One such boy is Elihu Root, now United States Senator.
When he was a boy in the grammar school at Clinton, New York, he made up his mind that anything he had to study he would keep at until he mastered it.

Although not considered one of the "bright" boys of the school, his teacher soon found that when Elihu professed to know anything he knew it through and through.

He was fond of hard problems requiring application and patience.

Sometimes the other boys called him a plodder, but Elihu would only smile pleasantly, for he knew what he was about.

On winter evenings, while the other boys were out skating, Elihu frequently remained in his room with his arithmetic or algebra.