held it?
History furnishes thousands of examples of men who have seized occasions to accomplish results deemed impossible by those less resolute.

Prompt decision and whole-souled action sweep the world before them.
True, there has been but one Napoleon; but, on the other hand, the Alps that oppose the progress of the average American youth are not as high or dangerous as the summits crossed by the great Corsican.
Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities.

_Seize common occasions and make them great_.
On the morning of September 6, 1838, a young woman in the Longstone Lighthouse, between England and Scotland, was awakened by shrieks of agony rising above the roar of wind and wave.