Some years ago there was a boy in England named Warren Hastings. His family had formerly been very rich. They used to own a very large and beautiful place in the neighborhood of the village in which this boy lived. But this property had been sold, and now belonged to other people. One day, during recess at school, Warren Hastings was reclining under a tree, at the edge of the woods, on the old family place. As he lay there on the grass, he said to himself, “All these woods, and yonder fields, and the houses and gardens on them used to belong to our family. Now, we don’t own anything here. Wouldn’t it be fine if I could only get rich enough to buy this beautiful property all back again? I wonder if I couldn’t do it. I’ll try.”
He set the hope of doing this before him. That hope made him industrious. He studied hard. When he had finished his education, he went to the East Indies. He was very industrious there. He gave his whole time to his business. He rose to one higher position after another, until he got to be Governor of India; and in about twenty years he went back to England one of the richest men in the country. And then he bought the old place, so that it belonged to his family again. The hope of doing this had made him industrious.
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