SUCCESS

I recently sent this email to a friend and decided to post here also.

I like that the story of this woman and this poem continues today and what it speaks to me and how I strive to follow that path.

----- Original Message ----- From: Bethanne To: Robin Olson Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 2:21 AM Subject: Re: Success Poem

Dear Robin,
What a lovely note! Of course you can use my email. I also have some references for you if you find yourself needing support in a disagreement.

I do have some pictures of Bessie, but they're with my sister at the moment. We lost my grandmother, Bessie's youngest daughter, this past June and found lots of photos that I had never seen before as we were closing out her house. I'll be sure to scan a good photo for you when I get my copies.

I was named for Bessie (Elisabeth Anne) and my gram always said I look very much like her. She died before I was born, so I never knew her, but the family is unanimous in saying she was the very definition of a warm and wonderful woman. My uncle Gene says she was the perfect grandmother. She was one of those people whose house was always full of guests, family, and neighbors all running in and out. She loved poetry and taking care of people and had a gorgeous iris garden, which was her favorite place.

Success was written as the winning entry in a contest run by Brown Book Magazine in 1904.

Bessie won a cash prize of $250 which paid off the mortgage on the house, among other things. It was included in Bartlett's Book of Quotations for decades, and if you can find an old edition from the 30's or 40's, it should be in there. They dropped it, I think in the 60's, but I don't know why.
The family isn't sure how the poem got mangled and attributed to Emerson, but it was further confused by Ann Landers and her sister Abby. Ann Landers used to (mis)quote it all the time and cite Emerson as the source. My great-uncle Art, a retired federal judge who died last March, and she had a decade-long correspondence as he argued for a public correction. She finally conceded and in her book, The Ann Landers Encyclopedia, prints the whole story.

I think it's a beautiful poem, too. From what I've been told about her, it delineates her character perfectly. She lived what she wrote. And in these days, with our obsession for the material going full throttle, it's good to be reminded that true success is not measured in portfolios, stock options, or bank balances.

Thank you again for posting it on your page.
Bethanne

Success

He has achieved success who has lived well,
laughed often, and loved much;

who has enjoyed the trust of pure women,

the respect of intelligent men
and the love of little children;

who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;

who has left the world better than he found it
whether by an improved poppy,
a perfect poem or a rescued soul;

who has never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty
or failed to express it;

who has always looked for the best in others
and given them the best he had;

whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.

--1904 Bessie Anderson Stanley