Barnes literally thought himself into a partnershipwith the great Edison！ He thought himself into afortune. He had nothing to start with， except thecapacity to KNOW WHAT HE WANTED， AND THEDETERMINATION TO STAND BY THAT DESIRE UNTIL
HE REALIZED IT.
He had no money to begin with. He had but littleeducation. He had no influence. But he did haveinitiative， faith， and the will to win. With theseintangible forces he made himself number one manwith the greatest inventor who ever lived.
Now， let us look at a different situation， and studya man who had plenty of tangible evidence of riches，but lost it， because he stopped three feet short of thegoal he was seeking.
THREE FEET FROM GOLD
One of the most common causes of failure is thehabit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporarydefeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at onetime or another.
An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the “goldfever” in the gold-rush days， and went west to DIGAND GROW RICH. He had never heard that moregold has been mined from the brains of men thanhas ever been taken from the earth. He staked aclaim and went to work with pick and shovel. Thegoing was hard， but his lust for gold was definite.
After weeks of labor， he was rewarded by thediscovery of the shining ore. He needed machineryto bring the ore to the surface. Quietly， he coveredup the mine， retraced his footsteps to his home inWilliamsburg， Maryland， told his relatives and a fewneighbors of the “strike.” They got together moneyfor the needed machinery， had it shipped. The uncleand Darby went back to work the mine.
The first car of ore was mined， and shipped toa smelter. The returns proved they had one of therichest mines in Colorado！ A few more cars of thatore would clear the debts. Then would come the bigkilling in profits.
Down went the drills！ Up went the hopes of Darbyand Uncle！ Then something happened！ The vein ofgold ore disappeared！ They had come to the end ofthe rainbow， and the pot of gold was no longer there！
They drilled on， desperately trying to pick up thevein again—all to no avail.
Finally， they decided to QUIT.
They sold the machinery to a junk man for a fewhundred dollars， and took the train back home. Some“junk” men are dumb， but not this one！ He called ina mining engineer to look at the mine and do a littlecalculating. The engineer advised that the projecthad failed， because the owners were not familiarwith “fault lines.” His calculations showed thatthe vein would be found JUST THREE FEET FROMWHERE THE DARBYS HAD STOPPED DRILLING！
That is exactly where it was found！
The “Junk” man took millions of dollars in orefrom the mine， because he knew enough to seekexpert counsel before giving up.
Most of the money which went into the machinerywas procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby，who was then a very young man. The moneycame from his relatives and neighbors， because oftheir faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it，although he was years in doing so.
Long afterward， Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over， when he made the discovery thatDESIRE can be transmuted into gold. The discoverycame after he went into the business of selling lifeinsurance.
Remembering that he lost a huge fortune， becausehe STOPPED three feet from gold， Darby profitedby the experience in his chosen work， by the simplemethod of saying to himself， “I stopped three feetfrom gold， but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.”
Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fiftymen who sell more than a million dollars in lifeinsurance annually. He owes his “stickability” to thelesson he learned from his “quitability” in the goldmining business.
Before success comes in any man’s life， he is sureto meet with much temporary defeat， and， perhaps，some failure. When defeat overtakes a man， theeasiest and most logical thing to do is to QUIT. Thatis exactly what the majority of men do.
More than five hundred of the most successfulmen this country has ever known， told the authortheir greatest success came just one step beyond thepoint at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure isa trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning.
It takes great delight in tripping one when success isalmost within reach.
A FIFTY-CENT LESSON IN PERSISTENCE
Shortly after Mr. Darby received his degree fromthe “University of Hard Knocks，” and had decided toprofit by his experience in the gold mining business， hehad the good fortune to be present on an occasion thatproved to him that “No” does not necessarily mean no.
One afternoon he was helping his uncle grind wheat in an old fashioned mill. The uncle operated alarge farm on which a number of colored sharecropfarmers lived. Quietly， the door was opened， and asmall colored child， the daughter of a tenant， walkedin and took her place near the door.
The uncle looked up， saw the child， and barked ather roughly， “what do you want？”
Meekly， the child replied， “My mammy say sendher fifty cents.”
“I’ll not do it，” the uncle retorted， “Now you runon home.”
“Yas sah，” the child replied. But she did not move.
The uncle went ahead with his work， so busilyengaged that he did not pay enough attention to thechild to observe that she did not leave. When helooked up and saw her still standing there， he yelledat her， “I told you to go on home！ Now go， or I’lltake a switch to you.”
The little girl said “yas sah，” but she did not budgean inch.
The uncle dropped a sack of grain he was about topour into the mill hopper， picked up a barrel stave，and started toward the child with an expression onhis face that indicated trouble.
Darby held his breath. He was certain he was about to witness a murder. He knew his uncle had afierce temper. He knew that colored children werenot supposed to defy white people in that part of thecountry.
When the uncle reached the spot where the childwas standing， she quickly stepped forward one step，looked up into his eyes， and screamed at the top ofher shrill voice， “MY MAMMY’S GOTTA HAVE THATFIFTY CENTS！”