Page 140 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

141

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

The secret is told in the struggle of Fannie Hurst, whose PERSISTENCE con-
quered the Great White Way. She came to New York in 1915, to convert writing
into riches. The conversion did not come quickly, BUT IT CAME. For four years
Miss Hurst learned about "The Sidewalks of New York" from first hand experi-
ence. She spent her days laboring, and her nights HOPING. When hope grew dim,
she did not say, "Alright Broadway, you win!" She said, "Very well, Broadway, you
may whip some, but not me. I'm going to force you to give up."

One publisher (The Saturday Evening Post) sent her thirty six rejection slips, be-
fore she "broke the ice and got a story across. The average writer, like the "aver-
age" in other walks of life, would have given up the job when the first rejection slip
came. She pounded the pavements for four years to the tune of the publisher's
"NO," because she was determined to win.

Then came the "payoff." The spell had been broken, the unseen Guide had tested
Fannie Hurst, and she could take it. From that time on publishers made a beaten
path to her door. Money came so fast she hardly had time to count it. Then the
moving picture men discovered her, and money came not in small change, but in
floods. The moving picture rights to her latest novel, "Great Laughter," brought
$100,000.00, said to be the highest price ever paid for a story before publication.
Her royalties from the sale of the book probably will run much more.

Briefly, you have a description of what PERSISTENCE is capable of achieving.
Fannie Hurst is no exception. Wherever men and women accumulate great rich-
es, you may be sure they first acquired PERSISTENCE. Broadway will give any
beggar a cup of coffee and a sandwich, but it demands PERSISTENCE of those
who go after the big stakes.

Kate Smith will say "amen" when she reads this. For years she sang, without mon-
ey, and without price, before any microphone she could reach. Broadway said
to her, "Come and get it, if you can take it." She did take it until one happy day
Broadway got tired and said, "Aw, what's the use? You don't know when you're
whipped, so name your price, and go to work in earnest." Miss Smith named her
price!

It was plenty. Away up in figures so high that one week's salary is far more than
most people make in a whole year.

Verily it pays to be PERSISTENT!

And here is an encouraging statement which carries with it a suggestion of great
significance- THOUSANDS OF SINGERS WHO EXCEL KATE SMITH ARE