Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/228

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and became the means of turning the stream of his energy into useful channels.

Then came a period when the newness wore off. Tony showed signs of slipping back to the old life. It now required all the ingenuity of the social worker to stimulate his desire to master the violin. Every conceivable motive was utilized until finally the boy reached the point of being able to make music, not by any means the music of a master but music that was appreciated as such by the other members of the family and of course by Tony, himself. The satisfaction that he derived from this accomplishment had a profound effect upon him. It took him altogether away from the street. His music began to develop in him new habits of behavior. It brought him new friends, and it strengthened the whole tone of his life. The sense of achievement he derived from being able to play upon the violin filled him with the ambition for achievement in other directions, and first in education and later in work he attained to one success after another. What the sense of adventure had begun the sense of achievement carried on.

Achievement is one of the most stimulating of life's experiences. The sense of power and of confidence which it brings strengthens one for