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The ChemawaAmerican
Printed at Chemawa,
Vol. XXVI
Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Education
Wednesday, April 22, 1925
THE RIGHT KIND OF SPIRIT
A boy with grit and tenacity of purpose will never
run away from school when something disagreeable or
hard comes up. The right kind of a boy sticks and
goes at it harder than ever to overcome whatever his
trouble may be. One of the main reasons for having
athletics at Chemawa is to develop grit and a tenacity
to stick until you win. It is never the coward or the
fellow with a yellow streak who wins. It is the kind
of boys who won the wrestling match the other night—
they exhibited the “grit” kind of spirit. If we devel
op the right kind of never-say-die spirit and pluck
at Chemawa we can win anything that comes our way.
Always—yes always—when we go into a game, either
boys or girls, with the winning spirit, we are success
ful.
Clear grit is always more than a match for any ob.
stacle and has achieved all the great things in the
world’s history. It is useless to try to discourage a
person with bulldog tenacity of purpose. He cannot
be disheartened. He laughs at pictures of danger,
hardships, and obstacles in the way. Nothing daunts
a person endowed with faith and determination. The
secret of success in any project is not to be afraid
of failure, and to plunge into the thing we have set
our heart on with all of our might and enthusiasm,
without even a thought of the possibility of failing,
and should failure come, get up and at it again with
more determination than before to fight until we win.
Drudgery cannot disgust such people, labor does
not worry them, hardships cannot discourage them;
they will persist no matter what comes or goes, be
cause persistence is a part of their nature. Have
you, readers, ever seen a person who had no “give
in” in him, who could never let go his grip whatever
happened, who would come up smiling and with
greater determination than before, to push ahead?
Have you ever seen a person who did not know the
meaning of the word “failure?” If you have you
have seen a conqueror—a king among men.
Tenacity of purpose is characteristic of all people
who do things. They may lack some desirable traits,
may possess a good many peculiarities and weaknesses,
but the quality of sticking at a thing, clear grit, is
never absent in a man or woman, boy or girl, who
No. 27
does things worthwhile.
Fearlessness, boldness, coupled with common sense,
has ever been characteristic of great achieve! s. Peo
ple who have no “dare” in their natures, who are
afraid to take chances, who shrink from hardships,
from responsiblity, must be content with small
achievement. Students, grit has enabled many a poor
boy and girl to pay their way through school and
make a place for themselves in the world: it is more
than a match for any handicap, it has won the great
est battles in history.
No substitute has ever yet been discovered for the
ability to stick at a given thing—for staying qualities.
The great questions are: Can you keep at it? Can
you stick? Can you persevere after failure? Have
you grit and backbone enough to hold on, stick and
hang, in spite of everything? Boys and girls, if you
have these qualities, though some of you may be stu
pid in school, dull of comprehension, you will win out
in the end. You are more likely to succeed if you
possess tenacity of purpose, even though you lack in all
other success-qualities, than if you possessed great
brilliancy without it.
The person we all admire is he who does not fall
back in temporary defeat, but who gets up again
and wrests triumph from defeat. After all, the real
test is what we do after we fail. What will failure
arouse in us? Will it discover in us new sources of
power, double our determination, or will it dishearten
us? How much is there left in you after you have
apparently lost out? If you lie down then, boys,
throw up the sponge, you are certainly not made of
the right stuff. There are varying degrees of persist
ency.
Some boys and girls start out with enthusiasm and
zeal, but turn their backs at the very first defeat, at
the first rebuff they get after arrival at school, while
hard knocks and iron conditions only make others
fight the more. It calls out their reserve sticking
power, makes them all the more resolute. For some
students every hard place means to “give up,” but
there is no “give up” in a boy or girl who comes to
school with a purpose, who persists, who never is beat-
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