Wonder

started to read. “ ‘Greatness,’ wrote Beecher, ‘lies not in being strong,
but in the right using of strength.... He is the greatest whose strength
carries up the most hearts ...’ ”
And again, out of the blue, he got all choked up. He put his two
index fingers over his mouth for a second before continuing.
“ ‘He is the greatest,’ ” he finally continued, “ ‘whose strength
carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.’ Without
further ado, this year I am very proud to award the Henry Ward
Beecher medal to the student whose quiet strength has carried up the
most hearts.
“So will August Pullman please come up here to receive this
award?”