"Elbert Hubbard - A Mesage To Garcia" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hubbard Elbert)

1899
A MESSAGE TO GARCIA
by Elbert Hubbard

In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the
horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out
between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to
communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was
somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail
nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his
cooperation, and quickly.
What to do!
Some one said to the President, "There's a fellow by the name of
Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."
Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How
"the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in
an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed
by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the
jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island,
having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter
to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.
The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be
delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where
is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in
deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land.
It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and
that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be
loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do
the thing- "Carry a message to Garcia!"
General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.
No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many
hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the
imbecility of the average man- the inability or unwillingness to
concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish
inattention, dowdy indifference, & half-hearted work seem the rule;
and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces
or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness
performs a miracle, & sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant.
You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your
office- six clerks are within call. Summon any one and make this
request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief
memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio".
Will the clerk quietly say, "Yes, sir," and go do the task?
On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye
and ask one or more of the following questions:
Who was he?
Which encyclopedia?
Where is the encyclopedia?
Was I hired for that?
Don't you mean Bismarck?