August 16

There’s a story about a rusty pickax found in the old Colorado gold country. The handle had long since deteriorated, but the rusted pick remained driven into the ground a hundred years or more. The manner in which it was driven hard into the earth revealed the defeat felt by some frustrated prospector. It seemed to say: “Oh, what’s the use? I’m through.” The pathetic fact—which this unknown defeated prospector never learned—was that a few yards farther on was a rich vein of gold that later produced millions. If only he had persisted.