Samuel Smiles, Author of
"Self-Help"
When Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) was a schoolboy in Scotland, he was fonder of
frolic than of learning. He was not a prize-winner, and so was not one of his
teacher’s favorites. One day his master, vexed by his dullness, cried out,
"Smiles, you will never be fit for anything but sweeping the streets of
your native borough!" From that day the boy’s mates called him by the name
of the street sweeper in the little town. But he was not discouraged.
"If I have done anything worthy of being remembered," he
wrote, more than sixty years later, when his name was known over the whole
world, "it has not been through any superiority of gifts, but only
through a moderate portion of them, accompanied, it is true, with energy and
the habit of industry and application. As in the case of every one else, I
had for the most part to teach myself. . . . Then I enjoyed good health, and
health is more excellent than prizes. Exercise, the joy of interest and of
activity, the play of the faculties, is the true life of a boy, as of a man. I
had also the benefit of living in the country, with its many pleasures and
wonders."
When he was fourteen, he was apprenticed to a physician. In the intervals of
his work, he sought to continue his education by reading. Books were expensive
then, but several libraries were open to him.
The death of his father near the end of his medical course, and consequent
financial reverses, made him hesitate as to the wisdom of finishing his
studies. In speaking of this, he made mention for the first time of his
indebtedness to his mother. "You must go back to Edinburgh," she
said, "and do as your father desired. God will provide." She had the
most perfect faith in Providence, and believed that if she did her duty, she
would be supported to the end. She had wonderful pluck and abundant common
sense. Her character seemed to develop with the calls made upon her.
Difficulties only brought out the essence of her nature. "I could not fail
to be influenced by so good a mother."
But he was not to find his life-work as a doctor. For some years he
practiced medicine. Then he became editor of a political paper. Later, he was a
railroad manager. Experience in writing gained in the newspaper office prepared
him for literary work, by which he is best known.
These being the chief events and influences of his boyhood, the story of his
most famous book, "Self-Help," is just what might be expected. It is
a story full of inspiration.
In 1845, at the request of a committee of working men, he made an address to
the society which they represented, on "The Education of the Working
Classes." This excited such favorable comment that he determined to
enlarge the lecture into a book, "Self-Help." But it was not to be
published for many years. In 1854 the manuscript was submitted anonymously to a
London publisher, and was politely declined. Undaunted, he laid it aside and
began an account of the life of George Stephenson, with whom he had been
associated in railway work. This biography was a great success.
Thus encouraged, he took from the drawer, where it bad lain for four years,
the rejected manuscript of "Self-Help," rewrote it, and offered it to
his publishers. It was not his intention, even then, to use his name as author,
so little did he think of himself. But, listening to the advice of friends, he
permitted his name to appear. Very soon he was famous, for thirty-five thousand
copies were sold during the first two years. In less than forty years two
hundred and fifty-eight thousand copies have been disposed of in England alone.
American publishers reprinted the book almost at once, and it soon became a favorite
in school libraries in many States. It was translated into Dutch, German,
Swedish, French, Portuguese, Czech, Croatian, Russian, Italian, Spanish,
Turkish, Danish, Polish, Chinese, Siamese, Arabic, and several dialects of
India.
But the author did not look on the fame and fortune brought to him by his
book as his chief reward. It had been his desire to be helpful to the plodding,
discouraged men and boys. As he expressed it himself: "It seemed to me
that the most important results in daily life are to be obtained, not
through the exercise of extraordinary powers, but through the energetic use of
simple means, and ordinary qualities, with which all have been more or less
endowed."
As his greatest reward he looked upon the grateful testimony of men of many
countries who had been inspired by the book to greater effort, and so spurred
on to success. An emigrant in New England wrote that he thanked God for the
volume, which had been the cause of an entire alteration in his life. A working
man wrote: "Since perusing the book I have experienced an entire
revolution in my habits. Instead of regarding life as a weary course, which has
to be gotten over as a task, I now view it in the light of a trust, of which I
must make the most." A country schoolboy received a copy as a prize, and
his life was transformed by the reading. By perseverance he secured an
education, and became a surgeon. After a few years he lost his life in an
attempt to help others.
Such testimonies as these made Mr. Smiles happy, and are a fitting memorial
to him. He died in 1904, at the age of ninety-two.
How much more satisfying to look back on a life of such usefulness than to
say, as Jules Verne, author of many books, was compelled to say, "I amount
to nothing . . . in literature."
The preceding was written by John T. Faris; D. D., in a forward to
"Self-Help," published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. Self-Help,
by Samuel Smiles, is available in any good public library. It as a lesson for
us today in the use of spiritual gifts. Smiles shows us that simple gifts from
the Eternal, can be used through ordinary means and consistent effort to
produce fruit for the Almighty.
This short episode about the life of Samuel Smiles is one of 72 inspiring,
character-building, stories on a variety of subjects, contained in the 319-page
book, Stories Worth Re-Reading, originally published in 1913. To
obtain this Sabbath family book, with encouraging and uplifting stories for
young and old, send $7.95 to: The Bible Sabbath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive,
Gillette, WY 82718.